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The Governments Undersigned 

Considering that it is desirable to amend the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929 as amended by the Protocols done at The Hague on 28 September 1955, and at Guatemala City on 8 March 1971, 

Chapter I - Amendments to The Convention

Article I 

 The Convention which the provisions of the present Chapter modify is the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague in 1955, and at Guatemala City in 1971. 

Article II 

 Article 22 of the Convention shall be deleted and replaced by the following: 

"Article 22 

1. 
 

(a) In the carriage of persons the liability of the carrier is limited to the sum of 100 000 Special Drawing Rights for the aggregate of the claims, however founded, in respect of damage suffered as a result of the death or personal injury of each passenger. Where, in accordance with the law of the court seised of the case, damages may be awarded in the form of periodic payments, the equivalent capital value of the said payments shall not exceed 100 000 Special Drawing Rights. 

(b) In the case of delay in the carriage of persons the liability of the carrier for each passenger is limited to 4 150 Special Drawing Rights. 

(c) In the carriage of baggage the liability of the carrier in the case of destruction, loss, damage or delay is limited to 1 000 Special Drawing Rights for each passenger. 

2. (a) In the carriage of cargo, the liability of the carrier is limited to a sum of 17 Special Drawing Rights per kilogramme, unless the consignor has made, at the time when the package was handed over to the carrier, a special declaration of interest in delivery at destination and has paid a supplementary sum if the case so requires. In that case the carrier will be liable to pay a sum not exceeding the declared sum, unless he proves that that sum is greater than the consignor's actual interest in delivery at destination. 

(b) In the case of loss, damage or delay of part of the cargo, or of any object contained therein, the weight to be taken into consideration in determining the amount to which the carrier's liability is limited shall be only the total weight of the package or packages concerned. Nevertheless, when the loss, damage or delay of a part of the cargo, or of an object contained therein, affects the value of other packages covered by the same air waybill, the total weight of such package or packages shall also be taken into consideration in determining the limit of liability. 
 

3. 
 

(a) The courts of the High Contracting Parties which are not authorized under their law to award the costs of the action, including lawyers' fees, shall, in actions to which this Convention applies, have the power to award, in their discretion, to the claimant the whole or part of the costs of the action, including lawyers' fees which the court considers reasonable. 

(b) The costs of the action including lawyers' fees shall be awarded in accordance with subparagraph (a) only if the claimant gives a written notice to the carrier of the amount claimed including the particulars of the calculation of that amount and the carrier does not make, within a period of six months after his receipt of such notice, a written offer of settlement in an amount at least equal to the compensation awarded within the applicable limit. This period will be extended until the time of commencement of the action if that is later. 

(c) The costs of the action including lawyers' fees shall not be taken into account in applying the limits under this Article. 
 

4. The sums mentioned in terms of Special Drawing Right in this Article and Article 42 shall be deemed to refer to the Special Drawing Right as defined by the International Monetary Fund. Conversion of the sums into national currencies shall, in case of judicial proceedings, be made according to the value of such currencies in terms of the Special Drawing Right at the date of the judgment. The value of a national currency, in terms of the Special Drawing Right, of a High Contracting Party which is a Member of the International Monetary Fund, shall be calculated in accordance with the method of valuation applied by the International Monetary Fund, in effect at the date of the judgment, for its operations and transactions. The value of a national currency, in terms of the Special Drawing Right, of a High Contracting Party which is not a Member of the International Monetary Fund, shall be calculated in a manner determined by that High Contracting Party. 

Nevertheless, those States which are not Members of the International Monetary Fund and whose law does not permit the application of the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2(a) of Article 22 may, at the time of ratification or accession or at any time thereafter, declare that the limit of liability of the carrier in judicial proceedings in their territories is fixed at a sum of 1 500 000 monetary units per passenger with respect to paragraph 1(a) of Article 22; 62 500 monetary units per passenger with respect to paragraph 1(b) of Article 22; 15 000 monetary units per passenger with respect to paragraph 1(c) of Article 22; and 250 monetary units per kilogramme with respect to paragraph 2(a) of Article 22. A State applying the provisions of this paragraph may also declare that the sum referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 42 shall be the sum of 187 500 monetary units. This monetary unit corresponds to sixty-five and a half milligrammes of gold of millesimal fineness nine hundred. These sums may be converted into the national currency concerned in round figures. The conversion of these sums into national currency shall be made according to the law of the State concerned." 
 

 In Article 42 of the Convention- paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be deleted and replaced by the following: 

"2. At each of the Conferences mentioned in paragraph 1 of this Article the limit of liability in Article 22, paragraph 1 (a) in force at the respective dates of these Conferences shall not be increased by an amount exceeding 12 500 Special Drawing Rights. 

3. Subject to paragraph 2 of this Article, unless before the thirtyfirst December of the fifth and tenth year after the date of entry into force of the Protocol referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article the aforesaid Conferences decide otherwise by a two-thirds majority vote of the Parties present and voting, the limit of liability in Article 22, paragraph 1 (a) in force at the respective dates of these Conferences shall on those dates be increased by 12 500 Special Drawing Rights." 
 

