Commission Regulation (EC) No 736/2006 of  16 May 2006  on working methods of the European Aviation Safety Agency for conducting standardisation inspections   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-05-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU office or agency, air safety, operation of the Institutions, standardisation

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 736/2006

of 16 May 2006

on working methods of the European Aviation Safety Agency for conducting standardisation
inspections

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 of
the
European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 on
common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a
European Aviation Safety Agency (1),
in particular
Article 16 thereof,

and

After consulting the committee referred to in Article 54(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Article 12(2)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002
requires the European Aviation Safety Agency, hereinafter
referred to as ‘the Agency’, to conduct inspections and
investigations as necessary to fulfil its tasks.

and 45(1) of Regulation (EC) No
Articles 16(1)
1592/2002 request the Agency to assist the Commission
in the monitoring of the application of its provisions, as
well
its implementing rules by conducting standardi-
sation inspections of Member States’ competent autho-
rities.

Article 45(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 stipulates
that where an inspection of a Member State competent
authority entails an inspection of an undertaking or an
association of undertakings, the Agency should follow
the provisions of its Article 46.

The Agency should report to the Commission on the
inspections carried out in application of Article 45 of
Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002.

(1) OJ L 240, 7.9.2002, p. 1. Regulation as

(EC) No 1701/2003 (OJ

last amended by
L 243,

Commission Regulation
27.9.2003, p. 5).

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

Article 16(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 requires
the Commission to set out the working methods of the
Agency when conducting standardisation inspections.

These working methods should take into account the
legal provisions of Member States relating to the author-
isation and empowerment of
their personnel partici-
pating in inspections carried out by the Agency.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1702/2003 of 24
September 2003 laying down implementing rules for
the airworthiness and environmental certification of
aircraft and related products, parts and appliances, as
well as for the certification of design and production
organisations (2) foresees the procedure to be followed
by national aviation authorities when carrying out these
rules.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2042/2003 of 20
November 2003 on the continuing airworthiness of
aircraft and aeronautical products, parts and appliances,
and on the approval of organisations and personnel
involved in these tasks (3) foresees the procedure to be
followed by national aviation authorities when carrying
out these rules.

(9)

The working methods provided for in this Regulation are
without prejudice to the enforcement powers conferred
by the Treaty on the Commission.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down the working methods for conducting
standardisation inspections of Member States’ national aviation
authorities in the fields covered by Article 1(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1592/2002.

(2) OJ L 243, 27.9.2003, p. 6. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 706/2006 (OJ L 122, 9.5.2006, p. 16).

(3) OJ L 315, 28.11.2003, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 707/2006 (OJ L 122, 9.5.2006, p. 17).

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Article 2

Definitions

Standardisation inspections shall be conducted by the
4.
Agency on a regular and, where appropriate, on an ad-hoc
basis.

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions
shall apply:

(a) ‘inspection’

shall mean the

standardisation inspection
referred to in Articles 16(1) and 45 of Regulation (EC) No
1592/2002 carried out by the Agency for the purpose of
monitoring the application of that Regulation and of its
implementing rules by the national aviation authorities;

(b) ‘national aviation authorities’ shall mean the competent
authorities of Member States referred to in Article 45 of
Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002;

(c) ‘authorised personnel of the Agency’ shall mean the persons
who are legally authorised by the Agency to carry out
inspections of Member States competent authorities and
inspections of undertakings or association of undertakings
for the purpose of verifying the application of Regulation
(EC) No 1592/2002 by these authorities;

(d) ‘authorised personnel of Member States’ shall mean the
persons legally authorised by the competent authorities of
the Member States to assist the Agency in carrying out
inspections.

Article 3

Principles for carrying out inspections

For

the purpose of

1.
assessing compliance with the
requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and its imple-
inspections of
the Agency shall carry out
menting rules,
national aviation authorities whereby it
shall examine in
particular compliance of these authorities with the provisions
of the Annex, Part 21 to Regulation (EC) No 1702/2003 and
Annexes I (Part M), II (Part 145), III (Part 66) and IV (Part 147)
to Regulation (EC) No 2042/2003 and shall establish a report
thereon.

