Establishment, purpose and activities

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) was set up in 1996 with its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. It is an interim organization tasked with building up the verification regime of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
This international Treaty prohibits all nuclear explosions on Earth. A global alarm system is being established to...">Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in preparation for the Treaty's Entry into force
The moment at which all provisions of a treaty are legally binding on its parties. Every treaty specifies preconditions...">entry into force as well as promoting the Treaty's universality.

The Commission consists of two main organs: a plenary body composed of all States Signatories
All countries that have signed the CTBT. The signing of a treaty indicates that the country accepts the treaty and...">States Signatories (also known as the Preparatory Commission), which is assisted by three groups:  a working group on administrative and financial issues, another on verification-related issues, and an advisory group.

The other main body is the Provisional Technical Secretariat
Assists the CTBTO in carrying out the activities in its mandate, including the establishment of the verification regime...">Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) which assists the plenary body in carrying out its activities. The PTS has three technical divisions: the International Monitoring System
Part of the Verification Regime of the CTBT, the IMS is a network of 321 monitoring stations and 16 radionuclide...">International Monitoring System Division, the International Data Centre
Collects information from the International Monitoring System facilities and processes and analyses this data and sends...">International Data Centre Division and the On-Site Inspection
Inspectors collect information directly on site at the alleged (or suspected) site of an explosion. This might help to...">On-Site Inspection Division. These are supported by a Legal and External Relations Division and a Division of Administration. The CTBTO is financed mainly through assessed contributions by Member States
In the context of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission, “Member State” refers to a State that has signed the CTBT. In...">Member States.

Apart from building up the verification regime, the PTS assists Member States in special outreach activities such as Article XIV Conferences or Ministerial Meetings to promote the entry into force of the CTBT. It also conducts a number of workshops to promote the Treaty or to strengthen the verification regime.

Organizational Structure of the PTS

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
Organization set up to implement the provisions of the CTBT. CTBTO’s activities include the establishment of a global...">Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization was established on 19 November 1996 by a Resolution adopted by the Meeting of States Signatories at the United Nations in New York.

Article II of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
This international Treaty prohibits all nuclear explosions on Earth. A global alarm system is being established to...">Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) provides for the establishment of a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization to achieve the aims of the Treaty, ensure its implementation and to serve as a forum for its members. Since the activities will be very extensive and must be fully operational when the Treaty enters into force, the States signing the Treaty decided that it was necessary to establish an interim organisation - a Preparatory Commission. This Commission would lay the groundwork required and build up the global Verification
The process to collect data that demonstrates a party's compliance with an agreement or treaty. The Verification Regime...">verification Regime
An institution in which rules or practices (sometimes memorialized in a treaty or convention) are generally accepted by...">regime to monitor compliance with the Treaty.

The first meeting of the Commission was convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 November 1996; that is, within 60 days after the Treaty had been signed by 50 States as stipulated by the Annex to the Resolution which establishes the Commission.

The seat of the Preparatory Commission is Vienna, Austria. This is in accordance with paragraph 3 of the Annex which establishes the Commission and states that the location of the Commission will be the same as that of the future CTBTO.

Accordingly, on 18 March 1997 a host country agreement was entered into with the Republic of Austria, which came into force on 1 November 1997. The purpose of the agreement was to recognize the right of the Commission to establish its seat in Vienna and to carry out its activities. To this end the PTS was established on 17 March 1997 and opened its doors for business on the same day.

It is interesting to note that, even though the Treaty negotiations themselves were long, complex and hard fought, the period between the Treaty’s opening for signature, the establishment of the Commission, and the commencement of PTS operations comprised a bare six months. This swift pace showed the urgency with which States Signatories were getting on with the establishment of an efficient and effective CTBTO.

In March 2006 the Preparatory Commission commemorated the ten year anniversary of the Treaty and the Commission.

According to the Annex establishing the Commission, its main purpose is to carry out the necessary preparations for the effective implementation of the CTBT and to prepare for the first session of the Conference of States Parties to the Treaty which will take place when the Treaty has entered into force. 

Another duty of the Commission is to establish a global verification regime to monitor compliance with the comprehensive ban on nuclear testing, which must be operational when the Treaty enters into force. This prodigious task involves the build up of 321 monitoring stations and 16 Radionuclide laboratories
Provide independent analysis of radionuclide particulate samples. Only samples with specific radionuclides that may...">radionuclide laboratories throughout the world. It also includes the provisional operation of an International Data Centre
Collects information from the International Monitoring System facilities and processes and analyses this data and sends...">International Data Centre (IDC) and the preparation of On-site Inspections
Inspectors collect information directly on site at the alleged (or suspected) site of an explosion. This might help to...">on-site inspections in case of a suspected nuclear test.

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Standing as an international organization