Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act 1959

Parts I, III and V shall come into operation on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent.

Parts II and IV shall come into operation on such dates as are respectively fixed by Proclamation.

In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

an individual who is an Australian citizen or is ordinarily resident in Australia; or

the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory; or

a person who is a nominee of the Commonwealth or of a State or a Territory; or

a Commonwealth, State or Territory authority; or

a person who is a nominee of a Commonwealth, State or Territory authority; or

a local government body (whether incorporated or not) formed by or under a law of a State or a Territory; or

a person who is a nominee of a local government body referred to in paragraph (f); or

a body corporate that:

is incorporated by or under a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or a Territory; and

is substantially owned and effectively controlled by persons referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) or (i); or

a person in the capacity of a trustee, or manager, of a fund in which the total interests (if any) of persons referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) or (h) represent 60% or more of the total interests in the fund.

any revision of the limits of liability, in accordance with Article 24 of the Convention, that has become effective; and

any other amendment of the Convention that has entered into force for Australia and a copy of the English text of which is set out in the regulations.

For the purposes of this Act, a person is a family member of a passenger at a particular time if, at that time, the person:

is the passenger’s spouse or de facto partner; or

is a parent, step‑parent or grandparent of the passenger; or

is a child, step‑child, ward or grandchild of the passenger; or

is a sibling, step‑brother, step‑sister, half‑brother or half‑sister of the passenger; or

is wholly or partly dependent on the passenger for financial support and is:

a foster‑sibling of the passenger; or

a foster‑child of the passenger; or

a guardian of the passenger; or

falls within a class of people (if any) specified in regulations made for the purposes of this paragraph.

Relationships mentioned in subsection (2) are, for the purposes of this Part, taken to include:

ex‑nuptial relationships; and

relationships by adoption; and

relationships of child and parent that arise because of the definitions of child and parent in this section; and

relationships traced through relationships referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c).

Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code sets out the general principles of criminal responsibility.

This Act binds the Crown in right of the Commonwealth, of each of the States, of the Australian Capital Territory and of the Northern Territory.

Nothing in this Act makes the Crown in any capacity liable to be prosecuted for an offence.

For the purposes of this Act, but subject to subsection (2), the text of a Convention specified in any of the following paragraphs is taken to be the text set out in the Schedule specified in that paragraph:

Schedule 1—the Warsaw Convention;

Schedule 2—the Warsaw Convention as amended at The Hague;

Schedule 3—the Guadalajara Convention;

Schedule 5—the Montreal No. 4 Convention.

If there is any inconsistency between the text of a Convention, other than the 1999 Montreal Convention, as set out in a Schedule and the text that would result if the authentic French texts of the instruments making up the Convention were read and interpreted together as one single instrument, the latter text prevails.

A certificate signed by the Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Department that a document to which the certificate is annexed is a true copy of the authentic French text of the Warsaw Convention, the Hague Protocol, the Guadalajara Convention, the Guatemala City Protocol or the Montreal Protocol No. 4 is prima facie evidence that the document is such a true copy.

The regulations may specify that a number of SDRs exceeding the relevant number of SDRs applies in relation to the liability of an Australian international carrier in respect of the death or injury of a passenger.

If regulations are made under subsection (1), paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 21 of the 1999 Montreal Convention have the force of law in Australia, in relation to the liability of an Australian international carrier, as if the relevant number of SDRs were instead the number of SDRs specified by the regulations.

In this section:

a carrier designated, nominated or otherwise authorised by Australia under a bilateral arrangement to operate scheduled international air services; or

a carrier operating a non‑scheduled international flight permitted under section 15D of the Air Navigation Act 1920 and who is an Australian person.

The number of SDRs provided for in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 21 of the 1999 Montreal Convention may have been revised as a result of a revision of the limits of liability becoming effective in accordance with Article 24 of the 1999 Montreal Convention.

This section applies in relation to liability imposed by the Convention on a carrier in respect of the death of a passenger or in respect of the injury that has resulted in the death of a passenger.

Subject to section 9F, the liability under the Convention is in substitution for any civil liability of the carrier under any other law in respect of the death of the passenger or in respect of the injury that has resulted in the death of the passenger.

Subject to subsection (4), the liability is enforceable for the benefit of any of the passenger’s family members who sustained damage because of the passenger’s death.

The liability is enforceable for the benefit of the personal representative of the passenger in his or her capacity as personal representative to the extent that the damages recoverable in the action include:

loss of earnings or profits up to the date of death of the passenger; or

funeral, medical or hospital expenses paid or incurred by the passenger before the passenger’s death or by the passenger’s personal representative.

An action to enforce the liability may be brought by:

the personal representative of the passenger; or

by a person for whose benefit the liability is, under this section, enforceable;

The action to enforce the liability must be for the benefit of all people for whose benefit the liability is enforceable who:

are resident in Australia; or

not being resident in Australia, express the desire to take the benefit of the action.

The damages recoverable in the action include:

loss of earnings or profits up to the date of death of the passenger; and

the reasonable expenses of the funeral of the passenger; and

medical and hospital expenses reasonably incurred in relation to the injury that resulted in the death of the passenger.

In awarding damages, the court or jury is not limited to the financial loss resulting from the death of the passenger.

However, certain types of damages may not be recoverable under Article 29 of the Convention.

Subject to subsection (10), the amount recovered in the action, after deducting any costs not recovered from the defendant, must be divided among the people entitled in the proportions the court (or, where the action is tried with a jury, the jury) directs.

The court may, at any stage of the proceedings, make any order that appears to the court to be just and equitable having regard to:

the provisions of the Convention limiting the liability of the carrier; and

any proceedings which have been, or are likely to be, commenced against the carrier, whether in or outside Australia.

The second sentence of paragraph 6 of Article 22 of the 1999 Montreal Convention is taken not to apply to an action to which this section applies that is wholly or partly for the benefit of a person or people other than the plaintiff. However, the court may, in such an action, deal with any question of costs in any manner it thinks proper having regard to the operation of the sentence in cases to which it applies.