Commission Regulation (EC) No 351/2008 of 16 April 2008 implementing Directive 2004/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the prioritisation of ramp inspections on aircraft using Community airports (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-04-16
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Aviation Safety Agency, air safety, aircraft, airport, harmonisation of standards, safety standard

19.4.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 109/7

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 351/2008

of 16 April 2008

implementing Directive 2004/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the
prioritisation of ramp inspections on aircraft using Community airports

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

1.

‘prioritisation of ramp inspections’ means the dedication of
an appropriate portion of
ramp
inspections conducted by a Member State on an annual
basis, as provided under Article 2 of this Regulation;

the total number of

the European
Having regard to Directive 2004/36/EC of
Parliament and of
the Council of 21 April 2004 on the
safety of third-country aircraft using Community airports (1),
and in particular Article 8(2) thereof,

2.

‘subject’ means an operator and/or all operators from a
particular State and/or an aircraft type and/or a particular
aircraft.

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

international

ramp inspections of

Directive 2004/36/EC introduces a harmonised approach
to the effective enforcement of
safety
standards within the Community by harmonising the
third-
rules and procedures for
located in the
country aircraft
Member States.
to
conduct
ramp inspections on third-country aircraft
suspected of non-compliance with international safety
standards landing at any of its airports open to interna-
tional air traffic following a harmonised procedure, and
to participate to the collection and exchange of infor-
mation on the ramp inspections carried out.

landing at airports
It

the Member States

requires

In order to maximise the limited resources available to
the competent
inspection authorities of each Member
they should give priority to conducting ramp
State,
and
inspections of
aircraft which are particularly susceptible to safety defi-
ciencies.

certain categories of operators

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of the Committee estab-
lished by Article 12 of Council Regulation (EEC) No
3922/91 (2),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions
shall apply:

(1) OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, p. 76. Directive as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2111/2005 (OJ L 344, 27.12.2005, p. 15).

(2) OJ L 373, 31.12.1991, p. 4. Regulation as last amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the
Council (OJ L 79, 19.3.2008, p. 1).

Article 2

Prioritisation criteria

Without prejudice to Article 8(3) of Directive 2004/36/EC,
Member States shall prioritise their ramp inspections on the
following subjects landing at any of
their airports open to
international air traffic:

1. Subjects identified as posing a potential safety threat on the
basis of the regular analyses conducted by the European
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

2. Subjects identified on the basis of an opinion expressed by
the Air Safety Committee within the context of the imple-
mentation of Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005 of
the
European Parliament and the Council (3) that further verifi-
cation of effective compliance with relevant safety standards
through systematic ramp inspections on those subjects is
necessary. This may include subjects which have been
withdrawn from the list of air carriers
to an
operating ban within the Community established by Regu-
lation (EC) No 2111/2005 (the Community list).

subject

3. Subjects identified on the basis of information obtained by
the Commission from the Member States or EASA pursuant
to Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005.

4. Aircraft operated into the Community by operators included

in Annex B of the Community list.

5. Aircraft operated by other operators certified in the same
featuring concurrently on the

any operator

state
as
Community list.

(3) OJ L 344, 27.12.2005, p. 15.

L 109/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.4.2008

Article 3

Communications

1.
A list of the subjects referred to in Article 2 shall be
communicated electronically by EASA to the Member States
at least every four months.

2.
EASA shall monitor the prioritisation process and provide
to the Member States, in cooperation with competent interna-
tional organisations in the field of aviation, the information

needed to enable them to follow the progress across the
Community with regard to the prioritisation of inspections on
subjects referred to in Article 2, including relevant statistical air
traffic data.

Article 4

This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day following
the European
that of
Union.

its publication in the Official

Journal of

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

Done at Brussels, 16 April 2008.

For the Commission

Jacques BARROT
Vice-President