A Historical Background of International Air Law--The Madrid Convention of 1926.

The Paris Convention of 1919 produced the International Commission of Air Navigation (ICAN), but it was not signed by the United States, Russia or many other countries after World War I. Spain declined to sign because of Article 34, which related to the uneven treatment of the signatory parties (and for political reasons--Iberia would soon withdrew from the League of Nations after its permanent seat was rejected).

Spain had broad holding in the Americas and, as a result of rapid aviation activity and growth, decided to initiate its own aviation conference to counter the Paris Convention. To the Spanish convention were invited all Latin American and Caribbean states and Portugal. In October of 1926, the countries met in Madrid for the Ibero-American Conference.

The conference took into account equal voting rights and the right of the contracting states to permit independent flights above its territory of non-contracting State's aircraft. Twenty-one Spanish-origin European and American States signed the Convenio Ibero Americano de Navegacion Aerea on November 1, 1926 (it was also called the Madrid Convention). The wording of the Ibero-American Convention was essentially identical to the Paris Convention.

The only real difference between the two conventions was the elimination of the discriminatory voting rights of the signatory States. Of the twenty-one States that signed the agreement, only five (Spain, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Mexico) submitted the instrument for ratification. Because of this lack of interest, the undeveloped nature of long-range aircraft to tie together Spain and Latin America, civil war in Spain, and the Havana Convention of 1928, this Convention has limited impact on the aviation world. As a result, this second alternative was no longer needed and faded into history.