Settlement of differences
Brazil and the United States (2016)
During its 219th and 221st Sessions, the Council was provided with progress reports on the status of the negotiations between the Applicant (Brazil) and the Respondent (United States). The Council was informed, inter alia, that the Parties had continued to make progress toward resolving their dispute. Although progress had been temporarily stalled by the international public health crisis, the Parties had expressed their willingness to continue to discuss finalizing resolution of the dispute, with a view to concluding negotiations as soon as possible. The Council welcomed the progress made by the Parties in resolving the dispute, including the proposed establishment of a multi-disciplinary Secretariat Group or Task Force related to obligations under Article 12 of the Chicago Convention, and expressed the hope that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible. The Council will remain seized of this matter and will continue to receive progress reports from the Secretary General.
Qatar and Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (2017) – Application (A); Qatar and Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (2017) – Application (B)
On 14 July 2020, the International Court of Justice rendered two Judgements rejecting the appeals instituted by the Respondents against the Council Decisions of 29 June 2018 with respect to the preliminary objections filed by the Respondents in the respective cases (Appeal relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar; and Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article II, Section 2, of the 1944 International Air Services Transit Agreement (Bahrain, Egypt and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar). Both Judgements also affirmed the jurisdiction of the Council to entertain the two Applications, namely Application (A) and Application (B), submitted by the Applicant (Qatar) on 30 October 2017.
On 4 August 2020, the Respondents in both Application (A) and Application (B) jointly submitted their respective Counter-memorials. Subsequently, on 8 September 2020, the Applicant filed its Replies in both matters. This was followed by the filing of Rejoinders by the Respondents on 14 October 2020. At the eighth meeting of its 221st Session, the Council decided that these items would be tabled for further consideration during the 222nd Session in order to afford sufficient time to adequately prepare for deliberations and to properly discharge its responsibilities in accordance with Article 84 of the Chicago Convention and the Rules for the Settlement of Differences (Doc 7782). The Council noted the willingness of the Parties to engage in informal discussions and welcomed the offer of the President of the Council to facilitate the said discussions between the Parties.
