Implementation of the Cape Town Convention

India acceded to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the Protocol to the Convention (CTC) on 1 July 2008, but it was not until the failure of Kingfisher Airlines that industry participants began to evaluate the implementation of CTC in India.

While the aircraft leased to Kingfisher were leased prior to India’s accession to CTC and thus did not have the benefit of CTC, industry participants came to realize that even if the leasing arrangements had been entered into after accession, some benefits available under CTC would probably not be available to them. This is mainly because India has not passed any new legislation or amended existing legislation in line with the provisions of CTC.

Under extant laws, India may enter into and implement a treaty after entering into an accession document, either with or without subsequent legislation. In the case of CTC, India has not enacted any legislation, thus while CTC is enforceable, in the event it conflicts with any other Indian legislation (including delegated legislation) the provisions of the legislation would prevail.

Shashank Jain is a senior associate at Trilegal. Trilegal is a full-service law firm with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.