The Department of International Law (DIL) is pleased to announce the launch “on-the-ground” of the OAS Secured Financing Project in Jamaica in partnership with our local counterpart, the Ministry of Industry, Investment & Commerce (MIIC). In July, the OAS project team made its initial visit to Jamaica and met with MIIC Hon. Minister Anthony Hylton
and senior officials to develop the proposed
plan of action and begin the diagnostic phase of
the project.
1. Project team meets at
Ministry of Industry, Investment & Commerce
As noted in our
previous
bulletin, last year Jamaica passed the
Security Interests in Personal Property Bill,
2013 (the “SIPP”); in addition, the Jamaican
Security Interests in Personal Property Registry
(the “SIPP Registry”) was established as part of
the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ). This new
legislative framework is in conformity with the
principles that underpin the OAS Model
Inter-American Law on Secured Transactions and
will facilitate the use of a more expansive
range of collateral in secured lending, such as
inventory, accounts receivable and intellectual
property, thereby improving access to credit,
particularly for those without more traditional
forms of security, which are frequently MSMEs,
women, or women-owned businesses.
With the legislative and
institutional framework largely in place,
equally important are efforts to support the
nascent regime in Jamaica so that it becomes
fully operational and integrated with other
legislation, such as insolvency and bankruptcy
laws, and that it becomes widely available to
and used by all stakeholder groups. Thus, in the
diagnostic phase now underway, to supplement
desk analysis, interviews are being held with
various stakeholder groups to determine, as
between the former and current regimes, the new
regime’s effectiveness, utility and
acceptability. The new legislative framework
creates an opportunity to build a new “culture
of lending” that must meet the needs of a range
of stakeholder groups; this invites
reconsideration of existing lending policies and
practices and the development of new and
innovative financial tools that respond to the
changes and yet work within the Jamaican
context.
2. Project team meets at
Bankers’ Association of Jamaica
Meetings in this respect were
held with government entities that included the
SIPP Registry, the Bank of Jamaica, the Jamaica
Intellectual Property Organization and the
Bureau for Women’s Affairs. Meetings held with
other stakeholders groups included the Bankers’
Association of Jamaica, the Jamaican Small
Business Association, and representatives of the
credit union and hire-purchase sectors. In
forthcoming visits, the OAS Project Team plans
to meet with stakeholder groups that represent
the agricultural and tourism sectors, the legal
community and judiciary, among others.
The diagnostic phase will
culminate in a workshop to be held in Jamaica in
the first quarter of 2015 with participation
from these stakeholder groups and
representatives from other countries engaged in
similar reform efforts. Designed as a
capacity-building exercise, participants will
have an opportunity to share lessons learned
while at the same time, building support for the
next phase of the reform process.
The Department of
International Law was represented by Jeannette
Tramhel, Senior Legal Officer, Eugenio Briales,
Legal Consultant and Secured Transactions
Expert, and Neil Cohen, Jeffrey D. Forchelli
Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School.
The OAS Secured Financing
Project is made possible through funding from
the Government of Canada.
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To see OAS Booklet — Secured Transactions Reform in the Americas, click here
»
For additional information about the Department, please visit our Website
