[CENTER]402 UNTS 71
Entered into force June 23, 1961
Signed at Washington December 1, 1959
Ratification advised by U.S. Senate August 10, 1960
Ratified by U.S. President August 18, 1960
U.S. ratification deposited at Washington August 18, 1960
Proclaimed by U.S. President June 23, 1961
Entered into force June 23, 1961
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 forever 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
measures of a military nature, such as the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying
out of military maneuvers, as well as the testing of any type of weapons.
2. The present treaty shall not prevent the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research
or for any other peaceful purposes.
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 and efficiency of operations;
(b) scientific personnel shall be exchanged in Antarctica between expeditions and stations;
© 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 Specialized Agencies of the United Nations and other international
organizations 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;
© prejudicing the position of any Contracting Party as regards its recognition or non-recognition of any
other States right 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 60o 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
© 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 subparagraph 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.
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;
© 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 time as that Contracting Party demonstrates its interest in Antarctica
by conducting substantial scientific 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 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 provisions 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 the 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.
© 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 of 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 instrument 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.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, duly authorized, have signed the present
treaty.
DONE at Washington this first day of December, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine.

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