Common use of Private Initiatives Clause in Contracts

Private Initiatives. In parallel to the waves of international conventions unravelling the uniform system, carriers were developing many international private initia- tives. Some tended to bring further uniformity, such as the IATA Recom- mended Practices, and particularly their recommended general conditions of carriage23 that provided common definitions. But they did not modify the uniform regime established by the 1929 Warsaw Convention. In contrast, right when the United States was dissatisfied with the low limits of the 1955 Hague Protocol and was about to denounce the 1929 Warsaw Convention, numerous international carriers agreed under the 1966 Montreal Agreement24 to raise the limit of indemnification in case of death, wounding or other bodily injury up to USD 75 000 of proven damage for services to and from the United States.25 This voluntary agreement entered into by air carriers to save as much as possible of the uniform regime, was accepted by the American Civil Aeronautics Board,26 and ultimately became domestic law.27