Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)
To date over 2,000 nuclear weapon tests have been carried out worldwide. The German Government is working towards the goal of ensuring that the North Korean test of 9 October 2006 remains the last of its kind and that nuclear tests are banned worldwide. This is the aim of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which has not yet entered into force.
The CTBT is a major building block in the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, as well as an important complement to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The CTBT aims to prevent the development and procurement of nuclear weapons by non-nuclear weapon States. Moreover, it is intended to prevent the nuclear-weapon States from developing new additions to their arsenals, thus supporting the aim of nuclear disarmament laid down in Article 6 of the NPT.
The Foreign Ministers' appeal
Intergovernmental conferences are held every two years (most recently on 17 September 2007 in Vienna) with the aim of facilitating the Treaty's entry into force. In the alternate years – most recently on 24 September 2008 – the Foreign Ministers of the Signatory States issue a joint statement on the fringes of the UN General Assembly calling for the Treaty's entry into force.
Ratification status
The CTBT was adopted in UN Resolution 50/245 on 10 September 1996 and opened for signature by all States two weeks later on 24 September.
It has meanwhile been signed by 180 countries, 148 of which have ratified it. However, it can only enter into force when 44 of the countries listed in Annex 2 of the Treaty have ratified it. Nine of these Annex 2 countries have yet to do this.
Out of the five NPT nuclear-weapon States (China, France, the UK, Russia and the USA), China and the United States have to date merely signed the CTBT. This, however, already makes them members of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission in Vienna. All EU Member States have ratified the Treaty, as well as all NATO and G8 members apart from the USA.
The German Government, both in its own right and together with its EU partners, is endeavouring to speed the Treaty's entry into force, placing particular pressure on the nine "hold-out" States.
CTBTO Preparatory Commission
The Vienna-based CTBTO (Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organization), set up to implement the Treaty, has the temporary status of a Preparatory Commission until the Treaty enters into force. Since 2005 its Executive Secretary has been Ambassador Tobor Tóth (Hungary), whose German predecessor, Ambassador Wolfgang Hoffmann, had headed the Commission since its foundation in 1997.
In 2009 the CTBTO's budget amounts to around 52.6 million US dollars plus 48.5 million euro; with a share of 8.7%, Germany is the third-largest contributor (after the US and Japan).
Global verification system
Although not yet in force, the Treaty's political effect already provides a major contribution toward the goal of ending nuclear test explosions worldwide. All Signatory States have declared, and adhered to, a moratorium on nuclear tests. The CTBTO's unique verification system – a global network of 321 monitoring stations, over 60% of which are already operational – already allows it to detect even minor underground nuclear detonations.
The International Monitoring System consists of a network of stations covering all test media (the earth's crust, the atmosphere and the oceans) which are equipped with one out of four verification techniques (seismic, radionuclide, infrasound and hydroacoustic).
Germany advocates that the CTBTO's verification techniques and results also be made available to the civil and scientific sector, particularly as regards disaster early warning.
Germany's contribution
Five German stations are part of the International Monitoring System – the two seismological and two infrasound stations run by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the radionuclide station operated by the Institute for Atmospheric Radioactivity (IAR) of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection. Germany also uses the expertise of the Bundeswehr Institute for Underwater sound and Geophysical Research in the field of hydroacoustics to help realize the Treaty's aims. In addition, the BGR has assumed the role of National Data Centre.
Last updated 29.01.2009