Svalbard Treaty

The Svalbard Treaty, originally called the Spitsbergen Treaty, is the 1920 international agreement that recognises Norwegian sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. It was signed in Paris on 9 February 1920 during the peace settlement after the First World War and came into force on 14 August 1925, once the last original signatory, Japan, had ratified it. Norway holds sovereignty, but the exercise of that sovereignty is limited: taxes may be raised only to support the archipelago itself, military uses are restricted, and the nationals of every party have equal rights to engage in commercial activity, mainly coal mining, which Norway and Russia have used. The treaty also makes the archipelago a visa-free zone. Many further states have acceded since 1925, and the treaty now has 49 parties, so it works as a standing multilateral regime for a territory under a single state.