Policy and Regulation
In alignment with the Sixth Worldwide Air Transport Conference (ATConf/6, 17-22 March 2013) and the air transport policy and regulation work programme endorsed at the 39th Session of the ICAO Assembly (A39), the Air Transport Regulation Panel (ATRP)’s main achievements in 2018 were as follows:
- ICAO’s long term vision for air transport liberalization was promoted in its meetings and seminars.
- Market access, air cargo and air carrier ownership and control
At the ATRP Working Group meeting held in Montego Bay, Jamaica in April 2018, a draft multilateral convention on foreign investment in airlines and a draft proposal to facilitate further liberalization of air cargo services were proposed. The two documents were further examined and further developed by the Working Group at its second meeting held in Montréal, Canada in October 2018.
To support the ATRP in this ongoing work, an online survey on liberalization of air transport with regard to air cargo services, air carrier ownership and control and market access, was posted for Member States to complete by 1 February 2019 (State letter SP 38/1-18/93).
- Fair competition
ICAO’s efforts focused on developing tools to enhance the transparency of States’ competition rules, and to foster cooperation, dialogue and regulatory compatibility. In this respect, the
Compendium of Competition Policies and Practices in force nationally or regionally was developed and is being regularly updated by the Secretariat. The database now covers 129 States, or
68 per cent of the ICAO membership.
- Consumer protection
The database on States’ consumer protection rules and regulations has been updated by the Secretariat.
States and concerned stakeholders are being encouraged to provide feedback to ICAO regarding the database and their experiences in applying the ICAO core principle on consumer protection. Additionally, the Secretariat also compiled and carried out an analysis of the different practices in Member States regarding aviation-specific consumer protection regulation and passenger assistance in case of massive airport/airline disruption.
