CELEX: 51990PC0445
Language: en
Date: 1991-04-10
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE LIMITATION OF THE OPERATION OF CHAPTER 2 AEROPLANES

26. 4. 91                              Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 111/5
                 Proposal for a Council Directive on the limitation of the operation of Chapter 2 aeroplanes
                                                         (91/C 111/05)
                                                      COM(90) 445 final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 16 April 1991)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Whereas, owing to the problem of growing congestion at
                                                                  Community airports it is essential to ensure that the
                                                                  maximum use is made of existing facilities and whereas
                                                                  this will only be possible if environmentally acceptable
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             aeroplanes are used;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 84 (2)
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal of the Commission,                  Whereas the work undertaken by the Community in
                                                                  cooperation with other international bodies indicated
                                                                  that measures to limit the operation of aeroplanes which
                                                                  do not comply with the standards of Chapter 3 of Annex
Having regard       to   the   opinion   of   the  European        16 must follow any non-addition rule in order to be of
Parliament,                                                       environmental benefit;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                 Whereas common rules for this purpose should be
                                                                  introduced on a reasonable time-scale to ensure a
                                                                  harmonized approach throughout the Community,
                                                                  supplementing existing rules; whereas this is particularly
Whereas the application of noise emission standards to            important in view of the recent impetus given to liberali-
civil subsonic jet aeroplanes has significant consequences        zation of European air traffic;
for the provision of air transport services in particular
where such standards limit the useful life of aeroplanes
operated by airlines; whereas Council Directive
80/51/EEC ('), as amended by Directive 83/206/
EEC (2), fixes limits on emission of such noise;                  Whereas aeroplane noise should be further reduced,
                                                                  taking into account environmental factors, technical
                                                                  feasibility and economic consequences;
Whereas Council Directive 89/629/EEC (3) limits the
addition of aeroplanes that only comply with the
standards specified in Part II, Chapter 2, Volume 1 of
Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil                 Whereas it is appropriate to restrict the operation of civil
Aviation, 2nd edition (1988), to the civil air registers of       subsonic jet aeroplanes on Member States' registers to
Member States; whereas this same Directive specifies              those which comply with the standards of Chapter 3 of
that the limitation on addition is only a first stage;            Annex 16; whereas a gradual timetable for the with-
                                                                  drawal of those aeroplanes which do not meet Chapter 3
                                                                  standards would represent a facility both for airlines and
                                                                  for manufacturers;
Whereas the programme of action of the European
Communities on the environment (4) shows clearly the
importance of the problem of noise and, in particular,
the need to take action against noise due to air traffic;
                                                                  Whereas special consideration should be given to the
                                                                  problems of developing nations;
(') OJ  No L 18, 24. 1. 1980, p. 26.
C) OJ   No L 117, 4. 5. 1983, p. 15.
(3) OJ  No L 363, 13. 12. 1989, p. 27.                            Whereas in cases of technical or economic difficulty, it
(*) OJ  No C  328, 7. 12. 1987, p. 1.                             would be reasonable to grant limited exemptions,
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 111/6                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                  26. 4. 91
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:                                                                     Article 4
                                                                       1.    Member States may grant exemptions, on an
                             Article 1                                annual basis and for not more than three years in total,
                                                                      to the 25 year term specified in Article 2 (1) (b) for aero-
1.      The objective of this Directive is to lay down rules          planes in respect of which an airline demonstrates that
to restrict the operation of certain civil subsonic jet aero-         the pursuit of its operations would otherwise be
planes.                                                               adversely affected to an unreasonable extent.
2.      This Directive shall not apply to aeroplanes with a           2.    Where an airline furnishes proof to the competent
maximum take-off mass of 34 000 kilograms or less and                 national authority of the economic or technical impossi-
a capacity of 19 or less seats.                                       bility of serving the airports in the territory of that
                                                                      authority with aeroplanes which comply with Article 2
                                                                      (1), Member States may exempt the airline from the
                             Article 2                                provisions specified in that paragraph until 1 April 1997.
