The “Montreal convention of 1999” (MC99) regulation has been applicable from Mid-December in Nepal also. The policy came into practice from December 15 (Yesterday).
With the practice of the Montreal Convention, air passenger travelling from Nepali international carriers will receive around 160,000 US Dollars as insurance in case of any accident and loss of life in the accident during international travel.
The nominee of the passenger will receive around 1,13,100 SDR (Special Drawing Right) which values to around 1 crore and 79 lakh in Nepali rupees. SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 and 1 SDR is equals to 1.37 USD or Nrs 158.
The implementation of the protocol has made air carriers to be legally responsible only for the sustained damage in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger if the accident took place on board or in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger during international travel.
Previously, the carrier was liable to pay $8,300 per passenger for the death or injury in the agreement of Warsaw convention but later this was replaced by The Hague Protocol which amended the Warsaw Convention which was applicable till December 14 2018.
The limit prescribed by the amendment is $20,000 per passenger while the MC99 imposes a minimum liability of nearly $113,000 Special Drawing Rights, equivalent to $169,000, for each passenger which is around 8 times more than ‘Warsaw/ Hague Protocol’.
With the implementation of the convention, Nepalese airlines companies operating internationally (Nepal Airlines, Himalaya Airlines and Buddha Air) and other insurance companies now must increase their insurance amount in case of air passengers. Also one can claim compensation of the death and injury during international flights and also damage to the cargo.
However, any country which have not implemented this protocol will not have to pay as per MC99 as for example, Bangladesh still use Warsaw protocol so people travelling from Bangladeshi Carrier that operates to Nepal will only be insured around 20 thousand dollar as per Warsaw protocol.
The Montreal convention was introduced in May of 1999 and was globally implemented from November of 2003. There are around 191 countries under ICAO and Nepal will be the 131 member country to implement the convention.
