In April, the government preannounced and announced the notification of measures to expand sobriety tests to all employees to stop persons engaged in aviation duties from working while under the influence of alcohol.
Even though, however, there is a provision in Article 57 that directly regulates the consumption and use of alcohol, etc., such measure is based on a totally different provision from the provision in Article 57 and is also in accordance with the Flight Technology Standards for Safe Flight of Aircraft stipulated in Article 77 of this Act and related notices. Accordingly, this measure may be ambiguous in terms of legal basis.
Also, since Article 57 of the Act already stipulates the sobriety test and this measure is seriously impinging on the rights of individuals, it would be appropriate that the grounds should be directly defined by the Act but not by the notice.
In addition, this governmental measure places the responsibility and accountability for the sobriety test on airlines. It is considered that the rule’s enforceability is low since it is unclear when and where airlines should perform sobriety tests and it is also unclear whether foreign airlines would be subject to such measures. Rather, it is preferable to enforce this measure in parallel with the security check process conducted for airline employees entering airport facilities’ protection areas pursuant to the current Aviation Business Act in terms of its enforceability, legality, convenience, etc.
Therefore, the amendment aims to solve the legal ambiguity about the sobriety test for persons engaged in aviation duties and secure the regulatory power by allowing the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to perform sobriety tests on persons engaged in aviation duties and cabin crews entering airport facilities’ protection areas to check for the consumption and use of alcohol, etc., pursuant to the Aviation Business Act (Article 57 (3)).