(a) Purposes of the Convention.

1. (1) The Convention imposes upon the United States, as a State Party, certain declaration, inspection, and other obligations. In addition, the United States and other States Parties to the Convention undertake never under any circumstances to:

   1. (i) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone;
   2. (ii) Use chemical weapons;
   3. (iii) Engage in any military preparations to use chemical weapons; or
   4. (iv) Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited by the Convention.
2. (2) One objective of the Convention is to assure States Parties that lawful activities of chemical producers and users are not converted to unlawful activities related to chemical weapons. To achieve this objective and to give States Parties a mechanism to verify compliance, the Convention requires the United States and all other States Parties to submit declarations concerning chemical production, consumption, processing and other activities, and to permit international inspections within their borders.