Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 of 15 July 2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency
Date: 2007-10-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Aviation Safety Agency, air safety, civil aviation, regulation (EU), technical regulations

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 18.10.2007 
COM(2007) 631 final 

2005/0228 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the  

common position adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of 
the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 of 
15 July 2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European 
Aviation Safety Agency 

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2005/0228 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 251(2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the  

common position adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of 
the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 of 
15 July 2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European 
Aviation Safety Agency 

1- 

BACKGROUND 

Date of forwarding of the proposal to the EP and Council  
(document COM(2005) 579 final – 2005/0228 (COD): 

18 November 2005

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: 

21 April 2006

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

14 March 2007

Date of adoption of the common position (by unanimity): 

15.10.2007

2- 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  Commission  proposal  aims  to  extend  the  common  safety  rules  to  air  operations,  pilot 
licensing  and  the  safety  of  third-country  aircraft.  It  also  aims  to  strengthen  inspections  and 
penalties  in  the  event  of  non-compliance  with  these  rules  and,  in  the  light  of  experience,  to 
improve the operation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).  

Air operations: the proposal for a Regulation extends the common rules to all air operations 
and the certification requirement to all commercial operators. For non-commercial operations, 
the  rules  would  be  tailored  to  the  complexity  of  the  aircraft  used  and  there  would  be  no 
certification.  

Pilot licensing: the proposal for a Regulation requires most pilots operating in the Community 
to hold a licence issued on the basis of common requirements regarding their theoretical and 
practical knowledge and physical aptitude. Organisations, flight synthetic training devices and 
persons involved in the training, testing, checking and medical assessment of pilots must also 
be certified on the basis of common rules. While commercial transport would be subject to the 
maximum  requirements,  other  aviation  sectors  would  be  governed  by  rules  tailored  to  the 
complexity of the aircraft used and that of the airspace in which they fly.  

Third-country aircraft: the proposal for a Regulation makes third-country aircraft operating in 
the  Community  subject  to  the  common  rules,  within  the  limits  permitted  by  the  Chicago 
Convention.  It  also  provides  that  a  foreign  operator  may  perform  commercial  operations  in 

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the  Community  only  if  it  holds  an  appropriate  authorisation  issued  by  the  EASA.  That 
authorisation must certify that the operator concerned is able to comply with ICAO rules and, 
where applicable to it, with the common safety rules. 

Inspections and penalties: the proposal strengthens the obligations of the Member States and 
grants  powers  to  the  EASA  as  regards  aircraft  inspections.  It  also  lays  down  the  sanction 
mechanisms  which  must  be  implemented  by  the  Community  or  its  Member  States  if  the 
common rules are not complied with. 

3- 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

The Council made general amendments to the Commission’s proposal which were acceptable 
since they would make it possible to achieve the objectives set.  

Overall,  the  essential  provisions  of  the  Commission  proposal  are  contained  in  the  text 
approved  by  the  Member  States.  Those  concerning  penalties  for  non-compliance  with  the 
common rules have even been strengthened as a result of the discussions. In terms of its form, 
however, the Commission text has been substantially modified as the Member States wish to 
deal with third-country carriers in separate articles. Lastly, it should be pointed out that most 
of the proposals for improvements to the governance of the EASA have been rejected by the 
Council. Furthermore, the Council has preferred to restrict the certification powers entrusted 
to  the  Agency  to  what  is  strictly  necessary.  Given  the  Agency's  limited  resources,  the 
Commission has accepted this restriction. 

The  Commission  accepted  totally  or  in  part  14  of  the  31  amendments  proposed  by  the 
European Parliament at first reading.  

Of these 31 amendments, the Council included 8 verbatim in its common position. 

4- 

DETAILED COMMISSION COMMENTS 

4.1  Amendments  accepted  by  the  Commission  and  incorporated  in  full  or  in  part  in  the 
common position 

The references below are to the recitals and articles of the common position. 

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Amendment  10:  Article  8(4)  states  that  cabin  crew  engaged  in  commercial  operations  must 
hold  a  certificate  as  initially  described  in  OPS 1.1005,  point d,  in  the  Annex  to  Regulation 
(EC) No 1899/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of 
technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation (EU OPS); 
at the discretion of the Member State concerned, such a certificate may be issued by approved 
operators or training bodies. 

