MOZAMBIQUE Law and Practice Contributed by: José Miguel Oliveira, Sara Alves Lourenço, Kenny Laisse and Caio de Mello Ferreira, VdA
(a) the obligation secured is extinguished by performance; (b) the mortgaged assets (vessel) are trans - ferred to a third party (in which case, termination of the mortgage will occur 20 years after registration of the transfer of title and five years after the final maturity of the secured obligation); or (c) cancellation is authorised by the mortga - gee. • The ranking of security interests or privileges over ships is linked to the order by which said interests or privileges were registered ( prior in tempore, potior in iure ). Registrations with the CREL and the Central Registration Office for Securities Guarantees are made by means of: • the filing of an official form; and • submission of the relevant supporting docu - ments, including a certified copy of the notary deed. In addition to this, constitutional documents (reads, commercial extracts or equivalent docu - ments) of both the mortgagor and mortgagee are usually required by the registrar, although such disclosure is not legally grounded. Registrations before the CREL and the Central Registration Office for Securities Guarantees may be requested by a legal representative or duly appointed attorney of the mortgagor or the mortgagee, within 90 days of the execution of the notary deed. Failure to file the relevant application within that period may lead to the application of fines, although such fines do not undermine the validity of the registration. In this respect, it is worth mentioning that the law sets forth the possibility of securing a pro -
visional registration of a mortgage over a ves - sel before execution of the notary deed. To that end, the mortgagor must file an application with the CREL authorising registration of a mortgage over a given ship in favour of the mortgagee. This (provisional) registration is valid for a term of three months, which is renewable. The priority of the prospective mortgage over other secu - rity interests, once the definitive mortgage is created, is ensured by provisional registration, which protects a mortgagee against concurrent mortgagees and allows the execution of a mort - gage without the pressure of priority being given in the register to another mortgage, even where created later on. Upon registration with the CREL, the mortgag - es must be endorsed in the passports of the vessel(s) (reads, ownership certificate issued by INAMAR). Such endorsement is made for pub - licity purposes – ie, it is not a condition of the effectiveness/validity of the underlying mortgage or of its enforcement. 1.7 Ship Ownership and Mortgages Registry The registration of ownership and mortgage of a vessel are available for public perusal. The reg - istration can be seen through the content of the certificates issued by the CREL and the Central Registration Office for Securities Guarantees, at the request of any interested party. 2. Marine Casualties and Owners’ Liability 2.1 International Conventions: Pollution and Wreck Removal The following international conventions and domestic laws are enforceable in Mozambique.
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