Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

General Description

COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY (CTBT)
Opened for signature: 24 September 1996. Enters into force:
Duration: The Treaty is of unlimited duration. Each State Party has the right to withdraw from the CTBT if it decides that extraordinary events related to its subject matter have jeopardized its supreme national interests.
Number of signatories: 154 Number of ratifications: 48
Depository: UN Secretary-General.

Structure: The Treaty itself includes a Protocol in three parts: Part I detailing the International Monitoring System (IMS); Part II on On-Site Inspections (OSI); and Part III on Confidence Building Measures. There are also two Annexes to the Protocol: Annex 1 detailing the location of various treaty monitoring assets associated with the IMS; and  Annex 2 detailing the parameters for screening events.

Basic obligations: The CTBT will ban any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion (i.e. true zero yield).

Organization: The Treaty establishes a CTBT Organization (CTBTO), to be located in Vienna, to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including those for international verification measures.

Verification and inspections: The Treaty's verification regime includes an international monitoring system (IMS) composed of seismological, radionucleide, hydroacoustic and infrasound monitoring; consultation and clarification; on-site inspections; and confidence building measures. The use of national technical means, vital for the Treaty's verification regime, is explicitly provided for. Requests for on-site inspections must be approved by at least 30 affirmative votes of members of the Treaty's 51-member Executive Council. The Executive Council must act within 96 hours of receiving a  request for an inspection.

Treaty compliance and sanctions: The Treaty provides for measures to redress a situation and to ensure compliance, including sanctions, and for settlement of disputes. If the Conference or Executive Council determines that a case is of particular gravity, it can bring the issue to the attention of the United Nations.

Amendments: Any state party to the Treaty may propose an amendment to the Treaty, the Protocol, or the Annexes to the Protocol. Amendments shall be considered by an Amendment Conference and shall be adopted by a positive vote of a majority of the States parties with no State party casting a negative vote.

Entry into force: The Treaty will enter into force 180 days after the date of deposit of the instruments of ratification by all States listed in Annex 2 to this Treaty, but in no case earlier than two years after its opening for signature. Annex 2 includes 44 States members of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) with nuclear power and/or research reactors. (Of these 44, all have signed except for the DPRK, India, and Pakistan.) If the Treaty has not entered into force three years after the date of the anniversary of its opening for signature, a conference of the States that have already deposited their instruments of ratification may convene annually to consider and decide by consensus what measures consistent with international law may be undertaken to accelerate the ratification process in order to facilitate the early entry into force of this Treaty.

Review: Ten years after entry into force, a Conference of the States Parties will be held to review the operation and effectiveness of the Treaty.

CTBTO: The CTBTO consists of two organs, the Preparatory Commission (a plenary body) and the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS). The Preparatory Commission's task is to establish the verification regime for the CTBT. The Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO has so far held seven meetings. The last (seventh) session of the Prepatory Commission, largely devoted to the budget, was held in Vienna 9-13 November 1998. The Organization increased its budget from $27.4 million to $58.5 from 1997 to 1998.  The budget for 1999 is $74.4 million. The Eighth Preparatory Session is scheduled for 20-23 April 1999. The Chairman for the first half of 1999 is Ambassador Ki-Moon Ban (Republic of Korea). The PTS began its work on 17 March 1997 and has an international staff of approximately 160 members.The PTS cooperates with the host countries in the development and running of an international network of 321 monitoring stations. The stations send their data to the International Data Centre (IDC) to be established in Vienna.

Executive Secretary: Ambassador Wolfgang Hoffmann (Germany), Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO, Provisional Technical Secretariat, Room E-0750, Vienna International Center, P.O. Box 1200, A-1400 Vienna, AUSTRIA. Tel: (431) 26030 6200; Fax: (431) 26030 5877.

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