Brussels, 12/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to send a formal request to Italy to amend its legislation on aerial work to bring it into line with Community law on freedom to provide services in the internal market.
Italian aviation law still stipulates that such services cannot be provided without a ministerial licence, which is issued solely to companies entered in Italian aviation registers. Such companies must have not only a certificate of registration with the Italian Chamber of Commerce but also a certificate of technical competence issued by the Italian aeronautical register for the exercise of the activity covered by the licence.
Italian rules on aerial work make no distinction between operators established in Italy and operators who are duty established in another Member State and from which they wish to provide services in Italy. This is contrary to the principle of freedom to provide services insofar as operators from the other Member States are subject to all the requirements imposed in Italy without any account being taken of those already met in the State where they are established. Operators who are not established in Italy but in another Member State and who wish to provide services on a temporary and irregular basis in Italy are automatically subject to all the requirements for persons and companies established in Italy. It is not possible, for example, to produce a certificate of equivalence or a certificate obtained in the Member State of origin or to follow a simplified procedure offering exemption from the normal mandatory requirements for the general licence. This system is extremely biased, acts as a disincentive and is out of proportion to the objective pursued. The Italian authorities themselves have acknowledged the need to make the rules applicable to Community operators not established in Italy more flexible. On 13 December 1999, they issued a circular introducing an administrative procedure specifically to permit such operators to provide aerial services in Italy under a temporary authorisation and, hence, a simplified procedure. However, simply adopting a circular does not in itself constitute a remedy for a legal infringement of a fundamental right enshrined in Community law. Moreover, aviation law rules out any aircraft already registered in other countries being entered in Italian aeronautical registers. This makes it impossible to obtain the compulsory licence and therefore prevents operators who have registered their aircraft in the Member State in which they are established from providing services.