Amendments to Executive Regulations for Aviation Safety: Part (7)

(1) This part applies to the following persons who perform any of the safety-sensitive aviation activity listed in this section:

     (a) All commercial air operators certificated under GACAR Part 119 and authorized to operate under GACAR Part 121 or Part 135;

     (b) All repair stations located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and certificated under GACAR Part 145;

     (c)All air traffic service providers certificated under GACAR Part 171;

     (d)All certificate and/or authorization holders under GACAR Parts 125 and 133 who elect to implement a psychoactive substance testing program under this part;

     (e)All training centers located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and certificated under GACAR Part 142 who elect to implement a psychoactive substance testing program under this part;

     (f)All safety-sensitive personnel who perform, either directly or by contract, a safety-sensitive aviation activity listed in this section:

        (1) Flight crew member duties.

        (2) Cabin crew member duties.

        (3) Flight instruction duties.

        (4) Aircraft dispatcher duties.

        (5) Air traffic control duties.

        (6) Aircraft maintenance and preventive maintenance duties.

    (g)Any other safety-sensitive personnel who perform aviation activities that may endanger safety if exercised improperly.

(2) Applicable Laws and regulations:

    (a)Civil Aviation Law Royal Decree No. M/44, 18 Rajab 1426H / 23 August 2005;

    (b)Law of Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances issue by Royal Decree (39/M) dated on 08-07-1426 AH, and its implementing regulations issued by the Council of Ministers Resolution (201) dated on 10-6-1431 AH.

The purpose of this part is to:

(a) Establish a program to prevent accidents and injuries caused by psychoactive substance use among personnel performing safety-sensitive aviation activities;

(b) Governing regulated entities in terms of prevention and education program of psychoactive substances;

(c) Oversee the development, implementation, and enforcement of psychoactive substance testing programs as required by this part.

(a) Without prejudice to other laws, regulations, or policies, this part stipulates the regulations for introducing psychoactive substances testing programs to help in preventing accidents and injuries resulting from the use of psychoactive substances by safety-sensitive personnel who perform safety-sensitive aviation activity. This regulation is not intended to supersede or conflict with the implementation of the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Interior and/or any law enforcement, imposed by local authorities;

(b) GACAR Part 3- FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS is applicable to this part.

(c) The relevant laws and regulations must apply to the issue of a foreign employee committing a crime related to psychoactive substances and his/her deportation from the KSA.

​For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:

Cutoff is the analytical value (e.g., psychoactive substance or substance metabolite concentration) used as the decision point to determine result (e.g., negative, positive, adulterated, invalid, or substituted) or the need for further testing.

Contractor is an individual or company that performs a safety-sensitive aviation activity by contract for an employer or another contractor.

Confirmatory psychoactive substance test means a psychoactive substance test given in respect of an initial psychoactive substance test to determine the presence and level of a testable psychoactive substance in a body sample.

Employer is a GACAR Part 119 certificate holder with authority to operate under GACAR Parts 121 and/or 135, a repair station located inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that performs safety-sensitive aviation activity and is certificated under GACAR Part 145, or an air traffic service provider certificated under GACAR Part 171, or any other entity that performs safety-sensitive aviation activities and elects to implement a psychoactive substance testing program under this part. An employer may use a contract employee who is not included under that employer's programs to perform a safety-sensitive aviation activity only if that contract employee is included under the contractor's program and that contractor’s program is also acceptable to GACA.

(a) No employer may use or contract with any services agent to perform psychoactive substance testing requirements, unless certified by the KSA Ministry of Health (MoH).

(b) Each employer must conduct the types of testing described in accordance with § 7.11 of this subpart.

(c)​ Each employer must develop and apply a psychoactive substance use prevention program that contains the procedure of applying this part. This program must be acceptable to GACA.

   (1) No employer may hire any safety-sensitive personnel to perform a safety-sensitive aviation activity listed in § 7.1 (f) unless the employer first conducts a pre-employment test and receives a verified negative psychoactive substances test result for that individual.

   (2) No employer may allow an individual to transfer from a non-safety sensitive aviation activity to a safety- sensitive activity unless the employer first conducts a pre-employment test and receives a verified negative psychoactive substances test result for that individual.

