ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs)

Diverse national rules and procedures increase the aviation safety risk of air transport considerably. Already in the beginning, the international community was aware of the fact that international civil aviation can operate safely and efficiently only if the States frame uniform rules and procedures to be followed by all performers. It is obvious that if a flight of an airline takes off at any point in the world, every concerned entity (not only the pilot-in-command) needs to be assured that during the overflight of national borders the aircraft and its flight crew will encounter adherence to uniform international rules (standards), order of traffic and procedures. This is the basic and paramount foundation of the operation of international civil aviation. The international regulatory framework is guaranteed by ICAO—in which the Council on the ICAO adopts the rules—generally known as the Standards and Recommended Practices. SARPs is a complex regulatory mechanism, which ensures uniform rules and provisions for the civil aviation industry worldwide.