Regional Safety Oversight Cooperation System (SRVSOP)

The Regional Safety Oversight Cooperation System (SRVSOP) is responsible for providing technical assistance to participating states, aiming to overcome the challenges of safety oversight by providing studies and support for standards and practices recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adoption.

The system also contributes to necessary adjustments implementation in accordance to recommendations made under ICAO’s Universal Operational Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP).

The SRVSOP’s guiding principle is compliance with the operational safety provisions of the International Civil Aviation Convention and its Annexes, in conformity with ICAO’s USOAP Program.

The objectives of SRVSOP are:

- Participate in ICAO’s USOAP by providing teams of qualified auditors;

- Recommend, to the audited participating States, the necessary corrective actions to improve operational safety arising from audit observations;

- Improve the operational safety level in the region; and

- Promote among the participating States and in coordination with ICAO, standards and operational procedures harmonization and updating.

In the Regional System scope, efforts are concentrated on the fulfillment of its operational safety surveillance responsibilities to establish a civil aviation environment in which uniform levels of operational safety, compatibility of norms and operational standards and, consequently, facilitating exchanges in the region are achieved.

In its first moment of operation, SRVSOP’s focus would be on the standards and recommended practices of Annexes 1, 6 and 8 to the Chicago Convention, observing the provisions of the related texts (DOC Series) published by ICAO.

To the initial objectives of SRVSOP, were added a set of new attributions of:

- Promote the adoption of harmonized standards and procedures among its Member States;

- Encourage the adoption of cooperation agreements between the Member States for certification mutual recognition of approved maintenance and personnel training and education organizations;

- Develop and hold training seminars for Member States managers and technicians;

- Recommend actions to Member States in order to address any non-compliances identified by USOAP;

- Advise Member States in fulfilling their operational safety oversight obligations; and

- Promote the overall safety levels improvement in the region.

 The history of SRVSOP

The UNDP/ICAO Regional Project RLA/95/003 on the Development of Continued Airworthiness and Aircraft Operational Safety in Latin America, established in 1995, aimed the assistance to Latin American countries to improve their regulatory and administrative systems related with continued airworthiness, operational safety and personnel licensing.

Under this Project, work was carried out on regulatory harmonization and inspectors and specialists from regional civil aviation authorities training. In June 1996, the participants of the Fifth Meeting of South American Civil Aviation Authorities (held in Cusco, Peru) considered that the activities developed under Project RLA/95/003 were a first step towards the creation of a multinational system in the region for operational safety surveillance. This system would have the purpose to maintain the achievements of the RLA/95/003 Project and develop an enabling environment to achieve operational safety uniformity within the South American region (SAM Region) at the highest possible level. In this context, authorities started negotiations with ICAO to study the feasibility of such an organization and, if so, to take the necessary steps for its establishment.

XII LACAC Ordinary Assembly Resolution A12-4, held in Panama, in November 1996, sought to encourage member States to support the creation of a multinational system in the region, whose objective would be to unite States efforts to solve needs and overcome new challenges related to operational safety surveillance responsibilities fulfillment. These responsibilities had a special focus on USOAP.

In response to these demands, within Project RLA/95/003 scope, LACAC promoted the formation of a experts group to analyze the institutional aspects involved in creating a body to monitor operational safety in region.

Based on this group conclusions, LACAC took steps with ICAO, which culminated with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 1, 1998. This MoU promoted the SRVSOP establishment with regulated procedures, organization and operation to be agreed by the countries of the System.