Antarctica Government 2001

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Antarctica

Government type:

Antarctic Treaty Summary - the Antarctic Treaty, signed on 1 December 1959 and entered into force on 23 June 1961, establishes the legal framework for the management of Antarctica. The 23rd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting was held in Peru in May 1999. At the end of 2000, there were 44 treaty member nations:

Legal system:

Antarctica is administered through meetings of the consultative member nations. Decisions from these meetings are carried out by these member nations (within their areas) in accordance with their own national laws. US law, including certain criminal offenses by or against US nationals, such as murder, may apply extra-territorially. Some US laws directly apply to Antarctica. For example, the Antarctic Conservation Act, 16 U.S.C. section 2401 et seq., provides civil and criminal penalties for the following activities, unless authorized by regulation of statute:

NOTE: The information regarding Antarctica on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Antarctica Government 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Antarctica Government 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.