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"B "C1 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 925/1999
of 29 April 1999
on the registration and operation within the Community of certain types of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been
modified and recertificated as meeting the standards of volume I, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on
International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993) 3
(OJ L 115, 4.5.1999, p. 1)
Corrected by:
"C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 120, 8.5.1999, p. 46 (925/1999)1999R0925 — EN — 04.05.1999 — 000.001 — 1
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 925/1999
of 29 April 1999
on the registration and operation within the Community of certain types
of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified andrecertificated as meeting the standards of volume I, Part II, Chapter 3
of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, third
edition (July 1993)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in
particular Article 84(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (
1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),
Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 189c of the
Treaty (3),
(1) Whereas one of the key objectives of the common transport policy is
sustainable mobility; whereas such a policy can be defined as a globalapproach which aims at ensuring both the effective functioning of theCommunity’s transport systems and the protection of the environment;
whereas it is appropriate to take technical measures which contribute
to the achievement of sustainable mobility;
(2) Whereas the Commission communication on the future development
of the common transport policy: a global framework to the
construction of a Community framework for sustainable mobilityexplicitly refers to the introduction of a non-addition rule for thenoisiest aeroplanes;
(3) Whereas the fifth action programme of 1992 on the environment, the
general approach of which was endorsed by the Council and therepresentatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting
within the Council, in their resolution of 1 February 1993 (
4) envisages
further legislative measures aimed at reducing noise emissions fromaeroplanes; whereas the said programme lays down the objective that
no person should be exposed to noise levels which endanger health and
quality of life;
(4) Whereas the growth in air transport activities at Community airports is
increasingly subject to environmental constraints; whereas the
operation of less noisy aeroplanes at these airports can contribute toa better use of available airport capacity;
(5) Whereas older types of aeroplanes modified to improve their noise
certification level have a noise performance which is significantly
worse, mass for mass, than that of modem types of aeroplanesoriginally certificated to meet the standards of V olume I, Part II,
Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil
Aviation, third edition (July 1993); whereas such modificationsprolong the life of an aeroplane that would normally have beenretired; whereas such modifications tend to worsen the gaseous
emissions performance and fuel burn of earlier technology aero
engines; whereas aeroplanes may be re-engined to achieve a noiseperformance comparable to that of those originally certificated to meetChapter 3 requirements;
(6) Whereas a rule which prohibits the addition of those older modified
types of aeroplanes to Member States’ registers as from the date ofapplication of this Regulation can be considered as a protective
measure aimed at preventing a deterioration of the noise situation!B
(1) OJ C 118, 17.4.1998, p. 20 and
OJ C 329, 27.10.1998, p. 10.
(2) OJ C 284, 14.9.1998, p. 1.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 16 September 1998 (OJ C 313, 12.10.1998,
p. 94), Council common position of 16 November 1998 (OJ C 404, 23.12.1998, p.
1) and Decision of the European Parliament of 10 February 1999 (not yet published
in the Official Journal).
(4) OJ C 138, 17.5.1993, p. 1.!C11999R0925 — EN — 04.05.1999 — 000.001 — 2
around Community airports as well as improving the situation
regarding fuel burn and gaseous emissions;
(7) Whereas in a Community without internal frontiers it is appropriate to
exclude from this non-addition rule aeroplanes entered in any MemberState’s register prior to the date of application of this Regulation;
(8) Whereas, in view of existing Community legislation on aeroplane
noise, the present initiative needs to be taken at Community level by
binding Community rules;
(9) Whereas a non-addition rule, and a non-operation rule with an
appropriate transition period, combines technical feasibility with
environmental benefits without imposing an undue economic burden;
(10) Whereas it is necessary to minimise possible distortions of competition
by establishing equivalent requirements applicable to aeroplanesregistered in third countries; whereas, since the Community has nocompetence over third-country registers, that objective can be achieved
only by restricting the operation of non-complying aeroplanes
registered as from the date of application of this Regulation in thirdcountries; whereas the date for introducing such restrictions shouldtake account of the final cut-off date for the operation of Chapter 2
aeroplanes as provided for in Council Directive 92/14/EEC of 2 March
1992 on the limitation of the operation of aeroplanes covered byV olume I, Part II, Chapter 2 of Annex 16 to the Convention on
International Civil Aviation, second edition 1998 (
1), as well as the
extent of the non-addition provisions for Chapter 2 aeroplanes as laiddown in Council Directive 89/629/EEC of 4 December 1989 on thelimitation of noise emission from civil subsonic jet aeroplanes (
2);
(11) Whereas, in order to ensure equal treatment of aeroplanes regardless of
their country of registration, non-complying aeroplanes in the registers
of Member States should also be stopped from operating in accordancewith the terms imposed on non-complying aeroplanes in the registers
of third countries;
(12) Whereas, given that the main objective of the measure is to limit noise
at Community airports, aeroplanes may be exempted from thenon-addition and non-operation rules when they are not operated inthe Community territory; whereas, in order for these rules to produce
their full environmental benefits, temporary exemptions may be
possible only for operations of an exceptional nature;
(13) Whereas the provisions of this Regulation shall not be implemented in
the overseas departments referred to in Article 227(2) of the Treaty, inview of their geographical location;
(14) Whereas it is necessary to gather information concerning the
exemptions granted by the Member States;
(15) Whereas arrangements for greater cooperation over the use of
Gibraltar airport were agreed in London on 2 December 1987 by theKingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom in a joint declaration by
the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries; whereas such
arrangements have yet to come into operation,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Objective
The objective of this Regulation is to lay down rules to prevent deteriorations
in the overall noise impact in the Community of recertificated civil subsonic
jet aeroplanes while at the same time limiting other environmental damage.!C1
(1) OJ L 76, 23.3.1992, p. 21. Directive as amended by Directive 98/20/EC (OJ L 107,
7.4.1998, p. 4).
