A/HRC/33/54 judgment by a court in the United Kingdom and foreign judgments enforceable in the United Kingdom, as well as to arbitral awards.51 However, its scope is limited to HIPCs. 43. The aim of the law is to ensure that courts in the United Kingdom neither render nor enforce a judgment that allows recovery of covered debts of those countries in excess of the amount calculated as sustainable debt under the HIPC Initiative. The creditor may not recover more than the existing debt, even if the debt is renegotiated or the subject of a new agreement. While there is no provision for cancellation of debt, enforcement is limited to the recoverable amount under the existing debt, irrespective of the law applicable to the debt or claim.52 Other draft legislation 44. An amendment introduced to a draft bill related to transparency, corruption and the modernization of the economic sphere was recently discussed in France. The proposed new amendment aims at protecting States facing a sovereign default and that are beneficiaries of official development assistance. Of note is that vulture funds are required to obtain an authorization from the court before proceeding to seizure for debt recovery.53 The draft supplements another proposal aimed at guaranteeing immunity from seizure to certain State properties.54 VI. Forging international consensus 45. A growing consensus has emerged in recent years on the need to curb the activities of vulture funds. A number of States have expressed support for international action to protect HIPCs in particular from the activities of vulture funds as well as broad support for the establishment of an international mechanism for orderly debt restructuring. 46. In a meeting of the Group of Eight held in May 2007, finance ministers and governors of central banks expressed their concern about the problem of aggressive litigation against HIPCs. While welcoming the steps already taken by the Paris Club to address this problem, they urged all sovereign creditors not to sell claims on those countries.55 47. The same year, Commonwealth finance ministers affirmed that they were particularly alarmed at the lawsuits filed against HIPCs by some commercial creditors, especially vulture funds, and emphasized the need for concerted international action to address this problem. They urged Governments to introduce legal protection to ensure that, as a minimum, debt relief was provided on terms equivalent to the HIPC framework. 56 51 52 53 54 55 56 Ibid., section 5. M. Waibel, “Debt relief to poor countries: rules v. discretion”, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law (June 2010), available from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1612242. At the time of writing, the law was being discussed by the Senate. See A. Paredes-Vanheule, “France to restrict ‘vulture funds’ claims”, Investment Europe, 3 June 2016. Projet de loi relatif à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique, arts. 24 and 24 bis. “Statement of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors”, Washington, D.C., 19 October 2007. Ministerial statement adopted at the Commonwealth HIPC Ministerial Forum. 13