CAAC to Regulate Address Codes of Civil Aircrafts

The Civil Aviation Administration of China ("CAAC") has recently issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Address Codes of Civil Aircrafts (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") to seek public comments by March 12, 2019.

The 30 articles of the Draft for Comment are organized into six chapters which include "General Provisions", "Applications for Mode S Codes for Civil Aircrafts and the Acceptance Thereof", and "Applications for Mode S Codes for Ground Vehicles and Ground Surveillance Systems for Civil Airports and the Acceptance Thereof". Among others, the Draft for Comment states that, a Mode S code is a 24-bit binary code assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organization ("ICAO") to China for its use in aeronautical communication, navigation and surveillance systems, and China adopts the 8-bit octonary codes which range from 36000000 to 36777777. Moreover, the Draft for Comment expressly states that, only one Mode S code can be applied for each civil aircraft, and an application for such code requires the fulfillment of several conditions, one of which reads that "the aircraft has been registered with the CAAC or has obtained the Letter on Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks".



(Source: http://www.caac.gov.cn/HDJL/YJZJ/201902/t20190225_194832.html)

Note: The link to the Chinese official website of the document is for your reference.