Aeronautics Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. A-2)

Air Carrier and Aerodrome Assessments

Marginal note:Assessment

4.86 The Minister may conduct aviation security assessments outside Canada of air carriers that operate or intend to operate flights to Canada or of facilities relating to the operations of those air carriers.

Verifying Compliance and Testing Effectiveness

Marginal note:No offence

4.87 A person authorized by the Minister to verify compliance with aviation security regulations, security measures, emergency directions or interim orders, or to test the effectiveness of equipment, systems and processes used with respect to aircraft, aerodromes and other aviation facilities, does not commit an offence if the person commits any act or omission that is required in the course of any such verification or testing and that would otherwise constitute a contravention of an aviation security regulation, a security measure, an emergency direction or an interim order.

General Regulatory Powers

Marginal note:Regulations respecting aeronautics

4.9 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting aeronautics and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations respecting

• (a) the accreditation or licensing of

  • (i) flight crew members, air traffic controllers, operators of equipment used to provide services relating to aeronautics and other persons providing services relating to aeronautics, and

  • (ii) persons engaged in the design, manufacture, distribution, maintenance, approval, certification or installation of aeronautical products and the installation, maintenance, approval and certification of equipment used to provide services relating to aeronautics;

• (b) the design, manufacture, distribution, maintenance, approval, installation, inspection, registration, licensing, identification and certification of aeronautical products;

• (c) the design, installation, inspection, maintenance, approval and certification of equipment and facilities used to provide services relating to aeronautics;

• (d) the approval of flight training equipment;

• (e) activities at aerodromes and the location, inspection, certification, registration, licensing and operation of aerodromes;

• (f) noise emanating from aerodromes and aircraft;

• (g) the certification of air carriers;

• (h) the conditions under which aircraft may be used or operated or under which any act may be performed in or from aircraft;

• (i) the conditions under which persons or personal belongings, baggage, goods or cargo of any kind may be transported by aircraft;

• (j) the areas within which aircraft coming from outside Canada are to land and the conditions to which such aircraft are subject;

• (k) the classification and use of airspace and the control and use of aerial routes;

• (k.1) the prohibition of the development or expansion of aerodromes or any change to the operation of aerodromes;

• (k.2) the consultations that must be carried out by the proponent of an aerodrome before its development or by the operator of an aerodrome before its expansion or any change to its operation;

• (l) the prohibition of the use of airspace or aerodromes;

• (m) the prohibition of the doing of any other act or thing in respect of which regulations under this Part may be made;

• (n) the enforcement of such laws as may be deemed necessary for the safe and proper operation of aircraft;

• (o) the use and operation of any objects that in the opinion of the Minister are likely to be hazardous to aviation safety;

• (p) the preservation, protection and removal of aircraft involved in accidents, personal belongings, baggage, goods, cargo of any kind thereon, and of any records pertaining to the aircraft or its flight, the preservation, protection, removal and testing of any part of such aircraft and the protection of sites of aircraft accidents;

• (q) the investigation of any accident involving an aircraft, any alleged contravention under this Part or any incident involving an aircraft that, in the opinion of the Minister, endangered the safety of persons;

• (r) the taking of statements by investigators for the purpose of an investigation referred to in paragraph (q);

• (s) the keeping and preservation of records and documents relating to aerodromes, to activities, with respect to aeronautics, of persons who hold Canadian aviation documents and to aeronautical products and equipment and facilities used to provide services relating to aeronautics;

• (t) the handling, marking, storage and delivery of fuel and any lubricants or chemicals used during or in connection with the operation of aircraft;

• (u) the provision of facilities, services and equipment relating to aeronautics;

• (v) the provision of aviation weather services by persons other than Her Majesty in right of Canada; and

• (w) the application of the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed at Chicago, 7 December 1944, as amended from time to time.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 4.91 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations authorizing the Minister to make orders directing the ANS Corporation to maintain or increase the level of civil air navigation services it provides in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be specified in the orders.

• Marginal note:Order must relate to safety

  (2) The Minister may make an order under subsection (1) only if the Minister is of the opinion that the order is necessary for aviation safety or the safety of the public.

• Marginal note:No compensation

  (3) The ANS Corporation is not entitled to financial compensation for any financial losses that result or may result from the Minister making an order under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (4) An order under subsection (1) is exempt from examination, registration and publication under the Statutory Instruments Act.

