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DAS DIRECTIVE
Records Manager - D15/462765
01/2016
DAS Directive No. 1/2015 1 of 3
DAS DIRECTIVE – 01/2015
Development and Application of Risk- Based and
Cost- Effective Aviation Safety Regulations
Date of Directive: 29 May 2015
Directive No: 01/2015
Issue No: 2
Date Revised: 28 January 2016
Directive
This Directive reaffirms CASA’s commitment to ensure that regulatory changes are justified
on the basis of safety risk and do not impose unnecessary costs or unnecessarily hinder
participation in aviation and its capacity for growth.
It also extends the principles underlying this commitment to the application and
administration of the regulations by CASA, to the fullest practicable extent consistent with the
interests of safety.
DAS Directives
01/2015
DAS DIRECTIVE
Records Manager – D15/462765
01/2016
DAS Directive No. 1/2015 2 of 3
Guiding Principles
Development of Aviation Safety Regulations
• Aviation safety regulations must be shown to be necessary. They are to be
developed with a view to addressing known or likely safety risks that cannot be
addressed effectively by non-regulatory means alone.
• Consistent with CASA’s obligations under the Civil Aviation Act and other
Commonwealth laws and Government policies, every proposed regulation must be
assessed against the contribution it will make to aviation safety, having particular
regard to the safety of passengers and other persons affected or likely to be affected
by the activity involved.
• If a regulation can be justified on safety-risk grounds, it must be made in a form that
provides for the most efficient allocation of industry and CASA resources.
Regulations must not impose unnecessary costs or unnecessarily hinder levels of
participation in aviation and its capacity for growth.
• Aviation safety regulations should conform to the framework for the classification of
aircraft operations, and align with other standards and practices, adopted by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), unless differences are necessary to
address particular features peculiar to the Australian aviation environment and
those differences can be justified on safety-risk grounds. On the same basis, the
aviation safety regulations should be consistent with international best practice, as
reflected in the standards and practices of other leading aviation countries.
• Recognising that international standards and practices vary, CASA will align its
regulations with those that effectively address identified safety risks in the most costeffective
manner.
• Where it is appropriate to do so, aviation safety regulations are to be drafted to
specify intended safety outcomes. Where known or likely safety risks cannot be
addressed effectively utilising an outcome-based approach (in whole or in part), more
prescriptive requirements will be specified.
• In developing aviation safety regulations, CASA must consult appropriately with
industry in an open and transparent manner ensuring that all communication is clear,
timely and effective.
• Subject to the applicable drafting requirements, CASA will strive to ensure aviation
safety regulations are drafted as clearly and concisely as possible.
• Where practicable, aviation safety regulations should be developed within a three-tier
framework, comprising the Civil Aviation Act, the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations
and Manuals of Standards.
• Supportive advisory and guidance materials, including other acceptable means of
compliance with regulatory requirements, will be promulgated and disseminated in
conjunction with new and amended regulations, having regard to the time when
compliance with new or amended regulations will be required.
DAS Directives
01/2015
DAS DIRECTIVE
Records Manager – D15/462765
01/2016
DAS Directive No. 1/2015 3 of 3
Application of Aviation Safety Regulations
• In accordance with the Civil Aviation Act, the safety of air navigation is the most
important consideration for CASA in performing its functions and exercising its
powers.
• Consistent with that obligation, the principle of legality and the explicit requirements of
the civil aviation legislation in any particular case, CASA must always have regard to
all relevant considerations when exercising discretionary powers, including the cost
and other burdens involved in the application of regulatory requirements.
• This cannot and does not mean that CASA must demonstrate that, in exercising its
discretionary powers under the regulations in any given case, it has adopted or will
adopt a course of action involving the lowest cost to, or least adverse impact on, the
person or persons affected by that action.
• What it does mean is that, where a person who is or will be affected by CASA’s
exercise of discretionary powers under the regulations convincingly demonstrates,
on evidence, that:
- the same safety outcome contemplated by the applicable regulatory
requirement can be achieved on another, more cost-effective and/or otherwise
less onerous basis;
- the person is able and willing to adopt and give meaningful effect to that
alternative approach to compliance;
- the alternative approach proposed can be implemented fully and effectively in
a timely fashion, having regard to the interests of safety;
- the adoption and implementation of such an alternative approach by CASA
would not involve unreasonable additional oversight or administrative
responsibilities on CASA’s part; and
- no other persons would be adversely or unfairly affected by the adoption of
that alternative approach,
CASA will entertain a reasonable proposal for the adoption of another approach and,
in the absence of good reason not to do so, CASA will adopt such an alternative
approach.
Signed
Mark Skidmore AM
Director of Aviation Safety
Date: 28 January 2016