Malaysia’s second interim report on the disappearance ofMalaysia Airlines flight MH370 on 8 March 2014 contains no new details about the aircraft’s mysterious disappearance.

The three page statement, prepared under the auspices of ICAO guidelines, briefly recounts the history of the flight, a Boeing 777-200 that disappeared in the far reaches of the south Indian Ocean after inexplicably diverting from the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route.

It adds that a team of 19 Malaysians and seven experts from foreign authorities are reviewing eight areas relevant to the case.

These are: the aircraft’s diversion from its filed flight route, air traffic services, the crew, the aircraft, satellite communications, the aircraft’s cargo, and information related to Malaysian authorities and Malaysia Airlines itself.

The eight-item list includes the flaperon that washed up on France’s Reunion island last July, which was subsequently proven to have come from the ill-fated aircraft.

“The team is continuing to work towards finalising its analysis, findings/conclusions and safety recommendations on eight relevant areas associated with the disappearance of flight MH370 based on available information,” it says.

“New information that may become available before the completion of the final report may alter these analysis, findings/conclusions and safety recommendations.”

Prior to the report’s release, Malaysia prime minister Najib Razak said that Malaysia, China, and Australia will meet this summer to determine the “next step” in the MH370 case, should the aircraft not be found by July 2016.

Extensive undersea search operations have been underway since 2014 in the southern Indian Ocean, and are due to wind up by July. So far they have failed to locate any trace of the lost aircraft.

“A Final Report will be completed in the event wreckage of the aircraft is located or the search for the wreckage is terminated, whichever is the earlier,” the report adds.

ICAO has formally adopted measures aimed at improving the tracking of aircraft in distress and the chances of recovering flight-data recorder information.

The ICAO Council says it is amending the Chicago Convention’s Annex 6 – which covers aircraft operation – to require carriage of “autonomous” devices to transmit location data at intervals no longer than 1min, should the aircraft be in distress.

It points out that the requirement is performance-based, which enables operators to look into various technological options to meet the standard.

This is also the case for the flight-recorder requirements, which state that aircraft must have means to ensure that the recorders’ data can be retrieved and accessed “in a timely manner”, says ICAO.

The requirement allows carriers to consider options including deployable recorders. The standards are aimed at reducing the uncertainty over an accident site to a radius of 6nm (11km).

Cockpit-voice recorders will need to be capable of storing 25h worth of information, ensuring that they capture the entirety of a flight under investigation.

ICAO’s Council says it adopted the provisions this week – to take effect by 2021 – as the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 entered its third year.

Council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu says the measures “directly support” the operational concept for ICAO’s proposed global aeronautical distress and safety system.