Background

AWG is closely associated with the Cape Town Convention, an important international instrument adopted on 16 November 2001. Final Texts of Convention and its Aircraft Protocol (Cape Town).  AWG, which was formed at UNIDROIT's request to contribute to the development of Cape Town, has participated in every session relating to the development, negotiation and adoption of this instrument.  AWG's representative chaired the group charged with preparing the initial draft of the Aircraft Protocol.  AWG's representative currently chairs the Advisory Board to the Cape Town International Registry (IRAB).

AWG is committed to working with governments, organisations and industry on Cape Town’s full and prompt implementation, as this treaty will serve the economic interests of the air transport sector. It will do so by providing the needed legal framework for the further development of international asset-based financing and leasing.

AWG is pleased to advise that the European Community acceded to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and its Protocol on matters specific to aircraft equipment on 28 April 2009 and has issued a statement in this connection.

A copy of the Economic Impact Assessment prepared under the joint auspices of New York University and INSEAD (Paris) may be downloaded.  This document was commissioned by AWG, IATA, and ICAO.

In 2009, AWG commissioned an additional independent study addressing the economic benefits of the Cape Town Treaty.  That study focuses on airline benefits, and strictly assumes application of the insolvency rule found in Protocol, Art. XI, Alternative A. It can be downloaded here.

A table showing the current status of the Treaty can be viewed on the UNIDROIT website. Please click here. W

Supporting Materials

Countries may make a number of declarations under Cape Town. These are extremely important. AWG has produced a matrix of these declarations, which includes a listing of those declarations that reflect the requirements of international asset-based financing and leasing. 

UNIDROIT maintains a list of the declarations made by ratifying countries.

AWG has prepared a comprehensive document, which is regularly revised, relating to the international implementation of Cape Town. Implementation Resource Materials (IRM)

The IRM includes AWG prepared sections on:

General Overview

Declarations Matrix and Unidroit Forms

Model Ratification Instrument (English) and (French)

Model Implementing National Legislation

Chapter-by-Chapter, Text Summary

Précis of Cape Town Papers Series on Contract Practices, volume I

Outline of Cape Town Papers Series on Contract Practices, Volume 2

Volume 2of the Series, entitled “Advanced Contract and Opinion Practices under the Cape Town Convention”, is now available for sale from Hart Publishing, c/o International Specialized Book Services for 50 GBP.  Net proceeds benefit the work of the Uniform Law Foundation.

All aviation participants are encouraged to carefully review the Official Commentary to Cape Town, issued under the authority of Resolution 5 of the Diplomatic Conference. The Official Commentary contains an extensive list of secondary materials on Cape Town.  In June 2008, a revised edition of the Official Commentary  was published and is available to the public.

Relationship between Contract Practices and the Treaty

AWG supervises the work of its Legal Advisory Panel on the relationship between Cape Town and contractual practices. These materials are intended to facilitate the orderly transition to contracting under Cape Town. 

International Registry

AWG maintains up-to-date information relating to the establishment of the International Registry. 

AWG, through its chairmanship of the International Registry Advisory Board (IRAB), works closely with Aviareto on the further development of the International Registry.   An explanatory overview of the International Registry and its initial Regulations and Procedures can be viewed at ICAO's site.  ICAO is the Supervisory Authority of the International Registry. 

IRAB and Aviareto maintain and coordinate a joint issues list relating to the International Registry.

AWG works with ICAO on the latter’s regulatory function as Supervisory Authority for the International Registry.  The ‘Commission of Experts’ relating thereto (CESAIR) met in 2006 and amended the Regulations and Procedures of the International Registry . CESAIR met on 17-18 December 2007. The objective of these meetings was to improve the system based on experience. 

Most recently, CESAIR met on 1-2 December 2008.  The current version of the Regulations and Procedures of  the International Registry, with effect March 2009 can be downloaded here.  It is expected CESAIR will meet again by the end of 2009 to review progress and consider further necessary amendments.  The objective of these annual meetings is to continually monitor and improve the system based on experience. 

AWG will continue to provide CESAIR with information driven by the needs of the users of the system. 

Other Key Developments

AWG is pleased that the recently concluded new agreement on export credit will (following the grandfathering period therein) provide ‘Cape Town discounts’, whether a transaction is supported by the Brazilian, Canadian, EU or US export credit agencies (ECAs), assuming a set of ‘qualifying declarations’ has been made. This endorses the long-standing view of AWG that application of the Cape Town Convention reduces transaction risk, and, thus, should be reflected in the terms of the credit. It will also help establish a level playing field among manufacturers in this area, which had previously been marked by differing approaches among the ECAs.

AWG is at work on a major paper, ‘Cape Town in the European Context: the Case for Alternative A, Article XI of the Aircraft Protocol’. A précis of that paper was published in the Airfinance Annual 2007/08.  The AWG Secretary presented an outline of this paper at a conference held 17-18 September 2007 in Dublin.

Upcoming Events

With others, AWG has organised a series of participatory seminars on Cape Town in practice. One was held six months after entry into force, and a second one was held one year after entry into force.  A third one was held another program, "The Cape Town Convention after 2.5 years" at Fordham Law School in New York on 11 November 2008. (Please use this link for a copy of the final program), followed closely by a European program on 18 March 2009, hosted by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, 65 Fleet Street, London. Download a copy of that program here.

AWG is pleased to announce the fifth major program on advanced contract, registration and transaction practices, “The Cape Town Convention after 3.5 Years”. This will be the first Asia-Pacific program on the Cape Town Convention since its entry into force. The seminar will be hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and organised by the Aviation Working Group and it Legal Advisory Panel, in cooperation with ICAO and UNIDROIT.  Proceeds from this participatory seminar will go to the American Foundation for International Uniform Law, a charitable organisation that supports the development of international commercial law, including the work of UNIDROIT,

The seminar will take place on 17-18 November 2009 at the Singapore Aviation Academy, Singapore.  Please click to view the final program and registration form for this event.