Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation"

(2001/C 14/06)

On 27 April 2000 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 80(2) of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 8 September 2000. The rapporteur was Mr von Schwerin.

At its 376th plenary session of 19 October 2000 (meeting of 19 October) the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 94 votes, with one abstention.

1. Introduction

1.1. The Commission proposal for a regulation is intended to harmonise technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation. The idea is that, in future, JAR-OPS 1 (Joint Aviation Requirements for the operation of aircraft engaged in commercial air transportation) - issued by the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) and already incorporated by Member States into national law - will (with minor amendments) take the form of a regulation published by the Commission.

2. Gist of the Commission proposal

2.1. The Commission's explanatory memorandum to the proposal makes the following points:

2.1.1. When drawing up the second liberalisation package in 1989, the Council and the Commission agreed that Community air transport policy also had to address the harmonisation of the regulatory framework applicable to civil aviation in order both to maintain a high level of safety and to ensure fair competition in the internal market.

2.1.2. To achieve these goals, the Community adopted Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation with the aim of establishing and keeping up to date harmonised rules for the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of aircraft, and for personnel and organisations involved in these tasks.

2.1.3. This regulation also lists a number of technical requirements - Joint Aviation Requirements (JARs) - produced by the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), which have the force of law in the Community.

2.2. Against this background, the Commission services examined the JAR-OPS 1 document adopted by the JAA in 1995 with the aim of establishing harmonised requirements for the operation of aircraft engaged in commercial air transportation. The introduction of common rules in this domain into Community law falls within the scope of Council Regulations (EEC) No 3922/91 and No 2407/92.

2.3. However, it appears that, for a number of reasons, JAR-OPS 1 cannot be transposed simply by listing it in the annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 as had been done in the case of other JAR-codes.

2.3.1. Firstly, the text of JAR-OPS 1 contains some provisions which are incompatible with Community law and policies. Adjustments are therefore required to ensure the necessary consistency.

2.3.2. Secondly, since the various interested parties still disagree on many points, the Commission will have to make up its own mind and draw its own conclusions.

2.3.3. This is necessary, because the rules will have a huge economic impact on thousands of enterprises and their workers.

2.4. The procedure used for adopting the legislation must display the usual transparency and involve all interested parties. Accordingly, the full text of the provisions will pass through the usual procedure for the adoption of Community legislation.

2.5. The Commission has opted for transposing the content of JAR-OPS 1 by adding a new annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91. Its purpose is to make the necessary adjustments to the previous text of the regulation in order to secure proper transposition.

2.6. The annex was compiled with the following objectives in mind:

- Adhering to the safety level proposed by the JAA;

- Limiting the extent of Community requirements to what is strictly necessary to ensure automatic recognition of Air Operator Certificates. Therefore the text covers only Section 1 of JAR-OPS 1 and excludes other parts dealing with acceptable means of compliance (AMC) or explanatory material as defined in Section 2 of JAR-OPS 1;

- Keeping the text as close as possible to JAR-OPS 1 in order to facilitate further developments and amendments as well as compatibility with the regulatory system in JAA countries which are not EU Member States;

- Ensuring compatibility with Community law by making adjustments to the following provisions:

- Registration of aircraft

- Short term wet-lease-in

- Exemptions/operational directives.

2.7. The work done by the JAA in producing JAR-OPS 1 constitutes a good basis for adopting common safety requirements in commercial air transportation. Accordingly, the Commission proposes incorporating its content into Community law with the minimum changes necessary to meet Community obligations and policies.

3. The Committee's comments

3.1. The Committee welcomes the Commission's proposal for a regulation, since the incorporation of JAR-OPS 1 into Community law will make it possible to harmonise safety requirements and avoid distortions of competition in the single market.

3.2. The Committee also hopes that such a move will rectify the current failure of some EU Member States to implement JAR-OPS 1 and the distortions of competition this generates.

3.3. However, the Commission proposal still has a number of flaws which need to be eliminated. In terms of content, the Committee is in broad agreement with the Commission proposal, particularly since it is based on JAR-OPS 1 and this has already been coordinated with the appropriate authorities. However, the Commission proposal makes no reference to other JARs, which are, however, important for flight operations and are connected with JAR-OPS 1 (JAR-26, JAR-145, JAR-STD, JAR-TSO, JAR-FCL 1, JAR-FCL 3 etc.)

3.3.1. Up to now, JAR-OPS 1 has contained these references. The Commission proposal would isolate the EU OPS from the overall JAR scheme, which operates as a closed, interlinked system.

3.4. In failing to take account of Section 2 of JAR-OPS 1, the Commission also fails in its objective of harmonising the rules. Many of the additional requirements and limitations set out in Section 2 of JAR-OPS 1 might be interpreted differently by the national aviation authorities, and this would inevitably lead to distortions of competition in the single market. Here, the Committee sees a need for further regulation.

3.5. Moreover, the translations of the Commission proposal differ - in some cases substantially - from JAR-OPS 1 and contain errors. This must be rectified. That does not of course apply to the passages from the JAR-OPS 1 text deliberately omitted from the Commission proposal.

3.6. The Commission is asked to rectify the translation errors in order to secure the practical implementation of the paper as a whole. To prevent misunderstandings, the Committee also proposes that the Commission paper make greater use of the recognised technical terms employed in JAR-OPS 1. Accordingly, the Committee feels it is advisable to stick closely to the JAR-OPS 1 text (both the original English version and the translations which already exist). Furthermore, the Commission proposal should be based on JAR-OPS Change 1, which is the most recent version and follows on from JAR-OPS 1.

4. Final observation

4.1. The Committee feels it is essential to establish the planned European Air Safety Authority (EASA) as quickly as possible. This authority would then be able to issue all the rules governing air traffic - including the EU OPS.

Brussels, 19 October 2000.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke Frerichs