Aviation community consultation

CASA's regulatory development process as it involves the SCC

Updated in June 2009

Any person or organisation, including the Standards Consultative Committee (SCC), its subcommittees and members, can recommend that CASA consider making new or amended regulations or advisory material. Once a recommendation is accepted by CASA to proceed to the regulatory development/project stage, CASA will ask the SCC to nominate industry members to staff the CASA/industry team established to develop the regulations and any related advisory material*. The SCC can also recommend what priority should be given by CASA to the project.
The CASA/industry project team is accountable for ensuring that the regulatory policy and framework principles set out in CASA CEO Directive 1/2007 are respected, including the conduct of appropriate risk assessments and cost/benefit analyses. The team will provide briefings to the relevant SCC subcommittees (and the full SCC if appropriate) to keep them up-to-date on project developments and seek their comments and advice on specific issues.
If necessary, the CASA/industry project team will develop a Discussion Paper (DP) setting out the issues and possible solutions and asking for industry views on the issues.
If a DP is developed, it will be pre-released to the SCC and relevant subcommittees for comment, before it is published for broader industry and public comment.
After completing its research and analysis and considering all input received, the CASA/industry project team will develop a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) describing the new or amended policies that are being recommended to address the safety issue or gap that gave rise to the project. Where new or amended standards are being recommended, a Notice of Proposed Change (NPC) will be developed*. Where new or amended advisory material (e.g. CAAPs, ACs, AMCs, GM) is being recommended, draft publications or amendments will be produced by the project team.
NPRMs and NPCs will be pre-released to the SCC and relevant subcommittees for comment, before they are published for broader industry and public comment. Draft advisory material is also made available to the SCC for comment before it is approved and published (see below).
Legal drafts of regulations prepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing (OLDP), or in the case of Orders by CASA Legal Services Group (LSG), will not be included in the NPRMs, but will be circulated to the SCC and relevant subcommittees for comment when they are made available by OLDP and LSG. Related advisory material (CAAPs, ACs, AMCs, GM) will normally be developed simultaneously with the new or amended regulations (unless obviously not required) and made available for comment at the same time as the draft regulations are circulated. [Note: Industry groups and members not represented on the SCC may also be consulted on the draft regulations and advisory material.]
The CASA/industry project team will consider all consultation comments received and develop a Notice of Final Rule Making (NFRM) or, in the case of new or amended standards, a Notice of Final Change (NFC)*. The NFRM or NFC will contain a Summary of Responses (SOR) that describes the comments received and CASA's considered response. In the case of regulations, NFRMs will contain the final draft regulations prepared by OLDP. In the case of orders, the NFRM will contain the final legal text prepared by LSG. NFCs will contain the final standards drafted by LSG.
NFRMs and NFCs will be pre-released to the SCC and relevant subcommittees for comment before they are published.
Up until June 2009, for new CASR Parts, a Regulatory Advisory Panel (RAP) was convened to consider the NFRM, final draft regulations and associated material before they were submitted to CASA's Director of Aviation Safety for approval. After the Director considered the RAP's report and approved the regulations, the NFRM was published and the regulations forwarded to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development & Local Government for approval and forwarding to Executive Council (EXCO) for making. (Please note: This RAP function – performed under CEO Directive 003/2006 – is no longer carried out).

* For minor, editorial and housekeeping amendments, CASA/industry project teams are not likely to be established and CASA will not publish NPRMs/NFRMs or NPCs/NFCs. CASA will, however, usually notify the SCC and relevant subcommittees of the amendments before they are formally published.