The Havana Convention was modeled after the Paris Convention; it applied exclusively to private aircraft (government aircraft were not included) and laid down basic principles and rules for aerial traffic, recognizing that every State had complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory and adjacent territorial waters. Clauses largely enabled USA owned airlines to freely operate services within North and South America.
Although the principles of the Havana Convention were the mutual freedom of air passage, it made however no attempt to develop uniform technical standards, nor was there any provision for periodic discussion on common problems through the agency of a permanent organisation (i.e. a Secretariat). The Convention did not contain provisions for continuing administrative machinery and entrusted certain duties of coordination to the Pan-American Union, mainly to its conference that met every five years. The Havana Convention had no Annexes; all rules were contained in the treaty itself. Aircraft regulation was done according to the laws of each country; no uniformity was provided.
The Havana Convention was approved by the US Senate on 20 February 1931. Pursuant to the terms of Article 34, the Convention came into force as to the United States in respect of other countries which had ratified it, 40 days from the deposit by the United States of its ratification with the Cuban Government. The Convention was registered with the League of Nations on 12 May 1932.