(1) The States Parties to this Treaty undertake not to install or place on the seabed and in the seabed or in their subsoil, beyond the outer limit of the seabed area defined in Art. II, no nuclear weapon or other type of weapon of mass destruction, nor any construction, launch facility or other installation specifically designed for the storage, testing or use of such weapons.

2. The commitments set out in s. 1 of this Article shall also apply to the seabed area referred to in that paragraph, if only within the seabed area they do not apply either to the riparian State or to the bottom of the seas below its waters Territorial.

3. The States Parties to this Treaty undertake not to assist, encourage or induce any State to engage in the activities mentioned in par. 1 of this article and not to participate in any other way in such acts.

For the purposes of this Treaty, the outer limit of the seabed area referred to in Article 1 shall coincide with the outer limit of the twelve-mile zone mentioned in the second part of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Area Contiguous, signed at Geneva on April 29, 1958 ¹ , and shall be measured in accordance with the provisions of Part I, Section II, of the said Convention and in accordance with international law.

1. In order to promote the objectives of this Treaty and ensure compliance with its provisions, any State Party to the Treaty shall have the right to verify, by observing them, the activities of other States Parties to the Treaty on the Bottom of the Sea and the Oceans And in their subsoil beyond the zone referred to in Article 1, provided that such observation does not hinder such activities.

(2) If, as a result of this observation, there are reasonable doubts as to the fulfilment of the obligations assumed under the Treaty, the State Party which has these doubts and the State Party which is responsible for the activities giving rise to these doubts shall Consult in order to eliminate doubts. If the State Party persists in its doubts, it shall inform the other States Parties, and the Parties concerned shall cooperate for the purposes of any other verification procedures to be agreed upon, including the appropriate inspection of the Objects, constructs, installations or other arrangements that could reasonably be assumed to have the character described in section 1. Parties in the region of such activities, including any other riparian State, or any other Party upon request, shall be entitled to participate in such consultation and cooperation. After the other verification procedures have been completed, the Party that has initiated these procedures will send the other Parties an appropriate report.

3. If the State responsible for activities giving rise to reasonable doubts cannot be identified by the observation of the object, construction, installation or other development, the State Party which has these doubts shall notify the States Parties located in the region of such activities and any other State Party and shall carry out appropriate investigations with them. If it is established by such investigations that a particular State Party is responsible for such activities, that State Party shall enter into consultation and collaborate with the other Parties as provided for in para. 2 of this article. If the identity of the State responsible for such activities cannot be determined by such investigations, other verification procedures, including inspection, may be undertaken by the investigating State Party, which will seek the participation of the Parties in the region of activities, including any riparian State, or any other Party that wishes to collaborate.

4. If the consultation and collaboration provided for in s. 2 and 3 of this Article shall not eliminate doubts about activities and that the fulfilment of obligations assumed under this Treaty shall be seriously challenged, a State Party may, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, to refer the matter to the Security Council, which may take measures in accordance with the Charter.

5. Any State Party may carry out the verification provided for in this Article, either by its own means or with the full or partial assistance of any other State Party, or by appropriate international procedures in the context of The United Nations and in accordance with the Charter.

6. The verification activities provided for in this Treaty shall be exercised without any hindrance to the activities of other States Parties and shall take due account of the rights recognized in accordance with international law, including the freedoms of the The high seas and the rights of the riparian states in the exploration and exploitation of their continental shelf.

Nothing in this Treaty shall be construed as constituting support or prejudice to the position of a State Party concerning the international conventions in force, including the 1958 Convention ¹ On the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, or affecting the rights or claims which the State Party may assert, or the recognition or non-recognition of the rights or claims of any other State, in respect of the waters off Its coasts, including, inter alia, territorial seas and adjacent areas, or on the seabed and ocean floor, including continental shelves.

The Parties to the Treaty undertake to pursue negotiations in good faith on new disarmament measures in order to prevent an arms race on the seabed and the oceans as well as in their subsoil.

Any State Party may propose amendments to this Treaty. These amendments shall enter into force, with respect to any State Party which has accepted them, upon their acceptance by the majority of the States Parties to the Treaty, and thereafter, with respect to each of the other States Parties, on the date on which that State Party Will have accepted.

Five years after the entry into force of this Treaty, a Conference of the Parties to the Treaty will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to examine the functioning of the Treaty with a view to ensuring that the objectives set out in the preamble and the provisions of the Treaty Are duly observed. In this revision, all relevant technological developments will be taken into account. The Review Conference shall determine, in accordance with the views of the majority of the Parties present at the Conference, whether and when to hold another Review Conference.

Any State Party to this Treaty, in the exercise of its national sovereignty, shall have the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it considers that extraordinary events relating to the subject matter of the Treaty have compromised the best interests of its country. It shall notify all other States Parties to the Treaty and the Security Council of the United Nations of such withdrawal with three months' notice. The said notification shall contain a statement of extraordinary events which the State in question considers to have compromised its higher interests.

The provisions of this Treaty shall in no way affect the obligations assumed by States Parties to the Treaty under international instruments establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones.

This Treaty shall be open for signature by all States. Any State which has not signed the Treaty before it enters into force in accordance with paragraph 1. 3 of this article may accede to it at any time.

2. This Treaty shall be subject to ratification by the signatory States. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, designated by Present as depositary governments.

(3) This Treaty shall enter into force after the deposit of instruments of ratification by twenty-two Governments, including Governments designated as depositary of this Treaty.

(4) In respect of States whose instruments of ratification or accession shall be deposited after its entry into force, this Treaty shall enter into force on the date of the deposit of their instruments of ratification or accession.

Depositary Governments shall promptly inform the Governments of all States which have signed or acceded to this Treaty, of the date of each signature, of the date of deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession, of The date of entry into force of the Treaty and the receipt of all other opinions.

(6) This Treaty shall be registered by the Depositary Governments in accordance with Art. 102 of the United Nations Charter.

This Treaty, of which the English, Russian, French, Spanish and Chinese texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Depositary Governments. Certified true copies of this Treaty shall be sent by the Depositary Governments to the Governments of the States which have signed or acceded to the Treaty.

In witness whereof, The undersigned, duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Treaty.

Done in three copies, in London, Moscow and Washington, on February 11 mil nine hundred and one.

(Suivent signatures)