Guidelines for the Preparation of Working Papers and Deadlines for Submission

- Templates for processing Working Papers and Information Papers

To ensure the quality and consistency of presentation, guidelines have been prepared to assist States/Organizations in the preparation of working papers to be submitted to the Assembly. These are available at the Assembly website (http://www.icao.int/A42) under “Documentation”.

Documentation submitted for discussion by Member States or International Organizations at the meeting should be forwarded electronically, in Microsoft Word format, to ICAO by e-mail at assembly42-wp [at] icao.int (assembly42-wp[at]icao[dot]int) as soon as possible, but no later than the established deadlines as per paragraph 3. e) below. Documentation should use the templates available under Templates for Processing Working Papers and Information Papers.

In compliance with previous decisions of the Council to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the Assembly, the following guidelines will be applied for documentation:

a) Working papers should be action-oriented and concise and must adhere to a strict four-page limit for text, including appendices. Working papers that do not propose any substantive action will be reclassified as information papers, will not be translated and will be posted in the language(s) submitted. The Member State/Organization concerned will be informed accordingly.

b) ICAO will perform some light editing of the texts submitted to ensure that templates have been used correctly, scan the texts to correct the most obvious formatting errors, make minor editorial changes in the texts to clarify ICAO-related titles and document references, and correct spelling errors.

c) In order to minimize delays in the availability of documents to be presented to the Assembly, the papers will be published non-simultaneously, whereas both the original submissions and the English versions will be published first followed by the other language versions as soon as they are available.

d) Working papers will be considered final on submission to the Secretariat and no revisions will be accepted.

e) The following deadlines for submission of documentation will be strictly enforced:

Originators of working papers should indicate only one agenda item for their paper (please refer to A42-WP/1 for the agenda items on the provisional agenda of the Assembly).

Assembly documentation will be placed on the Assembly website (http://www.icao.int/A42) as it becomes available with a target date of posting all working papers to be considered by the Assembly by 13 September 2025.

Requests from Member States and International Organizations to add co-sponsors to their published working papers will be reflected on the A42 website under the page “Additional Co-sponsors”.

ICAO has taken measures to minimize its environmental impact for the conduct of A42. All A42 participants are therefore encouraged to use portable devices as the main means to access documentation. Participants are also encouraged to distribute documentation electronically. Taking into consideration the availability of all Assembly documentation in electronic format and internet facilities provided to delegates for its access, no documentation in paper format will be distributed before or during the Assembly.

Temporary access to the ICAO-NET will be provided to all delegates upon registration, which will enable delegates to access Assembly documentation in electronic format to the maximum possible extent and thus minimize paper requirements. Saleable ICAO publications required as reference for the work of the Assembly will also be accessible through the ICAO-NET.