A. Office of the Vessels Registry and the Rhine Navigation Authority ¹

¹ The offices of the Land Registry which the Federal Council has declared competent (ships' registry offices, referred to as "Offices" in this Law) shall maintain a Federal Register of Vessels, in which registration shall be made, and Statutory annotations.

² The authority of the Rhine navigation system in which a vessel used on the Rhine downstream of Rheinfelden (Rhine vessel) must be registered is competent to issue and withdraw:

A.

The document cited in s. 2, para. 3, the Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine, of 17 October 1868 ² ;

B.

Certification within the meaning of s. 4, para. 2 and 3, of this Law. ³

B. Monitoring

¹ The cantonal monitoring authorities of the land register shall monitor the keeping of the register of vessels (hereinafter referred to as "register" in this Law).

² The supervisory authority is the Federal Council.

³ The provisions relating to the monitoring of the land register shall apply mutatis mutandis.

C. Recourse

¹ The use of the cantonal supervisory authority is open against the management of the Office. The appeal period shall be 30 days, if the appeal is directed against the rejection of a requisition for registration, annotation, modification or cancellation. In all other cases, the appeal is not subject to any conditions of delay.

² Decisions of the Rhine Navigation Authority may be referred to a cantonal appeal authority. The cantons regulate the procedure. ²

³ ... ³

A. Registration

I. Mandatory

¹ The vessels shall be registered in the register:

A.

Who belong to more than half of one or more owners domiciled in Switzerland or to one or more business or legal entities or their branches, whose registered office is in Switzerland;

B.

Who are assigned to the professional transport of persons or goods in Swiss inland waters, including frontier waters, or on the Rhine downstream of Rheinfelden, and

C.

Have a tonnage of at least 20 tonnes or, if they are not assigned to the carriage of goods, a displacement of at least 10 m ³ .

² A Rhine vessel will, however, be registered only if the RA certifies to the Office that the vessel:

A.

May carry the Swiss flag on the Rhine, and

B.

Belongs to an independent company or branch in economic and commercial terms, with an appropriate organisation in Switzerland enabling it to carry out the acts of management, armaments and equipment of the vessel.

³ If the management acts are carried out on board by the master or a crew member and the authority of the Rhine navigation certifies a declaration by the owner in that direction, a Rhine vessel may not be registered in the register of vessels If it is not owned, co-owned or jointly owned by a corporation or a commercial corporation.

⁴ If justified by economic interest, the Federal Council may authorise the registration of vessels for carriage on other waters by designating the competent office.

II. Optional

¹ Vessels not assigned to the professional transport of persons or goods may, at the request of their owner, be registered. Such vessels shall have a tonnage of at least 10 tonnes or if they are not assigned to the carriage of goods, a displacement of at least 5 m ³ They must also comply with the conditions laid down in Art. 4, para. 1.

² In the case of a ship engaged in the professional transport of the Rhine, the conditions laid down in Art. 4, para. 2 and 3 must also be completed.

III. Excluded

¹ The ships of a shipping company for the benefit of a Confederacy concession are not registered; the Federal Act of September 25, 1917 ¹ Concerning the establishment of guarantees on railway undertakings and navigation undertakings and the forced liquidation of such undertakings shall apply to them.

² This Act is not applicable to vessels of the Federal Railways.

B. Registration procedure

I. Obligation to require registration

¹ The owner of a vessel fulfilling the requirements of s. 4 must register it before taking the regular races.

² If the vessel is jointly owned, each owner is required to require registration. This obligation is, in partnership, limited and limited partnership by shares, to the members personally liable and, in public limited companies and cooperative societies, to their representatives vested with the right to Sign.

³ If several persons are required to require registration, the requisition of one of them is sufficient.

II. Registration of Office

¹ Where the registration of a vessel fulfilling the requirements of s. 4 is not required, the Office shall sum up the reasons for its refusal in writing within ten days.

² If the summoned person refuses to require registration or does not indicate within the prescribed period the grounds for refusal, the Office defers the case to the supervisory authority. The Commission shall decide without delay whether the conditions of s. 4 are completed.

³ If so, and if there has been no recourse to the Federal Court or if the appeal has been dismissed, the supervisory authority shall order the Office to proceed with the registration. ¹

III. Registration sequence

A. Competent Office due to the location

¹ Is competent for the registration of a vessel the Office which the Federal Council has declared competent for the waters on which the vessel is used.

