oral testimony, available country information and any results of additional enquiries with relevant States. The guidance in the paragraphs below on the weight to be given to certain kinds of evidence that will commonly be under consideration in statelessness determinations must be read alongside guidance on this matter found in Part One above. (6) Passports 95. Authentic, unexpired passports raise a presumption that the passport holder is a national of the country issuing the passport. However, this presumption may be rebutted where there is evidence showing that an individual is not actually considered to be a national of a State, for example where the document is a passport of convenience or the passport has been issued in error by an authority that is not competent to determine nationality issues. In such cases the passport is not a manifestation of a State’s position that the individual is one of its nationals. No presumption is raised by passports that are counterfeit or otherwise fraudulently issued.56 (7) Enquiries with and responses from foreign authorities 36 96. Information provided by foreign authorities is sometimes of central importance to statelessness determination procedures, although not necessary in cases where there is otherwise adequate proof. Under no circumstances is contact to be made with authorities of a State against which an individual alleges a well-founded fear of persecution unless it has definitively been concluded that he or she is neither a refugee nor entitled to a complementary form of protection. 97. Flexibility may be necessary in relation to the procedures for making contact with foreign authorities to confirm whether or not an individual is its national. Some foreign authorities may accept enquiries that come directly from another State while others may indicate that they will only respond to requests from individuals.57 98. Where statelessness determination authorities make enquiries with foreign authorities regarding the nationality or statelessness status of an individual, they must consider the weight to be attached to the response or lack of response from the State in question.58 99. Where a response from a foreign authority includes reasoning that appears to involve a mistake in applying the local law to the facts of the case or an 56 On these issues, please see also paragraphs 45 and 46 above. 57 States may wish to set up bilateral or multilateral arrangements for making nationality enquiries. An example of such an arrangement is the 1999 Convention on the Issue of a Certificate of Nationality, to which member States of the International Commission on Civil Status, the European Union or the Council of Europe can accede. 58 Guidance on this issue is provided in paragraph 41 above.