Jamestkirk you have taken this thread far from the original question. My point was your SOP's etc are approved by the CAA, whom have drawn up the national reg's from the ICAO documentation, as the books get re-written down the food chain they are either copied or even further restricted.
Compare your SOP's to some legal documents etc. and you will find a unusually strange reflection
For example take a look at 'destination alternates' in your SOP manual then consult EU OPS. There may be a comma out of place but thats just translation.
So your SOP's do take precedence because they will be at worst the most restricting and at best the same! Are you suggesting that you should ignore company SOP's because ICAO say something different??!
Surely, planning takes place throughout the flight.
Of course it does, but from a legal perspective, planning takes place on the ground before you are airborne, once your wheels are off the ground a different set of rules come into effect.
For example you cannot plan to launch for an airfield that wont be within your planning minimum for your ETA +/- 1hr. However if while you are on the way it is out of limits you can continue all the way to the final approach point before you divert, OR if your past the final approach point and the wx then goes out of limits you can continue to actual minimums.
If your not worried about the original documentation why did you read annex 3
Because you need to read it for the ATPL groundschool
I keep stating 'at the captains discretion'
The captain doesnt really have much discretion to excersice in this case, minimums are minimums and limits are limts, he could decided to bust one of them but he needs a damn good reason to do so i.e saftey