   (3) The employer must conduct another pre-employment/pre-transferring test and receive a verified negative psychoactive substances test result before hiring/transferring safety-sensitive personnel into a safety-sensitive aviation activity if more than 180 days elapse between conducting the pre-employment/pre-transferring test required by paragraphs (1) or (2) of this section.​

Each employer must perform psychoactive substance random testing for safety sensitive personnel in accordance with the following:

    (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) through (4) of this section, the minimum annual percentage rate for random psychoactive substances testing must be 20% of each category within the safety-sensitive personnel (e.g., 20% of pilots, 20% of cabin crew, etc.).

    (2) GACA may increase or decrease the minimum annual percentage rate for random psychoactive substances testing based on the reported positive rate for the employer. All information used for this determination is drawn from the annual reports required by § 7.25. In order to ensure reliability​ of the data, the GACA considers the quality and completeness of the reported data, may obtain additional information or reports from employers.

This section applies to the safety-sensitive personnel who perform a safety-sensitive aviation activity listed in GACAR section § 7.1

(a) A safety-sensitive personnel must not refuse to submit to any test of psychoactive substances as required under this part by the following:

    (1) GACA or its delegate.

    (2) Employer.

(b) No employer may use any safety-sensitive personnel to perform safety-sensitive aviation activity, nor may any safety-sensitive personnel perform a safety-sensitive aviation activity, whether directly or by contract, if that safety-sensitive personnel has a verified positive psychoactive substance test result or has refused to submit to a required test under subpart B of this part or any other applicable GACA regulations, and has not met the applicable return-to-duty requirements of subpart B of this part for returning to the performance of safety-sensitive aviation activity.​

(a) This section applies to all individuals who hold a certificate under parts 61, 64, 65, and 66 and are subjected to psychoactive substance testing program under this part.

(b) Refusal to submit to a psychoactive substance testing by a certificate holder issued under parts 61, 64, 65, and 66, or receiving a verified positive psychoactive substance test result for the holder of a certificate issued under parts 61, 64, 65, and 66, are grounds for:

      a.Denial of an application for any certificate, rating, or authorization issued under parts 61, 64, 65, and 66, for a period of up to 1 year after the date of such refusal and/or verified psychoactive substance positive test result, or

       b. Suspension or revocation of any certificate, rating, or authorization issued under parts 61, 64, 65, and 66.

(a) This section is applicable to GACAR Part 119 certificate holder with authority to operate under GACAR Parts 121, and/or 135, a repair stations located inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and certificated under GACAR Part 145, and an air traffic service provider certificated under GACAR Part 171.

(b) No employer may use any contractor to perform safety-sensitive aviation activity unless that contractor provides each of its employees, performing that function for the employer, with the education and training specified in GACAR § 7.19.​

(a​) Education program. Each education program must include at least the following elements:

     (1) Display and distribution of informational material pertaining to the use of psychoactive substances in the aviation workplace;

     (2) Display and distribution of the employer's policy regarding the use of psychoactive substances in the workplace. The policy must include information regarding the consequences of using psychoactive substances while performing safety-sensitive activities.

     (3) The employer's policy must include information regarding the consequences of using psychoactive substances while performing duty, receiving a verified positive psychoactive substances test result, or refusing to submit to a psychoactive substances test required under this part.

Each employer must implement a program of initial and recurrent training at least every 24 months. The training program must be acceptable to GACA. The employee training program must include at least the following elements:

    (1) The effects and consequences of psychoactive substance use on individual health, safety, and work environment;

    (2) The manifestations and behavioral cues that may indicate use and abuse of psychoactive substances;

    (3) The applicable General Authority of Civil Aviation Regulations (GACAR) prohibiting the use of psychoactive substance;

    (4) Documentation of training given to each employee.

(a) Safety-sensitive personnel who perform a safety-sensitive aviation activity listed in GACAR § 7.1(f) may appeal for reconsideration of a decision or action taken by GACA, in accordance with the procedures prescribed in GACAR Part 13, where such decision or action results from a refusal to submit to a required test under this part or after receiving a verified positive psychoactive substance test result.

(b) Any appeal by the safety-sensitive personnel against any decision made by his or her employer must not be submitted to the GACA under this section.

(c) Employers must have their own internal appeal process to deal with appeals by safety-sensitive personnel against decisions made by the employer.​

1. GACA will consider alcohol testing using breath analyzer devices, with the screening and confirmatory cut-off limits as determined by the relevant Saudi authorities.

2. If an Employer decides lesser cut-off levels than what has determined in this Part, then the test will not be positive under this part.

3. GACA will consider any update from Saudi Ministry of Health-MoH, as amended.​