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Smuggling of migrants by seaArticle 7.CooperationA. Negotiation textsSixth session: 6-17 December 1999Notes by the Secretariat1. In the previous versions of the draft protocol (A/AC.254/4/Add.1/Revs.1 and 2),this article was incorporated as paragraphs 1 and 2 in a more extensive article 7 (Measuresagainst the smuggling of migrants by sea), which was broken into new articles 7 bis, 7 terand 7 quater in the context of a new structure of chapter II of the draft protocol proposedby Austria and Italy. With the exception of the titles of the articles and amendments tomake references to paragraphs or articles consistent with the new proposed structure, nochanges were made to the text. In view of the above, a new article 7 was reflected in documentA/AC.254/4/Add.1/Rev.3 as presented below.Rolling text (A/AC.254/4/Add.1/Rev.3)“II.Smuggling of migrants by sea“Article 7“Cooperation and mutual assistance“1. States Parties shall cooperate to the fullest extent possible to prevent andsuppress the smuggling of migrants by sea, in conformity with the international lawof the sea and all generally accepted relevant international instruments. 1“2. A State Party that has reasonable grounds to suspect that a vessel, whichis flying its flag or claiming its registry, which is without nationality or which, thoughflying a foreign flag or refusing to show a flag, is in reality of the nationality of the1The language of this provision was derived from article 17, paragraph 1, of the United Nations Convention againstIllicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 (the 1988 Convention) (United Nations, Treaty Series,vol. 1582, No. 27627) and from paragraph 8 of the interim measures for combating unsafe practices associated with thetrafficking or transport of migrants by sea (the interim measures), approved in December 1998 by the Maritime SafetyCommittee of the International Maritime Organization (MSC/Circ.896, annex, and also reproduced in documentA/AC.254/CRP.3).491