By Toby McIntosh
Agendas and meeting summaries provide only limited transparency unless the documents discussed and the agreements reached are also disclosed.
This significant relationship was demonstrated recently by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which released the summaries of 12 Council meetings, but few of the relevant documents, including one climate change.
ICAO’s meeting summaries, usually four pages long, regularly refer to many documents that are not available before or after the Council meetings. In addition, the meeting agendas, published a day or so before each Council meeting, list the relevant “documentation” for each discussion item, virtually all nonpublic.
The issuance of Council agendas and summaries was major step forward by ICAO that. began in late 2020. (See EYE article.) They are viewable on this ICAO web page. The latest batch of summaries were released 2-4 weeks after each meeting. Twelve meetings were held during the Council’s 222nd Session, held virtually between Jan. 20 and March 19. Although the Council has approved the idea of live-streaming sessions on a “case-by-case” basis, all of meetings were closed. ICAO issued an eight-paragraph press release at the conclusion of Council session.
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Key Climate Change Decision Not Documented
Despite the advance represented by the publication of agendas and summaries, the overall effect on transparency is limited by the lack of access to documents. This opaque effect is demonstrated by a decision apparently made in the final Council meeting on March 19, concerning climate change.
ICAO’s response to climate change is known as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
A formal review of CORSIA is scheduled for 2022 and the Council discussed the scope of the review, known as The “Terms of Reference” (ToR), based on a report the Committee on Aviation Environment Protection (CAEP).
On page 3 of the summary, it states that the Council:
a) noted the proposed structure, process and methodology for the 2022 periodic review of CORSIA, and CAEP’s views on its possible technical and analytical contribution, as presented in C-WP/15157, and the views expressed in the Oral Report of the Chairperson of the Advisory Group on CORSIA;
Two paragraphs later, the summary says the Council:
c) approved the Terms of Reference for the 2022 periodic review of CORSIA as attached to the Oral Report of the Chairperson of the AGC;
The “Terms of Reference,” however, are not available. Nor is the “oral report.” (Oral reports can be only oral, or oral with a written text that the presenter either reads out or summarizes.)
The March 22 press release about the Council meeting contains one sentence about of the CORSIA ToR agreement:
The Council also launched the first periodic CORSIA Review that will recommend possible improvements and adjustments to the implementation of the CORSIA scheme for consideration at the 41st ICAO Assembly scheduled for 2022.
EYE has asked ICAO ‘s press office for the ToR document, but has received no reply.
The same lack of access exists for the many of the proposals, reports and approved documents referred to in the agendas and summaries.
However, the text of several decisions were appended to the summaries. One was a “Declaration On Improving Gender Representation In ICAO’s Governing And Technical Bodies.” Another was text of “The CORSIA Sustainability Criteria Applicable for Batches of CORSIA Sustainable Aviation Fuel Produced by a Certified Producer on or After 1 January 2024.”
In addition, come Council actions will result in amendments being made to ICAO documents, for example, by approval the Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) “Phase III High-level Cover Document (HLCD), including the two revised and six additional recommendations, as well as the third edition of the associated documentation, “Take-off Guidance for Air Travel through the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis” (TOGD).”
The summaries very occasionally make oblique note of differences of opinion, but without mentioning Council members or the countries they represent. For example, the March 19 summary states that the Council:
took note of residual concerns expressed by some Representatives and the Secretary General as to aspects of the text of Appendices G, H and I, but notwithstanding these concerns, also took note that the majority of Representatives had indicated their support for the adoption of the Appendices;
Transparency Discussions Continuing
Some potential moves on transparency are hinted at in the meeting summary of the 11th session, which says that the Council “agreed that access to information by external stakeholders should be enhanced and facilitated.”
The Council also requested the Secretariat, “in consultation with the President of the Council, to continue the efforts to increase the visibility of the work of the Council on the ICAO public website as well as to explore options for even more user-friendly access to relevant information.”
The summary indicates that agendas sent to the members have hyperlinks to the relevant Council documentation, “thus facilitating efforts to work in a paperless environment.”
The summary also shows there was a discussion about forming an ICAO Industry Consultative Forum (ICF) and that the first session will be held in late May or early June. Few other details are disclosed.
One key decision by the Council, was the election of Juan Carlos Salazar of Colombia as Secretary General of ICAO for a period of three years, from Aug. 1, 2021 until July 31, 2024.
During an interview posted on ICAO TV and another an interview with eturbonews.com, Salazar mentions transparency briefly in connection with plans for a “digital transformation” project for ICAO.
