Treaties and conventions Safeguards

The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (the EURATOM Treaty) brought together the six founding states of the European Economic Community to form Euratom, to address the issue of greater energy independence by looking into nuclear power. The main objective was to benefit from the development of atomic energy, to establish the nuclear industry and to ensure security of supply. The treaty guarantees high safety standards and the safeguarding of civilian nuclear materials to prevent them from being diverted to military use. Euratom’s powers are limited to peaceful civil uses of nuclear energy. The treaty entered into force at the beginning of 1958 (Euratom, 2010).

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), United Nations, New York, 1970, is a landmark international treaty whose objectives are to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology; to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy; and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. The NPT represents the only binding multilateral commitment to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon states (UN, 1970).

The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (the Tlatelolco Treaty) was opened for signature in February 1967 and entered into force in April 1969 (OPANAL, 2002). Similar nuclear weapon free zones have been developed in other areas of the world, e. g. Antarctica, with the treaties of Rarotonga, Bangkok, Pelindaba and Semipalatinsk for their respective regions, and for Mongolia.

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Substantive negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty began in January 1994 and, although disagreement blocked tangible progress for years, a final draft was presented in

June 1996. Despite objections from India, the draft was submitted to the UN General Assembly in September 1996, adopted and opened for signature. The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) was established in November 1996, it is based in Vienna (CTBT, 1996).

Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the New START Treaty) was signed in April 2010 in Prague and entered into force in February 2011. It provides for further reductions of strategic offensive nuclear arms of the two signatory states. The treaty has a duration of ten years (USSD, 2011).