On June 19, 2024, Malta became a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships. The European Union signed the Convention on the 14th of March 2024, paving the way for the signatures of the individual EU Member States. Seafarers have hailed this convention as one of the most significant in recent years, as it will bring stability and certainty to a crucial sector of international trade that accounts for 90% of global trade.
Objective
Adopted by the General Assembly on December 7, 2022, the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, also known as the "Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships," 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 can attract in the market and the proceeds available for distribution among creditors and to promote international trade.
Key provisions
The Beijing Convention establishes a uniform framework for the worldwide recognition of judicial sales while preserving national laws regarding the processes and circumstances in which judicial sales grant clean title.
The purpose of the Convention is to improve legal clarity about the title that the purchaser has for a ship that is navigating internationally. In order to enhance international trade, this legal clarity is meant to raise the market worth of the ship and the proceeds that can be distributed among creditors.
The objective of the Convention is to limit the possibility of a ship being re-arrested for claims based on pre-existing rights or interests by guaranteeing that a judicial sale in one State Party grants clean ownership to the purchaser in all other State Parties.
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