2.
Standardisation inspections may include, for the purpose
of paragraph 1, inspections of undertakings or associations of
undertakings under the oversight of
the inspected national
aviation authority.

5.
The present Regulation is without prejudice to Articles 11
and 47 of Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and to Commission
Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom (1).

Article 4

Exchange of information

1.
National aviation authorities shall provide the Agency
upon request with all necessary information for the purpose
of carrying out inspections.

2. When submitting such a request for information to a
national aviation authority of a Member State and/or an under-
taking or an association of undertakings the Agency shall state
its legal basis and purpose, specify what information is required
and fix the time-limit within which the information is to be
provided.

Article 5

Training and qualification criteria for inspection teams and
team leaders

1.
The Agency shall establish training programmes for the
appropriate qualification of its staff, as prospective authorised
personnel of the Agency, and of the authorised personnel of
Member States to participate in inspections of national aviation
authorities and, where necessary, inspections of undertakings or
associations of undertakings.

2.
The Agency shall establish qualification criteria for its staff
and for personnel of Member States who participate in
inspection teams. Such qualification criteria shall
include
knowledge and experience of auditing techniques and theo-
retical knowledge and practical experience in the relevant
technical matters covered by Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002
and its implementing rules.

3.
Team leaders shall have significant working experience in
the fields covered by Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and its
implementing rules and at least 5 years as inspectors and/or
auditors in the area of standardisation. Both team leaders and
team members shall be trained in the applicable standardisation
shall have
and procedures. Team members
requirements
practical experience of at least 5 years in the relevant field
covered by the inspection and shall be familiar with the
concept of quality system investigation.

Standardisation inspections shall be conducted in a trans-

3.
parent, effective, harmonised and consistent manner.

(1) OJ L 317, 3.12.2001, p. 1.

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Article 6

Setting up teams for inspections

(a) a preparatory phase lasting a minimum of 10 weeks prior to

the inspection;

1.
Inspections shall be carried out by teams set up by the
Agency. Every team shall have a leader and a minimum of two
members. In case of ad hoc inspections the Agency may adjust
the size of
shall be
authorised personnel of the Agency. Team members may be
authorised personnel of the Agency and/or of Member States.

the inspection teams. Team leaders

2.
Personnel of Member States who have been appropriately
trained by the Agency, meet the qualification criteria established
in Article 5 and have been participating in inspections of
national aviation authorities and/or undertakings or associations
of undertakings under their oversight, may be seconded by their
national authorities to participate as authorised personnel of
lead by the Agency.
Member States
Authorised personnel of Member States are excluded from
inspections of the competent authority of their Member State.

in inspection teams

The Agency shall ensure that,

3.
in setting up the teams,
there shall be no conflict of interests either with the national
authorities inspected or with the undertakings or associations of
In case of authorised personnel of
undertakings inspected.
Member States, a declaration of absence of conflict of interest
shall be issued by the national aviation authority seconding the
official.

4. Member States shall appoint a national coordinator to
assist the Agency at all stages of the process and shall ensure
that the inspection team(s) are accompanied throughout the
inspection.

The Agency shall request in due time before launching an
5.
inspection information from national aviation authorities as to
the availability of authorised personnel of Member States for its
conduct. In planning inspections the Agency shall endeavour to
balance the participation of authorised personnel from different
Member States.

(b) a visiting phase;

(c) a reporting phase lasting a maximum of 12 weeks following

the inspection and;

(d) a follow-up phase lasting a maximum of 16 weeks

following the reporting phase;

(e) a closure phase to take place at the end of the follow-up

phase.

Article 8

Preparatory phase

During the preparatory phase the Agency shall:

(a) give notice of inspection to the national aviation authority
at least 10 weeks before the inspection visit, then collect the
necessary information for the preparation of the inspection
visit, define the programme of
the visit and decide the
composition of
the inspection team, as well as any
prospective changes thereto, and

(b) communicate to the national aviation authority along with
the notice of
inspection an inspection questionnaire for
completion at least 6 weeks before the inspection visit by
the
aviation authority and, where
necessary, by the undertaking or association of undertakings
to be inspected in the course of the inspection of that
national aviation authority.

inspected national

Article 9

Visiting phase

1.

