Annex 9 and the purpose of facilitation
Facilitation preserves the speed advantage of aviation while public authorities complete customs, immigration, health, agriculture, security and law-enforcement controls.
Convention basis
Annex 9 gives standards and recommended practices for clearance of aircraft, passengers, crew, baggage, cargo, mail and stores. It supports the Chicago Convention duties to facilitate and expedite international air navigation, prevent unnecessary delay and harmonise customs and immigration procedures. Efficiency does not remove border control; it makes required control predictable, proportionate and coordinated.
Core definitions
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Cargo | Property carried on an aircraft other than mail, stores and accompanied or mishandled baggage. |
| Clearance of goods | Customs formalities allowing goods to enter home use, be exported or enter another customs procedure. |
| Commencement of journey | The point where the traveller began the journey, excluding an airport used only in direct transit without leaving its controlled area. |
| Commissary supplies | Disposable or reusable items used by the operator for in-flight service, catering and passenger comfort. |
| Deportee | A person lawfully admitted or illegally present who is formally ordered by competent authority to leave the State. |
| Direct transit area | A supervised special area at an international airport where passengers remain during transit or transfer without applying for entry. |
| Embarkation and disembarkation | Boarding to commence a flight and leaving after landing, excluding continuing through passengers. |
| Lading and unlading | Placing cargo, mail, baggage or stores aboard and removing them after landing. |
| International airport | An airport designated for international entry and departure where customs, immigration, public-health, animal and plant quarantine formalities are carried out. |
Customer groups
Facilitation serves aircraft operators, crew, passengers, shippers, consignees and public authorities. A good system shares information once, accepts secure electronic data, separates low-risk from higher-risk traffic and keeps every authority responsible for its own decision.
Entry and departure of aircraft
Public authorities adopt aircraft-clearance measures that avoid unnecessary delay and are no less favourable than comparable controls applied to other transport.
Clearance principles
- Only documents provided for by Annex 9 are demanded for aircraft entry and departure.
- No visa or document-related fee is imposed merely for the aircraft-clearance documentation.
- Documents may be sent electronically, produced from an electronic transmission or completed legibly on paper in the prescribed format.
- Once a required document is received electronically, the same document is not demanded again on paper.
- Security and narcotics-control measures remain integrated into the process.
When documents are unnecessary
If no passenger embarks or disembarks and no cargo, stores or mail is loaded or unloaded, the corresponding documents are not required when the appropriate notation appears in the General Declaration. A written declaration of stores remaining aboard is not required. Neither is a list of accompanied or mishandled baggage, nor a mail declaration beyond forms prescribed under postal arrangements.
Number of copies
A State does not require an operator to deliver more than three copies of a document at entry or departure. The study forms identify a maximum of three copies each for the General Declaration, Cargo Manifest and Stores List when paper copies continue to be required.
Non-scheduled non-traffic flight
For an aircraft registered in another contracting State and making a non-scheduled flight for a non-traffic landing, an accepted flight plan may serve as advance notification. The mapped study material gives receipt at least two hours before arrival and landing at a designated international airport, with the message addressed to any customs, immigration, police or other authority that must be informed.
General Declaration and manifests
Three standard documents cover the aircraft and route, the people carried and the commercial goods loaded. Authorities limit demands to the fields needed for their control.
General Declaration
The General Declaration identifies the operator, nationality and registration marks, flight number, date, departure and arrival places and the routing. It records total crew and passenger movements by station. Its health section reports illness other than airsickness or accident effects, other conditions that might spread disease and details of disinsection or sanitary treatment. The pilot-in-command or authorised agent signs the declaration; where a non-crew agent signs the main form, a crew member may be required to sign the health section.
Passenger Manifest
A Passenger Manifest, when required, identifies the operator, aircraft, flight, date, points of embarkation and disembarkation and passenger names. Annex 9 aims to avoid requiring it when the necessary information is available by another accepted means.
Cargo Manifest
The Cargo Manifest identifies the operator, aircraft, flight, date, loading and unloading points. Beyond its heading, authorities limit the detail to air waybill number, number of packages and nature of goods. A one-page attestation may be accepted where the Passenger Manifest and General Declaration have otherwise been eliminated.
Stores, baggage and mail
The Stores List covers consumable goods for passengers and crew and items needed for aircraft operation or maintenance, including fuel and lubricants. Accompanied baggage normally needs no piece-count list. Unaccompanied baggage follows cargo control through a simplified procedure. An oral baggage declaration may be accepted, with selective inspection.
