[Peetwo]

Oliver addresses Forsyth R14 - In principle??

14. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority changes its regulatory philosophy and, together with industry, builds an effective collaborative relationship on a foundation of mutual understanding and respect. 

From off the CASA website today it would appear Oliver Skidmore Twist has been busy in recent days...
First Oliver's 10 philosophical (cough..cough ) regulatory commandments:

Regulatory Philosophy

Purpose
Consistent with CASA’s obligation to comply with the laws governing its regulatory activities, this statement of regulatory philosophy sets out the principles that guide and direct CASA’s approach to the performance of its regulatory functions and the exercise of its regulatory powers.

Fidelity to these principles will be reflected in CASA’s regulatory policies and practices, and will extend to the fullest extent possible to all aspects of CASA’s engagement with the wider aviation community.

1. CASA is committed to maintaining the trust and respect of the aviation community

CASA is committed to maintaining the trust of the Australian aviation community and regaining that trust where it has been shaken or compromised. CASA is likewise committed to fostering mutual respect between itself and the aviation community in every aspect of our engagement with members of that community.

2. Mindful of the primacy of air safety, CASA takes account of all relevant considerations, including cost

Although safety must always be CASA's 'most important consideration', this does not mean that safety is the only consideration CASA takes into account when performing its regulatory functions and exercising its regulatory powers. CASA is required to take all relevant considerations, including cost, into account.

Where reasonable alternative approaches to the fulfillment of a regulatory requirement-

• satisfy applicable legal requirements; and
  
• do not unacceptably compromise safety,
  
  

CASA will readily entertain such alternatives if they are proposed, and accept them in the absence of compelling reasons not to do so.

3. CASA takes risk-based approaches to regulatory action and decision-making

CASA will adopt a regulatory approach based on a sound assessment of the level of risk associated with particular aviation operations. In doing so, the highest safety priority will be afforded to passenger transport operations, and operations in which passengers and others exposed to higher levels of risk are not in a position to make informed judgements and effective decisions about the risks to which they are exposed.

4. CASA performs its functions consistently with Australia's international obligations

Except where a difference to a standard specified in an Annex to the Chicago Convention has been properly notified to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) by Australia, CASA will strive to ensure its regulatory requirements, policies and practices:

• are consistent with ICAO standards; and
  
• harmonise with best international regulatory practice, having particular regard to aviation jurisdictions with features similar to Australia's.
  
  

Harmonisation does not necessarily mean replication, and where it is appropriate to do so, CASA's regulatory requirements, policies and practices should reflect considerations that are distinctive to the Australian aviation environment.

5. CASA approaches its regulatory functions consultatively and collaboratively

CASA will develop and implement appropriate, and appropriately inclusive, consultative and collaborative policies and practices with a view to:

• understanding the nature and practical implications of existing and potential aviation safety issues and problems;
  
• deciding whether, and if so the extent to which, CASA should be involved in addressing such issues and problems; and
  
• identifying the most appropriate contributions CASA can make to addressing such issues and problems, recognising that a regulatory response will not always necessarily be the most appropriate contribution.
  
  

Correspondingly appropriate consultative and collaborative policies and processes will be developed to guide and direct the way in which CASA carries out its distinctive responsibilities (regulatory and otherwise) in addressing the aviation safety issues and problems in respect of which CASA's responsibilities have been identified.

6. CASA communicates fully and meaningfully with all relevant stakeholders

At every stage of the regulatory activities in which CASA engages-from contemplating the need to make a rule or impose a requirement, to the application of a rule or requirement-and to the fullest extent possible in the circumstances, CASA will ensure that everyone whose rights, interests and legitimate expectations will, or are likely to, be affected by CASA's contemplated actions has access to information and advice about:

• what it is CASA proposes to do;
  
• why CASA is proposing to do so;
  
• what considerations CASA has taken into account in forming its view on the matter to hand
  
• what alternatives (if any) had been considered and why those alternatives had been ruled out;
  
• what the effects of the proposed actions are expected to be; and
  
• what recourse is available to persons who are, or are likely to be, affected by the proposed action.
  
  

CASA will ensure that the information and advice it provides to the aviation community, generally and in individual cases, is:

• clear and concise, using plain language and concepts wherever possible;
  
• correct and complete, authoritatively informed and fully informative;
  
• responsive to the questions or issues to hand; and
  
• timely.
  
