General Work Programme of the Legal Committee
- Legal aspects of pilotless aircraft
Further to the proposal of the 40th Session of the Assembly for a Secretariat group to provide an interface between the Organization’s legal and technical work on pilotless aircraft, the nomination of experts by States to the Secretariat Study Group on legal issues related to pilotless aircraft was requested via State letter LE 4/63.1-IND/20/1, dated 28 January 2020. The first meeting of the Group was scheduled to be held at ICAO Headquarters in Montréal from 7-9 April 2020; however, due to the onset of COVID-19 this meeting was postponed. The Secretariat is actively working with the Chairperson of the ICAO Legal Committee on the rescheduling of this meeting with the expectation that the Group will meet (albeit perhaps remotely) before the end of the second quarter of calendar year 2021.
- Review of the ICAO Rules for the Settlement of Differences
The Working Group for the Review of the ICAO Rules for the Settlement of Differences (WG-RRSD) held its third meeting virtually from 1 to 3 December 2020. The Group discussed various issues pertaining to the review of the Rules and also considered a draft set of revisions to the Rules prepared by the Rapporteur in coordination with the Secretariat. As part of its mandate, the Group agreed to consider the development of rules that would enable the Council to entertain the hearing of disputes in a virtual format.
- Cyber threats against civil aviation
The Research Subgroup on Legal Aspects (RSGLEG) of the Secretariat Study Group on Cybersecurity (SSGC) met on 2 October and 10 December 2020 to commence the work on reviewing international law instruments relevant to cyber threats against civil aviation. Prior to the meetings, the Subgroup was reconstituted with an expanded membership based on wider geographical distribution and diversity of legal systems. LEB is supporting the work that is being undertaken by the RSGLEG on this topic and the outcome of this study is to be reported to the Legal Committee at its next session.
- Legal issues relating to unruly passengers
LEB provided input to the work of CART in reviewing the Manual on the Legal Aspects of Unruly and Disruptive Passengers (Doc 10117) with regard to its application to the implementation and enforcement of COVID-19 measures on board aircraft. Following this input, the CART Report (disseminated to States in State letter EC 2/76-20/67 of 8 June 2020) highlights actions that can be taken by States to manage unruly and disruptive behaviour, including training, public awareness and the review of their national legislation to ensure that unruly and disruptive behaviour relative to COVID-19 measures is properly covered.
- Promotion of the ratification of international air law instruments
Despite the international health crisis and the temporary closure of ICAO Headquarters, LEB continued to discharge the depositary functions incumbent to the Organization through the establishment of contingency measures. It also continued to provide support to Member States and international organizations with respect to ratification matters.
At the invitation of the Civil Aviation Authority of Portugal, LEB delivered a three-day course in Lisbon on international air law in January 2020. The course benefited aviation professionals from the CAA. Several international air law treaties, including the Cape Town instruments of 2001 and the Beijing Protocol of 2010, were covered.
LEB assisted the Global Aviation Training (GAT) Office with the delivery of the ICAO International Air Law Course, which promotes, inter alia, the ratification of international air law instruments. Over 180 participants benefited from the said Course during 2020, which was delivered in-person as well as through virtual means.
- Implementation of Article 21
The Article 21 Task Force provided inputs on a proposed amendment to include a model certificate of deregistration of aircraft in Annex 7 - Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks.
