The origin of an International Financial Facility for Aviation Safety (IFFAS) dates back to 1995 when the 31st Session of the ICAO Assembly considered a proposal from a group of States for study of the need, appropriateness and usefulness of establishing an international aeronautical monetary fund to finance investments in airport and air navigation services infrastructure under conditions that would be more flexible and less onerous than those usually available in financial markets. Preliminary work on the proposal was carried out in the 1995-1998 triennium and the concept was endorsed by the Directors General of Civil Aviation Conference on a Global Strategy for Safety Oversight (1997) and the World-wide CNS/ATM Systems Implementation Conference (1998). Subsequently, in 1998 the 32nd Session of the Assembly noted the progress on this project and endorsed plans for further work on a fund.

The 33rd Session of the Assembly, by Resolution A33-10 Establishment of an International Financial Facility for Aviation Safety (IFFAS) noted work carried out during the triennium, endorsed the concept of the IFFAS, inter alia, and requested the Council to pursue the establishment of an IFFAS as a matter of priority early in the 2002-2004 triennium, having due regard to the applicable laws of Contracting States. This request carries with it the formulation of appropriate management, administrative and legal strategies toward the initial implementation of the IFFAS within the 2002-2004 triennium.

The IFFAS will be a mechanism to provide financial support toward achieving the objectives of improving aviation safety through the implementation of the necessary measures mainly identified by the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). The objective of the IFFAS will be to finance safety-related projects for which States cannot otherwise provide or obtain necessary financial resources. The fund will be autonomous and independent of the control of individual or collective States and their governments. Participation to the fund would be purely on a voluntary basis.

The basic philosophy of the IFFAS involves identifying the most demonstrated need requiring financial support from the facility. In this regard, the USOAP would be an effective tool in focussing support and assistance toward the specific needs of participating States.

The IFFAS will be constituted through an administrative charter or memorandum for signature by participating parties, who will be ICAO Contracting States, international organizations (private and public) having association with international aviation, airlines, airports, providers of air navigation services, manufacturers of airframes, engines and avionics, other members of the aerospace industry and civil society.

The structure of the IFFAS will include a governing body, incorporating adequate representation from amongst States and other contributing parties and staffing to support this body and to cover daily executive and administrative functions. The IFFAS will be driven by a management strategy developed on the principles of, and in conformity with, the existing ICAO legal regime.

Assembly Resolution A33-10 encourages States to contribute capital to the IFFAS by crediting any amount of their share of any distributable surplus from the ICAO Programme Budget to the IFFAS account which is held in trust by ICAO. Some States have already indicated their agreement to contribute in the manner suggested. In addition, the Resolution requests Contracting States to consider making voluntary contributions to finance the preparatory work in the establishment of the IFFAS and voluntarily participate in the mechanism. It also encourages other interested parties to make voluntary contributions.

ICAO Assembly Resolutions may be found following this link: http://www.icao.int/icao/en/res/res.htm/

For more information contact:

Secretary, IFFAS
Telephone: +1 514-954-6732
Fax: +1 514-954-6744
E-mail: iffas@icao.int