WRITTEN QUESTION E-2163/98

by Ian White (PSE) to the Commission

(13 July 1998)

Subject: Compensation for missing luggage

The 1929 Warsaw Convention appears to assist airlines to avoid their responsibilities for compensation to passengers for missing luggage. This seems to have been exacerbated in the United Kingdom by the Carriage by Air Road Act 1979 limiting liability to seventeen Special Drawing Rights per kilo for claims settled after 1 December 1997 so that the pay out on estimated kilo weight covers little more than the cost of a lost suitcase, leaving the airline passenger with totally inadequate redress against the airline in question.

Does the Commission have any plans to address this question?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(30 September 1998)

The Commission agrees that the current system of baggage and freight liability is outdated and extremely complex. Several attempts to update the 1929 Warsaw Convention have been frustrated, mainly because the number of signatories necessary to ratify the so-called Montreal protocol No 4 has always been insufficient.

A new draft convention for the unification of certain rules for international carriage by air is currently being prepared within the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Luggage and freight are included in this work, and the Commission is of the opinion that the Community should await the results of this work before assessing the need for further Community legislation on this matter.