Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has taken a vigorous stance against pockets of opposition among its staff, who have since 2000 successfully blocked implementation of government aviation regulatory reform policy.
CASA chief executive Bruce Byron has removed the regulatory reform programme from the general body of the authority, and control of the programme from its legal services branch, and handed responsibility to a new planning and governance office reporting to the chief executive.
The first fallout has been the resignation of CASA’s recently appointed general manager of the manufacturing, certification and new technologies office, following the reversal of two pieces of legislation that CASA sources say changed fundamental regulation at the last minute, in a manner directly contrary to explicit government and CASA policy.
Byron last year visited the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and major European regulators, and he now intends to enforce government policy rigorously for outcome-based regulation justified by risk and cost-benefit analyses, replacing regulations under development with rules based on the EASA framework. Byron commissioned a comprehensive study by an industry/CASA “EASA team” of the agency’s regulatory structure. The team has submitted its initial report, and the programme to align with EASA is expected to be announced in early 2006.
PAUL PHELAN/CANBERRA
Source: Flight International
