Svalbard Treaty

The Treaty concerning Spitsbergen of February 9 1920 placed the arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen (now called Svalbard) as an overseas part of Kingdom of Norway (article 1). However, as part of the compromise with the signatories, despite Norwegian sovereignty not all Norwegian law applies. The treaty only partly demilitarizes Svalbard. All signatories were given equal rights to run commercial activities (mainly coal mining) on the islands. Currently (2004) Norway and Russia are utilising this right.

The original signatories include Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (including overseas dominions) and the United States. The Soviet Union signed in 1924 and Germany in 1925. There are now over 40 signatories.

Norway took over governorship in 1925 and immediately enacted a series of environmental protection measures.

See also

• History of Svalbard
• List of treaties

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