JP 3-50 National Search and Rescue Manual Vol I - US Navy

APPENDIX B. SAR TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
MULTILATERAL AGREEMENTS
Convention on International Civil Aviation December 7, 1944 (61 Stat.
1180; TIAS 1591)
Under Article 25, each contracting party "Undertakes to provide
such measures of assistance to aircraft in distress in its territory as
it may find practicable, and to permit, subject to control by its own
authorities, the owners of the aircraft or authorities of the State in
which the aircraft is registered to provide such measures of assistance
as may be necessitated by the circumstances." That article also
provides that "Each Contracting State, when undertaking search for
missing aircraft, will collaborate in coordinated measures...".
Article 37 provides that the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) shall adopt international standards and recommended
practices and procedures, including "(K) Aircraft in distress and
investigation of accidents. States finding it impracticable to comply
in all respects with any such standard or procedure shall notify the
Organization to that effect, as provided in Article 38.
ICAO has from time to time adopted and amended various
International Standards and Recommended Practices, including those on
SAR printed as Annex 12 to the Convention. That annex is "applicable to
the establishment, maintenance and operation of SAR services in the
territories of Contracting States and over neighboring seas, and to the
coordination of such services with those of neighboring States." The
foreword also indicates standards or specifications "for physical
characteristics, configurations, material, personnel, or procedures ...
to which Contracting States will conform in accordance with the
Convention. In the event of impossibility of compliance, notification
to the Council is compulsory under Article 38."
Under the Standards in Annex 12, contracting States are required to
provide assistance to aircraft in distress and to survivors of aircraft
accidents, regardless of their nationality. They must also permit
immediate entry of aircraft, equipment, and personnel (subject to their
control) necessary to search for aircraft in distress or rescue
survivors of aircraft accidents, and coordinate their SAR organizations
with those of neighboring Contracting States. They are required to
delimit, either separately or jointly, SAR areas and establish in each
an RCC equipped with rapid and reliable communications. They are to
designate rescue units and provide them with equipment suitable for the
region. Procedures for RCCs and SAR are specified.
International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979
This is the primary international convention that applies to
personnel involved in maritime SAR in the United States. The objectives
of this Convention are to standardize SAR worldwide, facilitate
intergovernmental direct contact, ensure cooperation between surface and