ICAO Headquarters, Montréal, 29 March – 1 April 2010

The goals of the High-level Safety Conference are to bring together the Directors General of Civil Aviation, or equivalent senior executives and stakeholders, to build consensus, obtain commitments and formulate recommendations deemed necessary for the effective and efficient progress of key safety activities by ICAO.

HIGH-LEVEL SAFETY CONFERENCE 2010
Montréal, 29 March to 1 April 2010
DRAFT DECLARATION
Whereas the Convention on International Civil Aviation and its Annexes provide the essential
framework required to meet the safety needs of a global aviation system;
Whereas Contracting States have a collective responsibility for international civil aviation safety;
Recognizing that the safety framework must be fully utilized by all stakeholders and that it must
continuously evolve to ensure its sustained effectiveness and efficiency in the changing regulatory, economic and technical environment of the 21st century;
Recalling that transparency and sharing of safety information are fundamental tenets of a safe air
transportation system and that one of the objectives of sharing information is to ensure a consistent,fact-based and transparent response to safety concerns at the State and at the global levels;
Recalling that mutual trust between States, as well as public confidence in the safety of air
transportation, is contingent upon access to adequate safety information;
Recognizing that safety is a shared responsibility, and advancements in global safety can only be
possible through a cooperative, collaborative and coordinated effort among all stakeholders, with ICAO’s
active participation and leadership role;
Recognizing that further improvements in aviation safety within and among States require a
cooperative and proactive approach in which safety risks are identified and managed;
Recognizing that the safety data necessary to support an effective safety management process require
adequate protection from inappropriate use;
Recognizing the difficulties that many ICAO States have in establishing and operating an efficient
safety oversight system and the need for these States to pool resources and work together within Regional
Safety Oversight Organizations;
Recognizing that the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme’s Continuous Monitoring
Approach (CMA) being established by ICAO will be implemented in stages during a two-year transition
period from 2011 to 2012;

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The Directors General of Civil Aviation:
1. Commit to reinforce the global aviation safety framework by:
a) supporting the CMA and providing ICAO with accurate and timely information;
b) implementing expeditiously the State Safety Programme (SSP) in their own States and
ensuring the implementation of safety management systems across the aviation industry;
c) maintaining the confidence of the public in the safe air transportation system through
enhanced transparency of safety information;
d) developing sustainable safety solutions, including the creation or strengthening of regional
and sub-regional safety oversight organizations and initiatives;
e) sharing appropriate safety-related information among States and all other aviation
stakeholders; and
f) working with ICAO to identify actions that can be taken to reduce the burden for certificate
holders to comply with multiple sets of similar, yet different, requirements;
The Conference:
2. Calls upon States and other stakeholders to enter into agreements with one another for the
exchange of safety information;
3. Calls upon States and other stakeholders to provide ICAO with accurate and timely information
in support of the CMA and its transition plan as requested;
4. Calls upon States to examine their existing legislation and adjust, as necessary, or enact laws and
regulations to protect safety information and its sources where the purpose is to improve safety;
5. Calls upon States, ICAO, industry, and donor organizations to direct resources towards the
establishment of sustainable safety oversight solutions;
6. Calls upon States, ICAO and industry to support the coordinated implementation of safety
management principles;
7. Calls upon ICAO to:
a) act as facilitator of safety information provided by the international community, and as the
responsible party for dissemination of safety intelligence, as appropriate;
b) develop a new Annex dedicated to safety management processes which would define the
safety management responsibilities of States under the SSP; and
c) identify actions which can be taken to reduce the burden for certificate holders to comply
with multiple sets of similar, yet different, requirements;
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d) continue to support the establishment of Regional Safety Oversight Organizations (RSOOs)
and explore the development of alternative solutions for situations where the establishment of
RSOO is not possible;
8. Calls upon States to demonstrate the political will needed to address aviation safety
shortcomings, including the creation, strengthening and, where necessary, participation in RSOOs;
9. Calls upon States, ICAO and industry to increase their efforts to further improve the
competencies and professionalism of aviation personnel;
10. Calls upon States and industry to closely coordinate with ICAO their safety initiatives to ensure
optimum benefits to global aviation safety and to reduce duplication in effort; and
11. Re-emphasizes the need for States, ICAO and industry to act effectively and in a timely fashion
on lessons learnt from accidents.
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