Introduction
The Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets (hereinafter referred to as the Space Protocol), as adopted by a diplomatic Conference, held in Berlin, at the kind invitation of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, from 27 February to 9 March 2012, represents the co-ordinated efforts of both Governments and the commercial space sector to render asset-based financing more accessible to an industry that is presently searching for innovative ways to obtain start-up capital for space-based services. Such ventures are full of risk and uncertainty and, consequently, their financing is currently still prohibitively expensive. By introducing a uniform regimen to govern the creation, perfection and enforcement of international interests in space assets, notably satellites, it is envisaged that the cost of financing will be reduced as a result of the increased level of transparency and predictability for financiers, thereby making financing more widely available to a greater number of players in the commercial space sector. Such an instrument will, in particular, help bring much-needed financial resources to the NewSpace community, namely those small start-up companies that have emerged as a result of the booming commercial space sector.
The Space Protocol seeks to accomplish these ends by extending the benefits of the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, opened to signature in Cape Town on 16 November 2001 (hereinafter referred to as the Cape Town Convention), to outer space assets (in the same way as the Protocol to that Convention on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment extends it to aircraft objects and the Protocol on Matters specific to Railway Rolling Stock extends it to railway rolling stock). Such an endeavour has not been without its difficulties, essentially given the pioneering nature of the endeavour. Those experts that have contributed to the preparation of the Space Protocol have worked together tirelessly to find novel ways to achieve an instrument that meets the needs of both Government and industry. These efforts were upheld at the recent diplomatic Conference where the overwhelming majority of negotiating States expressed their support for the Space Protocol and its objectives. 25 negotiating States signed the Final Act of the diplomatic Conference, with three such States – Burkina Faso, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe – signing the Space Protocol itself.
Preparation of the Space Protocol by a UNIDROIT Committee of governmental experts
The transmission to Governments of a preliminary draft Protocol, prepared, at the invitation of UNIDROIT, by a working group the core membership of which was provided by manufacturers, financiers and users/operators of space property as well as the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the European Space Agency/European Centre for Space Law and the International Bar Association, was approved by the Governing Council of UNIDROIT at its 80th session, held in Rome from 17 to 19 September 2001, subject to revision by a Steering and Revisions Committee of that body to take account of the changes made to the Convention and the Aircraft Protocol at the subsequent Cape Town diplomatic Conference.
Following the meeting of the Steering and Revisions Committee held in Rome on 1 February 2002, the first session of the UNIDROIT Committee of governmental experts for the preparation of a draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets (hereinafter referred to as the Committee of governmental experts) was convened in Rome from 15 to 19 December 2003 (Report: UNIDROIT 2004 – C.G.E. Space Pr./1/Report rev.).
The second session of the Committee of governmental experts was convened in Rome from 26 to 28 October 2004 (Report: UNIDROIT 2004 – C.G.E. Space Pr./2/Report). At the conclusion of that session, the Committee gave out a number of intersessional assignments which were the subject of two Government/industry meetings, the first held in London, under the auspices of the Royal Bank of Scotland, on 24 April 2006 and the second in New York, under the auspices of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy L.L.P., on 19 and 20 June 2007. On the basis of the provisional conclusions reached at the New York meeting, the UNIDROIT General Assembly at its 61st session, held in Rome on 29 November 2007, endorsed the UNIDROIT Secretariat’s proposal for the establishment of a Steering Committee, open to those representatives of Government and the commercial space sector having participated in the Government/industry meetings, to build further consensus around such provisional conclusions such as to permit the reconvening of the Committee of governmental experts and timeous completion of the preliminary draft Space Protocol as it had emerged from the first two sessions of the Committee of governmental experts.
Following the holding of two meetings of the Steering Committee, the first held in Berlin, at the invitation of the Government of Germany, from 7 to 9 May 2008 (Report: UNIDROIT 2008 – Study LXXII J – Doc. 14) and the second in Paris, at the invitation of the European Centre for Space Law, on 14 and 15 May 2009 (Report: UNIDROIT 2009 – Study LXXII J – Doc. 17), the UNIDROIT Secretariat, following consultation with the Chairman of the Committee of governmental experts, Mr S. Marchisio (Italy), convened a third session of the Committee of governmental experts.
