¹ The various types of harmonisation have been identified as falling into four broad categories: First, legislation; Secondly, judicial parallelism and judicial cooperation; Thirdly, business practices, codes, and model forms; Lastly, international restatements. See Goode, , ‘Insularity or Leadership? The Role of the United Kingdom in the Harmonisation of Commercial Law’ (2001) 50 ICLQ 751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

² International Chambers of Commerce, Uniform Customs and Practice Rules.

³ This phenomenon can be illustrated in the case of retention of title clauses. An attempt was made in the EEC Draft Directive Working Paper 111/D/278/80 to harmonise the recognition of such clauses within the (then) Member States of the Community. What was modestly proposed was the recognition of ‘simple’ retention of title clauses but no progress was made. See generally Monti, , Nejman, , Reuter, ‘The Future of Reservation of Title Clauses in the European Community’ (1997) 46 ICLQ 866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁴ See United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, Security Interests: Feasibility of Uniform Rules to be used in Financing Trade, YB of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (1979), vol x, pt 2, 81; (1980) vol xi pt 2 89; Fédération Bancaire EEC 1970, Projet du convention relative aux effets extraterritoriaux des sûretés mobilieres sans dessaisissement (1970); International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, Study on Sales of Movables by Instalment and on Credit in Member Countries of the Council of Europe (1968).

⁵ See Report of the Secretary-General: Study on Security Interests, YB of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (1977) UN Doc A/CN 9/131.

⁶ On the basis of the study undertaken the UNCITRAL Secretary, Professor Drobnig, reported that significant problems remained when receiving States refused to recognise security interests attached to mobile property before it entered the receiving State and also there were different registration laws making unification of laws overly complex. See United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, YB (1979), vol x pt 2 (1), at 81.

⁷ This has been adopted throughout the anglophone Provinces in Canada and also in New Zealand. It has inspired reform proposals in Australia and the UK. See now Law Commission Consultation Paper No 164, Registration of Security: Company Charges andProperty other than Land (2002). The major characteristics of Art 9 are the bringing of all security devices under one regime accompanied by a functional/purposive definition of security interests with a simple perfecting priority mechanism linked to notice filing.

⁸ The transition from one economic regime to another allows the opportunity for fresh examination of the basic assumptions of the other system that are often taken for granted, notably, the facilitation of security interests. See Drobnig, ‘The Conversion of a Socialist Economic System to a Market Economy: Legal Implications’, ch 15 in Commercial and Consumer Law (1993) ed Cranston and Goode.

⁹ The World Bank has linked many of its leading provisions to the reform of secured transactions law in debtor countries. See Head, , ‘Evolution of the Governing Law for Loan Agreements of the World Bank and Other Multilateral Development Banks’ (1996) 90 Am J International Law 214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁰ The UNCITRAL Project would govern virtually any international assignment of a receivable and any assignment (domestic or international) of an international receivable, that is, a receivable for which the debtor and creditor are in different countries.

¹¹ Convention On International Interests In Mobile Equipment done in Cape Town, Nov 2001. The Convention does not adopt the name UNIDROIT in its title. At the Diplomatic Conference the Secretary-General of UNIDROIT withdrew the proposal to include the name UNIDROIT in the title in view of the role played by the South African Government in hosting the Diplomatic Conference. The Convention is now referred to as the Cape Town Convention although this does not form part of the official title. See also Protocol To The Convention On International Interests In Mobile Equipment On Matters Specific To Aircraft To Aircraft Equipment (the Aircraft Protocol) that was also completed at the same Diplomatic Conference.

¹² See Leebron, , ‘Claims for Harmonization: A Theoretical Framework’ (1996) 27 Canadian Business LJ 63.Google Scholar

¹³ See Boodman, , ‘The Myth of Harmonization of Laws’ (1991) 39 American J Comp Law 699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁴ For a discussion see Leebron, op cit, n 12, at 68–91.

