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Carriage by Air Act 1967

NIUE LAWS
LEGISLATION AS AT DECEMBER 2006

CARRIAGE BY AIR ACT 1967

1967/151 (NZ) – 24 November 1967

1 Short title
2 Act to bind Crown
3 [Repealed]

Part 1

INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY AIR

4 [Repealed]
5 Interpretation
6 Application of Guadalajara Convention
7 Conventions to have force of law
8 Designation of Parties
9 Fatal accidents
10 Limitation of liability
11 Time for bringing proceedings
12 Contributory negligence
13 Power to exclude aircraft in use for military purposes
14 Actions against High Contracting Parties
15 Regulations

16-44 [Repealed] 45 [Spent]

SCHEDULES

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To give effect to the provisions of a Convention concerning international carriage by air known as the Warsaw Convention as amended and supplemented by a subsequent Protocol and Convention, and to make provision with respect to carriage by air which is not international

1 Short title

This is the Carriage by Air Act 1967.

2 Act to bind Crown

This Act shall bind the Crown.

3 [Repealed by 2004/270]

PART 1

INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE BY AIR

4 [Repealed by 2004/270]

5 Interpretation

In this Part –

"Amended Convention" means the Convention set out in Schedule 1, being the Warsaw Convention as amended by a Protocol opened for signature at The Hague on 28 September 1955;

"court" includes (in an arbitration allowed by the amended Convention or the Guadalajara Convention) an arbitrator;

"Guadalajara Convention" means the Convention set out in Schedule 2 being a 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, opened for signature at Guadalajara on 18 September 1961;

"Warsaw Convention" means the Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air opened for signature at Warsaw on 12 October 1929 and includes the Additional Protocol to that Convention.

6 Application of Guadalajara Convention

In this Part references to the amended Convention or to any Article of that Convention include, where applicable and subject to any necessary modifications, references to that Convention or article as supplemented by the Guadalajara Convention.

7 Conventions to have force of law

(1) The amended Convention and the Guadalajara Convention shall, so far as they relate to the rights and liabilities of carriers, carriers’ servants and agents, passengers, consignors, consignees, and other persons, and subject to this Part, have the force of law in Niue in relation to any carriage by air to which the amended Convention or the Guadalajara Convention, as the case may require, applies, irrespective of the nationality of the aircraft performing that carriage.

(2) If there is any inconsistency between the text in English of the amended Convention in Part 1 of Schedule 1 or the text of English of the Guadalajara Convention in Part 1 of Schedule 2 and the corresponding text in French of those Conventions in Part 2 of each of those Schedules, the text in French shall prevail.

8 Designation of Parties

(1) The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, certify who are the High Contracting Parties to the amended Convention and the Parties to the Guadalajara Convention, in respect of what territories they are respectively parties, and to what extent they have availed themselves of the Additional Protocol at the end of the amended Convention as set out in Schedule 1.

(2) Article 40A (2) of the amended Convention shall not be read as extending references in the amended Convention to the territory of a High Contracting Party (except such as are references to the territory of any State, whether a High Contracting Party or not) to include any territory in respect of which that High Contracting Party is not a party.

(3) An Order in Council shall, except so far as it has been superseded by a subsequent Order, be sufficient evidence of the matters so certified.

(4) An Order in Council may contain such transitional and other consequential provisions as appear to the Governor-General to be expedient.

(5) An Order in Council certifying who are the High Contracting Parties to the amended Convention or the Parties to the Guadalajara Convention shall specify the date on and from which any such Party became or ceased to be a Party.

9 Fatal accidents

References in section 4 of the Deaths by Accidents Compensation Act 1952 to a wrongful act, neglect, or default shall include references to any occurrence which gives rise to a liability under article 17 of the amended Convention.

