The Alliance Party has described yesterday's statement by Gen de Chastelain's decommissioning body as "very encouraging".
After meeting the general yesterday afternoon, the party leader, Mr Sean Neeson, said the document represented a "major development".
"What the decommissioning body has said will amount to the IRA putting weapons beyond use or permanently unusable at some point in the future. Following our meeting with Gen de Chastelain we are now satisfied that decommissioning can occur under the direct supervision of the IICD," he said.
"All this is a major development and to be welcomed. While it demonstrates that the IRA is serious about decommissioning there is still an urgent need for it to confirm that the context has now been created for actual decommissioning to begin. That needs to happen quickly," Mr Neeson added.
The Alliance Party leader said his party's interpretation of the two governments' package was that its various aspects were interdependent on each other. Therefore, if decommissioning did not proceed all other parts of the package would also be blocked.
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition welcomed the IICD's statement, describing it as a "big step forward".
A party spokeswoman told The Irish Times that the move was "somewhat historic". "We think this is quite a big step. It is the first time they [the IRA] have actually outlined proposals on how to put weapons beyond use. If it is good enough for Gen de Chastelain and his commission it is good enough for us," she said.
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition was the only party to respond to the two governments' joint proposals on implementing the Belfast Agreement by yesterday's "deadline".
In its submission, the NIWC said it accepted the proposals and regarded them "as pointing the direction society should move to eventually restore normality to Northern Ireland".