Supporting Strategies — Legal and External Relations Services — Separation of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) from ICAO

 

At its 219^th Session, the Council was provided with a progress report on the negotiations with ECAC on transition arrangements leading to the separation of ECAC from ICAO. These negotiations were prompted further to the consideration by the Council, at its 216^th Session, of the Internal Audit Report on the European and North Atlantic (EUR/NAT) Regional Office (IA/2018/5) and by the decision in May 2019 of the Directors General of Civil Aviation of ECAC Member States on the need for ECAC to become independent from ICAO. While the Council acknowledged the good cooperation and progress accomplished by the Parties in the negotiation of transition arrangements, it also provided guidance to the Secretariat on the main points where the negotiating positions remained at variance between ICAO and ECAC.

At its 221^st Session, the Council was informed that the transition period leading to the legal and administrative separation of ECAC from ICAO ended on 31 August 2020, confirming that from that date ECAC no longer required certain administrative services from ICAO. The Council welcomed the conclusion of the separation of ECAC from ICAO within a short timeframe and without financial loss to ICAO. It also called upon the good cooperation of the Parties to quickly finalize arrangements on minor pending issues regarding the common use of the EUR/NAT building for 2020 and requested the Secretariat to present a progress report at its following Session, including on the status of consultations underway with the host country, France, concerning the EUR/NAT premises.