• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.177-214
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• 2016

During more than 20 years of practice, Civil Aviation Law has experienced three times of amendments since it was enacted in 1995. But these revisions are limited to the technical level. The problems and limitations have become increasingly prominent in its implementation. Firstly, the civil aviation law is the result of interests game among several departments and some legal issues was left behind and the regulation was very vague as a result. Secondly, the process of aviation legislation is the process that the country has undergone profound changes and social transformation. The 20 years is long enough for the society to undergo tremendous changes and 1995 version of civil aviation law does not keep pace of development of economy. There was a serious lag between reality and the law. In order to actively promote the development of the aviation industry and overcome implementation issues of the Civil Aviation Law, Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) initiated modification procedure the law and published new draft of Civil Aviation Law in August 2016. The spirit of this modification is to learn and absorb new achievements of domestic and foreign legislation and the International Convention on civil aviation. Furthermore, the purpose of the revision is to provide favorable policy for the development of civil aviation industry and improve aviation safety and supervision, strengthen and protection of consumer rights and interests, to enhance the safety of civil aviation activities, and promote the development of general aviation. This revision concerned to the 78 articles which are revised or deleted and 24 articles added. The highlights of the draft include but not limited to the enhancement of security management, clarification of the main responsibility for production safety. And also it added the provisions related to the construction of effective tracking capability of public air transport enterprises and license system on the transport of dangerous goods. Compared with the existing civil aviation law, the draft has made a great improvements. But there are several deficiencies and limitations in the drafts. These problems need to be supplemented and perfected through further amendments in near future.