Towards the International Unification of Maritime Law on Recognition and Enforcement of Judicial Sales of Ships

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted on 7 December 2022 the `United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships' known as the ` Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sales of Ships'. The European Union as Regional Economic Integration Organization signed the Convention in New York on 14th March 2024. In recent years the need to have an instrument that establish generally accepted rules on foreign judicial sales of ships and its international recognition has become essential, as there was no domestic or international law on this specific subject. National barriers of a procedural nature between the States left room for legal uncertainty on the amount of sale proceeds that could be achieved for a ship at a judicial sale. In this paper is emphasised how the need for a close harmonisation between the applicable laws has brought to the adoption of the Convention on international recognition of foreign judicial sales of ships in a way which provides clarity and resolves the issues identified to date. This paper includes a comparative overview of selected national frameworks and international instruments on the judicial sale of ships.