17 Aug 2021

The Aviation Security Bill, which seeks to improve the aviation law and align it with international standards has passed in Parliament without amendments.

The act provides for insertion of a new provision, which deals with a request for special protection of an aircraft as per International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (CIAO)standards relating to the security requirement.

The CIAO standards mandate contracting states to ensure that requests from other contracting states for additional security measures in respect of specific flights were met.

The act also provides for the establishment of membership functions and meetings of the National Air Transport Facilitation Committee (NATFC), which is established for purposes of coordinating facilitation activities between departments’ agencies and other organisations for various aspects of civil aviation operation within the country.

Furthermore, the Act provides for the establishment of an aerodrome facilitation committee and for the committee to stand alone from national air transportation committee.

Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Thulagano Segokgo, recently stated that Botswana as a contracting state to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (CICA) was committed to high aviation security standards and international best practices of service facilitation, hence aviation security remained government’s top priority.

He stated that it was important to note that the International Civil Aviation Organisation periodically introduced new standards.

In that regard, he said the contracting states were obliged to comply with new standards as set out at the Chicago Convention which underpinned most of the founding principles of the international aviation framework.

Minister Segokgo said Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB), as a statutory body played an advisory role to government on all issues relating to civil aviation as well as the country’s obligations to international aviation conventions.

He said the Aviation Security Act was last amended in 2011, which meant nine years elapsed without incorporation new ICAO requirements. ENDS