§ Mr. Sandelsonasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement on progress in improving the limits of liability for air passengers.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisFollowing informal consultations amongst West European authorities, begun with my support by the Civil Aviation Authority in 1974, airlines in more than 20 countries now enter into a special contract under the Warsaw Convention, as amended at The Hague, for a limit of liability for the death or 543W personal injury of passengers in international carriage over twice that provided by the Convention. A list of the airlines concerned has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. British airlines are required by the Civil Aviation Authority to contract for a limit of not less than £25,000. Since a limit of US $58,000 also applies to all flights touching the United States, under the 1966 Montreal Agreement, by far the largest proportion of international carriage by air is now subject to a limit more than twice as high as that in the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague. At the same time we and like-minded countries will continue to pursue policies aimed at securing the implementation of the 1975 Montreal Additional Protocol No. 3, which provides for no-fault liability and a substantially higher limit still.