Brussels, 23/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - Greater international cooperation on aviation safety issues is on the cards after the first meeting, on 21 September 2011, of the joint committee set up under a Cooperation Memorandum between the European Union and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) signed in May 2011. At the meeting, the agreement came into force, although it still needs to be discussed by the European Parliament. This is the first step towards greater cooperation between the two bodies on aviation safety through the collation, exchange and analysis of information. Plane accidents have a number of causes, which are often highly complex and difficult to discern, but tend to be a series of interconnected events rather than a single problem. Similar types of accident occur around the world, but do not always lead to passenger or crew deaths. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre explains that the causes of aviation accidents are complex to understand. Rather than a single failure, they are usually caused by a sequence of interconnected events. Often a similar event has already occurred somewhere else in the world without causing an accident, and understanding the links between small events that can lead to an accident, and analysing all the incidents, failings and other occurrences in daily operations (known as the precursors) is crucial for preventing further accidents. For this reason, under the cooperation agreement, the European Commission pledges to promote the use of the ICAO categories for the reporting of aviation accidents and incidents, whereas the ICAO will promote the use of the software used by the European Centre for the Coordination for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS). (MD/transl.fl)