¹⁵ See David, , ‘The International Unification of Private Law’ (1971) 2 International Encyclopaedia of Comparative Law, at pp 24–54.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Cf Wood, ‘Rethinking the Notion of Uniformity in the Drafting of International Commercial Law’ [1977] Uniform Law Review 46.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Done at Ottawa, 1988.

¹⁸ Cf Macdonald, , ‘The Counter-reformation of Secured Transactions Law in Quebec’ (1991) 19 Can Bus LJ 239.Google Scholar

¹⁹ These were implemented by the States in the summer of 2001. See Mooney, and Harris, ‘How Successful Was The Revision of UCC Article 9? Reflection of the Reporters’ (1999) 74 Chicago -Kent Law Review 1357.Google Scholar

²⁰ See Shepsle, and Weingast, ‘Structure-induced Equilibrium and Legislative Choice’ (1981) 37 Pub Choice 503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²¹ See Schwartz, and Scott, , ‘The Political Economy of Private Legislatures’ (1995) 143 University of Pennsylvania LR 595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²² Ibid, at 597.

²³ See Kaplow, , ‘Rules versus Standards: An Economic Analysis’ (1992) 42 Duke LJ 557CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schuck, , ‘Legal Complexity: Some Causes, Consequences and Cures’ (1992) 42 Duke LJ 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁴ See Ehrlich, and Posner, , ‘An Economic Analysis of Legal Rule-Making’ (1974) 2 J Legal Studies 257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁵ See Gilmore, , The Ages of American Law (1977), at 86.Google Scholar

²⁶ See Kripke, , ‘The Principles Underlying the Drafting of the Uniform Commercial Code’ [1962] Univ Ill LF 321.Google Scholar

²⁷ As Schwartz and Scott have pointed out above n 21, at 640: ‘The privileged status of hands-on working knowledge of Art 9 rules thus gave the in-house counsel and the private commercial lawyers the power to determine what the Study Group did. Efforts by the academic members—that is, the reformers—to place significant reform proposals on the agenda were uniformly unsuccessful.’

²⁸ Professor Warren proposed to the Council of the American Law Institute in 1996 that 20 per cent of the collateral proceeds be reserved for unsecured creditors in order to redress the secured versus unsecured credit balance. This was rejected by the Drafting Committee of Art 9. See McDonnell, , ‘Is Revised Article 9 A Little Greedy?’ (1999) 104 Commercial Law Journal 241.Google Scholar

²⁹ See Mooney and Harris op cit, n 19.

³⁰ Art 9 as a model for the reform of English personal property security law is discussed in the Law Commission Consultation Paper No 164, op cit, n 7. See also Davies, , ‘The Reform of Personal Property Security Law: Can Art 9 of the US Uniform Commercial Code Be A Precedent?’ (1988) 37 ICLQ 465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³¹ See Davies, , ‘Reservation of Title Clauses in the UK’, ch 13, Davies (ed), Reservation of Title Clauses in Europe (1999).Google Scholar

³² See Bridge, , ‘How Far is Art 9 Exportable? The English Experience’ (1996) 27 Canadian Business Law Journal 196.Google Scholar

³³ The Quebec Civil Code that was reformed in 1992 provides a conceptual structure for security interests which parallels the Canadian Personal Property Security Acts. See Cuming, , ‘Personal Property Security Law in Canada: The Revolution is Nearly Complete’ (1998) 72 ALJ 918.Google Scholar

³⁴ Ibid, at 918.

³⁵ This is not always the case as can be demonstrated in the experience of the passing of the English Imperial Sale of Goods Act 1893. No commercial pressure group actively interested itself in the matter to a significant extent and the major factor which precluded Parliamentary vis inertiae with respect to the Sale of Goods Bill was that in 1892, Lord Herschell who was the main protagonist of the Bill was Lord Chancellor and in that position he was able to guide the Bill on to the Statute Book. The English Commercial Codes of the nineteenth century (The Bills of Exchange Act 1882; The Partnership Act 1890; The Sale of Goods Act 1893; The Marine Insurance Act 1906) were enacted not to reform substantive law but rather to ‘re-form‘ its shape and organisation. Such Codes were influenced by lawyers, the major English personalities being Chalmers who produced a Digest of the Laws of Bills of Exchange in 1878 having been encouraged to produce this Code by Sir Farrer Herschell who became Solicitor-General (1880–1885) and later Lord Chancellor (1886 and 1892–1895).

