RWANDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jean Pierre Kesteloot and Penina Ngabire, Liedekerke Great Lakes
tion for insolvency proceedings, all claims including secured claims and rights of retention are stayed effective from the date of application. Duration The debtor must submit a reorganisation plan to the court within a period not exceeding three months from the date of initiating the proceedings. The period of stay cannot exceed six months (including the three months allowed for submitting the reorganisation plan). 2.9.8 Liquidation of Domestic Lessees In accordance with the Rwanda Insolvency Act, a company is put into liquidation by the appointment of a liquidator, who must be an insolvency practitioner. The liquidator is appointed following an application made by a special resolution of the shareholders, an application made by the directors or any other person if the company’s incorporation document so requires or permits, or an order made directly by the court. There are three main stages in a company’s liquida - tion: • appointment of a liquidator, by the company itself (“voluntary liquidation”) or by the court (”compul - sory liquidation”); • collection and realisation of the company’s assets; and • payment to the creditors, with respect to their legal priority. 2.9.9 Ipso Facto Defaults Performance defaults should be required to repossess an aircraft during a lessee insolvency proceeding. 2.9.10 Impact of Domestic Lessees’ Winding-Up If a domestic lessee is wound up by a court or admin - istration proceedings, the following generally occurs. • The aircraft may be repossessed by the lessor if the lease is terminated for default of payments or if the liquidator decides not to continue the lease. • The lease rentals will be due and must be claimed to the liquidator – if the lease rentals cannot be paid, the lessor may terminate the lease agree - ment.
• The lease security deposit and maintenance will be returned to the lessor upon termination of the lease agreement. • The maintenance reserves (whether classified as reserves or supplemental rent) held by the lessor and not used, should be returned to the lessee, unless the lease agreement provides otherwise. 2.10 Cape Town Convention and Others 2.10.1 Conventions in Force Rwanda ratified the Convention on International Inter - ests in Mobile Equipment (the “Convention”) and the related Protocol on Matters specific to Aircraft Equip - ment (the ”Protocol”) in 2010. Registration of interests establishes the priority of right or interest in an aircraft. In practice, the Aircraft Reg - ister is used as a conduit for transmitting the required information to the International Registry. 2.10.2 Declarations Made Concerning Conventions Rwanda has made the following declarations under the Convention. Article 39 (1) The following have priority under its law over an inter - est in an object equivalent to that of the holder of a registered international interest and will have priority over a registered international interest, whether in or outside insolvency proceedings: • liens in favour of workers for unpaid wages arising since the time of a declared default declared by an employer under a contract to finance or lease the subject object; and • liens in favour of repairers of an object in their pos - session to the extent of service performed on and value added to that object. Article 40 The following will be registerable under the Conven - tion as regards any category of object as if the right or interest were an international interest and will be regulated accordingly: • rights of a person obtaining a court order permit - ting attachment of an aircraft object in partial or full satisfaction of a legal judgment;
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