Part 108 to be implemented next January

THE NEW SA airfreight security code – Part 108 – is due to come into being in January next year, according to Bob Garbett, MD of Professional Risk & Asset Management, and president of the Business Aviation Association of Southern Africa (Baasa). This, he told FTW, was announced at an SA Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa) workshop last week by Captain Colin Jordaan, recently appointed SA commissioner for civil aviation and CEO of the authority. Said Garbett: “Jordaan told the meeting – well represented by all the appropriate bodies in the industry – that Part 108 would be in place by January 31, 2009. “The phasing-in programme was also announced. And, although Baasa recorded certain objections to this programme, we all fully supported the implementation of this code.” It will require all air cargo shipments leaving the country, and the agents handling them, to be identified and checked. And only once it is declared a “known cargo” and “known consignor” by the airline, can it be loaded onto a plane. Although issues like the cost of X-ray scanners have met with complaints from airfreight agents, Jordaan told FTW that the air cargo sector had nothing to fear from these regulations. He said: “I want to assure all organisations involved in the handling of air cargo that the introduction of these new regulations is not meant to stifle the growth of the sector, but to ensure that everything happens in an orderly fashion. “We can no longer afford to let things happen haphazardly because in the end we will all pay a heavy price in terms of aviation security.” The new regulations are in line with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) - to which SA is a contracting state. In terms of the Icao’s Annexure 17, “each contracting state shall ensure that security controls are applied to air cargo and mail, prior to their being loaded onto an aircraft engaged in passenger commercial air transport operations”. Icao also requires each contracting state “to ensure that operators do not accept air cargo or mail for carriage on an aircraft engaged in passenger commercial air transport operations unless the application of security controls is confirmed and accounted for by a regulated agent, or such consignments are subjected to appropriate security controls”. Also notable in the new regulations is a requirement that all organisations involved in the handling and transportation of air cargo will have to be approved and licensed by the Sacaa. They also require all staff employed to handle air cargo to be subjected to background checks and receive appropriate training.