THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 80(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),
Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(3),
Whereas:
A high and uniform level of protection of the European citizen should at all times be ensured in civil aviation, by the adoption of common safety rules and by measures ensuring that products, persons and organisations in the Community comply with such rules and those adopted to protect the environment. This will contribute to facilitating the free movement of goods, persons and organisations in the internal market.
As a consequence, aeronautical products should be subject to certification to verify that they meet essential airworthiness and environmental protection requirements relating to civil aviation. Appropriate essential requirements should be developed within one year after the entry into force of this Regulation to cover operations of aircraft and flight crew licensing and application of the Regulation to third-country aircraft and, thereafter, other areas in the field of civil aviation safety.
In order to respond to increasing concerns over the health and welfare of passengers during flights, it is necessary to develop aircraft designs which better protect the safety and health of passengers.
Results of air accident investigations should be acted upon as a matter of urgency, in particular when they relate to defective aircraft design and/or operational matters, in order to ensure consumer confidence in air transport.
The Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944 (‘Chicago Convention’), to which all Member States are parties, already provides for minimum standards to ensure the safety of civil aviation and environmental protection relating thereto. Community essential requirements and rules adopted for their implementation should ensure that Member States fulfil the obligations created by the Chicago Convention, including those vis-à-vis third countries.
Aeronautical products, parts and appliances should be certified once they have been found in compliance with essential airworthiness and environmental protection requirements laid down by the Community in line with standards set by the Chicago Convention. The Commission should be empowered to develop the necessary implementing rules.
In order to achieve Community objectives as regards the freedom of movement of goods, persons and services, as well as those of the common transport policy, Member States should, without further requirements or evaluation, accept products, parts and appliances, organisations or persons certified in accordance with this Regulation and its implementing rules.
Enough flexibility should be provided for addressing special circumstances such as urgent safety measures, unforeseen or limited operational needs and provisions should also be made for reaching an equivalent safety level by other means. Member States should be entitled to grant exemptions from the requirements of this Regulation and its implementing rules, provided that they are strictly limited in scope and subject to appropriate Community control.
The fulfilment of the objectives of this Regulation may be efficiently achieved through cooperation with third countries. In such a case, the provisions of this Regulation and its implementing rules may be adapted through agreements concluded by the Community with these countries. In the absence of such agreements, Member States should nevertheless be allowed, subject to appropriate Community control, to recognise the approvals granted to foreign products, parts and appliances, organisations and personnel by a third country.
It is necessary to establish appropriate measures to ensure both the necessary protection of sensitive safety data and to provide the public with adequate information pertaining to the level of civil aviation safety and environmental protection relating thereto, taking into account Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents(4) and relevant national legislation.
There is a need for better arrangements in all the fields covered by this Regulation, so that certain tasks currently performed at Community or national level should be carried out by a single specialised expert body. There is, therefore, a need within the Community's existing institutional structure and balance of powers to establish a European Aviation Safety Agency which is independent in relation to technical matters and has legal, administrative and financial autonomy. To that end, it is necessary and appropriate that it should be a Community body having legal personality and exercising the implementing powers which are conferred on it by this Regulation.
In order to properly assist the Community, the Agency should be allowed to develop its expertise in all aspects of civil aviation safety and environmental protection covered by this Regulation. It should assist the Commission in the preparation of the necessary legislation and assist the Member States and the industry in its implementation. It should be able to issue certification specifications and guidance material and to make technical findings and issue certificates as required and it should assist the Commission in monitoring the application of this Regulation and of its implementing rules and should be given the necessary authority to fulfil its tasks.
The Commission and the Member States should be represented within a Management Board in order to control effectively the functions of the Agency. This Board should be entrusted with the necessary powers to establish the budget, verify its execution, adopt the appropriate financial rules, establish transparent working procedures for decision making by the Agency and appoint the Executive Director. It is also appropriate that the Agency be allowed to conduct research and to organise appropriate coordination with the Commission and the Member States. It is desirable that the Agency assist the Community and its Member States in the field of international relations, including the harmonisation of rules, recognition of approvals and technical cooperation, and be entitled to establish the appropriate relations with the aeronautical authorities of third countries and international organisations competent in matters covered by this Regulation.
Public interest requires the Agency to base its safety-related action solely on independent expertise, strictly applying this Regulation and the rules adopted by the Commission for its implementation. To that end, all safety-related Agency decisions should be made by its Executive Director, who should be left with a high degree of flexibility to obtain advice and to organise the internal functioning of the Agency. When, however, the Agency has to develop draft rules of a general nature to be implemented by national authorities, Member States should be involved in the decision-shaping process.
