Guiding Principles for the Preparation and Conduct of the Conference

At the seventh meeting of its 223rd Session, on 15 June 2023, the Air Navigation Commission agreed that the preparation and conduct of the Conference be guided by a set of principles. In this regard, the guiding principles for the preparation and conduct of AN-Conf/14 were communicated via State letter ST 15/1-23/12 dated 10 July 2023 and reproduced below.

a) Items should be precisely defined and be included only if they cannot be resolved or progressed by other means, such as via ICAO expert groups or through planning and implementation regional groups (PIRGs).

b) Items related to the existing work programme of ICAO may be included if they identify opportunities to make significant changes in direction, such as a reprioritization or a change in the scale or the scope of work, or they have reached the necessary maturity for soliciting global direction.

c) Items that have limited applicability, that relate to new complex procedures or that address the provision of new equipment, will only be considered if they have matured to the extent that the necessity for worldwide agreement is apparent.

d) Items addressing inconsistencies in ICAO documents will only be considered if there are substantive implications.

e) Exchange-of-views items should be included only in those circumstances when a broad discussion is needed on the applicability to civil aviation of new concepts or techniques.

The Conference should address topics or issues that have not already been the subject of action taken by the ICAO Council or propose a substantial change thereto, for example, a reprioritization or a change in the scale or the scope of the work. Actions already taken by the Council include those related to the approval of the technical work programme of the Organization and the outcomes of the Assemblies, and the recommendations from air navigation or other high-level conferences that have ongoing applicability. Items that involve multidisciplinary subjects and have reached the necessary maturity for soliciting global direction should also be acceptable.

Should a working paper be submitted that does not meet any of these principles, it will be converted to an information paper for the Conference, acknowledged in the AN-Conf/14 report and, additionally, be forwarded to the appropriate expert group(s) for consideration as necessary in progressing their concerned work programmes.

In preparation for working papers to be submitted to the Conference, Member States and international organizations are invited to consult information on the approved technical work programme of ICAO available at: https://www.icao.int/safety/Pages/ANWorkProgramme.aspx.

Originators of working papers should indicate the appropriate agenda item for their papers. However, the need to group working papers with similar actions proposed may necessitate changes to the agenda item placement for a more efficient discussion of the relevant papers collectively.