Bermuda Consolidated Legislation

BERMUDA
1950 : 1

CIVIL AVIATION (LICENSING OF AIR TRANSPORT
AND COM MERCIAL FLYING) ACT 1950

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Interpretation and saving

2 Air Transport Licensing Board

3 Functions of Board

4 Policy directions

5 Minister may make regu lations

6 Objections to grant of li cence

7 Short term licence

8 Factors to be regarded

9 Revocation and suspen sion of licences

10 Publication of decision of Board

11 Appeals

12 Accord with external agreements

13 Parliamentary scrutiny of regulations

14 Offences

15 Confidentiality

[19 January 1950]

[preamble and words of enactment omitted]

Interpretation and saving

1 (1) In this Act—

"aircraft" means any aircraft (including balloons, gliders, air ships, flying boats, sea planes and aeroplanes) other than military aircraft, that is to say, naval, military or air force air craft and any aircraft commanded by a person in naval, mil itary or air force service detailed for the purpose;

"the Board" means the Air Transport Licensing Board appointed under section 2;

"the Minister" means the Minister for the time being responsible for the control and management of air transport facilities;

"scheduled journey" in relation to any service performed by air craft for hire or reward, means one of a series of journeys which are undertaken between the same two places and which together constitute a systematic service operated in such a manner that the benefits thereof are available to members of the public from time to time seeking to take ad vantage thereof.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to derogate from or abridge any power vested in the Governor by virtue of the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom entitled the Air Navigation Act 1936, as applied to Bermuda by Order in Council.

Air Transport Licensing Board

2 (1) The Governor shall, by notice in the Gazette, appoint a Board to be called the Air Transport Licensing Board which shall consist of such number of persons, not being less than five or more than nine, as the Governor may from time to time decide.

(2) Any person appointed to be a member of the Board shall hold office during the Governor's pleasure.

(3) There shall be a Chairman of the Board who shall be ap pointed by the Governor from among the members of the Board and who shall hold office (as such) during the Governor's pleasure:

Provided that the Board shall be deemed to be duly constituted notwithstanding that there is a vacancy in the office of Chairman.

(4) The Board shall be a body corporate with the exclusive right to use the name "The Air Transport Licensing Board" in Bermuda, and shall have perpetual succession under that name with the power to sue and the liability to be sued in their corporate capacity by that name in all courts, and shall have power to use a common seal which may be re newed or varied at pleasure.

(5) The Board shall, subject to any regulations made under this Act, have power to regulate their own procedure.

(6) Fees shall be paid to members of the Board in accordance with the Government Authorities (Fees) Act 1971 [title 14 item 6].

(7) In the exercise of the powers conferred upon him by this section the Governor shall act on the advice of the Minister.

Functions of Board

3 (1) Subject to any general directions given by the Minister un der section 4, the Board shall have the functions conferred on them by this Act or any other provision of law.

(2) The Board may call upon the Director of Civil Aviation for such advice and assistance as they consider desirable for the proper dis charge of their functions and the Director shall provide such advice and assistance.

Policy directions

4 (1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Board, give to the Board such general directions as to the policy to be followed by the Board in the performance of their functions as appear to the Minister to be necessary in the public interest, and the Board shall give effect to such directions.

(2) The Board shall furnish the Minister with such returns, ac counts and other information with respect to the exercise and perfor mance by them of their functions as he may from time to time require.

(3) Without prejudice to subsection (2), the Board shall, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year of the Board, make to the Minister a report on the exercise and performance by them of their functions during that year and on their policy and programme, and the Minister shall lay a copy of every such report before each House of the Legislature.

(4) The report for any year made under subsection (3) shall set out any directions given by the Minister to the Board during the year.

Minister may make regulations

5 Subject to this Act, the Board shall be the licensing authority in respect of air transport and commercial flying in Bermuda; and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this section the Minister may make regulations—

(a) for securing that aircraft shall not be used in Bermuda by any person—

(i) for flying, while carrying passengers or goods for hire or reward, on such journeys or classes of journeys (whether beginning and ending at the same point or at different points) as may be specified in the regulations; or

(ii) for such flying undertaken for the purpose of any trade or business as may be so specified, except under the authority of, and in accordance with, a licence granted to that person by the Board;

(b) as to the circumstances in which a licence under the regulations may be granted, revoked or suspended;

(c) as to the conditions which may be attached to such a li cence (including conditions as to the fares, freight or other charges to be charged by the holder of the licence), and for securing compliance with any conditions so at tached;

(d) as to the information to be furnished to the Board by an applicant for, or the holder of, such a licence;

(e) for prescribing the fees to be paid in respect of the grant of any licence under the regulations;

and regulations made as aforesaid may make different provision as respects different classes of aircraft and different classes of licences.

