An additional amount of 6,018,000 is requested under air transportation services, which is attributable in part to increased requirements for the contractually provided airfield services.

Thus the cargo owner will wish to claim against both the carrier, which is contractually liable, and the performing party, which is liable for the damage that it actually caused.

This would mean that when cargo is carried under a service contract, the draft instrument liability regime would apply by default, but all or only some of its provisions could be contracted out of or be contractually modified.

First, all existing international regimes establish minimum levels of carrier liability, which apply mandatorily, that is to say the relevant substantive rules on liability of the carrier may not be contractually modified to the detriment of the shipper or consignee.

Unless both contracting parties pay due attention to all of the potentially applicable provisions of the draft instrument, as modified, excluded or supplemented contractually, one or other of the contracting parties may find itself by default to have agreed to potentially disadvantageous terms.

They are paid at a contractually specified time, which may be years away. Thus, if a financial firm appears to have difficulties, its bondholders cannot stage a run on its assets and how these bondholders fare cannot be expected to trigger runs by bondholders in other companies.

By establishing minimum levels of liability, which apply mandatorily and may not be contractually modified, existing liability regimes seek to ensure the protection of cargo interests with little bargaining power, i.e. small shippers and third party consignees, against unfair contract terms unilaterally introduced by the carrier in its standard terms of contract.

A lack of consistency has been one of the European Union s sins in attempting to establish a value based foreign policy. The EU sought to build a partnership of economic and political cooperation in the Mediterranean region, for example, in which financial assistance and trade liberalization would be contractually linked to progress in advancing human rights and developing democratic institutions.