The databank of incidents involving ATC where a controller was named as a defendant before a court of law has been available now for several years. The content of the Databank was widened at the Santiago Conference, to include jurisprudence from cases involving ATCOs other than incidents and accidents. The information has been previously collated and maintained by the Israeli Association, and has been available on request from the Chairman of SC7.

With the introduction of the IFATCA web site it would be a logical development to have this information available there to facilitate easy access to all members. The data would be contained within a password-protected area on the site; the Office makes this password available to all members.

The fields of information available in each databank entry should consist of:

1. Country of incident;
2. Association;
3. Date of case;
4. Date of judgement;
5. Facts of case;
6. Central Issues

In the past the databank has also held contact details for the home Association, however as this data may change it is more logical that the Office in Montreal be named as the source for further information. They can then liaise with the Chairman of SC7 as and when necessary.

The easy availability of the databank would be of great assistance to MA’s requiring assurance that there have been previous cases that may be relevant to their own predicament. In order for this information to be as comprehensive as possible it should be stressed that MA’s must contribute information when it becomes available to them.

There is currently no policy with reference to the databank in the IFATCA Manual.

The databank of incidents should be maintained by IFATCA and be placed in a protected area on the IFATCA web site.

Requests for further information on a specific incident should be directed to the IFATCA Office.

Reference to the availability of the databank should be included in the IFATCA Manual.

It is recommended that the following reference to the Databank of Jurisprudence be inserted in the IFATCA Manual on page 4431 as section 3.4, paragraph 3.4.1.

3.4. Databank of jurisprudence

3.4.1 A databank of jurisprudence relating to legal proceedings involving ATCOs shall be maintained by IFATCA. The information in the databank will be made available to all Member Associations on request to the IFATCA Office.

The Reporting Form, shown as Appendix ‘B’ to this Working Paper, be included as an attachment in the IFATCA Manual.

IFATCA DATABANK OF JURISPRUDENCE REPORTING FORM

Please note your personal contact details will not be published.

Please return this form to: Chairman SC7 – IFATCA, 1255 University Street, Suite 408, MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada. HB3 3B6. (Fax +1 514 866 7612)

(Editor’s Note: A Central Data Bank of Jurisprudence was set up for IFATCA by SC7 in 1993/4. Although no specific policy had been established for this subject matter, before the Marrakech Conference, SC7 had maintained the Data Bank for use by IFATCA and its MAs. The following WP’s outline the development of the Data Bank and the format of the Questionnaires used to obtain information from MAs. The WP’s have been edited to abbreviate the information provided and remove duplication.)