Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the framework for the creation of the Single European Sky
Date: 2002-04-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European standard, action programme, air space, air traffic, air transport, organisation of transport, trans-European network

30.4.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 103 E/1

II

(Preparatory Acts)

COMMISSION

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council

laying down the

framework for the creation of the Single European Sky

(2002/C 103 E/01)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2001) 123 final/2 — 2001/0060(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 30 November 2001)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 80(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

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

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) Implementation of the common transport policy requires
an efficient air transport system allowing safe, regular
transport services and, consequently,
operation of air
facilitating the free movement of goods, persons and
services.

(2) At

its Extraordinary Meeting in Lisbon on 23 and
the European Council called on the
24 March 2000,
Commission to put forward proposals on airspace, air
traffic and flow management, based on the work of the
High Level Group on the Single European Sky set up by
the Commission. This Group, made up largely of the civil
and military air navigation authorities in the Member
States, submitted its report in November 2000.

(3) Smooth operation of the air transport system requires air
navigation services allowing optimum use of Europe's
airspace and a consistent, high level of safety in air
travel,
in keeping with the duty of general economic
interest of the air navigation service providers.

general

(4) Air navigation services should be developed in line with
in
the
safety
accordance with the principles
laid down by the
Convention on International Civil Aviation signed at
Chicago on 7 December 1944.

and performance objectives,

(5) For all these reasons, and with a view to extending the
Single European Sky to include a larger number of
the Community should, while taking
European States,
into account
the developments occurring within the
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
(Eurocontrol), lay down common objectives and an action
programme to mobilise the efforts by the Community, the
Member States and the various economic stakeholders in
the Single
order to create a single European airspace:
European Sky.

(6) The closer cooperation between civil and military bodies,
which is essential for efficient use of the airspace, should
be pursued, using where possible existing cooperation
frameworks
appropriate
instruments for any matter concerning air traffic and air
navigation services for exclusively military purposes.

and making

use

all

of

(7) The establishment of rules at Community level should
permit the optimal use of the airspace as a whole and
the performance of the air navigation services.

(8) These rules should cover organisation and use of

the
airspace and the relevant procedures, provision of air
navigation services, including the economic aspects, and
air navigation equipment and systems and the associated
procedures.

(9) Use of the airspace should be organised and managed
efficiently and in total safety, to meet the needs of both
civil and military users and allow equitable, non-discrimi-
natory allocation of the resources between all users.

(10) The air navigation services provided should ensure
uniform, high safety standards for the air traffic which
depends on these services. Provision of
these services
should be optimised to guarantee the best use of
Europe's airspace resources.

(11) The technical and operational solutions should secure and
raise safety standards, the overall capacity of the system,
and full, efficient use of the capacity available.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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for

under

powers

Council

the exercise of

(12) Some of the measures necessary for creating the Single
European Sky call for the Commission to exercise the
implementing
Decision
1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
implementing powers
procedures
conferred on the Commission (1), for the sake of efficiency
and speed. Creation of the Single European Sky therefore
necessitates the establishment of a mechanism for coop-
eration with the Member States by the setting-up of a
committee of representatives from the Member States
which permits consideration of both civil and military
interests and which allows the participation of outside
experts.

(13) Pending the outcome of negotiations for the accession of
the Community to Eurocontrol, which remains
an
important component in the creation of a pan-European
airspace, the Commission and Eurocontrol may conclude
to
appropriate
contribute to the preparation of Community legislation.

to enable Eurocontrol

arrangements

(14) It

is desirable to extend the Single European Sky to
non-Community countries, either within the framework
of participation by the Community in the work of Euro-
control, subject to accession by the Community to that
international organisation, or by means of agreements
concluded by the Community with the non-Community
countries.

(15) It

is necessary to make provision for procedures for
assisting the Commission in its task of supervising and
monitoring the creation of the Single European Sky in an
efficient and regular fashion, notably by drawing on the
expertise of the Member States and of Eurocontrol.

