September 20, 2010 / ELRA Secretariat
The Organizing Committee is pleased to invite and welcome you all to the: 1st Cross Border Electronic Conveyancing Conference (CROBECO) to be held in the city of Brussels on November the 25th, 2010.
This activity will be organized by the European Land Registry Association ELRA with the support of the European Commission. The conference will be hosted by the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU, at Rue Wiertz nº 77, Brussels. The Program, List of Lecturers and ELRA Position Paper on Cross Border E-Conveyancing are available clicking on the links below. If you would like to participate in this event, please enrol now by clicking on the Registration Form link at the bottom of this page. The Organizing committee comprises the following people: -President: Mr. Wim Louwman -Secretary : Mrs. Alicia Gimenez -Members: Mr. Johan Pieters and Mr. Jesus Camy Members of the ELRA e-Conveyancing working group – Mr. Wim Louwman (Netherlands) – Mr. Ingmar Vali (Estonia) – Mr. Antonio Vilches (Spain) – Mr. Jacques Vos (Netherlands) – Mr. Johan Pieters (Belgian) – Ms. Filomena Rosa (Portugal) – Mr. Jesus Camy (Spain) – Mr. Ray Duffy (Ireland) – Ms. Evelyn Corr (Northern Ireland) – Mr. Henrik Ungern (Finland) – Mr. Romualdas Kaperavicius (Lithuania) – Mr. Nucleus Neocleous (Cyprus)
ELRA Position Paper on Cross Border Electronic Conveyance
Potential buyers of foreign real estate expect to acquire a legal status that is equal to the status they would acquire in their home country. Different legislation and conveyancing processes diminish the realization of this goal. The European Land Registry Association (ELRA) has started a project to address these problems and to increase the confidence of buyers of foreign real estate. The project is named CRO(ss) B(order) E(lectronic) CO(nveyance). The aim is to develop a Draft Common Frame of Reference for cross border electronic conveyancing. According to the CROBECO approach a conveyancer from the home country of the buyer of foreign real estate, processes a bilingual contract in home and foreign language. Parts of the contract are standard clauses that give right to indemnification or compensation in specific cases that were previously described in guidelines for cross border conveyancing . As it will be possible to approve protective clauses and guidelines in advance, prospective buyers will be more confident that sufficient legal protection is in place.
One drawback of the CROBECO approach is that two legal systems are applicable. The validity of the agreement is based on the legal system of the home country of the foreign buyer, while the transfer of the property is based on the legal system of the Member State where the property is located. The registrar from this Member State has to refuse registration if he is not convinced of the legally binding force of a foreign contract. Familiarity with the different conveyancing procedures and legislation in all Member States is (almost) impossible to attain. For that reason, on request, the home registrar of the buyer of foreign real estate should be willing to add a statement on the legal binding force of the agreement and forward it to the registrar of the Land Registry where the plot is located.
It is advisable to support the CROBECO approach by processing (partly) standardised documents, including, standardised clauses concerning the fulfilment of the conditions in the guidelines and the legally binding force of the agreement. Assuming sufficient ICT facilities are accessible, standardised documents could be used for computerised verification of the conditions described above. This will promote prompt forwarding of documents to the receiving registrar .It is also advisable to introduce the CROBECO process step by step on a bilateral basis. CROBECO therefore will start a pilot with Dutch buyers of real estate in Spain, that could later be extended to registrars from other Member States and ultimately be incorporated in the European Land Registry Network. However, this does not change existing legal systems. The DCFR should serve as a kind of ‘tool box’ for registrars and conveyancers , who, strive to introduce a more reliable and easier conveyancing process with respect to different legislation and conveyancing processes
ELRA plans to organise three CROBECO conferences. During these conferences the DCFR will be discussed and the results of pilots between ELRA members will be presented and evaluated. The first conference will be organized in Brussels on 25 November 2010,
