In December 2006, the Sixth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) has ended with a consensual agreement on a Final Declaration. This was a great success, especially because this was something the BWC had not seen since 1996 and because the Review Conference in 2001 nearly failed. Despite of this breakthrough, viewing the results from a more conceptual arms control perspective, however, the assessment must be somewhat more sober. In this field, many objectives have not been accomplished so far. Therefore, the BWC regime can not be considered stable yet.
Una Becker analyzes the outcome of the Review Conference as well as the opportunities to strengthen the regime on the bases of agreements that have been achieved already. Her study has been published in English and German as PRIF Report No. 79 „Light at the End of the Tunnel? The Sixth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention“ and as HSFK-Report 5/2007 „Licht am Ende des Tunnels? Die Sechste Überprüfungskonferenz des Biowaffen-Übereinkommens“.