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Text of the Antarctic Treaty, 1959 Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs U.S. Department of State

The Governments of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, the French 
Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Union of South Africa, the 
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America,
   Recognizing that it is in the interest of all mankind that 
Antarctica shall continue for ever to be used exclusively for peaceful 
purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international 
discord;
   Acknowledging the substantial contributions to scientific knowledge 
resulting from international cooperation in scientific investigation in 
Antarctica;
   Convinced that the establishment of a firm foundation for the 
continuation and development of such cooperation on the basis of 
freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica as applied during the 
International Geophysical Year accords with the interests of science 
and the progress of all mankind;
   Convinced also that a treaty ensuring the use of Antarctica for 
peaceful purposes only and the continuance of international harmony in 
Antarctica will further the purposes and principles embodied in the 
Charter of the United Nations;
   Have agreed as follows:

Article I

1.  Antarctica shall be used for peaceful purposes only.  There shall 
be prohibited, inter alia, any measure of a military nature, such as 
the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying 
out of military manoeuvres, as well as the testing of any type of 
weapon.
2.  The present Treaty shall not prevent the use of military personnel 
or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose.

Article II

Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica and cooperation 
toward that end, as applied during the International Geophysical Year, 
shall continue, subject to the provisions of the present Treaty.

Article III

1.  In order to promote international cooperation in scientific 
investigation in Antarctica, as provided for in Article II of the 
present Treaty, the Contracting Parties agree that, to the greatest 
extent feasible and practicable:
     a.     information regarding plans for scientific programs in 
Antarctica shall be exchanged to permit maximum economy of and 
efficiency of operations;
     b.     scientific personnel shall be exchanged in Antarctica 
between expeditions and stations;
     c.     scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall 
be exchanged and made freely available.
2.  In implementing this Article, every encouragement shall be given to 
the establishment of cooperative working relations with those 
specialised agencies of the United Nations and other international 
organisations having a scientific or technical interest in Antarctica.

Article IV

1.  Nothing contained in the present Treaty shall be interpreted as:
     a.     a renunciation by any Contracting Party of previously 
asserted rights of or claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica;
     b.     a  renunciation or diminution by any Contracting Party of 
any basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica which it 
may have whether as a result of its activities or those of its 
nationals in Antarctica, or otherwise;
     c.     prejudicing the position of any Contracting Party as 
regards its recognition or non-recognition of any other State's rights 
of or claim or basis of claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.
2.  No acts or activities taking place while the present Treaty is in 
force shall constitute a basis for asserting, supporting or denying a 
claim to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica or create any rights of 
sovereignty in Antarctica.  No new claim, or enlargement of an existing 
claim, to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica shall be asserted while 
the present Treaty is in force.

Article V

1.  Any nuclear explosions in Antarctica and the disposal there of 
radioactive waste material shall be prohibited.
2.  In the event of the conclusion of international agreements 
concerning the use of nuclear energy, including nuclear explosions and 
the disposal of radioactive waste material, to which all of the 
Contracting Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate 
in the meetings provided for under Article IX are parties, the rules 
established under such agreements shall apply in Antarctica.

Article VI

The provisions of the present Treaty shall apply to the area south of 
60° South Latitude, including all ice shelves, but nothing in the 
present Treaty shall prejudice or in any way affect the rights, or the 
exercise of the rights, of any State under international law with 
regard to the high seas within that area.

Article VII

1.  In order to promote the objectives and ensure the observance of the 
provisions of the present Treaty, each Contracting Party whose 
representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings referred to 
in Article IX of the Treaty shall have the right to designate observers 
to carry out any inspection provided for by the present Article.  
Observers shall be nationals of the Contracting Parties which designate 
them.  The names of observers shall be communicated to every other 
Contracting Party having the right to designate observers, and like 
notice shall be given of the termination of their appointment.
2.  Each observer designated in accordance with the provisions of 
paragraph 1 of this Article shall have complete freedom of access at 
any time to any or all areas of Antarctica.
3.  All areas of Antarctica, including all stations, installations and 
equipment within those areas, and all ships and aircraft at points of 
discharging or embarking cargoes or personnel in Antarctica, shall be 
open at all times to inspection by any observers designated in 
accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article.
4.  Aerial observation may be carried out at any time over any or all 
areas of Antarctica by any of the Contracting Parties having the right 
to designate observers.
5.  Each Contracting Party shall, at the time when the present Treaty 
enters into force for it, inform the other Contracting Parties, and 
thereafter shall give them notice in advance, of
     a.     all expeditions to and within Antarctica, on the part of 
its ships or nationals, and all expeditions to Antarctica organized in 
or proceeding from its territory;
     b.     all stations in Antarctica occupied by its nationals; and
     c.     any military personnel or equipment intended to be 
introduced by it into Antarctica subject to the conditions prescribed 
in paragraph 2 of Article I of the present Treaty.

Article VIII

1.  In order to facilitate the exercise of their functions under the 
present Treaty, and without prejudice to the respective positions of 
the Contracting Parties relating to jurisdiction over all other persons 
in Antarctica, observers designated under paragraph 1 of Article VII 
and scientific personnel exchanged under sub-paragraph 1(b) of Article 
III of the Treaty, and members of the staffs accompanying any such 
persons, shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of the Contracting 
Party of which they are nationals in respect of all acts or omissions 
occurring while they are in Antarctica for the purpose of exercising 
their functions.
2.  Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, 
and pending the adoption of measures in pursuance of subparagraph 1(e) 
of Article IX, the Contracting Parties concerned in any case of dispute 
with regard to the exercise of jurisdiction in Antarctica shall 
immediately consult together with a view to reaching a mutually 
acceptable solution.