² Where offices of several cantons are competent for the same waters, the owner shall have the choice of the Office from which he will request registration. However, the canton may prescribe that vessels belonging to owners domiciled or having a seat in its territory must be registered in one of its registers.

B. Form and Content

¹ The requisition for registration, consisting of a written declaration bearing the signature of the applicant, shall be furnished to the competent Office.

² The registration requirement indicates:

1.

The time and place of the vessel's construction and the name of the manufacturer;

2.

Type of vessel and construction equipment;

3. ²

The tonnage of the vessel or, if it is not a vessel engaged in the transport of goods, its movement, as well as, for a motor vessel, the power of its machinery;

4.

The name and other distinctive signs of the vessel;

5.

The length, width and draught of the vessel;

6.

The name, domicile and nationality of the owner (s);

7.

The waters on which the vessel is used;

7 ^Bis . ³ Certification under s. 4, para. 2 and 3, if it is a Rhine vessel engaged in the professional transport of persons or goods;

8.

The Swiss or foreign register in which the vessel is or has been registered;

9.

Where applicable, the conditional character of the requisition according to Art. 15.

³ Where amendments are made to the facts indicated in c. 2 to 5, they shall be communicated without delay to the Office by persons required to require the registration in accordance with Art. 7, if they are vessels whose registration is compulsory, and by the owner for vessels whose registration is optional.

C.

¹ The person who requires registration shall be obliged to make his right to property and the particulars provided for in s. 10, para. 2, c. 1 to 7, 8 and 9. ²

² The same applies to amendments that are required to be entered in accordance with s. 10, para. 3.

³ The required documents may be written in each official language of Switzerland.

D. Parts required for foreign vessels

If the vessel was registered abroad, the requisition must be accompanied by a certificate from the foreign office stating that the registration has been cancelled.

IV. Examination of requisition and registration

¹ If the Office finds that the conditions of registration are met, it registers the vessel by recording the actual rights declared and the annotations; it then issues the registration certificate.

² The registration of a vessel does not in itself result in a tax liability at the place of registration and does not constitute an import of the vessel in Switzerland.

Improper registration

¹ Those whose real rights have been infringed by the registration of a vessel without a legitimate cause may require the cancellation of the registration for five years from the date of registration. The rights acquired by third parties in good faith under registration, as well as any damages, shall be reserved.

² The action may be brought before the competent court under Art. 37.

VI. Conditional registration

¹ A vessel registered abroad may, upon requisition, be registered conditionally in the Swiss register, provided that the registration, the entries and the annotations are accompanied by the statement that they will not become effective The day on which the previous registration of the vessel has been removed from the foreign registry.

² An extract from the register shall be issued to the applicant; it shall contain all the inscriptions and conditional annotations and the statement that they will become effective only at the time of cancellation of the registration of the foreign register.

³ Where the certificate of cancellation of the foreign register is filed, the Office shall delete the statement concerning the conditional effect of registration and registration and issue the registration certificate. Registration, enrollments and annotations take effect retroactively at the time of the cancellation of the foreign register.

VII. Publishing and purging legal mortgages

¹ The Office shall publish any registration or cancellation of a vessel in the Official Swiss Trade Sheet In addition, the cantons may prescribe the publication in their official cantonal paper.

² Where the vessel is sold voluntarily, the Office shall invite by a notice published twice in the Official Swiss Trade Sheet , at the request of the acquirer, holders of claims secured by a legal mortgage without registration (Art. 53 ^Bis ) To inform it, to the said acquirer, within a period of at least one month from the second publication, if they claim this legal mortgage towards it.

³ A creditor who fails to observe this period shall forfeit his right to pledge on the vessel; that right shall be replaced by a right of legal pledge without registration in respect of the debt of the alienator in payment of the sale price, to the extent that it is still due.

VIII. ¹ Distinguishing mark

¹ All registered vessels have a distinctive exterior mark.

² The Federal Council shall determine the shape, size and location of the mark.

