International controls to regulate plastic explosives adopted in Montreal.

An international convention that will tighten controls over plastic explosives often used in executing acts of terrorism has been adopted by the International Conference on Air Law.

Representatives from 79 States and six observer-delegations attended the Conference, which was held from 12 February to 1 March at the Montreal headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection requires countries to prohibit and prevent the manufacture in their territory of unmarked explosives, as well as movement of such explosives into or out of their territory. All plastic explosives will have to be marked by manufacturers with any one of four "detection agents" agreed upon by the Conference.

Within three years, plastic explosive stocks not specifically held for military or police activities are to be destroyed, used or rendered ineffective. Those for military or police functions are to be similarly disposed of within 15 years.

An International Explosives Technical Commission, set up by the Convention, will assess develo0ments in plastic explosive manufacturing, marking and detection, keep the international community informed and propose amendments to the technical annex to the Convention.

Forty-one delegations signed the Convention on 1 March, the day it was adopted. It will enter into force when 35 States ratify it, provided that no fewer than five of these are producer States.

A human tragedy was the catalyst for the Convention--the destruction of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. A plastic explosive device was reportedly secreted inside a cassette player.

"The response of the international community to that act of terrorism was swift and unanimous"' UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuella recalled as he opened the Conference. The United Kingdom and Czechoslovakia jointly proposed a convention that would make...