Treaty Status
183 countries have signed the CTBT and 162 have ratified it.
The CTBT will enter into force when China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States have also ratified it.
The Treaty will apply to all States – nuclear weapon States and non-nuclear weapon States – equally.
The first article of the Treaty requires that “each State Party undertakes not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.” The ban is comprehensive: all nuclear tests are prohibited, no matter what yield.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was opened for signature in 1996.
The eight countries mentioned above are the remaining States from a list of 44 nuclear technology holders at the time of final negotiations of the Treaty in 1996. They all have to give their formal consent for the Treaty to enter into force and become legally binding.