Amendment  14:  This  amendment  introduces  into  Article  11(2)  and  11(3)  corrective  and 
safeguard measures to be applied by the Commission in the event of the non-conformity or 
non-operative conformity of a certificate issued in accordance with the Regulation. 

Amendment 15: referring to the criteria in Article 13 to be met by qualified entities to which 
the certification tasks may be entrusted, this amendment aims to simplify the text proposed by 
the Commission. 

Amendment 19: 32(2)(b) provides that the Management Board shall forward annually to the 
budgetary authority any information relevant to the outcome of the evaluation procedure. The 
amendment states this shall be done in particular as regards any information concerning the 
effects or consequences of changes made to the missions entrusted to the Agency. 

Amendment 22: The idea of setting up an Executive Board within the Agency's Management 
Board was not adopted.  

Amendment 23: Article 55 provides that the Agency's annual work programme must clearly 
state  the  Agency's  mandates  and  missions  which  have  been  added,  changed  or  abolished  as 
compared with the previous year.  

Amendment  24:  Article  56  provides  that  the  Agency's  general  report  shall  clearly  state  the 
effects or consequences of any changes to the missions entrusted to the Agency. 

Amendment 29, in part: this amendment specifies that the implementation rules must be based 
on a risk assessment and be proportional to the scale and scope of the operation. Parliament 
had proposed including these provisions in Annex IV, while the Council, as suggested by the 
Commission, considered  it more  advisable to include them at the heart  of the Regulation in 
Article 8(6).  

The  common  position  also  contains  the  provision  that  fees  are  assigned  revenue.  This 
provision  is  very  important  in  order  to  be  able  to  ensure  some  stability  for  the  Agency's 
budget as regards certification activity. The Council also consolidated the recitals.  

4.2 Amendments accepted by the Commission, but not incorporated in the common position 

These are amendments 2, 8 and 21 in full and part of amendments 4, 13 and 16. 

Amendment  2  proposed  a  recital  regarding  the  need  for  the  Agency  to  provide  information 
which would be useful for drawing up a "black list" (Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005).  

Amendment 8 referred to the need to take account of scientific and technical progress when 
drawing up the rules for implementing Article 7(7) (pilots).  

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Amendment 21: the text of the common position includes neither the Commission's proposal 
nor  Parliament's  amendments  regarding  the  weighting  of  the  Commission  representatives 
votes' on the Agency's Management Board.  

Amendment 4: the Council did not accept Parliament's proposals to amend the definition of a 
"qualified entity". However, Parliament's definition was not very different.  

The  Council  took  the  view  that  various  places  in  the  text  of  the  common  position  already 
contain  provisions  encouraging  the  Member  States  to  make  available  any  information 
regarding  any  failure  to  apply  the  Regulation  properly  and  therefore  did  not  accept 
amendment 13. 

Amendment  16,  which  contains  provisions  to  protect  information  sources,  has  been 
incorporated  in  the  text  of  the  common  position,  the  only  difference  being  as  regards 
Parliament's proposed use of the term "penal law" as compared to "criminal law". 

To sum up, except for amendment 21, the other amendments set out above do not give rise to 
any real problems on the part of the Member States, the only changes being minor editorial 
amendments but not changes to the substance. 

4.3 Amendments rejected by the Commission and not incorporated in the common position  

These are: Nos 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 and an oral amendment. 

•  Amendment  No  1  proposes  to  extend  the  remit  of  the  EASA  to  air  security.  The 
Commission  considers  that  this  cannot  be  part  of  the  Agency's  responsibility  as  its 
technical expertise is strictly concerned with safety.  

•  Amendment  Nos  5,  6,  7  and  30  and  the  oral  amendment  are  intended  to  exclude  certain 
types of aeroplane and helicopter for commercial reasons. The Commission believes that 
this would run counter to the purpose of ensuring an adequate level of safety inspections 
and therefore has not adopted Parliament's proposals. 

•  Amendment Nos 9 and 11 have been rejected by the Commission as their effect would be 
to  prevent  certification  procedures  from  being  imposed  on  non-commercial  operators 
operating complex, powerful aeroplanes. 

