From September 4th to 7th, the 37th Session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Law Committee was held in Montreal, Canada. The Chinese delegation is headed by Deputy Representative Ding Chunyu of the China Office of the ICAO Council. The members include Deputy Director Liu He from the Policy and Regulation Department of the Civil Aviation Administration, Dr. Zhao Jinsong from the Civil Aviation Science and Technology Research Institute of China, and Associate Professor Liu Hao from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Zhu Lei, a young scholar of our school, was invited by the National Civil Aviation Administration to participate in the meeting as a member of the Chinese delegation.
The meeting was chaired by Terry Olson (French nationality), Chairman of the Law Committee. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Olu Muyiva Bernard Aliu, and the Secretary-General of the Secretariat, Liu Fang, attended and delivered speeches . The 164 delegates from 70 countries and 8 organizations attended the meeting. The topics of the conference mainly include the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), the revision of relevant documents for illegal passengers, the promotion of the approval of relevant international civil aviation conventions, and the revision of the dispute settlement clause of the Chicago Convention.
Before the meeting, the Chinese delegation specialized in research, division of labor and cooperation, and carefully prepared; during the meeting, the Chinese delegation coordinated with other countries, actively expressed its views and expressed concern, achieved good results, and the expected goals.
In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles have developed rapidly, and their legal regulation is a matter of wide concern to delegations. The Chinese delegation prepared and submitted Working Paper in advance and recommended that the Law Committee set up a working group to study the revision of the Civil Aviation Convention, the interpretation and application of the terms. The working paper was jointly submitted by China and Italy and received clear support from Israel and Turkey before the meeting. After discussion, most countries recognized China's proposal. The meeting decided to set up a working group to study related issues, and nine countries including China and the United States jointly formulated the research objectives and terms of reference of the working group.The Chinese delegation sent a draft of the terms of reference and received broad support. The working group will be established by the chairman of the Legal Committee and China will actively participate in the activities of the working group.
In addition, the Chinese delegation also submitted an Information Paper on China's civil aviation credit management system, hoping to promote and introduce it to other countries. The delegation combined the ICAO Notice No. 288 with administrative penalties for illegal passengers in conjunction with China's credit management regulations on restricting certain serious untrustworthy persons from flying, and made public statements at the meeting to introduce relevant information. After China’s speech, countries such as Argentina publicly expressed their interest and recognition of China’s practices and achieved good results.
The meeting also discussed issues such as conflicts of interest, Article 21 of the Chicago Convention, and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) legal issues. The meeting closed the national aircraft, economic liberalization and Article 83 of the Chicago Convention, adding new cyber security and security issues. In addition, the discussion at the meeting decided not to include the suborbital flight law issue as a formal issue, but will continue to pay attention to the development of the field. Finally, the meeting elected Ms. Chen Xiuhua, Director of the Legal Department of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, as the chairman of the next Legal Committee.
