Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs No. 76 / 1962 Coll.
Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the Antarctic Treaty
Valid
Effective from 14.06.1962
76
DECLARATION
Minister for Foreign Affairs
of 11 July 1962
on the Antarctic Treaty
The Antarctic Treaty was negotiated in Washington on 1 December 1959.
The National Assembly agreed with the Treaty on 29 March 1962 and the President of the Republic signed the Charter on the access of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic to the Treaty on 6 May 1962.
The access document was deposited with the United States State Department on 14 June 1962.
According to Article XIII (5), the Treaty entered into force on the same day for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
The Czech translation of the Treaty is announced simultaneously.
David v. r.
Antarctic Treaty
Governments of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, French Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America,
Recognising that it is in the interests of all humanity that Antarctica should continue to serve exclusively peaceful purposes and not become the scene or subject to international disputes;
recognising the substantial contribution to scientific knowledge on the basis of international cooperation in scientific research in Antarctica;
convinced that the creation of a solid basis for continuing this cooperation and for developing it on the basis of free scientific research in Antarctica, as was the case during the International Geophysical Year, is in line with the interests of science and the progress of all mankind;
being further convinced that the Treaty which ensures the use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes and the continuation of international understanding in Antarctica will contribute to the achievement of the objectives and principles of the United Nations Charter;
agree on the following:
1. Antarctic will be used only for peaceful purposes. Any measures of a military nature, such as the construction of military bases and fortifications, the conduct of military maneuvers, as well as attempts at any kind of weapon, shall be prohibited.
2. This Treaty shall not prevent the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes.
Free scientific research in Antarctica and cooperation in this respect, as applied during the International Geophysical Year, shall continue in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty.
1. In order to promote international cooperation in scientific research in Antarctica, as provided for in Article II of this Treaty, the Contracting Parties agree that they will, as far as possible and practically feasible:
(a) exchange information on scientific work plans in Antarctica to ensure maximum saving of resources and efficiency of work;
(b) to exchange scientific staff between Antarctic expeditions and stations;
(c) exchange data and results of scientific observations in Antarctica and ensure free access to them.
2. In implementing this Article, the establishment of active cooperation with the United Nations and other international organisations interested in Antarctica from a scientific or technical point of view shall be encouraged.
1. Nothing contained in this Treaty shall be construed as:
(a) the renunciation of any Contracting Party previously declared rights or rights to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica;
(b) the renunciation of any of the Contracting Parties of any basis for claims for territorial sovereignty in Antarctica, or the restriction of that background which any Contracting Party may obtain as a result of its activities or activities by its citizens in Antarctica or for other reasons;
(c) damage to the positions of any of the Contracting Parties as regards the recognition or non-recognition of its right or right or the ground for claims by any other State to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.
2. No action or activity falling within the scope of this Treaty until it is in force shall be a basis for declaring, supporting or denying any rights to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica and shall not create any rights to sovereignty in Antarctica. No new claims to extend existing territorial sovereignty rights in Antarctica will be applied until this Treaty is in force.
1. Any nuclear explosions in Antarctica as well as the disposal of radioactive waste material in this area shall be prohibited.
2. If international agreements are to be concluded on the use of nuclear energy, including nuclear explosions and the disposal of radioactive waste material, in which all the Contracting Parties whose representatives have the right to participate in the conferences provided for in Article IX shall apply in Antarctica the rules laid down in those agreements.
The provisions of this Treaty shall apply to an area south of the 60th parallel of the south latitude, including floating glaciers, but nothing contained in this Treaty shall harm and shall in no way affect the rights of any State or the exercise of those rights recognised by international law on the high seas in this field.
1. In order to achieve the objectives set and to respect the provisions of this Treaty, each Contracting Party whose representatives may participate in the conferences provided for in Article IX of this Treaty shall have the right to appoint observers for any inspection foreseen by this Article. Observers must be citizens of the Contracting Parties appointing them. The names of observers shall be notified to each of the Contracting Parties which has the right to appoint observers; a similar message shall be sent in the event of termination of their duties.
2. Any observer appointed under point 1 of this Article shall have full freedom of access to any or all areas of Antarctica at any time.
3. All areas of Antarctica, including all stations and facilities in those areas, as well as all seagoing ships and aircraft on bases where cargo or personnel in Antarctica are unloaded or loaded, shall be accessible at any time for inspection by observers appointed in accordance with point 1 of this Article.
4. Air observation may be carried out at any time and above any or all areas of Antarctica by any Contracting Party that has the right to appoint observers.
5. Each Contracting Party, when this Treaty becomes applicable to it, shall inform the other Contracting Parties and inform them in due time:
(a) all trips to Antarctica or to the Antarctic region which are carried out by its ships or its citizens and all journeys to Antarctica which are organised on its territory or are broadcast from its territory;
(b) all stations in Antarctica operated by its citizens;
(c) any military personnel or equipment intended for secondment to Antarctica, taking into account the conditions laid down in point 2 of Article I of this Treaty.
1. Observers, appointed pursuant to point 1 of Article VII, and scientific staff, exchanged under point 1 (b) of Article III of the Treaty, as well as staff accompanying such persons, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Contracting Party whose citizens they are, in order to facilitate the performance of their functions under this Treaty and without prejudice to the respective positions of each Contracting Party in relation to jurisdiction over all other persons in Antarctica, in order to exercise their functions.
