Passenger Claims. Key Provisions Applicable to the Resolution of Maritime Passenger Claims

The LNM also regulates the passage contract (articles 287–300), granting the carrier a right of retention and subsequent sale over the hold baggage in the event of failure to pay the price of the passage. As for the liability regime of the carrier, insurance, etc., the LNM refers expressly to EU rules, as well as to the International Conventions in force in Spain.

Regulation (EU) No. 1177/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 concerning maritime passengers’ rights when travelling by sea and inland waterway entered into force in Spain on 18 December 2012. The carriage of passengers by international routes is also ruled by the 1974 Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, as modified by its Protocol made in London on 19 November 1976.

From 31 December 2012, Regulation (EC) No. 392/2009 of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 April 2009 on the liability of carriers of passengers by sea in the event of accidents is also applicable. As a consequence of the entry into force of this Regulation, the Royal Decree 270/2013 of 19 April on the certificate of insurance or bank guarantee for civil liability in passenger carriage in case of collision was passed. According to Regulation (EC) No. 392/2009, the liability regime in respect of passengers, their luggage and their vehicles and the rules on insurance or other financial security shall be governed by this Regulation, by the applicable provisions of the Athens Convention by the provisions of the IMO Guidelines set out in its Annex II. This Regulation shall not modify the rights or duties of the carrier or performing carrier under national legislation implementing the 1976 International Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims, as amended by its Protocol of 1996.