A Commentary on the Articles Appearing on Pages 583-618 Relating to the Exclusivity of the Liability Rules of The Montreal Convention of 1999 Applicable to the Carriage of Passengers and Cargo

Abstract

Issue 6, 2018 of Air & Space Law included two very fine articles addressing Court decisions of the (1) European Court of Justice (CJEU) [see pages 609-618] and (2) an ‘Intermediate People’s Court’ in Beijing, PRC, [see pages 583-607] involving ‘international air carriage’ within the scope of the 1999 Montreal Convention [MC99] and addressing the exclusivity of the liability and damage rules of MC99 to the exclusion of otherwise applicable local or domestic laws, rules and regulations. MC99 was conceived, drafted and adopted to supplant and replace the hodgepodge of liability rules, applicable to ‘international air transportation’, which existed from 1929 to 1999 in various related international treaties, amending /supplementing protocols and inter-carrier agreements, which had evolved over the life of the 1929 Warsaw Convention addressing and resolving, albeit in a temporary and insufficient manner, certain of the liability rules applicable to the international air transportation of passengers, baggage and cargo.1 When MC99 entered into force on 4 November 2003, the following existing Conventions, Protocols and inter-carrier agreements dealing with air carrier liability arising from the international air transportation of passengers, baggage and cargo were superseded by MC99, where applicable to the transportation: