THE LAW OF INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC

CARRIAGE OF GOODS

GLUE 3073 – GROUP ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC 12 : STATUTE AND INTERNATIONAL

CONVENTION RELATING TO CARRIAGE BY AIR
(WARSAW CONVENTION 1929 & 1955)

No. NAME STUDENT ID

1. Syafinaz Binti Idrus 244653
2. Latifah Kaiyisah Binti Mohd Latib 248159
3. Nur Aqila Hatim Binti Yahaya 248126

Lecturer’s Name: Prof. Madya Hj. Hairuddin Hj Megat Latif

Date of Submission : 14th November 2017

 LIST OF CONTENTS
NO. DESCRIPTION PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. DEFINITION, HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF
THE WARSAW CONVENTION
3. LIST OF REPORTED LAW CASES IN
COMPLIANCE OF THE APPLICATION OF
WARSAW CONVENTION
4. THE INTERNATIONAL VIEWS REGARDING
THE WARSAW CONVENTION ON CARRIAGE
BY AIR
5. CONCLUSION
6. REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION
Generaly, air transport is the gift of the 20th century to the world. In regard to this, the two
world wars have given a great impetus to the development of air transport in almost all the
countries of the world. The peculiar characteristic of air transport is that is does not need a specific
surface track for its operations. It has no physical barriers as in the case of other mode of transport
as well as the political boundaries are also immaterial although it has to observe the requirements
of the International Law. On the other hand, its supreme advantage of air transporation is its
quickness. In regard to this, air transportation has also given the increasing economic importance
of air transport and its inherent development potential, modernization, transparency and easy
accessibility of laws and regulation in this field are key, in particular for developing countries.

Predominantly, air transportation is popular on its function to carry passengers, luggage

and goods. However, according to the Aviation Safety Network, there were 990 fatalities from 21
accidents in 2014. On the other hand, in the year 2013, air transportation has produced 265
fatalities in 29 accidents, and 2012 had 475 fatalities worldwide from 23 accidents. Therefore, it
is obvious that the countries all around the world are in need of the legal provisions that will
facilitate three important things, which are passengers, luggage and goods. Fortunately, Warsaw
Convention 1929 has been introduced as an international civil aviation agreement that establishes
the legal framework for carriage by air.

This report comprises of a general overview of the international legal liability framework
applicable to international carriage of goods by air, which is Warsaw Convention of 1929 and
Warsaw Convention 1955. On the other hand, this report will be explaining briefly on its definition,
the history regarding its implementation and development as well as the international views on the
application of this convention will be explained accordingly in this report. There are also reported
law cases regarding to our topic that will be summarized.
 BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF WARSAW
CONVENTION 1929 AND WARSAW CONVENTION 1955
The Warsaw Convention is an international civil aviation convention which regulates
liability, in the event of accident, for international carriage of passengers, luggage or goods
performed by aircraft for reward. It was the first comprehensive legal framework governing
aviation at the international level, playing an essential and a momenteous role in supporting the
development of the sector and establishing a set of principles, most of which are still effective and
constitute the basis of modern aviation law. By the same token, this convention spell out the
essential provisions in which specified the conditions under which airline could be liable for the
death or injury to passengers, loss or damage to baggage and delay, a specified to the limitation of
amount in regard of the compensation that could be claimed, and excluded resort to national laws.
It is also known as a landmark multinational treaty which laid the ground rules for passenger
recovery against air carriers resulting from damage substained on international flights. On the other
hand, the Convention resolved many of the transnational difficulties dacing the budding air
transporation industry, including the possibility disastrous effects of a single, large crash, the lack
of uniform international standards the need for ensuring comparable treatment for similary situated
passengers, and the pontentially serious problem of jurisdiction. The facts that have been stated
above have proven that this Convention is an important and a essential part of aviation history,
since it offers valuable protection around the world, to be more specified, in regard on international
carriages.

Turning to its history and development, by the year of 1923, the government of France
attempted to adopt national laws relating to liability in the carriage by air and realized that the
complex foreign elements of such issue called for unification of law on a wide international level
to prevent the unforeseeable conflicts of law and conflicts of jurisdiction. The purpose of the
Warsaw Convention was to ensure uniform application of certain rules relating to international air
transportation. The need to establish such uniform rules resulted in the First International
Conference on Private Aeronautical Law at Paris on 6th October 1925 where they decided to create
the Comité International Technique d'Experts Juridiques Aériens (CITEJA), a committee assigned
the task of drafting international agreements relating to all aspects of international air law. The
committee delegates a draft relating to the rights and liabilities of air carriers, passengers,
consignors and consignees of goods. After eight days of debate, the draft finally took its final form
as the Warsaw Convention.

As what have been explained aboved, this Committee held several sessions to draft a
convention for consideration at the Second International Conference on Private Air Law held in
the Royal Castle at Warsaw, Poland from 4 to 12 October 1929. It was finally signed on 12 October
1929, and on that day, Warsaw Convention was known as an entitled Convention for the
Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, has evolved into one of the
most important instruments of private international law. Over the years, several amending
protocols, supplementary instruments, rules, and regulations have been added which, collectively
with the original Convention, are called the Warsaw System. 65 delegates from thirty-three nations
attended this Conference; perhaps, the location of the Conference and the fact that it was
independent of the League of Nations induced an important number of countries to send their
delegations to Warsaw.

As results, The Convention has since been revised by the Hague Protocol in 1955, the
Guadalajara Convention in 1961, the Guatemala Protocol in 1971 and most recently the four
additional Montreal Protocols in 1975. Therefore, their practical effect on the Warsaw Convention
has been to create a web of approximately fourteen liability schemes.