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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order consolidates with amendments earlier Orders made under section 10 of the Carriage by Air Act 1961 providing for the application of the Warsaw Convention 1929 as amended at the Hague 1955 and the Guadalajara Convention 1961 to carriage by air not being carriage to which the Conventions specified in the Schedules to those Acts apply.

The consolidation does not apply to Community air carriers to the extent that Council Regulation 2027/97 on air carrier liability in the event of accidents has the force of law in the UK (article 3).

The Montreal Convention 1999 is applied, with amendment, to carriage by air within the UK or carriage not governed by any of the Conventions listed in article 3(1) or set out in Schedules 2 or 3. It will supersede the application to such carriage of the Warsaw Convention as amended at the Hague and by Protocol No 4 of Montreal 1975. Unlike the 1967 Order as amended this Order does not extend to carriage of mail or postal packages. Under this Order the carrier will be liable for death or injury caused to passengers, for loss of or damage to baggage or cargo and for delay. His liability for death or injury is unlimited save that proof of an absence of fault on his part will limit liability to 100,000 SDRs (approximately £85,000). The principal amendments to the application of the Montreal Convention—

  • exclude the application of documentation relating to carriage save for the requirement for the carrier to deliver a baggage identification tag

  • modify the basis for the conversion of Monetary Units so as to provide for a basis simply for conversion into sterling with a certificate of the Treasury providing conclusive evidence of that matter

  • exclude the provision for review of limits by the International Civil Aviation Organisation

  • exclude the multiple jurisdictions otherwise provided for (article 4 and Schedule 1).

Parts of the Carriage by Air Act 1961 are applied to such carriage as if references in that Act to certain articles of the Montreal Convention were references to those articles in that Convention as applied by this Order (article 7).

The Warsaw Convention and that Convention as amended by Montreal Protocol No 1 1975 continue to be applied to international carriage as defined in Schedules 2 and 3 respectively (articles 5 and 6). The liability of an air carrier for passenger death or injury is limited to 125,000 francs and 8,300 SDRs respectively (approximately £7,000) in the absence of wilful misconduct, unless the carrier has contracted for a higher figure. Parts of the Carriage by Air Act 1961 and the Carriage by Air (Supplementary Provisions) Act 1962 are applied to such carriage as if references in those Acts to certain articles of the Warsaw Convention and of the Guadalajara Convention were references to those articles in those Conventions as applied by this Order (article 7).

The Order continues to provide for the application of the Acts of 1961 and 1962 and of the Order itself to gratuitous carriage by the Crown as they apply to carriage by the Crown for reward. However, excluded from this application is carriage undertaken by the Crown of its armed forces undertaken in times of hostilities or emergency. The former exception that the Crown may limit its liability although a passenger ticket has not been issued is omitted (article 8).

The Order no longer empowers the Secretary of State to grant exemptions.

For convenience of reference, the texts of the Montreal Convention, the Warsaw Convention and that Convention as amended as well as the Guadalajara Convention with the exceptions, adaptations and modifications made by this Order are set out in Part II of Schedules 1 to 3 to this Order.

The Order comes into force 10 days after it is made.

A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in connection with this Order. It has been placed in the libraries of each of the Houses of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Multilateral Division of the Aviation Directorate, Zone 1/27, Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR (telephone 020 7944 5893).