•  Amendment No 12 concerning the introduction of mutual recognition of cabin crews has 

been rejected as it duplicates Article 11(mutual recognition). 

•  Amendment No 17 concerns a provision enabling the Agency to impose financial penalties 
on  those  for  whom  it  is  responsible  in  cases  of  minor  infringements  for  which  the 
withdrawal of a certificate would be disproportionate. It cannot be accepted as it stands as 
it raises legal, institutional and practical issues which require detailed consideration. 

•  Amendment 18 runs counter to both the Conditions of employment of other servants of the 
European Communities, and current Community policy regarding staff language skills. 

•  The  Commission  considers  that  amendment  No  20  cannot  be  accepted.  The  members  of 
the  Agency's  Management  Board  must  be  appointed  by  the  Member  States  and  not 
Parliament as the Agency is called upon to perform tasks on behalf of the Member States. 

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•  By  means  of  amendment  No  25,  Parliament  wishes  to  ensure  that  the  Agency  is 
independent  and  not  open  to  any  kind  of  interference  from  private  entities.  The 
Commission  and  Council  share  this  objective.  However,  they  are  convinced  that  the 
present text does not open up this possibility as it is explicitly prohibited. 

•  Amendment  Nos  3,  26,  27  and  28  concern  the  fees  charged  by  the  Agency  for  its 

certification activities. 

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– 

 Parliament calls for two separate decisions: the first concerning the budget for 
certification  fees  and  the  second  for  other  resources.  Parliament  also  asks  to 
have part of the European subsidy assigned to certification activity. 

 The Commission does not accept these amendments as the first undermines the 
principle  of  unicity  of  the  budget  and  the  second  would  have  the  effect  of 
depriving the Agency of about 40% of the financial resources allocated to the 
development  of  safety  regulations,  compliance  checks  by  the  Member  States 
and  accident  analysis.  This  would  benefit  certain  industrial  groups  which 
would no longer have to pay for certain activities in connection with ensuring 
that their products are maintained at the requisite safety level. 

5- 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that the common position detracts neither from the essential aims 
nor the spirit of the proposal and is therefore able to accept it. 

Annex: Statements by the Commission. 

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ANNEX 

Unilateral statement by the Commission 

Article 10(3), Article 24(2) and Article 54(1) 
"Inspections by EASA" 

1. 

2. 

The Commission confirms that the wording of Articles 10(3), 24(2) and 54(1) does 
not change the current role of Member States both as regards their primary oversight 
role  over  undertakings  under  their  responsibility,  and  as  regards  ramp  inspections 
including decisions on grounding of aircraft. 

These provisions simply add the possibility for the Agency to carry out inspections 
of aircraft for the purpose of: 

a) 

certification procedures carried out by the Agency within the context of tasks 
assigned to it by this Regulation; 

b) 

standardisation inspections as provided for in Article 24(1); 

c) 

inspections of any undertaking to check compliance with relevant Community 
law in potentially unsafe situations, in cooperation with the Member States. 

3. 

Article 10 explicitly limits the possibility to ground aircraft to Member States only. 
Under no circumstance can the Agency ground an aircraft.  

Where a safety deficiency is found, the Agency's role is to inform the Member States 
concerned and the Commission thereof. 

The  Agency's  power 
certificates/authorisations it has issued. 

to  act 

is 

limited 

to 

the  withdrawal/suspension  of 

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Unilateral statement by the Commission 

Article 7(7), "Leisure Pilot Licence" 

The Commission confirms that, when drawing up implementing rules for Article 7 relating to 
leisure  pilot  licences,  priority  will  as  always  be  given  to  safety.  In  particular,  the 
implementing rules will limit the privileges associated with these licences depending on the 
level  of  training  of  the  pilots  concerned.  Besides,  recital  9  and  Article  7(6)(c)  make  this 
necessity an obligation. 

Joint Council and Commission statements: 

Article 69(2), "Entry into force"  

The  Council  and  the  Commission  agree  that  they  will  endeavour  to  have  the  implementing 
rules  referred  to  in  Article  69(2)  developed  and  adopted  as  soon  as  possible,  and  as  far  in 
advance of the deadline set out in that Article as is feasible, given the technical complexity of 
such implementing rules. 

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