[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 46 (Friday, March 8, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 14912-14913]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05452]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 129
International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Program Change
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
ACTION: Policy statement.
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SUMMARY: This statement describes a policy change to the FAA's
International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. The FAA wants
to ensure that countries do not remain on this listing when the results
of the FAA's IASA determinations as to those countries might no longer
be accurate or reasonably current. The FAA is accordingly adopting a
procedure to remove a country from the IASA program summary listing
when that country's air carriers no longer provide air service to the
United States, none of the country's air carriers participates in code-
share arrangements with U.S. air carriers, and the country's civil
aviation authority (CAA) has ceased interacting with the FAA for an
extended period of time. The FAA is making this change to improve the
quality of the IASA summary listing. This statement also explains IASA
Categories 1 and 2 in terms of what the flying public may reasonably
take them to mean. This document modifies the IASA policies previously
announced by the FAA.
DATES: Effective date: April 8, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Manager of the International Programs
and Policy Division (AFS-50), Flight Standards Service, Federal
Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC
20591, (202) 385-8070.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Removal of Inactive Countries; and Public Expectations of IASA
Categories
Removal of Inactive Countries
Under the IASA program, the FAA assesses whether another country's
oversight of its air carriers that operate, or seek to operate, into
the U.S., or codeshare with a U.S. air carrier, complies with
international aviation safety standards established by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The FAA maintains and
publishes a country-by-country summary listing of the results of its
IASA determinations. Some countries continue to be listed on the IASA
summary, whether in Category 1 or 2, even though the countries have no
air carriers that are serving the United States or code sharing with
one or more U.S. partner airlines. Because of the lack of air service
to the United States, there is minimal, if any, interaction between the
FAA and the subject CAAs. To date, countries have not been removed from
the category listing for inactivity, even though the safety oversight
information previously collected may become stale and unreliable. To
improve the quality of information on the IASA program summary category
listing, the FAA is initiating a process to remove inactive countries
from the listing.
Information generated by the IASA program is used by the U.S. and
foreign governments, the aviation industry, and the traveling public.
IASA information disseminated should be accurate and reasonably
current. To this end, countries whose IASA information can no longer be
considered accurate and reasonably current will be removed from the
published IASA summary listing.
In determining whether a country's IASA information is no longer
accurate and reasonably current, we will proceed on the basis that if,
after a four year period, a country has no air carrier providing air
transport service to the United States, none of the country's air
carriers participates in code-share arrangements with U.S. air
carriers, and the CAA does not interact significantly with the FAA, the
FAA will remove that country from the IASA summary category listing.
These criteria will be applied immediately in a review of countries
currently on the list and on a continual basis going forward.
Before the FAA removes a country from the IASA program listing, the
country's CAA will receive formal notification prior to the removal.
Just as it does when a country is added to the list or a country's IASA
category is changed, the FAA will notify the public regarding the
removal of a country from the IASA summary listing.
Once a country is removed from the IASA summary listing, a full
reassessment of the CAA must be conducted before the country can be
rated in the IASA program and before a carrier subject to that
country's aviation safety oversight can serve the United States using
its own aircraft or can put a U.S. carrier code on its flights.
Public Expectations of IASA Category Ratings
Members of the public have asked what the IASA category rating for
a country means when they are making transportation choices. Category 1
means that the FAA has found that the country meets ICAO Standards for
safety oversight of civil aviation. Category 2 means that the FAA has
found that the country does not meet those Standards. The ICAO
Standards are presumptively binding on ICAO Member States as
signatories to the Chicago Convention. The Standards are promulgated
from time to time by ICAO and grouped by subject matter (for example,
airline personnel licensing or operation of aircraft) in Annexes to the
Chicago Convention.
The FAA normally determines the appropriate IASA category rating
for a country using information collected during an in-country
assessment of that country's CAA. The FAA also may consider other
reliable sources of information on a CAA's compliance with
international standards when making a determination of safety oversight
under the IASA program. The FAA may use the information developed by
these other sources to supplement the information developed during an
FAA assessment of the CAA, or to entirely replace the assessment
altogether, when making an IASA category determination.
In conducting its IASA assessments, the FAA uses a standardized
checklist that groups the ICAO Standards on safety oversight into eight
critical elements: (1) Primary aviation legislation, (2) specific
operating regulations, (3) organization structure
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and safety oversight functions, (4) technical personnel qualification
and training, (5) technical guidance, (6) certification personnel and
procedures, (7) surveillance obligations, and (8) resolution of safety
issues. To achieve Category 1, the country must demonstrate that it
meets the ICAO Standards for each of the eight elements. Category 2
means that the CAA was noncompliant in at least one critical element.
The IASA assessment typically is conducted over the course of one week
by a team consisting of a team leader and at least one expert in
operations, maintenance, and aviation law. Each FAA expert works
through the checklist with host country officials for each of the
critical elements. The team looks at a representative sampling of
records and processes, and it follows up with host country aviation
officials if deficiencies appear.
The FAA assessment focuses on the ability of the host country's
aeronautical authorities to oversee the operational safety of its
airlines. It does not assess the safety compliance of any particular
air carrier (nor does it address aviation security, airports, or air
traffic management). Although the FAA assessment team typically visits
one or more air carriers during its mission, it does so only to verify
the relationship between the carrier and the country's aviation safety
officials, not to assess the carrier itself.
Finally, the IASA category rating applies only to services to and
from the United States and to codeshare operations when the code of a
U.S. air carrier is placed on a foreign carrier flight. The category
ratings do not apply to a foreign carrier's domestic flights or to
flights by that carrier between its homeland and a third country. The
assessment team looks at those flights only to the extent that they
reflect on the country's oversight of operations to and from the United
States and to codeshare operations where a U.S. air carrier code is
placed on a flight conducted by a foreign operator.
In short, a category 1 rating means that, as to the operations by a
category 1 country's carriers between that country and the United
States, and when the code of a U.S. air carrier is placed on a foreign
carrier flight, the FAA has found that the country's civil aviation
authorities exercise safety oversight over those carriers consistent
with international safety standards. A Category 2 rating, on the other
hand, means the FAA has found that, in at least one critical area, the
safety measures applied by the country's civil aviation authorities do
not meet international standards.
Current IASA category determinations for countries included in the
IASA categorization system are available on the FAA Web site at: http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 25, 2013.
Margaret Gilligan,
Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety.
[FR Doc. 2013-05452 Filed 3-7-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P