The third session was held in Rome from 7 to 11 December 2009 (Report: UNIDROIT 2009 – C.G.E. Space Pr./3/Report rev.). Apart from the text of the preliminary draft Protocol that had emerged from the first session of the Committee of governmental experts, at its third session that Committee had before it for discussion the results of the intersessional work, in the shape of:
– first, an alternative version of the preliminary draft Protocol drawn up by the co-Chairmen of the Drafting Committee of the Committee of governmental experts (Canada and the United Kingdom) (UNIDROIT 2009 – C.G.E. Space Pr./3/W.P. 5 rev.) reflecting the Steering Committee’s prescriptions for those policy issues which had been referred to intersessional work;
– secondly, another alternative text of the preliminary draft Protocol, again drawn up by the co-Chairmen of the Drafting Committee (UNIDROIT 2009 – C.G.E. Space Pr./3/W.P. 8 rev.), this time proposing certain technical amendments – which, however, neither concerned the issues referred to intersessional work nor reflected the deliberations of the Steering Committee – and,
– thirdly, the results of the work carried out by the Sub-committee of the Committee of governmental experts that had examined certain aspects of the future international registration system for space assets in Rome on 26 and 27 October 2009 (Report: UNIDROIT 2009 – C.G.E. Space Pr./3/W.P. 7 rev.).
In the light of the Committee of governmental experts’ review of the text of the preliminary draft Protocol that had emerged from its first session and the alternative texts, in particular taking account of the proposals for amendment laid before the Committee – notably by representatives of leading insurers – the Drafting Committee began the task of revising the preliminary draft Protocol. In the light of the report submitted to the Committee of governmental experts by the Drafting Committee on the work it had accomplished during the session, the Committee of governmental experts decided that the Drafting Committee should complete the work which it had begun during the session by way of implementation of the decisions taken there. Moreover, the Committee of governmental experts agreed that all future work should be carried out on the basis of the alternative text proposing certain technical amendments. In addition, it was agreed that the Informal Working Group established by the Committee of governmental experts on default remedies in relation to components, which was not able to complete its work during the session, should continue to work informally with a view to agreeing on a proposal that might be laid before the Committee of governmental experts at its fourth session.
The fourth session of the Committee of governmental experts was held in Rome from 3 to 7 May 2010 (Report: UNIDROIT 2010 – C.G.E. Space Pr./4/Report) The work accomplished by that Committee at its fourth session consisted essentially in, first, consideration of the specific outstanding issues identified at its previous session and, secondly, a provision-by-provision review of the entirety of the revised version. Two sets of provisions, though, were essentially left for further consideration within the two informal working groups set up by the Committee of governmental experts at its previous session, namely the provisions dealing with limitations on remedies (in the case of assets providing a public service) and the issue of default remedies in relation to components. The working groups in question reported to the Committee of governmental experts on the progress they had accomplished during the session, with it being agreed that the discussion proposal that emerged from the Informal Working Group on limitations on remedies should be incorporated in the revised version of the preliminary draft Protocol.
At its 89th session, held in Rome from 10 to 12 May 2010, the UNIDROIT Governing Council authorised the Secretariat to convene a fifth session of the Committee of governmental experts, which was held in Rome from 21 to 25 February 2011 (Report: UNIDROIT 2011 – C.G.E. Space Pr./5/Report). In line with the statements made in the concluding part of the fourth session regarding future work, the Secretariat, moreover, organised meetings of both the Informal Working Group of the Committee of governmental experts on limitations on remedies (Report: UNIDROIT 2010 – C.G.E. Space Pr./5/W.P. 6) and the Informal Working Group of the Committee of governmental experts on default remedies in relation to components (Report: UNIDROIT 2010 – C.G.E. Space Pr./5/W.P. 5), as well as consultations with representatives of the commercial space sector (Report: UNIDROIT 2010 – C.G.E. Space Pr./5/W.P. 4), in Rome from 18 to 21 October 2010.
The fifth session of the Committee of governmental experts was held in Rome from 21 to 25 February 2011 (Report: UNIDROIT 2011 – C.G.E. Space Pr./5/Report). The remarkable progress made by the Committee of governmental experts at that session, notably in reaching consensus on, first, the definition of the term “space asset”, secondly, limitations on remedies (public service) and, thirdly, the criteria to be employed for the registration of space assets was greatly facilitated by the three intersessional meetings. Even though it was not possible to reach consensus on the other outstanding issue, namely limitations on remedies in relation to components, the Committee of governmental experts was able to agree on the text of three alternative solutions to this issue for decision by the planned diplomatic Conference. At the end of the session, the Chairman of the Committee of governmental experts was, accordingly, able to recommend to the UNIDROIT Governing Council, on behalf of the Committee of governmental experts, that the text of the preliminary draft Space Protocol as established by that Committee was ripe for transmission to a diplomatic Conference for adoption.
The documentation for the five sessions of the Committee of governmental experts is accessible at this page.
