United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, also known as the Beijing Convention, entered into force on 17 February 2026. In accordance with Article 21, the condition for its entry into force was fulfilled after ratification by three states: Barbados, El Salvador, and Spain.
The European Union signed the Convention in March 2024, while the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs signed it on behalf of the Republic of Croatia in Malta on 19 June 2024. The ratification procedure is expected to follow soon.
It is important to emphasize that representatives of the Croatian Maritime Law Association played an active role in drafting the Convention. Initially, this work was carried out under the auspices of the CMI, and later they participated as delegates in UNCITRAL Working Group VI, which prepared the final text on the basis of the CMI proposal from 2014.
The primary objective of the Convention is to harmonize rules on the recognition of judicial sales of ships at the international level. Until now, this area had been regulated exclusively by national legislation, which meant that the legal effects varied from state to state. Under the new regime, a judicial sale conducted in one State Party must be recognized in all other States Parties. The buyer thereby acquires a so-called “clean title”, meaning ownership of the ship free from all previous mortgages and other encumbrances.
To ensure greater transparency, the Convention requires the state in which the sale is conducted to publish a notice of the sale and issue the appropriate certificate. This is intended to reduce legal uncertainty, facilitate international transactions in the shipping industry, and ensure a more stable market by eliminating the risk that a ship could be rearrested in another jurisdiction after the sale.
