In November 2004, Directors General decided to further develop the ECAC Audit Programme by placing an equal emphasis on capacity-building activities, with the main objective of supporting Member States’ efforts to rectify deficiencies identified during audits and further develop their aviation security regime.
The approach taken seeks to establish sustainable, consistent aviation security capacity development within the State, and starts on the basis of the National Civil Aviation Security Programme, extending through specific national requirements, such as screener certification.
ECAC capacity-building activities comprise, but are not limited to:
- multilateral workshops on issues of common interest to all Member States (such as security culture, security testing, risk management, security equipment and technology, training and certification of security personnel);
- standardised tools and procedures such as model aviation security programmes;
- on-site and online training and coaching; and
- targeted capacity-building missions based on audit findings and specific needs expressed by Member States (e.g. pre-opening surveys of new airports/terminals).
As just one example of the activities undertaken, since 2005 ECAC has conducted about 90 Best Practices for National Auditors training courses and trained more than 650 national auditors from around 30 Member States.
The Programme has constantly evolved to meet Member States’ needs, particularly in response to emerging threats and requirements. In 2025, a new webinar on mitigating the threat of improvised incendiary devices (IID) was developed by the ECAC Secretariat in cooperation with the Training Task Force and offered to ECAC Member States. A workshop on explosive detection dog (EDD) oversight was organised in 2025 to discuss challenges and lessons learnt related to the approval and oversight of EDD used for screening, as well as to review Member States' approaches and best practice for EDD approval and oversight. The Programme’s relevance to the needs of the Member States is evidenced by the ongoing demand for activities and the positive feedback received from participants.
More than 10 capacity-building activities were organised in person and online in 2025 for the benefit of aviation security auditors and inspectors and other aviation security experts from Member States.
ECAC's expertise in aviation security capacity building is recognised not only in Europe. ECAC has a successful record of cooperation with LACAC and Peru, resulting in the delivery, in 2025, of the Best Practices for National Auditors training course for security auditors from the Peruvian CAA.
Catalogue of ECAC security audit and capacity-building activities
The ECAC security audit and capacity-building activities available to Member States to support their implementation of aviation security measures are compiled in a catalogue.
Download here the latest edition (2026) of ECAC's catalogue on security audit and capacity-building activities.
