Luxembourg, 10/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday 10 June, European transport ministers reached a general approach on reporting civil aviation incidents on the basis of the Commission proposal (December 2012) for developing the list of incidents and voluntary reporting system.
This involves improvements to aviation safety. The general approach has excluded certain categories of planes and has adapted risk classification in an effort to avoid any increase in administrative costs. This was one of the concerns expressed by the French and Spanish delegations, among others. Spain called for “a clear distinction between incidents involving major risks and minor risks”. France argued that significant incidents must not be lost among all the. As the Commission sought, the general approach will provide support to a “just culture”: protecting employees reporting incidents. Germany had to ask for certain amendments so that the legislation would not clash with its own national legislation.
European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas said that this was a “balanced compromise that takes into account the situation of individual member states”. Given that the approach is acceptable to the Commission, the commissioner says that he is confident that an agreement in first reading can be reached before the European Parliament elections at the end of May 2014. France and Italy, however, regretted that the European Aviation Safety Agency had not been consulted. (MD/transl.fl)