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The Draft Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sale of Ships: Possibilities, Problems, Consequences

22 February 2022
Discussion session

Event Description

On February 22, 2022, the discussion session “The Draft Convention of the International Effects of Judicial Sale of Ships: Possibilities, Problems, Consequences” was held on the LF Talks online platform. The International and Comparative Law Research Center (ICLRC) was the organizer of the event were with the support of The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law  (UNCITRAL) and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

Since 2019, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group VI has been developing a Draft Convention on the Recognition of the Consequences of the Judicial Sale of Ships.

The Convention aims to solve the problem of registering the consequences of a judicial sale conducted in one State in the other State, where the sale is registered.

The Draft establishes that a judicial sale of a ship that confers clean title on the purchaser in one State Party has the effect in every other State Party.

What are the possible consequences of the accession to the Convention for shipowners, their creditors, maritime service providers, and crew? How could the document provisions be implemented into national law? These and other issues will be discussed at the event dedicated to this international instrument.

The ICLRC is an observer in the Working Group VI. Following the event, the ICLRC could analyze and submit to the Working Group VI a position on the issues considered.

 

 

Presentations were made by

Igor Yastrzhembskiy
Igor Yastrzhembskiy specializes in the law of obligation and contract law, bankruptcy issues, land, property, and communal services disputes. He has more than 15 years of experience in judicial representation in arbitration courts and general jurisdiction courts. He defended the interests of clients in the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in the Civil Collegium, and in the Economic Disputes Collegium. Igor is experienced in representation in all arbitration courts of the Moscow Region, including the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District. He has repeatedly represented the interests of administrations of municipal districts of the Moscow Region in arbitration courts. Igor is recognized as the best lawyer in corporate law and civil law by the Best Lawyers 2021 international rating. He has published various articles on civil law. He has lectured at the "M-Logos" Legal Institute and at the "Statut" Law School.
Ekaterina Salugina-Sorokovaya
Since 2006, she has been working in the Presidential State-Legal Directorate. In 2014, she was appointed to the position of Adviser to the President of the Federal Notary Chamber on Legislative Work. In 2015, she joined the State Corporation Deposit Insurance Agency as Deputy Director of the Department of Public Relations In 2016, she took the position of General Director of the International and Comparative Law Research Center. In November 2017, she assumed the duties of the Acting Director of the Department for Financial and Bank Operations and Investment Development of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. In February 2018, she was appointed Director of the Department for Financial and Bank Operations and Investment Development of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. From February 2019 to March 2020, she was Director of the Department of Regulatory Policy of the Government of the Russian Federation. From April 2020 to April 2021, she served as Director of the Department of International Law and Cooperation of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Since April 2021 — General Director of the International and Comparative Law Research Center. Ph.D. in Law.
Alexander Kunzelmann
Alexander Kunzelmann is a legal officer with the International Trade Law Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, which functions as the substantive secretariat for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). He currently services UNCITRAL Working Group VI on the judicial sale of ships and Working Group IV on electronic commerce. Alex also oversees the secretariat's exploratory work on legal issues related to the digital economy, which focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in trade, data transactions, and the use of digital assets in trade. Before joining the United Nations in 2018, Alex worked as a legal adviser with the Attorney-General's Department in Australia on matters relating to constitutional law, administrative law, and public international law. Prior to that, he worked in private practice and as a legal officer with the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in the Netherlands where he focused on cross-border judicial cooperation. Alex holds a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of laws from the Australian National University and a master of laws specializing in international law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Henry Hai Li
Dr. & Prof. Henry Hai Li is a practicing shipping lawyer and a part-time or visiting professor of Dalian or Shanghai Maritime University. He is also a vice-president of the China Maritime Law Association and a Titulary Member of the Comité Maritime International (the CMI). He was the Chair and now a co-chair of the CMI International Working Group on Judicial Sale of Ships.
Dr. Ann Fenech
Ann Fenech heads the marine litigation department and was Managing Partner of the firm from 2008 to 2020. On qualifying in 1986 she joined Holman Fenwick and Willan in London. She later joined Chaffe McCall Phillips Toler and Sarpy in New Orleans. At Fenech & Fenech, she created the marine litigation department. She has dealt exclusively with maritime issues for the past 36 years ranging from salvage to charter party disputes and from towage to enforcement of mortgages. She lectures at the University of Malta and the International Maritime Law Institute. She is the President of the Malta Maritime Law Association, Board Member of the European Maritime Law Organization, and founding Board Member of the Malta Maritime Forum. She has been on the Executive Council of the Comité Maritime International since 2014 and in 2018 elected Vice President. She is currently the co-Chair of the CMI IWG on International Recognition of Judicial Sales and CMI Co-Coordinator of the project at UNCITRAL.
Dr. Jan-Erik Pötschke
Dr. Jan-Erik Pötschke is a partner in Ahlers & Vogel shipping department in Hamburg and mainly advises shipowners, shipyards, P&I clubs, and ship managers. He studied law in Trier and Freiburg and did his doctorate on the liability of shipowners according to German and English law. His international training included activities in maritime law firms in Mumbai and Singapore. He was admitted to the bar in 1997. After working as an in-house counsel for an insurance broker in the field of transport insurance, Dr. Pötschke joined Ahlers & Vogel law firm in 1999 and became a partner in 2002. He has extensive experience in the field of charter party disputes, ship purchases and sales as well as cargo contract disputes and is part of the Casualty Response Team at Ahlers & Vogel, where he advises shipowners and their insurers with regard to shipping accidents both, at home and abroad. Memberships: German Association for International Maritime Law (DVIS); German Association for Transport Law (DGTR); German Singaporean Law Association (DSJV); International Bar Association (IBA).
Alexander von Zigler
Partner at Schellenberg Wittmer AG; Professor University of Zurich; LL.M. in Admiralty (Tulane University); former Secretary General of the International Union of Marine Insurers (IUMI); former Secretary-General and former EXCO member Comité Maritime International (CMI); delegate for Switzerland at UNCITRAL.
Alexei Filippov
Alexei Filippov joined the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation in 2005 and heads the Department of Legislation in the Field of Foreign Economic Activity of the Legal Department. Within his competences, Alexei: Ensures participation of the Russian Federation in activities of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT); Works out and performs a legal review of the draft legal acts and international agreements on Foreign Economic Activity, Customs, International Relations, International Law, Cross-border Cooperation, on the creation and functioning of Special Economic Zones and Territories of Advanced Social and Economic Development in the Russian Federation. Alexei graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University).

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