10 Limitation of liability

(1) The limitations on liability referred to in article 22 of the amended Convention shall apply whatever the nature of the proceedings by which liability may be enforced and, in particular –

(a) Those limitations shall apply where proceedings are brought by a tortfeasor to obtain a contribution from another tortfeasor if the tortfeasor from whom contribution is sought is the carrier or a servant or agent of the carrier; and

(b) The limitation for each passenger referred to the said article 22 (1) shall apply to the aggregate liability of the carrier in all proceedings which may be brought against him under the law of Niue together with any proceedings brought against him outside Niue.

(2) A court before which proceedings are brought to enforce a liability which is limited by the said article 22 may at any stage of the proceedings make any such order as appears to the court to be just and equitable in view of the said article 22, and of any other proceedings which have been, or are likely to be, commenced in Niue or elsewhere to enforce the liability in whole or in part.

(3) Without prejudice to subsection (2), a court before which proceedings are brought to enforce a liability which is limited by the said article 22 shall, where the liability is, or may be, partly enforceable in other proceedings in Niue or elsewhere, have jurisdiction to award an amount less than the court would have awarded if the limitation applied solely to the proceedings before the court, or to make any part of its award conditional on the result of any other proceedings.

(4) The Minister of Finance may by notice in the Gazette, specify the respective amounts which for the purposes of the said article 22, and in particular of article 22 (5), are to be taken as equivalent to the sums expressed in francs which are mentioned in that article.

(5) References in this section to article 22 include, subject to any necessary modifications and as the case may require, references to that article as applied or supplemented by article 25A of the amended Convention and articles 5 and 6 of the Guadalajara Convention.

11 Time for bringing proceedings

(1) No action against a carrier’s servant or agent which arises out of damage to which this Part relates shall, if he was acting within the scope of his employment, be brought after more than 2 years, reckoned from the date of arrival at the destination, or from the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived, or from the date on which the carriage stopped.

(2) Article 29 of the amended Convention shall not be read as applying to any proceedings for contributions between tortfeasors, but no action shall be brought by a tortfeasor to obtain a contribution from a carrier in respect of a tort to which the said article 29 applies after the expiration of 2 years from the time when judgment is obtained against the person seeking to obtain the contribution.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) and the said article 29 shall have effect as if references in those provisions to an action included references to an arbitration; and section 29 (3) and (4) of the Limitation Act 1950 (NZ) (which determines the time at which an arbitration is deemed to have commenced) shall apply.

12 Contributory negligence

For the purposes of article 21 of the amended Convention section 736 of the Niue Act 1966 shall be the law under which a court may exonerate the carrier or partly from his liability.

13 Power to exclude aircraft in use for military purposes

(1) The Cabinet may by regulation, direct that this section shall apply, or shall cease to apply, to Niue or any other State specified in the Regulation.

(2) The amended Convention shall not apply to the carriage of persons, cargo, and baggage for the military authorities of a State to which this section applies in aircraft registered in that State if the whole capacity of the aircraft has been reserved by, or on behalf of, those authorities.

14 Actions against High Contracting Parties

Every High Contracting Party to the amended Convention who has not availed himself of the provisions of the Additional Protocol at the end of the amended Convention as set out in Schedule 1 shall, for the purposes of any action brought in a court in Niue under article 28 of the amended Convention or article 8 of the Guadalajara Convention to enforce a claim in respect of carriage undertaken by him, be deemed to have submitted to the jurisdiction of that court, and accordingly rules of court may provide for the manner in which any such action is to be commenced and carried on; but nothing in this section shall authorise the issue of execution against the property of any High Contracting Party.

15 Regulations

Cabinet may make such regulations as it thinks fit for the purposes of this Act.

16-44 [Repealed by 2004/270]

45 [Spent]

_____________________________

SCHEDULES

[The Schedules are not reproduced. Hard copy is available in Niue Legislation as 1 August 1990, volume 1, pg 233. The Warsaw Convention and the Guadalajara Convention are available on line at:

http://www.icao.int/eshop/conventions_list.htm]