Our international partners

We engage with many members of the global aviation community, including with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other regulators.

This ongoing engagement is one of our roles and responsibilities under the Civil Aviation Act 1988.

Specifically, we want to:

• influence aviation safety standards
• advocate for rules that benefit Australian travellers and Australian industry
• respond in a timely manner to emerging opportunities and trends.

Our strategy

Our International Engagement Strategy 2023-25 has five objectives. They are:

• contributing to Australia’s significant role in ICAO. This is coordinated together with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, and Airservices Australia. Learn more about the participation.
• continuing to support the government’s aviation safety initiatives in the Asia and Pacific regions
• harnessing international safety intelligence for innovation and our oversight and surveillance
• establishing and reviewing appropriate mutual recognition arrangements
• working with collaboratively with other regulators on aviation safety matters.

CASA and ICAO

We are represented on 14 of the 18 technical panels established by the ICAO Air Navigation Commission. We chair the Flight Operations Panel and Personnel Training and Licensing Panel.

We also:

• provide the ICAO Rapporteur for the Initial and Continuing Airworthiness Panels and Operations Working Group of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Panel
• hold leadership roles in many of the other panels.

Our expertise on these groups and panels is a significant technical and leadership contribution to ICAO.

We also have members on panel working groups, task forces, study groups, and regional groups. This includes:

• the Asia/Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group (APANPIRG)
• Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG)
• associated subgroups such as the Asia Pacific Regional Aviation Safety Team (APRAST).

We have contributed to the development of ICAO’s State Safety Programme maturity level assessment tool over several years.

Cooperative arrangements and agreements

Bilateral arrangements and agreements allow us to form relationships and streamline regulatory processes with foreign counterparts.

These arrangements lead to benefits for the aviation industry, including:

• improved consistency of safety considerations
• supported and coordinated approach to regulation
• reduced regulatory costs.

We work with aviation regulatory authorities overseas to promote aviation safety and airworthiness of aviation products.

We have a number of agreements related to:

• certification
• maintenance
• transport cooperation.

You can find arrangements of interest to the aviation industry on our international partners page.

Regional cooperation

We take part in Australian Government bilateral programs to partner with Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific. These programs foster cooperation, learning, and sharing of best practices by working in partnership on common challenges in aviation.

We also take part in regional and global forums to promote safety culture, industry engagement and over-the-horizon scanning.