Brussels, 14/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - During the ICAO high level conference on aviation security held in Montreal from 12 to 14 September 2012, the EU confirmed its unshakeable support for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to combat the lack of security in the aviation sector. For the EU, the most important security issues concern security throughout the air cargo logistics chain, and recognition of controls between third countries.
As the European commissioner for transport, Siim Kallas, tweets: “the EU and ICAO have just pledged even closer cooperation in aviation security - an important step further in our relations”. A protocol of agreement had, moreover, already been signed between the two institutions in 2011, but generally speaking the ICAO rules are transposed into European legislation. The commissioner also affirms that the “EU supports ICAO to make considerable progress in global aviation security standards at its ongoing security conference”. The conference, which brings together the government representatives of the ICAO member countries, had in fact aimed at setting out recommendations on priorities in that field, and to face the existing or emerging threats in civil aviation.
The commissioner's chef du cabinet, Keir Fitch, who attended the conference, felt certain that the terrorist threat is far from disappearing from European skies and that civil aviation is “the target of choice”. Nearly two years ago, explosives had been discovered in the United Kingdom and in Dubai in packages travelling as air cargo from Yemen to the United States. Consequently, in Montreal, the EU called for “stronger international rules for air cargo security that protect consignments transported by plane through the entire supply chain”, saying: “This is an area where we cannot compromise on security because there is a proven and obvious threat”.
Also mentioning the mutual recognition between the United States and the European Union of air cargo controls, signed this year, Fitch said that that approach based on risk should be largely explored. He said the “benefits of having a good security-facilitation balance in terms of expedience, lower costs and taking a risk-based approach to optimise limited resources” is something he believed needed to be examined. (MD/transl.jl)