THE TOKYO CONVENTION, 1963

THE ROME CONVENTION, 1952

THE GENEVA CONVENTION, 1948

By : Aaditya Madhumeeth and Mohit Raj Singh, Bennett University.

The Tokyo Convention 1963
• Tokyo Convention - Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board
Aircraft, Signed at Tokyo on 14 September 1963
• Governs criminal offenses and other acts committed on aircraft that jeopardize the safety of the
flight and good order and discipline on board.
• Entered into force in 1969
• 186 nations have ratified the treaty
• Applies to any aircraft registered in a Contracting State while the aircraft is outside the territory of
any State
• Does not apply to domestic transportation
• Applies to acts “in-flight” when take-off run commences and landing runs ends
• The primary purpose of the Tokyo Convention is to promote air safety.” Sen. Report No. 91-1083
(1970), reprinted in 1970 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3996, 3997.
• Goals:
• To establish a rule for allowing a Contracting State to exercise jurisdiction over
certain offences and acts committed on board an aircraft
• To provide the aircraft commander with necessary authority to address persons who
have committed or are about to commit a crime or act jeopardizing safety and
without fear of subsequent retaliation through civil suit or otherwise

• Aircraft commander (AC) may take certain actions when he has reasonable
grounds to believe that a person has committed, or is about to commit, on board
the aircraft:
an “offence[] against penal law” or
an act which "may or do[es] jeopardize the‘ safety of the aircraft or of persons or
property therein” or
“which jeopardize[s] good order and discipline on board.“
• AC has broad discretion to act:
Discretionary language – “may”
AC may act if believes a passenger is “about to commit” one of the above offences
Options on actions to take
Broad immunity in “any proceeding”
• AC may restrain a passenger in order to protect the safety of the aircraft or persons or property
therein; or to maintain good order and disciple or to deliver the person to competent authorities
• AC may require or authorize assistance of crew members or other passengers. Crew
members or passengers may also take reasonable preventive measures without such
authorization when he/she has reasonable grounds to believe that action is immediately
necessary for safety of the aircraft.
• AC may disembark in the territory of any State in which the aircraft lands any person
who he has reasonable grounds to believe has committed, or is about to commit, on
board the aircraft the above-mentioned acts.
• AC shall report to the authorities of the State in which he disembarks any person
pursuant to this Article, the fact of, and the reasons for, such disembarkation.
• AC may deliver to the competent authorities of any Contracting State in the territory of which the
aircraft lands any person who he has reasonable grounds to believe has committed on board the
aircraft an act which, in his opinion, is a serious offence according to the penal law of the State of
registration of the aircraft.
• AC shall as soon practical notify the authorities of his intention to deliver such person, and shall
furnish the authorities to whom any suspected offender is delivered with evidence and information
lawfully in his possession.
• For actions taken in accordance with this Convention, neither the aircraft commander, any
member of the crew, any passenger, the owner or operator of the aircraft, nor the person on
whose behalf the flight was performed shall be held responsible in any proceeding on
account of the treatment undergone by the person against whom the actions were taken.
 Questions
1. When did the Tokyo convention come into force?
• a. 1969
• b. 1963
2. Where does the Act apply?
a. in-flight
b. Ground
3. What is the primary purpose of Tokyo Convention?
c. To promote air safety
d. To promote worldwide transport
4. Who has the authority to take actions for the offences committed?
e. Pilot
f. Aircraft commander
5. Where was the convention signed ?
g. Kyoto
h. Tokyo
6. Where does the convention apply?
a. International transportation
b. Domestic Transportation
7. How many nations have ratified the treaty?
a. 186
b. 190
8. What does the Tokyo convention govern?
c. Criminal offences on aircraft
d. Air navigation service
9. What is the discretionary language the Aircraft commander has to act ?
e. Can
f. May
10. Where may Aircraft Commander disembark?
g. In the territory of any state where aircraft lands
h. Outside the territory
 Answers
1. a
2. a
3. a
4. b
5. b
6. a
7. a
8. a
9. b
10. a
 Rome Convention 1952

