Participants at the Fourth Course for Analytical Chemists from Laboratories supporting Customs Service in Warsaw, Poland, in April 2015
The OPCW and the Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry (Instytut Przemystu Organicznego (IPO)) organised the fourth Course for Analytical Chemists from Laboratories supporting Customs Service from 13-17 April 2015. Participants from 13 States Parties* attended the programme. The objective of the training programme was to assist qualified analytical chemists from laboratories that support, or plan to support customs services in acquiring further experience and practical knowledge of the analysis of chemicals related to the Chemical Weapons Convention. In addition, it facilitates the adoption of good laboratory practices for the implementation of the Convention.
The training programme structure was designed to further expose qualified analytical chemists and scientists to enhance their knowledge on the role of customs-service laboratories in implementation of Article XI of the Convention and promoting chemical safety in laboratory. The course provided sound knowledge in general aspects of the OPCW and the Convention; chemical structure and properties of scheduled chemicals; methods of separation and structure elucidation; and detection and analysis of scheduled chemicals at various concentration levels.
The IPO also provides basic training on the OPCW Central Analytical Database (OCAD) for the analysis of Scheduled Chemicals under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The feedback from the participants was very positive and they expect to apply the knowledge and experience gained from this course in line with their scope of work.
* Algeria, Burundi, China, Costa Rica, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Paraguay, Serbia, Sudan, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.