Common Position (EC) No 47/2003 of 13 June 2003 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safety of third country aircraft using Community airports
Date: 2003-06-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: air safety, airport, civil aviation, common transport policy, safety standard, third country

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COMMON POSITION (EC) No 47/2003

adopted by the Council on 13 June 2003

with a view to adopting Directive 2003/. . ./EC of the Parliament and of the Council of . . . on the
safety of third country aircraft using Community airports

(2003/C 233 E/02)

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 (1),

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (2),

After consulting the Committee of Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

(1) The Resolution on the air disaster off the coast of the
Dominican Republic adopted by the European Parliament
on 15 February 1996 (4) highlights 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.

(2) The Commission has issued a Communication to the
European Parliament and the Council entitled ‘Defining a
Community Aviation Safety Improvement Strategy’.

(3) That Communication clearly states 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 (‘the
Chicago Convention’).

(4)

In order to establish and maintain a high uniform level of
civil aviation safety in Europe, a harmonised approach to
the effective enforcement of international safety standards
within the Community should be introduced. To that end,
it is necessary to harmonise the rules and procedures for
ramp inspections of
landing at
airports located in the Member States.

third-country aircraft

(5) A harmonised approach to the effective enforcement of
international safety standards by the Member States will
avoid distortions of competition. A common stance on

(1) OJ C 103 E, 30.4.2002, p. 351.
(2) OJ C 241, 7.10.2002, p. 33.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 3 September 2002 (not yet
published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of . . .

third-country aircraft that fail to comply with international
safety standards will be of benefit to the position of the
Member States.

(6) Aircraft landing in the Member States should undergo an
inspection when it is suspected that they do not comply
with international safety standards.

(7)

(8)

(9)

Inspections may also be carried out in accordance with a
spot-check procedure in the absence of any particular
suspicion, provided that Community and international
law is observed. In particular, the inspections should be
carried out in a non-discriminatory way.

Inspections could be stepped up in the case of aircraft in
which defects have already been identified frequently in
the past, or on aircraft belonging to airlines whose
aircraft have frequently attracted attention.

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 moni-
toring of the compliance of third country aircraft with
international safety standards.

(10) For

these reasons

there is a need to establish, at
Community level, a procedure for the assessment of third-
country aircraft and related cooperation mechanisms
between the competent authorities of the Member States
to exchange information.

(11) The sensitive nature of safety related information requires
that Member States should take necessary measures,
in
accordance with their national law, to ensure appropriate
confidentiality of the information received by them.

(12) Without prejudice to the public's right of access to the
Commission's documents as laid down in Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and the
Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European
Commission
documents (5),
the Commission should adopt measures
for
such
information and the associated conditions.

the dissemination to interested parties of

Parliament,

Council

and

(4) OJ C 65, 4.3.1996, p. 172.

(5) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

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(13) Aircraft on which corrective measures are required should,
where the identified deficiencies are clearly hazardous to
safety, be grounded until the non-compliance with inter-
national safety standards has been rectified.

in a joint declaration by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
the two countries, and such arrangements have yet to
come into operation,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

(14) The facilities in the airport of inspection may be such that
the competent authority will be obliged to authorise the
aircraft to transfer to an appropriate airport, provided that
conditions for a safe transfer are complied with.

Article 1

Scope and objective

(15) In order to carry out its tasks under this Directive, the
Commission should be
committee
instituted by Article 12 of Council Regulation (EEC) No
3922/91 of 16 December 1991 on the harmonisation of
technical requirements and administrative procedures in
the field of civil aviation (1).

assisted by

the

framework of

1. Within the
the Community's overall
strategy to establish and maintain a high uniform level of
civil aviation safety in Europe,
this Directive introduces a
harmonised approach to the effective enforcement of inter-
national
by
harmonising the rules and procedures for ramp inspections
of
landing at airports located in the
Member States.

third-country aircraft

standards within

the Community

safety

(16) The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures
implementing powers
the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (2).

for

(17) The Commission should place at

the disposal of

the
committee instituted by Article 12 of Regulation (EEC)
No 3922/91 statistics
and information collected in
compliance with other Community measures concerning
specific incidents that could be relevant
to uncovering
deficiencies representing a threat to civil aviation safety.

to carry out

This Directive shall be without prejudice to the Member
2.
States' right
inspections not covered by this
Directive and to ground, ban, or impose conditions on any
aircraft landing at its airports in accordance with Community
and international law.

State aircraft, as defined in the Chicago Convention, and
3.
aircraft of a maximum take-off weight of less than 5 700 kg
not engaged in commercial air transport are excluded from the
scope of this Directive.

The application of

this Directive to the airport of
4.
Gibraltar
is understood to be without prejudice to the
respective legal positions of the Kingdom of Spain and the
United Kingdom with regard to the dispute over sovereignty
over the territory in which the airport is situated.

