18Commencement of proceedings

#### 18 Commencement of proceedings (1) Proceedings must not be commenced against a person for an offence against this Division unless, when the alleged offence was committed: (a) the ship concerned was: (i) on, or scheduled to engage in, an international voyage; or (ii) in the territorial sea or internal waters of a foreign country; and (b) the alleged offence had an Australian element or a Convention State element. (2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply if the person is in Australia only because he or she was extradited to Australia in relation to the acts that constituted the offence. (3) For the purposes of this section, an offence against this Division had an Australian element if: (a) the ship concerned was an Australian ship; or (b) the alleged offender was a national of Australia. (4) For the purposes of this section, an offence against this Division had a Convention State element if one of the following circumstances applied: (a) the ship concerned was a ship flying the flag of a Convention State; (b) the ship concerned was in the territorial sea or internal waters of a Convention State; (c) the alleged offender was a national of a Convention State; (d) the alleged offender was stateless and was habitually resident in a Convention State that had extended its jurisdiction under Article 6(2)(a) of the Convention; (e) during the commission of the alleged offence, a national of a Convention State was seized, threatened, injured or killed and the Convention State had extended its jurisdiction under Article 6(2)(b) of the Convention; (f) the alleged offence was committed in an attempt to compel a Convention State to do or abstain from doing any act and the Convention State had extended its jurisdiction under Article 6(2)(c) of the Convention. (5) In this section: > offence against this Division includes an offence created by section 11.1, 11.2 or 11.2A of the Criminal Code that relates to an offence against any of sections 8 to 16.