By Rudy Pont, Air Safety Committee Chairman

We are happy to report that the Flemish government has agreed to support the draft proposals for the Royal Decree implementing a Just Culture at national level (https://bit.ly/2zCHve1), but we also call upon the political establishment to consolidate the advance arrangements between aviation authorities and the judiciary.

What needs to be done?

According to regulation EU 376/2014 on occurrence reporting in aviation, EU member states (and thus Belgium) need to comply with two requirements.

Firstly, they need a designated national “body” to oversee the application of Just Culture within the respective organisations (airlines, airports, ANSPs, maintenance providers…). Most countries have assigned this task to their National Aviation Authorities (or NAA – in Belgium: BCAA) which is logical. After all they are responsible for regulatory oversight and have the power to revoke an operating licence. Keep in mind that the regulation also foresees penalties that need to be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. (Art. 21)

Secondly, EU member states need to make advance arrangements between the NAA and the judiciary. So far, only a handful of countries have implement- ed this requirement although it is of prime importance to avoid criminalisation. Indeed, even if a company is bound by the regulation to apply a Just Culture, the judiciary (being an independent power) is not. This means that a prosecutor may decide to launch an investigation and eventually prosecute/ indict a pilot who was involved in an incident, that was already closed by his/her airline.

What is being done?

Currently, the first draft proposal covers the setup of a national body (“Orgaan/Organe Just Culture”) and describes the administrative procedures for appealing a company decision that disagrees with the provisions of the regulation. In other words: it provides a means of fighting a dishonest disci- plinary measure taken by the company.

In order to assist this body, the second draft pro- posal plans to organise a forum (“Platform/Plate- forme Just Culture”) composed of members of the AAIU (Aviation Accident Investigation Unit), BCAA, the safety managers of Belgian AOC holders, the Belgian Defense and Belgocontrol and staff/crew

representatives. The goal of this forum is to discuss Just Culture cases and formulate an expert opinion that can serve as advice to the national body. This is aligned with BeCA’s demand to have a so-called event review group – rather than a single-person – to decide on Just Culture matters.

What is still to be done?

Unfortunately, we have no news on the much needed advance arrangements with the judiciary. During the preparatory meetings, the justice cabinet, who appeared to be very knowledgeable about Just Culture, proposed to update the outdated criminal law (1936) on aviation matters. Furthermore, they suggested to assign two head prosecutors (one Dutch speaking and one French speaking) to attend the forum meetings, similar to the kitchen-table meetings in the Netherlands. Such a provision can be contained in a circular (“omzendbrief/circulaire”), but so far we haven’t seen such a directive.

BeCA’s position

BeCA hopes that the current proposals will be approved and come into effect shortly. Meanwhile we urge the political authorities to act quickly on the matter of advance arrangements, to protect open and honest safety reporting which enables learning and forms the basis of active safety management.