Proposal for a Council Decision on the approval, on behalf of the European Union, of the Luxembourg Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Railway Rolling Stock, adopted in Luxembourg on 23 February 2007

The Commission is proposing that the European Union approves the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Railway Rolling Stock (hereinafter "the Rail Protocol" or "the Luxembourg Protocol") adopted at a Diplomatic Conference held under the joint auspices of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and the International Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) in Luxembourg from 12 to 23 February 2007.

The European Union decided the signing of the Rail Protocol by Council Decision of 30 November 2009 and effectively signed it on 10 December 2009. This instrument is intended to facilitate the financing of high-value railway rolling stock by creating a particularly strong international guarantee for creditors (sellers on credit and institutions supplying credit for such sales) which gives them "absolute" priority over these assets in an international register.

The Rail Protocol creates an international system of unique and unchangeable registration of international interests. The Protocol is complementary to, and supportive of, the European Vehicle Identification Numbering system (adopted under the Railway Interoperability Directive). It guarantees that the parties can register and search against their interests from wherever they are within the EU, using the internet, thereby making the register accessible 24 hours a day.

Such an instrument is likely to be of great benefit to the European rail industry, banks and Governments by encouraging capital investment in the rail sector and boosting the creation of a genuine lease market.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)349: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making process http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:349:FIN

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