³⁶ UNIDROIT was established in 1926 within the framework of the League of Nations. It was reconstituted after the Second World War and its principal purpose is set out in Art 1 of the UNIDROIT Charter.

³⁷ See Stanford, , ‘The UNIDROIT Convention on International Financial Leasing and the Preliminary Draft UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment’ [1999] International Journal of Legal Information 188.Google Scholar

³⁸ At the same time Canada was half way through the process of introducing personal property security legal regimes in its Provinces. See Cuming, , ‘Personal Property Security Law in Canada: The Revolution is Nearly Complete’ (1988) 72 ALJ 918.Google Scholar

³⁹ Cuming, International Regulation of Aspects of Security Interests in Mobile Equipment, UNIDROIT 1989, Study LXXII Doc 2.

⁴⁰ The conflict of law rule reduces the level of predictability in a transaction thereby increasing the risk. Some national legal rules favour domestic over foreign parties particularly in the context of priority disputes. See Cuming, ibid, at 28–9 and 38–9.

⁴¹ The conclusions drawn by Professor Cuming were included in the Questionnaire and were highlighted as follows:

• The lex situs rule is inadequate in determining validity and priority status of security interests in movable equipment which frequently moves between frontiers;

• The North American experience is that the law of the debtor's principal place of business is more appropriate as a workable mechanism;

• A functional approach to the categorisation of a ‘security interest’ should be adopted;

• A set of priority rules that reflect functional considerations should emerge including the registration requirements that a State might think necessary to protect persons who acquire interests in collateral. In addition there should develop an appropriate choice of rule or set of international rules applicable to inter partes rights and remedies;

• No attempt would be made to address the status of security interests in bankruptcy although it was acknowledged that it would be necessary to secure acceptance that title retention sale contracts would be treated in bankruptcy proceedings as creating security interests the validity of which would be a matter for the law of the debtor's principal place of business and not the forum of the bankruptcy proceedings;

• A workable system for the international recognition of security interests should be embodied in a Convention.

The Questionnaire was divided into 3 parts: Part 1 was concerned with identifying what kinds of movable property were security interests taken and if so, the experience of creditors in respect of the validity and enforcement of the security in foreign jurisdictions; Part 2 was concerned with the questions as to the nature of the proposed Convention whilst Part 3 gave an opportunity for general comments.

⁴² See UNIDROIT 1992 Study LXII Doc 4.

⁴³ Ibid, at 6.

⁴⁴ See Circular letter dated 1 Sept 1992 from Mr Riccardo Monaco, President of UNIDROIT.

⁴⁵ Cf Goode, ‘Battening Down Your Security Interests’ [2000] LMCLQ 161.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See UNIDROIT 1993 CD (72) 18 at para 6.

⁴⁷ Ibid, at para 11.

⁴⁸ Even at this first meeting it was recognised that the European Bank for Regional Development was working on its model law for Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS. At the same time it was recognised that work was proceeding sponsored by the IMF regarding the preparation of a similar model law for Latin America. The Study Group at its first meeting proposed that the UNIDROIT Governing Council should consider authorising the Secretariat together with other interested organisations to look into the feasibility of the preparation of a model law on secured transactions in general.

⁴⁹ The Hague Conference on Private International Law and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

⁵⁰ UNIDROIT 1994, Study LXXII, Doc 12.

⁵¹ It was noted that registered ships would be excluded but that this category of asset should still be included in brackets denoting that the decision was not final because there might turn out to be provisions in the proposed Convention that would be useful to shipping interests.

⁵² See UNIDROIT 1995, Study LXXII, Doc 18.

