On 27 November 2024, Paraguay made an absolute record-breaking step in the history of UNIDROIT Instruments by becoming the first State to deposit three Instruments of ratification within the Cape Town Convention system at once, as well as the first to become party to all four Protocols.
First Secretary Miguel Dionisi Battilana, acting on behalf of Her Excellency Ambassador of Paraguay to Italy Maria Jose Argana Mateu, delivered the instruments of ratification of the Protocols of the Cape Town Convention on matters specific to Railway Rolling Stock, Space Assets, and Mining, Agricultural and Construction Equipment to Secretary-General Ignacio Tirado. Having already ratified the Cape Town Convention itself, as well as the Protocol on matters specific to Aircraft Equipment, in 2019, Paraguay has become the first State to have become Party to all Protocols in the Cape Town Convention system.
The Rail Protocol will become effective for Paraguay as of 1 March 2025, whereas the Space and MAC Protocols will enter into force when the requirements under their respective Articles XXXVIII(1) and XXV(1) have been satisfied.
UNIDROIT Secretary- General Tirado commended the historical occasion:
“Today we celebrate the fact that Paraguay has become the first country in the world to have completed the Cape Town Convention family, having ratified not only the Convention but also all four of its protocols, which in our opinion will provide the widest possible legal coverage to access more, cheaper credit in essential sectors of the economy. Paraguay, with this legislative leap, can boast for having one of the most modern, cutting-edge legislative systems in the field of secured transactions in the world, as it enters a crucial stage of its economic development.”
First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Paraguay Miguel Dionisi Battilana remarked:
“Speaking on behalf of the Ambassador of Paraguay in Italy Her Excellency, Maria Jose Argana Mateu on this historical occasion and representing the first country to have completed the integration of these three protocols in its legislative framework, today I deposit the deed of ratification of three protocols under the Cape Town Convention. This Convention is a system that, with its protocols that define its ambit of application, distinguishes itself for the flexibility of its solutions and structure and, above all, its harmonising potential as an instrument that takes all different legal cultures into consideration. This will facilitate financing of equipment within the relevant sectors of application according to the needs of the relevant markets. Paraguay, as the first State to approve all mentioned protocols, and by this deed, concludes its constitutional process to incorporate them into its national legislation enabling their entry into force. (…) We highlight the commitment of Paraguay and President Santiago Peña both with UNIDROIT and with international law, as a fundamental tool for development, and these instruments will allow the promotion of the important sectors of the economy regulated by them, through the dynamization of access to credit and establishment of legal guarantees, which will benefit society.”
The event proceeded with comments provided via video recording of world-renowned experts and contributors to the creation and promotion of the Cape Town Convention: Sir Roy Goode and Professor Alejandro Garro.
UNIDROIT President Maria Chiara Malaguti and Governing Council member José Antonio Moreno Rodriguez also provided their remarks, respectively:
“This is magnificent. It may not be a very diplomatic term, but it is the only one that seems appropriate to describe this occasion. To bear witness to the first country that has ratified all the Protocols to the Cape Town Convention is magnificent, and a great result for the Institute as well as for Paraguay. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Paraguay for its support to UNIDROIT and to this important instrument, as well as to Governing Council member José Antonio Moreno Rodriguez for all that he has done to bring this to fruition.”
“I am delighted for my country as it becomes the first to have ratified and deposited all four Protocols to the Cape Town Convention, which is truly a historical feat. This day might be remembered as a point in time when Paraguay availed itself of the necessary conditions for a significant step forward in sectors in which it holds so much potential, which will lead to many economic benefits for my beloved country.”
The event was also attended by Deputy Secretary-General Anna Veneziano, Senior Principal Legal Officer and Treaties Depositary Marina Schneider, Senior Legal Officer William Brydie-Watson, as well as other members of the UNIDROIT Secretariat.
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’.
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.
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.
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.