MAC Preparatory Commission
Pursuant to Resolution 1 of the diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Mining, Agricultural and Construction Equipment (Pretoria, 11 – 22 November 2019), a Preparatory Commission has been established to act as Provisional Supervisory Authority until the Protocol enters into force. The Preparatory Commission operates under the guidance of the Governing Council and General Assembly of UNIDROIT.
The Preparatory Commission has three key responsibilities:
(a) Selection of a Registrar to operate the MAC Protocol International Registry
(b) Establishment of a Supervisory Authority
(c) Preparation of the first edition of the International Registry Regulations
Customarily, the Preparatory Commission also plays an important role in encouraging States to sign, implement and ratify the Protocol.
The Rules of Procedure for the MAC Preparatory Commission can be found here.
Preparatory Commission First session
The first session of the Preparatory Commission took place via videoconference between 21 and 22 May 2020. The Commission was attended by 38 participants from eight Member States of the Commission, one observing State, one observing Regional Economic Integration Organisation, three observing organisations, and ex officio observers from the Diplomatic Conference.
At its first session, the Preparatory Commission negotiated and adopted the Rules of Procedure and considered several issues associated with the future operation of the International Registry. The Commission also established a Working Group to draft a request for proposals for the selection of a Registrar (the Registrar Working Group), as well as a Working Group to develop draft Regulations for the International Registry (the Regulations Working Group). Finally, the Commission extended the period available to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to accept the role of Supervisory Authority.
The documents for the first session are available below:
Preparatory Commission Second session
The second session of the Preparatory Commission took place on 10-11 December 2020.
The documents for the second session are available below:
[Related documents:
Preparatory Commission Third session
The third session of the Preparatory Commission took place on 3 and 4 June 2021.
The following documents have been made available for the third session:
[Related documents:
Preparatory Commission Fourth session
The fourth session of the Preparatory Commission took place on 17 and 18 January 2022.
The following documents have been made available for the fourth session:
Preparatory Commission Fifth session
The fifth session of the Preparatory Commission took place on 22 and 23 November 2022.
The following documents have been made available for the fifth session:
Priscila Pereira de Andrade works as a Legal Officer at UNIDROIT. She is mainly responsible for the Agricultural Development and Private Law projects jointly developed with IFAD and FAO (Legal Structure of Agricultural Enterprise, Agricultural Land Investment Contracts and Contract Farming). Priscila holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (France), a Master Degree in International Relations from the University Center of Brasília (Brazil), and a specialisation degree in International Environmental Law from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Before joining UNIDROIT, she worked for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and was an assistant professor at the University of Pisa (Italy), as well as an associate professor at the Master in Law Program of the University Center of Brasília.
Philine Wehling has over ten years of experience in food and agriculture law as well as international trade law. Before joining UNIDROIT in 2019 she worked as a Legal Specialist at the Legal Office of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome for almost 8 years, providing guidance to Member States on the development of sound legal frameworks and contributing to the standard setting work of the Organization on trade in agro-food products, agricultural finance, sustainable agricultural production and development, and responsible natural resources management. She supported Governments in legal reform in more than 20 countries. Philine Wehling further served as a Legal Advisor at the German Federal Ministry of Justice in Berlin, where she was in charge of international cooperation in consumer law and policy. She completed her doctoral dissertation in international law at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, for which she received a doctoral degree summa cum laude from Heidelberg University as well as the Prize for excellence in research of the Margot-und-Friedrich-Becke Stiftung zu Heidelberg in 2018. Philine Wehling is admitted to the German Bar .
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).
Carlo Di Nicola is a Senior Legal Officer at the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) in Rome, Italy. He is currently leading the Digital Assets and Private Law Project. He previously worked for the Legal Offices of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). He holds a Master’s degree in International Law (LL.M. with Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and law degrees from the University of Ottawa (J.D. Magna cum laude) and the Université de Montréal (LL.B.). He is qualified to practice law in Canada as a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Barreau du Québec.
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.
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.