a duly certified copy of the notification to all the other states informing them of the date on which it was received. The denunciation shall only operate in respect of the state which made the notification, and on the expiration of one year after the notification has reached the Belgian Government. ARTICLE 22 Any one of the contracting states shall have the right to call for a fresh conference with a view to considering possible amendments. A state which would exercise this right should give one year advance notice of its intention to the other states through the Belgian Government, which would make arrangements for convening the conference. PROTOCOL OF SIGNATURE In proceeding to the signature of the international convention for the unification of certain rules relating to maritime liens and mortgages, the undersigned plenipotentiaries have adopted the present protocol, which will have the same force and the same value as if the provisions were inserted in the text of the convention to which it relates: I. It is understood that the legislation of each state remains free: 1. To establish among the claims mentioned in No. 1 of article 2, a definite order of priority with a view to safeguarding the interests of the Treasury; 2. To confer on the authorities administering harbors, docks, lighthouses, and navigable ways, who have caused a wreck or other obstruction to navigation to be removed, or who are creditors in respect of harbor dues, or for damage caused by the fault of a vessel, the right, in case of nonpayment, to detain the vessel, wreck, or other property, to sell the same, and to indemnify themselves out of the proceeds in priority to other claimants, and 3. To determine the rank of the claimants for damages done to works otherwise than as stated in article 5 and in article 6. II. There is no impairment of the provisions in the national laws. of the contracting states conferring a lien upon public insurance associations in respect of claims arising out of the insurance of the personnel of vessels. DONE at Brussels, in a single copy, April 10, 1926. For Germany: VON KELLER GOES RICHTER WERNER For the Argentine Republic: For Portugal: For Rumania: BALS (ad referendum) For the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes: VERONA For Sweden: ALGOT BAGGE (ad referendum) For Uruguay: (1) Japan avails itself of the option to sign within six months, granted by the conference at its session on April 9, 1926, to countries whose representatives could not be provided with the needed full powers. DRAFT AVIATION CONVENTION RELATIVE TO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES CAUSED TO THIRD PARTIES ON THE GROUND [Translation 3] 1. Any damage caused by an aircraft in manoeuvers or in flight to persons and property on the ground shall give a right to compensation by the mere fact that it is established that the damage exists and that it is caused by the aircraft. 2. This liability may be reduced or avoided only in case the injured party is at fault, and in accordance with the provisions of the law of the court before which the case is brought. ARTICLE 2 Under the same conditions compensation must be made for the following: (a) The damage caused by any body falling from the said aircraft, even in the case of the regulation jettison of ballast or jettison made in case of necessity; (b) Any damage caused by any person on board the aircraft, except in a case where it is proved that the damage was caused intentionally by an act not connected with the service and that the entrepreneur or his agents were unable to prevent it. ARTICLE 3 1. The liability contemplated in the preceding articles shall attach to the entrepreneur of the aircraft, subject to his recourse against the author of the damage. 'Made in the Department of State. (2) An entrepreneur of an aircraft is any person who operates aircraft for his own account. (3) In case the name of the entrepreneur is not recorded on the aeronautical register or any other official document, the owner shall be assumed to be the entrepreneur until proof to the contrary is submitted. ARTICLE 4 1. The entrepreneur of the aircraft shall be liable for every accident up to an amount equal to the value of the aircraft at the time and place it was first put into service; 2. One half of this value shall be allotted to the compensation for damages caused to persons and the other half to the compensation for damages caused to property; 3. However, his minimum liability for each class of damages shall not be less than 2,500,000 francs; 4. If the amount allotted to the compensation for damages caused to property is not all used, the remainder shall be applied to the compensation for damages caused to persons; 5. (The sums mentioned above shall be considered as having reference to the French franc containing 652 milligrams of gold, having a standard of fineness of 900 parts in one thousand. They shall be convertible into every national money in round numbers.) ARTICLE 5 If there are several persons suffering damages in the same accident and the sum total to be paid as compensation exceeds the limits prescribed in article 4, there shall be grounds for such proportional reduction of each party's claim that the total amount will not exceed the above-mentioned limits. ARTICLE 6 When there are several persons suffering damages in the same accident, the interested parties shall present or give notice of their claims within a maximum period of six months after the date of the accident; after the expiration of this period, compensation settlements may lawfully be made and the said interested parties may lay claim only to the amount which shall not have been distributed. ARTICLE 7 If actions are brought by different injured parties, by virtue of the provisions of the preceding articles and of article 9, in the courts of different states, the defendant may, in every one of said courts, present a statement of the total number of the claims and obligations, with a view to preventing his maximum liability from being exceeded. 1 ARTICLE 8 The entrepreneur shall not be entitled to take advantage of the provisions of this convention limiting his liability, if the damage is due to his own fault. ARTICLE 9 The following authorities have competent jurisdiction in actions for compensation for damages within the meaning of the preceding articles: the judicial authority of the defendant's domicile, that of the place where the damage was caused, and that of the insurer's home office, in case the law of that place gives the injured party a right of action against the insurer. ARTICLE 10 1. These actions shall be barred after two years after the date of the damage. If the injured party proves that he could not have had knowledge either of the damage, or of the identity of the person responsible, the limitation period shall run from the day on which he was able to have knowledge thereof; 2. In every case, the claim shall be barred four years after the day on which the damage was caused; 3. The method of calculating the limitation period, as well as the causes for suspension and interruption of the limitation period, shall be determined by the law of the court before which the claim is presented. ARTICLE 11 In case of the decease of the party liable, an action for damages within the limits prescribed by this convention may be brought against the rightful claimants to his estate. ARTICLE 12 This convention shall be applicable whenever damages have been caused by an aircraft of one of the contracting states in another contracting state, or, on the high seas, to a ship of another contracting state as well as to persons or property on that ship. FINAL RECOMMENDATION The committee thinks that it would be of advantage for the Convention on the Liability for Damages Caused to Third Parties on the Ground to be followed by a convention relative to the guaranties to be furnished by the entrepreneur. |