The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction of 1993, or Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), represented a major (and at the time, not uncontroversial) innovation in global treaty making. Covering a whole class of weapons of mass destruction, it mandated an immediate and comprehensive ban on use and acquisition, coupled with phased destruction and buttressed by an extensive and intrusive verification system administered by a substantial and specialized international organization. The goal was the total elimination of this particular type of weapon.