APPENDIX 36
Memorandum submitted by the European Commission
Directorate-General for Energy and Transport and the European
Aviation Safety Agency
Thank you for the invitation to submit evidence
to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee's enquiry into
the work of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The European Commission
and the European Aviation Safety Agency welcome this opportunity
to outline the role of the CAA within European aviation safety
policy and the way the Agency collaborates with the National Aviation
Authorities (NAAs).
We share the view of many in the aviation sector
that the CAA is one of the most efficient and competent aviation
safety authorities in the world. It has from the outset been our
aim to draw upon the experience and expertise of the CAA in the
work of the Agency and to achieve the best possible co-operation
between the two organisations. Our comments reflect this objective.
1. The European Aviation Safety Agency was
established in September 2002 on the basis of Regulation 1592/2002
of the European Parliament and the Council. The Agency's mission
is to promote the highest common standards of safety and environmental
protection in civil aviation.
The European regulatory framework set out in
Regulation 1592/2002 establishes a clear division of tasks between
the Agency and the NAAs. While the Agency has taken on specific
regulatory functions in the area of airworthiness and environmental
certification, the implementation of European aviation safety
legislation remains essentially the responsibility of the Member
States. Details of the framework set out in the Regulation are
given in the attached Annex.
Individual NAAs play a crucial role in helping
businesses to adapt to the European regulatory framework in the
respective Member States. We believe it is important that the
CAA helps actively to ensure that UK businesses are fully informed
of the European regulatory framework and of any changes which
may affect them. The Agency is taking every effort to enable a
smooth transition to the European regulatory framework in the
Member States through regular meetings with industry and NAAs
and will continue to offer its assistance to the CAA to better
inform UK industry of the relevant EU legislation.
2. In the area of type-certification, the
Agency is now the only legally competent body in the EU. Moreover,
with the entry into force of Regulation 488/2005 on 1 June 2005
the Agency has started charging for the certification services
it provides to industry. The CAA has therefore lost an important
source of revenues. This is currently compensated by a number
of activities the Agency has chosen to outsource to the CAA on
a contractual basis. It is important to point out that the Agency
is rapidly recruiting its own certification experts and that outsourcing
contracts will be substantially reduced accordingly.
3. As a European body, the Agency recruits
staff from all Member States. In the area of certification, the
Agency has recruited the majority of its experts from countries
with a comparatively large aviation industry, such as the UK.
Initial recruitment campaigns on behalf of the Agency with the
aim to take on more experts from the CAA met with only a low response,
although the situation has unproved in recent months. The Agency
currently employs some 30 UK nationals (out of the present 200
Agents) most of whom have previously worked for the CAA. The Agency
is dedicated to recruit more CAA staff. The working group ENACT
(EASA-NAA Certification Transition), which is co-chaired by the
UK representative in the Agency's Management board helps monitoring
the transition and especially the transfer of personnel.
4. We would like to emphasise that it is
not the aim of European aviation safety policy to replace the
NAAs. National authorities will continue to be responsible for
those operational activities which are more effectively executed
at the national level. This principle remains unchanged in the
Commission's recent proposal (COM 2005/579) to extend the regulatory
powers of the Agency to air operations, pilot licensing and certification
of third-country operators. The NAAs will thus continue to be
responsible for the relevant certification tasks in their territories.
In sum, the regulation of aviation safety relies
fundamentally on good co-operation between national authorities
and the European Aviation Safety Agency. We expect the NAAs including
the CAA to take an active role in implementing the relevant legislation
and to help provide European Citizens with the best possible regulatory
system to ensure in an effective and efficient manner the highest
level of aviation safety and environmental compatibility.
17 January 2006
Annex
THE FRAMEWORK OF REGULATION 1592/2002
The Community acts primarily as a legislator.