  

7. CASA fairly balances the need for consistency with the need for flexibility

CASA will consistently employ the same processes, and have regard to the same criteria, in all cases involving the consideration of particular facts and circumstances for the purposes of determining whether, and if so how, a regulatory requirement should be interpreted or applied in any given situation. In this way, everyone may be confident that they are receiving the same advice about the general meaning and application of any regulatory requirement.

CASA will also ensure that all relevant facts and circumstances peculiar to an individual situation have been fully and fairly considered on their merits, and will provide advice about, or decide the outcome of, a particular matter governed by a regulatory requirement on that basis. In this way, everyone may be confident that, within a regulatory framework that consistently employs the same processes and assesses facts against the same criteria, their individual circumstances will be fully and fairly considered.

8. CASA embraces and employs rational 'just culture' principles in its regulatory and related actions

CASA embraces, and encourages the development throughout the aviation community of, a 'just culture', as an organisational culture in which people are not punished for actions, omissions or decisions taken by them that are . commensurate with their experience, qualifications and training, but where gross negligence, recklessness, wilful violations and destructive acts are not tolerated.

Requiring a person to undertake further training and, where necessary in the interests of safety, to refrain from exercising the privileges of a relevant authorisation pending the successful demonstration of competence where deficiencies have been identified, shall not be regarded as discipline or punishment.

Appropriate polices will be developed and implemented to ensure the integrity of this approach, and to guard against any inappropriate punitive action by CASA, or disciplinary action by a service provider, in a manner inconsistent with this principle.

9. CASA demonstrates proportionality and discretion in regulatory decision-making and exercises its powers in accordance with the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice

CASA will seek optimal safety outcomes in the exercise of its regulatory powers. On that basis and to that end, CASA will ensure that its actions and responses are appropriate and proportional to the circumstances.

In the first instance, and in the absence of demonstrable safety-related reasons for doing otherwise:

• CASA will adopt an approach to regulatory compliance based on the encouragement of training and education, with a view to remedying identified shortcomings and correcting specified deficiencies.
  
• Where the interests of safety require that a person's aviation-related privileges need to be limited, curtailed or suspended pending the rectification of identified shortcomings or specified deficiencies (including the satisfactory demonstration of requisite levels of skill or competence), voluntary mechanisms to achieve those objectives will be developed and employed.
  
• Where it is necessary in the demonstrable interests of safety for CASA to exercise discretionary powers in order to achieve a specified safety-related outcome, CASA will employ the least intrusive and least disruptive means consistent with the achievement of that outcome.
  
• CASA will not utilise its discretionary powers to vary or suspend a civil aviation authorisation for punitive or disciplinary purposes, but only for purposes reasonably calculated to achieve specified safety-related objectives, including the protection of persons and property pending the satisfactory demonstration by the person whose privileges have been, or are to be, varied or suspended, that the shortcomings or deficiencies giving rise to CASA's action have been effectively addressed.
  
  

In determining whether and how to exercise its regulatory discretion in a particular matter, CASA will have regard to:

• the seriousness of the safety-related implications of the instance of noncompliance under scrutiny;
  
• mitigating or aggravating circumstances impacting on the appropriateness of the responsive regulatory action(s) contemplated;
  
• the history and background of the person whose acts or omissions are under scrutiny, in relation to that person's demonstrated ability and willingness to comply with regulatory requirements;
  
• the passage of time since the acts or omissions under scrutiny occurred, and when they were discovered by, or otherwise came to the attention of, CASA;
  
• the degree of responsibility of the individual(s) whose acts or omissions are under scrutiny;
  
• the effect on the wider aviation community (including the general public) and confidence in CASA’s administration of the civil aviation legislation in the interests of safety;
  
• the obsolescence or obscurity of the law;
  
• whether the a contemplated regulatory response would be perceived as counter-productive, for example, by bringing the civil aviation legislation or CASA into disrepute;
  
• the availability and efficacy of appropriate alternatives to a particular regulatory response;
  
• whether the consequences of the regulatory action contemplated would be unduly harsh or oppressive;
  
• whether the matter is one of considerable public concern;
  
• the actual or potential harm occasioned to an individual or the damage to property; and
  
• whether the person whose acts or omissions are under regulatory scrutiny is (or has been) willing to co-operate with CASA in the efforts to address the particular matter to hand and/or to address relevant safety-related issues more generally.
  
  

The applicability of and weight to be given to these and other factors will depend on the particular circumstances of each case.