C. Transfer and Cancellation

I. Transfer to another register ²

¹ Where a registered vessel is permanently assigned to transport in waters of another Office or where the owner proposes to register it in another register on which the same waters depend, a written request shall be made For the transfer of the vessel in the new register and accompanied by the registration certificate will be presented to the Office where it is registered.

² The former Office shall transmit to the new Office a complete extract of the entries and annotations as well as the supporting documents relating thereto. In the light of these documents, the new Office registers the vessel and makes the entries and annotations in its register; it notifies the holders of real rights and annotations, publishes the transfer in accordance with Art. 16, para. 1 and issues a new registration certificate to the owner.

³ The registration in the new register shall be communicated to the former Office which, upon receipt of that notice, radiates the vessel from its register.

⁴ For one year from the date of publication of the transfer, holders of real rights on the vessel may claim, in the courts and in matters relating to the prosecution of debts, for the place where the vessel was registered before the transfer.

Ia. Termination of conditions of registration ²

¹ If the conditions of registration in Switzerland under Art. 4 are no longer in place, the owner and, in the case of involuntary disposal, the purchaser must request the cancellation of the vessel without delay, in writing and by attaching the registration certificate to the request. In the case of succession or forced execution, this formality is the sole responsibility of the purchaser. Art. 7, para. 2 and 3, is applicable. If the cancellation of a Rhine vessel has not been requested, the Supervisory Authority may order the cancellation of the vessel and have it mentioned in the register. ³

² The Office shall mention the request in its register and shall inform, by registered letter, the holders of entries and annotations, by summing them to oppose within the twenty-day period, failing which the cancellation of the Boat. As soon as the application is mentioned in the register, the owner of a Rhine vessel can no longer avail himself of the registration of his vessel in a Swiss register if it is not in the interest of the holders of inscriptions and annotations. ⁴

³ If opposition is made, the vessel may not be removed from the register; the Office shall inform the owner of the objections received. In the case of a Rhine vessel, the effects of the opposition shall be extinguished after five years; the vessel shall then be deleted from the register, unless the judge prohibits the cancellation. ⁵

⁴ If no opposition is made, the vessel shall be deleted from the register.

II. Loss. Innavigability

¹ In the case of a durable loss or unseaworthiness of a registered vessel, the owner is required to make the declaration without delay to the Office. Art. 7, para. 2 and 3, is applicable.

² The Office shall mention the declaration in its register and inform, by registered letter, the holders of entries and annotations, in the event that if no opposition is made within six months, the leaflet of the register will be cancelled.

³ The opposition against the radiation of the vessel shall cease to have effect after five years; the vessel shall then be deleted from the register, unless the judge prohibits the cancellation. ¹

III. Disappearance of conditions of s. 4

¹ Where the vessel no longer complies with the conditions of the compulsory registration, but may remain registered, it shall be mentioned in the register. ¹

² The entries and annotations remain as long as the owner has not made use of the right provided for in s. 22.

IV. Optional Registered Boats

Vessels not fulfilling the requirements of s. 4 may at any time be the subject of the cancellation on the written requisition of the owner, if there are no inscriptions or annotations or if the holders of the inscriptions or annotations give in writing their consent to the cancellation.

D. Fees

The owner of the vessel shall bear the costs due to the Office for the procedure laid down in Art. 13 to 22. The Office may require the owner to make a suitable advance.

A. General Ledger

¹ Each registered vessel is listed on a special slip with an order number.

² The rights set out in s. 26, para. 1, c. 1 to 3, are entered on each slip, beside the descriptive state contained in the registration requisition, under special headings.

B. Journal; supporting documents

¹ Requisitions for entry to the Register shall be carried without delay in the journal in their chronological order, with the indication of the author and the object thereof.

² The supporting documents for the entries are properly classified and kept.

C. Enrolment and endorsements

¹ The register of vessels shall be used for the recording of the following rights on vessels:

1.

Property;

2.

Usufruits;

3.

Mortgages.

² These rights are born, take their place and receive their date by the inscription in the general ledger.

³ The effect of the registration dates back to the time when it was made in the newspaper, provided that the supporting documents provided for by the law were attached to the application or, in the event of provisional registration, that the additional legitimation takes place in the Time.

⁴ At the owner's request, the accessories may be mentioned on the slip. They shall be deleted only from the consent of all those whose rights are recognized by the register.

