Riga, 12 May 2025 — Twenty-seven security experts from 11 ECAC Member States and the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gathered in Riga for an ECAC workshop on explosive detection dogs (EDD) oversight, kindly hosted by the Civil Aviation Agency of Latvia.
The workshop provided a valuable platform for participants to exchange experiences and insights on a range of topics related to the approval and oversight of EDD teams. Key discussions focused on:
• legal and practical aspects of approving EDD teams, including national approaches, challenges faced, lessons learnt, and best practices;
• oversight of EDD use in screening air cargo, with an emphasis on approaches, challenges, solutions and shared experiences; and
• the knowledge and competencies required by national auditors to effectively oversee the deployment of the EDD teams.
The workshop concluded with the identification of follow-up actions to further strengthen EDD oversight across ECAC Member States. Among these was a proposal from the ECAC Secretariat to develop a new ECAC document outlining guidelines and best practices for the oversight of EDD. This proposal was subsequently supported by the ECAC Security Forum at its 45th meeting (SF/45), held in Riga on 13-14 May 2025, immediately after the workshop.