[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 159 (Friday, August 16, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 66546]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16954]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 129


International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Program

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Suspension of policy statement.

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SUMMARY: On September 28, 2022, the FAA published a Policy Statement in 
the Federal Register that described policy changes to the FAA's 
International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program as well as 
clarification or restatement of prior policy to ``enhance engagement 
with civil aviation authorities (CAAs) through pre- and post-IASA 
assessment and to promote greater transparency.'' After receiving 
inquiries and questions about the changes described in that policy 
statement, the FAA is suspending implementation of the September 28, 
2022, Policy Statement while the agency reassesses the policy. The 
policy statement published March 8, 2013, remains active.

DATES: The policy statement published at 87 FR 58725 (September 28, 
2022) is suspended as of August 16, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rolandos Lazaris, Division Manager, 
International Program Division (AFS-50), Flight Standards Service, 
Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW, 
Washington, DC 20591; (202) 267-3719.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The IASA program is the means by which the FAA determines whether 
another country's oversight of its air carriers that (1) operate, or 
seek to operate, services to/from the United States using their own 
aircraft and crews, or (2) seek to display the code of a U.S. air 
carrier on any services, complies with safety standards established by 
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The published 
IASA results of a country's placement in Category 1 or Category 2 is 
the notification to the U.S. traveling public as to whether a foreign 
air carrier's homeland civil aviation authority meets ICAO safety 
standards. A Category 1 rating indicates that the civil aviation 
authority meets ICAO safety standards for these operations, and a 
Category 2 rating indicates that the civil aviation authority does not 
meet ICAO safety standards. The IASA program was established by a 
document published in the Federal Register in 1992. Subsequent 
published documents in the Federal Register notified of the program's 
evolution. These Federal Register documents are as follows:
     August 24, 1992--Established the FAA Procedures for 
Examining and Monitoring Foreign Air Carriers (57 FR 38342).
     September 8, 1994--Established the Public Disclosure of 
the Results of Foreign Civil Aviation Authority Assessments, through a 
three-category numbered rating system (59 FR 46332).
     October 31, 1995--DOT Notice Clarification Concerning 
Examination of Foreign Carriers' Request for Expanded Economic 
Authority, clarified the Department's licensing policy regarding 
requests for expanded economic authority from foreign air carriers 
whose CAA's safety oversight capability has been assessed by the FAA as 
conditional (Category II) or unacceptable (Category III) (60 FR 55408).
     May 25, 2000--Changes to the International Aviation Safety 
Assessment program removed the Category 3 rating and combined it with 
Category 2 (65 FR 33751).
     March 8, 2013--Changes to the International Aviation 
Safety Assessment program removed inactive countries (countries with no 
air carrier operations to the United States or code-shares with U.S. 
air carrier for four years and no significant interaction between the 
country's CAA and the FAA) from the IASA Category list (78 FR 14912).
    Through the IASA program, the FAA seeks continuous improvement to 
global aviation safety. As noted in the above-referenced policy 
statement of September 8, 1994, initial IASA assessments found that 
two-thirds of the assessed CAAs were deficient in meeting their safety 
oversight obligations under the Convention on International Civil 
Aviation.
    The September 28, 2022, Policy Statement (87 FR 58725) (now 
suspended) announced certain changes to the IASA program and provided 
clarification to other aspects of the IASA policy. Since that 
publication, the FAA and DOT have received inquiries and questions that 
warrant reassessment of those changes and clarifications, and an 
opportunity for public comment before they are adopted permanently. As 
noted above, the FAA is suspending implementation of the September 28, 
2022, Policy Statement while the agency reassesses the policy and 
considers public comments. Public comment is invited on the matters and 
issues described in the companion document published elsewhere in this 
issue of the Federal Register.

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Jodi L. Baker,
Deputy Administrator for Aviation Safety.
[FR Doc. 2024-16954 Filed 8-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P