> I cannot figure out how to fix that with reworking a lot of code,
 > but perhaps redefining all of parameters to itself but globally
 > could work. (I mean
 >
 >   \global\let\COtitle@format\COtitle@format
 >   \global\let\COobject@decl\COobject@decl
 >
 > and so on.) May attributes be assigned globally in templates?

attributes may be assigned globally in template. one of the last
additions to the inferface before we made it publically available for
testing was the + sytnax:

 foo =+l \foovar

sets the variable \foobar (which should be a register in the above
case) globally

a separate question is whether or not one should have such global
assignments in the first place. they have their dangers as we all
know. but on the other hand it is sometimes needed. guess we should
keep in mind that some further thoughts might be in order.

frank