Italian Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority – duties
The Agenzia nazionale per la sicurezza del volo (ANSV) was established by legislative decree no. 66 of 25th February 1999, in accordance with Directive 94/56/EC of the Council of 21st November 1994, now replaced by regulation (EU) No 996/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20th October 2010.
ANSV is the Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority of the Italian State. As such, it is a public authority is characterized by a wide autonomy, placed in a third party position with respect to the civil aviation system, to guarantee the objectivity of its work, as required by the cited EU legislation.
In order to guarantee this third party status, the ANSV is under the supervision of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
Under the provisions of the legislative decree no. 66/1999, amended by regulation (EU) no. 996/2010 – the ANSV has the following duties.
- To conduct safety investigations (previously called “technical investigations”) of accidents and incidents involving civil aviation aircraft, issuing, if necessary, the appropriate safety recommendations; the purpose of such investigations is to identify the causes of the events, in order to prevent future acciden; safety investigations are therefore only for prevention purposes.
- To perform studies and investigation activities aimed to flight safety improvement.
Since the ANSV is an investigative authority, it does not regulate, control and manage the civil aviation system. Those latter are responsibilities of other aviation bodies.
The legislative decree No. 213 of 2nd May 2006, also attributes the ANSV the duty of setting up and managing the “Voluntary Reporting” as defined in community directive 2003/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13th June 2003 on occurrence reporting in civil aviation, now replaced by the regulation (EU) No. 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3rd April 2014.
Pursuant to art.a 2, paragraph 634, of law no. 244/2007, the ANSV was re-organized by the Decree of the President of the Republic no. 189 of 5th October 2010, which amended the legislative decree no. 66/1999. Following the above-mentioned re-organization, the ANSV bodies are as follows: the president, the board, the board of auditors.
The president is appointed by a Decree of the President of the Republic, following a deliberation of the Council of Ministers, based on a President of the Council of Ministers proposal.
The board members are appointed by a Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, following a deliberation of the Council of Ministers, based on three proposals: one from the Minister of sustainable infrastructures and mobility, another from the Minister of the Interior and the another one from the Minister of Justice.
The president and the members of the board are appointed after consultation with the competent parliamentary committees. They shall remain in office for five years and may be confirmed once.
The members of the board of auditors are appointed by means of a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers and they remain in office for five years. Two full members, one of them acting as chairman, and one deputy, are chosen among a list of managers designated by the Minister for the Economy and Finance; one full member is designated by the Minister of sustainable infrastructures and mobility.
The emoluments of the bodies of the Agency are established and taken from the Agency’s budget, by decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, following consultation with the Minister for the Economy and Finance.
The President of the Republic decree no. 189/2010 also establishes that the president of the ANSV, following a deliberation by the board, appoints the general manager.
The financial management of the ANSV is subject to the control of the Court of Auditors.
Head of the ANSV: Prof. Bruno Franchi.
Board of Auditors: Dr. Marco Ciaffi (Chairman), Dr. Maria Rosaria Febbraro, Dr. Gennaro Pappacena.
General Manager: Dr. Maria Grazia Salamino.
Audit Magistrate for of the Court of Auditors: Cons. Roberto Rizzi.