The First Meeting of States Parties established an informal working group on the implementation of Article 4, “in particular work related to the future designation of a competent international authority or authorities.” Article 4 of the TPNW “Towards the elimination of nuclear weapons” outlines the pathways for the elimination of nuclear weapons of nuclear-armed states or states hosting other countries’ nuclear weapons on their territories who wish to join the TPNW.

The Vienna Action Plan includes four actions, Actions 15-18, dedicated to the implementation of Article 4, including discussing in the intersessional period the competent international authority or authorities identified in Article 4 to verify nuclear disarmament and elaborating on requirements for requests to extend the deadlines for nuclear disarmament.

At 2MSP, the co-chairs, Mexico and New Zealand, presented the report of the informal working group on the implementation of article 4. The mandate of the working group was renewed (Decision 1) with Malaysia and New Zealand appointed as co-chairs for the second intersessional period.

At 3MSP, the co-chairs, Malaysia and New Zealand, presented their intersessional report. The states parties renewed the mandate of the informal working group on the implementation of article 4 with Malaysia and the Philippines as co-chair for the next intersessional period.

Co-chairs: 

Malaysia and the Philippines (2025-present)
Malaysia and New Zealand (2023-2025)
Mexico and New Zealand (2022-2023)

Meetings:

6 September 2023
19 April 2023
02 March 2023
1 February 2023 
14 November 2022 

Resources

For resources about the Informal Working Group on article 4, click here.