(2) Issues of proof 87. Authorities undertaking statelessness determination procedures need to consider all available evidence, oral and written, regarding an individual’s claim. 88. The stateless person definition in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention requires proof of a negative – that an individual is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. This presents significant challenges to applicants and informs how evidentiary rules in statelessness determination procedures are to be applied. (3) Burden of proof 89. The burden of proof in legal proceedings refers to the question of which party bears the responsibility of proving a claim or allegation. Typically in administrative or judicial proceedings, a claimant bears an initial responsibility in substantiating his or her claim. In the case of statelessness determination, the burden of proof is in principle shared, in that both the applicant and examiner must cooperate to obtain evidence and to establish the facts. The procedure is a collaborative one aimed at clarifying whether an individual comes within the scope of the 1954 Convention. Thus, the applicant has a duty to be truthful, provide as full an account of his or her position as possible and to submit all evidence reasonably available. Similarly, the determination authority is required to obtain and present all relevant evidence reasonably available to it, enabling an objective determination of the applicant’s status. This nonadversarial approach can be found in the practice of a number of States that already operate statelessness determination procedures. 90. Given the nature of statelessness, applicants for statelessness status are often unable to substantiate the claim with much, if any, documentary evidence. Statelessness determination authorities need to take this into account, where appropriate giving sympathetic consideration to testimonial explanations regarding the absence of certain kinds of evidence.51 (4) Standard of proof 34 91. As with the burden of proof, the standard of proof or threshold of evidence necessary to determine statelessness must take into consideration the difficulties inherent in proving statelessness, particularly in light of the consequences of incorrectly rejecting an application. Requiring a high standard of proof of statelessness would undermine the object and 51 Further flexibility is also warranted where it is difficult for individuals to obtain documents originating from a foreign authority properly notarized or fixed with official seals.