Article IV 

 The Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague in 1955, and at Guatemala City in 1971 and by this Protocol shall apply to international carriage as defined in Article 1 of the Convention, provided that the places of departure and destination referred to in that Article are situated either in the territories of two Parties to this Protocol or within the territory of a single Party to this Protocol with an agreed stopping place in the territory of another State. 

Chapter III - Final Clauses 

Article V 

 As between the Parties to this Protocol, the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague in 1955 and at Guatemala City in 1971, and this Protocol shall be read and interpreted together as one single instrument and shall be known as the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975. 

Article VI 

 Until the date on which this Protocol comes into force in accordance with the provisions of Article VIII, it shall remain open for signature by any State. 

Article VII 

 1 . This Protocol shall be subject to ratification by the signatory States. 

2 . Ratification of this Protocol by any State which is not a Party to the Warsaw Convention or by any State which is not a Party to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, or by any State which is not a Party to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, and at Guatemala City, 1971, shall have the effect of accession to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975. 

3 . The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Government of the Polish People's Republic. 

Article VIII 

 1 . As soon as thirty signatory States have deposited their instruments of ratification of this Protocol, it shall come into force between them on the ninetieth day after the deposit of the thirtieth instrument of ratification. It shall come into force for each State ratifying thereafter on the ninetieth day after the deposit of its instrument of ratification. 

2 . As soon as this Protocol comes into force it shall be registered with the United Nations by the Government of the Polish People's Republic. 

Article IX 

 1 . This Protocol, after it has come into force, shall be open for accession by any non-signatory State. 

2 . Accession to this Protocol by any State which is not a Party to the Warsaw Convention or by any State which is not a Party to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, or by any State not a Party to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, and at Guatemala City, 1971, shall have the effect of accession to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975. 

3 . Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of accession with the Government of the Polish People's Republic and shall take effect on the ninetieth day after the deposit. 

Article X 

 1 . Any Party to this Protocol may denounce the Protocol by notification addressed to the Government of the Polish People's Republic. 

2 . Denunciation shall take effect six months after the date of receipt by the Government of the Polish People's Republic of the notification of denunciation. 

3 . As between the Parties to this Protocol, denunciation by any of them of the Warsaw Convention in accordance with Article 39 thereof or of The Hague Protocol in accordance with Article XXIV thereof or of the Guatemala City Protocol in accordance with Article XXII thereof shall not be construed in any way as a denunciation of the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975. 

Article XI 

 1 . Only the following reservations may be made to this Protocol: 

(a) any State whose courts are not authorized under its law to award the costs of the action including lawyers' fees may at any time by a notification addressed to the Government of the Polish People's Republic declare that Article 22, paragraph 3(a) shall not apply to its courts; 

(b) any State may at any time declare by a notification addressed to the Government of the Polish People's Republic that the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975, shall not apply to the carriage of persons, baggage and cargo for its military authorities on aircraft, registered in that State, the whole capacity of which has been reserved by or on behalf of such authorities; and 

(c) any State may declare at the time of ratification of or accession to the Montreal Protocol No. 4 of 1975, or at any time thereafter, that it is not bound by the provisions of the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975, in so far as they relate to the carriage of cargo, mail and postal packages. Such declaration shall have effect ninety days after the date of receipt by the Government of the Polish People's Republic of the declaration. 
 

Article XII 

 The Government of the Polish People's Republic shall promptly inform all States Parties to the Warsaw Convention or to that Convention as amended, all signatory or acceding States to the present Protocol, as well as the International Civil Aviation Organization, of the date of each signature, the date of deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession, the date of coming into force of this Protocol, and other relevant information. 

Article XIII 

 As between the Parties to this Protocol which are also Parties to the Convention, Supplementary to the Warsaw Convention, for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air Performed by a Person Other than the Contracting Carrier, signed at Guadalajara on 18 September 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the "Guadalajara Convention") any reference to the "Warsaw Convention" contained in the Guadalajara Convention shall include reference to the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague, 1955, at Guatemala City, 1971, and by the Additional Protocol No. 3 of Montreal, 1975, in cases where the carriage under the agreement referred to in Article 1, paragraph (b) of the Guadalajara Convention is governed by this Protocol. 

Article XIV 

 This Protocol shall remain open for signature until 1 January 1976 at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization and thereafter until it comes into force in accordance with Article VIII at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Polish People's Republic. The International Civil Aviation Organization shall promptly inform the Government of the Polish People's Republic of any signature and the date thereof during the time that the Protocol shall be open for signature at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, having been duly authorized, have signed this Protocol. 

DONE at Montreal on the twenty-fifth day of September of the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-five in four authentic texts in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages. In the case of any inconsistency, the text in the French language, in which language the Warsaw Convention of 12 October 1929 was drawn up, shall prevail.