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Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol in U.S. Forced Sales

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Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol in U.S. Forced Sales

Asset reference page. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-16.

What it is

The Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and its Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment (both signed at Cape Town, 16 November 2001) create an “international interest” in high-value aircraft equipment, a worldwide electronic International Registry, a first-to-register priority rule, and a menu of creditor default remedies — including non-judicial sale and de-registration/export. Federal law calls the two instruments together the “Cape Town Treaty” (49 U.S.C. § 44113(1)).

For the United States, the ICAO depositary records signature 9/5/03, ratification 28/10/04, and entry into force 1 March 2006 for both the Convention and the Protocol, with U.S. declarations under Convention articles 39 and 54 and Protocol articles XIX and XXX (ICAO, “Status of individual States — United States,” notes 10–11, retrieved 2026-10-16). The Cape Town Treaty Implementation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-297) amended chapter 441 of title 49 to designate the FAA as the U.S. Entry Point (49 U.S.C. § 44107(e); § 44113, “Added Pub. L. 108–297, § 6(a), Aug. 9, 2004”).

Which aircraft are covered

The Protocol applies to “aircraft objects” — “airframes, aircraft engines and helicopters” (Protocol art. I(2)(c)) — meeting these thresholds (art. I(2)(b), (e), (l); military, customs and police equipment excluded):

ObjectThreshold
AirframeType certified, with engines installed, to transport “at least eight (8) persons including crew” or “goods in excess of 2750 kilograms”
HelicopterType certified to transport “at least five (5) persons including crew” or “goods in excess of 450 kilograms”
Aircraft engineJet: “at least 1750 lb of thrust or its equivalent”; turbine or piston: “at least 550 rated take-off shaft horsepower or its equivalent”

Each object includes installed accessories and “all data, manuals and records relating thereto” (art. I(2)(b), (e)). Identification is by “manufacturer’s serial number, the name of the manufacturer and its model designation” (art. VII). Many light piston single-engine aircraft fall below the airframe threshold; whether a specific type qualifies turns on its type-certificated seating and payload — a per-type check.

When the Convention applies. It applies when, at the time the agreement is concluded, “the debtor is situated in a Contracting State” (Convention art. 3(1)); the Protocol additionally reaches a helicopter or airframe “registered in an aircraft register of a Contracting State which is the State of registry” (Protocol art. IV(1)). The ICAO record lists no U.S. declaration under Convention art. 50 (internal transactions); the U.S. declarations listed are under arts. 39 and 54 only. Whether purely domestic U.S. transactions are therefore within the Convention is stated here as an inference from the declaration list — needs_verification against an authoritative commentary or case.

International interests and priority

  • What an international interest is: an interest “granted by the chargor under a security agreement,” “vested in a person who is the conditional seller under a title reservation agreement,” or “vested in a person who is the lessor under a leasing agreement” (Convention art. 2(2)), constituted by a written agreement over an object the chargor/seller/lessor “has power to dispose” of, identifiable per the Protocol (art. 7). It “extends to proceeds” (art. 2(5)).
  • Priority rule: “A registered interest has priority over any other interest subsequently registered and over an unregistered interest,” even if acquired “with actual knowledge of the other interest” (art. 29(1)–(2)).
  • Buyers: the Convention’s general buyer rule (art. 29(3)) does not apply to aircraft objects — the Protocol states that Convention “Article 29 (other than Article 29(3) which is replaced by Article XIV(1) and (2))” applies to sales (Protocol art. III). For aircraft objects: “A buyer of an aircraft object under a registered sale acquires its interest in that object free from an interest subsequently registered and from an unregistered interest, even if the buyer has actual knowledge of the unregistered interest” (Protocol art. XIV(1)), and “A buyer of an aircraft object acquires its interest in that object subject to an interest registered at the time of its acquisition” (art. XIV(2)). The protection against unregistered interests is therefore tied to the buyer’s own sale being registered.
  • Engines are separate objects: ownership of or another interest in an engine “shall not be affected by its installation on or removal from an aircraft” (Protocol art. XIV(3)). An airframe sold at a forced sale may carry an engine owned or financed by someone else.
  • U.S. Entry Point gate: a registration with the International Registry relating to a U.S. civil aircraft “is valid only if” the person “first files documents eligible for recording” with the FAA as U.S. Entry Point and the Entry Point “authorizes the registration” (49 U.S.C. § 44107(e)(3); 14 CFR § 49.63). Engines may be registered without passing through the FAA (§ 49.63(b); U.S. Protocol art. XIX declaration). See faa-aircraft-registry.

U.S. declarations (text)

The declaration texts below were retrieved from a copy hosted by the Cape Town Convention Academic Project (https://ctcap.org/usa-declarations-deposited-by-the-usa); the ICAO status page confirms the articles under which the U.S. declared but does not reproduce the text. The official depositary text was not separately retrieved — needs_verification against the UNIDROIT/ICAO depositary.