Passengers, crew and direct transit
Passenger and crew clearance confirms identity and admissibility while allowing genuine transit and operating crew to move without unnecessary border delay.
Travel documents and border control
Machine-readable travel documents carry a standard visual zone and machine-readable zone. An electronic travel document stores authenticated biometric data in a contactless chip. Automated Border Control can validate the document through the ICAO Public Key Directory, compare biometric data and check stolen or lost travel-document records before deciding eligibility.
Crew Member Certificate
A Crew Member Certificate, CMC, is an identity document for flight and cabin crew; the professional licence continues to prove flight-crew qualification. States facilitate issue, correction and secure records, protect blank cards, verify employment status and support machine-assisted identity checks. Inspection of crew and crew baggage is expedited. Duty crew holding accepted CMCs may receive temporary entry to remain at the airport or adjacent city and depart on the same or next assigned flight under the applicable conditions.
Technical personnel
Urgently needed foreign-operator technical staff should receive temporary entry without delay when an aircraft cannot continue for technical reasons and must be converted to an airworthy condition.
Direct transit area
A direct transit passenger remains under public-authority supervision without applying to enter the State. The traveller stays within the designated area, retains or receives the onward document and completes a controlled transfer to the departure gate. Leaving the area or interrupting direct transit invokes normal entry requirements. The mapped Oxford study text states that passengers may remain in a transit lounge for a maximum of two days.
Baggage, cargo, mail and stores
Goods move quickly only when the operator, passenger and public authority can match the item to its declaration and apply the correct customs, security, health and agriculture control.
Passenger baggage
Passengers make an accurate declaration. Accompanied baggage is normally cleared with the traveller. Mishandled baggage may be located, identified and delivered under a simplified procedure once customs permission is obtained. Unaccompanied baggage is treated as cargo but may use a simplified clearance. Oral declaration and selective inspection reduce paperwork without removing liability for prohibited or undeclared goods.
Cargo and mail
Cargo is presented sufficiently early for examination, matched to its air waybill and manifest, screened and released before loading or delivery. Customs procedures should permit rapid release of low-risk consignments and priority treatment for live animals, perishables, relief supplies and urgently needed parts. Mail is handled under postal forms and arrangements, with security and customs intervention when required.
Stores and commissary supplies
Stores include goods for consumption aboard and items for aircraft operation or maintenance. Commissary supplies support cabin service and catering. Sealed, controlled movements between approved premises and aircraft reduce repeated examination. Stores remaining aboard need no separate written declaration under Annex 9.
Operator responsibility
The operator supplies accurate advance data, presents documents and goods, preserves chain of custody, prevents substitution and keeps cargo available for inspection. Public authorities coordinate inspection so one consignment is not opened repeatedly without need.
Facilitation for persons with disabilities
A person with a disability should be able to use international air transport with dignity, clear information and assistance coordinated across the entire journey.
Equal and dignified access
States, aerodromes and operators cooperate so disability alone does not create arbitrary refusal or avoidable delay. Assistance is provided in a manner that respects dignity, individual autonomy and privacy. Restrictions are based on a genuine safety requirement and are explained to the passenger.
Journey chain
| Stage | Facilitation measure |
|---|---|
| Booking and information | Accessible channels explain assistance, documents, mobility-aid handling and any safety limitation. |
| Arrival at airport | Clearly marked contact points connect the passenger to trained assistance personnel. |
| Clearance | Security, immigration, customs and health controls use accessible routes and communication. |
| Boarding and seating | Assistance, suitable seating and safe transfer are coordinated without unnecessary separation. |
| Mobility aid | The aid is identified, protected, loaded safely and returned promptly, with battery procedures applied where needed. |
| Transfer and arrival | Handover between operator, aerodrome and service provider continues until the agreed arrival point. |
Training and coordination
Personnel receive disability-awareness and task-specific training. Advance notice helps organise equipment and assistance, but lack of notice is not a reason to make no reasonable effort. Information is shared only as necessary for safe service. Emergency planning includes passengers who may need help understanding instructions or evacuating.
Inadmissible persons and deportees
Refusal of entry and deportation are different legal decisions. Both require documented responsibility, humane treatment and an operationally safe removal plan.
