The States Parties to this Protocol, being deeply concerned about the increasing unlawful acts directed against civil aviation worldwide and recognizing that the new types of threats facing civil aviation require, on the part of States, concerted efforts and new coordinated policies for cooperation; and being convinced that better addressing these threats necessitates the adoption of additional measures to those provisions contained in the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft signed in The Hague on December 16, 1970, to suppress unlawful acts of seizure of aircraft or exercising control over them and to enhance their effectiveness; have agreed as follows:

This protocol complements the Agreement on the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, signed in The Hague on December 16, 1970 (hereinafter referred to in this text as the "Agreement").

Article 1 of the Agreement is replaced with the following:

Article 1

1- Any person who unlawfully and intentionally seizes or exercises control over an aircraft in service using force, threat, coercion, or any other form of intimidation, or any technological means, is considered to have committed a crime.

2- Any person who does the following is also considered to have committed a crime:

• (a) Threatens to commit the crime specified in paragraph 1 of this article.

• (b) Or unlawfully and intentionally causes any person to receive such a threat, in circumstances indicating the credibility of the threat.

3- Any person who does the following is also considered to have committed a crime:

• (a) Attempts to commit the crime specified in paragraph 1 of this article.

• (b) Or organizes a crime or directs others to commit a crime specified in paragraphs 1, 2, or 3(a) of this article.

• (c) Or is an accomplice in any of the crimes specified in paragraphs 1, 2, or 3(a) of this article.

• (d) Or unlawfully and intentionally assists another person in evading investigation, prosecution, or punishment, knowing that such person has committed an act that constitutes a crime specified in paragraphs 1, 2, or 3(a), 3(b), or 3(c) of this article, or that such person is wanted for arrest by law enforcement authorities to be prosecuted for committing that crime or because a judgment has been issued against them due to that crime.

4- Each State Party also determines that either of the following cases or both constitute crimes, regardless of whether any of the crimes mentioned in paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article have actually been committed or attempted:

• (a) An agreement with one or more persons to commit a crime mentioned in paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article, which includes, where required by local law, the act of one of the participants in an effort to implement the agreement.

• (b) Or contributing in any other way to a group of persons, acting with a common intent, in committing one or more of the crimes specified in paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article, and this contribution is either:

  • (1) Aimed at continuing the general criminal activity or achieving the purposes of that group, when such activity or purpose involves committing a crime specified in paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article.

  • (2) Or with knowledge of the group's intent to commit a crime specified in paragraphs 1 or 2 of this article.

Article 2 of the Agreement is replaced with the following:

• Article 2

  • "Each State Party undertakes to strictly punish the crimes stipulated in Article 1."

The following text is added as Article 2 bis of the Agreement:

• Article 2 bis

  • 1- Each State Party may take, in accordance with the principles of its national laws, the necessary measures to make a legal entity established in its territory or organized under its laws liable when a person responsible for managing or supervising that legal entity, in that capacity, commits an offense specified in Article 1. This liability may be criminal, civil, or administrative.

  • 2- This liability arises without prejudice to the criminal liability of individuals who committed the offense.

  • 3- If a State Party takes the necessary measures to make a legal entity liable in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, it seeks to ensure that the applicable criminal, civil, or administrative penalties are effective, proportionate, and deterrent. Such penalties may include financial sanctions.

1- The first paragraph of Article 3 is replaced with the following:

Article 3

• 1- For the purposes of this Agreement, an aircraft is considered to be in service from the time the ground service personnel or the aircraft crew prepare the aircraft for a specific flight until twenty-four hours after any landing. In the case of an emergency landing, the flight is considered to be ongoing until the competent authorities assume responsibility for the aircraft and for the persons and property on board.

• 2- In paragraph 3 of Article 3 of the Agreement, the word "registration" is replaced with the word "record".

• 3- In paragraph 4 of Article 3 of the Agreement, the word "mentioned" is replaced with the words "stipulated".

• 4- The fifth paragraph of Article 3 is replaced with the following:

  • 5- Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article, Articles 6, 7, 7 bis, 8, 8 bis, 8 ter, and 10 apply, regardless of the place of takeoff of the aircraft or its actual place of landing, if the offender or the alleged offender is in the territory of a country other than the country of registration of the aircraft.

The following text is added as Article 3 bis of the Agreement:

Article 3 bis

• 1- Nothing in this Agreement shall affect the rights, obligations, and other responsibilities of states and individuals under international law, particularly the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Convention on International Civil Aviation, and international humanitarian law.

• 2- This Agreement shall not apply to the activities of armed forces during an armed conflict as understood by those terms within the framework of international humanitarian law, which is governed by that law, nor shall this Agreement apply to activities carried out by the military forces of a state in the exercise of their official duties to the extent that they are governed by other rules of international law.

• 3- The provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article shall not be interpreted as implying a disregard for unlawful acts or rendering them, otherwise, lawful acts or excluding the prosecution of their perpetrators under other laws.

The text of Article 4 of the Agreement is replaced with the following:

Article 4

• 1- Each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the crimes set forth in Article 1 and any other acts of violence against passengers or crew committed by the alleged offender in connection with the crimes, in the following cases:

  • (a) when the crime is committed in the territory of that State.

  • (b) when the crime is committed against an aircraft registered in that State or on board an aircraft registered therein.

  • (c) when the crime is committed on board an aircraft that has landed in the territory of that State and the alleged offender is still on board.

  • (d) when the crime is committed against an aircraft or on board it if that aircraft is leased without crew to a lessee whose principal place of business is in that State, or who has a permanent residence therein if he does not have a principal place of business.

  • (e) when the crime is committed by a person who holds the nationality of that State.

• 2- Each State Party may also establish its jurisdiction over any crime committed in the following cases:

  • (a) when the crime is committed against a person who holds the nationality of that State.

  • (b) when the crime is committed by a stateless person whose habitual residence is in the territory of that State.

• 3- Similarly, each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the crimes set forth in Article 1, in the event that the alleged offender is present in the territory of that State and has not been extradited under Article 8 to a State Party that has established its jurisdiction in accordance with the applicable paragraphs of this Article concerning those crimes.

• 4- This Agreement does not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised under national law.

The text of Article 5 of the Agreement is replaced with the following:

Article 5

• The contracting states that establish joint institutions for the operation of air transport, or international air transport agencies operating aircraft subject to joint or international registration, shall determine, by appropriate means, the state that exercises jurisdiction over each aircraft and exercises the functions of the state of registration for the purposes of this Agreement and shall notify the General Secretary of the International Civil Aviation Organization, who shall forward this notice to all contracting states to this Agreement.