The treatment of aviation matters was a subject at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. At that time, civil air transport enterprises were created in many European States and in North America, some of which were already engaged in international operations (Paris-London, Paris-Brussels). In 1919, two British airmen, Alcock and Brown, made the first West-East crossing of the North Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland and the "R-34", a British dirigible made a round trip flight from Scotland to New York and back.

These events incited a number of young aviators to propose that the international collaboration, borne out of wartime necessity, should now be turned to peaceful ends. They envisioned the development of post-war civil aviation because they believed that aviation had to be international. The proposal was formally considered by France and submitted to the other principal Allied powers who received it favorably. This action then resulted in the International Air Convention, which was signed by 26 of the 32 Allied and Associated powers represented at the Paris Peace Conference. The Convention was ultimately ratified by 38 States. This Convention consisted of 43 articles that dealt with all technical, operational and organizational aspects of civil aviation and the creation of an International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN). ICAN would be set up to monitor developments in civil aviation and to propose measures to States to keep abreast of developments. The Convention contained all of the principles established in the 1910 Paris Conference.

In the present day, not all aviation problems can be dealt with on a world-wide scale and many subjects are considered on a regional basis. ICAO, therefore, recognizes nine geographical regions which must be treated individually for planning the provision of air navigation facilities and services required on the ground by aircraft flying in these regions.

In each of the regions, keeping in mind the objective of producing a seamless global air traffic management system, careful planning is necessary to produce the network of air navigation facilities and services upon which the aeroplanes depend the aerodromes, the meteorological and communications stations, the navigation aids, the air traffic control units, the search and rescue bases the thousands of facilities to be established and operated and the services to be rendered. This planning is done at ICAO regional air navigation meetings, held from time to time for each of the regions, where the need for facilities and services is carefully considered and decided upon. The plan which emerges from a regional meeting is so designed that, when the States concerned implement it, it will lead to an integrated, efficient system for the entire region and contributes toward the global system.

When States require assistance in this regard, help is available through ICAO's seven regional offices each one accredited to a group of Contracting States. These offices have, as their main function, the duty of encouraging, assisting, expediting and following up the implementation of the Air Navigation Plans and maintaining them up to date. In addition, regional planning and implementation groups have been established in ICAO regions to assist the regional offices in keeping the regional plans up-to-date and in fostering their implementation.

As financial and technical resources vary widely between nations, and as air transport's demands involve somecomplex and costly equipment and well-qualified personnel for staffing and maintaining the facilities, there may be uneven implementation of parts of the Air Navigation Plans. ICAO can assist States through its technical assistance activities (described in the following pages). It has succeeded, also, in a few cases, in arranging for "joint financing" certain facilities in the North Atlantic are financed by the States whose airlines make use of them: communication systems for transmitting messages of interest to aviation, and air navigation aids and meteorological and air traffic control facilities in Greenland and Iceland

With regard to the legal aspects of maintaining an international organization for civil aviation, the ICAO recognizes various limitations. Within the more than one hundred and eighty Contracting States of ICAO there are many legal philosophies and many different systems of jurisprudence. There is need, therefore, for a unifying influence, in certain areas, for the development of a code of international air law. It is a function of ICAO to facilitate the adoption of international air law instruments and to promote their general acceptance. So far international air law instruments have been adopted under the Organization's auspices involving such varied subjects as the international recognition of property rights in aircraft, damage done by aircraft to third parties on the surface, the liability of the air carrier to its passengers, crimes committed on board aircraft, the marking of plastic explosives for detection and unlawful interference with civil aviation.

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