2. The Contracting Parties concerned, without prejudice to the provisions of point 1 of this Article and before taking the measures referred to in point 1 (e) of Article IX, shall immediately consult each other in order to reach a mutually acceptable solution, if any dispute concerning jurisdiction in the Antarctic has occurred.
1. The representatives of the Contracting Parties referred to in the preamble to this Treaty shall meet in Canberra no later than two months after the entry into force of this Treaty and shall meet at the next time at the dates and places specified for the purpose of exchange of information, mutual consultations on Antarctic issues of general interest as well as for the development, examination and recommendation of measures to their governments to contribute to the achievement of the principles and objectives of this Treaty, including measures on:
(a) the use of Antarctica only for peaceful purposes;
(b) promoting scientific research in Antarctica;
(c) promoting international scientific cooperation in Antarctica;
(d) aid for the exercise of the rights of inspection provided for in Article VII of this Treaty;
(e) issues relating to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica;
(f) the protection and conservation of living resources in Antarctica.
2. Any Contracting Party which becomes a Party to the Treaty with an approach under Article XIII shall have the right to appoint its representatives to participate in the conferences referred to in point 1 of this Article, as long as that Contracting Party demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by carrying out substantial scientific and research activities there, such as the construction of a scientific centre or the deployment of a scientific expedition.
3. The reports of observers referred to in Article VII of this Treaty shall be forwarded to representatives of the Contracting Parties participating in the conferences referred to in point 1 of this Article.
4. The measures referred to in point 1 of this Article shall enter into force upon approval by all Contracting Parties whose representatives have the right to participate in conferences convened to discuss such measures.
5. Certain rights, or all rights provided for in this Treaty, may be exercised as soon as the Treaty enters into force, whether or not any measures contributing to the exercise of those rights have been proposed, negotiated or approved as envisaged in this Article.
Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to make appropriate efforts, in accordance with the United Nations Charter, to avoid any activity in Antarctica contrary to the principles or objectives of this Treaty.
1. If there is any dispute between two or more Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or implementation of this Treaty, they shall consult each other to resolve the dispute by negotiation, investigation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial or other peaceful means chosen by them.
2. Any such dispute, which will not be resolved in that way, shall be submitted with the consent of all parties involved in the dispute to the International Court. However, if no agreement is reached on the submission of a dispute to the International Court, the parties concerned shall not be deprived of the obligation to continue to seek to resolve it by the various peaceful means referred to in point 1 of this Article.
1. (a) This Treaty may be amended or supplemented at any time by agreement of all Contracting Parties whose representatives have the right to participate in the conferences foreseen by Article IX. Any such amendment or supplement shall enter into force when the Government with which the Treaty is imposed receives a report from all these Contracting Parties on their ratification.
(b) This amendment or supplement shall then enter into force, for any other Contracting Party, until the Government with which the Treaty is deposited receives a report on their ratification. Any such Contracting Party which does not submit a report on ratification within two years of the entry into force of the amendment or supplement pursuant to paragraph 1 (a) of this Article shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the Treaty as from the date of expiry of this period.
2. (a) If, 30 years after the entry into force of this Treaty, one of the Contracting Parties, whose representatives have the right to participate in the conferences foreseen in Article IX, requests the Government with which the Treaty is imposed, shall be convened as quickly as practicable by the Conference of all Contracting Parties to discuss how the Treaty is implemented.
(b) Any amendment to or amendment to this Treaty, approved at that Conference by a majority of the Contracting Parties represented therein, including the majority of those parties whose representatives have the right to participate in the conferences foreseen in Article IX, shall be notified by the Government with which the Treaty is imposed to all Contracting Parties without delay after the end of the Conference and shall enter into force in accordance with point 1 of this Article.
(c) If any such amendment or supplement does not enter into force in accordance with the provisions of point 1 (a) of this Article within two years of the date on which all the Contracting Parties have been informed thereof, either Party may at any time after expiry of that period notify the Government with which the Treaty is imposed of its withdrawal from the Treaty; Such withdrawal shall take effect two years after the date on which the Government with which the Treaty is imposed has been informed.
1. This Treaty is subject to ratification by the States that signed it. It shall be open to access to any State which is a member of the United Nations or any other State which, with the agreement of all the Contracting Parties whose representatives have the right to participate in the conferences foreseen in Article IX of this Treaty, may be invited to accede to the Treaty.
2. Each State shall ratify or accede to this Treaty in accordance with its own constitutional rules.
3. The instruments of ratification and accession shall be deposited with the Government of the United States of America, which shall be the depositary.
4. The Government with which the Treaty is imposed shall inform all States which have signed and acceded to the Treaty of the date of deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession and of the date of entry into force of the Treaty and of any amendment or addition thereto.
5. When all the States that have signed the Treaty deposit the instruments of ratification, this Treaty shall become valid for those States and for those States that have deposited the instruments of accession. In the future, the Treaty will enter into force for each State which accedes to it after the deposit of its instrument of accession.
6. This Treaty shall be registered by the Government with which it is deposited, pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.
This Treaty, drawn up in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each text being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America, which shall send certified copies of the Treaty to the governments of the States which signed it or acceded to it.
In evidence of this, the authorised representatives, duly authorised to do so, have signed this Treaty.
In Washington, December 1, 1959.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | Decree No 76 / 1962 Coll., on the Antarctic Treaty |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | - |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 03.08.1962 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | 14.06.1962 |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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