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Article 19.Joint investigationsA. Negotiation textsRolling text (A/AC.254/4/Rev.5)Fifth session: 4-15 October 1999“Article 14 bis“Joint investigations 1, 2“On a reciprocal basis, States Parties shall consider concluding bilateral or multilateralagreements or understandings whereby, in relation to matters that are the subjectof criminal proceedings in one or more States, the judicial authorities concernedmay, where necessary together with police authorities, after informing the centralauthority or authorities referred to in paragraph 8 of article 14, act together withinjoint investigative bodies. In the absence of such agreements or understandings, suchjoint investigations may be undertaken by agreement on a case-by-case basis.”Ninth session: 5-16 June 2000Notes by the Secretariat1. The version of article 14 bis contained in document A/AC.254/4/Rev.5 remainedunchanged in the intermediate drafts of the convention (A/AC.254/4/Revs.6-8).Rolling text (A/AC.254/4/Rev.9 and Corr.1)“Article 14 bis“Joint investigations“States Parties shall consider concluding bilateral or multilateral agreements orunderstandings of a reciprocal nature whereby, in relation to matters that are the subjectof criminal proceedings in one or more States, the judicial authorities concerned1The text of this article was based on a proposal submitted by Italy at the fourth session of the Ad Hoc Committee(28 June-9 July 1999) in the context of the discussion on article 14 of the draft convention (Mutual legal assistance)(seeA/AC.254/5/Add.8).2The issue of whether to include a separate article on joint investigations or deal with this matter in the context ofarticle 19, paragraph 2 (c) of the draft convention was to be considered. At the fifth session of the Ad Hoc Committee,Italy undertook to consider the presentation of a possible reformulation of article 14 bis at a subsequent session. The reformulationcould include the following sentence: “The States Parties involved shall ensure that the sovereignty of the StateParty in whose territory the investigation is to take place is fully respected” (see the reformulated proposal submitted byItaly at the eighth session of the Ad Hoc Committee in document A/AC.254/L.154, supported, inter alia, by Azerbaijan (seeA/AC.254/L.199)).201