Home Content Addenda MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU)
BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND AND
THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO)
REGARDING SAFETY OVERSIGHT AUDIT
(as revised by Council on 8 December 1998 (155/10)
Whereas the 32nd Assembly of ICAO in Assembly Resolution A32-11 directed the Council to establish the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme, providing for regular, mandatory, systematic and harmonized safety audits to be carried out by ICAO, that such universal safety oversight programme shall apply to all Contracting States, and that greater transparency and increased disclosure be implemented in the release of audit results;
Whereas the 32nd Assembly urged all Contracting States to agree to audits to be carried out upon ICAO’s initiative, but always with the consent of the State to be audited, by signing a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with the Organization;
IT IS AGREED AS FOLLOWS:
1. In accordance with Assembly Resolution A32-11, the Kingdom of Thailand (hereafter referred to as Thailand) hereby agrees to the conduct of a safety oversight audit by an ICAO safety oversight audit team, on the dates established by ICAO as published in its yearly schedule of audits, unless justified reasons lead the parties to mutually agree on other dates.
2. No change in the annual schedule of audits will be allowed within sixty calendar days prior to the starting date of the audit of the State, except for a compelling reason, which has to be submitted to the President of the ICAO Council for his consideration.
3. The ICAO Regional Office accredited to Thailand will be actively involved in the safety oversight audit process.
4. The safety oversight audit team will be comprised of experts in the fields of personnel licensing, flight operations, airworthiness or any other related discipline that might be required for the audit. The composition of the team (names and qualifications) will be provided to the civil aviation administration of the State prior to the safety oversight audit.
5. The team members will have command of one of the ICAO languages and good working knowledge of English. At least one of the team members will have command of the ICAO language chosen by the State. Thailand will be informed of the other specific language capabilities of each team member prior to the audit.
6. Thailand agrees to facilitate the audit by making appropriate staff from its Civil Aviation Authority (or any relevant entity responsible for safety regulation), locally based commercial air transport operators and aerodrome facilities, available for interview by the safety oversight audit team. Thailand will be required to take the necessary measures to facilitate the work of the safety oversight audit team, including interpretation services, local transportation, interviews, paperwork, etc. Thailand will also arrange and meet the cost of transportation and accommodation when visits are required outside the main administrative office.
7. The safety oversight audit team will review Thai-land compliance with the Standards and Recom-mended Practices (SARPs) set out in Annexes 1, 6 and 8, as well as with related procedures, and adherence to guidance material and relevant safety-related practices in general use in the aviation industry, as referred to in such material. The safety oversight audit team will also review whether Thai-land has the organizational structure with the legal status necessary to carry out its safety oversight responsibilities. Thailand agrees to make all relevant documents, files and information available to the safety oversight audit team.
8. The safety oversight audit team will review the State’s regulatory provisions, examine records and documentation and conduct interviews, in order to make its findings and recommendations, on the basis of safety oversight audit general requirements, as follows:
a) consideration of existing national legislation enabling States to enforce the provisions of the Convention on International Civil Aviation;
b) consideration of existing national regulations enabling States to carry out detailed safety regulation in support of the Convention on International Civil Aviation and Annexes 1, 6 and 8 thereto and related provisions in other Annexes, as well as associated ICAO procedures, guidance material and relevant safety-related practices in general use in the aviation industry as referred to in such material;
c) a system for both the certification and the continued surveillance of personnel, aircraft and operators, to ensure that the relevant SARPs are maintained, in particular with respect to:
i) qualified airworthiness and flight operations inspectors and licensing personnel supported by an appropriate organizational and mana-gerial structure;
ii) detailed records of training given to airworthiness inspectors, flight operations inspectors and licensing personnel;
iii) policy on the safety regulation of mainte-nance, flight operations and licensing;
iv) availability of appropriate reference material, including ICAO documentation;
v) information on which ICAO SARPs have been used for approval of air operator certificate (AOC) holders or maintenance organizations;
vi) inspection results containing details of technical and operational deficiencies;
vii) evidence of compliance with airworthiness directives (ADs) and of adherence to approved maintenance programmes;
viii) evidence of procedures for the issuance, approval, suspension and revocation of licences, AOCs and Certificates of Air-worthiness (CofAs) when unsafe conditions are identified and records of how often action has been taken;
ix) evidence that major modifications to aircraft have been properly approved and that relevant information has been duly transmitted to the State of Registry, the State of Manufacture and the State of Design, as applicable; and
x) evidence of overall system safety awareness and of a mechanism for accident prevention; and
d) implementation of ICAO SARPs and procedures, as well as adherence to guidance material and relevant safety-related practices in general use in the aviation industry as referred to in such material, related to the certification and super-vision of the operator, in particular with respect to the requirements of an adequate organization, method of control and supervision of flight operations, training programmes and mainte-nance arrangements consistent with the nature and extent of the operations specified.
Thailand agrees to make all relevant documents, files and information available to the safety oversight audit team.
9. On the last day of the safety oversight audit, the ICAO safety oversight audit team will give a detailed debriefing on the audit results to govern-ment officials as well as senior management and other higher officials, as applicable, of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the State, including an explanation of subsequent activities in the audits process. Before departing the State, the audit team will also provide the CAA with a list of preliminary findings and recommendations, and with general guidelines for the preparation of an action plan, so that the State may be in a position to begin work immediately on its action plan.
