Following an amendment to the Civil Aviation Act 1988 and associated regulations, a voluntary and confidential aviation self reporting system was introduced by the Government, entitled the Aviation Self Reporting Scheme (ASRS), and commenced operation on 21 February 2004. Under the ASRS, subject to exceptions listed below, the holder of a civil aviation authorisation may report a contravention of the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 and the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 committed by the holder.

The enabling legislation for ASRS is the Civil Aviation Amendment Act 2003 [PDF: 13KB]. The Civil Aviation Amendment Regulations 2004 [PDF: 29KB] provide the structure for the voluntary reporting aspect of the scheme. The accompanying regulations make the Executive Director of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and delegates the administrators of the ASRS.

For an accepted ASRS report, the regulations will not permit the ATSB to disclose information that identifies the reporter (unless in exceptional circumstances the reporter gives their consent). The ATSB will return to the reporter the original ASRS report with a receipt number and a separate receipt which may be used to claim protection from administrative action by CASA. The ATSB will maintain de-identified information internally. While protecting the reporter's identity that information may be provided to the regulator or published with other trend data.

If the report is accepted, evidenced by the return receipt, the reporter may use the receipt to claim protection from administrative action by CASA for the contravention. The reporter may claim protection once every 5 years. Protection from administrative action covers protection from CASA using the reported contravention to vary, suspend or cancel a civil aviation authorisation. If an infringement notice is issued the reporter is not required to pay the penalty in the infringement notice and the notice is taken to be withdrawn.

To be eligible for acceptance under ASRS, the report must be about the reporter's own contravention. The report must be submitted to the ATSB, in writing, no later than 10 days following the contravention. The reporting form [PDF: 156KB] can be accessed by following the link provided below. A version of the form that can be filled out online will be available soon. Guidelines for submitting a report can be accessed at ASRS Reporting Guidelines [PDF: 29KB].

In addition to providing protection from administrative action, the reports, while protecting the reporter's identity, may also be used to:

• strengthen the foundation of aviation human factors safety research
• identify deficiencies and problems in the Australian aviation safety system; and
• provide data for planning and improvement to the Australian aviation safety system.

Contraventions which are not reportable matters under ASRS are:

• a contravention of the Regulations that is deliberate;
• a contravention of the Regulations that is fraudulent;
• a contravention of the Regulations that causes or contributes to an accident or to a serious incident (whether before or after the contravention is reported); and
• a contravention of the following Civil Aviation Regulations 1988:
  • 282 (Offences relating to licences, certificates and authorities)
  • subregulation 288(2) (Detention of an aircraft)
  • 298A (Cheating by examination candidates)
  • 298B (Examination misconduct by persons other than examination candidates)
  • 298C (Personation at examinations)
  • 301 (Surrender of documents)
  • 302 (Production of licences)
  • subregulation 305(1A) (Access of authorised persons)

The ASRS is not an alternative to the mandatory occurrence notification system required by the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 for Immediately Reportable Matters or Routine Reportable Matters. These reports of accidents and incidents must be made to the Executive Director of Transport Safety Investigation through the ATSB's mandatory open reporting scheme.

For inquiries contact the ASRS manager on 1800 020 505 or asrs@atsb.gov.au.

The Management of Enforcement and Investigations may be contacted at CASA on 131 757 for specific inquiries related to claiming immunity.

Submission of information known by the reporter to be false or misleading is a serious offence under section 137.1 of the Criminal Code. Aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring or urging the submission of false or misleading information is also a serious offence.

Reporting Form

• Download PDF form [PDF: 156KB]

Legislation

• Civil Aviation Amendment ACT 2003 (ASRS Sections) [PDF: 13KB]
• Explanatory Memorandum (ASRS sections) [PDF: 15KB]
• Civil Aviation Amendment Regulations 2004 [PDF: 36KB]
• Explanatory Statement [PDF: 29KB]