Georgia's Accession to the Cape Town Convention: Key Legislative Changes
1. Background
Georgia has amended its aviation, civil procedure, enforcement, and insolvency egislation to give domestic legal effect to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and its Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment (together, the “Cape Town Convention”). The implementing amendments were adopted on 24 June 2026 as Laws №1760, №1761, and №1764, published on 3 July 2026, and enter into force on 1 August 2026. The reform touches various pieces of legislation, including the Air Code of Georgia, the Civil Procedure Code, the Law on Enforcement Proceedings, and the Law on Rehabilitation and Collective Satisfaction of Creditors (Georgia’s insolvency statute). Its overall effect is to give creditors, lessors, and financiers of aircraft, airframes, and aircraft engines a fast, predictable, and internationally recognised set of remedies where a Georgian-registered debtor defaults — which is the central commercial promise of the Convention.
2. Amendments to the Air Code of Georgia
2.1 New defined terms (Article 1)
Three new definitions are added to the Air Code’s glossary:
- Cape Town Convention — defined by reference to the 2001 Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and its Aircraft Protocol.
- Aviation object — the Convention’s defined category of collateral: civil aircraft airframes, civil helicopters, and aircraft engines meeting the Convention’s criteria.
- IDERA — the Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorisation under Article XIII of the Aircraft Protocol, the standard instrument by which an operator pre-authorises deregistration and export in favour of a creditor.