• The Rome Convention, signed in 1952, addressed the rights of third parties which suffered
damage from events involving aircraft.
•  the Rome Convention established operator liability limits for damage caused on the surface. The
size of the aircraft determined the limits instituted. 
• the Rome Convention never received widespread acceptance. The Ground Damage Convention
seeks to modernize and supersede the Rome Convention. 
• It provides for strict liability of operators to compensate victims of damage on the ground from
aircraft travelling on an international route, other than as a result of an act of unlawful interference,
in a country that has signed the convention.
• The Unlawful Interference Convention covers damage to third parties on the surface that occurs in
a participating country caused by an act of unlawful interference of an aircraft travelling on an
international route. No prior international treaty has dealt with this type of damage. 
• the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, signed in
1971 and as amended, established a framework for the prosecution of people who perform an act
of violence on an aircraft or at an airport or against an aircraft or airport that endangers the safety
of either.
• Operator liability limits range from 750,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)(6) for an aircraft
weighing 500 kilogrammes (kg) to 700,000kg, to 7 billion SDRs for an aircraft weighing 500,000kg,
per event. If two different operators caused the damage, they are jointly and severally liable.
• The Rome Convention presumed that the registered owner of the aircraft was the operator of the
aircraft and was held liable as such, unless proven otherwise. Moreover, notwithstanding such
proof, the registered owner was still jointly and severally liable with the operator if the operator's
possession of the aircraft was not exclusive and for a period longer than 14 days.
•  In contrast, the Ground Damage and Unlawful Interference Conventions protect owners, lessors
and financiers that are not aircraft operators from liability. This shift comports with modern-day
financing structures for aircraft acquisitions and operation.
• However, in the event of a servant or agent's carelessness or other unlawful conduct or omission, if the
person who suffers the harm shows that his servant or agent was operating beyond the extent of his power,
there will be no such exoneration or diminution.
• The term "phonograms" is defined in the Rome Convention as any solely auditory fixation of sounds from a
performance or other sounds.
• When a commercially released phonogram is used for other reasons, it is referred to as a secondary usage.
• If the person who was the operator at the time the damage was caused did not have the exclusive right to
use the aircraft for more than fourteen days from the time the right to use began, the person from whom
such right was derived shall be liable jointly and severally with the operator, each of them being bound by
the provisions and within the limits of liability of the operator.
• If a person uses an aircraft without the consent of the person in charge of its navigation, the latter, unless he
can show that he took reasonable precautions to prevent such use, is jointly and severally liable with the
unlawful user for any damage giving rise to a right to compensation , each of them being bound by the
provisions and limits of liability of this.
• Any person who would otherwise be liable under the terms of this Convention is not liable if the damage is
caused directly by armed conflict or civil disturbance, or if the individual has been denied access to the
aircraft by a governmental authority.
• The Convention makes no provision for the formation of a Union or the establishment of a budget.
• It creates an Intergovernmental Committee made up of Contracting States that analyses issues relating to
the Convention.
• The liability of the operator shall be unlimited if the person who suffers damage proves that it was caused by
a deliberate act or omission of the operator, his servants or agents, done with the intent to cause damage;
provided, however, that such act or omission of such servant or agent was done in the course of his
employment and within the scope of his authority.
• If a person steals and uses an aircraft without the authorization of the person who has the right to use it, his
responsibility is infinite.
 QUESTION
Q1.Wat did the Rome Convention address?
(a) Right of the third parties
(b) criminal offenses on the aircraft
Q2. What determined the limits instituted?
(a) Size of the aircraft
(b) area constituted
Q3. when did the Convention for suppression unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviation signed?
(a) 1960
(b) 1971
Q4. what is the operator liability limit range for the aircraft?
(a) 500 kgs to 700000 kgs
(b) 1000 kgs to 800000 kgs
Q5. How is the liability for the damages caused by the operators?
(a) Only severally liable
(b) Both jointly and severally liable.
Q6. The term "phonograms" is defined in the Rome Convention as ?
(a) solely auditory fixation of sounds from a performance or other sounds.
(b) engine sound
Q7. which type of liability of operators to compensate victims of damage on the ground from aircraft
travelling on an international route ?
(a) Strict
(b) absolute
Q8. Any person who would otherwise be liable under the terms of this Convention is not liable if the damage is
caused directly by armed conflict or civil disturbance.
(a) False
(b) True
Q9. If a person steals and uses an aircraft without the authorization of the person who has the right to use it,
his responsibility is ?
(a) Infinite
(b) limited
Q10. Any person who would otherwise be liable under the terms of this Convention is not liable if the damage
is caused ?
(a) Indirectly
(b) directly by armed conflict or civil disturbance
 Answers
Q1. A
Q2. A
Q3. B
Q4. A
Q5. B
Q6. A
Q7. A
Q8. B
Q9. A
Q10. B
THE GENEVA CONVENTION 1948
