The ICAO/IMO Joint Working Group on SAR was established in 1993 with the objective of assisting the ICAO and IMO Secretariats in developing harmonized provisions regarding search and rescue policies, procedures and techniques where both aviation and maritime services are involved.

The following guidelines apply:

• members are expected to serve in the joint group as individual SAR experts rather than as State representatives;
   
• the joint group has no power to make recommendations to States nor to any organization other then ICAO or IMO; recommendations from the joint group will be made directly to both organizations which retain the prerogative for final application;
   
• representatives of other organizations or States may attend the joint group as observers; however, it is stressed that the nature of the meetings is that of a study group. Meeting announcements and documentation relating to the joint group will only be distributed to formal group members, observers invited to attend by the group and any others who may request advance notification.

The essential purpose of this site is to make working papers for JWG meetings readily available for members, both in preparation for the yearly meetings and as a reference source.

Working papers are posted in the Meetings section. This section is password protected.

For the convenience of members outside the ICAO Secretariat, links are integrated on the Home Page that connect to various bureaux and sections within the ICAO Secretariat. SAR is a responsibility of the Air Traffic management Section within the Air Navigation Bureau.

No effort has been made to promote this site as a contemporary reference source for SAR organisation, equipment, policy, procedures or techniques. Information of that sort is dynamic in nature and beyond the capacity of the ICAO Secretariat to maintain.

Formal ICAO SAR policy and procedures may be sourced from official ICAO documents including the Convention on International Civil Aviation, (Doc 7300/7) and Annex 12 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation "Search and Rescue". This Annex is supplemented by the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual, Volume I — Organisation and Management, Volume II — Mission Coordination, and Volume III — Mobile Facilities (Doc 9731). The purpose of this manual is to assist States in meeting their SAR needs and obligations accepted under the Convention on International Civil Aviation. These obligations, as they relate to the provision of SAR services, are specified in this Annex as Standards and Recommended Practices. The three volumes of the IAMSAR Manual provide comprehensive guidance for a common aviation and maritime approach to organizing SAR services and States are encouraged, by use of the manual, to both develop and improve their SAR services and to cooperate with neighbouring States.

There are numerous websites that provide detailed information on SAR equipment, organization, and procedures for global SAR services. Links are provided to some of these useful sites.

Comments concerning the contents of this site should be addressed to one of the Study Group Secretaries:

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