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Legislative Requirements
Athens Convention
Definitions
In this Convention the following expressions have the
meaning hereby assigned to them:
“Carrier” means a person by or on behalf of whom a
contract of carriage has been concluded, whether the carriage is actually
performed by him or by a performing carrier;
“Performing carrier” means a person other than the
carrier, being the owner, charterer or operator of a
ship, who actually performs the whole or a part of the carriage;
“Ship” means only a seagoing vessel, excluding an
air-cushion vehicle;
“Passenger” means any person carried in a ship,
(a) Under a contract of carriage, or
(b) Who, with the consent of the carrier, is accompanying
a vehicle or live animals which are covered by a contract for the carriage of
goods not governed by this Convention;
“Luggage” means
any article or vehicle carried by the carrier under a contract of carriage,
excluding:
(a) Articles and vehicles carried under a charter
party, bill of lading or other contract primarily concerned with the carriage
of goods, and
(b) Live animals;
“Cabin luggage”
means luggage, which the passenger has in his cabin or is otherwise in his
possession, custody or control. Except for some restrictions, cabin luggage
includes luggage, which the passenger has in or on his vehicle;
“Carriage”
covers the following periods:
(a) with regard to the passenger and his cabin
luggage, the period during which the passenger and/or his cabin luggage are on
board the ship or in the course of embarkation or disembarkation, and the
period during which the passenger and his cabin luggage are transported by
water from land to the ship or vice-versa, if the cost of such transport is
included in the fare or if the vessel used for this purpose of auxiliary
transport has been put at the disposal of the passenger by the carrier.
However, with regard to the passenger, carriage does
not include the period during which he is in a marine terminal or station or on
a quay or in or on any other port installation;
(b) With regard to cabin luggage, also the period
during which the passenger is in a marine terminal or station or on a quay or
in or on any other port installation if that luggage has been taken over by the
carrier or his servant or agent and has not been re-delivered to the passenger;
(c) With regard to other luggage which is not cabin
luggage, the period from the time of its taking over by the carrier or his
servant or agent on shore or on board until the time of its re-delivery by the
carrier or his servant or agent;
“International carriage” means any carriage in which,
according to the contract of carriage, the place of departure and the place of
destination are situated in two different States, or in a single State if,
according to the contract of carriage or the scheduled itinerary, there is an
intermediate port of call in another State;
Application
This Convention shall apply to any international
carriage if
(a) The ship is flying the flag of or is registered in
a State Party to this Convention, or
(b) The contract of carriage has been made in a State
Party to this Convention, or
(c) The place of departure or destination, according
to the contract of carriage, is in a State Party to this Convention.
This Convention shall not apply when the carriage is
subject, under any other international convention concerning the carriage of
passengers or luggage by another mode of transport, to a civil liability regime
under the provisions of such convention, in so far as those provisions have
mandatory application
to carriage by sea.
Liability of the carrier
The carrier shall be liable for the damage suffered as
a result of the death of or personal injury to a passenger and the loss of or
damage to luggage if the incident which caused the damage so suffered occurred
in the course of the carriage and was due to the fault or neglect of the
carrier or of his servants or agents acting within the scope of their
employment.
The burden of proving that the incident which caused
the loss or damage occurred in the course of the carriage, and the extent of
the loss or damage, shall lie with the claimant.
Fault or neglect of the carrier or of his servants or
agents acting within the scope of their employment shall be presumed, unless
the contrary is proved, if the death of or personal injury to the passenger or
the loss of or damage to cabin luggage arose from or in connection with
shipwreck, collision, stranding, explosion or fire, or defect in the ship. In
respect of loss of or damage to other luggage, such fault or neglect shall be
presumed, unless the contrary is proved, irrespective of the nature of the
incident which caused the loss or damage. In all other cases the burden of
proving fault or neglect shall lie with the claimant.
Valuables
The carrier shall not be liable for the loss of or
damage to monies, negotiable securities, gold, silverware, jewellery,
ornaments, works of art, or other valuables, except where such valuables have
been deposited with the carrier for the agreed purpose of safe-keeping in which
case the carrier shall be liable up to the limit provided for in this
convention.
Contributory
fault
If the carrier proves that the death of or personal
injury to a passenger or the loss of or damage to his luggage was caused or
contributed to by the fault or neglect of the passenger, the court seized of
the case may exonerate the carrier wholly or partly from his liability in
accordance with the provisions of the law of that court.
