1The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), a regionally-oriented international organisation, was established by various European States, both members and non-member countries of the Community, under the International Convention on Cooperation for the Safety of Air Navigation of 13 December 1960, which has been modified on several occasions then revised and consolidated by the Protocol of 27 June 1997 (‘the Convention’), with the aim of strengthening cooperation between the Contracting States in the field of air navigation and developing joint activities between them in order to achieve the harmonisation and integration necessary for the creation of a uniform system of Air traffic management (ATM'). While the Convention is not yet formally in force, since it has not been ratified by all the Contracting Parties, its provisions have been applied on a provisional basis since 1998 in accordance with a decision of the Permanent Commission of Eurocontrol adopted in December 1997. Italy joined Eurocontrol on 1 April 1996. In 2002, the Community and its Member States signed a protocol — which has not yet entered into force — on the accession of the European Community to Eurocontrol. The Community decided to approve that protocol by Council Decision 2004/636/EC of 29 April 2004 on the conclusion by the European Community of the Protocol on the accession of the European Community to Eurocontrol (OJ 2004 L 304, p.209). Since 2003, certain provisions of that protocol have been implemented on a provisional basis, while awaiting ratification by all Contracting Parties.