Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Amending Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing common rules in the field of civil aviation security
Date: 2003-09-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: air safety, approximation of laws, civil aviation, common transport policy

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 25.9.2003
COM(2003) 566 final

2003/222 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

Amending Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 of the European Parliament and of
the Council establishing common rules in the field of civil aviation security

.

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Following the tragic events of 11 September 2001 the European Commission brought forward
swiftly  a  legislative  proposal  for  a  framework  Regulation  establishing  common  rules  in  the
field  of  civil  aviation  security.  This  Regulation,  numbered  2320/2002,  was  adopted1  on  16
December 2002 and came into force on 19 January 2003.

Following its  coming  into  force  Member  States  have  informed  the  Commission  that  certain
technical requirements of very limited effect on the required level of security as laid down in
the regulation are, at best, very difficult to apply in a manner that does not negatively impact
on the operational procedures at airports and of air carriers.

The  Commission,  therefore,  proposes  to  amend  Regulation  (EC)  2320/2002  with  an
amendment  of  a  technical  nature  that  seeks  to  rectify  operational  problems  inadvertently
caused by the Regulation, as follows:

In  Article  4(3)  the  Regulation  permits  the  application  of  equivalent  levels  of  security  than
those  explicitly  prescribed  in  the  legislation  at  airports  used  only  by  small  aircraft,  general
aviation  or  airports  used  infrequently,  on  the  grounds  that  investment  in  expensive  security
equipment would be inappropriate. Most commercial  airports –  even  very large ones - have
separate  facilities  that  are  used  exclusively  by  small  aircraft  and  general  aviation.  For  all
intents and purposes these are separate aerodromes. However, the Regulation does not permit
them  to  be  considered  as  such.  The  Commission  proposes,  in  a  new  paragraph  4(3a),
permitting  Member  States  to  designate  areas  of  large  airports  as  autonomous  small  airports
for  the  purposes  of  security.  This  is  conditional  on  a  notification  procedure  for  flights
departing from such demarcated areas of airports, so as to ensure that levels of security are not
compromised at arriving airports. A new definition covering demarcated areas of airports is
also added.

The proposed  change  will maintain the high  levels of  aviation security within the European
Union that are mandated in Regulation 2320/2002, but will facilitate their efficient application
at the areas of airports used by small aircraft.

At the same time as making this change the opportunity is taken to make four modifications to
the existing text in order to rectify some small errors, namely:

1)

2)

In Article 4(3) one of the criteria for a small airport is one with “a yearly average of
2 commercial flights  per  day”.  This  should,  of  course,  say  “a  yearly  average  of  no
more than 2 commercial flights per day” since, as drafted, it would exclude airports
with an average of less than 2 flights per day. This is not the intention of the Article.

Article  7  of  the  Regulation  deals  with  compliance  monitoring.  It  refers  to  audits
being  performed.  Unfortunately,  the  term  “audit”  has  a  very  specific  use  in  the
aviation  security  sector.  To  avoid  ambiguity  and  misunderstanding  it  is  therefore
desirable  to  replace  all  references  to  “audit”  with  the  neutral  phrase  “compliance
monitoring activities”.

1

OJ L 355 of 30.12.2002, p. 1.

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3)

4)

In the annex to Regulation 2320/2002 §6.3.1b) and §7.3.1b) lay down requirements
to  search  cargo  and  mail,  respectively,  to  ensure  that  neither  contains  prohibited
articles. Unfortunately the legal texts of the two paragraphs  are not  identical. Since
the  requirements  to  prevent  the  shipment  of  prohibited  articles  in  air  cargo  and  air
mail  are  the  same  it  is  desirable  that  §6.3.1b)  and  §7.3.1b)  are  harmonised.  It  is
therefore proposed to repeat the requirements of §6 in §7.

Also  in  the  annex  §4.1.3  and  §4.3.2  permit  the  appropriate  authorities  to  exempt
certain categories of passenger and their hand luggage from screening (for  example
VIP passengers). This was transposed from the European Civil Aviation Conference
(ECAC) Document 30 on aviation security standards. Unfortunately, it was omitted
to  transpose  the  corresponding  exemption  into  §5  for  the  hold  baggage  of  such
exempted passengers. For consistency of application this error should be rectified.

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2003/222 (COD)

Proposal for a

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

Amending Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 of the European Parliament and of
the Council establishing common rules in the field of civil aviation security

(Text with EEA relevance)

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 Commission2,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee3,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions4,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty5,

Whereas:

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Regulation  (EC)  No  2320/2002  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council
establishes harmonised common rules in the field of civil aviation security6.

The application of the Regulation has demonstrated that there is the need for technical
amendments. These  amendments do not seek  to change the  scope  of  the  Regulation,
nor do they prejudice in any way the security of civil aviation passengers.

The  Regulation  permits  different  but  adequate  levels  of  security  to  be  set  at  the
smallest airports. It is consistent to permit the same adequate levels of security at both
ends of a flight.

(4) 

Regulation 2320/2002 shall be amended accordingly

2

3

4

5

6

OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ C […], […], p. […].
OJ L 355 of 30.12.2002, p. 1.

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) 2320/2002 is hereby amended as follows:

1.

In Article 2 a new definition shall be added:

“(4)  “demarcated  area”  shall  be  an  area  that  is  separated  from  other  security

restricted areas of an airport by means of access control.”

2.

In Article 4: paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

“3.The  appropriate  authority  of  a  Member  State  may,  on  the  basis  of  a  local  risk
assessment, and where the application of the security measures specified in the
Annex  to  this  Regulation  may  be  disproportionate,  or  where  they  can  not  be
implemented for  objective  practical  reasons, adopt national security  measures
to provide an adequate level of protection, at airports,:

(a) with a yearly average of no more than 2 commercial flights per day; or

(b) with only general aviation flights; or

(c) with  commercial  activity  limited  to  aircraft  with  less  than  10  tonnes  of

Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) or less than 20 seats,

taking into account the particularities of such small airports.

The Member State concerned shall inform the Commission of these measures.”

3.

In Article 4 a new paragraph 3a) shall be added:

“3a). Paragraph 3 may also apply to demarcated areas of airports with:

– 

– 

only general aviation flights; or

with  commercial  activity  limited  to  aircraft  with  less  than  10  tonnes  of
Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) or less than 20 seats.

A demarcated area shall be indicated in the airport security programme.

Each flight originating from a demarcated area of an airport shall indicate this fact to

the destination airport in advance of the arrival of the flight.”

4.

In  article  7  the  words  “audited”,  “audits”,  “auditors”  and  “audit  reports”  shall  be
replaced  by  “monitored”,  “compliance  monitoring  activities”,  “persons”  and
“compliance monitoring reports” respectively.

5

5.

In the Annex, a new point 5.2 paragraph 3 shall be added:

“5.2.3Exemptions

Hold  baggage  of  those  parties  listed  under  point  4.1  paragraph  3  may  be
subject to special screening measures or exempt from screening.”

6.

In the Annex, point 7.3 paragraph 1(b) the final sentence shall be replaced by:

“so as to reasonably ensure that it does not contain any prohibited article as listed in
points  iv  and  v  of  the  Attachment,  unless  it  has  been  declared  and  properly
subjected to applicable safety measures; and”.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 2

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

Done at Brussels, […]

For the European Parliament
The President

For the Council
The President

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