Service will consider these recommendations and will amend one of the appendixes of the ITU Radio Regulations. The Caribbean/South American Regional Air Navigation Meeting, held in Lima, October 5-28, approved a major overhaul of the air navigation plan for the two regions. The new plan calls for 118 regular and 25 alternate airports for international scheduled operations and a revised route structure of 127 routes in the upper airspace. For the first time, the South Atlantic area was given considerable attention, especially with regard to assignment of responsibility for air traffic control. The Committee on Aircraft Noise, which met in November, concentrated on redrafting all major portions of current ICAO noise standards for subsonic jet aircraft. The revised version, which includes the U.S.-advocated concept of employing the number of engines as a parameter, represents a major step toward the unification of U.S. and international standards. The Committee created a new working group, consisting of the United States, France, United Kingdom, and U.S.S.R., to work toward the development of noise standards for future supersonic transports. In line with the U.S. Presidential request that steps be taken to obtain international agreement on noise abatement for subsonic jet transport aircraft, the Committee held an informal discussion concerning plans of ICAO states to bring such aircraft, used on international flights, into compliance with ICAO noise limits. The discussion resulted in considerable indications that other ICAO states will follow the U.S. lead to achieve compliance with U.S. and ICAO noise limits for their subsonic jet transport aircraft by the mid 1980's. The Panel of Experts on the Lease, Charter, and Interchange of Aircraft in International Operations met in October to prepare a list of problems that arise when aircraft registered in one state are operated under lease, charter, or interchange by operators of another state; and to study alternative solutions in order to make recommendations to the ICAO Council. The Panel recommended that a solution calling for a new multilateral convention be studied by the Legal Committee, and that an amendment to the Chicago Convention concerning delegation of responsibilities under that Convention also be considered. Air Transport Activities At its sixth meeting, in August, the Statistical Panel reviewed the Secretariat's plan for an ICAO Yearbook of Statistics. It decided that integration of airlines' capacity and operational data on one collection form was not feasible because of the reporting workload involved and the problem of confidentiality of such data. It also decided to maintain, pending further study, the present requirement that nonscheduled operators who operate at least one aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 9,000 kilograms should report to ICAO through states. Panel also reviewed, and made improvements in, the reporting form and accompanying instructions for an experimental collection of airport financial statistics for the years 1976 and 1977. The The Panel of Experts on the Machinery for the Establishment of International Fares and Rates met for the first time in December. It made 14 recommendations for changes in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mechanism for the establishment of scheduled air fares, after finding 17 deficiencies. It recommended that existing IATA machinery be changed so that governments could participate in traffic conferences through representatives elected by the ICAO Assembly. When reviewing tariffs, ICAO states would be asked to give consideration to the interests of states whose airlines were not members of IATA. Regular discussions between IATA carriers and nonscheduled airlines on tariff policies would be encouraged by ICAO, and governments would be asked to provide compliance machinery for the enforcement of approved fares. Legal Activities The United States participated in a number of legal activities carried out during the year in Montreal. A Special Legal Subcommittee met in May to consider the possibility of consolidating the many instruments of the "Warsaw System" stemming from the 1929 Warsaw Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, which deals generally with airline liability for death or injury of passengers and damage to baggage. In October and November the Legal Committee examined the Special Subcommittee's recommendations. and decided that the ICAO Secretariat should prepare a "text of convenience" for comment by member states, since the time was not ripe for preparing a consolidated text. The Committee also reviewed proposed amendments to the 1952 Rome Convention regarding surface damage resulting from international carriage by air, and liability problems related to noise and sonic boom. Finally, the working group that has been developing a Russian language text of the Chicago Convention met in August and September. It completed the Russian text and prepared a protocol to bring the text into force. This matter is scheduled to be considered at a diplomatic conference held in conjunction with the 22nd ICAO Assembly in 1977. INTERGOVERNMENTAL MARITIME Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cape Verde, Gabon, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Jamaica, and Surinam joined IMCO during 1976, bringing the total membership to 101 full members and 1 associate member. Organization IMCO, which has its headquarters in London, continued to provide for cooperation