The Legal Framework of a Lost Baggage Case
In case of the loss, damage or destruction of baggage, the obligations of the holder of the air carriage certificate are determined by a normative act of the Agency, while the general regime is governed by the Montreal Convention of 28 May 1999 on the unification of certain rules for international carriage by air, Georgia's other international treaties, the Air Code, the Civil Code and the Agency's normative acts. This two-tier system means that, in preparing a claim, the regime applicable to the particular carriage is determined first, and then the detailed rules established by the Agency's act.
The Carrier's Release from Liability
A further detail matters in the lost baggage case: the Code distinguishes two circles of obligations — the general regime operating on international and domestic carriage, and the detailed rules established by the Agency's normative act for specific baggage cases. The distinction acquires practical significance where the carriage consists of several legs: for each leg it must be determined separately which regime applies.
Determining the value of the baggage is the second axis of the claim: the list of lost items, the documents of their acquisition and, where necessary, a valuation — this is the material that shapes the amount of the claim. The Agency's normative act determines the form of the obligations, while the substantiation of the amount depends on the passenger's evidence — which is why keeping documents begins from the very moment of checking in the baggage.
The carrier is released from the performance of the respective duties where, owing to circumstances caused by force majeure, it cannot perform them or performs them improperly — this rule operates in baggage cases as well and directly determines the prospects of the claim: establishing causation is the central issue of the case.