  • Convention art. 39 (non-consensual rights): “(A) all categories of non-consensual rights or interests which under United States law have and will in the future have priority over an interest in an object equivalent to that of the holder of a registered international interest shall to that extent have priority over a registered international interest, whether in or outside insolvency proceedings; and (B) nothing in the Convention shall affect the right of the United States or that of any entity thereof, any intergovernmental organization in which the United States is a member State, or other private provider of public services in the United States to arrest or detain an aircraft object under United States law for payment of amounts owed to any such entity, organization, or provider directly relating to the services provided by it in respect of that object or another object.”
  • Convention art. 54 (remedies without court leave): “all remedies available to the creditor under the Convention or Protocol which are not expressed under the relevant provision thereof to require application to the court may be exercised, in accordance with United States law, without leave of the court.”
  • Protocol art. XXX: the U.S. “will apply” Protocol arts. VIII (choice of law), XII (insolvency assistance) and XIII (de-registration and export request authorisation). No U.S. declaration under art. XXX(3) (Article XI insolvency Alternatives A/B) appears in the list; U.S. airline insolvency is instead governed by 11 U.S.C. § 1110 (see below).
  • Protocol art. XIX: the FAA Aircraft Registry is the entry point through which airframe and helicopter information “shall be transmitted,” and engine information “may be transmitted,” and “the requirements of chapter 441 of title 49, United States Code, and part 49 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, shall be fully complied with before such information is transmitted.”

Effect of art. 39 for a forced-sale buyer: a mechanic’s, repair or similar non-consensual lien that has priority under U.S. (federal or state) law keeps that priority even against a registered international interest, and public-service providers’ statutory detention rights are preserved. Which specific U.S. liens qualify is a state-law question — see aircraft-mechanics-liens-and-non-judicial-sales.

Default remedies — the Cape Town “forced sale”

  • Chargee (secured creditor) remedies: on default, “to the extent that the chargor has at any time so agreed,” the chargee may “(a) take possession or control of any object charged to it; (b) sell or grant a lease of any such object; (c) collect or receive any income or profits” (Convention art. 8(1)), or “alternatively apply for a court order” (art. 8(2)). Under the U.S. art. 54 declaration these may be exercised without leave of court “in accordance with United States law.”
  • Conditional seller / lessor: may “terminate the agreement and take possession or control of any object” or seek a court order (art. 10).
  • Commercial reasonableness: for aircraft objects Convention art. 8(3) is displaced; “Any remedy … shall be exercised in a commercially reasonable manner,” deemed satisfied when “in conformity with a provision of the agreement except where such a provision is manifestly unreasonable” (Protocol art. IX(3)).
  • Notice of sale: a chargee must give “reasonable prior notice in writing of the proposed sale or lease” to interested persons (Convention art. 8(4)); for aircraft objects, “ten or more working days’ prior written notice … shall be deemed to satisfy” that requirement (Protocol art. IX(4)).
  • Proceeds: applied to the secured obligations; surplus to “holders of subsequently ranking interests which have been registered or of which the chargee has been given notice, in order of priority,” then to the chargor (Convention art. 8(5)–(6)).
  • Interim court relief: speedy orders for preservation, possession, immobilisation, or lease “pending final determination,” to the extent the debtor agreed (Convention art. 13(1)).
  • De-registration and export: if the debtor agreed, the creditor may “procure the de-registration of the aircraft” and “the export and physical transfer” of the object (Protocol art. IX(1)), but not “without the prior consent in writing of the holder of any registered interest ranking in priority” (art. IX(2)); the registry authority “shall … honour a request for de-registration and export” under a recorded IDERA (art. IX(5)). A chargee proceeding other than by court order must give reasonable prior written notice of the proposed de-registration and export (art. IX(6)).

How a Cape Town sale interacts with UCC Article 9 (which also governs a U.S. secured party’s disposition — aircraft-mechanics-liens-and-non-judicial-sales) when both apply is not resolved by the retrieved texts — needs_verification.

IDERA — irrevocable de-registration and export request authorisation

  • The debtor may issue an IDERA “substantially in the form annexed to this Protocol”; once recorded, only the “authorised party” (or its certified designee) may exercise the de-registration/export remedies, and the debtor may not revoke it without the authorised party’s written consent (Protocol art. XIII(2)–(3)).
  • FAA implementation: “Effective March 1, 2006, an IDERA recognized under the Cape Town Treaty may be part of, or attached to, a security instrument, or filed separately … NOTE: Acceptance of an IDERA does not ensure its enforceability” (AC 8050-93, item 13).
  • Cancellation for export: where an IDERA has been filed, “the Registry will honor a request for cancellation only if an authorized party makes the request” (14 CFR § 47.47(b)); the requester must certify “that all registered interests ranking in priority to that of the requestor have been discharged or that the holders of such interests have consented” (§ 47.47(a)(3)).

