[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 15 (Friday, January 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 3614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-1631]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice No. 2669]


Proposed Unidroit Convention and Its Aircraft Protocol Meeting 
Notice

AGENCY: Department of State.

ACTION: Notice is hereby given of an Advisory Committee meeting to be 
held on Thursday, February 26 starting at 9:00 a.m. in the Civil 
Aeromedical Institute auditorium, Room 254, located at 6500 S. 
MacArthur Blvd, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The meeting will end at or 
before 1:00 p.m. on February 26. There may be an afternoon session from 
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for further discussion.

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    Attendance: The meeting is open to the public, free of charge, and 
is limited to available seating. It may be of interest to persons 
associated with the selling, leasing, and financing of aircraft and 
aircraft engines, including persons who search title, give title 
opinions, submit conveyances for recordation to the FAA Aircraft 
Registry, or otherwise participate in aircraft financing.
    Nature: The meeting is intended only to provide information. No 
formal record will be made. No written comments will be accepted from 
the audience.
    Agenda:

(1) Introductory remarks
(2) Purpose of UNIDROIT Convention
(3) Status of actions taken (UNIDROIT Convention and Aircraft Protocol)
(4) Summary of UNIDROIT Convention with emphasis on registration of 
international interests
(5) Summary of Aircraft Protocol
(6) Relationship of UNIDROIT Convention to existing laws and treaties
(7) Question and Answer Period

    Background: The United States Government, through the United States 
Department of State, has been participating with other nations in 
studying a proposed multilateral convention (UNIDROIT Convention) to 
protect international secured interests in mobile equipment, including 
aircraft.
    A preliminary draft of the UNIDROIT Convention will be submitted to 
the UNIDROIT Governing Council in early 1998. Thereafter, it is 
expected that the draft will be circulated to States to determine 
whether to proceed to intergovernmental negotiations to conclude the 
Convention.
    As proposed, the UNIDROIT Convention would not take effect unless a 
protocol has been adopted for a specific category of mobile objects. In 
that regard, UNIDROIT's Aircraft Equipment Protocol Group has completed 
a preliminary draft protocol which would pertain to certain large 
airframes and large helicopters, and jet and turbine engines.
    The UNIDROIT Convention and Aircraft Equipment Protocol together, 
when and if adopted and enacted into law by contracting states would 
provide a comprehensive international system to protect leasing and 
financing interests. Significant features might include default 
remedies, priorities, and establishment of an international 
registration system to register (record) international consensual 
interests, non-consensual interests, assignments, prospective 
assignments, and subordinations.
    It is anticipated that the international registration system would 
be primarily an electronic notice system. As proposed, the 
international registration system is not intended to interfere with 
countries' existing national registration and recordation systems 
(e.g., Parts 47 and 49 of the Federal Aviation Regulations).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph R. Standell, Aeronautical 
Center Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration, P.O. Box 25082, 
Oklahoma City, OK 73125, telephone number (405) 954-3296; fax number 
(405) 954-4676.

    Dated: December 17, 1997.
Harold S. Burman,
Executive Director, Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private 
International Law, United States Department of State.
[FR Doc. 98-1631 Filed 1-22-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4701-08-M