(2) OJ L 363, 13.12.1989, p. 27.1999R0925 — EN — 04.05.1999 — 000.001 — 3
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:
(1)‘civil subsonic jet aeroplane’ shall mean a civil subsonic jet aeroplane
with a maximum certificated take off mass of 34 000 kg or more, or with
a certified maximum internal accomodation for the aeroplane type inquestion consisting of more than 19 passenger seats, excluding any seatsfor crew only, and powered by engines with a by-pass ratio of less than
three;
(2)‘recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplane’ shall mean a civil subsonic jet
aeroplane initially certificated to Chapter 2 or equivalent standards, orinitially not noise-certificated which has been modified to meet Chapter
3 standards either directly through technical measures or indirectly
through operational restrictions; civil subsonic jet aeroplanes whichinitially could only be dual-certificated to the standards of Chapter 3 bymeans of weight restrictions, have to be considered as recertificated
aeroplanes; civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified to
meet Chapter 3 standards by being completely re-engined with engineshaving a by-pass ratio of three or more are not to be considered asrecertificated aeroplanes;
(3)‘Chapter 2’ and‘Chapter 3’ shall mean the noise standards as defined in
V olume I, Part II, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 respectively of Annex 16 tothe Convention on International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993);
(4)‘operational restrictions’ shall mean weight restrictions imposed on the
aeroplane and/or operational limitations within the control of the pilot or
the operator, such as reduced flap setting;
(5)‘registration of an aeroplane’ shall mean the formal act whereby the
nationality of an aeroplane is established through its entry on the national
register of a Member State or a third country;
(6)‘the territory of the Community’ shall mean the territory of the
Community subject to the provisions of the Treaty.
Article 3
Non-complying aeroplanes
1. Recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes shall not be registered in the
national register of a Member state as from the date of application of thisRegulation.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not affect civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which were
already on the register of any Member State on the date of application of this
Regulation and have been registered in the Community ever since.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of Directive 92/14/EEC and in particular
Article 2(2) thereof, as from 1 April 2002 recertificated civil subsonic jet
aeroplanes registered in a third country shall not be allowed to operate at
airports in the territory of the Community unless the operator of suchaeroplanes can prove that they were on the register of that third country on thedate of application of this Regulation and prior to that date have been
operated, between 1 April 1995 and the date of application of this Regulation,
into the territory of the Community.
4. Recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which are on the registers of
Member States may not be operated at airports in the territory of the
Community as from 1 April 2002 unless they have been operated in that
territory before the date of application of this Regulation.
Article 4
Exemptions
1. Member States may grant temporary exemptions from Article 3 for civil
subsonic jet aeroplanes whose operations are of such an exceptional naturethat it would be unreasonable to withhold a temporary exemption, such as foremergencies. On a transparent and non-discriminatory basis, Member States
may limit such exemptions to certain airports and/or certain specified periods
of the day.!C11999R0925 — EN — 04.05.1999 — 000.001 — 4
2. Member States may grant exemptions from Article 3 for civil subsonic jet
aeroplanes which are exclusively operated outside the territory of theCommunity.
3. Member States may grant exemptions from Article 3 for civil subsonic jet
aeroplanes leased to an operator which for that reason have been temporarilyremoved from the register of the Member State in which they were registered
during the 6 months before the date of application of this Regulation,
provided that legal and economic ownership of the aircraft remains in theMember State.
4. Once a year Member States shall inform the Commission of exemptions
granted under this Article.
Article 5
Overseas departments
This Regulation shall not apply to the overseas departments referred to in
Article 227(2) of the Treaty, neither with regard to the provisions concerningthe registration of recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes in the national
registers of Member States, or concerning the operation of such aeroplanes at
airports located in the said departments.
Article 6
The airport of Gibraltar
1. The application of this Regulation to the airport of Gibraltar is
understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of the
Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom with regard to the dispute oversovereignty over the territory in which the airport is situated.
2. Application of the provisions of this Regulation to Gibraltar airport shall
be suspended until the arrangements in the joint declaration made by the
Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom on 2
December 1987 have come into operation. The Governments of Spain and theUnited Kingdom shall inform the Council of that date.
Article 7
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply twelve months after the date of its entry into force.This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all
Member States.!C11999R0925 — EN — 04.05.1999 — 000.001 — 5