Acceptance of human remains for carriage by air– some concerns in security and safety

The carriage by air of human remains has primarily concerned the global community in the context of sanitation and safety. However, some jurisdictions, particularly the United States, have provisions and procedures for screening human remains along the same lines as they do cargo. As this article will discuss, the trouble with this subject is that it has not been given the attention it requires, which has led to a hopelessly fragmented approach in regulating this aspect of air cargo. The High Level Conference on Aviation Security, convened by the International Civil Aviation Organization from 12 to 14 September 2012 in Montreal, focused on three overarching themes - cargo security, sustainability of security measures and innovation in addressing threats to aviation security. The Conference did not address the carriage by air of human remains from a security perspective. However, if one were to apply one of the key principles recognized by the Conference – that each State should ensure that appropriate security controls, including screening where applicable, are applied to cargo and mail, prior to their being loaded onto an aircraft engaged in passenger commercial air transport operations, the operative words would be “security controls” which bring to bear the reality that different States could have different security controls and that they should be harmonized. This article discusses the manner in which such controls can be harmonized from a regulatory perspective in the context of the carriage by air of human remains.