Brussels, 18/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 17 December 2013, the European Parliament's transport committee approved the institutional agreement reached on incident reporting in civil aviation. This requires the national authorities responsible to gather, analyse and share data relating to such incidents, in order to prevent any risks to aviation safety. Rapporteur Christine De Veyrac (EPP, France) said that “it was not right that a member state is not provided with detailed information about the circumstances of an air incident in its airspace, under the pretext that the plane in question was registered in another member state”. She explained that provisions to ensure “an environment of trust” have been incorporated into the regulation so that “the person reporting the occurrence with the sole intention of enhancing aviation safety will have no fear that their action will punished by their bosses or that they will have to face legal action”. The European Cockpit Association (ECA) said that pilots and crew members welcomed the efforts made by the European Parliament. The agreement still needs to be approved in the February plenary session so that it can enter into force next summer. (MD/transl.fl)