Civil Aviation Amendment Draft Bill, 2016

The Department of Transport has published the draft Civil Aviation Amendment Bill for public comment, and is asking you to comment.

The Bill seeks to amend the Civil Aviation Act, 2009, so as to:
• replace “Director” with “Chief Executive Officer”;
• amend certain and insert new definitions;
• rectify references to certain Ministries and Government Departments;
• remove unnecessary words;
• amend Chapter 4 of the Act so as to make provision for the operational independence of the accident and incident investigation;
• rectify the provision regarding the establishment of the South African Civil Aviation Authority;
• give the South African Civil Aviation Authority environment oversight function;
• do away with the requirement for the development of a corporate government plan;
• amend the provisions relating to the appointment and removal of the Chief Executive Officer of the South African Civil Aviation Authority and matters related to his or her functions and responsibilities;
• provide for the appointment of Acting Chief Executive Officer;
• provide for the designation of Chairperson of the National Aviation Security Committee;
• authorise the Minister to issue exemptions;
• provide for additional offences;
• provide for additional enforcement mechanisms;
• extend the powers of the Minister to make regulations;
• dispense with the establishment of consultative structures.

Comments can be emailed to Mr Levers Mabaso and Ms Moloko Machaka at [email protected] by no later than Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Enquires can be directed to Mr Levers Mabaso on tel (012) 309 3385 or Ms Moloko Machaka on tel (012) 309 3676

Background
The Civil Aviation Act, 2009 (Act No. 13 of 2009) (“the principal Act”), provides for the establishment of the Aviation Safety Investigation Board, a juristic body vested with the powers to investigate aircraft accidents and incidents in South Africa. The principal Act also establishes the South African Civil Aviation Authority, an authority vested with the powers to promote civil aviation safety and security. The principal Act was enacted in 2009 to consolidate the various pieces of legislation dealing with the regulation of civil aviation which existed at the time. Following the implementation of the principal Act it became evident that certain provisions thereof were hampering the full operation of the Act. Most provisions of Chapter 4 of the principal Act were never promulgated due to various reasons, one of which was the practical difficulties in the establishment of the entity, the Aviation Safety Investigation Board (“ASIB”), which is established by the Chapter. As a result of this, the full establishment of the ASIB was never achieved.