⁵³ The sub-committee of the Study Group for the preparation of uniform rules which met in November 1994 to consider the responses to the First Draft had invited Boeing and Airbus, the major aircraft manufacturers, to prepare a memorandum for consideration by the drafting group and the sub-committee setting forth a representative aviation industry view on the desired content of the proposed Convention as it related to aircraft. See UNIDROIT 1995, Study LXXII, Doc 15.

⁵⁴ UNIDROIT 1995, Study LXXII, Doc 18, para 5.

⁵⁵ UNIDROIT 1995 Study LXII, Doc 21, at 3.

⁵⁶ Ibid.

⁵⁷ See pp 157–158 above.

⁵⁸ UNIDROIT Statute, Art 1.

⁵⁹ Fifty-nine states were represented at the diplomatic Conference in Ottawa which led to the UNIDROIT Convention on International Financial Leasing in 1988. By 31 Dec 1990, thirteen states had signed the Convention namely, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Ghana, Guinea, Italy, Morocco, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Tanzania, and US. The Convention entered into force on 1 May 1995 pursuant to the deposit of instruments of approval/ratification. The following States have deposited such instruments: France (1991), Italy (1993), Nigeria (1994), Panama (1997), Hungary (1997), Latvia (1997), Russian Federation (1998), Belarus (1998), Uzbekistan (2000).

⁶⁰ A ‘reformer’ will derive utility from being involved in the passage of a reform proposal irrespective of whether the proposal ultimately becomes law. See Schwartz, and Scott, , ‘The Political Economy of Private Legislatures’ (1995) 143 University of Pennsylvania LR 595, at 610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶¹ Cf Schwartz and Scott, op cit, at 633: ‘In a world of asymmetric information, interest group power is substantially diluted when groups compete. Further the institutional bias of private legislators to behave conservatively is reinforced.’

⁶² See above.

⁶³ See Weber, and Espinola, , ‘The Development of a New Convention relating to International Interests in Mobile Equipment in particular Aircraft Equipment: A Joint ICAO-UNIDROIT Project’ (1999) 2 Unif L R 463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶⁴ Three UNIDROIT-ICAO co-sponsored meetings of governmental experts and members of an ICAO legal subcommittee were held in 1999 and 2000 at which the UNIDROIT proposals were further developed. See Report of the First Joint Session of the Unidroit Committee of governmental experts and the Sub-Committee of the ICAO Legal Committee on the preparation of a draft Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and a draft Protocol thereto on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment, UNIDROIT CGE/Int.Int/-Report (ICAO Ref LSC/ME-Report; Report of the Second Session (Dec 1999), UNIDROIT CGE/Int Int/2-Report; ICAO Ref LSC/ME/2-Report; Report of the Third Session (Mar 2000), UNIDROIT CGE/Int/Int/3-Report; ICAO Ref. LSC/ME/3-Report. Additional refinements were made at a further meeting of the ICAO Legal Committee and were approved by the ICAO Council. See Legal Committee—31st Session, Doc 9765-LC/191 (Nov 6/00).

⁶⁵ See generally Convention on the International Maritime Organisation, 6 Mar 1948, 289 UNTS.

⁶⁶ See Convention Concerning International Carriage by Rail, 9 May 1980.

⁶⁷ For a general discussion see Larsen, and Heilbock, , ‘UNIDROIT Project on Security Interests: How the Project Affects Space Objects’ (1999) 64 Journal of Air Law and Commerce 703.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ In 1999 the German Delegation to UNIDROIT proposed that the Aircraft Protocol be merged into a stand-alone text. This was rejected. See Proposal submitted by the Delegations of Germany, First Joint Session (Rome 1–12 Feb 1999) UNIDROIT CGE/Int/WP/9.