D. Annotations

¹ The rights of pre-emption, emption and reverberation, rent and farm leases can be annotated.

² In addition, the restrictions on the right to dispose, where they arise, may be annotated:

1.

An official decision for the conservation of conflicting rights or binding claims;

2. ¹

An input;

3.

Legal acts whose law allows the annotation, such as fideicommissary substitution.

³ Personal rights and restrictions shall, by virtue of their annotation, become effective against any right subsequently acquired.

E. Application of the CC

Art. 955, 961, 963-966, 967, para. 1 and 2, 969 to 971, 973 to 977 of the Swiss Civil Code ¹ Are applicable by analogy.

A. General principles

¹ A registration certificate shall be issued to the owner of the vessel. It reproduces exactly the contents of the register, except restrictions on the right to dispose.

² Entries of real rights and annotations of personal rights shall be made in the register only upon the simultaneous correction of the certificate. Similarly, the cancellation of the slip for the vessel is the subject of a note in the certificate.

³ In the case of the disposal of the vessel, the Office shall destroy the certificate and issue a new certificate to the purchaser.

B. Loss

¹ The loss of the registration certificate shall be announced without delay to the Office and made probable.

² If the Office finds the loss likely, it shall publish in the Official Swiss Trade Sheet And, if necessary, in other newspapers a summons to the holder of the certificate to file the certificate with the Office within the period of one month, failing which the document will be cancelled.

³ If the certificate is not filed within that time limit, the Office shall declare the cancellation. This cancellation is published once in the same logs.

⁴ A new certificate is issued to the owner after publication.

⁵ The owner shall bear the costs of the proceedings; he may be required to make a sufficient advance.

A. Property

I. Acquisition

A. Registration

¹ Registration in the register is necessary for the acquisition of the ownership of the vessel.

² A person who acquires a ship by succession, expropriation, enforced execution or judgment shall, however, become the owner before registration, but he may dispose of it in the register only after that formality has been fulfilled.

B. Modes of acquisition

1. Transfer

¹ Contracts for the transfer of ownership of a registered vessel shall be valid only in written form.

² The signature of the parties on an act containing the particulars required for registration is necessary in order to constitute the written form. Art. 13, para. 2 of the Code of Obligations ¹ Is not applicable.

2. Acquisitive Prescription

¹ The rights of the person who has been registered without a legitimate cause in the register as the owner of a vessel can no longer be challenged when he owned this vessel in good faith, without interruption and peaceably for five years.

² The rules allowed for the limitation period apply to the computation of time limits, interruption and suspension of the acquisitive prescription.

C. Entitlement to Enrollment

¹ The person who is in favour of an acquisition title may require the owner to make the registration; in the event of refusal, he may apply to the judge for the attribution of the right of ownership.

² Inheritance, expropriation, enforced execution and judgment allow the purchaser to claim the registration of his chief.

II. Extinction

¹ The ownership of a registered vessel shall be extinguished by the cancellation of the registration.

² In the case of expropriation for reasons of public utility, the moment when the property is extinguished is determined by the special laws of the Confederation and the cantons.

³ In the case of cancellation by cancellation of the slip (s. 19-22), the provisions of the Swiss Civil Code ¹ In respect of the movable property, unless the vessel is simultaneously and with the same effects registered in a foreign registry. ²

B. Usufruct

¹ The conventional usufruct on a registered vessel shall be established only in the form of a written contract (Art. 32, para. 2) and subject to registration in the Register.

² The legal usufruct is binding, even without registration, to third parties who are aware of it.

³ The provisions of the Swiss Civil Code shall apply mutatis mutandis to the surplus ¹ On usufruct.

A. Boat Mortgage

I. Conditions

A. Creance

1. In general

¹ A conventional pledge (boat mortgage) can be made for the security of any current, future or simply contingent debt.

² The mortgage on a ship may be constituted only for a specified debt, the amount of which shall be indicated in Swiss currency.

³ If the claim is indeterminate, the parties shall indicate a fixed sum representing the maximum amount of the guarantee.

2. Obligations

Nominal or bearer bonds can be secured by means of a pledge:

1.

Making up a boat mortgage for the entire loan and designating a representative of the creditors and the debtor;

2.