1.      Member States shall ensure that as from 1 April               Member States may specify airports to be served by
1995, civil subsonic jet aeroplanes fitted with low by-pass           airlines granted such an exemption.
ratio (') engines do not operate at airports situated in
their territory unless granted noise certification either:
                                                                                               Article 5
(a) to the standards specified in Part II, Chapter 3,                 1.    Member States shall exempt from Article 2 (1)
      Volume 1 of Annex 16 to the Convention on Inter-                aeroplanes which do not meet the standards of Chapter
      national Civil Aviation, 2nd edition, (1988); or                3 on Annex 16 but which can be equipped to meet that
                                                                      standard provided that:
(b) to the standards specified in Part II, Chapter 2,
      Volume 1 of Annex 16 of the aforesaid Convention
                                                                      (a) suitable conversion equipment         exists   for    the
      in the case of aeroplanes having their individual
                                                                           aeroplane type in question;
      certificate of airworthiness first issued not more than
      25 years before the date of operation.
                                                                      (b) aeroplanes fitted with such equipment are capable of
                                                                           meeting the standards of Chapter 3 of Annex 16;
2.      Member States shall ensure that as from 1 April
2002, all civil subsonic jet aeroplanes operating from
airports situated in their territory comply with the                  (c) such equipment is actually available;
provisions of paragraph 1 (a).
                                                                      (d) the airline has ordered the equipment by 1 April
                                                                           1994;
                             Article 3
Airlines of the developing nations listed in the Annex to
this Directive shall be exempt from the provisions of                 (e) the appropriate equipment is fitted before 1 April
Article 2 (1) (a) and (b) in so far as:                                    1997.
(a) they operated subsonic jet aeroplanes, granted noise              2.    Member States may grant exemptions from Article
      certification to the standards specified in Part II,            2 for aeroplanes of historic interest.
      Chapter 2, Volume 1 of Annex 16 to the Convention
      on International Civil Aviation, 2nd edition, (1988),
      into Community airports in the 12 months ending 31                                       Article 6
      December 1990;
                                                                      Member States may grant, on a 'one for one' basis,
                                                                      exemptions from the provisions of Article 2 ( 1 ) for aero-
(b) only those Chapter 2 aeroplanes in their fleet at that
                                                                      planes where an order has been placed before 1 April
      time, are exempted;
                                                                      1994 for a replacement aeroplane that meets the
                                                                      standards of Chapter 3 of Annex 16, and where the
(c) the total number of annual movements by Chapter 2                 manufacturer is unable to deliver that replacement before
      aeroplanes permitted into a particular Community                1 April 1995.
      airport shall not exceed the number achieved by that
      airline's Chapter 2 aeroplanes in the 12 months
      ending 31 December 1990.                                                                 Article 7
                                                                      Subject to the approval of the competent authority of a
                                                                      Member State, airlines may not be required under Article
(') i. e. with a by-pass ratio of less than 2.                        2 (1) to dispose of aeroplanes which do not meet the
 ---pagebreak--- 26. 4. 91                             Official Journal of the European Communities                          N o C 111/7
standards of Chapter 3 of Annex 16 at an annual rate            2.     Member States shall recognize the exemptions
equivalent to more than 10 % of their total civil subsonic      granted by other Member States in respect of aeroplanes
jet fleet.                                                      on the registers of those Member States.
                          Article 8                                                     Article 10
In individual cases, Member States may permit the                1.    Member States shall bring into force the laws,
temporary use at airports situated in their territory of        regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
aeroplanes which cannot be put into service on the basis        comply with this Directive before 31 December 1991.
of the other provisions of this Directive. This exemption
is limited to:
                                                                2.    When Member States adopt these provisions, these
(a) aeroplanes whose operations are of such an excep-           shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be
     tional nature that it would be unreasonable to             accompanied by such reference at the time of their
     withhold a temporary exemption;                            official publication. The procedure for such reference
                                                                shall be adopted by Member States.
(b) aeroplanes on non-revenue flights for the purposes
     of repair or maintenance.
                                                                3.     Member States shall communicate to the
                                                                Commission the text of the provisions which they adopt
                          Article 9                             in the field covered by this Directive.
1.     A Member State granting exemptions under
Articles 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 shall inform the competent auth-                               Article 11
orities of the Member States and the Commission of the
fact and of the criteria for their decision.                    This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                                                          ANNEX
                                              LIST OF EXEMPTED NATIONS
                                                       1. UGANDA
                                                        2. SUDAN.