Luanda – Angola may soon have a National Institute for Investigation and Prevention of Accidents and Incidents in Transport, within the scope of the Amendment to the Civil Aviation Law.
The Proposal to Amend the Civil Aviation Law, approved this Monday, in particular, by the competent committees of the Parliament, establishes the creation of an entity responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents.
According to the minister of Transport, Ricardo D'Abreu, this entity, called the National Public Institute for Investigation and Prevention of Accidents and Incidents of Angola will be created by Presidential Decree.
"It was established that the Government should create an entity that is responsible for carrying out the investigation of accidents and incidents in the transport sector, which includes the activity of civil aviation", he said.
According to the minister, the proposal under consideration aims to improve some deficiencies and make updates recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO acronym in English).
On the other hand, he said that the State is henceforth to have responsibility for civil aircraft, in the sense that they can only carry out operational activities when regulatory and supervisory matters are duly assured.
The change in the law aims to enshrine some of the provisions set out in the Chicago Convention - Convention on International Civil Aviation which, despite being ratified by the Angolan State in March 1977, has not been published.
The report mentions the enshrinement of fundamental issues, in the context of air navigation, such as prohibited zones, unmanned aircraft systems (drones), among others.
The minister of Transport noted that the law also ended up allowing the inclusion of this type of aircraft as a result of human and scientific development.
"Now we already have a provision that creates the obligation to regulate and supervise unmanned aircraft by the international civil aviation authority itself," he noted.
Within the scope of this Law Proposal, an assistance plan for victims of aviation accidents and their families should be created, structured and regularly updated.
