Sat, Sep 06, 2003
Will Replace 1929 Warsaw Treaty
It's a done deal. The
United States Friday deposited with the International Civil
Aviation Organization its instrument of ratification of the 1999
Montreal Convention. The convention modernizes the rules governing
the liability of airlines to passengers for deaths or injuries
attributable to accidents that occur on international journeys.
Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said, "This is truly
an historic occasion. For more than four decades, the United States
has led the efforts of the world's aviation community to abolish
the woefully inadequate limits on airline liability contained in
the Warsaw Convention. The Montreal Convention of 1999 will ensure
far more humane treatment of the victims of international airline
accidents and their families than is possible under the current
system. Thanks to this important new treaty, we will now have an
international aviation liability regime appropriate to the second
century of flight."
Because the US
ratification brings the number of ratifying countries to 30 - the
number required to bring the convention into force - a new aviation
liability regime will take effect for all ratifying countries 60
days from today.
As additional countries ratify the Montreal Convention, it will
ultimately replace the Warsaw Convention of 1929. The rules
established under the Warsaw Convention, including artificial
limits on airline liability to passengers and on the access of many
claimants to courts in their own countries, were written during the
airline industry's infancy and have long been viewed as outdated
and unjust. Only where a claimant could demonstrate in court that
an accident was the result of an airline's "willful misconduct" --
a difficult allegation to prove - was it possible to recover
damages in excess of the Warsaw system's prescribed ceilings. In
recent years, a great many airlines entered into voluntary
agreements to waive the Warsaw limits.
When it enters into force in two months, the new treaty will
apply to all round-trip journeys originating in the United States
or any other member country, and to all travel between member
countries. Where applicable, the convention will:
Completely eliminate the Warsaw Convention's limits on airlines'
liability for death or injury to international passengers.
Allow lawsuits in cases of passenger deaths or injuries to be
brought in the country of the passenger's principal and permanent
residence.
Provide for liability regardless of the carrier's fault up to
approximately $139,000, with no limit on recoveries above that
amount for proven damages.
FMI: www.icao.int
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