"Article one of the CTBT established the agreement that states, simply, will not test nuclear weapons."
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Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty builds on the successes of the Partial Test Ban Treaty, but goes further in banning nuclear weapons testing altogether. In the preamble of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), it is noted that the time at which the treaty was drafted was highly favourable to the goals of arms control and nuclear disarmament. At the end of the 'cold' war, there was the perception of a newfound stability in the global order, coupled with this there was a groundswell of popular opinion that disarmament was indeed possible. The CTBT arises from this political climate, that it has not yet entered into force, for want of certain countries to ratify the treaty shows just how quickly the pendulum can swing back again. Often overloooked, bringing about the entry into force of the CTBT is one of the most important and necessary of the short term goals of the international peace movement, and of the world governments generally.

Article one of the CTBT established the agreement that states, simply, will not test nuclear weapons. Unlike the PTBT, the prohibitions are not limited.

Article two sets up an organisation, the 'Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization' to ensure the implementation and verification of the treaty, as well as to further international co-operation. All parties to the treaty are members of the organisation and are expected to fund the operations of the organisation.

Article three requires states to prohibit 'natural and legal' individuals from contravening the treaty on their territory, it further requires states to prohibit their own citizens from contravening the treaty anywhere. States are also required to establish a National Authority to liase with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organisation and other state parties. In the case of Australia, this is the The Australian Comprehensive Test Ban Office (ACTBO), an agency which comes under the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO).

Article four of the treaty is concerned with verification of parties' compliance with the treaty. It is the intent of the treaty that the verification measures be as non-intrusive as possible, and limited to the subject of the treaty. Verification can take the forms of on-site inspection, analysis of seismological information and radionuclide monitoring among others.

Article five details punitive measures that may be taken against state parties that do not comply with the treaty, such as the suspension of that states rights under the treaty, the recommendation that other parties to the treaty take collective action, or ultimately, in urgent circumstances, the referral of the matter to the United Nations.

Article fourteen concerns the treaty's entry into force. To date the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has not entered into force since the conditions for its entry into force have not yet been met. The treaty is designed to enter into force 180 days after the date of deposit of the instruments of ratification of a list of states in Annex two of the CTBT. The list of states essentially is those who at 1996 had nuclear power reactors or nuclear research reactors. As of the 10th of March (when Vietnam deposited its instruments of deposit of the CTBT with the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan) 34 of the required 44 'Annex 2 states' had deposited their instruments of ratification of the CTBT. Of the remaining ten countries required to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force, Egypt, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel and the United States of America have signed but not ratified the treaty, and three states, India, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Pakistan, have neither signed nor ratified the treaty. (source: CTBTO)

Full text of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is available via UN Disarmament - Status and Text of Treaties.