It is necessary to ensure that parties affected by decisions made by the Agency enjoy the necessary remedies in a manner which is suited to the special character of the field of aviation. An appropriate appeal mechanism should be set up so that decisions of the Executive Director can be subject to appeal to a specialised Board of Appeal, whose decisions are, in turn, open to action before the Court of Justice.
In order to guarantee the full autonomy and independence of the Agency, it should be granted an autonomous budget whose revenue comes essentially from a contribution from the Community and from fees paid by the users of the system. The Community budgetary procedure should be applicable as far as the Community contribution and any other subsidies chargeable to the general budget of the European Union are concerned. The auditing of accounts should be undertaken by the Court of Auditors.
The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(5).
Since the objectives of the proposed action, namely the establishment and uniform application of common rules in the field of civil aviation safety and environmental protection, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the Europe-wide scope of this Regulation, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
Before any local offices of the Agency are set up, general rules should be established to clarify what requirements need to be met and what contribution the Member State concerned must provide.
It has been recognised that the involvement of European countries not Members of the European Union should be pursued, so as to ensure a proper pan-European dimension in order to facilitate the improvement of civil aviation safety throughout Europe. European countries that have concluded agreements with the Community to adopt and apply the Community acquis in the field covered by this Regulation should be associated with its work according to conditions to be agreed in the framework of these agreements.
It is a general objective that the transfer of functions and tasks from the Member States, including those resulting from their cooperation through the Joint Aviation Authorities, to the Agency should be effected efficiently, without any reduction in the current high levels of safety, and without any negative impact on certification schedules. Appropriate measures need to be adopted to provide for the necessary transition.
This Regulation establishes an appropriate and comprehensive framework for the environmental certification of aeronautical products as well as for the definition and implementation of common technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation. Council Directive 80/51/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the limitation of noise emissions from subsonic aircraft(6) and Annex II to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 of 16 December 1991 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation(7) should therefore be repealed in due time, without prejudice to the certification of products, persons and organisations already performed in accordance with these legislative acts.
This Regulation will apply to any other area related to civil aviation safety on the basis of a future proposal in accordance with the Treaty,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
This Regulation shall apply to:
the design, production, maintenance and operation of aeronautical products, parts and appliances, as well as personnel and organisations involved in the design, production and maintenance of such products, parts and appliances;
personnel and organisations involved in the operation of aircraft.
This Regulation shall not apply when products, parts, appliances, personnel and organisations referred to in paragraph 1 are engaged in military, customs, police, or similar services. The Member States shall undertake to ensure that such services have due regard as far as practicable to the objectives of this Regulation.
The principal objective of this Regulation is to establish and maintain a high uniform level of civil aviation safety in Europe.
Additional objectives are, in the fields covered by this Regulation, as follows:
to ensure a high uniform level of environmental protection;
to facilitate the free movement of goods, persons and services;
to promote cost-efficiency in the regulatory and certification processes and to avoid duplication at national and European level;
to assist Member States in fulfilling their obligations under the Chicago Convention, by providing a basis for a common interpretation and uniform implementation of its provisions, and by ensuring that its provisions are duly taken into account in this Regulation and in the rules drawn up for its implementation;
to promote Community views regarding civil aviation safety standards and rules throughout the world by establishing appropriate cooperation with third countries and international organisations.
The means of achieving the objectives set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be:
the preparation, adoption and uniform application of all necessary acts;
the recognition, without additional requirements, of certificates, licences, approvals or other documents granted to products, personnel and organisations in accordance with this Regulation and its implementing rules;
the establishment of an independent European Aviation Safety Agency;
the uniform implementation of all necessary acts by the national aviation authorities and the Agency within their respective areas of responsibility.
For the purpose of this Regulation:
‘continuing oversight’ means the tasks to be conducted to verify that the conditions under which a certificate has been granted continue to be fulfilled at any time during its period of validity, as well as the taking of any safeguard measure;
‘Chicago Convention’ means the Convention on International Civil Aviation and its Annexes, signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944;
‘product’ shall mean an aircraft, engine or propeller;
‘parts and appliances’ shall mean any instrument, equipment, mechanism, part, apparatus, appurtenance or accessory, including communications equipment, that is used or intended to be used in operating or controlling an aircraft in flight and is installed in or attached to the aircraft. It includes parts of an airframe, engine or propeller;
‘certification’ means any form of recognition that a product, part or appliance, organisation or person complies with the applicable requirements including the provisions of this Regulation and its implementing rules, as well as the issuance of the relevant certificate attesting such compliance;
‘qualified entity’ means a body which may conduct certification tasks under the control and the responsibility of the Agency;
‘certificate’ means any approval, licence or other document issued as the result of certification.