Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) is proposing to update its safety management system (SMS) regulations to adopt performance-based requirements and align them with ICAO-recommended standards and practices, as well as other international standards. However, the update will not extend SMS applicability requirements to Canadian air taxi and charter operators under CAR 703 and 704.
Currently, Transport Canada SMS requirements apply only to private operators (CAR 604), airlines (CAR 705), airports of specific sizes, and certain approved maintenance organizations. In its proposal, TCCA said that extending the application of SMS requirements to all commercial operators will be the subject of a separate proposal, the timeline of which hasn’t yet been established.
Canada’s existing SMS regulatory framework began in 2005 and “while safe and generally effective,” Transport Canada said it “increasingly recognizes its current framework is contending with areas for improvement and lessons learned in the time since SMS implementation.” For one, the framework’s basic structure creates challenges for industry compliance and inspector oversight because many requirements “lack alignment in their scope and description.”
For another, the existing regulations exclude Canadian aviation design and manufacturing organizations that are increasingly subject to SMS requirements in export contracts. Comments on the proposal are due by March 4.