The 1982 Montego bay convention. Law of the sea, maritime piracy. Extracts

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Article 100 Obligation to cooperate in the suppression of piracy

All States cooperate to the fullest extent possible in the suppression of piracy on the high seas or in any other place beyond the jurisdiction of any State.

Article 101 Definition of piracy

Piracy means any of the following acts:
(a) any unlawful act of violence or detention or any depredation committed by the crew or passengers of a private ship or aircraft, acting for private purposes, and directed:
(i) against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board them, on the high seas;
(ii) against a ship or aircraft, persons or property, in a place beyond the jurisdiction of any State;
b) any act of voluntary participation in the use of a ship or an aircraft, when its author has knowledge of facts from which it follows that this ship or aircraft is a pirate ship or aircraft;
c) any act intended to incite the commission of the acts defined in letters a) or b), or committed with the intention of facilitating them.

Article 102 Piracy by warship, government ship or government aircraft whose crew has mutinied

Acts of piracy, as defined in article 101, perpetrated by a warship, a government ship or a government aircraft of which the mutinous crew has taken control are treated as acts committed by a private vessel or aircraft.

Article 103 Definition of pirate ship or aircraft

Pirate ships or aircraft are considered to be ships or aircraft which the persons effectively controlling them intend to use to commit one of the acts referred to in Article 101. The same applies to ships or aircraft which have been used to commit such acts as long as they remain under the control of the persons who are guilty of them.

Article 104 Retention or loss of nationality of a pirate ship or aircraft

A ship or aircraft that has become a pirate may retain its nationality. The retention or loss of nationality is governed by the internal law of the State which conferred it.

Article 105 Seizure of a pirate ship or aircraft

Any State may, on the high seas or in any other place beyond the jurisdiction of any State, seize a pirate ship or aircraft, or a ship or aircraft captured as a result of an act of piracy and in the hands of pirates, and apprehend persons and seize property on board. The courts of the State which effected the seizure may decide on the penalties to be imposed, as well as on the measures to be taken with regard to the vessel, the aircraft or the property, subject to third parties acting in good faith.

Article 106 Liability in case of arbitrary seizure

When the seizure of a vessel or aircraft suspected of piracy has been effected without sufficient cause, the State which seized it shall be liable vis-à-vis the State whose nationality the vessel or aircraft is for any loss or any damage caused thereby.

Article 107 Vessels and aircraft entitled to seize for piracy

Only warships or military aircraft, or other ships or aircraft clearly marked and marked as being on public service and authorized to do so, may make a seizure for piracy.

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Article 110 Right of access

1. Except in cases where intervention proceeds from powers conferred by treaty, a warship which meets a foreign ship on the high seas, other than a ship enjoying the immunity provided for in articles 95 and 96, may not only board if he has serious reason to suspect that this vessel:
(a) engages in piracy;
(b) engages in the transport of slaves;
(c) is used for unauthorized broadcasts, the flag State of the warship having jurisdiction under Article 109;
(d) is without nationality; Or
(e) actually has the same nationality as the warship, although it flies a foreign flag or refuses to fly its flag.

2. In the cases referred to in paragraph 1, the warship may verify the documents authorizing the wearing of the flag. To this end, he may dispatch a boat, under the command of an officer, to the suspect vessel. If, after checking the documents, the suspicions remain, he can continue the examination on board the ship, acting with all possible consideration.

3. If the suspicions prove to be unfounded, the boarded vessel shall be compensated for any loss or damage, provided that it has not committed any act making it suspect.

4. These provisions apply mutatis mutandis to military aircraft.

5. These provisions also apply to all other vessels or aircraft duly authorized and bearing external markings clearly indicating that they are assigned to a public service.

Article 111 Right of pursuit

1. A foreign ship may be prosecuted if the competent authorities of the coastal State have serious reason to believe that the ship has violated the laws and regulations of that State. This pursuit must begin when the foreign ship or one of its craft is in internal waters, in archipelagic waters, in the territorial sea or in the contiguous zone of the pursuing State, and cannot be continued beyond the limits territorial sea or contiguous zone only if it has not been interrupted. It is not necessary that the ship which orders the foreign ship to be stopped while navigating in the territorial sea or in the contiguous zone is also there at the time of the receipt of the order by the ship concerned. If the foreign ship is in the contiguous zone, defined in Article 33, the prosecution can only be instituted if it has violated the rights which the institution of this zone is intended to protect.

2. The right of hot pursuit shall apply mutatis mutandis to violations of the laws and regulations of the coastal State applicable, in accordance with the Convention, to the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf, including the safety zones surrounding the installations located on the continental shelf, if these offenses have been committed in the areas mentioned.

3. The right of hot pursuit ceases as soon as the ship pursued enters the territorial sea of ​​the State to which it belongs or of another State.

4. Hot pursuit shall not be deemed to have begun unless the pursuing vessel has satisfied itself by all practicable means at its disposal that the pursued vessel or one of its craft or other craft operating as a team and using the ship prosecuted as a mother ship are within the limits of the territorial sea or, as the case may be, in the contiguous zone, in the exclusive economic zone or above the continental shelf. The pursuit can begin only after the emission of a signal to stop, visual or sound, given at a distance allowing the targeted ship to perceive it.

5. The right of hot pursuit may be exercised only by warships or military aircraft or other ships or aircraft which are clearly marked and marked as being on government service and are licensed for that purpose. .

6. In the event that the ship is pursued by an aircraft:
(a) paragraphs 1 to 4 apply mutatis mutandis;
(b) the aircraft giving the order to stop must itself pursue the ship until a ship or other aircraft of the coastal State, alerted by the first aircraft, arrives to continue the stop. pursuit, unless he himself can stop the ship. To justify stopping a ship outside the territorial sea, it is not enough that it has simply been identified as having committed an offense or as being suspected of an offence; it must also have been both requested to stop and pursued by the aircraft which spotted it or by other aircraft or ships without the pursuit having been interrupted.

7. The release of the detention of a vessel stopped in a place under the jurisdiction of a State and escorted to a port of that State with a view to an investigation by the competent authorities cannot be required for the sole reason which the vessel has traversed under escort, because the circumstances so require, part of the exclusive economic zone or the high seas.

8. A vessel which has been halted or arrested outside the territorial sea in circumstances which do not justify the exercise of the right of hot pursuit shall be compensated for any loss or damage that may occur.