On July 30 2015 Law 27,161 was published in the Public Gazette. The new law creates a government agency to provide air navigation services. The agency is called EASA (Empress Argentina de Navigation Area Societal del Estado) and is part of the Ministry of the Interior and Transportation, and will provide its services for commercial and civil navigation, as the law specifically exempts it from services provided at airports by the Ministry of Defence.
Law 27,161 aims to provide an essential public service, including:
- the administration of air transit and air traffic control;
- the administration of air traffic flow management and aviation services management;
- aeronautical information services;
- cockpit operating manuals;
- communication, navigation and surveillance services;
- search and rescue services;
- meteorology services; and
- the airport reservation office.
EASA will be a state-owned company and its shareholders will be the Ministry of the Interior and Transportation and the Ministry of Defence.
It will provide services that were previously provided by the Argentine Air Force and its personnel. The budget of the latter will be transferred to EASA.
Further, the agency will be governed by the legal norms and principles of private enterprise and its employee contracts will be governed by labour law.
The fees charged to users for the provision of services will constitute – among other sources – EASA's budget.
For further information on this topic please contact Elizabeth Mireya Freidenberg at Freidenberg Freidenberg & Lifsic by telephone (+54 11 4311 4991) or email ([email protected]).
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