The 13th Annual Cape Town Convention Academic Project Conference took place at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, and online on 11-12 September 2024. The Conference was organised by the Cape Town Convention Academic Project, which is a partnership between UNIDROIT and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, under the auspices of the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL). The Aviation Working Group (AWG) is the founding sponsor of the project.
The Conference had 128 registered participants, 88 of which attended in person, with the rest joining online. The focus of the conference was ‘Cape Town Convention in action: from aircraft to rail to MAC’. As always, the conference was highly interactive, with each session including ample opportunity for questions and debate.
The first day began with a keynote address on the significance of the coming into force of the Rail Protocol in March 2024, delivered by David Bamlango (Trade and Development Bank Group).
The keynote was followed by a presentation on ‘Comparison of registration requirements in the Aircraft Protocol, the Rail Protocol and the MAC Protocol’ offered by Professor Teresa Rodríguez de la Heras Ballell (University Carlos III, Madrid; Chair of the Supervisory Authority for Rail), with comments from Howard Rosen (Rail Working Group), Bruce Whittaker (University of Melbourne), and Rob Cowan (Aviareto). Thereafter, Marisa Chan and Paul Carrington (Clifford Chance) provided an illustration of ‘Financing models in relation to aircraft, rail and MAC equipment’, which was commented upon by Dr Konrad Schott (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer).
The afternoon started with a review of ‘Recent issues arising in insolvency cases: GOL, Go First and SAS’, with a presentation from Professor Jeffrey Wool (Aviation Working Group, UNIDROIT, Trinity College Dublin, Hebrew University), with comments from Professor Ignacio Tirado (UNIDROIT) and Professor Riz Mokal (South Square Chambers). The last session of the day, titled ‘Rail Protocol: Unique Registry matters with a focus on registrable non-consensual interests and pre-existing rights or interests including a comparison with the treatment under the Aircraft Protocol’, featured a presentation from Professor Ronald Cuming (Emeritus Professor, University of Saskatchewan) and Kathy Hillman-Weir (ISC), and comments from Alison Weal (Watson Farley & Williams).
The day concluded with a reception and a dinner at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, during which Revd Mark Smith (Chair of the MAC Preparatory Commission) gave a jovial speech.
The Conference resumed on the second day with a presentation on ‘Enforcement and procedural law: ongoing work by the Aviation Working Group’ by Kenneth Gray (Norton Rose Fulbright), with comments from Professor Campbell McLachlan (University of Cambridge). This was followed by a presentation titled ‘What can the UNIDROIT project on Best Practices in Effective Enforcement learn from the CTC experience?’ by Professor Anna Veneziano (UNIDROIT) and Dr John Sorabji (UCL), which was commented upon by Per Gustaf Ekbom (East Cape Advisory) and Charlotte Winter (Norton Rose Fulbright).
The second day of the Conference also featured a presentation on ‘Comparison of the alternatives in relation to insolvency in all three protocols’ by Professor Jean-François Riffard (Université Clermont Auvergne), with Professor Jeffrey Wool (Aviation Working Group, UNIDROIT, Trinity College Dublin, Hebrew University) and Scott Edmundson (Webber Wentzel, Johannesburg) as commentators. The Conference concluded with a practical session on ‘Working on CTC issues with other organisations’, with a presentation from Howard Rosen (Rail Working Group), and comments from William Brydie-Watson (UNIDROIT).
The Programme for the event can be found here. Learn more about the Cape Town Convention Academic Project and its activities at: www.ctcap.org.
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.