INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO)
1. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the world-wide intergovernmental organization created by the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed at Chicago on 7 December 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. A specialized agency of the United Nations, it sets international standards and regulations necessary for safe, regular, efficient and economical air transport and serves as the medium for co-operation in all fields of civil aviation among its 185 member states.
2. ICAO has a sovereign body, the Assembly, which meets at least once in 3 years. During the intervening period, to meet the contingencies of any situation, Extraordinary Sessions of the Assembly may be convened by the Council or at the request of not less than one-fifth of the ICAO member states. For example, an Extraordinary Session, i.e. 25th session of the Assembly, was convened in April 1984 to consider measures in the aftermath of the Korean Airlines incident. So far there have been 31 Sessions of the Assembly including Extraordinary Sessions, the 32nd Session was held in Montreal in September-October, 1998.
3. The governing body of ICAO is the Council. Every three years, in the regular triennial session of the Assembly, elections to the Council take place. States elected during the Assembly hold Membership of the Council for a period of three years. States, which are members on the Council, have their permanent representatives on the council whose offices are housed in the ICAO building. The Council is a permanent body responsible to the Assembly and currently composed of 33 contracting states. The original number of Council Member States was 21. The number has since been raised from time to time by adopting amendments to the Chicago Convention by the Assembly. India was elected to the Council of ICAO in 1946 and to the first Council of ICAO in 1947 and has been getting elected to the Council ever since.
4. The Council is assisted in its work by several subordinate bodies,viz.
(a) Air Navigation Commission.
(b) Committees.
(i) Air Transport Committee.
(ii) Committee on Unlawful Interference
(iii) Finance Committee.
(iv) Personnel Committee.
(v) Joint Support Committee.
(vi) Commission for Appointment of Directors (COPAD).
(c) Panels and Ad hoc Groups.
(d) Study Groups.
5. While ICAO has several aims and objectives and has a large spectrum of work performed by it, being a regulatory body in International Civil Aviation its single most important function is to adopt annexes to the Chicago Convention. The authority to create Annexes and provisions there under vests only in the Council. It is the prerogative of the Council to adopt Annexes and amendments thereto. The Annexes have two types of provisions, viz., Standards and Recommended Practices. The Standards are mandatory provisions, which are binding for all Contracting States unless a Contracting state files its 'differences' to any Standard within the period specified by the Council on the adoption of a Standard. Recommended Practices are, as the words indicate technical practices and are recommended to the states. The states may or may not adopt them. No difference need be filed to differ with them. The council of ICAO has adopted 18 Annexes, 16 of which deal with the technical and safety matters. Annex 17 deals with the aviation security and Annex 9 deals with facilitation.
6. While Montreal is the headquarter of ICAO it has the following regional offices:
REGIONAL OFFICE HEADQUARTERS
I. African Office Dakar, Senegal
ii. Asia and Pacific Bangkok, Thailand
iii. Eastern and Southern African Office. Nairobi, Kenya
iv. European Office. France (Cedex)
v. Middle East Office. Cairo, Egypt
vi. North American and Caribbean Office Mexico
vii. South American Office. Lima, Peru
Regional Offices are headed by Representatives of ICAO in the region and are primarily concerned with the implementation of policies and provisions of ICAO in the region with the co-operation of the Member States of the region.
7. Apart from the triennial assembly sessions there are several worldwide meetings on a continuous basis to which all the Member States are invited, to develop worldwide recommendations. The Council for adoption and implementation finally considers these recommendations. In addition, there are several meetings in various regions dealing with various aspects of Civil Aviation. ICAO also organizes workshops and seminars.
8. In the field of air transport, the Air Transport Bureau of the ICAO Secretariat is responsible for the air transport program of the Organization and aviation security and provides expertise and assistance on air transport matters to the various bodies and meetings of ICAO. It regularly reports to the Air Transport Committee on the progress of work under the air transport program and contributes to ICAO's work in multidisciplinary areas such as environmental matters, congestion and future air navigation systems. The Air Transport Bureau also maintains liaison on air transport matters with specialized agencies of the United
Nations, regional bodies and other international Organizations.
9. ICAO has played a crucial role in providing states with guidance on economic regulation in the form of definitions, model clauses and codes of conduct which states used at their discretion.
<<<Back to Aviation Career Guidance page |
