A/AC.291/L.15 to apply the provisions of those paragraphs if they facilitate cooperation. [ agreed ad referendum] 8. States Parties may decline to render assistance pursuant to this article on the ground of absence of dual criminality. However, the requested State Party may, when it deems appropriate, provide assistance, to the extent it decides at its discretion, irrespective of whether the conduct would constitute an offence under the domestic law of the requested State Party. Assistance may be refused when requests involve matters of a de minimis nature or matters for which the cooperation or assistance sought is available under other provisions of this Convention. [agreed ad referendum] 9. A person who is being detained or is serving a sentence in the territory of one State Party and whose presence in another State Party is requested for purposes of identification, testimony or otherwise providing assistance in obtaining evidence for investigations, prosecutions or judicial proceedings in relation to offences established in accordance with this Convention may be transferred if the following conditions are met: (a) The person freely gives informed consent; (b) The competent authorities of both States Parties agree, subject to such conditions as those States Parties may deem appropriate. [agreed ad referendum] 10. For the purposes of paragraph 9 of this article: (a) The State Party to which the person is transferred shall have the authority and obligation to keep the person transferred in custody, unless otherwise requested or authorized by the State Party from which the person was transferred; (b) The State Party to which the person is transferred shall, without delay, implement its obligation to return the person to the custody of the State Party from which the person was transferred as agreed beforehand, or as otherwise agreed, by the competent authorities of both States Parties; (c) The State Party to which the person is transferred shall not require the State Party from which the person was transferred to initiate extradition proceedings for the return of the person; (d) The person transferred shall receive credit for service of the sentence being served in the State from which the person was transferred for time spent in the custody of the State Party to which the person was transferred. [agreed ad referendum] 11. Unless the State Party from which a person is to be transferred in accordance with paragraphs 9 and 10 of this article so agrees, that person, regardless of the person’s nationality, shall not be prosecuted, detained, punished or subjected to any other restriction of liberty in the territory of the State to which that person is transferred in respect of acts, omissions or convictions prior to the person’s departure from the territory of the State from which the person was transferred. [ agreed ad referendum] 12. (a) Each State Party shall designate a central authority or authorities that shall have the responsibility and power to receive requests for mutual legal assistance and either to execute them or to transmit them to the competent authorities for executi on. Where a State Party has a special region or territory with a separate system of mutual legal assistance, it may designate a distinct central authority that shall have the same function for that region or territory; (b) Central authorities shall ensure the speedy and proper execution or transmission of the requests received. Where the central authority transmits the request to a competent authority for execution, it shall encourage the speedy and proper execution of the request by the competent authority; 22/41 V.24-14137