The manager of the Brazilian Aeronautic Registry (RAB), Luciana Ferreira da Silva, announced at LABACE Wednesday morning that the registry had moved over to electronic document processing, representing a considerable benefit for users, she said.
Ferreira da Silva briefly explained the worldwide purpose of aircraft registries–to allow title and lenders’ liens to be recognized and enforced across national boundaries. She also outlined the limitations of the Brazilian registry, some rooted in database technology, and others in legal traditions that require presentation of original paper proof.
She then reviewed how ANAC registers aircraft, with a perspective on the past (the first aircraft registered in Brazil in 1925, inscribed by hand in a register) and the future, which started this week (August 31) with a government mandate, SEI requiring electronic information systems.
“One advantage is that documents won’t have to physically move from Rio to BrasĂlia,” said Ferreira da Silva, who also explained that the registry facility is located near Santos Dumont airport in Rio, but its staff of five is split between Brazil’s old and new capitals. An original document can be authenticated and scanned in one city, and sent to the other.
Modernization is coming in “baby steps,” she cautioned, with projects in the works including opening systems to external consultations, so that users can see how requests are advancing. “Processing time is dropping extraordinarily,” she noted, with registration now taking an average of five business days, and the goal is to make this the maximum time.
In the near future, aeronavigability certificates will be signed digitally, and can be delivered by e-mail with, Ferreira da Silva noted, “savings for the user, and for the country, because that pretty paper from the Mint costs money.”
“Rights depend on being registered in the Aeronautic Registry, and while they’re international rights, application is under domestic law,” said Ferreira da Silva. ANAC’s Resolution 390 internalized international rules, allowing a creditor to ask for cancellation of registry without waiting for court processing to be completed–an important advantage in Brazil.
The RAB faces challenges, because even though the current crisis has reduced registrations from around 500 a month to 400, a longer-term look at decade-by-decade data shows “the curve grows almost exponentially,” she observed.
Asked if Brazil will ever be able to equal the speed of the likes of Malta, where registration can be done in hours, she noted, “The need to see the document is a historic tradition. Brazil’s legal system doesn’t have the same roots as the Anglo-German [and U.S., common law] system. Brazil is closer to France [civil law], where they have the same problems. We have our hands tied by the law. We’ll never have the same velocity as Malta.”
Another limitation is due to the history of the RAB database, where the primary key is tied to the aircraft manufacturer. While tail numbers are easily reused in the FAA system, manual interventions are required in Brazil, and done only for a limited number of good reasons. “Your numerologist telling you to change the tail number is not a good reason,” Ferreira da Silva explained.
