On the 12th December, 2012, the Civil Aviation (Amendment) Act
2012 (the "Amendment Act") received the assent of
Parliament. To date, no appointed day notice has been published in
the Gazette.
The long title of the Amendment Act provides that the purpose of
the amendment is to "establish measures for the organization
and designated responsibilities within The Bahamas for the
safeguarding of passengers, crew, ground personnel and the general
public against acts of unlawful interference with civil aviation
and for connected matters". The Amendment Act seeks to achieve
this by inserting into the principal Act a new Part VIA which
addresses security issues.
Under this new Part VIA, the Director of the Bahamas Civil
Aviation Department ("BCAD") is designated as the
appropriate authority for civil aviation in accordance with the
requirements of the Chicago Convention on International Civil
Aviation (the "Chicago Convention"). It also provides
that the Director has all
