On November 4, 2003, the 1999 Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, also known as the "Montreal Convention," entered into force. As of now, 32 nations (including the U.S.) are parties. Updating the prior Convention marks a major step forward in modernizing

international passenger and cargo liability law. For example, the new agreement does away with former restrictions on the amount of damage recovery for the death of, or injury to, international air passengers. Moreover, it will almost always enable U.S. nationals and permanent residents to sue an international air carrier in the American courts. In addition, it retains most of the cargo provisions of the 1999 Montreal Protocol No. 4 which had modernized the Warsaw Convention's [Convention for the Unification of certain Rules Relating to International Transportation by Air, October 12, 1929, 49 Stat. 3000, 3020-21, T.S. No. 876, 137 L.N.T.S. 11] obsolete rules for documenting air cargo. Finally, it clarifies the joint liabilities of marketing and operating carriers in "code-share" arrangements, into which many international air carriers now enter. Citation: Media Note #2003/1119, Office of Spokesman, U.S. Dept. of State, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, November 4, 2003.