Report – Civil Aviation (Jersey) Law 200-
The States are asked to consider and if appropriate approve, a new Law to separate the regulation of safety aspects of aviation in Jersey from the management and operation of Jersey Airport and to create the office of Director of Civil Aviation to provide this safety regulation.
Background
Jersey is, through the United Kingdom’s ratification, a party to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation (“the Convention”) which is the international convention governing arrangements for civil aviation.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (“ICAO”), a regulatory body established under the Convention, monitors compliance with ICAO Member States’ obligations under the Convention. An audit of the United Kingdom’s arrangements for regulating international civil aviation took place in 2000.
In its report ICAO raised concerns about regulation in some of the overseas territories where, as is the case in Jersey and the other Crown Dependencies, airports are operated by the government. The United Kingdom Government has since confirmed to the governments of the Crown Dependencies that these concerns apply equally to the regulation of international civil aviation in all the Crown Dependencies.
Under the Convention, the United Kingdom is responsible for ensuring the maintenance of international standards of aviation in the Crown Dependencies, as set out in the Standards and Recommended Practices, laid down in the 18 Annexes to the Convention.
It is expected that in the course of the next audit of the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom Government will be asked to demonstrate that it has made satisfactory arrangements for ensuring the continued adherence to the Convention’s Standards and Recommended Practices in the Crown Dependencies.
The area of concern for ICAO in relation to the overseas territories, and thus by extension to the Crown Dependencies, is the apparent lack of independence of the regulator from the airport operator. The current arrangement under which both the administrative and regulatory functions at Jersey Airport are the responsibility, and are carried out by, the same authority (the Minister for Economic Development or the Airport Director under the authority of the Minister) does not meet with ICAO standards and must be changed. It is necessary to separate the functions of airport operator and regulator between two bodies.
Discussions have been held between officials from all the Crown Dependencies and the United Kingdom, from which it has emerged that the ICAO requirements would be met by a new legislative regime in which:
- A local regulator is in place who is demonstrably independent of the airport operator
- The advice from the local regulator has to be accepted by the airport operator and that the regulator is required to enforce the appropriate international standards
- The regulator has power to enforce compliance
Accordingly, the Director of Civil Aviation will be responsible to the Minister for Home Affairs, while the Airport Director will continue to be responsible to the Minister for Economic Development.
In carrying out the functions of the office of Director of Civil Aviation, the Director will be required to act in a way best calculated to achieve compliance with the international obligations that bind Jersey in respect of the safety of civil aviation.
This means, in particular, compliance with the Chicago Convention concluded on 7th December 1944 at the International Civil Aviation Conference held in that city.
After the Law comes into force, an operator of an aerodrome (at present the States of Jersey, in the case of Jersey Airport) will be required to obtain and comply with an aerodrome licence. The Director of Civil Aviation will be the licensing authority.
The Director will also be required to tender advice to the Minister on the safety of civil aviation and international relations and commitments in respect of civil aviation.
Consultations
A consultation paper was issued to the main stakeholders on the 10th December 2007 with a closing date for comments of 20th January 2008.
Three responses were received, none of which were judged to require changes to the draft Law.
Financial/manpower implications
There are no additional manpower implications for the States resulting from this Law. The Office of the Director of Civil Aviation will be staffed by one person, the Director, being transferred from the Economic Development (Airport) headcount to Home Affairs. Once the Office is fully established and the international audit completed it is planned to reduce post of Director to a part-time one, although it may be necessary then to employ a part-time administrator/assistant.
The financial cost of the Office, including staff costs, will be met by payments by Jersey Airport, of a licence fee. Jersey Airport currently contracts with technical experts in various fields to provide regulatory advice; these contracts and the cost of same will be transferred from Jersey Airport to the Office of the Director of Civil Aviation. Overall financial cost increases will be limited to such matters as office accommodation.
European Convention on Human Rights
Article 16 of the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 requires the Minister in charge of a Projet de Loi to make a statement about the compatibility of the provisions of the Projet with the Convention rights (as defined by Article 1 of the Law). On 28th January 2008 the Minister for Home Affairs made the following statement before Second Reading of this Projet in the States Assembly –
In the view of the Minister for Home Affairs the provisions of the Draft Civil Aviation (Jersey) Law 200- are compatible with the Convention Rights.
28th January 2008