Regulation 1592/2002 (Basic Regulation) gives executive powers
to the Commission to adopt implementing rules further detailing
safety and environmental protection requirements and processes
to be followed by individual persons and NAAs to ensure compliance
with these requirements. It also requires the Agency to prepare
such rules in accordance with a fully transparent process. These
rules are then adopted as Commission regulations and constitute
Community law. They are directly applicable in the territory of
the Member States.
In most cases, these rules are to be implemented
by Member States through their NAAs and courts. This essentially
covers the issuing of individual certificates to aircraft on their
register, the oversight of aircrafts' continued airworthiness
and the oversight of persons and organisations established in
their territory. In the current scope of the Regulation, such
persons and organisations are: licensed engineers; production
organisations; maintenance organisations; continuing airworthiness
maintenance organisations; engineers' training organisations.
With the envisaged extension of the scope to air operations and
pilot licensing (Commission proposal COM 2005/579), they would
include most pilots, all air operators, flight and type rating
training organisations.
The same principle would also apply in any other
field, such as safety certification of airports or air traffic
management, where Community competence may in future be established
or developed.
The greater part of the work load will therefore
remain with the NAAs, implying a commensurate number of appropriately
qualified staff. Any certificate or approval issued by one Member
States competent authority in accordance with the common rules
is automatically valid in the whole Community.
The executive role of the NAAs includes the
preparation of guidance material to promote their customers' understanding
and applying the rules, as well as to explain how they will verify
compliance. It is up to the NAAs and the regulated persons to
interpret Community law under the oversight of national courts,
who themselves can seek the opinion of the European Court of Justice
as appropriate. The NAAs are also encouraged to report to the
Agency significant difficulties of interpretation of, and weaknesses
in, the rules so that it can initiate the necessary adjustments.
The Agency has established two consultative
bodies, the Advisory Group of National Authorities and the Safety
Standards Consultative Committee, whose main role is to assist
in identifying significant areas for improvement. NAAs should
therefore maintain sufficient resources to enable evaluation of
their executive tasks and full participation of in the consultative
bodies. This role, though probably not very significant in terms
of resources, is vital for the good functioning of the European
regulatory system.
In certain cases, the Agency has also been given
executive powers for the implementation of Community law. For
the reasons explained above they are strictly limited to what
can be better achieved centrally than locally. They only cover
the approval and oversight of the design of the products manufactured
or used in the Community. This includes the issuing of type certificates
to aircraft, engines and propellers; the approval of parts and
appliances; and the approval of changes and repairs to products,
parts and appliances. As it is quite impossible to separate the
issuing of the certificates from the oversight of their designers,
the Agency is also responsible for issuing design organisation
approvals to companies established in the Community. The Agency
has also been given the power to oversee foreign organisations
because it provides a one-stop-shop" for the approvals they
need to operate in the single market. Again, with the envisaged
extensions of the scope of the Basic Regulation, the same principle
are likely to be applied and the executive powers of the Agency
will continue to be limited to what is better done centrally.
To execute its certification tasks, the Agency
has made extensive use of the expertise and resources of the NAAs.
This reliance on NAA expertise has also provided for a smooth
transition, as those who were in charge of these tasks have been
able to execute them during the time the Agency is taking over
responsibility. This is however only a transitional measure. The
Agency is building up its own team of expertise and expects to
internalise all its core activities. Moreover the regulatory system
established by the applicable law (derived from the joint requirements
adopted by NAAs before the Agency existed) privileges the transfer
of most minor tasks (the most frequent and the least sensitive)
to the design organisations themselves when they fulfill the necessary
conditions of capability.
The legislator has also required the Agency
to operate a standardisation inspection system to assist the Commission
in its monitoring and enforcement role. This allows the Agency
to work together with NAAs to identify shortcomings and advise
on remedial actions to continuously improve European aviation
safety and environmental compatibility. The Agency is establishing
its own internal quality management system as several foreign
aviation authorities, in particular the FAA, are doing. It expects
to be ISO 9000 compliant in the next two years.
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