Objections to grant of licence

6 (1) Where any person makes application to the Board for the grant of a licence to use aircraft for the carriage of passengers or goods for hire or reward upon scheduled journeys in accordance with regula tions made under this Act, the Board shall as soon as may be cause to be published in the Gazette particulars of the application sufficient to describe the nature and purposes thereof.

(2) Any person interested in such grant or refusal by the Board of a licence may make representation or objections with regard to any such application for the grant of a licence.

(3) The Board may, if they think fit, for the purposes of deter mining applications for licences hold enquiries either in public or in pri vate, and shall hold an enquiry in public if the person making applica tion for the grant of the licence, or any person who has duly made an objection thereto, requires the Board to do so.

(4) Before holding any enquiry in pursuance of subsection (3) the Board shall give due notice of the holding of the enquiry to the per son who made application for the grant of the licence in question and to any person who has duly made representations or objections with regard to the application, and shall afford to each of such persons an opportu nity of being heard at the enquiry.

(5) The Minister may make regulations—

(a) for regulating the procedure to be followed with respect to the making of representations and objections, and with respect to the holding of enquiries under this sec tion;

(b) for prescribing forms to be used in connection with any of the matters mentioned in the foregoing provisions of this section.

Short term licence

7 Notwithstanding anything in section 6, where a person makes application to the Board for the grant of a licence to use an aircraft for the carriage of passengers or goods for hire or reward upon scheduled journeys and—

(a) the application is in respect of a licence to remain in force for a period not exceeding three months; and

(b) the Board are satisfied that it is in the public interest that the application should be determined without delay,

then in any such case—

(i) the Board may forthwith determine the applica tion and grant the licence accordingly; and

(ii) section 6 shall not have effect in respect of any matter connected with the application.

Factors to be regarded

8 In carrying out their functions as the licensing authority in re spect of air transport, the Board, in exercise of their discretion to grant or to refuse a licence in respect of an air service comprising the use of aircraft for the carriage of passengers or goods for hire or reward upon scheduled journeys, or to grant such a licence subject to conditions at tached thereto, shall have regard to the co-ordination and development of air services generally with the object of exercising the most effective service to the public while avoiding uneconomical overlapping and gen erally to the interests of the public, including those of persons requiring or likely to require facilities for air transport, as well as those of persons providing such facilities; and in exercising their discretion the Board shall in particular have regard to the following matters—

(a) the existence of other air services in the area through which the proposed service is to be operated;

(b) the demand for air transport in that area;

(c) the degree of efficiency and regularity of the air services, if any, already provided in that area, whether provided by the person making the application or by any other person, and the period for which such services have been provided by the person making the application or by any other person;

(d) the extent to which it is probable that the person making the application will be able to provide a satisfactory ser vice as respects safety, continuity, regularity of opera tion, frequency, punctuality, reasonableness of charges, and general efficiency;

(e) the financial resources of the person making the appli cation;

(f) the type of aircraft which the person making the appli cation proposes to use;

(g) the remuneration and general conditions of employment of persons employed or to be employed by the person making the application, whether as members of the crews of aircraft or otherwise;

and the Board shall in addition have regard to any representations or objections duly made to them in pursuance of section 6.

Revocation and suspension of licences

9 (1) Where a licence to use aircraft for the carriage of passen gers or goods for hire or reward on scheduled journeys has been granted by the Board to any person, the Board, subject to subsection (2), may re voke or suspend the licence—

(a) if the holder of the licence, since the date on which the licence was granted, has been convicted of using an air craft in contravention of regulations made under this Act; or

(b) where the holder of the licence is a body corporate, if any officer of the body corporate has, since the date on which the licence was granted been convicted, in his ca-
pacity as such officer, of using an aircraft in contraven-

tion of regulations made under this Act; or

(c) if the holder of the licence has failed to comply with any condition subject to which the licence was granted.

