A joint resolution calling for the United States to encourage immediate negotiations toward a new agreement among Antarctic Treaty Consultative parties, for the full protection of Antarctica as a global ecological commons.
PL 101-620 (S.J.Res.206), enacted 11/16/1990

104 STAT. 3340 
PUBLIC LAW 101-620—NOV. 16, 1990 
Public Law 101-620 
101st Congress 
Joint Resolution 
N 
16 1990 
Calling for the United States to encourage immediate negotiations toward a new 
'-— 
agreement among Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties, for the full protection of 
[S.J. Res. 206] 
Antarctica as a global ecological commons. 
Whereas Antarctica, like the great oceans and the atmosphere, is a 
part of the global commons; 
Whereas the Antarctic region, including the continent and the 
Southern Ocean, is a fragile ecosystem that supports an amazing 
abundance of life, and is, in turn, crucial to other life on Earth; 
Wheregis Antarctica is a critical area in the study and documenta-
tion of global change; 
Whereas negotations of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties 
have resulted in the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic 
Mineral Resource Activities; 
Whereas the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral 
Resource 
Activities, 
while 
requiring 
consideration 
of 
environmental impacts prior to allowing minerals development in 
Antarctica, does not guarantee preservation of the Antarctic 
environment; and 
Whereas the challenge to humankind is to ensure that Antarctica is 
stewarded in a manner that conserves its unique environment and 
preserves its value for scientific research: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled. That— 
(1) Antarctica is a global ecological commons, and should, 
therefore, be subject to a new agreement or protocol which 
supplement the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, providing for com-
prehensive environmental protection of Antarctica, and which 
should for an indefinite period establish Antarctica as a region 
closed to commercial minerals development and 
related 
activities; 
(2) under such new agreements, information about mineral or 
other resources in Antarctica should be obtained under strictly 
controlled arrangements and should be openly shared in the 
international scientific community; 
(3) the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral 
Resource Activities, though a considerable step forward, does 
not guarantee protection of the freigile environment of Antarc-
tica and could actually stimulate movement toward commercial 
exploitation; 
(4) pending the negotiation and entry into force of the new 
agreements referred to in paragraph (1) the Convention on the 
Regulation of Antarctic Minergd Resource Activities should not 
be presented to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification; 
(5) until such new agreements enter into force, the United 
States should support the interim restraint measures currently 
in effect among the Consultative Parties to the Antarctic 
Treaty; and 
PUBLIC LAW 101-620—NOV. 16, 1990 
104 STAT. 3341 
(6) the negotiation of a new agreements referred to in para-
graph (1) should be fully supported by the United States at the 
November 1990 meeting of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative 
Parties in Santiago, Chile. 
Approved November 16,1990. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S.J. Res. 206 (H.J. Res. 418): 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 136 (1990): 
Oct. 1, H.J. Res. 418 considered and passed House. 
Oct. 4, S.J. Res. 206 considered and passed Senate. 
Oct. 23, considered and passed House, amended. 
Oct. 24, Senate concurred in House amendment. 
o