(18) It is necessary to take into account the cooperation and
information exchanges occurring within the framework of
the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and the European
Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). Moreover, the greatest
possible use should be made of existing expertise in
procedures of Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft
(SAFA).

5.
The application of this Directive to Gibraltar airport shall
be suspended until the arrangements in the Joint Declaration
made by the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Spain and
the United Kingdom on 2 December 1987 have come into
operation. The Governments of Spain and the United
Kingdom will inform the Council of such date of entry into
operation.

(19) Account should be taken of the role of the European
in civil aviation safety
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
policy,
including the establishment of procedures that
aim to establish and maintain a high uniform level of
civil aviation safety in Europe.

(20) Arrangements for greater cooperation over the use of
Gibraltar airport were agreed in London on 2 December
1987 by the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom

(1) OJ L 373, 31.12.1991, p. 4. Regulation as last amended by
L 333,

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2871/2000 (OJ
29.12.2000, p. 47).

(2) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Directive:

(a)

‘grounding’ means the formal prohibition of an aircraft to
leave an airport, and the taking of such steps as are
necessary to detain it;

(b) ‘international safety standards’ means the safety standards
contained in the Chicago Convention and its Annexes, as in
force at the time of the inspection;

(c)

‘ramp inspection’ means the examination of third-country
aircraft in accordance with Annex II;

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(d) ‘third-country aircraft’ means an aircraft which is not used
or operated under the control of a competent authority of
a Member State.

— which have been reported as performing abnormal
since entering the airspace of a Member

manoeuvres
State such as to give rise to serious safety concerns;

Article 3

Collection of information

Member States shall put in place a mechanism to collect any
information deemed useful for the fulfilment of the objective
stated in Article 1, including:

(a)

important safety information accessible, especially through:

— pilot reports,

— maintenance organisation reports,

— incident reports,

— other organisations,

independent from the competent

authorities of the Member States,

— complaints;

(b) information on action taken subsequent

to a ramp

inspection, such as:

— aircraft grounded,

— aircraft or operator banned from the Member State

concerned,

— corrective action required,

— contacts with operator's competent authority;

(c)

follow-up information concerning the operator, such as:

— corrective action implemented,

— recurrence of discrepancy.

— in respect of which a previous ramp inspection has revealed
deficiencies which give rise to serious concern that the
aircraft
safety
standards and where the Member State is concerned that
the defects may not have been corrected;

comply with international

does not

— where there is evidence that the competent authorities of
the country of registration may not be exercising proper
safety oversight; or

— where information collected under Article 3 gives cause for
concern about
the operator or where a previous ramp
inspection of an aircraft used by the same operator has
revealed deficiencies.

2. Member States may establish rules in order to carry out
ramp inspections in accordance with a spot-check procedure in
the absence of any particular suspicion, provided that such
rules comply with Community and international law. Such a
procedure shall, however, be carried out in a non-discrimi-
natory way.

ramp
3. Member States
inspections and other surveillance measures as decided within
the framework of Article 8(3) will be implemented.

that appropriate

ensure

shall

4.
The ramp inspection shall be performed in accordance
with the procedure described in Annex II and using a ramp
inspection report form containing at least the items described
in the form appended to Annex II. On completion of the ramp
inspection, the commander of the aircraft or a representative of
the aircraft operator shall be informed of the ramp inspection
findings and, if significant defects have been found, the report
shall be sent
the aircraft and to the
competent authorities concerned.

to the operator of

This information shall be kept, using a standard report form
containing the items described, in the form set out in Annex I.

5. When performing a ramp inspection under this Directive,
the competent authority concerned shall make all possible
efforts to avoid an unreasonable delay of the aircraft inspected.

Article 4

Ramp inspection

to ensure that

third-country aircraft

Each Member State shall put in place the appropriate
1.
means
suspected of
non-compliance with international safety standards landing at
any of its airports open to international air traffic shall be
subject to ramp inspections. In implementing such procedures,
particular attention shall be given by the competent authority
to aircraft:

— where information has been received indicating poor main-

tenance condition or obvious damage or defects;

Article 5

Exchange of information

in a mutual

The competent authorities of the Member States shall
1.
information. Such
exchange of
participate
the request of a competent authority
information shall at
include a list of airports of the Member State concerned that
are open to international air traffic, with an indication, for each
calendar year, of the number of ramp inspections performed
and the number of movements of third-country aircraft at each
airport on that list.

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All standard reports referred to in Article 3 and the ramp
2.
inspection reports referred to in Article 4(4) shall be made
available without delay to the Commission and, at
their
request, to the competent authorities of the Member States.

immediately
the hazard is removed and shall
aircraft until
inform the competent authorities of the operator concerned
and of the State of registration of the aircraft.

