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Article 20.Special investigative techniquesRolling text (A/AC.254/4)A. Negotiation textsFirst session: 19-29 January 1999“Article 15“Special investigative techniques“1. If permitted by the basic principles of their respective domestic legal systems,States Parties shall take the necessary measures to provide a legal basis for theuse of special investigative techniques, such as controlled delivery, surveillance,including electronic surveillance, and undercover operations, 1 for the purpose of gatheringevidence and taking legal action against persons involved in an offence establishedin article(s) [...] [alternatively: in an offence covered by this Convention].“2. States Parties shall consider extending the use of the special investigativetechniques referred to in paragraph 1 at the international level, on the basis of agreementsor arrangements.“3. Decisions to use such special investigative techniques at the internationallevel shall be made on a case-by-case basis and may, when necessary, take into considerationfinancial arrangements and understandings with respect to the exercise ofjurisdiction by the States Parties concerned.“4. Decisions to use controlled delivery at the international level may includemethods such as intercepting and allowing the goods to continue intact or removedor replaced in whole or in part.”Rolling text (A/AC.254/4/Rev.1)“Article 15“Special investigative techniques1. If permitted by the basic principles of their respective domestic legal systems,2 States Parties shall take the necessary measures [, within their possibilities,]1A suggestion was made to include definitions of “electronic surveillance” and “undercover operations”.2This formulation, as used also in the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs of 1988(United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1582, No. 27627), was supported by several delegations. Some delegations proposedthe alternative formulation of “If permitted by domestic law, ...”. In general, on the applicability of the language of the1988 Convention to the drafting of the present article, one delegation cautioned that article 11 of the 1988 Conventionfocused on the use of one special investigative technique, controlled delivery, at the international level, while the presentarticle examined the use of special investigative techniques at both the national level and the international level.203