Effective December 28th, 2019 - Notification to Air Carriers of Upward Revision of the Limits of Liability Governed by the Montreal Convention

Reference is made to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, done at Montreal, on May 28, 1999 (Montreal Convention), which came into force on November 4, 2003 for international carriage between Canada and countries that have ratified the Convention. The Montreal Convention has the force of law for most international carriage to and from Canada by virtue of the Carriage by Air Act.

Articles 21 and 22 of the Montreal Convention establish the liability limits of the air carrier for damages in relation to the carriage of passengers, baggage and cargo. Article 24 of the Montreal Convention provides that the Depositary, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will review the liability limits, at five-year intervals, in order to determine whether the liability limits need to be revised for inflation.

ICAO has advised that, effective December 28th, 2019, the liability limits will be increased by an inflation factor of 13.9 per cent. Please refer to Annex A which reflects the new revised limits

The Air Transportation Regulations (ATR) require air carriers to set out the limits of liability respecting passengers and goods in their respective tariffs. As a result of the change to the liability limits levels in the Montreal Convention, these revised levels must be updated in air carriers' tariffs and the revised tariffs must be filed for international services. Air carriers must apply the new limits as of December 28, 2019.

On July 15, 2019, the provisions of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) relating to baggage came into effect. These provisions apply the same rules and liability limits for lost, delayed and damaged baggage for domestic services as those set out in the Montreal Convention for international air travel. Therefore, all air carriers offering domestic services are required to update their tariffs to reflect these new liability limits.

For further information:

Canadian Transportation Agency
15 Eddy St, Gatineau, QC  K1A 0N9

Tel.:

1-888-222-2592

TTY:

1-800-669-5575

Web:

www.otc-cta.gc.ca

E-mail:

info@otc-cta.gc.ca

Annex A

Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is a form of international money, created by the International Monetary Fund, and defined as a weighted average of various convertible currencies. On December 3, 2019, 1 SDR equals 1.82 Canadian dollars.