Marginal note:Hours of work limitation and insurance

5 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) limiting the hours of work of crew members of any aircraft operated by air carriers and of crew members of any aircraft used for carrying passengers;

• (b) requiring owners and operators of aircraft to subscribe for and carry liability insurance and specifying the minimum amount of that insurance if the owners and operators are not required by regulations made by the Canadian Transportation Agency to subscribe for and carry liability insurance; and

• (c) requiring persons providing aeronautical radio navigation services, within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act, to subscribe for and carry liability insurance and specifying the minimum amount of that insurance.

Marginal note:Restrictions and prohibitions for safety or security purposes

5.1 The Minister or any person authorized by the Minister may by notice prohibit or restrict the operation of aircraft on or over any area or within any airspace, either absolutely or subject to any exceptions or conditions that the Minister or person may specify, if, in the opinion of the Minister or person, the prohibition or restriction is necessary for aviation safety or security or the protection of the public.

Marginal note:Relationship to Radiocommunication Act

5.2 Regulations made under this Part respecting

• (a) aeronautical products or equipment or facilities used to provide services relating to aeronautics,

• (b) persons who operate or are engaged in the design, installation, inspection, maintenance, approval and certification of aeronautical products, equipment or facilities, or

• (c) the provision of information services in relation to the operation of aircraft or conditions of flight

are in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of the Radiocommunication Act and regulations made under that Act and, where there is any conflict between any regulation made under this Part and any regulation made under the Radiocommunication Act, the regulation made under the Radiocommunication Act prevails.

Marginal note:Relationship to Explosives Act

5.3 Regulations made under this Part respecting the use and operation of rockets are in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of the Explosives Act and regulations made thereunder and, where there is any conflict between any regulation respecting rockets made under this Part and any regulation made under the Explosives Act, the regulation made under the Explosives Act prevails.

Airport Zoning

Marginal note:Definitions

• 5.4 (1) In this section and sections 5.5 to 5.81,

  airport site

  airport site means any land, not being a part of an existing airport,

  • (a) the title to which is vested in or that otherwise belongs to Her Majesty in right of Canada, or

  • (b) in respect of which a notice of intention to expropriate under section 5 of the Expropriation Act has been registered

  and that is declared by order of the Governor in Council to be required for use as an airport; (zone aéroportuaire)

  federal airport

  federal airport includes a military aerodrome; (aéroport fédéral)

  lands

  lands include water (and the frozen surface thereof) and any other supporting surface; (biens-fonds)

  object

  object includes an object of natural growth; (éléments)

  owner

  owner, in respect of land or a building, structure or object, includes any person other than a lessee, who has a right, title or interest in the land, building, structure or object that is a recognized right, title or interest therein under the law of the province in which it is situated; (propriétaire)

  provincial authority

  provincial authority means an authority in a province responsible for the regulation of land use; (autorité provinciale)

  zoning regulation

  zoning regulation means any regulation made pursuant to subsection (2). (règlements de zonage)

• Marginal note:Zoning regulation

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations for the purposes of

  • (a) preventing lands adjacent to or in the vicinity of a federal airport or an airport site from being used or developed in a manner that is, in the opinion of the Minister, incompatible with the operation of an airport;

  • (b) preventing lands adjacent to or in the vicinity of an airport or airport site from being used or developed in a manner that is, in the opinion of the Minister, incompatible with the safe operation of an airport or aircraft; and

  • (c) preventing lands adjacent to or in the vicinity of facilities used to provide services relating to aeronautics from being used or developed in a manner that would, in the opinion of the Minister, cause interference with signals or communications to and from aircraft or to and from those facilities.

• Marginal note:Conditions precedent

  (3) The Governor in Council shall not make a zoning regulation under paragraph (2)(a) unless

  • (a) the Minister, after making a reasonable attempt to do so, has been unable to reach an agreement with the government of the province in which the lands to which the zoning regulation applies are situated providing for the use or development of the lands in a manner that is compatible with the operation of an airport; or

  • (b) in the opinion of the Minister, it is necessary to immediately prevent the use or development of the lands to which the zoning regulation applies in a manner that is incompatible with the operation of an airport.

• Marginal note:Non-conforming uses, etc.

  (4) No zoning regulation shall apply to or in respect of a use of land, buildings, structures or objects or a building, structure or object that, on the day on which the zoning regulation comes into force, exists as a use, building, structure or object that does not conform to the zoning regulation.

• Marginal note:Deeming existence of certain things

  (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), where on the day on which a zoning regulation comes into force, all approvals for construction required by law have been obtained permitting a building, structure or object that, if constructed, would not conform to the zoning regulation, the building, structure or object shall be deemed to exist on the day on which the zoning regulation comes into force.