Cabinet approves Sri Lanka’s accession to new civil aviation protocol

The Cabinet of Ministers last week approved entering into to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) related to the amendment to the Convention on International Civil Aviation originally signed in 1984.

Sri Lanka has been a longstanding member of the Convention. The 25th General Assembly meeting convened on 10 May 1984 approved the amendment of the Chicago Convention to prevent the use of weapons by member States against civil aircraft during flight. 

The said amendment has been in force since 1 October 1998 and a committee was appointed to make recommendations regarding Sri Lanka’s accession to the protocol related to the said amendment (Article 3 bis) to the Chicago Convention.

The committee has recommended that there is no hindrance to Sri Lanka accessing the aforementioned protocol, given that Article 3 bis is already incorporated into the schedule of the Civil Aviation Act No. 14 of 2010. 

The proposal presented by the Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to enter the MoU was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting on Monday.