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News Releases
Jacques Barrot
No. 104/05
November 15, 2005
NEW MISSIONS FOR THE EUROPEAN SAFETY AGENCY
The European Commission adopted today a major proposal
to extend the tasks of the
European Aviation Safety
Agency (EASA) to rulemaking and control in the field of
air operations, qualifications and licences of pilots
and oversight of third-country airlines operating in the
European Union. “We had a tragic summer marked by a
spate of air crashes that claimed more then 500 lives.
European passengers need to be assured that all
aircraft abide by the highest safety standards. I want
stringent safety rules to apply in all Member States and
to all airlines whether based in the EU or not,” said
Jacques Barrot, Vice President in charge of
Transport.
The Agency, created in 2002, works currently on, amongst
other things, the certification of the airworthiness and
environmental performance of aeronautical products. The
proposal adopted today extends the agency’s tasks as
follows. First, EASA will be competent over pilots’
licenses to guarantee that they comply with common
European rules on knowledge, skills and language
proficiency. EASA will also further develop the existing
requirements for EU pilots which will be adopted by the
European Commission. The agency will work with national
authorities, which will continue to issue licenses and
conduct inspections and audits of training organizations
and medical centers. Beyond the
safety aspects, this
will ensure better mutual recognition of pilots’
licenses between Member States.
Secondly, the legislation proposed today contains the
essential requirements that aircraft must observe when
operating in the EU, whether they are EU or third-country planes. EASA will further develop more detailed
rules that will be adopted as Commission regulations.
These rules will be based on the existing
intergovernmental rules of the Joint Aviation
Authorities. By incorporating such rules into EU
legislation they will be uniformly applied in the whole
EU territory and have the force of law. National
authorities will continue to issue certificates for EU
carriers, whilst the Agency will be responsible for
checking compliance to this regulation by the civil
aviation authorities and related organizations.
Thirdly, the Agency will take responsibility for
certifying compliance of third-country operators with
the essential requirements for operating aircraft in
the EU. This mirrors a practice already followed by, for
instance, the US. No EU Member State currently issues
certificates for third-country operators.
The Commission also announced today its plans to extend
further the functions of EASA to safety and
interoperability of Air Navigation Services, Air Traffic
Management and airports. The objective is to have, by
2010, the whole field of aviation safety under the scope
of a single organization, the European Agency.
These new competences for EASA will complement another
proposed Regulation[1], scheduled for
adoption in the coming weeks, which provides the legal
tools for banning any unsafe company from operating in
the EU. Such unsafe companies will appear on a European
black list made available to all passengers. The
Commission hopes for a final agreement on this at the
Transport Council on 5 December.
[1]
COM(2005) 48: Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the
information of air transport passengers on the identity
of the operating carrier and on communication of safety
information by Member States
Further Contact Information
Press and Media Relations
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.eurunion.org/PressRoom
Tel: 202-862-9552
Fax: 202-429-1766
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