To promote the objectives of the Treaty and to ensure that the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty are observed, Parties are obliged to inform each other of their activities in Antarctica (see under Information Exchange) and facilitate inspections by other Parties of their facilities. Both matters are dealt with in Article VII, which provides that each Consultative Party shall have the right to designate observers to carry out inspections under the Treaty.

The observers, whose names are communicated to the other Consultative Parties, “shall have complete freedom of access at any time to any or all areas of Antarctica.” This includes “…all stations, installations and equipment within those areas, and all ships and aircraft at points of discharging or embarking cargoes or personnel in Antarctica .”

Nowadays inspections include many aspects of environmental protection as well as operational and disarmament matters. The ATCM has adopted sets of non-mandatory Inspection Checklists concerning different types of facilities and protected areas to assist inspection activity. In recent years, most inspections have been cooperative undertakings carried out by several countries.