Proposal for a Council Directive establishing a safety assessment of third countries aircraft using Community airports (97/C 124/06) (Text with EEA relevance) KOM(97) 55 final - 97/0039(SYN)

(Submitted by the Commission on 18 February 1997)

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,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 189c of the Treaty in cooperation with the European Parliament,

Whereas the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 15 February 1996 (1) and the Council Conclusion of 11 March 1996 both point to the need for the Community to take a more active stance and develop a strategy to improve the safety of its citizens travelling by air or living near airports;

Whereas the Commission has issued a communication to the Council and the European Parliament entitled 'Defining a Community Aviation Safety Improvement Strategy` (2),

Whereas this communication clearly identifies that safety may be effectively enhanced by ensuring that aircraft comply fully with the international safety standards contained in the Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944;

Whereas experience has shown that third countries do not always implement and enforce international safety standards; whereas henceforth in order to improve transport safety in the Community it is necessary for the monitoring of compliance with international standards to be ensured by the Community Member states themselves at their airports;

Whereas, taking into account the subsidiarity principle, the rules and procedures for ramp inspections, including aircraft grounding, should be harmonized to ensure consistent effectiveness in all airports, which in turn would also reduce the selective use of certain airports of destination to avoid proper control; whereas a harmonized approach to the effective enforcement of these international standards by the Member States will avoid distortions of competitions and benefit from the strength of a common stance in the relations with third countries;

Whereas information gathered in each Member State should be made available to all the other Member States and the Commission in order to ensure the most efficient monitoring of the compliance of foreign carriers with international safety standards;

Whereas for the abovementioned reasons there is a need for establishing, at Community level, a procedure for the assessment of foreign aircraft and related cooperation mechanisms between Member States to share and analyse information and draw conclusions;

Whereas aircraft landing in the Community at any given time shall undergo an inspection when there is suspicion that they do not comply with international safety standards;

Whereas the sensitive nature of safety related information is such that the only way to ensure the gathering of such information is by ensuring its proper usage and the confidentiality of its sources;

Whereas non-compliance with international safety standards must be rectified; whereas aircraft on which corrective action is required must, where the deficiencies in compliance are clearly hazardous to safety, be grounded until such time as the non-compliance has been rectified; whereas the right of appeal against such decisions should be foreseen;

Whereas the facilities in the airport of inspection may be such that the competent authority will be obliged to authorize the aircraft to proceed to on appropriate airport, provided that conditions for a safe transfer are complied with;

Whereas it is necessary to foresee that safety improvement measures may be rapidly taken by the Commission in relation so specific cases of safety hazards; whereas it must also be possible for the Commission to take rapidly measures for the implementation of the requirements of Articles 4, 5 and 6; whereas a Committee should be created for those purposes and a procedure established for close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission within that Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Objective

The purpose of this Directive is to contribute to the improvement of air safety by checking third countries aircraft whenever there is suspicion that they are not operated in accordance with international safety standards, by collecting and disseminating the information related to shortcomings so that sufficient evidence can be established to decide on measures required to ensure the safety of the travelling public; and by providing for measures concerning the rectification of identified shortcomings.

Article 2

Scope

This Directive shall apply to third countries aircraft landing at airports located in the Member States of the Community.

State aircraft as defined in the Chicago Convention and aircraft of a maximum take off weight of less than 5 700 kg not engaged in commercial air transport shall be excluded from the scope of this Directive.

This Directive shall not, however, affect the Member States' right, with due regard to Community law, to carry out inspection of any aircraft landing at its airports.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purpose of this Directive, including its Annexes:

'Competent authority` means the administration, authority or any organization designated by a State to perform inspections of aircraft;

'Confidential report` means a report submitted voluntarily by a person involved in or observing an incident; the report is de-identified by the receiving organization in order to ensure confidentiality;

'Grounding` means the formal prohibition of an aircraft to leave an airport;

'International safety standards` means the safety standards contained in the Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944 as in force at the date of adoption of this Directive;

'Ramp inspection` means the examination on board and around an aircraft to check both the validity of the aircraft documents and those of its crew and the apparent condition of the aircraft and its equipment;

'Third countries aircraft` means an aircraft operated by an air carrier of which the Air Operator Certificate is delivered by a State which is not a Member State of the Community.

Article 4

Collection of information

1. Competent Authorities of the Member States shall collect any information deemed useful for the fulfilment of the objective stated in Article 1 of this Directive, including:

- important safety information accessible, especially, through

- passenger complaints,

- pilots reports,

- maintenance organization reports,

- incidents reports,

- information on actions taken subsequent to a Ramp Inspection, such as

- aircraft grounded,

- aircraft or operator banned from the country,

- corrective actions required,

- contacts with operator's competent authority,

- follow-up information concerning the operator such as

- corrective actions implemented,

- recurrence of discrepancy.

This information shall be kept, using a standard report from containing at least the items described in the form contained in Annex 1.

2. Other organizations, independent from the competent authorities of the Member States, whose activities encompass the collection of incidents reports (including confidential reports), my also contribute to the exchange of information described in Article 6.

Article 5

Ramp inspection

1. The competent authority of each Member State shall ensure that third countries aircraft suspected of non-compliance with international safety standards landing at any of its airports is subject to ramp inspections as follows:

(a) all aircraft:

- showing signs of poor maintenance condition or with obvious damage or defect,

- which have been reported to perform abnormal manoeuvres since entering the airspace of a Member State.

- having been subjected to a previous ramp inspection which has revealed deficiencies as long as such deficiencies have not been corrected;

(b) 10 % of the movements, with a minimum of once a week, of:

- an aircraft the operator of which has been the subject of a standard report according to Article 4,

- an aircraft the operator of which or the country of the operator of which has been the subject of a decision according to Article 9.