10. Upon completion of the safety oversight audit, ICAO undertakes to make available to Thailand a confidential interim report within twenty-one calendar days after the last day of the audit, if no translation of the report into another ICAO language is required. If such a translation is required, a translated copy will be made available within an additional thirty working days. The confidential interim report will detail:
a) findings on the general requirements specified in paragraph 8 above;
b) differences which exist between national regu-lations and practices of Thailand and ICAO SARPs;
c) lack of implementation or non-compliance with ICAO SARPs and related procedures;
d) adherence to guidance material and relevant safety-related practices in general use in the aviation industry, as referred to in such material; and
e) recommendations of the ICAO safety oversight audit team for immediate remedial action.
11. Should action be necessary to remedy deficiencies, Thailand undertakes to start working on the prepa-ration of an appropriate action plan immediately after Thailand has been debriefed on the audit and provided with a list of findings and recommendations by the safety oversight audit team, as described in paragraph 9 above. Feedback on the development of the action plan by Thailand will be provided by ICAO at the request of the State during the preparation period.
12. Should action be necessary to remedy deficiencies, Thailand undertakes to provide, within twenty-one calendar days from the date the interim report has been made available to the State, an action plan acceptable to the ICAO Secretary General. The action plan should address the findings and recommendations of the safety oversight audit team, providing specific actions and deadlines for the correction of the deficiencies identified during the safety oversight audit. If the interim report requires translation, the time line for the production of an action plan starts when the State receives the translated interim report. All subsequent actions will be sequenced accordingly.
13. Within thirty calendar days after Thailand has submitted an action plan, officials from the ICAO accredited Regional Office will conduct a prelimi-nary review to determine the progress made by Thailand towards activation of the action plan. If no action plan has been submitted, the ICAO accredited Regional Office will contact Thailand to determine why an action plan has not been submitted.
14. After the preliminary review has been conducted by the ICAO accredited Regional Office, a confi-dential final report will be completed by ICAO and made available to Thailand within twenty-one calendar days if no translation of the report into another ICAO language is required, or within an additional thirty working days if such translation is required.
15. In addition to the information contained in the interim report, as detailed in paragraph 10 above, the final report will include a comprehensive analysis by ICAO of the action plan submitted by Thailand, as well as information on the progress made by Thailand on the implementation of the action plan and on any remedied deficiencies and outstanding differences to ICAO SARPs. If no acceptable action plan is provided in accordance with paragraph 12 above, ICAO will issue the confidential final safety oversight audit report. This report will contain the deficiencies identified during the audit, the status of implementation and/or differences from ICAO SARPs and procedures, as well as adherence by Thailand to guidance material and relevant safety-related practices in general use in the aviation industry, as referred to in such material. Mention will also be made of the failure of the State to submit an action plan to ICAO.
16. Safety oversight interim and final reports will be confidential and made available to Thailand and the accredited ICAO Regional Office only. Concur-rently with the preparation of the final report, a non-confidential summary report containing an abstract of the overall findings and recommendations of the safety oversight audit team, of the actions proposed by Thailand to remedy the identified deficiencies, if any, and of the progress made on the imple-mentation of the action plan will be provided to the State. Thailand will be given twenty-one calendar days to provide its comments on the final and the summary reports, after which the summary report will be made available to other Contracting States.
17. The obligations and responsibilities for notifying to ICAO any difference, or non-compliance with Standards contained in any ICAO Annex shall rest with Thailand. Differences which exist between the national regulations and practices of Thailand and ICAO Standards, which have been identified during the course of the safety oversight audit, and which will continue to exist when the final report is issued, shall be deemed to have been notified to ICAO by Thailand. ICAO will incorporate these differences in the Supplements to the appropriate Annexes and in any other relevant ICAO safety-related publication.
18. Thailand undertakes to remedy the identified defi-ciencies, and also agrees to any other subsequent follow-up safety oversight audit in due course, to confirm that the recommendations made by ICAO to Thailand have been implemented as provided for in the action plan. Such follow-up audits will lead to the production of a confidential follow-up audit report and a non-confidential follow-up summary report providing an updated status on the safety oversight situation in Thailand. The latter will be given twenty-one calendar days to provide its comments on these reports, after which the follow-up summary report will be made available to other Contracting States.
19. If requested by Thailand, direct assistance may be provided by ICAO through TCB in the development of a document which may serve as an action plan as referred to in paragraphs 11 and 12 of this MOU. This document would include all necessary details on time frame, costing, as well as personnel and training requirements as a basis for seeking funding from donor organizations and/or financial insti-tutions for the implementation of a safety oversight improvement project. This document would need to be funded by Thailand, on a cost recovery basis, and would be completed within the time limits specified in paragraph 12 above.
20. Any difference of dispute concerning the interpreta-tion or the application of this Memorandum of Understanding will be resolved by negotiation between the parties concerned.
For the Civil Aviation Authority of
the Kingdom of Thailand
Sawat Sittiwong
Director GeneralDate
For the International Civil Aviation
Organization
R.C. Costa Pereira
Secretary General
Feb 18 1999
Date
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