Skip to content
EMPFEHLUNG (14882/25 – C10-0321/2025 – 2025/0233(NLE))

Zu dem Entwurf eines Beschlusses des Rates über den Abschluss des Übereinkommens der Vereinten Nationen über die internationalen Wirkungen von Zwangsveräußerungen von Schiffen im Namen der Europäischen Union

A-10-2026-0049

Rechtsausschuss · Rapporteur: Ton Diepeveen

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament gives its consent to the Council decision concluding the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, which harmonizes the international effects of court-ordered ship sales. The rapporteur's explanatory statement welcomes the conclusion but raises concerns about national sovereignty, creditor protection, and regulation shopping, suggesting possible mitigations.

Committee position. The Committee on Legal Affairs recommends that Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.

Key points

  1. Parliament consents to the conclusion of the agreement, which establishes a harmonized regime for the international effects of judicial sales of ships.
  2. The Convention requires ship registries to deregister or transfer registration at the buyer's request after a judicial sale and prohibits seizure for pre-existing claims extinguished by the sale.
  3. The Convention grants exclusive jurisdiction to the courts of the State where the judicial sale takes place to decide on objections to the sale.
  4. The rapporteur notes that concluding the Convention obliges Member States to automatically recognize foreign judicial titles, relinquishing control over maritime registration, property rights, insolvency law, and creditor enforcement.
  5. The exclusive jurisdiction clause limits Member States' ability to protect local creditors or stakeholders, such as seafarers, tax authorities, suppliers, and environmental regulators.
  6. Uniform recognition of full title could encourage regulation shopping and undermine stricter regulations, labour standards, safety, and environmental compliance in Member States.
  7. Possible mitigations include a broad exception for government or registry policy, allowing refusal of recognition or transfer of registration for public interest reasons.
  8. Another mitigation is allowing courts of the destination State to reopen or review sales under certain conditions, such as creditor claims, fraud, or violations of standards.
  9. A transparency requirement with prior notification to all interested parties and a mandatory consultation or objection period before recognition could be considered.

Who is affected

  • Member States, which must recognize foreign judicial sales and may lose control over maritime registration and creditor protection.
  • Creditors, seafarers, tax authorities, suppliers, and environmental regulators in Member States, whose interests may be affected by exclusive jurisdiction.
  • Ship buyers and sellers, who benefit from reliable title recognition across Contracting States.

Legal basis: Article 81(2), points (b) and (c), in conjunction with Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a)(v), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union