among governments on regulations and practices in those technical areas affecting shipping in international trade. IMCO encouraged adoption of the highest practicable standards for maritime safety and efficient navigation. In addition, IMCO played an important role in developing and implementing international conventions abating marine pollution, particularly with respect to tanker operations and ocean dumping of wastes. A meeting of the ad hoc working group established by the IMCO Assembly in 1974 was called for February 1977 to study proposals to amend the IMCO Convention, inter alia to enable IMCO to perform additional functions in the marine environment if so requested by the Law of the Sea Conference of the United Nations. The work of IMCO is accomplished through different forums of the organization: the Assembly of all members, the Council of 18 members elected by the Assembly (soon to be increased to 24), and the committees --Maritime Safety of 16 elected members (soon to be increased to all members of the organization), and Marine Environmental Protection, Legal, and Technical Cooperation composed of all the members. Proposals developed in the committees are transmitted to the Council and then the Assembly for final approval. Assembly and Council The Assembly, which meets biennially, did not meet in 1976. The Council acted during the year for the Assembly on all matters, and in October conducted an extensive review of the 1976-77 biennium budget. This review indicated that the budget was satisfactory and that no changes were necessary since U.K. inflation was offset by the decline of the exchange rate of the pound. Maritime Safety A draft convention on fishing vessel safety was completed during 1976 and a conference on fishing vessel safety is scheduled for 1977. Although the United States does not believe there is a substantial need for a convention on this subject and questions the suitability of the draft that has been prepared, it will, nonetheless, participate in the scheduled conference. The United States also continued to participate in preparatory work for a conference in 1978 on standards of training and watchkeeping. This will set common internationally approved standards identifying the skills and knowledge required by the various members of a ship's crew, and would be the basis for more uniform manning standards for ships engaged in international trade. In addition, a large number of small but significant improvements in maritime safety were recommended by the Maritime Safety Committee. Ocean Pollution General substantive gains were made during the year toward resolving technical issues related to the 1973 Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, which is not yet in force. Due to the economic and technical complexity of the convention much work yet remains to be done. In September 1976, the contracting parties to the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter held their first consultative meeting under the auspices of IMCO, the designated secretariat. Legal Committee The IMCO Legal Committee held three 1-week meetings during 1976. The Committee considered a variety of subjects, including a possible new convention on liability for hazardous substances; extension of the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and 1971 Fund Convention to additional oils; wreck removal; and the regime of vessels in foreign ports. Diplomatic conferences were held in London, November 1-20, to adopt a new international convention on limitation of liability for maritime claims and to develop three related protocols to substitute special drawing rights (SDR's) for gold francs as units of account in the 1969 Civil Liability, 1971 Fund, and 1974 Athens Passenger Liability Conventions. All four instruments were adopted by the respective conferences. Although the United States participated actively in these conferences, it is not likely to sign or ratify the new limitation convention because of the very low limits of liability adopted. Technical Cooperation The Technical Cooperation Committee met twice during 1976 and continued to review the work of the IMCO Technical Cooperation Staff, which acts as an executing agency for UNDP-financed maritime projects. Progress on all ongoing projects was satisfactory, but approvals of some new projects were deferred because of funding difficulties in the UNDP. INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION During 1976, Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Surinam, and Comoros acceded to the ITU Convention, bringing total membership in the ITU at the end of 1976 to 152. Administrative Council The Administrative Council, of which the United States is a member, held its 31st session in Geneva, June 14-July 2, 1976. Considerable time was spent in reviewing the Secretary General's proposed budget for 1977 of 67.3 million Swiss francs, which represented a 34% increase over the previous year. Because of the strong opposition to this draft budget, the Council undertook a line-by-line review that resulted in reducing the assessment budget to 58.9 million Swiss francs, of which the U.S. share is approximately 7%. For budgetary reasons, the Council recommended postponing the World Administrative Radio Conference on the Aeronautical Mobile (R) Service from 1977 to 1978. The ITU membership subsequently was polled and accepted the recommendation. The Council's 30th session in 1975 had devoted a great deal of time to consideration of a report |