COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation
Date: 2021-02-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: accident prevention, air safety, civil aviation, data collection, disaster resilience, disclosure of information, exchange of information, transport accident

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.2.2021  SWD(2021) 31 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation      {SWD(2021) 30 final}  
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The  overall  objective  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  376/2014  is  to  contribute  to  the  prevention  of 
aircraft  accidents  and  incidents,  and  related  fatalities  through  the  reporting,  collection, 
storage, protection, exchange and analysis of relevant safety data and information relating to 
civil aviation.  

The  ex-post  evaluation  of  this  Regulation,  carried  out  to  support  the  preparation  of  the 
Commission’s Report on the implementation of this Regulation pursuant to Article 24 of the 
Regulation, has assessed whether the objectives of the Regulation have been met. To do so, 
the  Regulation  has  been  evaluated  on  the  basis  of  the  following  five  criteria:  the  continued 
relevance of the Regulation, its effectiveness, efficiency, its coherence with the other relevant 
legislation, and the added value of the Union’s intervention. 

The Regulation was found to have been effective in achieving its objectives, namely in terms 
of improvements in the occurrence reporting across the stakeholder groups and across the EU. 
Not  only  has  there  been  an  improvement  in  the completeness  and  quality  of  the  occurrence 
reports,  but  it  has  also  been  determined  that  a  significant  increase  in  the  number  of  reports 
submitted  and  stored  has  occurred  since  the  Regulation’s  entry  into  force.  Furthermore,  the 
Regulation  is  deemed  to  be  providing  an  adequate  level  of  protection  of  the  reporters,  of 
utmost  importance  under  the  principle  that  the  aim  of  the  occurrence  reporting  is    the 
prevention of accidents and incidents and not to attribute blame or liability. Nonetheless, the 
evaluation  did  reveal  that  the  implementation  of  Regulation  has  caused  some  unexpected 
consequences  in  terms  of  the  increased  workload  for  both  organisations  and  competent 
authorities.  In  addition,  some  difficulties  have  been  encountered  as  regards 
the 
implementation of the Regulation’s provisions related to “just culture”. 

Whilst  recognising  the  Regulation’s  overall  contribution  to  aviation  safety,  no  firm 
conclusions can be drawn as to whether the Regulation has succeeded in achieving its overall 
objective  of  contributing  to  the  reduction  of  aircraft  accidents  and  incidents,  and  related 
fatalities. The available data does, however, show a decrease in the amount of accidents and 
incidents in the context of the increased level of traffic during the period since the Regulation 
entered  into  force.  Due  to  the  improved  collection  and  analysis  of  the  safety  data  from  the 
occurrence  reports,  and  the  elaboration  and  implementation  of  relevant  corrective  and 
preventive measures, it can be concluded that the Regulation has contributed to this decrease 
in the accident rate. 

The Regulation  continues to  be  relevant  even in  the light  of the recent  developments  in  the 
aviation  sector,  such  as  the  rapid  increase  in  unmanned  aircraft  operations,  as  well  as  the 
increasing  threats  related  to  cybersecurity.  Whereas  the  evaluation  has  determined  that  the 
Regulation offers enough flexibility to address such developments in an efficient manner, it is 
equally  acknowledged  that  consideration  should  be  given  to  updating  Commission 
Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1018  by  updating  the  list  of  mandatorily  reported 
occurrences  and  the  mandatory  data  fields  to  better  enable  the  gathering  of  safety  data 
stemming from those new aviation domains.  

1 

 
 
The  Regulation  has  been  efficient  in  bringing  considerably  more  benefits  than  costs. 
Calculations show that the benefits derived from the Regulation outweigh the implementation 
costs incurred by the various stakeholders. 

The Regulation is by itself deemed to be coherent and contains no overlaps, contradictions or 
inconsistencies. With regard to other European legislation on aviation safety, the Regulation 
is overall deemed to be coherent, although it has been pointed out that there would appear to 
be  an  overlap  between  the  Regulation’s  reporting  requirements  and  similar  requirements 
concerning  the  obligation  to  establish  organisation’s  safety  management  systems  (SMS)  in 
aviation  safety  regulations.  Further  analysis  on  the  possibilities  of  removing  those  overlaps, 
possibly through a consolidation process, could be considered.  

Finally,  based  on  the  evidence  analysed,  it  can  be  concluded  that  the  Regulation  brought  a 
clear  added  value  in  the  area  of  occurrence  reporting,  analysis  and  follow-up.  It  has 
contributed  to  a  clear  improvement  in  reporting  rates,  completeness  of  reports,  amount  of 
safety-relevant  data  available  across  the  EU  as  well  as  to  the  protection  of  reporter  and 
introduction of “just culture” principles. 

2