Svalbard Treaty

Law on Germany's Accession to the Svalbard Treaty of July 24, 1925

Map of Svalbard

States that have signed the Svalbard Treaty

By on 9. February 1920 in Paris signed Svalbard Treaty ( Norwegian Svalbardtraktaten ) received Norway the sovereignty over the archipelago of Spitsbergen , including all islands and rocks from 74 to 81 degrees north latitude and between 10 and 35 degrees east longitude . This includes Hopen about 100 km southeast of the island of Spitsbergen , the Bear Island (Bjørnøya) located about 240 km south of Spitsbergen and the island of Kvitøya located about 100 km northeast of Nordostland (Nordaustlandet) in the Barents Sea . The contract came into force on August 14, 1925.

background

The previously uninhabited archipelago was discovered in 1596 by the Dutchman Willem Barentsz . In the period that followed, Svalbard was a stateless area in which people of different nationalities worked in the areas of fishing , whaling , mining , research and later tourism . Because of statelessness, the area was not regulated by law and other regulatory provisions for a long time. In the first half of the 17th century, for example, there were conflicts over whaling between the United Kingdom , the Netherlands and Denmark-Norway . After the discovery of mineral resources at the beginning of the 20th century, there were ongoing conflicts between mine workers and mine owners, which aroused the need for state authority.

The Svalbard Treaty was intended to ensure the development and peaceful use of Svalbard. Norway is obliged by the treaty to ensure that citizens and companies of all states that have signed the Svalbard Treaty are allowed to operate equally on the islands of Svalbard. The fishing rights within the 200-mile zone are claimed by Norway. Russia in particular contradicts this, but the European Union and Iceland are also of the opinion that the Svalbard Treaty also applies outside the territorial waters and on the continental shelf .

Content of the contract

According to Article 8 of the Svalbard Treaty, income from taxes must remain on the islands, which means that tax rates are low.

Svalbard is a demilitarized zone , so no state party may permanently station military on the island. The island was declared a neutral area by the Norwegian government in the 1950s , although NATO is allowed to intervene should demilitarization be violated in any way. Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard is controlled by the Norwegian Coast Guard , which is part of the Norwegian Naval Forces .

The Svalbard Treaty guarantees all citizens of the contracting states equal rights to work, trade and navigation in the Svalbard area. This means in particular that any citizen of a contracting state can accept a job or open a company there without any further conditions. This also explains the relatively high proportion of residents of non-Norwegian nationality in Svalbard. In Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund it reaches 23%. Overall, the largest proportion of foreigners is made up of Russia  - whose residents mainly live in the miners' settlement of Barentsburg - Thailand , which is not a signatory to the Svalbard Treaty. The import and export of goods to the respective countries may not be restricted by Norway any further than it does for its own citizens. As a result, Svalbard is now a duty-free area . Travelers to mainland Norway may also have to declare goods there when entering the country.

Contracting States

The original signatory states, along with Norway, were Denmark , France , Italy , Japan , the Netherlands , Sweden , the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (the same applies to the Dominions of Australia , Canada , New Zealand , South Africa and the British -India signed). In the meantime, other states, including Germany , Austria and Switzerland , have joined the Svalbard Treaty.

The contracting states include (including non-existing states):

Contracting State	Date of entry into force of the contract	comment
Afghanistan	November 23, 1925
Egypt	September 13, 1925
Albania	April 29, 1930
Argentina	May 6, 1927
Australia	August 14, 1925
Belgium	August 14, 1925
Bulgaria	October 20, 1925
Chile	December 17, 1928
Republic of China	August 14, 1925
Denmark	August 14, 1925
German Empire	November 16, 1925
German Democratic Republic	7th August 1974
Dominican Republic	February 3, 1927
Estonia	April 7, 1930
Finland	August 14, 1925
France	August 14, 1925
Greece	October 21, 1925
British India	August 14, 1925
Ireland	August 14, 1925
Iceland	May 31, 1994
Italy	August 14, 1925
Japan	August 14, 1925
Yugoslavia	August 14, 1925	The treaty has not yet been confirmed by the successor states
Canada	August 14, 1925
Korea, North	March 16, 2016
Korea, South	September 7, 2012
Latvia	June 13, 2016
Lithuania	17th January 2013
Monaco	August 14, 1925
New Zealand	August 14, 1925
Netherlands	August 14, 1925
Norway	August 14, 1925
Austria	March 12, 1930
Poland	September 2, 1931
Portugal	October 24, 1927
Romania	August 14, 1925
Russia	December 21, 1991	as the legal successor to the Soviet Union from its dissolution
Sultanate of Najd	August 14, 1925	as the predecessor state of Saudi Arabia
Sweden	August 14, 1925
Switzerland	August 14, 1925
Slovakia	January 1, 1993	as legal successor to Czechoslovakia from its dissolution
Soviet Union	May 7, 1935
Spain	November 12, 1925
South African Union	August 14, 1925
Czech Republic	January 1, 1993	as legal successor to Czechoslovakia from its dissolution
Czechoslovakia	June 9, 1930
Hungary	October 29, 1927
Venezuela	February 8, 1928
United Kingdom	June 9, 1930
United States	August 14, 1925

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ragnhild Grønning: Op-Ed: Need debate on the Svalbard Treaty . In: High North News , November 10, 2017 (last change: October 24, 2018), accessed November 30, 2019.
2. ↑ Svalbard population statistics 2015 . April 9, 2015. Accessed June 6, 2015.
3. ^ Text of the Svalbard Treaty
4. ↑ Detailed view of the State Treaty on www.eda.admin.ch, accessed November 11, 2016.

Web links

• Text of the Svalbard Treaty in German translation (PDF; 507 kB), systematic compilation of Swiss federal law
• Law on Germany's accession to the Svalbard Treaty of July 24, 1925 , including the text of the treaty in French, English and German
• Text of the Svalbard Treaty in the original languages ​​English and French
• Text of the Svalbard Treaty in Norwegian
• Svalbard - an important arena , regjeringen.no, speech by Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre , published on May 15, 2006.