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520 Travaux préparatoires: United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized CrimeRolling text (A/AC.254/4/Add.1/Rev.6)Ninth session: 5-16 June 2000“Article 9“Other legislative and administrative measures againstsmuggling of migrants by land, air or sea 1, 2“1. States Parties shall take legislative or other appropriate measures to preventmeans of transport operated by commercial carriers from being used in the commissionof offences established under article 4 of this Protocol. 3“2. Where appropriate, and without prejudice to applicable international conventions,such measures shall include establishing the obligation of commercial carriers,including any transportation company or the owner or operator of any meansof transport, to ascertain that all passengers are in possession of the travel documentsrequired for entry into the receiving State.“3. States Parties shall take the necessary measures, in accordance with theirdomestic law, to provide for sanctions in cases of violation of the obligation set outin paragraph 2 of this article.” 4Notes by the Secretariat5. At its eleventh session, the Ad Hoc Committee considered, finalized and approvedarticle 9, as amended, including the title. It was decided that paragraphs 1, 5 and 6 of thefinal text of the article should be added to ensure consistency with the corresponding article11 of the trafficking in persons protocol. In particular, paragraph 6 of the final textwas taken, as amended, from article 11 of the draft protocol on prevention (see note 3 bythe Secretariat concerning article 15 of the present protocol). The last amendments arereflected in the final text of the protocol, as included in the report of the Ad Hoc Committee(A/55/383, sect. IV, draft resolution, annex III), that was submitted to the General Assemblyfor adoption pursuant to resolution 54/126 of 17 December 1999.1At the informal consultations held during the ninth session of the Ad Hoc Committee, it was recommended that thewords “by land, air and sea” should be added to this title, as this would make it unnecessary to refer to them repeatedly inthe text.2The text of this article was based on the proposal of the European Community, on behalf of Austria, Belgium, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden (see A/AC.254/L.198). Similarproposals had been submitted during earlier sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee, by France at the sixth session (seeA/AC.254/L.104) and the United States at the eighth session (see A/AC.254/5/Add.21). The proposal of the EuropeanCommunity was discussed extensively at the informal consultations held during the ninth session of the Ad Hoc Committee.During the informal consultations, it was recommended that former article 9 should be deleted and that the present textshould be adopted in its place. There was also discussion of the proposal of Argentina entitled “Trafficking in migrants byland” (see A/AC.254/5/Add.24), some elements of which were incorporated into the revised text of article 9. Argentinareserved the right to raise other elements of its proposal during future discussions on this article.3Two delegations expressed concern about the obligatory nature of this paragraph (see also article 11 of the traffickingin persons protocol in part two).4At the informal consultations held during the ninth session of the Ad Hoc Committee, several concerns about thenew article were addressed. It was noted that the text required States parties to impose an obligation on commercial carriers,which would require the carriers only to ascertain whether or not passengers had the necessary documents in their possessionand not to make any judgement or assessment of the validity or authenticity of the documents. It was also notedthat this text did not unduly limit the discretion of States parties not to hold carriers liable for transporting undocumentedrefugees. Several other provisions either permitted or required States parties not to curtail such transport. Article 15 bis, asformulated at the time, preserved general international law obligations and referred specifically to the 1951 Convention and1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, No. 2545, and vol. 606, No. 8791).In most countries, domestic constitutional or legal provisions protecting migrants would also apply in such cases. With theseexplanations, the informal consultations recommended adoption of the new text.