[DRAFT] Convention on Civilian Aircraft

[Ameriva]

OOC: Resolution to be submitted after GAR #342 is repealed, link to the draft of my repeal is below.

IC:

Convention on Civilian Aircraft
Category: International Security | Strength: Mild | Proposed by: Ameriva

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The General Assembly,

NOTING that the civilian air travel industry is vital to the economies of many member states,

BELIEVING it is the duty of all nations to assure the operational safety of civilian aircraft,

UNDERSTANDING that some nations may attack refuse service to civilian aircraft during time of conflict solely based on their country of origin,
The General Assembly hereby,

DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution:
A civilian aircraft as an aircraft, whether private or commercial not operating under the direction of a nation's military or engaging in national security-related activities,
A tracking station as a ground-based flight service station offering communication and tracking to civilian aircraft within its designated area of control, for example through radar and radio or other methods,
Airspace as the space above ground-level, within the jurisdiction of a member nation, that aircraft have the capabilities to operate in,
Controlled Airspace as a piece of airspace being controlled by controller(s) of a tracking station,
Uncontrolled Airspace as a piece of airspace not under active control by controller(s) of a tracking station,

REQUIRES member nations to:

1. Establish one or more tracking stations across their jurisdiction, depending on the levels of civilian aircraft traffic in their airspace, and offer these services to civilian aircraft within the area of control of the station,

2. Offer Meteorological information, consisting of at least the direction and speed of winds in the area, the local air pressure, and any relevant inclement emergency warnings in the form of notices to airmen (NOTAM) to civilian aircraft on request,

3. Classify sections of their airspace as either controlled airspace, uncontrolled airspace, or prohibited airspace (in which civilian aircraft operation is prohibited) depending on, but not limited to traffic in the area, proximity to large airstrips, proximity to military bases, or other reasons,

4. Publish charts depicting controlled airspace and it’s upper and lower limits, uncontrolled airspace, any prohibited airspace in which civilian aircraft are not permitted to operate in, location of airstrips, methods to contact the tracking station(s) in charge of any controlled airspace, any obstacles in the area that could be relevant to civilian aircraft, and to make these charts available to operators of civilian aircraft,

5. Offer any assistance required by civilian aircraft declaring themselves to be in distress within the tracking range of the member nation, regardless of national origin of the civilian aircraft,

PERMITTING civilian aircraft operating in uncontrolled airspace to operate without being in contact with any tracking stations at their own risk, provided they have methods to announce their intentions to other aircraft in the vicinity, however,

ALLOWING nearby tracking stations to provide flight tracking services to aircraft in uncontrolled airspace on request, workload permitting and at the sole discretion of the controller(s) in charge of the tracking station,

AUTHORIZING controller(s) of tracking stations to deny a civilian aircraft entry into controlled airspace for any reason, unless the aircraft in question is in distress and requesting diversion to an airstrip within the area of control of the station,

FORBIDING member nations from taking military actions against any civilian aircraft without warning and permitting the aircraft to comply with the warning, such as broadcasting a warning to the aircraft, and then firing warning shots,

REASSURING the right of individual nations to ensure pilots and crews are trained and licensed adequately in operation of their specific type of civilian aircraft, and the right to refuse civilian aircraft that are not in active distress access to their national airspace,

ESTABLISHES the World Assembly Civil Aviation Authority (WACAA), and tasks it with working with member nations to improve the operational safety of civilian aircraft and deal with breaches of the resolution.

(Link to repeal: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=435933)

EDIT LOG:

N/A

[He Qixin]

OOC: Under your "DEFINES" section, I'd suggest listing those definitions using letters or numbers so that your proposal would look cleaner.

Another thing: I don't see why you wrote all your clauses down before you finally decide to establish a committee. I think you should put the committee clause in front of all your requirements (after the "DEFINES" clause). Or, if the stated committee isn't supposed to do all of your requirements and just what you listed in your committee clause, in my opinion, the committee clause constitutes a Committee-Only rule violation.

[Kenmoria]

"There needs to be a line break between the "UNDERSTANDING" and the "The General Assembly hereby," clauses."

[Tinfect]

UNDERSTANDING that some nations may attack refuse service to civilian aircraft during time of conflict solely based on their country of origin,

"Justifiably;" says Rahlen, interrupting Feren's attempt to head the Imperial delegation, "Foreign personnel, including ostensibly civilian elements, have no place within a Nation with which they are at war."

DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution:
A civilian aircraft as an aircraft, whether private or commercial not operating under the direction of a nation's military or engaging in national security-related activities,

"Is this definition intended to exclude non-military government-operated aircraft entirely, or is that merely an oversight?" Says Feren.

2. Offer Meteorological information, consisting of at least the direction and speed of winds in the area, the local air pressure, and any relevant inclement emergency warnings in the form of notices to airmen (NOTAM) to civilian aircraft on request,

"This... acronym, is unnecessary. It is used nowhere else within the draft."