Inadmissible person
An inadmissible person is refused admission by the competent authority. The State promptly informs the operator and supplies the removal order and available information needed to arrange return. The operator normally removes the person to the point where the journey commenced or to another place where admission is assured, subject to the applicable documents and directions.
Deportee
A deportee has previously been admitted or entered unlawfully and is formally ordered to leave. The deporting State arranges the removal and provides the operator with the order, destination, escort decision and risk information sufficiently early. The operator evaluates operational safety and informs the pilot-in-command of relevant facts without disclosing more personal information than necessary.
Custody and care
The operator's normal custody and care of arriving passengers ends when the State admits them. If entry is refused, responsibility is allocated under the removal procedure. Public authorities retain responsibility for legal custody and public order. Restraint or escort is based on assessed risk, not merely the person's immigration status.
Travel documents
States avoid confiscating or destroying travel documents needed for return. Where a replacement document is required, the responsible authority provides or facilitates it. The person receives humane treatment, essential needs and access to information about the process.
| Case | Decision point | Removal lead |
|---|---|---|
| Inadmissible | Entry is refused at the border. | State notifies; operator arranges removal under the order. |
| Deportee | A person already admitted or illegally present is ordered to leave. | Deporting State arranges and coordinates removal. |
Public health, disinfection and disinsection
Aviation public-health measures prevent international spread of disease while avoiding unnecessary interference with aircraft, passengers and cargo.
Health information and response
The General Declaration health section reports persons with signs or symptoms of communicable illness, other onboard conditions that may spread disease and details of recent disinsection or sanitary treatment. The pilot reports a suspected communicable disease before arrival so airport health, immigration, handling and medical services can prepare a coordinated response.
Disinfection and disinsection
| Measure | Target | Control principle |
|---|---|---|
| Disinfection | Human or animal disease organisms on the aircraft or articles. | Clean or treat affected areas by an approved method after contamination. |
| Disinsection | Insects capable of carrying disease or agricultural pests. | Apply an approved treatment before flight, at blocks-away or after arrival as authorised. |
Methods follow public-health requirements and avoid unreasonable harm to occupants, aircraft structure, equipment, food or cargo. Residual or aerosol treatment is recorded. Repeated treatment is avoided when valid evidence of an accepted procedure is available.
Quarantine and health clearance
Airport Health Officers assess suspected illness, decide examination, isolation, transfer or quarantine and coordinate ambulance and receiving facilities. Indian AIP material states that a suspected yellow-fever case may be directed to Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai or another designated quarantine facility. Animal and plant quarantine controls remain separate but coordinated facilitation functions.
Indian customs, immigration and health arrangements
International flights entering, leaving or overflying India comply with current Indian civil-aviation, immigration, customs, passport, quarantine and health requirements published through AIP India.
Airport and traffic rules
An aircraft entering India makes its first landing at, and an aircraft departing makes its final departure from, an international airport or another notified customs aerodrome. An international flight does not pick up passengers or load at one place in India and disembark or discharge them at another unless specifically authorised. Operators use the current AIP, permits and NOTAM information for each operation.
Documents required in Bali's table
| Authority | General Declaration | Passenger Manifest | Cargo Manifest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customs | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Immigration | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Health | 1 | 1 | 1 |
No flight leaves India without immigration and customs clearance recorded on the General Declaration. A foreign aircraft brought to India only to fly to or across India, not for Indian registration, may receive temporary customs treatment when it is to leave within six months and the person in charge makes the required written declaration on arrival.
Passenger and crew customs
Incoming passengers use the Green Channel when they have no dutiable goods and the Red Channel when they do. A correct declaration remains the passenger's responsibility. Crew declare controlled currency, gold, ornaments, electronics and other required items on arrival and departure. Departing passengers present genuine baggage; high-value items may be recorded for re-import proof.
Transit and cargo
Transit passengers remain in the customs-controlled area and do not transfer articles to another person or leave the airport precincts without entry clearance. Export goods, including unaccompanied baggage, are presented early enough for examination before departure. Bali gives a general presentation time of not less than four working hours before scheduled departure.
Coordinated clearance
Customs controls goods and duty, immigration controls admission and departure, and airport health controls communicable-disease risks. The aerodrome operator provides the facilities and the aircraft operator supplies accurate data and presents aircraft, people and goods. Each authority makes its own decision while sharing information to prevent repeated delay.