⁶⁹ Practical considerations have caused UNIDROIT to be cautious as regards the number of equipment-specific protocols to be dealt with at any particular time. See Stanford, , ‘A broader or a narrower band of beneficiaries for the proposed new international regimen?’ (1999) 4 Uni LR 242Google Scholar. Preliminary draft protocols were completed by the Space Working Group and the Railway Rolling Stock Working Group in 1999. These Groups were made up of representatives from manufacturers, operators and also the financial community. See Panaby, and Mittal, ‘The Prospective UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment as applied to Space Property’ (1999) 4 Unif LR 303CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rosen, ‘Creating an International Security Structure for Railway Rolling Stock: An Idea Ahead of its Time’ (1999) 4 Unif LR 313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷⁰ Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment.

⁷¹ Even so, this approach has been contemplated by customary international law as seen, for example, in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (23 May 1969, 1155 UNTS 331) which defines a ‘treaty’ to include ‘two or more related instruments’. For a discussion on the impact of the two-instrument approach in respect of the base Convention and the equipment specific protocol see Chinkin and Kessedjian, ‘The Legal Relationship between the Proposed UNIDROIT Convention and its Equipment–Specific Protocol’ (1999) 4 Unif LR 323, at 325–34.

⁷² See Saunders, , Srinivasan, , Walter, , and Wood, , ‘The Economic Implications of International Secured Transaction Law Reform: A Case Study’ (1999) 22 Univ Pa J Int Econ Law 309.Google Scholar

⁷³ This does not eliminate risk because the effectiveness of security depends upon the ability of the creditor to enforce it. There are also residual political risks for Western financiers in funding projects in developing countries.

⁷⁴ McGairl, , ‘The Proposed UNIDROIT Convention: International Law for Asset Finance (Aircraft)’ (1999) 2 Unif LR 439, at 440.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ See below.

⁷⁶ The major international credit rating agencies will give a rating enhancement to the bonds issued where they are backed in the case of aircraft with asset security. See Fabozzi and Modigliani, Capital Markets (1996). By using asset-backed bonds an airline can achieve a higher credit rating from the rating agencies and then pay lower coupon interest on the bonds. The savings occasioned depend on the rating of the airline borrower (or its home country where it is a nationalised industry) and the degree of the over-collateralisation of the asset-backed bond. See Saunders, Srinvasan, Walter, Wood op cit, n 72, at 337–9.

⁷⁷ In terms of cost it is estimated that the cost of a secured loan transaction discounting legal or political risks on a fixed rate transaction is LIBOR plus forty basis points whereas an acceptable unsecured transaction is estimated at LIBOR plus 250 basis points. Considerable potential savings are then possible which obviously increase with the spread between the unsecured rate and the secured lending rate. See Saunders, Srinvasan, Walter, and Wood, op cit, at 336. Even direct sovereign credit support for national airlines does not ensure low-cost financing because lending rates will reflect the credit standing of the government guarantor. See Smith, and Walter, , ‘Risks and Rewards in Emerging Market Investments’ [1997] J Applied Corp Finance 1.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ See Proposed UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment as applicable to Aircraft Equipment through the Aircraft Equipment Protocol: Economic Impact Assessment (Sept 1998).

⁷⁹ It was estimated that a strong legal regime for international security interests and the expeditious enforcement of those rights would have a significant effect on risk assessment and credit ratings and save several billion dollars per annum which would be passed on to the airlines, aircraft manufacturers and their shareholders and customers. See Goode, ‘Battening Down Your Security Interests’ [2000] LMCLQ 161, at 173–4.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ See Porta, La et al. , ‘Legal Determinants of External Finance’ (1997) 52 7Fin 1131.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Fleisig, ‘The proposed UNIDROIT Convention on Mobile Equipment: Economic Consequences and Issues’ (1999) 4 Unif LR 253, at 261.Google Scholar

⁸² It is possible to classify jurisdictions on the basis of their sympathy or hostility to the creation of non-possessory security interests. Thus, Wood concludes that Belgium, Luxembourg and most Latin American countries, Greece and Spain ‘are quite hostile’ whilst Austria, France and Italy are ‘very hostile’ to the creation of non-possessory security interests. See Wood, Comparative Security Law (1997), 5–6.Google Scholar