3. Classify sections of their airspace as either controlled airspace, uncontrolled airspace, or prohibited airspace (in which civilian aircraft operation is prohibited) depending on, but not limited to traffic in the area, proximity to large airstrips, proximity to military bases, or other reasons,

"The Imperium objects to the concept of 'uncontrolled airspace'. Such is categorically unsafe, and the allowance of such areas to be created merely allows for certain unreasonable Member-States to eschew entirely the regulation of airspace."

5. Offer any assistance required by civilian aircraft declaring themselves to be in distress within the tracking range of the member nation, regardless of national origin of the civilian aircraft,

"The only assistance the Imperium will offer foreign aircraft illegally operating within our borders is direction to an unpopulated area in which they may crash without risk to Imperial Citizens, and be dealt with by Internal Security."

ALLOWING nearby tracking stations to provide flight tracking services to aircraft in uncontrolled airspace on request, workload permitting and at the sole discretion of the controller(s) in charge of the tracking station,

"The Imperium will not rescind safety and aerial control laws for any reason; the directors of tracking facilities may, under no circumstances have unilateral control over the operations of the facility. The Imperium will not allow basic safety laws to be undercut by the absurdities of a system seemingly designed by a Government for which the idea of aircraft appears to be a concept discovered mere moments ago."

AUTHORIZING controller(s) of tracking stations to deny a civilian aircraft entry into controlled airspace for any reason, unless the aircraft in question is in distress and requesting diversion to an airstrip within the area of control of the station,

"The Imperium will, at all times, hold the first, final, and only word, on what enters the Imperial Territories. The Directors of tracking facilities are neither qualified, nor authorized, to perform border control actions."

FORBIDING member nations from taking military actions against any civilian aircraft without warning and permitting the aircraft to comply with the warning, such as broadcasting a warning to the aircraft, and then firing warning shots,

"We will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the safety of the Imperial Citizenry; aircraft operating in violation of Imperial Law will be dealt with by whatever means are deemed appropriate, military if necessary. Personnel either so incompetent as to fail to fulfill flight regulations and directives, or so malevolent as to intentionally break Imperial laws cannot be allowed to place the Citizenry at risk; we see no reason to provide them the opportunity to cause damage in the interests of 'warning'." Says Rahlen, not bothering to move out from behind Feren. "Yes, she is correct; violations of Imperial Law are to be dealt with at the sole discretion of Internal Security, delays in such could have quite unfortunate consequences." Says Feren.

ESTABLISHES the World Assembly Civil Aviation Authority (WACAA), and tasks it with working with member nations to improve the operational safety of civilian aircraft and deal with breaches of the resolution.

"This organization is entirely unnecessary, and unwanted.

In any case, given that the repeal effort will not be supported by the Imperium, it should be needless to say that the Imperium has no interest in this pathetic, dangerous excuse for replacement legislation."

[Edreland]

"I agree with my colleague from Tinfect. The WACAA is a waste of funds. If you are serious about this proposal delegate those powers to one of the other ten thousand Assembly authorities that exist."

[The First German Order]

The representative of TFGO decides to speak. "We do not allow any aircraft in our airspace that is not operated by an airline or the government or owned by a high ranking government employee with the obvious exception being representatives or leader(s) of an allied nation's government. To add onto that, we refuse to let privately owned foreign civilian aircraft into our airspace even if they're in distress and especially if they're from a nation that we are at war with. Any that enter will be shot down without warning seeing as our borders are clearly marked on any map. Our controllers do not have and will never have the authority to allow a foreign aircraft to cross the border. And finally, the only assistance we will give to privately owned foreign civilian aircraft is directions away from our cities so as to not injury or kill any of our citizens during the crash. That's all I have to say." The representative sits down.

OOC: If a civilian aircraft flies over a military blacksite in a nation, I'm pretty sure they'll get no warning to go back seeing as they could then remember where they were last and then tell their buddies about that and then things start spiraling out of control.

[Araraukar]

OOC: I'm not sure how much I have to offer to this topic in IC, because Araraukarian mainland is no-fly zone (coastal islands are occasionally patrolled by their equivalent of coast guard/border control/search-and-rescue by planes or helicopters), which irks some of their neighbouring nations quite a lot, because the nation covers a whole subcontinent about 1.5-2 times the size of RL Indian subcontinent. And that's not something that's going to change anytime soon.

I'll have a more thorough look at this OOCly later.

[Grays Harbor]

Oddly enough, I am not having an issue with this draft overall.

[Alpha Cassiopeiae]

ESTABLISHES the World Assembly Civil Aviation Authority (WACAA), and tasks it with working with member nations to improve the operational safety of civilian aircraft and deal with breaches of the resolution.

