As you may be aware, a new Act, called the Security Interests in Personal Property Act, (SIPPA) has been passed by Parliament and came into force on January 2, 2014. SIPPA governs the creation, registration and enforcement of security interests over most non-land property. The changes that have been brought into effect by SIPPA include the following:
- An electronic registry, the National Security Interests in Personal Property Registry (the SIPP Registry), has been created for the registration of security interests in personal property. The SIPP Registry is found at the website http://www.nsippregistry.gov.jm.
- Bills of Sale will no longer be recorded at Island Records Office.
- The only security interests that may be registered at Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) will be charges over land or interests in land, including debentures, which contain charges over land.
- Therefore, the following security interests will no longer be registrable at COJ:
- Bills of Sale;
- Floating charges;
- Charges over shares;
- Charges on book debts;
- Charges over good will or intellectual property;
- Ship mortgages.
These security interests, excluding ship mortgages, must now be registered at the SIPP Registry.
- Generally speaking, charges over, and some other transactions concerning, most types of personal property, should be registered at the SIPP Registry. These include:
- charges over accounts, financial instruments and negotiable instruments;
- pledges, assignments, leases and consignments that secure payment or the performance of any obligation;
- transfers of accounts receivable, whether or not to secure payment or the performance of any obligation;
- a lease of goods under a lease for a term of more than six months, whether or not to secure payment or the performance of any obligation;
- charges over crops;
- conditional sale and hire-purchase agreements; and
- the interest in personal property of an execution creditor.
- In order to retain their priority, all pre-existing charges that fall under SIPPA must be re-registered at the SIPP Registry by January 1, 2015 (i.e. 365 days from the date SIPPA came into force). During this period, re-registration is free of charge.
- In order to register a charge at the SIPP Registry, you may visit the website http://www.nsippregistry.gov.jm, and follow the instructions to create a Client Account, which will then enable you, on paying a fee, to file and amend notices electronically. DunnCox is also able to file such notices on your behalf.
- Online public searches of the SIPP Registry may be carried out free of charge without the need to create a Client Account.
Look out for further notices from DunnCox which may update you on developments concerning SIPPA and other changing areas of law as they arise.