Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON MARITIME LIENS AND MORTGAGES 1993
On 6 May 1993 the International Convention on Maritime Liens and Mortgages (the “1993 Convention”) was adopted by consensus by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries of 65 states. We thereby have a successor to the Liens and Mortgages Conventions of 1967 and 1926. The 1993 Convention will enter into force “6 months following the date on which 10 States have expressed their consent to be bound by it”. The Secretary General of IMO expressed the view that conditions for a large number of ratifications could not be better.
Unlike the new draft Convention Relating to the Arrest of Sea Going Ships (the “Arrest Convention”) the 1993 Convention shows only little change in pattern or content from that of the Convention it is intended to replace. There is still no definition of a maritime lien and the Convention continues resolutely to ignore the obvious connection with the Arrest Convention. The 1993 Convention does, however, contain more precise rules as to the nature and effect of forced sale, moulds
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