The Cape Town Convention Academic Project (CTCAP) held its 14th Annual Conference on 2-3 September 2025. CTCAP is a partnership between UNIDROIT and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law under the auspices of the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL). The Aviation Working Group (AWG) is the project’s founding sponsor. Hosted at Robinson College, the event brought together 65 leading experts and 46 online participants to address a core challenge: the practical implementation of international treaties.
The conference, sponsored by Sierra LATAM, Clifford Chance, Blakes, Holland & Knight, and RNC Legal, focused on “Treaty implementation and the Cape Town Convention.” The two days were dedicated to specific legal and practical aspects of implementing and complying with international commercial law treaties.
The conference began with a keynote address by Professor Michael Waibel (University of Vienna), who set the tone by discussing the broader context of treaty implementation in international law. This was followed by a focused session led by Kenneth Gray (Norton Rose Fulbright) and commented on by Professor Felix Steffek (University of Cambridge), who highlighted that procedural laws must allow the Convention to be effectively enforced and emphasised the need for court rules to ensure expeditious remedies.
The afternoon shifted to a crucial topic: non-judicial remedies. Ravi Nath (RNC Legal) and Nitin Sarin (Sarin & Co) shared their insights, while Dominic Pearson (WFW) provided commentary. The discussion focused on the challenges of implementing non-judicial remedies in various jurisdictions and the importance of education to ensure proper treaty enforcement. Subsequently, Ken Basch (Basch & Rameh Advogados) and Marisa Chan (Clifford Chance) presented on IDERAs, exploring their effectiveness as a powerful tool for aircraft deregistration.
The day concluded with a deep dive into treaty compliance. Professor Jeffrey Wool (AWG) and Professor Tomer Broude (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) explored how precise drafting, authoritative interpretation, institutional support, and new technologies can enhance compliance. The evening’s networking continued at a reception and dinner at Sidney Sussex College, which featured a speech from Professor Riz Mokal (South Square).
The second day of the conference kicked off with a discussion on the Vietjet case, with Zayba Drabu (Norton Rose Fulbright) and Professor Riz Mokal (South Square) dissecting its legal ramifications for the Convention. The session underlined how real-world cases test the Convention’s provisions, highlighting the powerful nature of Article 13 as a remedy for creditors.
The focus then broadened to the role of International Financial Institutions. Catherine Bridge Zoller (EBRD) and Ivor Istuk (The World Bank) showcased how their organisations actively support legal reforms, with Dr Marek Dubovec (International Law Institute) sharing practical examples of the deployment of finance in various sectors through the CTC framework.
Professor Teresa Rodriguez de la Heras Ballell (University Carlos III Madrid) and Rob Cowan (Aviareto) next explored the valuable lessons for the MAC Protocol learned from the Aircraft Protocol’s implementation of domestic entry points. The final session of the conference, presented by Victor Chan (City University, Hong Kong) and commented on by Dr Marek Dubovec, tackled the complex and unresolved issues of international interests in parts under the Convention.
The event programme can be found here. Learn more about the Cape Town Convention Academic Project and its activities at www.ctcap.org.
Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.