Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Regulations 1988
Direction — stop bars
Subsection 98 (1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) provides that the Governor‑General may make regulations for the Act and in the interests of the safety of air navigation.
Under subregulation 99AA (5) of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 (CAR 1988), CASA may give directions or instructions about the use of a class of airspace, a controlled aerodrome, a control area or a control zone by an aircraft engaged in either, or both, V.F.R. and I.F.R. flights.
Stop bar lighting is prescribed in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 14 for low visibility operations and is in use at many international airports. Melbourne Airport is the first Australian airport to install stop bar lighting to enhance low visibility operations at the airport. The installation of stop bars, together with other new facilities, will allow landings and take‑offs to take place in low visibility conditions where otherwise extensive delays would occur. In addition to facilitating low visibility operations, stop bars are considered a valuable defence against aircraft inadvertently entering a runway without Air Traffic Control (ATC) clearance.
Stop bar operations require no special equipment in aircraft but merely require the pilot of an aircraft to stop and hold at a lit stop bar and to only proceed when ATC gives the appropriate verbal instruction and switches off the stop bar. However, there are no regulations requiring compliance with stop bar operations in Australia and this direction is to ensure that aircraft operating in Australia comply with the ICAO standard.
Legislative Instruments Act
Under subparagraph 6 (d) (i) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA), an instrument is a legislative instrument for section 5 of the LIA if it is declared to be a disallowable instrument under legislation in force before the commencement of the LIA. Under subregulation 99AA (6A) of CAR 1988, a direction under subregulation 99AA (5) that is not given by means of a Civil Aviation Order is a disallowable instrument for section 46A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. The direction is, therefore, a legislative instrument and it is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of the LIA.
Consultation
Consultation under section 17 of the LIA has been undertaken. Melbourne Airport has consulted with local airport users and the broader aviation community in the Victoria/Tasmania region via the Regional Airspace and Procedures Advisory Committee (RAPAC). Airservices Australia will also be notifying the aviation industry via an Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) Supplement and covering letter.
The instrument comes into effect on the day after it is registered.
The direction has been made by a delegate of CASA in accordance with subregulation 7 (1) of CAR 1988.
[Instrument number CASA 466/07]