MOSCOW, March 24 (RAPSI) – The State Duma has passed a bill on Russia’s accession to the Montreal Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air.

Russian government submitted the document to the State Duma in November 2016.

The Convention includes more than 130 member states.

According to the accompanying documents, Russia is currently a party to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air signed at Warsaw on October 12,1929.

The Montreal Convention signed on May 28,1999 is a revised version of all Warsaw System’s documents worded in one international treaty and encompassing all changes related to the development of technical progress and legal relationship in civil aviation.

The Montreal Convention provides for possible registration of documents required for bearing transportation burden in electronic form, an explanatory note to the bill says.

According to the International Air Transport Association specialists' research, the use of electronic document management resulted in total savings in international field of air cargo carriage valued at about $5 billion annually by lowering of carriers’ costs.

The Montreal Convention extends responsibility of a carrier to passengers for damage caused during aircraft operations, the accompanying documents read.