A Facility Agreement signed by France and the CTBTO Preparatory Commission enters into force

A Facility Agreement signed by France and the CTBTO Preparatory Commission on 13 July 2001 enters into force on 1 May 2004. The date of entry into force is in accordance with Article 23 of the Agreement, which states that the FA will enter into force on the "first day of the second month following the date on which the Government has informed the Preparatory Commission that the national requirements for such entry into effect have been fulfilled". The Facility Agreement was signed in 2001 by Mr Wolfgang Hoffmann, on behalf of the Commission, and by Ms. Bérengère Quincy, Permanent Representative of France, on behalf of the French Republic. Sixteen facilities are covered by the Agreement: one primary seismic station (Tahiti, PS18), two auxiliary seismic stations (Mont Dzumac, AS32, and Saul, French Guiana, AS33), two hydroacoustic stations (Crozet Islands, HA4, and Guadeloupe, HA5), five infrasound stations (Marquesas Islands, IS21, Port Laguerre, New Caledonia, IS22, Kerguelen, IS23, Tahiti, IS24, and Kourou, French Guiana, IS25), six radionuclide stations (Papeete, Tahiti, RN27, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, RN28, Réunion, RN29, Port-aux-Français, Kerguelen, RN30, Kourou, French Guiana, RN31, and Dumont d'Urville, Antarctica, RN32) and one radionuclide laboratory (Atomic Energy Commission, Bruyères-le-Châtel, RL8). To date, 28 Facility Agreements have been concluded by the Preparatory Commission, out of which 21 have entered into force and one is being provisionally applied.