ICAO Annex 13
The international standard governing aircraft accident investigation. It defines who investigates, what an accident is, and that the sole objective is prevention — not blame.
Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation assigns the investigation to the state where the occurrence happened, with rights of participation for the states of the operator, the registry, the design and the manufacture. It sets the preliminary-report and final-report obligations, and the confidentiality protections around recorder material.
Its most quoted line is the one about objective: the sole purpose of a safety investigation is the prevention of accidents and incidents, and it is not the purpose to apportion blame or liability.
Related terms
The investigating authority has published its concluding report, with findings, causes and safety recommendations. This is the authoritative account.
A preliminary or interim publication. It states facts established so far and normally contains no conclusion about cause.
The authority's formal statement of what caused the accident. The exact wording matters, and the archive quotes it rather than paraphrasing it.
An accident involves death, serious injury, substantial damage or a missing aircraft. Anything else affecting safety is an incident — a serious incident being one that nearly became an accident.