Civil Aviation Legal Advisers Exchange (CALEx)
The Civil Aviation Legal Advisers Forum (CALAF) could not be organized in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, some 25 to 50 civil aviation legal advisers successfully continued to meet through six informal virtual Civil Aviation Legal Advisers Exchange (CALEx) events coordinated by the Chairperson together with the Vice-Chairpersons of the ICAO Legal Committee. These events focused on COVID-19, aviation medicine and other issues of interest, including safety information protection, unruly and disruptive passengers and Brexit issues. These events began in May 2020 and were supported by LEB as well as International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) who contributed presentations. The last event on 7 December 2020 featured a sharing by two past Legal Committee Chairpersons, celebrating International Civil Aviation Day and the anniversary of the conclusion of the Chicago Convention. These CALEx events support the training and development of legal advisers with a view to enhancing their competencies, capabilities and capacities so as to enable them to strengthen their support for their respective Organizations and States and to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively.
Legal support on guidelines for virtual meetings of the governing bodies
Following the selection of a technological solution and related arrangements to conduct virtual meetings of the Council and subsidiary bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic, LEB supported the Bureau of Administration and Services (ADB) to establish and review related procedural guidelines to support the meetings of the Council and its Committees using this technological solution. In April 2020, guidelines for covering key procedural aspects such as attendance, languages, deliberations and decision-making were adopted and approved for use during virtual meetings of the Council and its Committees. The guidelines, supporting the application of the
Rules of Procedure for the Council (Doc 7559) and the
Rules of Procedure for Standing Committees of the Council (Doc 8146) in virtual settings, were successfully implemented during the 220th Session of the Council. Updates to address necessary improvements and adjustments were developed and introduced during the 221st Session of the Council.
Coordination with Ottawa and Quebec regarding dissemination of COVID-19 information to delegations
As regards coordination with the Host State authorities for the dissemination of COVID-19 information, LEB duly relayed to the National Delegations, official correspondence and updates received from the Office of Protocol, Global Affairs Canada, as well as from the Office of Protocol of Quebec including copy of translation into English.
Trusted Communication Facility
The Council, at the eighth meeting of its 221st Session, acting in its capacity as Supervisory Authority of the International Registry, approved a proposal by Aviareto Limited, the Registrar of the International Registry for Mobile Assets (Aircraft Equipment), to develop and operate the trusted communication facility for COVID-19 recovery, for a two-year interim period. The Council’s consideration of the proposal was based on, inter alia, a recommendation by the Commission of Experts of the Supervisory Authority of the International Registry (CESAIR) emanating from its ninth (virtual) meeting held on 29 and 30 June 2020.
This proposal, made in cooperation with the Aviation Working Group, stems from the Council’s declaration to support Member States in their COVID-19 response measures as appropriate and from Recommendation 10 of the Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) Report. The facility will provide a secure vehicle for the electronic transmission of information and documents between Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs), and such authorities and industry, through the use of a digital signature issued by Aviareto, employing its highest-level cyber security standards, with a view to preparing to bring aircraft back into service. The facility will therefore address the challenges posed by the manual execution and/or physical presentation of original wet-ink type documents (such as proof of airworthiness requirements). The facility is expected to be operational in April 2021.
