On December 17, 2014, New York Assembly Bill 9933, which amends the Uniform Commercial Code in effect in the state of New York (the “NYUCC”), was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, and took effect immediately. This new law (the “UCC Revisions Law”) includes several changes to Article 9 of the NYUCC (“Article 9”), that governs the creation and perfection of security interests in personal property under New York law. In light of these amendments to Article 9, secured lenders in secured transactions governed by New York law should take note of these new provisions and determine if changes need to be made with respect to any documentation or filing of any security documents.

The revisions to the Uniform Commercial Code were first recommended by the American Legal Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2010, and 48 other U.S. states have adopted all or most of the recommended changes to Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. The UCC Revisions Law, however, does not implement all of such recommended revisions and therefore, following the passage of the UCC Revisions Law, some, but not all provisions of the NYUCC are consistent with changes that have already been in effect in the Uniform Commercial Code in most U.S. jurisdictions. For this reason, secured lenders should remain cognizant that despite the enactment of the UCC Revisions Law, key differences still exist between the NYUCC and the Uniform Commercial Code in effect in most other U.S. jurisdictions. It is important for secured lenders to understand how these variations could affect the creation and perfection of security interests when the applicable law for creation and perfection is not the NYUCC.

For purposes of this article, several of the more general changes to Article 9 affecting commercial secured loan transactions have been summarized in more detail below, though this is not meant to be an all-encompassing list of the changes. While many of the changes are intended to be clarifying, and will likely not affect the current practice of secured lenders in New York, the UCC Revisions Law does contain revisions to Article 9 not included below, and secured lenders should always discuss with counsel whether the changes will affect creation or perfection of any security interests under New York law.

To read the full alert, click on the PDF linked below.

New-York-State-Enacts-Revisions-to-Uniform-Commercial-Code-Relevant-to-Commercial-Secured-Lenders.pdf