Considerations on COM(2024)478 - - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)478 - . |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2024)478 |
| date | October 16, 2024 |
(2) All Member States are Contracting States to the Chicago Convention and members of the ICAO, while the Union has observer status in certain ICAO bodies. For the period 2022-2025, there are six Member States represented in the ICAO Council.
(3) Pursuant to Article 37 j) of the Chicago Convention, the ICAO shall adopt and amend from time to time, as may be necessary, international standards and recommended practices and procedures dealing with customs and immigration procedures. Pursuant to Article 54(l) of the Chicago Convention, the ICAO Council may adopt international Standards and Recommended Practices (‘SARPs’), and designate them as Annexes to the Chicago Convention.
(4) The ICAO Council, at its 233rd session, is to adopt Amendment 30 to Annex 9 – Facilitation to the Chicago Convention.
(5) The main purposes of the Amendment 30 to Annex 9 - Facilitation to the Chicago Convention included in the State Letter EC 6/3 − 24/67 is to to improve the clarity and consequently the consistency and efficiency of Annex 9.
(6) Amendment 30 to Annex 9 - Facilitation to the Chicago Convention includes amendments to Chapter 2 (“Entry and Departure of aircraft”), Chapter 3 (“Entry and Departure of persons and their baggage”), Chapter 6 (“International airports – Facilities and services for traffic”) and Chapter 8 (“Facilitation provisions covering specific subjects”) Paragraph C (“Facilitation of search, rescue, accident investigation and salvage”) Paragraph E (“Establishment of national facilitation programmes”), Paragraph F (“Facilitation of transport of person with disabilities”) and Paragraph G (“Assistance to aircraft accident victims and their families”). In particular, the proposals are to amend, reposition, or delete obsolete SARPs as well as to amend SARPs addressed to aircraft operators or airport operators so that they are now properly addressed to the Contracting States. The amendments to Standard 6.3 and Recommended practice 6.4 in Chapter 6 concern matters regulated by Directive 2009/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on airport charges7. With reference to Chapter 3 (“Entry and Departure of persons and their baggage”) the proposed amendments add SARPs related to the security of the issuance process for electronic Machine Readable Travel Documents (“eMRTD”) and update the access control protocol and technical standard for encoding the facial image in eMRTDs. Those amendments incidentally cover also subjects that under Union law are regulated by Directive (EU) 2019/9978. Finally, with reference to the amendments to Chapter 8, ICAO amendments are related to air accident safety investigation covered by Regulation (EU) No 996/20109 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents in civil aviation. Those amendments would not require any change to Union law as it is already reflecting them.
(7) It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union's behalf within the ICAO Council as the Amendment 30 to Annex 9 – Facilitation to the Chicago Convention will be binding under international law in accordance with Article 90(a) of the Chicago Convention and it is of relevance to Union legislation, namely: Directive 2009/12/EC and Regulation (EU) No 996/2010.
(8) Pursuant to Article 38 of the Chicago Convention, any State which finds it impracticable to comply in all respects with any such international standard or procedure, or to bring its own regulations or practices into full accord with any such international standard or procedures or which deems it necessary to adopt regulations or practices differing in any particular respect from those established by an international standard, should give immediate notification to the ICAO of the differences between its own practice and that established by the international standard.
(9) The Union's position during the 233rd session of the ICAO Council or any consequent session with regard to the adoption of the proposed amendments to Chapter 2 (“Entry and Departure of aircraft”), Chapter 3 (“Entry and Departure of persons and their baggage”), Chapter 6 (“International airports – Facilities and services for traffic”) and Chapter 8 (“Facilitation provisions covering specific subjects”) Paragraph C (“Facilitation of search, rescue, accident investigation and salvage”) Paragraph E (“Establishment of national facilitation programmes”), Paragraph F (“Facilitation of transport of person with disabilities”) and Paragraph G (“Assistance to aircraft accident victims and their families”) contained in Amendment 30 to Annex 9 - Facilitation to the Chicago Convention included in the State Letter EC 6/3 − 24/67 should be to vote to support these amendments in their entirety. This position shall be expressed by the Member States of the Union that are members of the ICAO Council, acting jointly in the interest of the Union.
(10) The Union’s position after the adoption of Amendment 30 to Annex 9 - Facilitation to the Chicago Convention by the ICAO Council, to be announced by the ICAO Secretary General via an ICAO State Letter procedure, should be to not register any disapproval and to comply with the amendments. Where Union legislation would deviate from the newly adopted SARPs after an envisaged date of application of those SARPs, a difference with those particular SARPs should be notified to ICAO. The Union position with respect of such difference should be based on a written document submitted by the Commission to the Council for discussion and approval. This position should be expressed by all the Member States of the Union, acting jointly in the interest of the Union.