(16) The performance of the air navigation services system as a
whole at European level need to be constantly assessed to
check the effectiveness of the measures adopted and to
propose further measures.

(17) The social partners may be informed and consulted on all
measures having significant
implications. The
Sectoral Dialogue Committee set up under Commission
Decision 1998/500/EC of 20 May 1998 on the estab-
lishment of Sectoral Dialogue Committees promoting
the Dialogue between the social partners at European
level (2) may also be consulted.

social

(18) The drafting of the measures necessary in order to create
the Single European Sky requires broad-based consul-
tations with the industrial partners concerned.

(19) The impact of the measures taken to apply this Regulation
should be evaluated in the light of reports to be submitted
regularly by the Commission.

(20) Since the objective of the action envisaged, namely the
laying-down of the framework for the creation of the

Single European Sky, cannot be sufficiently achieved by
the Member States, by reason of the transnational scale of
the action, and can therefore be better achieved by the
Community, while allowing for detailed implementing
rules that take account of specific local conditions, the
Commission may take measures in accordance with the
subsidiarity principle set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In
accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out
in that Article this Regulation does not go beyond what is
necessary in order to achieve the objectives pursued,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Objective

a

The objective of this Regulation is to create, by 31 December
the latest, a European airspace, conceived and
2004 at
airspace, offering optimum safety
managed as
in the
air
efficiency for
conditions
Community and ensuring a level of capacity meeting the
requirements of civil and military users. This single airspace
is hereinafter referred to as the ‘Single European Sky’.

single
and overall

traffic

This Regulation lays down the general
lines of approach
governing creation of the Single European Sky and identifies
the fields for action by the Community and the means
in terms of structures, procedures and resources,
necessary,
in order to create the Single European Sky, while taking into
account Eurocontrol's task of establishing a pan-European
airspace.

The measures taken to apply the lines of approach referred to
in the second paragraph shall take the form of implementation
of common safety and performance rules for air navigation
services, by means of mechanisms allowing optimum use of
airspace at Community level and the involvement of all
economic and social stakeholders concerned.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(a) ‘air navigation services’ means all air traffic control services,
including ancillary services providing communication, navi-
gation and
infrastructure, meteorological
services for airspace users, search and rescue services and
aeronautical
information services, all those services being
provided to airspace users during every phase of the flight;

surveillance

(1) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(2) OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 27.

(b) ‘air navigation service providers’ means any public or
private entity responsible for operating and managing air
navigation services;

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(c) ‘air traffic’ means all movements of civil and State aircraft,

including military, customs and police aircraft;

(d) ‘airspace users’ means all civil and State aircraft, including

military, customs and police aircraft;

(e) ‘Eurocontrol’ means the European Organisation for the
Safety of Air Navigation set up by the International
Convention of 13 December 1960 relating to Cooperation
for the Safety of Air Navigation (1).

(c) most flights take a straight

line between the points of
departure and destination or take the route closest to this
straight line, subject to compliance with the demands of
safety, environmental protection and the management of
air traffic;

(d) the airspace is divided into air traffic control sectors giving

priority to operational requirements;

(e) air traffic flow planning and management allow smooth,
flexible air traffic making optimum use of the capacity
available.

Article 3

Article 5

Fields for action by the Community

Provision of air navigation services

1.
The measures necessary in order to create the Single
European Sky shall be established in the following fields,
whilst ensuring maximum safety standards for air navigation:

Measures relating to the provision of air navigation services
shall be such that:

(a) organisation and use of

the airspace and the relevant

procedures;

(b) provision of air navigation services, including the economic

aspects;

(c) air navigation equipment and systems and the associated

procedures.

(a) definition and monitoring of application of

the rules
referred to in Article 1 are kept separate from operation
of the air navigation services subject to these rules;

(b) air navigation service providers hold regular, formal consul-
tations with airspace users on the arrangements and costs
for air navigation services to ensure that these users' needs
are taken into account in definition of these services;

(c) air navigation service providers ensure appropriate trans-
in the form of publi-
reports, and

parency in air navigation services,
cation of
regularly undergo an independent audit;

financial accounts and annual

2.
The measures set out in paragraph 1 shall aim to define
the objectives and, where appropriate, the means of attaining
these objectives in such a way as to safeguard the public
interest.

