- Warsaw Convention
The Warsaw Convention is an international convention which regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage or goods performed by aircraft for reward.
Originally signed in
1929 inWarsaw (hence the name), it was amended in1955 atThe Hague and in1975 in Montreal. United States courts have held that, at least for some purposes, the Warsaw Convention is a different instrument from the Warsaw Convention as Amended by the Hague Protocol.In particular, the Warsaw Convention:
*mandates carriers to issue passenger tickets;
*requires carriers to issue baggage checks for checked luggage;
*creates a limitation period of 2 years within which a claim must be brought (Article 29); and
*limits a carrier's liability to at most:
** 250,000 Francs or 16,600Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for personal injury;
** 17 SDR perkilogram for checked luggage and cargo,
** 5,000 Francs or 332 SDR for the hand luggage of a traveller.The sums limiting liability were originally given in Francs (defined in terms of a particular quantity of gold by article 22 paragraph 5 of the convention). These sums were amended by the Montreal Additional Protocol No. 2 to substitute an expression given in terms of SDR's. These sums are valid in the absence of a differing agreement (on a higher sum) with the carrier. Agreements on "lower" sums are null and void.
On
April 1 ,2007 , the exchange rate was 1.00 SDR = 1.135 EUR or1.00 SDR = 1.51 USD.A court may also award a claiming party's costs, unless the carrier made an offer within 6 months of the loss (or at least 6 months before the beginning of any legal proceedings) which the claiming party has failed to beat.
The
Montreal Convention , signed in1999 , will replace the Warsaw Convention system, once Montreal has been ratified by all states. Until then, however, there will be a patchwork of rules governing international carriage by air, as different states will be parties to different agreements (or no agreement at all).ee also
*
CMR convention
*Kenneth Beaumont
*Aviation Law External links
* [http://WarsawConvention.org "WarsawConvention.org"]
*PDFlink| [http://www.iata.org/NR/ContentConnector/CS2000/Siteinterface/sites/legal/file/warsaw.pdf Text of the Warsaw Convention] |92.9 KiB fromIATA .
* [http://www.warsaw-life.com/warsaw-convention.php Beginner's guide to the Warsaw Convention]
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