{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2015-259/annex/division-3/division-4/division-5",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2015-259/annex/division-3/division-4/division-5.json",
  "legislation": "eudn/2015/259",
  "legislation_title": "Council Decision (CFSP) 2015/259 of 17 February 2015 in support of activities of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the framework of the implementation of the EU Strategy against Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2015-259",
  "path": "annex/division/3/division/4/division/5",
  "kind": "division",
  "number": "5",
  "heading": "Toward the development of standardised analytical methods for the analysis of biological toxins",
  "text": "Biological toxins are regulated under the Biological Weapons Convention (‘BWC’). Two biological toxins (ricin and saxitoxin) are also listed in the CWC as chemical weapons and are closely regulated. Other biological toxins may also fall under the CWC's general purpose criteria against the use of toxic agents in warfare.\nThe robust verification regime of the CWC is absent in the BWC. Under the CWC, inspectors are empowered to take samples and perform on-site analysis (if possible; often not possible for biological toxins) or send them to off-site laboratories. Off-site laboratory analysis requires sophisticated analytical equipment as well as methods and either reference materials or data.\nFor this project, the OPCW Laboratory and partner laboratories will:\nprepare/acquire reference materials,\nconduct round-robin exercises,\nwrite and validate recommended operating procedures (ROPs) for the analysis of biological toxins,\ncollect reference data from partner laboratories,\nshare ROPs and reference data with partner laboratories and the scientific community,\nevaluate analytical procedures/detection kits that can be used on-site to guide decisions on off-site analysis and as a protective component for inspectors on-site.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2015/259/annex/division/3/division/4/division/5",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:14:27.942980+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}