Brussels, 27/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted a draft Regulation aimed at setting up a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Based on the model of the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the future agency will have as task to define the fundamental principles for the certification and maintenance of aeronautical products, and ensure that they are implemented. The aim is to put in place common rules in the field of aviation safety and for the environment, while wrenching the European aeronautical market from its current compartmentalization. By gradually integrating national certification systems, the Agency should, notably, avoid a situation by which manufacturers and constructors produce different versions of the same type of aircraft or equipment depending on the country in which it will be used, says the Commission.
The Agency's annual budget, when fully operational, is estimated at 28.7 million euro, funded in part by the Community budget and in part by fees. For now, only the Netherlands, it seems, has offered to host the headquarters of the future Agency.
In practical terms, the basic rules of civilian aviation activity will still be defined by the Community legislature (Commission, Council, Parliament) on the basis of international aeronautical rules; but the European Agency will ensure that they are implemented uniformly throughout the Union by drawing up "codes of navigability" enabling it to check the conformity of the aircraft with the basic rules, as well as issuing "standard certificates" for products. Finally, the Agency will have extended powers of control and inspection to ensure that these rules are implemented. The Executive Director of the future Agency will have extended powers of decision-making to that effect.
The Commission is already providing for later presenting associated legislation that will broaden the Agency's powers to the security of aviation operations, the granting of licences for crews, airport operations and air traffic management.
In 1998, the Council had initially briefed the European Commission to negotiate a pan-European Convention setting up a European authority for aviation safety. During work, the European Executive, however, considered that the institutional architecture of such an organisation would have required too cumbersome ratification procedures, some Member States having to amend their constitutions. It would, moreover, have been necessary to create an ad hoc Court of Justice of the EASA.
Having dragged its feet for a long time, the Council decided on 26 June that the Commission should propose a regulation creating an Agency with a European statute, whose decisions would be binding and covered by the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland were reluctant because the Agency would not cover the European continent as a whole. At the end of the 26 June Council, the Presidency adopted conclusions stipulating that third countries should be able to participate in the work of the future European Agency. The Council had also asked that the Agency not deal with airport management. By adopting the Sterckx Report in May, Parliament also placed emphasis on the authority of European aviation safety extending beyond the European Union (see EUROPE of 5 May, p.9).