On June 28, 2004 the Montreal Convention came into effect for Germany. This deals amongst other things with regulations on liability in the air freight industry.

Up to this date Germany had abided by the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol of 1955. The Montreal Protocol No 4 (MP 4), which contains modified liability clauses was not ratified by Germany and therefore did not become effective. The Montreal Convention will in the foreseeable future become the worldwide norm and thus replace the Warsaw Convention.

Until such time the Montreal Convention will only apply to shipments where point of dispatch and destination both fall within an area where it is in force. There are thus different forms of liability depending on the chosen route.

As a result of the Montreal Convention the following significant changes for the transportation of freight will take place:

The Montreal Convention envisages the option of replacing AWBs in printed format with other types of registration – including electronic AWBs.

The Montreal Convention will introduce more rigorous liability for the air freight operator, independent of the factor of negligence.

Air freight operators will benefit from the introduction of a capped liability limit.