Svalbard Treaty

The Treaty between Norway, The United States of America, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland and the British overseas Dominions and Sweden concerning Spitsbergen signed in Paris 9th February 1920, commonly called the Svalbard Treaty or the Spitsbergen Treaty for short, recognises the full and absolute sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, and not all Norwegian law applies. The treaty regulates the demilitarisation of the archipelago. The signatories were given equal rights to engage in commercial activities (mainly coal mining) on the islands. As of 2012, Norway and Russia are utilising this right.

There were fourteen original High Contracting Parties, including: the United States, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and British overseas dominions of Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand. Several additional nations signed within the next five years before the treaty came into force, including the Soviet Union in 1924 and Germany and China in 1925. There are now over 40 signatories. The treaty was submitted for registration in the League of Nations Treaty Series on October 21, 1920.

Of the original signatories Japan was the last to ratify the treaty on 2 August 1925. Subsequently, on 14 August 1925, the treaty came into force. Norway then took over sovereign governorship and immediately enacted a series of environmental protection measures.

History

Svalbard began as a territory free of a nation, with multiple people from different countries participating in industries including fishing, whaling, mining, tourism, and research. Having no nation left Svalbard largely free of any regulations or laws, though there were conflicts over the area due to whaling rights and issues of sovereignty between The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Denmark–Norway in the first half of the 17th century. However, by the 20th century mine deposits were found in Svalbard and continual conflicts between miners and owners created a need for a government.

The Treaty

By 9 February 1920 the Spitsbergen Treaty was signed in Paris during the Versailles negotiations after World War I. In this treaty, international diplomacy recognized Norwegian sovereignty (the Norwegian administration went in effect by 1925) as well as other principles relating to Svalbard. This includes:

• Svalbard is part of Norway: Svalbard is completely controlled and part of the Kingdom of Norway. However, Norway's power over Svalbard is restricted to limitations listed below
• Taxation: This allows taxes to be collected, but only enough to support Svalbard and the Svalbard government. This results in lower taxes than mainland Norway and the exclusion of any taxes on Svalbard supporting Norway directly. Also, Svalbard's revenues and expenses are separately budgeted from mainland Norway.
• Environmental conservation: Norway must respect and preserve the Svalbard environment
• Non-discrimination: All citizens and all companies of every nation under the treaty are allowed to become residents and to have access to Svalbard including the right to fish, hunt or undertake any kind of maritime, industrial, mining or trade activity. The residents of Svalbard must follow Norwegian law though Norwegian authority cannot discriminate or favor any residents of a certain nationality.
• Military restrictions: Article 9 prohibits naval bases and fortifications and also the use of Svalbard for war-like purposes. It is not, however, entirely demilitarized.

Disputes regarding natural resources

200-nautical-mile (370 km) zone around Svalbard

There has been a long-running dispute, primarily between Norway and the Soviet Union (and now Russia) over fishing rights in the region. In 1977, Norway established a regulated fishery in a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) zone around Svalbard (though it did not close the zone to foreign access). It argues that the treaty's provisions of equal economic access only apply to the islands and their territorial waters (4 nautical miles at the time), but not to the wider Exclusive Economic Zone; in addition, it argues that the continental shelf is a part of mainland Norway's continental shelf, and should be governed by the 1958 Continental Shelf Convention. The Soviet Union and now Russia dispute this position and consider the Spitsbergen Treaty to apply to the entire zone; talks were held in 1978 in Moscow, but did not resolve the issue. Finland and Canada support Norway's position, while most of the other treaty signatories have expressed no official position. The relevant parts of the treaty go as follows:

Ships and nationals of all the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy equally the rights of fishing and hunting in the territories specified in Article 1 and in their territorial waters. (from Article 2)

They shall be admitted under the same conditions of equality to the exercise and practice of all maritime, industrial, mining or commercial enterprises both on land and in the territorial waters, and no monopoly shall be established on any account or for any enterprise whatever. (from Article 3)

Natural resources outside the 200-nautical-mile (370 km) zone

"Mainly the dispute is about whether the Svalbard Treaty also is in effect, outside the 200-nautical-mile (370 km) zone", according to Aftenposten in 2011. If the treaty comes into effect outside the zone, then Norway will not be able to claim the full 78% of profits of oil- and gas harvesting, said Aftenposten in 2011.

Signatories

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Svalbard Treaty signatories

According to this outdated list (sorted alphabetically); dates below reflect when the signatory nation ratified the treaty, which was often years after a national official actually first signed on:

Country	Date of ratification
Afghanistan	01925-11-23November 23, 1925
Albania	01930-04-29April 29, 1930
Argentina	01927-05-06May 6, 1927
Australia	01923-12-29December 29, 1923
Austria	01930-03-12March 12, 1930
Belgium	01925-05-27May 27, 1925
Bulgaria	01925-10-20October 20, 1925
Canada	01923-12-29December 29, 1923
Chile	01928-12-17December 17, 1928
China	01925-07-01July 1, 1925
Czech Republic	02006-06-21June 21, 2006
Denmark	01924-01-24January 24, 1924
Dominican Republic	01927-02-03February 3, 1927
Egypt	01925-09-13September 13, 1925
Estonia	01930-04-07April 7, 1930
Finland	01925-08-12August 12, 1925
France	01924-09-06September 6, 1924
Germany	01925-11-16November 16, 1925
Greece	01925-10-21October 21, 1925
Hungary	01927-10-29October 29, 1927
Iceland	01994-05-31May 31, 1994
India	01923-12-29December 29, 1923
Italy	01924-08-06August 6, 1924
Japan	01925-04-02April 2, 1925
Monaco	01925-06-22June 22, 1925
Netherlands	01920-09-03September 3, 1920
New Zealand	01923-12-29December 29, 1923
Norway	01924-10-08October 8, 1924
Poland	01931-09-02September 2, 1931
Portugal	01927-10-24October 24, 1927
Romania	01925-07-10July 10, 1925
Russia	01935-05-07May 7, 1935
Saudi Arabia	01925-08-14August 14, 1925
South Africa	01923-12-29December 29, 1923
Spain	01925-11-12November 12, 1925
Sweden	01924-09-15September 15, 1924
Switzerland	01925-06-30June 30, 1925
Ukraine	01935-05-07May 7, 1935
United Kingdom	01923-12-29December 29, 1923
United States	01924-04-02April 2, 1924
Venezuela	01928-02-08February 8, 1928

See also

• List of treaties

References

Literature

• Moe, Arild; Schei, Peter Johan (2005-11-18) (PDF). The High North – Challenges and Potentials.. Prepared for French-Norwegian Seminar at IFRI, Paris, 24 November 2005. Fridtjof Nansen Institute (www.fni.no). http://www.ifri.org/files/Schei.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-11. 

External links

• Treaty between Norway, The United States of America, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland and the British overseas Dominions and Sweden concerning Spitsbergen signed in Paris 9th February 1920. (In Norwegian, English and French, click "Original tekst".)
• Treaty Concerning the Archipalego of Spitsbergen
• Svalbard Treaty and Ratification (in Norwegian)
• Svalbard – an important arena - Speech by Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 15 April 2006.