Federal Office for Civil Protection, SPIEZ LABORATORY
Annual report 2007
The main activities of the Organic Chemistry Division during 2007 were:
- Synthesis of 113 substances related to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in laboratory-scale amount, and 199 compounds in microscale amount (Synthesis of reference chemicals);
- 1 "Annual Declaration of Schedule 1 activities and facilities during the Previous Year", 1 "Annual Declaration of Projected Activities and the Anticipated Production of declared Schedule 1 Facilities" and 1 "Notifications of Transfers of Schedule 1 Chemicals to/from the State Party" (CWC Obligations);
- Supply of reference chemicals to various groups of SPIEZ LABORATORY, such as Analytical Chemistry, Detection/Decontamination, as well as Toxinology and Collective Protection;
- Delivery of reference chemicals as well as spiking of environmental samples with chemical warfare agents and related compounds for the Swiss Armed Forces, for the purpose of training Swiss C specialists, and for the organization of international specialist training courses;
- Delivery of reference chemicals to the OPCW analytical laboratory in the Netherlands;
- Contribution to decision making, planning, management, training and maintenance of the Task Force of the DDPS for emergency management in the event of chemical terrorism (PDF, 1.51 MB) ;
- Training of new OPCW inspectors (12) during a systematic OPCW Mock inspection of our Toxic Substances Laboratory;
- Support for international cooperation and assistance programme set out in the CWC by training a young Romanian scientist in the field of the organic synthesis (Internship);
- Formation of the chemistry apprentices and expert for the examination;
- Formation of 1 C specialist of the Army in our laboratories;
- Support of the Arms Control Service with the necessary technical skills for disarmament, arms controls, and the application of the CWC.