Industry advised to bone up on Part 108 amendments

Following extensive criticism of the lack of awareness in the airfreight industry of the new amendments to the Part 108 security regulations, air cargo security specialist, Bob Garbett, MD of Professional Risk & Asset Management, has strongly recommended that members of the industry download the regulations from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) website, and familiarise themselves with them. “These Civil Aviation Regulations 2011 have extensive amendments,” he told FTW, “and it is essential that the air cargo industry should get to know them.” Although the amendments were originally due to become effective from January 1 this year, there has been a major delay in publishing the Part 108 regulations – many of which have been amended and changed through the CARcom process. According to Garbett, the delay was due to an unfortunate technicality in the new Aviation Act, which came into effect on March 31, 2011. “It is a requirement that all regulations must be available in two of our official languages,” he said. “And, although there were persuasive arguments put forward to the authorities to publish just in English, this was refused as not being lawful.” Now, the Afrikaans translation is expected to be completed by the end of April. However, Garbett added, it is difficult to judge this exactly, as there are many thousands of pages involved. He also noted that there would be a twomonth moratorium after promulgation, in which the application of the regulations may be introduced. For your information, Garbett has listed the most important changes and amendments. They are: * Background checks are now required every 24 months; * A consignment security declaration must now accompany each consignment delivered to an air carrier; * The regulated agent is now responsible to conduct random quality control, checks on known consignors; * Familiarisation training required is now six hours; * Tamper-evident packaging may be used; * There are detailed regulations covering the use of dogs, training of handlers and minimum competency requirements. These include explosivedetection dog assessors who must be affiliated to a Part 141 training organisation; * Standard air cargo security training is now divided into Level 1 and Level 2 only. Level 1 is for screeners and Level 2 for designated officials and deputy designated officials; * Maturing has been removed as a security control; * Existing cargo security screening equipment and new equipment (such as X-ray) prior to procurement must comply with the standards set out in the technical standards; * Instructors delivering standard air cargo security training must provide certified proof of training as a facilitator and assessor, as well as SA Quality Authority (Saqa) accreditation; * Labels must now contain the minimum information set out in the regulations; * Screeners must be certified under Part 110. A special point to note, Garbett stressed, is that maturing has been removed as a security control. “This,” told FTW, “is a result of international practice. It is not considered that maturing is sufficiently effective, and we agree. “We very strongly recommend that, if you are using maturing as a security control, you cease this practice. “The continued use of maturing would not only be irresponsible, but would almost certainly cause repudiation by liability insurers in the event of an incident – irrespective of the fact that it has not yet become law in South Africa.”