• GENEVA CONVENTION - CONVENTION ON THE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF RIGHTS IN AIRCRAFT,
SIGNED AT GENEVA, ON 19 JUNE 1948
• recommended the early adoption of a Convention dealing with the transfer of title to aircraft.
• highly desirable in the interest of the future expansion of international civil aviation that rights in aircraft be
recognized internationally.
• The word "aircraft" must comprise the airframe, engines, propellers, radio equipment, and any other
components intended for use in the aircraft, whether installed or temporarily detached from it, for the
purposes of this Convention.
• This Convention shall not apply to aircraft used in military, customs or police services.
• Goals:
• To establish a rule for The Contracting States, agree to recognize: rights of property
in aircraft; rights to acquire aircraft through purchase and possession
• rights to possession of aircraft under six-month or longer leases; and mortgages, hypotenuse,
and other similar rights in aircraft created contractually as security for payment of an
indebtedness.
• provided that such rights: have been established in conformity with the law of the Contracting
State in which the aircraft was registered in terms of nationality at the time of its
establishment.
• frequently reported as to nationality in a public record of the Contracting State in which the
aircraft is registered.
• The regularity of successive recordings in different Contracting States is regulated by the law of the State
where the aircraft was registered as to nationality at the time of each recording.
• Nothing in this Convention prevents any Contracting State's law from recognizing any rights in aircraft;
however, Contracting States must not allow or recognize any right as preceding the rights of others.
• All recordings pertaining to a certain aircraft must be kept in the same file.
• Any right that cannot be properly formed under its national law may be prohibited by a Contracting State.
• Every aircraft's certificate of registration as to nationality must include the address of the body responsible
for keeping the information.
• If a Contracting State's legislation stipulates that submitting a document for recording has the same effect as
recording, it has the same effect for the purposes of this Convention.
• In that scenario, sufficient provisions must be taken to guarantee that the material is accessible to the
general public.
• For services provided by the authority that maintains the record, reasonable fees may be charged.
• If any claims for compensation due for aircraft salvage or extraordinary expenses necessary for aircraft
preservation give rise to a right conferring a charge against the aircraft under the law of the Contracting State
where the salvage or preservation operations were terminated, such right shall be recognized by Contracting
States and shall take effect.
• No sale in execution can take place unless the proceeds of sale or the purchaser cover all rights that have
precedence over the executing creditor's claim in line with this Convention and are established before the
relevant authority.
• Costs spent in the common interest of creditors in the course of execution procedures leading to sale, which
are lawfully taxable under the legislation of the Contracting State where the sale takes place, should be paid
out of the proceeds of sale before any claims,
• Interest accrued during the three years prior to the execution procedures, as well as interest accumulated
during the execution processes, should not be included.
• Any right mentioned or the transfer of any such right, if constituted or effected with knowledge of the sale or
execution proceedings by the person against whom the proceedings are dire, shall not be recognized by the
Contracting States as against the attaching or executing creditor or against the purchaser, if constituted or
effected with knowledge of the sale or execution proceedings by the person against whom the proceedings
are dire.
• The legislation of the Contracting State where the transaction takes place governs the processes of a sale of
an aircraft in execution. The provisions of this Convention shall in each Contracting State apply to all aircraft
registered as to nationality in another Contracting State.
• Nothing in this Convention affects a Contracting State's authority to enforce its national immigration,
customs, or air navigation rules against an aircraft.
• If a separate register of aircraft is kept for nationality reasons in any territory for which a Contracting State is
responsible for international relations, references to the Contracting State's law in this Convention must be
read as references to the law of that territory.
 Questions
Q1. When did the Geneva Convention was signed?
(a) 1948 (b) 1950 (c ) 1947
Q2. Where did the convention shall not apply?
(a) Military aircraft (b) private Jets
Q3. The word "aircraft" must comprise which of the component?
(a) Tire (b) Engine
Q4. Where was the convention signed ?
(a) Geneva (b) Tokyo
Q5. What is the primary purpose of Geneva Convention?
(a) To establish a rule for The Contracting States
(b) to ensure sales
Q6. Where did All the recordings pertaining to a certain aircraft must be kept?
(a) different files
(b) Same File
Q7. Nothing in this Convention prevents any Contracting State's law from recognizing any rights in aircraft.
(a) False
(b) True
Q8. What did Every aircraft's certificate of registration as to nationality must include ?
(a) the address of the body responsible for keeping the information.
(b) the contact number of the authority.
Q9. The right have been established in conformity with the law of ?
(a) Governing Department
(b) the Contracting State in which the aircraft was registered
Q10. What in this Convention affects a Contracting State's authority to enforce its national immigration,
customs, or air navigation rules against an aircraft?
(a) Nothing
(b) Every rule
 Answers
1. A
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. A
6. B
7. B
8. A
9. B
10. A