The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has issued new guidelines for the real-time tracking of civilian planes in distress, which comes after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 two years ago.

According to the approved guidelines of ICAO’s governing council, the aircraft will have to carry tracking devices to transmit their location at least once a minute if they are in distress.

A report cited by AAP mentions that the plane operators will have to take care of their flight recorder data so that it can be recovered from the wreckage.

ICAO has also extended the duration of the cockpit voice recordings to 25 hours from the existing two hours.

"These new provisions will ensure that in the case of an accident, the location of the site will be known immediately to within six nautical miles."

Individual airlines and plane-makers can select the best option for them, from the current and new technologies in order to meet the new requirements for one-minute tracking and flight recorder data.

The changes will be effective from now until 2021.

ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said: "Taken together, these new provisions will ensure that in the case of an accident, the location of the site will be known immediately to within six nautical miles, and that investigators will be able to access the aircraft’s flight recorder data promptly and reliably."

Last year, Malaysia called for real-time aircraft tracking in the aviation industry after the disappearance of MH370.

On 8 March 2014, the flight disappeared with 239 people on board after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing, China.

Last year, an agreement was signed to use satellites to track flights anywhere in the world with the allotment of a particular radio frequency for global tracking in civil aviation sector.

The deal is expected to be finalised and in effect by next year, reports International Business Times.