Regional Safety Oversight Organizations (RSOOs) and Global Aviation Safety Oversight System (GASOS)
The Forum on Regional Safety Oversight Organizations (RSOOs) for Global Aviation Safety, co-organized by ICAO and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), was held in March in Mbabane, Swaziland. The forum supported the proposed ICAO Global Strategy and Action Plan for the improvement of RSOOs, a key activity of which is the establishment of the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Oversight System (GASOS).
The GASOS will be implemented within the framework of the Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) and will be composed of a range of State safety oversight providers, including RSOOs, while maintaining the States’ obligation and responsibility for safety oversight under the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
The primary objective of the GASOS is the implementation of an enhanced safety oversight model that resolves the challenges faced with current models and offers practical and affordable options for safety oversight. Using the USOAP methodology, the GASOS will offer a programme for measuring the competence of safety oversight providers to undertake safety oversight functions on behalf of States. In addition to making regional mechanisms more effective and efficient in fulfilling their mandates, the GASOS will help provide reliable and flexible alternative options to States developing capacity to carry out all safety oversight functions.
ICAO completed an RSOO evaluation, a robust feasibility study which confirmed GASOS to be achievable, and established a study group of experts to assist in the development of the GASOS programme.
Another key activity in the Global Strategy and Action Plan was the establishment of the RSOO Cooperative Platform which brings RSOOs together to exchange best practices and to collaborate on initiatives for common objectives. The Cooperative Platform held its first meeting in December.
