UNCLOS Article 96

UNCLOS Article 96 grants ships owned or operated by a state and used only on government non-commercial service complete immunity on the high seas from the jurisdiction of any state other than the flag state. It extends to coast-guard cutters, research and survey ships, and other state vessels the same immunity Article 95 gives warships, provided they are not engaged in commercial activity. A state ship trading commercially loses the immunity. The line between government non-commercial and commercial use is the same distinction that governs sovereign immunity from arrest in many domestic admiralty regimes.