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John Arthur Lee has become the first person to be sentence in Australia for sexual abuse of children abroad. His conviction was secured under a law passed in 1994 which enabled authorities to prosecute for sex abuse crimes committed abroad. Lee was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on one count of sexual intercourse and four […]

On 22 April 1999 Mr Justice Howitt in the English High Court ruled that the EC Regulation on Passenger Liability is in conflict with the Warsaw Convention obligations of the UK and thus concluded that the Regulation was “in suspense”. The Regulation imposed stricter obligations on air carriers than those provided under the Warsaw system.

The Package Travel (Amendment) Regulations 1998 were introduced to deal with the anomaly in the UK’s implementation fo the Package Travel Directive. Article 4 of the Directive requires the organiser to provide the consumer, before the contract is made, with, inter alia, general information on passports and visa requirements applicable to nationals of Member States.

British Airways has been fined Euro 6.8m (£4.45m / $7.12m) by the EU for breach of EU competition rules. British Airways offered extra commission to travel agents who promoted its tickets over those of its rivals. This created an illegal barrier to airlines wishing to compete with BA’s dominant position.

This Order increses the limit of liability of UK sea carriers to 300 units of account per passenger.

A report by the Consumers’ Association, following tests of 240 travel agents throughout the UK, found that more than 2/3 failed to find the chapest fare available for a flight between London and Paris. They also failed to give advice on safety in Jamaica despite the information being available from the Foreign Office. The Consumers’

The Japanese parliament has approved a new law to prohibit the sexual exploitation of children. It prohibits commercial sexual relations with persons under 18 years of age and prevents Japanese tour operators from organising sex tours abroad. The unanimous vote of the parliament on 18 May addresses the criticism which has been made that Japan

Swissair and Boeing have offered compensation to relatives of the 229 people who died after their flight was lost off the coast of Nova Scotia (Canada) in September 1998. The offer was made in a pre-trial meeting in a Philadelphia federal court. As part of the deal, the relatives would have to waive their “16bn

Libya provided FF 200m ($31m/£50m) to compensate families of those killed in the bombing of a UTA DC-10 over Niger on a flight from Brazzaville (Congo) to Paris on 19 September 1989. 170 people were killed. A Paris court sentence 6 Libyans in absentia in March for placing the bomb on the plane. The French

A Commission report (The European airline industry: from single market to worldwide challenges) issued on 21 May states that European airlines have improved their financial performance in response to market liberalisation. It also states that fares have been brought down by 10-24% as a result of competition. The Commission says that further streamlining of the