Transmission of the draft Space Protocol to a diplomatic Conference for adoption
At its 90th session, held in Rome from 9 to 11 May 2011, acting on the recommendation of the Chairman of the Commitee of Governmental experts, the UNIDROIT Governing Council decided to authorise the transmission of the text of what thus became the draft Space Protocol to a diplomatic Conference for adoption.
– The Diplomatic Conference to adopt a Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets was held, under the auspices of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), at the invitation of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, in Berlin, from 27 February to 9 March 2012.
– 40 States and 10 international Organisations participated in the diplomatic Conference.
– The following 25 States signed the Final Act at the closing ceremony of the diplomatic Conference: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United States of America and Zimbabwe. It was also signed by one regional economic integration Organisation, namely the European Union.
– The following States signed the Space Protocol at the closing ceremony of the diplomatic Conference: Burkina Faso, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.
The Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Space Assets (Berlin, 2012) was drafted in a single original in the English, and French languages, both texts being equally authentic. FINAL ACT of the diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets, held at the invitation of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and under the auspices of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Berlin from 27 February to 9 March 2012. English, French.
Space Preparatory Commission
Pursuant to Resolution 1 of the diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets (Berlin, 27 February – 9 March 2012), a Preparatory Commission was set up to act as Provisional Supervisory Authority for the establishment of the International Registry for Space Assets under the guidance of the Unidroit General Assembly.
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
Professor Donati is the author of several publications on corporate law, restructuring, insolvency law, and bank crisis management. On the same topics, he has been invited as a speaker to various international and national conferences and participated in some high-impact international, European, and national research projects. Professor Donati’s education includes a Ph.D. in Corporate Law (University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’), an LLM in Corporate Governance (Stanford Law School), and a Law Degree with honors (University of Florence). He is qualified as an attorney in Italy and in the State of New York (USA).
Ms Olga Fonotova is an Associate Professor of the Faculty of Law (Department of Legal Regulation of Business) at the Russian National Research University “Higher School of Economics” in Moscow. She holds a PhD degree cum laude in private law / private international law from the Lomonosov Moscow State University (2006). Her academic and teaching interests cover private international law, international and national commercial law, with a focus on unified and non-state legal regulation of cross-border commerce.
Olga is a Russian law qualified practicing lawyer in the sphere of national and international commercial and corporate law with 20+ years’ experience in leading law firms. As part of her legal practice, she has advised multinational corporations on the setting up of multi-jurisdictional commercial relations, on the formation / termination of international joint ventures, restructuring of assets, and financing / refinancing of projects. For her work on commercial and corporate legal matters she was included in the international rating of leading lawyers “The Best Lawyers® in Russia” (2018 – 2022).
She is a UNIDROIT alumna (2011) and a Correspondent of UNIDROIT in Russia (2023 – 2025). From 2016 to 2021 Olga was a member of the ICC Commission on Commercial Law and Practice (ICC CLP) and a member of the Association of European Business (AEB) in Moscow.
Allan M. Mukuki, PhD Candidate (Navarra, Spain), LLM (Groningen, Netherlands), PGDip (KSL), LLB (Hons) (UoN), ACIArb (London), Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Allan Mukuki is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya as well as a Commissioner for Oaths. He is presently a PhD Candidate at the University of Navarra in Spain. He is also a holder of an LL.M in International Law and the Law of International Organizations, from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He has an LL. B (Hons) from the University of Nairobi, he is a Member of the Cha
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
Some of his many roles in the legal profession include Director of International Partnerships; a Doctoral Fellow; member of the Management Committee and moot court coordinator, all for Strathmore Law School; Research Fellow for the African Region (Kenya), for the European Research Council Grant Project on the interpretation of customary international law; and Acting Director for the Strathmore Institute of Advanced Studies in International Criminal Justice (SIASIC)
Allan has previously worked at A.F Gross Advocate; in various legal institutes; in governmental agencies and in the Judiciary of Kenya. He was also a Legal researcher in the Office of the Solicitor General, Kenya, for the Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya), a case that was before the International Court of Justice. His main areas of specialization include Public International Law, The Law of International Organizations, International Humanitarian Law, International and Regional (EAC) Refugee Law and Legal Policy Development.
Further, Allan has been involved in various national and international legal consultancies and projects; he has published several peer reviewed legal articles, a legal monograph and presented several legal papers in international conferences around the world. He has also developed several policy documents for Strathmore University as well as (currently operational) manuals and laws for the operation of the Judiciary as well as governmental agencies and regional agencies such as IGAD.
ANDREA SANTACOLOMA
Director
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Andrea Santacoloma is a Panamanian lawyer that focuses her practice on international commercial arbitration.