(d) operation of air navigation services is harmonised to ensure
integration and consistency of the operations of air navi-
gation service providers, airspace users and airports;

Article 4

Organisation and use of the airspace

(e) cooperation between civil air navigation service providers is
reinforced, in particular by facilitating the establishment of
groupings of two or more service providers;

Measures on the organisation and use of airspace shall be such
that:

(a) the airspace above the territory of

the Community is
treated as a common resource constituting a continuum;

(f) cooperation between civil and military air navigation

service providers is encouraged;

(g) new services are established at

the same time for all

interested parties in the Member States concerned;

(b) use of the airspace is flexible, with no permanent segre-
gation and optimising the duration of any temporary segre-
gation for military purposes;

(1) Convention as amended by the Protocol of 12 February 1981, and

revised by the Protocol of 27 June 1997.

(h) air navigation service providers exchange all data on the
situation of flights during every phase of the flight in order
to facilitate operation of air navigation services; access to
concerned on a
these data
non-discriminatory basis, without prejudice
to safety
requirements;

shall be open to all

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(i)

the economic regulations favour more efficient provision of
air navigation services and provision of services releasing
capacity meeting Europe's needs;

Article 9

Supervision and monitoring

(j) mechanisms

providing

are
developed to stimulate new investment in this sector and
to reward timely provision of high-quality services meeting
the demand from airspace users.

performance

incentives

Article 6

Air navigation equipment and systems

Measures on air navigation equipment and systems shall be
such that:

1.
The measures adopted pursuant to Article 3 shall define
appropriate mechanisms for assisting the Commission in its
responsibilities for supervising and monitoring application of
those rules,
including the creation of civil and military
technical expertise.

The supervision and monitoring methods shall be based
2.
on the submission of regular reports by air navigation service
providers on implementation of the measures adopted.

Article 10

Performance review

(a) the technical and operational
of
and
planning
including interoperability;

operation

solutions allow uniform
system,
the

European

The Commission shall ensure the examination and comparison
in particular, Euro-
of air navigation performance involving,
control's Performance Review Commission.

(b) creation of

the Single European Sky favours the intro-
duction of new technical and operational solutions for air
navigation;

(c) the development and validation of

technical and oper-
ational solutions meet airspace users' common needs and
take account of the demand from such users with regard to
choice of routes and flight profiles.

Article 7

Single Sky Committee

1.
A committee, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Single Sky
Committee’, is hereby set up, composed of the representatives
of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the
Commission.

Each Member State shall appoint two representatives and

2.
two alternates.

Non-Community States

3.
transport
agreements with the Community shall be associated with the
work of the committee, in accordance with the arrangements
laid down in the agreements.

committed to air

Article 11

Impact assessment

Every five years after the entry into force of this Regulation and
for the first time no later than 30 June 2005, the Commission
shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a
taken to create the Single
report assessing the measures
European Sky.

For the purposes of drafting this report, the Commission may
request the opinion of the Single Sky Committee.

The report shall contain an evaluation of the results achieved
by the measures taken pursuant
to this Regulation in the
various fields of action in the light of the original objectives
and of future needs.

Article 12

Safeguards

This Regulation shall not prevent Member States from adopting
or applying measures warranted by serious internal distur-
law and order,
bances affecting the maintenance of
in the
event of war,
tension constituting a
international
serious
threat of war, or in order to carry out obligations they have
accepted for the purpose of maintaining peace and inter-
national security.

Article 8

Relations with third countries

Article 13

Entry into force

When drafting the measures taken to implement this Regu-
lation,
the Commission shall keep open the possibility of
extending the Single European Sky to countries which are
the Community, whether under bilateral
not members of
agreements concluded with the non-member countries or
within the framework of Eurocontrol.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States.