Article IX

1.  Representatives of the Contracting Parties named in the preamble to 
the present Treaty shall meet at the City of Canberra within two months 
after the date of entry into force of the Treaty, and thereafter at 
suitable intervals and places, for the purpose of exchanging 
information, consulting together on matters of common interest 
pertaining to Antarctica, and formulating and considering, and 
recommending to their Governments, measures in furtherance of the 
principles and objectives of the Treaty, including measures regarding:
     a.     use of Antarctica for peaceful purposes only;
     b.     facilitation of scientific research in Antarctica;
     c.     facilitation of international scientific cooperation in 
Antarctica;
     d.      facilitation of the exercise of the rights of inspection 
provided for in Article VII of the Treaty;
     e.     questions relating to the exercise of jurisdiction in 
Antarctica;
     f.     preservation and conservation of living resources in 
Antarctica.
2.  Each Contracting Party which has become a party to the present 
Treaty by accession under Article XIII shall be entitled to appoint 
representatives to participate in the meetings referred to in paragraph 
1 of the present Article, during such times as that Contracting Party 
demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial 
research activity there, such as the establishment of a scientific 
station or the despatch of a scientific expedition.
3.  Reports from the observers referred to in Article VII of the 
present Treaty shall be transmitted to the representatives of the 
Contracting Parties participating in the meetings referred to in 
paragraph 1 of the present Article.
4.  The measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall 
become effective when approved by all the Contracting Parties whose 
representatives were entitled to participate in the meetings held to 
consider those measures.
5.  Any or all of the rights established in the present Treaty may be 
exercised as from the date of entry into force of the Treaty whether or 
not any measures facilitating the exercise of such rights have been 
proposed, considered or approved as provided in this Article.

Article X

Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to exert appropriate 
efforts, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations, to the end 
that no one engages in any activity in Antarctica contrary to the 
principles or purposes of the present Treaty.

Article XI

1.  If any dispute arises between two or more of the Contracting 
Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the present 
Treaty, those Contracting Parties shall consult among themselves with a 
view to having the dispute resolved by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, 
conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement or other peaceful means 
of their own choice.
2.  Any dispute of this character not so resolved shall, with the 
consent, in each case, of all parties to the dispute, be referred to 
the International Court of Justice for settlement; but failure to reach 
agreement on reference to the International Court shall not absolve 
parties to the dispute from the responsibility of continuing to seek to 
resolve it by any of the various peaceful means referred to in 
paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article XII

1.
     a.     The present Treaty may be modified or amended at any time 
by unanimous agreement of the Contracting Parties whose representatives 
are entitled to participate in the meetings provided for under Article 
IX.  Any such modification or amendment shall enter into force when the 
depositary Government has received notice from all such Contracting 
Parties that they have ratified it.
     b.     Such modification or amendment shall thereafter enter into 
force as to any other Contracting Party when notice of ratification by 
it has been received by the depositary Government.  Any such 
Contracting Party from which no notice of ratification is received 
within a period of two years from the date of entry into force of the 
modification or amendment in accordance with the provision of 
subparagraph 1(a) of this Article shall be deemed to have withdrawn 
from the present Treaty on the date of the expiration of such period.
2.
     a.     If after the expiration of thirty years from the date of 
entry into force of the present Treaty, any of the Contracting Parties 
whose representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings 
provided for under Article IX so requests by a communication addressed 
to the depositary Government, a Conference of all the Contracting 
Parties shall be held as soon as practicable to review the operation of 
the Treaty.
     b.     Any modification or amendment to the present Treaty which 
is approved at such a Conference by a majority of the Contracting 
Parties there represented, including a majority of those whose 
representatives are entitled to participate in the meetings provided 
for under Article IX, shall be communicated by the depositary 
Government to all Contracting Parties immediately after the termination 
of the Conference and shall enter into force in accordance with the 
provisions of paragraph 1 of the present Article
     c.     If any such modification or amendment has not entered into 
force in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph 1(a) of this 
Article within a period of two years after the date of its 
communication to all the Contracting Parties, any Contracting Party may 
at any time after the expiration of that period give notice to the 
depositary Government of its withdrawal from the present Treaty; and 
such withdrawal shall take effect two years after the receipt of the 
notice by the depositary Government.

Article XIII

1.  The present Treaty shall be subject to ratification by the 
signatory States.  It shall be open for accession by any State which is 
a Member of the United Nations, or by any other State which may be 
invited to accede to the Treaty with the consent of all the Contracting 
Parties whose representatives are entitled to participate in the 
meetings provided for under Article IX of the Treaty.
2.  Ratification of or accession to the present Treaty shall be 
effected by each State in accordance with its constitutional processes.
3.  Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be 
deposited with the Government of the United States of America, hereby 
designated as the depositary Government.
4.  The depositary Government shall inform all signatory and acceding 
States of the date of each deposit of an instrument of ratification or 
accession, and the date of entry into force of the Treaty and of any 
modification or amendment thereto.
5.  Upon the deposit of instruments of ratification by all the 
signatory States, the present Treaty shall enter into force for those 
States and for States which have deposited instruments of accession.  
Thereafter the Treaty shall enter into force for any acceding State 
upon the deposit of its instruments of accession.
6. The present Treaty shall be registered by the depositary Government 
pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Article XIV

The present Treaty, done in the English, French, Russian and Spanish 
languages, each version being equally authentic, shall be deposited in 
the archives of the Government of the United States of America, which 
shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to the Governments of the 
signatory and acceding States.

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