Prior to joining Adell & Merizalde, Andrea was the Deputy Director for Latin America of the ICC International Court of Arbitration for 5 years. In this role, she gained vast experience in the internal functioning of the ICC’s Secretariat and Court and saw first-hand the work of hundreds of arbitrators and ICC Court Members in the region. Andrea was also in charge of identifying new opportunities and potential users of the ICC Dispute Resolution Services (ICC DRS) in Latin America, in liaison with the ICC National Committees and other institutions in the region. She also worked as a lawyer advising local and international clients on business and corporate law and M&A in 3 Panamanian law firms.
She is currently the Executive Director of the Latin American Arbitration Association (ALARB), one of Latin America’s leading associations gathering practitioners and arbitrators, which seeks to encourage the use of arbitration and foster initiatives for the development of international arbitration in the region.
In July 2022, the G
overning Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) appointed Andrea as a Correspondent for Latin America. Namely, Andrea was appointed as a Correspondent for the Republic of Panama for the period 2022-2025.
EDUCATION
• American University Washington College of Law, LL.M. in International Arbitration and Business Law
• International Training Centre of the International Labor Organization (ILO) jointly with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Università degli Studi di Torino, and University Institute of European Studies (IUSE), LL.M. in International Trade Law & Dispute Resolution
• Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua, LL.M. in Corporate Law
• Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua, Degree in Law and Political Science
• Centro de Estudios Regionales de Panamá, Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Management of Small and Medium Enterprises
Bar admissions
Republic of Panama
Languages
Spanish, English, Italian (intermediate)
asantacoloma@adellmerizalde.com
+507 370 4155
NAME: PROF. DR. HERNANY VEYTIA (LL.M. YALE)
AFFILIATION DIRECTOR BNM-CAMBRIDGE STUDY CENTRE ON SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENTS
PRESENTATION
Professor of law, international strategic consultant, arbitrator, and entrepreneur. Hernany Veytia is very comfortable with complex, high-profile and confidential transactions. Her consulting experience as partner of BNM and Deloitte enables her to focus on and add value to the sustainable and commercial aspects of each deal. Frequently she leads transdisciplinary teams to deliver fact findings and legal opinions, feasibility studies and turn-key projects for banks, governments, international organisations, and corporations willing to expand or withdraw operations in other jurisdictions.
In Prof Veytia’s experience UNIDROIT works have been very useful to understand not only the foreign law, but also to recognise the cultural, political, and economic factors at play, and the way national and international regulators operate-and cooperate. In her opinion, UNIDROIT instruments have been of utmost importance for the legal strategies she designed for:
• DANPREIT (Dispute Analytics Platform for Real Estate Investment Trusts in the Agriculture, Construction and Mining industries).
• TELEKAIROS, innovative methodology that incorporates the use of space assets.
• Corporate art collections, restitutions, including donations, sponsorships, and loans to museums.
• Contracts used by a German waterworks company willing to grow in all the Caribbean and Central American countries.
• Liquidation of commercial and investment banks
• IPOs and reverse mergers for companies in the extraction industries (Canadian stock exchange), ILS listed in Bermuda and African sovereign funds listed in London.
• Franchising and other commercial contracts in the food & drinks, health, aero-space, and automotive industries.
In the last three decades Prof. Veytia has lived, and successfully completed investments and disinvestments in more than forty countries in the five Continents. She is frequently appointed as arbitrator and invited as speaker on risk transfers at international industry conferences in fields of her expertise: energy (both renewable and traditional), artificial intelligence, infrastructure, mining, real estate, agriculture, rail, space, automotive, and franchising. She sits in the board of directors of companies in Europe including the United Kingdom.
Anna Veneziano is the Deputy Secretary General of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). She is a Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Teramo, Italy, where she was formerly the Director of the Department of Private Law. She has also formerly been a tenured Professor of European Property Law at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Her education includes a Law Degree with honours from the University of Rome La Sapienza, an LL.M degree from the Yale Law School funded by a Fulbright scholarship, and a PhD degree from the University of Florence (Italy).
Her main research and publication areas are on secured transactions as well as international, comparative, and European contract and sales law. Before joining UNIDROIT she was a member of the Italian delegation with respect to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests on Mobile Equipment and its Aircraft Protocol as well as its Space Protocol. She was also a member of the Study Group on a European Civil Code and of the Compilation and Redaction Group on a Draft Common Frame of Reference on European Private Law (DCFR), and of the restricted Expert Group set up by the European Commission on a common European law on sales.
P
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
Amongst other accolades to his professional experience, Professor Tirado is a founding member of the European Banking Institute, an International Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and has been Director and Academic Co-Chair of the International Insolvency Institute.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.