⁸³ See Fleisig, and de la Pena, , ‘Peru: How Problems in the Framework for Secured Transactions Limit Access to Credit’ (1997) 3 NAFTA Law and Business Review of the Americas 33.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ In this study ibid, at 35 of the Peruvian framework for secured transactions based on the findings of a World Bank Mission to Peru, the authors point out: ‘Few types of property, besides real estate, seemed “really” to serve as collateral. In each case, legal and institutional limits in using movable property as collateral for loans limited access to credit to profitable transactions and growing businesses. These limits in using movable property as collateral for loans do not arise from macro-economic problems of from high intermediation spread, but from problems in the Peruvian secured transactions framework that makes movable property a very risky collateral. These problems in the Peruvian secured transactions framework have been observed in other countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Honduras and El Salvador that share Peru's Civil Code tradition. But it is not confined to these countries. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are Common Law countries with similar problems that arise from an inadequate framework for security interests in movable property.’

⁸⁵ Cf Fleisig, , Aguilar, and de la Pena, , ‘Legal Restrictions on Security Interests Limit Access to Credit in Bolivia’ (1997) 31 The International Lawyer 65, at 70Google Scholar. ‘Bolivia has one of the most concentrated patterns of land ownership in Latin America, with about 5 per cent of the people owning about 95 per cent of the land. Problems with using movable property as collateral, therefore, lead the present system to distribute credit even more narrowly than the distribution of wealth’

⁸⁶ Signed at Geneva, 19 June 1948, 310 UNTS 151.

⁸⁷ See Wood, ‘The Next Generation of International Aviation Finance Law’ (1998) 23 Air and Space Law 243, at 245.

⁸⁸ Ibid, at 271–3.

⁸⁹ See Bridge, , ‘How far is Article 9 Exportable? The English Experience’ (1996) 27 Can Business LJ 196.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ The international registration system is set out in Chapter IV of the Convention. The modalities of registration are set out in Chapter V of the Convention.

⁹¹ See Art III Aircraft Protocol.

⁹² Art 29 Convention.

⁹³ Art 29(2) Convention.

⁹⁴ Article 29(5) Convention.

⁹⁵ See Art XIV Aircraft Protocol.

⁹⁶ See Chapter X Convention.

⁹⁷ Cf Wool, ‘The Next Generation of International Aviation Finance Law: An Overview of the Proposed UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment as Applied to Aircraft Equipment’ (1998) 23 Air and Space Law 243.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ Art l(2)(c) Aircraft Protocol.

⁹⁹ Art XIV(3) Aircraft Protocol.

¹⁰⁰ It should be noted that the Aircraft Protocol does not create an engine sub-registry. There is only one international registry for aircraft objects, with separate treatment for airframes, aircraft engines, and helicopters. The Convention allows Contracting States to designate an entry point for transmission of registration to the International Registry but these entry points cannot be construed as amounting to sub-registers. In the case of aircraft engines a Contracting State may permit but not require registration to be made through entry points the reason being that unlike aircraft there is no system of national registration for engines.

¹⁰¹ See Wool, op cit, n 97.

¹⁰² These are set out in Art 7 Convention.

¹⁰³ The issue of ‘power’ is problematical because it does imply numerous factual and legal issues which will be addressed by the national law. See Art 5, Convention.

¹⁰⁴ The default remedies come into play whether or not the international interest has been registered in the international registry. The function of registration is to give notice and outside bankruptcy registration has no role as between the parties themselves. The provisions relating to default remedies are relevant only to the extent that the parties have not stipulated them or the security agreement may provide otherwise.

¹⁰⁵ The party autonomy principle applies. See Art 11, Convention.

¹⁰⁶ Under the Convention, the remedies not specified as requiring the leave of the court may be exercised without such leave. However, Art 54(2) of the Convention provides that a State may make an express declaration requiring an application to be made to the court in respect of a creditor exercising a remedy. Subject to this, remedies are required under Art 14 to be exercised in accordance with the procedural law of the place of exercise.