"And this was going so well. If we must task this to a committee, can we not use the ITSC?

"The only assistance the Imperium will offer foreign aircraft illegally operating within our borders is direction to an unpopulated area in which they may crash without risk to Imperial Citizens, and be dealt with by Internal Security."

"The Imperium will, at all times, hold the first, final, and only word, on what enters the Imperial Territories. The Directors of tracking facilities are neither qualified, nor authorized, to perform border control actions."

"We will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the safety of the Imperial Citizenry; aircraft operating in violation of Imperial Law will be dealt with by whatever means are deemed appropriate, military if necessary. Personnel either so incompetent as to fail to fulfill flight regulations and directives, or so malevolent as to intentionally break Imperial laws cannot be allowed to place the Citizenry at risk; we see no reason to provide them the opportunity to cause damage in the interests of 'warning'." Says Rahlen, not bothering to move out from behind Feren. "Yes, she is correct; violations of Imperial Law are to be dealt with at the sole discretion of Internal Security, delays in such could have quite unfortunate consequences." Says Feren.

The representative of TFGO decides to speak. "We do not allow any aircraft in our airspace that is not operated by an airline or the government or owned by a high ranking government employee with the obvious exception being representatives or leader(s) of an allied nation's government. To add onto that, we refuse to let privately owned foreign civilian aircraft into our airspace even if they're in distress and especially if they're from a nation that we are at war with. Any that enter will be shot down without warning seeing as our borders are clearly marked on any map. Our controllers do not have and will never have the authority to allow a foreign aircraft to cross the border. And finally, the only assistance we will give to privately owned foreign civilian aircraft is directions away from our cities so as to not injury or kill any of our citizens during the crash. That's all I have to say."

"GAR #342 already requires nations to provide assistance to all aircraft in distress and warn civilian aircraft before taking military action."

"As to the Amerivan delegation, The Alliance will be closely looking at the debate, as I am not well-versed in this issue."

[Tinfect]

"GAR #342 already requires nations to provide assistance to all aircraft in distress and warn civilian aircraft before taking military action."

"Of course, Ambassador; did we not say that we would provide a measure of assistance? In any case, any foreign aircraft within the Imperial Territories are there in violation of Imperial Law, and as such, are committing a terrorist act. When the situation merits, the aircraft's crew should simply be pleased that they were not simply shot down."

[Akodia]

Wouldn't this be the responsibility of national organisations responsible for civil aviation such as the FAA?

[The First German Order]

Wouldn't this be the responsibility of national organisations responsible for civil aviation such as the FAA?

OOC: NS =/= RL

[The First German Order]

(see original post for full message)

The representative of TFGO decides to speak. "We do not allow any aircraft in our airspace that is not operated by an airline or the government or owned by a high ranking government employee with the obvious exception being representatives or leader(s) of an allied nation's government. To add onto that, we refuse to let privately owned foreign civilian aircraft into our airspace even if they're in distress and especially if they're from a nation that we are at war with. Any that enter will be shot down without warning seeing as our borders are clearly marked on any map. Our controllers do not have and will never have the authority to allow a foreign aircraft to cross the border. And finally, the only assistance we will give to privately owned foreign civilian aircraft is directions away from our cities so as to not injury or kill any of our citizens during the crash. That's all I have to say."

"GAR #342 already requires nations to provide assistance to all aircraft in distress and warn civilian aircraft before taking military action."

"As to the Amerivan delegation, The Alliance will be closely looking at the debate, as I am not well-versed in this issue."

The TFGO's representative decides to respond after thinking about the statement. "I have stated that we will provide assistance in the form of directions away from our cities." The representative goes back to reading over the proposal and others while making notes.

[Greater Free Oceania]

ESTABLISHES the World Assembly Civil Aviation Authority (WACAA), and tasks it with working with member nations to improve the operational safety of civilian aircraft and deal with breaches of the resolution.

Mikhail Illandrikov, the current Oceanian delegate to the World Assembly stands up; "As many others have stated," He says, "the creation of such an authority is... unnecessary, and will only serve to add an extra layer of bureaucracy to an already bureaucracy-choked organization such as the World Assembly; Might I suggest that we instead mandate the creation of national authorities to serve this purpose, assuming that such authorities do not already exist within the member-state in question?"

[Araraukar]

Wouldn't this be the responsibility of national organisations responsible for civil aviation such as the FAA?

OOC: NS =/= RL

OOC: FGO, I underlined the relevant bit of Akodia's post that you seemed to miss. They just used the FAA as an example of a national organisation reponsible for civil aviation. It could well exist in their RP reality too.

[The First German Order]

OOC: NS =/= RL

OOC: FGO, I underlined the relevant bit of Akodia's post that you seemed to miss. They just used the FAA as an example of a national organisation reponsible for civil aviation. It could well exist in their RP reality too.

OOC: Oh. That makes sense.