The 1952 Rome Convention on Surface Damage and Its Application in the Case of Aircraft Noise Emission: The Example of Belgium

Abstract

Although the 1952 Rome Convention on Surface Damage does not account with as many ratifications as the 1999 Montreal Convention or its predecessors, it organizes what can be seen as an operators’ friendly liability regime. In a recent landmark ruling in a matter that was pending before the Belgian courts for nearly twenty years, the Court of Appeal of Brussels held that airlines could not be held liable for the prejudice allegedly caused by their aircraft’s noise emissions to the extent that these aircraft and their operations comply with the rules of air.