2. The ramp inspection shall be performed according to the procedure described in Annex 2 and using a ramp inspection report from containing at least the items described in the form appended to this Annex. On completion of the ramp inspection, the commander of the aircraft shall be provided with a copy of the ramp inspection report.

3. When executing a ramp inspection under this Directive, the competent authority shall make all possible efforts to avoid an aircraft being unduly delayed.

Article 6

Exchange of information

1. The competent authorities of the Member States shall participate in a mutual exchange of information.

2. All standard reports referred to in Article 4 (1) and the ramp inspection reports referred to in Article 5 (2) shall be made available without delay to the competent authorities of the Member States and the Commission, at their request.

3. Whenever a standard report shows the existence of a potential safety threat or a ramp inspection report shows an aircraft does not comply with international safety standards and may pose a potential safety threat, the report will be communicated without delay to each competent authority of the Member States and the Commission.

Article 7

Protection of information

1. The information exchanged in accordance with Article 6 shall be used for the sole purpose of this Directive and its access will be limited to the participating competent authorities and the Commission.

2. Confidentiality of information given voluntarily, in particular by the crew of aircraft subjected to ramp inspections, will be ensured by de-identifying extensively the source of such information.

Article 8

Grounding of aircraft

1. In the cases of non-compliance with international safety standards which are clearly hazardous to safety, the competent authority performing the ramp inspection shall ground the aircraft until the hazard is removed.

2. In the event that an aircraft is grounded, the competent authority of the Member State where the inspection took place shall immediately inform the competent authorities of the countries concerned.

3. If the deficiencies referred to in paragraph 1 above cannot be fully rectified at the airport of inspection, the competent authority of the Member State where the inspection took place may, in coordination with the State responsible for the operation of the aircraft concerned, prescribe the necessary conditions under which the aircraft could be allowed to fly safely without fare-paying passengers, to an airport at which the deficiencies could be corrected.

4. In the circumstances referred to in paragraph 3, the competent authority of the Member State where the inspection took place shall notify the competent authority of the States which will be overflown by this aircraft as well as the State where the aircraft will land for repair.

5. The owner or the operator of the aircraft or his representative in the Member State concerned shall have a right of appeal against a grounding decision taken by the competent authority of the Member State. The lodging of an appeal shall not cause in itself the grounding to be suspended.

Article 9

Safety improvement measures

On the basis of information made available through Articles 4, 5 and 6, the Commission may, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11 (2), decide, according to the importance of the perceived safety hazard:

- systematic ramp inspection and other surveillance measures of a specific operator or of operators of a specific third country,

- ban, or impose conditions on the operation of, a specific operator or operators of a specific third country from Community airports pending the adoption by the competent authority of that third country of satisfactory arrangements for corrective measures.

The Commission shall inform the Committee referred to in Article 11 on the results of any contacts established with the third country involved in order to offer a safety oversight assessment of its competent authority by a qualified team of experts.

Article 10

Implementations measures

1. Member States shall report to the Commission the operational measures taken and the resources allocated to implement the requirements of Articles 4, 5, and 6.

2. The Commission may, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11 (2), take any appropriate measures to facilitate the implementation of Articles 4, 5 and 6 such as:

- establish the list of information to be collected,

- detail the content of, and procedures for, ramp inspections,

- define the format for the storage and dissemination of data,

- create or support the appropriate bodies for managing or operating the tools necessary for the collection and exchange of information.

Article 11

Committee

1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee of an advisory nature composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission.

2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.

The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its position recorded in the minutes.

The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.

Article 12

Penalties

1. Member States shall lay down the system of penalties for breaching the national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive and shall take all the measures necessary to ensure that those penalties are applied. The penalties thus provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

2. Member States shall notify the relevant provisions to the Commission not later than . . . and shall notify any subsequent changes as soon as possible.

Article 13

Implementation of the Directive

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive no later than 1 July 1998. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

2. When Member States adopt these provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The method of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.

3. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions of domestic law which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.

Article 14

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 15

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) Resolution B4-0150/96, OJ No C65, 4. 3. 1996, p. 172.

(2) Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Report by the High Level Group established by the Council Decision of 11 March 1996 addressed to the European Parliament and to the Council, Defining a Community Aviation Safety Improvement Strategy. SEC(96) 1083 final, 12. 6. 1996.

ANNEX 1

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ANNEX 2

I. The ramp inspection should cover all or a selection of the following aspects, according to the time available.

1. Checking for presence and validity of the documents necessary for international flights such as: registration certificate, log book, certificate of airworthiness, crew licences, radio licence, list of passengers and freight.

2. Check that flight crew composition and qualification comply with the requirements of Annex 1 and Annex 6 to the Chicago convention (ICAO Annexes).

3. Check of operational documentation (flight data, operational flight plan, technical log), and of flight preparation necessary to show that the flight is prepared according to ICAO Annex 6.

4. Check for presence and status of items required for international navigation according to ICAO, Annex 6.

- Air operator certificate,

- Noise and Emission Certificate,

- Operation manual (including MEL (1)) and flight manual,

- Safety equipment,

- Security cabin equipment,

- Equipment necessary for the specific flight including radio, communication and radio navigation equipment - flight recorders.

5. Check that the condition of the aircraft and its equipment (including damages and repairs) ensures continuous compliance with ICAO Annex 8 standards.

II. A ramp inspection report must be established after the ramp inspection and must include standard general information described hereunder, and a list of items checked together with an indication of any deficiencies found for each of these items, or if any specific remark is necessary.

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(1) Minimum Equipment List.