By making a mortgage on a boat for the whole of the loan to the issuing institution and by encumbering the debt as a guarantee of a bond in favour of the bondholders.

B. Bateau

¹ The boat must be exactly designated during the constitution of the mortgage; it may not belong to the debtor.

² Several vessels may be charged with a single mortgage for the same claim, when they are owned by the same owner or joint debtors.

³ In all other cases of establishing a mortgage on several vessels for the same debt, each of them must be charged on a fixed part of the debt, the distribution of the guarantee being carried out, unless otherwise agreed, Proportionally to the value of boats.

II. Constitution and extinction

A. Constitution

¹ The mortgage on a boat is made up of the entry in the register; remains reserved for the exceptions provided for by law. The mortgage contract is valid only in written form. Art. 32, para. 2, is applicable.

² Each of the co-owners of a vessel may encumber its share of a mortgage. In cases of common ownership, the vessel may be subject to a mortgage only in full and on behalf of all Communists.

³ The Office issues an extract to the requesting creditor; this extract, which is exclusively intended to show registration, is not a paper-value.

B. Extinction

¹ The boat mortgage is extinguished by the cancellation of the registration. Where the claim is extinguished, the owner of the mortgaged vessel has the right to require the creditor to consent to the cancellation.

² Expropriation, in cases of expropriation for reasons of public utility, is governed by special expropriation laws.

³ The owner who is not personally liable for the mortgage debt may unburden the vessel on the same terms and conditions as those made to the debtor to extinguish the debt.

⁴ It is subrogated to the rights of the creditor that it disinterested.

III. Effects

A. Scope of Creditor's Law

¹ The mortgage strikes the boat with its integral parts and accessories.

² The rights of third parties on the accessories remain reserved.

B. Rents

¹ The pledge in a given leasehold also includes rents that have accrued since the claim commenced by the creditor or the debtor's declaration of bankruptcy, up to the time of realization.

² This right is enforceable against tenants only after notification to them of the prosecution or after the publication of the bankruptcy.

³ The legal acts of the owner in respect of unmatured rent, or the seizure of such benefits by other creditors, are not enforceable against the creditor who continued in realization of his pledge before the time when the rent became Payable.

⁴ The claims of the owner resulting from a charter contract shall be assimilated to rent claims. ¹

C. Imprescibility

The registration of a mortgage on a boat makes the debt imprescriptible.

D. Depreciation

In the case of impairment, the creditor may exercise the rights that the art. 808, para. 1 and 2, 809 and 810, para. 1, of the Swiss Civil Code ² Give the creditor the right to pledge real estate.

E. Mortgage Box

Art. 813 to 815 of the Swiss Civil Code ¹ Applicable to the mortgage box.

F. Achievement

Art. 816 to 819 of the Swiss Civil Code ¹ Are applicable in respect of the rights of the creditor to the realization.

G. Insurance Benefit

¹ The insurance benefits payable may be paid to the owner only with the consent of all creditors whose pledge is the result of the register.

² However, they are paid against sufficient security to the owner for the recovery of the encumbered vessel.

H. Alienation

¹ The alienation of the mortgaged vessel shall not, unless otherwise agreed, bring any change to the obligation of the debtor and the guarantee.

² However, if the purchaser took charge of the debt, the original debtor is released, unless the creditor declares in writing, in the year, that he or she intends not to waive his or her rights against him.

³ If the purchaser is responsible for the debt, the Office shall notify the creditor, referring to the provision of the preceding paragraph.

⁴ The creditor is required to make a declaration within one year of that notice.

B. Legal Mortgages

¹ May require the registration of a legal mortgage:

1.

The seller of a vessel, on that vessel, as a guarantee of its claim;

2.

The co-workers and other indivis, on the vessels that belonged to the community, as security for the claims resulting from the sharing;

3.

Those who have repaired a ship, on this ship, as a guarantee of their claims.

² The legal mortgages indicated in this Article shall be valid only with their entry in the Register. This registration shall take place for the cases provided for in the c. 1 and 2, within three months after the transfer of the property and in the case provided for in c. 3 within three months of taking possession by the owner of the repaired vessel.

³ Art. 38 to 50 are applicable to legal mortgages.

C. ...

D. Exclusion of pledge and right of retention

It is not possible to establish a pledge or hold a lien on a registered vessel.