Reform of the National Civil Aviation Security Program PNSAC

This decree updates the National Civil Aviation Security Program (PNSAC) to comply with international standards and adapt to Honduras' new security structure. It transfers program responsibility to the Airport Security Division, under the National Investigation and Intelligence Directorate, and establishes a 90-day transition period for airports and airlines to adapt to new procedures.

Whereas Articles 245 and 248 of the Constitution of the Republic grant to the Constitutional President of the Republic the general administration of the State and the power to issue Decrees, Regulations, Agreements, Orders and Provisions that must be authorized by the respective Secretaries of State, and similarly the General Law of Public Administration and its reforms establish that the President of the Republic has under his charge the supreme direction and coordination of Public Administration; and in the exercise of his functions may act by himself or in Council of Secretaries of State.

Whereas the Constitution of the Republic in its initial declarations states that "The human person is the supreme end of society and the State. All have the obligation to respect him and his property". Likewise "It guarantees to Hondurans and foreign residents in the country the right to the inviolability of life, to individual security, to liberty, to equality before the Law and to property", and in function of that constitutional declaration Article 287 of the Constitution of the Republic creates the National Council of Defense and Security.

Whereas Article 287 of the Constitution of the Republic creates the National Council of Defense and Security, and among other institutions it corresponds to it to design public policies in matters of security, defense and intelligence, harmonizing actions among the different operators of this matter in order to guarantee the common good and the General Law of Public Administration and its reforms establish that the President of the Republic has under his charge the supreme direction and coordination of Public Administration.

Whereas the National Congress of the Republic within the framework of constitutional precepts, by means of Decree No. 239-2011 dated December 8, 2011, published in "La Gaceta", Official Gazette of the Republic on the 12th of the same month and year, approved the Special Law of the National Council of Defense and Security by means of which it attributes to this Council the power to design public policies in matters of security, defense and intelligence, harmonizing actions among the different operators of this matter in order to guarantee the common good, and likewise in said legal instrument the National Direction of Investigation and Intelligence (DNII) is formed as the Entity in charge of executing the public policies in matters of Defense and Security that the Council establishes.

Whereas the National Direction of Investigation and Intelligence (DNII) in the exercise of its powers by means of Agreement No. DNII-008-2014 dated July 11 of the present year, created the Division of Airport Security (DSA), whose mission is to conduct special operations of surveillance, control, inspection, search and interdiction, with the purpose of identifying and combating the commission of crimes in the corresponding activities, and thus prevent acts of unlawful interference and irregularities in the processes of national and international civil aviation in order to neutralize their effects on the security of the State and of persons within the unrestricted respect for the Law and Human Rights.

Whereas the President of the Republic in Council of Secretaries of State by means of Executive Decree No. PCM-053-2014 dated August 22, 2014, published in "La Gaceta", Official Gazette of the Republic on the 25th of August of the same month and year, ratified Agreement No. DNII-008-2014, issued by the National Direction of Investigation and Intelligence, in which as of its urgency and for reasons of national interest and security, assumes through the Division of Airport Security (DSA), the powers and functions that in matters of airport security were granted to the General Direction of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) now Honduran Agency of Civil Aeronautics (AHAC), establishing among others the one of preparing, executing and coordinating the National Program of Civil Aviation Security (PNSAC) against acts of unlawful interference.

Whereas the State of Honduras has subscribed to and ratified the Convention on International Civil Aviation and its Annexes, among which is Annex 17 which incorporates the norms and measures of protection of International Civil Aviation against acts of unlawful interference that must be adopted by the contracting States; the same that contains the provisions that prescribe the fulfillment of these States, of nominating the competent and responsible authority for preparing and complying with the National Program of Civil Aviation Security (PNSAC), and that the Executive Power by means of Executive Agreement No. 00125 dated February 16, 2004 published in "La Gaceta".

Whereas by virtue of the recent changes in the national airport security system it becomes necessary and urgent to reform again the National Program of Civil Aviation (PNSAC), in order to update it and modernize it to comply with the norms and methods demanded by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), as well as with the new provisions of the Government of the Republic.