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Panama Ship Registry implements registration of mortgages in English

Panama Ship Registry implements registration of mortgages in English
Panama has enacted a law that allows the Panama Ship Registry to join countries that register mortgages in English.

The law has been in the making for many years without much success but Law 27 of 2014 will end the double registration, first in Spanish which had to be translated in English, before mortgages be registered.

That is good news for shipowners who will save time and costs.  The law entered force immediately.  “Registration procedure has been simplified and costs in connection therewith significantly reduced," said Juan David Morgan Jr, a prominent maritime lawyer from the law firm Morgan & Morgan.

Banks willing to follow the standard registration procedure whereby the English text Mortgage Agreement is registered in the form of a Spanish text Public Deed with a full translation of the Mortgage Agreement are free to do so, he explains.

The same Mortgage Agreement, however, can now be filed for registration without Spanish translation as an exhibit to a two pages Mortgage Extract signed by the owner and the bank which simply outlines the minimum required information for registration purposes: name and address of the owner and the bank, vessel’s particulars, maximum secured amount, applicable interest rate and maturity date.

“All mortgage covenants can remain in English in the Mortgage Agreement itself. Upon registration, the bank will receive the Spanish text Public Deed which contains the Mortgage Extract and the registered English text Mortgage Agreement,” said Morgan.