3. Whenever a standard report shows the existence of a
potential safety threat, or a ramp inspection report shows
that 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 6

Protection and dissemination of information

1. Member States shall,
in accordance with their national
legislation, take the necessary measures to ensure appropriate
the information received by them under
confidentiality of
Article 5. They shall use this information solely for
the
purpose of this Directive.

2.
The Commission shall publish yearly an aggregated
information report available to the public containing an
analysis of
the information received in accordance with
Article 5. In the analysis, the source of that information shall
be disidentified.

3. Without prejudice to the public's right of access to the
Commission's documents as laid down in Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, the Commission shall adopt on its own initiative
and, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
10(2), measures for the dissemination to interested parties of
the information referred to in paragraph 1 and the associated
conditions. These measures, which may be general or indi-
vidual, shall be based on the need:

The competent authority of the Member State performing
2.
the ramp inspection may,
in coordination with the State
responsible for the operation of the aircraft concerned or the
State of registration of the aircraft, prescribe the necessary
conditions under which the aircraft can be allowed to fly to
an airport at which the deficiencies can be corrected. If the
deficiency affects the validity of the Certificate of Airworthiness
for the aircraft,
the
operator obtains permission from the State or States which
will be overflown on that flight.

the grounding may only be lifted if

Article 8

Safety improvement and implementation measures

1. Member States shall report to the Commission on the
operational measures taken to implement the requirements of
Articles 3, 4 and 5.

the

On the basis of

information collected under
2.
paragraph 1, the Commission may,
in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 10(2), take any appropriate
measures to facilitate the implementation of Articles 3, 4 and
5 such as:

— establish the list of information to be collected;

— detail the content of, and procedures for, ramp inspections;

— to provide persons and organisations with the information

they need to improve civil aviation safety;

— define the format for the storage and dissemination of data;

— to limit the dissemination of information to what is strictly
required for the purposes of its users, in order to ensure
appropriate confidentiality of that information.

4. Whenever information concerning aircraft deficiencies is
given voluntarily, the ramp inspection reports referred to in
Article 4(4) shall be disidentified regarding the source of such
information.

Article 7

Grounding of aircraft

is clearly hazardous

non-compliance with

safety
1. Where
standards
safety, measures
should be taken by the aircraft operator to rectify the defi-
ciencies before flight departure.
the competent authority
performing the ramp inspection is not satisfied that corrective
action will be carried out before the flight, it shall ground the

international

to flight

If

— create or support the appropriate bodies for managing or
the collection and

operating the tools necessary for
exchange of information.

3.
On the basis of the information received under Articles 3,
4 and 5, and in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 10(2), a decision may be taken on appropriate ramp
inspection and other surveillance measures, in particular those
of a specific operator or of operators of a specific third
country, pending the adoption by the competent authority of
that third country of satisfactory arrangements for corrective
measures.

The Commission may take any appropriate measures to
third countries to improve their

4.
cooperate with and assist
aviation safety oversight capabilities.

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Article 9

Imposition of a ban or conditions on operation

If a Member State decides to ban from its airports or impose
conditions on the operation of a specific operator or operators
of a specific third country from its airports pending the
adoption by the competent authority of that third country of
satisfactory arrangements for corrective measures:

(a) that Member State shall notify the Commission of

the
measures taken, which shall transmit the information to
the other Member States;

(b) the Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 10(3), may issue a recommendation to
the other Member States to extend the measures notified
under (a) to the airports located in their respective terri-
tories.

Article 10

Committee procedure

The Commission shall be assisted by the committee set

1.
up by Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 3 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

Article 11

Implementation

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive
forthwith inform the
Commission thereof.

. . . (*). They

shall

by

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

Article 12

Amendment of Annexes

The Annexes to this Directive may be amended in accordance
with the procedure referred to in Article 10(2).

Article 13

Report

By . . . (**) the Commission shall draw up a report on the
application of the Directive, and in particular on Article 9,
takes into account developments in the
which,
Community and in international
fora. The report may be
accompanied by proposals for an amendment of this Directive.

inter alia,

Article 14

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publi-
cation in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 15

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

4.

The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Done at . . .

5.
The Committee may furthermore be consulted by the
Commission on any other matter concerning the application
of this Directive.

For the European Parliament

For the Council

The President

The President

(*) Three years after the entry into force of this Directive.
(**) Five years after the entry into force of this Directive.

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ANNEX I

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ANNEX II

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

1. Check 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 qualifications 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 in accordance with ICAO Annex 6.

4. Check for presence and status of items required for international navigation in accordance with ICAO Annex 6.

— Air operator certificate

— Noise and Emission Certificate

— Operation manual (including Minimum Equipment List) and flight manual

— Safety equipment

— Security cabin equipment

— Equipment necessary for the specific flight including radio communication and radio navigation equipment

— Flight data recorders.

