UNCLOS Article 110

UNCLOS Article 110 sets out the right of visit: the exceptions to the rule that a ship on the high seas is subject only to its flag state. A warship encountering a foreign merchant ship may board it only on reasonable suspicion that the ship is engaged in piracy, the slave trade, or unauthorized broadcasting, or is without nationality, or is flying a false flag or refusing to show its flag and is in truth of the warship’s own nationality. The warship may verify the flag by sending a boarding party to examine documents; if suspicion proves unfounded and the ship has done nothing to justify it, the ship is compensated for loss.