On 19 November 1999, in Istanbul, the 30 States Parties to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe signed the Agreement on Adaptation, in English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish, the texts being equally authentic. The original is deposited with the Depositary (the Netherlands). It is not the Treaty signed in Paris in 1990 and not the Charter for European Security, also signed at the OSCE Summit. The preamble of the Agreement notes the fundamental changes in Europe since 1990 and the fulfilment of the original Treaty’s numerical objective: 40,000 battle tanks, 60,000 armoured combat vehicles, 40,000 pieces of artillery, 13,600 combat aircraft and 4,000 attack helicopters in the area of application.

Article 1 of the Agreement replaces the Treaty preamble: the States Parties reaffirm the right to be or not to be a party to treaties of alliance, seek a common and indivisible security space in Europe, and take note of the Final Act of the Conference of the States Parties held in Istanbul during the Summit and of the political statements referred to therein. Article 2 replaces Article I of the Treaty: the obligations concern five categories — battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, artillery, combat aircraft and combat helicopters. Conventional armaments and equipment limited by the Treaty of a State Party shall be present on the territory of another only in conformity with international law, the explicit consent of the host State Party given in advance, or a relevant Security Council resolution.

Article 5 replaces Article IV: each State Party shall limit and, as necessary, reduce holdings so that they do not exceed the national ceiling, the subceiling for active units and the subceiling for sub-categories in the Protocol on National Ceilings. Amounts above the active-unit subceiling shall be located in designated permanent storage sites. A State Party may raise its national ceiling only if another lowers the corresponding ceiling, with notification. The following article introduces territorial ceilings: battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles and artillery on a State Party’s territory, including those of other States Parties that it permits, shall not exceed the territorial ceiling, with exemptions for peace operations under the Security Council or the OSCE and for transit of no more than 21 days.

Territorial ceilings may be exceeded temporarily for exercises and temporary deployments, within set numbers (153 battle tanks, 241 armoured combat vehicles and 140 pieces of artillery in the ordinary case; 459, 723 and 420 in exceptional circumstances), after which the Depositary may convene a conference. The Agreement opens the Treaty to accession by OSCE participating States with territory between the Atlantic and the Urals: the terms shall be set out in an Agreement on Accession; the Treaty shall enter into force for the requesting State 10 days after deposit of its instrument. The Protocol on the Provisional Application of Certain Provisions of the 1990 Treaty is repealed.

Article 31: the Agreement on Adaptation shall be subject to ratification by each State Party in accordance with its constitutional procedures; instruments shall be deposited with the Depositary; the Agreement shall enter into force 10 days after instruments have been deposited by all States Parties listed in the Preamble, after which the Treaty shall exist only in its amended form. Done at Istanbul in the six languages. Conference document CFE.DOC/1/99.

It is not the Final Act of the CFE Conference in Istanbul, which records separate political commitments, and not the OSCE Summit Declaration of those same days.

Image: Çırağan Palace, Istanbul, venue of the OSCE Summit; Wolfgang Moroder, 19 April 2014; CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty. Treaty text: Agreement on Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, Istanbul, 19 November 1999.