5. Check that the condition of the aircraft and its equipment (including damage and repairs) ensures continuous

compliance with ICAO Annex 8 standards.

II. An inspection report must be drawn up after the ramp inspection and must include standard general information
described above and a list of items checked, together with an indication of any deficiencies found for each of these
items and/or any specific remark that may be necessary.

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

In the framework of the codecision procedure (Article 251 EC-Treaty), the Council reached on 27/28
March 2003 a political agreement on the draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
on the safety of third country aircraft using community airports.

The Directive envisages introducing a harmonised approach to the effective enforcement of inter-
national safety standards within the Community by harmonising the rules and procedures for ramp
inspections of third-country aircraft landing at airports located in the Member States.

In taking its position, the Council took account of the opinion of the European Parliament in first
reading, as well as of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee.

II. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

1. General

It is recalled that the text of the Commission proposal was greatly inspired by that of the common
position (1) which was reached by the Council in the framework of an earlier legislative procedure on
the same subject that could eventually not be finalised because of the Gibraltar issue. Given this
context, the Council could from the outset agree to several elements of the Commission proposal.
On a few points, however, the Council decided to modify the text of this proposal, generally in order to
make it simpler, clearer and easier to understand. The modifications often resulted from amendments
presented by the European Parliament.

The main modifications operated by the Council are the following:

— Article 1 (objective) and Article 2 (scope) have been merged in one single Article 1 (Scope and
objective). The Council reinforced the provision according to which the Directive is without
prejudice to the Member States' right to carry out inspections not covered by this Directive and
to ground, ban, or impose conditions on any aircraft landing at its airports in accordance with
in
Community and international
accordance with Community and international
to continue to carry out safety checks
regarding Community aircraft, without extending the scope of the Directive to such aircraft,
which would encounter legal problems.

law (Article 1(2)). This modification allows Member States,

law,

— Article 4 (ramp inspection): the new paragraph 2 allows Member States to establish rules in order
to carry out ramp inspections in accordance with a spot-check procedure in the absence of any
particular suspicion, provided that such rules comply with Community and international law, and
provided that the spot-check procedure is carried out in a non-discriminatory way. This paragraph
was inserted further to amendment 16 of the European Parliament, which was much welcomed by
the Council.

— Article 6 (protection and dissemination of information):

— the first paragraph was brought in line with the text of Article 8(1) of the Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council on occurrence reporting in civil aviation (2000/0343
COD), as it has been agreed on 9 April 2003 by the Conciliation Committee;

(1) Common Position 37/98 of 4 June 1998 (OJ C 227, 20.7.1998, p. 18).

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— the second paragraph was changed so that, instead of the Member States publishing half yearly
information to the public,
it is now for the Commission to publish yearly an aggregated
information report available to the public containing an analysis of the information received
in accordance with Article 5.
information shall be
disidentified;

In the analysis,

the source of

that

— the third paragraph,

in which reference is made to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the
European Parliament and the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents (1), is again largely inspired by the Directive on
occurrence reporting in civil aviation, see Article 7(2) thereof.

— Article 7 (Grounding of aircraft): the text of this Article was revised in order to take account of

international practice in this field.

— Article 9 (Imposition of ban or conditions on operation): the Council decided to modify this Article
in the sense that the Commission will have the possibility to issue a recommendation to the other
Member States to extend a measure taken by one Member State against an operator or operators of
a third country to the airports located in their respective territories. In the view of the Council, this
modification is needed in order to assure a balanced division of responsibilities between the
Commission and the Member States with respect to safety matters.

— Article 11 (Implementation): the delay for implementation of the Directive has been extended to

three years.

2. Amendments of Parliament

As regards the amendments of Parliament, the Council endeavoured to incorporate them to the greatest
extent possible. However, in various cases it was impossible to integrate an amendment literally and to
the full, because the relevant texts had been substantially modified or had even been deleted.

This being so, the Council was able to accept in its common position, to the letter or in substance,
(part of) amendments:

No 2 — see Article 1(2);

No 4 — see recital 4;

No 5 — see recital 5;

No 8 — see recital 19;

No 9 — see recital 7;

No 11 — see recital 17;

No 12 — see recital 18;

Nos 13 and 16 — see Article 4(2);

Nos 18 and 20 — see Article 6(2).

III. CONCLUSION

The Council submits that the text of its common position is appropriate and balanced. With respect to
the amendments proposed by the European Parliament in first reading, the Council observes that a
large majority of these amendments have been integrated — to the letter or in spirit, partially or in full
— in the common position. The Council holds therefore that the text of its common position ensures
by and large that the aim sought by the amendments of Parliament is achieved.

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.