Henry Uche
Nigeria among other african countries are leading the way on international treaties on mining, agriculture and construction equipment, rock drilling or earth boring tools and other heavy duty equipments.
Investment newsletter from Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), quoting Sahel Standard, indicates that South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation hosted a diplomatic conference in Pretoria last November to finalise and adopt the fourth protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment. The Convention facilitates the financing and leasing in cross border transactions of mining, agricultural and construction (MAC) equipment.
The Pretoria Protocol will provide legal certainty and protection for the interests of lessors, security interests of secured creditors, and seller’s rights under conditional sale agreements of MAC equipment in cross border transactions, with the intention of removing concern about whether a lease or security interest is recognised and enforceable or not from one state to another when parties are in different states and the MAC equipment has to cross borders during its life. These interests will be effective where the debtor is located in a contracting state and the interest has been registered on an electronic register as an international interest.
The Pretoria Protocol covers specific assets used in the three industry sectors: mining, agriculture and construction. MAC equipment eligible for registration of an international interest is listed in each of the three annexes by reference to a category of asset using the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System used by the World Customs Organisation. Accessories installed, incorporated and attached to, and all data, manuals and records relating to that item of MAC equipment will also be covered. An international interest over an item of MAC equipment will have priority over a domestic security interest over the same asset.