principle that only the authority which issued the document is authorized to renew, extend, or exchange it for another document, provided the refugee is still considered to be a resident of the country of the said authority. Paragraph 11 provides that once a refugee has taken up lawful residence in another country, it is up to the authority of that country to issue a new document. Para. 11 does not provide for either renewal or extension, on the assumption that only the state which issued a travel document may do it and, when another state becomes competent for the refugee, the only thing to do is to issue a new document. Paragraph 6 establishes two exceptions to the rules of its first subparagraph. The first (subpara. 2) provides for the possibility of extension by the consular or diplomatic authorities of the issuing state but not for more than six months, provided they are authorized by their Government to do so. It was pointed out in the conference that this provision had hardly any real meaning: every Government could anyhow authorize their representatives abroad to act for them. There were three reasons for its inclusion: (a) it was not clear whether paragraph 1 referred to the central authorities only or also to 197 representatives abroad; (b) it was not only a matter of granting authorization to these representatives but also of ensuring that this authorization be recognized by other states; and (c) it was feared that without this provision it might be thought, in view of para. 16 that consular and diplomatic representatives were denied the right to take action on behalf of 198 stateless persons. The second (subpara. 3) authorizes and requests the state which issued a document to renew, extend, or exchange it for a new document, in regard to stateless persons who no longer are lawfully resident in the issuing country and are unable to obtain such a document from the country of their lawful residence. This provision may refer either: (1) to stateless persons mentioned in the last phrase in Article 28 (1), i.e., to stateless persons who lawfully resided earlier in the respective country and now reside in another country but are temporarily again in the territory of their former residence at a time when the validity of their document expires and they are unable - because of absence from the country of their new residence or for some other reason - to obtain an extension of the document from that country; (2) to persons who have left the country with a valid travel document and are unable to obtain a document because the country of their present residence is not a Party to this Convention or for other reasons; or (3) to stateless persons who have forfeited their lawful residence in the country by overstaying the period for which they were admitted. The same question arose in connection with the identical provision in the Refugee Convention. There was no agreement in the Ad Hoc Committee as to which category of persons the provision envisaged. The Belgian representative thought that it could refer only to refugees who after having resided lawfully in the country, continued to reside there unlawfully. 199 The French text (which speaks of refugees who are “no longer lawful residents in their territory”), would tend to confirm the Belgian view. There is, however, no reason not to apply it also to the two other groups; the first group is anyhow covered by the explicit provision of Article 28 (1), second sentence. (5) Paragraph 7 prescribes the obligatory recognition by all parties of travel documents 200 issued by one of them under the provisions of Article 28 and the Schedule. 197 In fact, the Belgian representative contended that para. 1 related to the central authorities only (SR.11, p. 14). 198 SR.11, pp. 14-15. 199 SR.42, pp. 8-9. 200 There was no clarity in the Ad Hoc Committee concerning the import of this provision. The British representative pointed out that the issue of a travel document imposed an obligation on the state of issue only and that no other state assumed any obligation whatsoever until it affixed a visa to that document (SR.16, para. 55).