The Cape Town Convention – Extension to the Cayman Islands
By Sherice Arman, Dale Crowley, Manuela Belmontes, Donna Ager, Mark Western, Jonathan Caulton, Jess Stock From Maples
The Cayman Islands government has been preparing for the extension of the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Protocol (the “Protocol”) to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on matters specific to aircraft equipment (which was concluded at Cape Town, South Africa on 16 November 2001) (together the “Convention”) to the Cayman Islands.
Accordingly, the Cayman Islands government has recently passed the International Interests In Mobile Equipment (Cape Town Convention) Law, 2015 which will only come into force once the Convention has been extended to the Cayman Islands. The purpose of this legislation is to implement local legislation that would give effect to the Convention once it is extended to the Cayman Islands. Other legislation which has been passed in preparation for the extension of the Convention to the Cayman Islands are the Bills of Sale (Amendment) Law, 2015, the Civil Aviation Authority (Amendment) Law, 2015 and Mortgaging of Aircraft Regulations, 2015.
The ratification of the Convention by the UK is expected to take place imminently and with the Cayman Islands having now passed the necessary domestic legislation, we are in a position to have the Convention extended to the Cayman Islands as soon as possible thereafter.
The extension of the Convention to the Cayman Islands will entitle the Cayman Islands to international recognition as a territorial unit of a contracting state to the Convention and to recognition of the declarations deposited by the UK government on behalf of the Cayman Islands government with the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law acting as depository pursuant to Article 62(1) of the Convention and Article XXXVII(1) of the Protocol – UNIDROIT.
As extended to the Cayman Islands, the Convention will meet the requirements for the Cayman Islands to have made qualifying declarations as defined in the OECD Aircraft Sector Understanding.
The Existing Regime of Registration of Security Interests in the Cayman Islands
The consequence of the extension of the Convention to the Cayman Islands is not to do away with the existing regime of the registration of security interests locally, because there will be circumstances where it cannot be used (for example, where the owner of an aircraft is located in a non-contracting state or the aircraft does not meet the weight qualifications to fall within the Convention).
Maples’ Cape Town Convention Services
Our affiliated company, MaplesFS, offers specialised fiduciary, accounting and corporate administration services to all Maples and Calder clients. MaplesFS Dublin, working with all offices of Maples and Calder globally, is authorised as a Professional User Entity (PUE) on the International Registry of Mobile Assets (the “Registry”) and provides Cape Town Convention services to both Irish and non-Irish incorporated entities, even where MaplesFS Dublin is not directly involved in the transaction.
These services include:
(a) completing the necessary documents and filings to register an entity as a Transacting User Entity (TUE);
(b) providing support to other TUEs involved in the transaction;
(c) managing authorisations to work on aircraft objects;
(d) registering the international interests in a timely manner on close of the transaction;
(e) obtaining priority search certificates from the Registry, which indicate that the international interests have been registered; and
(f) ensuring adequate security on all computers and networks which will be used to access the Registry.
MaplesFS is located in key international financial centres including the Cayman Islands, Delaware, Dubai, Dublin, Luxembourg and Singapore.
In addition to offering Cape Town Convention services, MaplesFS can provide all the elements required to establish and maintain a special purpose company, including independent directors, registered office and company secretarial services, full day-to-day corporate administration services, financial statement preparation and share trustee services to aircraft bankruptcy remote vehicles.
