Determination of the Status of an Aircraft – Civil/State
At the fifth Meeting of its 203rd Session in November 2014, the Council agreed to add the item “Determination of the status of an aircraft – Civil/State” to the Work Programme of the Legal Committee. During the 36th Session of the Legal Committee, in response to working paper LC/36 WP/2-6 – State/Civil Aircraft Definition and Its Impact on Aviation, which was presented by Poland on behalf of Poland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary, the Committee took note of the fact that the Council had directed the Legal Affairs and External Relations Bureau (LEB) to review the 1993 ICAO Secretariat Study on Civil/State Aircraft and agreed that a questionnaire inquiring about the practical problems States are facing due to the classification of “Civil/State aircraft” should be sent out before LEB’s review of the 1993 Study is undertaken to aid in narrowing the scope of the review, and that LEB should complete its review and analysis of the study before the Committee’s next session.
The Committee thus concluded that LEB should make its best efforts to i) send the questionnaire in summer 2016; and ii) complete its review and analysis of the study before the Committee’s next session. Consistent with the Committee’s recommendations, the questionnaire (State Letter LE 4/50 – 16/86) was distributed on 1 November 2016 and called on States to submit their responses by 1 February 2017. These responses will be analysed and reported to the 37th Session of the Legal Committee.