Limit of liability for personal injury
The liability of the carrier for the death of or
personal injury to a passenger shall in no case exceed 700,000 francs per
carriage. Where in accordance with the law of the court seized of the case
damages are awarded in the form of periodical income payments, the equivalent
capital value of those payments shall not exceed the said limit.
The national law of any State Party to this Convention
may fix, as far as carriers who are nationals of such State are concerned, a
higher per capita limit of liability.
Limit of liability for loss of or damage to luggage
The liability of the carrier for the loss of or damage
to cabin luggage shall in no case exceed 12,500 francs per passenger, per
carriage.
The liability of the carrier for the loss of or damage
to vehicles including all luggage carried in or on the
vehicle shall in no case exceed 50,000 francs per vehicle, per carriage.
The liability of the carrier for the loss of or damage
to luggage other than that mentioned shall in no case exceed 18,000 francs per
passenger, per carriage.
The carrier and the passenger may agree that the
liability of the carrier shall be subject to a deductible not exceeding 1,750
francs in the case of damage to a vehicle and not exceeding 200 francs per
passenger in the case of loss of or damage to other luggage, such sum to be
deducted from the loss or damage.
Monetary unit and conversion
The franc mentioned in this Convention shall be deemed
to refer to a unit consisting of 65.5 milligrams of gold of millesimal fineness
900.
The amounts referred shall be converted into the
national currency of the State of the court seized of the case on the basis of
the official value of that currency, by reference to the unit defined, on the
date of the judgment or the date agreed upon by the parties. If there is no
such official value, the competent authority of the State concerned shall
determine what shall be considered as the official value for the purpose of
this Convention.
Defences and limits for carriers’ servants
If an action is brought against a servant or agent of
the carrier or of the performing carrier arising out of damage covered by this
Convention, such servant or agent, if he proves that he acted within the scope
of his employment, shall be entitled to avail himself of the defences and
limits of liability which the carrier or the performing carrier is entitled to
invoke under this Convention.
Aggregation of claims
Where the limits of liability prescribed take effect, they shall apply to the
aggregate of the amounts recoverable in all claims arising out of the death of
or personal injury to any one passenger or the loss of or damage to his
luggage.
In relation to the carriage performed by a performing
carrier, the aggregate of the amounts recoverable from the carrier and the performing
carrier and from their servants and agents acting within the scope of their
employment shall not exceed the highest amount which could be awarded against
either the carrier or the performing carrier under this Convention, but none of
the persons mentioned shall be liable for a sum in excess of the limit
applicable to him.
In any case where a servant or agent of the carrier or
of the performing carrier is entitled to avail himself of the limits of
liability prescribed in Articles 7 and 8, the aggregate of the amounts
recoverable from the carrier, or the performing carrier as the case may be, and
from that servant or agent, shall not exceed those limits.
Loss of right to limit liability
The carrier shall not be entitled to the benefit of
the limits of liability prescribed, if it is proved that the damage resulted
from an act or omission of the carrier done with the intent to cause such
damage, or recklessly and with knowledge that such damage would probably
result.
The servant or agent of the carrier or of the
performing carrier shall not be entitled to the benefit of those limits if it
is proved that the damage resulted from an act or omission of that servant or
agent done with the intent to cause such damage, or recklessly and with
knowledge that such damage would probably result.
Competent jurisdiction
An action arising under this Convention shall, at the
option of the claimant, be brought before one of the courts listed below,
provided that the court is located in a State Party to this Convention:
(a) the court of the place of
permanent residence or principal place of business of the defendant, or
(b) the court of the place of
departure or that of the destination according to the contract of carriage, or
(c) a court of the State of
the domicile or permanent residence of the claimant, if the defendant has a
place of business and is subject to jurisdiction in that State, or
(d) a court of the State
where the contract of carriage was made, if the defendant has a place of
business and is subject to jurisdiction in that State.
After the occurrence of the incident which has caused
the damage, the parties may agree that the claim for damages shall be submitted
to any jurisdiction or to arbitration.
Invalidity
of contractual provisions
Any contractual provision concluded before the
occurrence of the incident which has caused the death of or personal injury to
a passenger or the loss of or damage to his luggage, purporting to relieve the
carrier of his liability towards the passenger or to prescribe a lower limit of
liability than that fixed in this Convention, and any such provision purporting
to shift the burden of proof which rests on the carrier, or having the effect
of restricting the option, shall be null and void, but the nullity of that
provision shall not render void the contract of carriage which shall remain
subject to the provisions of this Convention.