Belgium, EU sign Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships

(Representative photo only)

Belgium and the European Union haved signed the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, otherwise known as the Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) confirmed via a recent press release.

Belgium is the eighteenth state to sign the treaty, while the EU has signed in accordance with Article 18(1) of the Beijing Convention on Judicial Sale of Ships, which provides that a Regional Economic Integration Organisation that is constituted by sovereign states and has competence over certain matters governed by the convention may sign the convention.

Article 18(2) of the convention provides that the Regional Economic Integration Organisation is to make a declaration specifying the matters governed by the convention in respect of which competence has been transferred to that organisation by its member states.

The EU has made that declaration indicating its competence in the matters governed by the convention.

Belgium and the EU join Burkina Faso, China, Comoros, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Kiribati, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Switzerland, Syria, and Tanzania as a signatory to the treaty.

The convention was prepared by the UNCITRAL and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 7, 2022. The convention establishes a harmonised regime for giving international effect to judicial sales, while preserving domestic law governing the procedure of judicial sales and the circumstances in which judicial sales confer clean title.

By ensuring legal certainty as to the title that the purchaser acquires in the ship as it navigates internationally, the convention is designed to maximise the price that the ship is able to attract in the market and the proceeds available for distribution among creditors, and to promote international trade.

The convention is open for signature, ratification, accession, or approval by states and regional economic integration organizations. It will enter into force 180 days after the date of deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.


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