SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Verónica Meana, José Antonio Domínguez, Enrique Ortiz and Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa, Aiyon Abogados
• the holder of a nominative mortgage or charge duly recorded; and • any holders of mortgages/charges duly recorded, maritime lien, hypothèques that put the court/authority on notice of them. Provided that the recipients of such notifications are known, the aforementioned service contain - ing all particulars of the auction (place, date, proceedings, circumstances, etc) will be made in writing at least 30 days before the date of the auction. Any holder of a maritime lien can appear in the auction proceedings to safeguard, defend, or assert a third-party preference claim. Upon the sale of the vessel at public auction, all the mortgages, hypothèques , charges, maritime lines and claims will be cancelled. The sale of the vessel can be delegated to a specialised body, which is usually a Port Author - ity or a broker. During the arrest, the vessel must be maintained by the arrested party. Spanish courts will not require the arresting party to pay the costs of maintenance of the vessel during the arrest. Fur - thermore, the port where the vessel is retained will look after the safety of the port and may take, at the ship-owner’s expense, measures to guar -
• any wreck-removal expenses that must be settled to the Spanish Maritime Authorities; and • the cost and expenses arising out of the ship- arrest proceedings and her subsequent sale. These costs include maintenance of the ves - sel and those crew wages accrued from the moment the arrest is in place, and any other sums as referred to in Article 4.1(a) of the Lien Convention. Second, any remaining funds will be distributed, according to their preference ranking set out in the Lien Convention, up to their full and final set - tlement. Lastly, any possible remaining balance (after all credits have been paid) will be returned to the owner. Maritime liens, according to the Lien Conven - tion, take priority over registered mortgages. 4.11 Insolvency Laws Applied by Maritime Courts Spain has insolvency laws which regulate the reorganisation or liquidation of a company in financial distress that are similar to Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States. Mercantile Courts are competent to adjudge insolvency matters as well as maritime matters. Once bankruptcy protection has been requested and bankruptcy proceedings initiated, a court cannot enforce against any asset owned by the debtor outside the bankruptcy proceedings. Accordingly, any individual enforcement will be stopped.
antee such safety. Ranking of Claims
First, and pursuant to Article 386 of the SSA, the following costs and expenses take prefer - ence over the list of liens contained in the Lien Convention:
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