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"
Date: 2000-10-19
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European organisation, administrative procedure, civil aviation, harmonisation of standards, technical regulations, transport safety

16.1.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 14/33

3.3. Supporting measures

In the Committee’s view, the rapid development of
3.3.1.
the CARE database is a key factor for any prioritisation and
any road safety policy based on the cost-efficiency principle.
That is why the Committee mentioned it above in the section
General criticisms and suggestions.

on construction and maintenance of road infrastructure should
be more geared to road safety; telematics would be very useful
for improving respect for the rules of the road and for
communicating to road users any information likely to
encourage safety-orientated behaviour.

4. Conclusion

3.3.2.
The Committee endorses the two other supporting
measures — an integrated information system and research
into vehicle standards and telematics. However, it feels that
this research should also cover road infrastructure. Standards

In general,
the Committee supports any action likely to
improve road safety. In particular, it is pleased that the Council
of Transport Ministers adopted a resolution on 26 June 2000
on strengthening road safety, which indeed accords with the
measures advocated in this opinion.

Brussels, 19 October 2000.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committtee

Göke FRERICHS

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

2. Gist of the Commission proposal

1.1.
The Commission proposal for a regulation is intended
to harmonise technical requirements and administrative pro-
cedures 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
(with minor
by Member States into national
amendments) take the form of a regulation published by the
Commission.

law — will

The Commission’s explanatory memorandum to the

2.1.
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 har-
monisation 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.

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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) — pro-
duced by the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), which have the
force of law in the Community.

Against this background, the Commission services
2.2.
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 pro-
visions 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.

The procedure used for adopting the legislation must
2.4.
interested
transparency and involve all
display the usual
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.

The annex was compiled with the following objectives

2.6.
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 explana-
tory 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.

The work done by the JAA in producing JAR-OPS
2.7.
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.)

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3.3.1.
Up to now, JAR-OPS 1 has contained these refer-
ences. 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.

The Commission is asked to rectify the translation
3.6.
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.

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.

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.

4.

Final observation

Brussels, 19 October 2000.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Communication from the Commission
— The results of the public consultation on the 1999 Communications Review and Orientations
for the new Regulatory Framework’

(2001/C 14/07)

On 2 May 2000 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned communication.

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 Lagerholm.

At its 376th plenary session of 19 October 2000 the Economic and Social Committee adopted the
following opinion unanimously.

1.

The Commission communication

1.1.
The communication reports on the consultation associ-
ated with the 1999 Communications Review (1) and draws

(1) OJ C 204, 18.7.2000, p. 3.

conclusions with regard to the forthcoming proposals for the
new regulatory framework. Respondents held differing views
on, for instance, funding of national regulatory authorities, the
introduction of two thresholds for asymmetric obligations in
respect of access and interconnection, guidelines for afforda-
bility of universal services, and users’ facilities and quality of
service.