COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council directive on the safety of third countries aircraft using Community airports

2002/0014 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council directive on the safety of third countries aircraft using Community airports

1- BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council (document COM(2002) 8 final - 2002/0014(COD)): // 14 January 2002

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: // 17 July 2002

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: // 3 September 2002

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // 26 November 2002

Date of adoption of the common position: // 13 June 2003

2- OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

The objective of the proposal for a directive is to improve air safety by ensuring third countries aircraft using Community airports comply with international safety standards.

To this end, Member States are required to ensure that information is collected and disseminated so that sufficient evidence can be established to decide on measures required to ensure the safety of the travelling public as well as of people on the ground.

Provision is made to ensure that third country aircraft, their operation and crew are inspected, in particular whenever there is reasonable suspicion that international safety standards are not being met. If it is felt necessary to ensure immediate safety, such aircraft are grounded and appropriate measures for rectification of identified shortcomings are decided and implemented.

3- COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1. General comments on the common position

The Council unanimously adopted a large number of amendments to the Commission proposal. Some of them are mainly intended to clarify the text. The objectives of the Commission's initial proposal have generally been maintained.

3.2. Action taken on Parliament's amendments

At its plenary session of 3 September 2002, the European Parliament approved the proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on the safety of third countries aircraft using Community airports submitted by the Commission subject to a number of amendments.

Of the nineteen amendments adopted by Parliament, the Commission accepted thirteen : six entirely (n° 1, 4, 5, 13, 16, 22), six with minor wording modifications (n° 2, 9, 11, 18, 20, 21) and one partially, proposing to use another wording to comply with the latter's spirit (n° 12).

As a number of articles have been rewritten, some of the European Parliament wording included in the modified proposal from the Commission have been changed in the process. It is the case for amendments 2, 4, 5, 13, 18 and 20. However, amendment 9, 11, 12, and 16 are included in the common position. Amendments 1, 21 and 22 have not been included but this does not affect the main thrust of the directive. As a consequence, the Commission considers that this common position takes into account such substantial change as the inclusion of spot checks in Article 4.2 as requested by the European Parliament and follows to a large extent the spirit of the other comments made by the European Parliament on first reading.

3.3. New provisions introduced by the Council and the Commission's opinion on them

The amendments below are the main ones introduced by the Council in its common position:

* Article 1- objective and Article 2 - scope, have been merged in one single article which reinforces the statement that this directive does not affect the right of the member States to carry out inspections on any aircraft and take, as a consequence, the necessary measures to maintain safety. This change ensures that the wish of the European Parliament and of a number of Member States that the possibility to check Community aircraft is recognised in a legally acceptable way, without extending the scope of the directive, which would have posed a number of legal and operational problems. This change is acceptable to the Commission.

* Article 4 - ramp inspection : the new paragraph 2 is a revised wording of the Commission proposal which was based on a European Parliament amendment. This wording is acceptable to the Commission.

* Article 6 - protection and dissemination of information : amendment of the wording to bring it more in line with the text of Regulation 1592/2002 [1] establishing the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation which is presently in Conciliation procedure.

[1] OJ L 240 of 7.9.2002, p. 1.

* Article 6.2 public report : in its proposal, the Commission required that a report be published by the Member States to inform the public of the progress and results of the application of this directive. In its Common position, the Council transfers this activity to the Commission. This change represents an additional workload for the Commission's services and will therefore need to be taken into account by the European Parliament and the Council by granting the Commission the necessary resources to comply with this new provision.

* Article 7 - grounding of aircraft : this revised wording has been introduced to better comply with the international practice in force. As it does not affect the thrust of this article, this wording is acceptable to the Commission.

* Article 9 - imposition of ban or conditions on operation : the change in this article will limit to a simple recommendation the possible extension to the whole Community of a measure taken by a Member State against a sub-standard operator instead of a more binding extension as foreseen in the Commission proposal.

* Article 10 - procedure for decision : this article has been modified by the addition of a new third paragraph to suit the needs of the change in Article 9.

* Article 11 - implementation : the time frame for the implementation, which was set a two years for this Directive, has been extended to three years by the Council.

4- CONCLUSION

The Commission agrees with the text of the common position adopted unanimously by the Council as it respects the essential principles of the original proposal. It also takes account to a large extent of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament on its first reading.