Role of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)
The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel. The convention establishes rules of airspace, airplane registration and safety, and details the rights of the signatories in relation to air travel. The document was signed on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by 52 signatory states. It received the requisite 26th ratification on March 5, 1947 and went into effect on April 4, 1947. ICAO came into being on 4 April 1947. In October of the same year, ICAO became a specialized agency of the United Nations.
ICAO has its headquarters in Montreal, Canada, with seven regional offices throughout the world. From its beginning in 1944 it has grown to an organization with over 180 Contracting States. ICAO’s aim is the safe and orderly development of all aspects of international civil aeronautics. It provides the forum whereby requirements and procedures in need of standardization may be introduced, studied and resolved.
According to the Convention, the Organization is made up of an Assembly, a Council and a Secretariat. The chief officers are the President of the Council and the Secretary General.
The Assembly, composed of representatives from all Contracting States, is the sovereign body of ICAO. It meets every three years, reviewing in detail the work of the Organization, setting policy for the coming years and establishing a triennial budget. The Assembly elects the Council, the governing body for a three-year term.
The Council is composed of members from 36 States who maintain their offices and conduct their business at the ICAO Headquarters. It is in the Council that Standards and Recommended Practices are adopted and incorporated as Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
The Secretariat, headed by a Secretary General, is divided into five main divisions: the Air Navigation Bureau, the Air Transport Bureau, the Technical Co-operation Bureau, the Legal Bureau, and the Bureau of Administration and Services.
Under this Convention, the ICAO, sets the minimum Standards and Recommended Practices for international civil aviation. These standards are contained in 18 Annexes to the Convention. Individual States remain responsible for regulating their aviation industries but have to take into account the requirements of the Convention and the minimum standards established by ICAO. The latest edition is the Ninth edition, 2006. ICAO 9300/9.
The 18 annexes are as follows:
- Annex 1 – Personnel Licensing
- Annex 2 – Rules of the Air
- Annex 3 – Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation
- Annex 4 – Aeronautical Charts
- Annex 5 – Units of Measurement to be Used in Air and Ground Operations
- Annex 6 – Operation of Aircraft – Aeroplanes
- Annex 7 – Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks
- Annex 8 – Airworthiness of Aircraft
- Annex 9 – Facilitation
- Annex 10 – Aeronautical Telecommunications
- Annex 11 – Air Traffic Services
- Annex 12 – Search and Rescue
- Annex 13 – Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation
- Annex 14 – Aerodromes – Aerodrome Design and Operations, Heliports
- Annex 15 – Aeronautical Information Services
- Annex 16 – Environmental Protection – Aircraft Noise
- Annex 17 – Security: Safeguarding International Civil Aviation Against Acts of Unlawful Interference
- Annex 18 – The Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air