Forced-sale significance. A buyer who intends to export an aircraft bought at a forced sale must determine whether an IDERA is on file in favor of a party other than the seller; if so, the FAA will not cancel the U.S. registration for export at anyone else’s request (§ 47.47(b)).

Importing an aircraft subject to Cape Town

To register in the U.S. an aircraft last registered in a Cape Town state and subject to the Treaty, the applicant must show “that the foreign registration has ended or is invalid, and that all interests ranking in priority have been discharged or that the holders of such interests have consented to the deregistration and export” (14 CFR § 47.37(a)(3)(iii)). For Geneva-only states and non-party states, § 47.37(a)(3)(i)–(ii) applies; evidence of termination may be a foreign registry official’s statement or a foreign court judgment (§ 47.37(b)).

Bankruptcy: § 1110 rather than Protocol art. XI

11 U.S.C. § 1110(a)(1): the right of a secured party, lessor or conditional vendor of covered equipment “to take possession of such equipment … and to enforce any of its other rights or remedies … to sell, lease, or otherwise retain or dispose of such equipment, is not limited or otherwise affected by any other provision of this title or by any power of the court,” subject to the automatic stay only if, within 60 days after the order for relief, the trustee (with court approval) agrees to perform and cures defaults (§ 1110(a)(2)). Covered equipment is an aircraft, engine, propeller, appliance or spare part subject to a security interest granted by, leased to, or conditionally sold to a debtor that “holds an air carrier operating certificate … for aircraft capable of carrying 10 or more individuals or 6,000 pounds or more of cargo” (§ 1110(a)(3)(A)(i)). On written demand after the right arises, “the trustee shall immediately surrender and return” the equipment (§ 1110(c)(1)).

International Registry searches — mechanics and cost

  • Search types: a “priority search” uses the three Protocol criteria — manufacturer’s name, generic model designation, and serial number — and yields a priority search certificate; an “informational search” by serial number only does not make information “searchable” for Convention purposes (ICAO Doc 9864, Regulations and Procedures for the International Registry, 9th ed. 2022, Regulations §§ 7.1–7.4). “A search … may be performed by any person who complies with the Procedures, whether or not that searching person has a specific interest,” and “All searches shall be performed by electronic means” (§ 7.1).
  • Fees (Procedures, Appendix Table 1, dated 1/1/25): priority search fee USD 27; registration fee USD 120; user set-up fee (1 year) USD 240; controlled entity set-up fee USD 215; machine-readable priority search format USD 10. The International Registry fee page states “The fees are set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)” and “All fees are in United States Dollars.”
  • The International Registry website lists contact details at the aviareto.aero domain; the registrar’s identity was not confirmed from a primary source this session — needs_verification.

▸ For Buyers / Operators. For a Cape Town aircraft object, a forced-sale buyer takes subject to every interest registered at the International Registry when it acquires its interest (Protocol art. XIV(2), which replaces Convention art. 29(3) for aircraft objects) — a sale by a junior creditor does not wipe out a senior registered interest. The checks are a priority search certificate on the airframe and each engine (engines are separate objects — Protocol art. XIV(3)), a check of the FAA file for an IDERA in someone else’s favor (14 CFR § 47.47(b)), and a check for non-consensual liens that retain priority under the U.S. art. 39 declaration.

▸ For Owners / Debtors. The Convention’s self-help remedies apply only “to the extent that the chargor has at any time so agreed” (art. 8(1)); notice of a proposed sale or lease is required (art. 8(4); 10 working days deemed reasonable for aircraft, Protocol art. IX(4)); and surplus goes to subsequent-ranking registered interests and then to the chargor (art. 8(6)).

Needs verification

  • Official depositary text of the U.S. declarations (retrieved copy is from ctcap.org).
  • Whether all purely domestic U.S. transactions are within the Convention (no art. 50 declaration is listed).
  • How U.S. courts reconcile Cape Town art. 8 sale remedies with UCC Article 9 (§§ 9-610, 9-611, 9-617) for the same collateral; no case retrieved.
  • Which specific U.S. non-consensual liens courts have treated as covered by the art. 39(1)(a) declaration; no case retrieved.
  • Identity of the current International Registry registrar and supervisory authority.

aircraft, aircraft-title-liens-and-the-faa-registry, faa-aircraft-registry, aircraft-mechanics-liens-and-non-judicial-sales, buying-an-aircraft-at-a-forced-sale, bankruptcy-363-sales, bankruptcy-automatic-stay-federal

Sources

Disclaimer. This page is legal information, not legal advice. It is a general summary of a treaty regime and its U.S. implementation that may be incomplete or out of date; treaty declarations, registry rules and fees change, and their application is fact-specific. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Verify every provision against the current primary source and consult a licensed attorney before acting.

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