During the visiting phase the Agency shall:

Expenses arising from the participation of national coor-
6.
dinators as provided for in Article 9(1)(a) and of authorised
personnel of Member States in inspections and investigations
carried out by the Agency shall be borne, in compliance with
Community rules
annual
and without prejudice
Community budgetary procedure, by the Agency.

to the

(a) organise preliminary and wrap-up meetings between the
the
inspection team and the national
coordinator of
national aviation authority being inspected either at
the
premises of that national aviation authority or in its own
premises;
such meetings being mainly
focused on organisational aspects and the overall conduct
of the inspection visit;

the purpose of

Article 7

Conduct and reporting of inspections

A standardisation inspection of a national aviation authority
and,
if necessary, an undertaking or an association of under-
takings shall include the following phases:

(b) conduct on-site visits, including an opening and a closing
if necessary, of regional
session, of the main offices and,
offices of
inspections of
national aviation authorities may also include inspections
of undertakings or associations of undertakings under
their oversight;

the national aviation authority;

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(c) carry out interviews with the staff of the national aviation
authority inspected and examine records, data, procedures
and any other relevant material by using the mechanisms to
be established pursuant to Article 18 of this Regulation,
ensuring the transparency and consistency of the inspection;

Article 11

Follow-up phase

During the follow-up phase the Agency shall:

(d) present a preliminary report of

the inspection to the
national aviation authority inspected at the closing session;
this report should include comments presented by the
national aviation authority inspected during the inspection
visit, if any, and a request to the national aviation authority
to take immediate effective remedial action to eliminate an
immediate safety hazard, where such hazard is detected
during an inspection;

(a) agree within 16 week since the starting of such phase an
action plan with the national aviation authority inspected,
defining any remedial action and relevant timeframe within
which such action has to be undertaken to resolve any
findings made according to Article 7;

(b) start monitoring the progress of the agreed remedial actions;
the national aviation authority inspected shall provide to the
Agency information as remedial actions are put in place.

(e) require that evidence of the remedial action undertaken by
the national aviation authority inspected be presented at the
wrap-up meeting referred to under (a).

Article 12

Closure phase

During the closure phase the Agency shall:

2. While performing its tasks in the phase referred to in
paragraph 1, the Agency may interview any natural or legal
person for the purpose of collecting information relating to
the subject matter of an inspection. Where such interview is
conducted in the premises of an undertaking, the Agency shall
inform with a notice of 2 weeks the national aviation authority
of the Member State in whose territory the interview takes place
as well as the aviation authority which exercises the oversight
over the undertaking in question. If so requested by the national
aviation authority of that Member State, its personnel may assist
the authorised personnel of
the
interview.

the Agency to conduct

Article 10

Reporting phase

the conduct of

During the reporting phase the Agency shall establish a final
inspection report containing details of
the
inspection and addressing in particular
identified
during the inspection as described in Article 13. This report
shall also include comments of the national aviation authority
inspected, if any. The final inspection report shall be addressed
to the national aviation authority inspected, to the Commission
and to the Member State concerned. The Commission may
subsequently transmit this report to all national aviation autho-
rities.

findings

Where preliminary
immediate
inspection reports
remedial actions as provided for in Article 9(1)(d) and such
answered satisfactorily by the national
requests
aviation authority concerned, the final
inspection report shall
contain evidence of such failure.

are not

request

(a) verify and validate the satisfactory progressive implemen-
tation of the action plan; to this end the national aviation
authority inspected shall provide to the Agency information
as remedial actions are put in place;

(b) issue a statement of closure findings once satisfied with the
actions undertaken by the national aviation authority
addressed to the
inspected. Such statement
aviation
State
authority
concerned and to the Commission. The Commission may
subsequently transmit this report to all national aviation
authorities.

shall be
to

the Member

inspected,

Article 13

Inspection findings

When assessing compliance with the requirements of Regulation
(EC) No 1592/2002 and its implementing rules, the findings in
the relevant final inspection report shall be classified as:

