Sir William Hildred drew upon his personal experiencesuntil 1966 as Director General of the InternationalAir Transport Association.

That body worked closely with the International CivilAviation Organisation (ICAO)—the author, instigator,and watchdog of Annex 9 of the Chicago Conventionwhich dealt wholly with the subject of facilitation.Neither body had legislative power. ICAO could onlymake recommendations but these required the assentand action of Sovereign Governments before theybecame effective. The President of ICAO had said itwas the increase in passenger and cargo volume whichcreated the problem but Sir William ascribed a gooddeal of it to the entrenched conservatism ofGovernments and their operating agencies.