Beyond its legal obligation to do so in most cases, in all cases in which CASA exercises discretion in determining whether, and if so to what extent, a requirement will be imposed on a person, except where the interests of safety prevent it or it is otherwise demonstrably impracticable to do so, CASA will afford persons affected, or likely to be affected, by a decision with an appropriate measure of procedural fairness and natural justice.

10. CASA has a legitimate, but limited, role in pursuing punitive action for breaches of the civil aviation legislation

CASA has a legitimate, but limited, role in the pursuit of punitive action against a person for alleged breaches of the civil aviation legislation. CASA will not pursue regulatory administrative action to vary, suspend or cancel a civil aviation authorisation for punitive purposes.

Again Oliver they are just your words, open to interpretation & with no legal head of power for your minions to comply with - for that to happen you will need to suggest to the Minister that there be an amendment to the Act

For example from our cousins across the ditch (courtesy AMROBA ASRR submission):

The objectives of the Minister under this Act are —

“(a) to undertake the Minister's functions in a way that contributes to the

aim of achieving an integrated, safe, responsive, and sustainable

transport system; and

(b) to ensure that New Zealand's obligations under international civil

aviation agreements are implemented.”

 vs

Australia: 3A Main object of this Act

“The main object of this Act is to establish a regulatory framework for

maintaining, enhancing and promoting the safety of civil aviation, with

particular emphasis on preventing aviation accidents and incidents.”

And Oliver just to help you out here is an example from AMROBA of how possibly to re-word Section 3A of the Act..

Recommendation 2: Amend 3A to read similar to the NZ Objectives: e.g.

a) CASA to undertake the government's functions in a way that contributes to the aim of

achieving an integrated, safe, responsive, and sustainable aviation system; and

(b) to ensure that Australia’s obligations under international civil aviation agreements are

implemented.

This announcement by Oliver was covered by Oz Aviation & Oz Flying

CASA DAS Mark Skidmore has been charged with implementing the recommendations handed down in the Forsyth Report. (CASA)

Skidmore issues Ten-point Regulatory Philosophy
16 Sep 2015

CASA Director of Aviation Safety Mark Skidmore has issued a ten-point regulatory philosophy in line with one of the key recommendations of the Forsyth Report.

Released today, the philosophy contains principles that CASA says will be reflected in the way policies and practices are implemented within the aviation community.

“We now have a clear and concise set of principles that will guide all our actions,” Skidmore said.

“It is vitally important every CASA person understands these principles, how they apply to the work they do and the need to ensure they adhere to them in practice.

“These principles will guide and direct the making and implementation of regulations, safety education and support, the delivery of regulatory services, operational surveillance and enforcement, as well as our consultation and communications.

“Where necessary, CASA will develop new policies and procedures to give meaningful effect to our regulatory philosophy.

“I am committed to ensuring these principles make a real, positive and lasting difference to the way CASA operates and way we interact with the aviation community."

The philosophy is in response to Recommendation 14 of the Forysth Report, which stated "The Civil Aviation Safety Authority changes its regulatory philosophy and, together with industry, builds an effective collaborative relationship on a foundation of mutual understanding and respect."

The ten basic principles are:

1. CASA is committed to maintaining the trust and respect of the aviation community
   
2. Mindful of the primacy of air safety, CASA takes account of all relevant considerations, including cost
   
3. CASA takes risk-based approaches to regulatory action and decision-making
   
4. CASA performs its functions consistently with Australia's international obligations
   
5. CASA approaches its regulatory functions consultatively and collaboratively
   
6. CASA communicates fully and meaningfully with all relevant stakeholders
   
7. CASA fairly balances the need for consistency with the need for flexibility
   
8. CASA embraces and employs rational 'just culture' principles in its regulatory and related actions
   
9. CASA demonstrates proportionality and discretion in regulatory decision-making and exercises its powers in accordance with the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice
   
10. CASA has a legitimate, but limited, role in pursuing punitive action for breaches of the civil aviation legislation
    
    

“I understand some people may be sceptical at first about how or whether these principles will make a practical change to the way we carry out our regulatory responsibilities," Skidmore said.

“To regain trust, we must earn that trust. We look forward to the opportunity to do just that, and I invite the aviation community to use CASA’s regulatory philosophy as a benchmark against which our performance is measured."

The ten principles including explanatory text is available on the CASA website.

This bit...

“To regain trust, we must earn that trust. We look forward to the opportunity to do just that, and I invite the aviation community to use CASA’s regulatory philosophy as a benchmark against which our performance is measured."

...err FCOL no comment??