(a) fully compliant;

(b) compliant, but

improvement

is

recommended in areas

(reference to the rules affected) for better efficiency;

(c) not compliant, with objective evidence of minor deficiencies
showing non-compliance with the applicable requirements
in areas (reference to the rules affected), which could raise
standardisation concerns;

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(d) not compliant, with objective evidence of significant defi-
applicable
showing non-compliance with the
(reference to the rules affected),
safety

ciencies
requirements
which, besides
concerns if not promptly corrected;

standardisations

concerns

in areas

raise

(e) not applicable;

(f) not

confirmed, when the national

aviation authority
inspected commits
the visit
material evidence of compliance on findings otherwise clas-
sified as in (c) or (d),
this material evidence not being
directly available at the time of the visit.

shortly after

to produce

Article 14

Access to information contained in inspection reports

Where information contained in an inspection report concerns
an undertaking under the regulatory authority of a third country
and falls within the scope of application of a Community
agreement concluded pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EC)
No 1592/2002, such information shall be made available to the
third country as a party to such an agreement according to its
respective provisions.

Article 15

Action taken following an inspection report

The Agency may at any time, or upon request from the
1.
Commission, conduct inspections of national aviation autho-
rities and, where necessary, of undertakings or associations of
undertakings to assess the satisfactory completion of remedial
actions. Such inspections must be announced to the national
aviation authority concerned with a notice of 2 weeks but need
not to comply with the deadlines and the procedures foreseen
in Article 8 to 12, except for the need of a final
inspection
report.

2. Where during the reporting phase final inspection reports
contain non-compliance findings made pursuant to Article 13
(c), (d) or (f), the Agency shall address a request for clarifications
and/or request remedial action to the national aviation authority
of the Member State inspected, setting a deadline which shall
not exceed 2 weeks for findings made pursuant to Article 13 (d)
and (f) and 10 weeks for findings made pursuant to Article
13 (c).

and to the Member State concerned. The Commission may
subsequently transmit this report to all national aviation autho-
rities.

Following presentation of

in
4.
the report provided for
the
paragraph 3 and without prejudice to Article 226 of
Treaty,
in the event of findings made pursuant to Article 13
(c) and (d) of this Regulation, the Commission may take any of
the following steps:

(a) address comments to the Member State concerned or request
further explanation to clarify all or part of the findings;

(b) require the Agency to carry out all necessary inspections of
national aviation authorities to check the implementation of
remedial actions, the minimum notice for such a follow-up
action being 2 weeks.

Article 16

Ad hoc inspections

The Agency shall conduct ad hoc inspections of national
aviation authorities upon request
from the Commission
whenever deemed necessary for safety reasons. Such inspections
must be announced to the national aviation authority concerned
with a notice of 2 weeks but need not to comply with the
deadlines and the procedures foreseen in Articles 7 to 12,
except for the need of a final inspection report.

Article 17

Standardisation inspection programme and annual report

The Agency shall define an annual programme for inspections
in each field regulated by the implementing rules of Regulation
(EC) No 1592/2002. Such annual programme shall be commu-
the
nicated to the Commission and the other members of
the Agency’s
Management Board of
work programme pursuant
to the provisions of Article
24(2)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002.

the Agency as part of

Before 31 March each year, the Agency shall submit an annual
report to the Commission presenting an analysis of standardi-
zation inspections carried out the previous year.

If

the clarifications provided by the national aviation
3.
authority of the Member State inspected do not satisfy the
Agency or where no satisfactory remedial action is timely
proposed or is not duly implemented by that authority, the
Agency shall address a supplementary report to the national
aviation authority concerned, as well as to the Commission

Article 18

Working procedures

The Agency shall establish appropriate working procedures for
implementing the tasks conferred upon it under Articles 5 to
16 of this Regulation not later than two months following its
entry into force.

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Article 19

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date of its publication in
the Official Journal of the European Union.

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

Done at Brussels, 16 May 2006.

For the Commission

Jacques BARROT
Vice-President