(2) Before revoking or suspending a licence under subsection (1)(c), the Board shall give to the holder of the licence not less than twenty-one days' notice of the intention of the Board and specifying in such notice the grounds upon which it is proposed to revoke or to sus pend the licence; and the Board shall not revoke or suspend the licence unless they are satisfied (after holding a public enquiry if the holder of the licence requires them to do so) that, on the ground that the holder of the licence has frequently or wilfully failed to comply with the conditions of the licence or any of them, the licence should be revoked or sus pended.

(3) The Minister may make regulations—

(a) for regulating the procedure to be followed with respect to the revocation or suspension of licences; and

(b) for prescribing forms to be used in connection with any of the matters mentioned in the foregoing provisions of this section.

(4) In this section, "officer", in relation to a body corporate, means a director, general manager, secretary or other similar officer, and includes any person who with the authority of the body corporate, acts as such officer.

Publication of decision of Board

10 The Board shall cause to be published in the Gazette the sub stance of any decision taken by the Board in the discharge of their func tions under this Act—

(a) with respect to the grant or refusal of a licence to use aircraft for the carriage of passengers or goods for hire or reward upon scheduled journeys; or

(b) with respect to the suspension or revocation of any such licence as aforesaid.

Appeals

11 (1) Any person interested in the grant, refusal, revocation or suspension of any licence under regulations made under this Act who is aggrieved by any decision of the Board with respect to the grant, refusal, revocation or suspension of a licence may appeal from the decision of the Board to the Governor; and the Minister may make regulations—

(a) for regulating the procedure to be followed with respect to the lodging of appeals;

(b) for prescribing the time with in which appeals are to be lodged; and

(c) for prescribing deposits to be made by persons lodging appeals, for regulating the return of deposits in the event of the allowance of an appeal and for the forfeiture of deposits in the event of the dismissal of an appeal.

(2) The Governor shall determine any appeal duly lodged with him, and may make such order as appears to him just; and the Board (insofar as regards their duties under this Act) shall govern themselves accordingly.

Accord with external agreements

12 Regulations made under this Act shall be such, and the powers and duties of the Board specified therein shall be exercised and dis charged in such manner, as not to conflict or be inconsistent with—

(a) any provisions of law in force in Bermuda relating to civil aviation or any direction, order or notice made, given or issued under any such provision of law;

(b) any agreement relating to civil aviation in Bermuda en tered into and for the time being subsisting between Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and Her Majesty's Government in any other of Her Majesty's do minions or the government of any foreign state.

Parliamentary scrutiny of regulations

13 The negative resolution procedure shall apply to regulations made under this section.

Offences

14 (1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any or der, direction or requirement lawfully made, given or imposed by any person under the authority of any such regulation, commits an offence against that regulation:

Provided that where a person engaged or employed in the ad ministration of regulations made under this Act omits to perform any duty imposed on him as such the omission shall not, by virtue of this

subsection, constitute an offence.

(2) Regulations made under this Act may provide for the trial, summarily or on indictment, of persons charged with offences against the regulations, and for the punishment of persons found guilty of such offences, so, however, that any such punishment shall not exceed —

(a) in the case of a first offence, a fine of $8,400, or impris onment for a term of three months, or both such fine and imprisonment; or

(b) in the case of a second or subsequent offence, a fine of $84,000, or imprisonment for a term of two years, or both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) Proceedings in respect of an offence against any regulation made under this Act shall not, without the written consent of the Attor ney-General, be instituted by any person other than a party aggrieved, the Minister or the Board.

(4) Where an offence against any regulation made under this Act has been committed by a body corporate, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, general manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or was purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence, unless he proves that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the com mission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.

Confidentiality

15 (1) No person who is a member of the Board, or who is the Di rector of Civil Aviation, or who is otherwise engaged in or employed in connection with the execution or enforcement of regulations made under this Act shall except with the permission of the Governor disclose to any person who is not so engaged or employed any information in his pos session which has been made available by any person making applica tion under such regulations for the use of aircraft for hire or reward, and which relates to the financial resources of that person.

(2) Any person who contravenes this section commits an of fence against this Act:

Punishment on summary conviction: imprisonment for 3 months or a fine of $3,360 or both such imprisonment and fine.

[The Act, originally of limited duration, was continued in force indefinitely by Act No. 1961 : 166.]