¹⁰⁷ Art 8(3) Convention.

¹⁰⁸ Draft Protocol to the UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment, Art IX(3).

¹⁰⁹ Aircraft Protocol Art IX (3).

¹¹⁰ Aircraft Protocol Art IX (4)

¹¹¹ Aircraft Protocol Art XIII. Art IX (1) of the Aircraft Protocol provides that a creditor with the agreement of the debtor can following default procure the de-registration of the aircraft and procure the export and physical transfer of the aircraft object from the territory in which the aircraft object is situated.

¹¹² Aircraft Protocol Art XXVIII.

¹¹³ See Art 13 Convention; Art X Aircraft Protocol.

¹¹⁴ Art 30(1) Convention.

¹¹⁵ Art 30(2) Convention.

¹¹⁶ Art 30(3) Convention.

¹¹⁷ Aircraft Protocol, Art XI, Alternative A.

¹¹⁸ Aircraft Protocol Art XXVIII.

¹¹⁹ Aircraft Protocol Art XXIX.

¹²⁰ Aircraft Protocol, Art XI Alternative A (7).

¹²¹ Aircraft Protocol, Art XI Alternative B (2).

¹²² See McGairl, , ‘The Proposed UNIDROIT Convention: International Law for Asset Finance’ (1999) 2 Unif LR 439, at 454–5.Google Scholar

¹²³ Art 30(1) Convention.

¹²⁴ Art 30(3) Convention.

¹²⁵ The reservation mechanism has been portrayed as a matter of calculation for the State as to whether or not debtor protection or bankruptcy reorganisation issues are more important to a State than the renewal of a national carrier's ageing aircraft fleet. See Wood, , ‘The Case for a Commercial Orientation to the Proposed UNIDROIT Convention as applied to Aircraft Equipment’ (1999) 24 Unif LR 289.Google Scholar

¹²⁶ Art 8 Convention; Art IX Aircraft Protocol. It should be noted that Art 54(2) of the Convention allows a Contracting State to exclude self-help.

¹²⁷ Harmanthy, , ‘The Regulation of Secured Transactions under the Future UNIDROIT Convention: A Hungarian Point of View’ (1999) 2 Unif LR 433, at 436.Google Scholar

¹²⁸ Art XIV Aircraft Protocol.

¹²⁹ For a comprehensive discussion see Wood, , Comparative Law of Security and Guarantees (1995), 215–21.Google Scholar

¹³⁰ Cf Crans, , ‘The UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Aircraft Equipment Protocol: Some Critical Observations’ (1998) 23 Air and Space Law 277.Google Scholar

¹³¹ Art 8(3) Convention.

¹³² Art IX(3) Aircraft Protocol.

¹³³ See Smith, ‘In Defence of Substantive Fairness’ (1996) 112 LQR 140.Google Scholar

¹³⁴ Cf McDonnell, , ‘Is Revised Article 9 A Little Greedy?’ (1999) 104 Commercial Law Journal 241.Google Scholar

¹³⁵ See Baird, , ‘Security Interests Reconsidered’ (1994) 80 Virginia LR 1249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³⁶ See Wool, , ‘Rethinking the Notion of Uniformity in the Drafting of International Commercial Law: A Preliminary Proposal for the Development of a Policy-based Unification Model’ (1997) 22 Uniform LR 46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³⁷ This is sometimes referred to as ‘the policy-based unification model’ of international commercial law reform in that it allows for policy decisions to be made by States in determining whether or not to adopt an analytical framework by way of a Protocol for a specific category of mobile asset. See Wool, op cit, at 50.

¹³⁸ See Weber, and Espinola, , ‘The Development of a New Convention relating to International Interests in Mobile Equipment, in particular Aircraft Equipment’ (1999) Unif LR 463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹³⁹ Twenty states, including the UK signed the two instruments at the Diplomatic Conference.