Home Content Chapter 3 Protocol
Supplementing the Convention
for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to
Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface,
Rome, 1933 (concluded at Brussels, September 1938)*ARTICLE 1
The insurance contracted by the operator of an aircraft in pursuance of Article 12 of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface shall, as regards third parties who have suffered damage, produce the following effects:
(1) The insurer may, in addition to the defences available to the operator and without prejudice to any recourse he may have against the insured, interpose only the following defences against claims based upon the application of the said Convention:
(a) The damage occurred after the insurance ceased to have effect;
Provided that, in case the insurance expires during a flight, the guaranty of the insurer shall continue until the first subsequent landing supervised by public authority but not to exceed 24 hours. In all cases other than those in which the termination of the insurance is due to expiration of the term thereof, the guaranty of the insurer shall be continued until effective withdrawal of the certificate of insurance by competent authority, but not exceeding fifteen days after notification by the insurer to the competent authority of the State by which the certificate was issued.(b) The damage occurred outside the territorial limits prescribed in the insurance contract, unless flight outside such limits was due to force majeure, or to a justifiable deviation for the purpose of assistance, or salvage, or to negligence in piloting, in the handling of the aircraft, or in navigation.
(c) the damage was the direct consequence of international armed conflict or civil disorder.
In the case of a discrepancy between the statements contained in the certificate of insurance or mentioned in the papers of the aircraft and the provisions of the contract of insurance, third parties shall be entitled, for the purpose of the application of paragraphs (a) and (b), to rely upon the statements in the certificate or in said papers both as respects the duration of the insurance and as respects the territorial limits of its application.
(2) Excepting the above-mentioned defences, the insurer shall not, with respect to third parties, avail himself of any plea of nullity or of any right of retroactive cancellation.
(3) In case the operator is changed during the period of the insurance contract, the insurer shall remain liable to injured third parties as if no transfer had taken place, provided that the duration of such obligation shall not extend beyond seven days from the time when the insurer notifies the competent authority of the State where the insurance certificate was issued that the insurance has expired.
ARTICLE 2
(1) This Protocol shall form an integral part of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface, concluded at Rome on 29th May 1933.
(2) As from the date of the signature of this Protocol, the ratification of the said Convention shall import the ratification of the present supplementary Protocol. Nevertheless, the High Contracting Parties shall be entitled to ratify both these acts simultaneously by separate instruments.
(3) The ratification of the Convention and of the Protocol, whether by separate instruments or by a single instrument, shall have the effect of creating obligations only towards such High Contracting Parties as have done the same.
ARTICLE 3
(1) The present Convention is drafted in French in one copy which shall remain open to signature until 30th June 1939.
(2) The Belgian Government shall forthwith transmit certified copies of this Protocol through diplomatic channels to the High Contracting Parties.
(3) At the expiration of the term provided in para-graph (1) the original of the present Protocol shall be transmitted by the Belgian Government to the Italian Government to be deposited and preserved in the archives of the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
ARTICLE 4
The present Protocol shall be raltified. In the cases provided in the second part of paragraph (2) of Article 2 the instruments of ratification of this Protocol shall be deposited in the archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Italy, which shall notify the deposit to each of the Governments interested.
ARTICLE 5
Adherence to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface, concluded at Rome on 29th May 1933, shall imply adherence to this Protocol, with the effect stated in paragraph (3) of Article 2.
ARTICLE 6
The High Contracting Parties may not denounce this Protocol without denouncing the Convention of which it is an integral part.
* P. Martin & E. Martin, Showcross and Beaumont AIR LAW, 4th ed., vol. 2 (London: Butherworth, 1977-1991). The ratifying States are Brazil and Italy..Back
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