Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2004)73 - Amendment of Council Regulation 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation (presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty) - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2004)73 - Amendment of Council Regulation 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2004)73  |
| date | 10-02-2004 |
nº A5-0263/2002 of 10.07.2002.
2. This document suggests therefore a balanced set of modifications which takes into account a number of problems which surfaced during earlier discussions as well as the expert's opinions. The Commission hopes this should facilitate progress towards a consensus between all Institutions for the adoption of this proposal on common safety requirements for the commercial operation of aircraft that has been at a standstill for a long time.
3. The new proposal also includes necessary changes to the Regulation provisions and to its technical Annex derived from the entering into force of Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 nº 1592/2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency i as well as its implementations rules contained in Commission Regulation (EC) No of 24 September 2003 laying down implementing rules for the airworthiness and environmental certification of aircraft and related products, parts and appliances, as well as for the certification of design and production organisations i and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2042/2003 of 20 November 2003 on the continuing airworthiness of aircraft and aeronautical products, parts and appliances, and on the approval of organisations and personnel involved in these tasks i.
Contents
- Historical Background
- Discussion of the main modifications of the Regulation itself
- Community control of Flight Time Limitations variations (New Article 8a)
- Scientific evaluation of the provisions of Annex III, Subpart Q by the European Aviation Safety Agency (New Article 8b)
- Amendments to the new Annex III
- Cabin crew requirements (Subpart O)
- Flight time and rest of crew (Subpart Q)
- Minor amendments
4. When elaborating the second liberalisation package in 1989, the Council and the Commission agreed that the Community Air Transport Policy had to address also the harmonisation of the regulatory framework applicable to civil aviation in order both to maintain a high level of safety and to ensure fair competition in the internal market. In that context, the Community adopted Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation with the aim of establishing and keeping up to date harmonised rules for the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of aircraft, and for personnel and organisations involved in these tasks.
5. To achieve the above objectives in the field of commercial air transportation by aeroplanes, the Commission decided to propose harmonised rules to the Council and the European Parliament based upon the corresponding Joint Aviation Requirement (JAR) i which had been elaborated by the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) i.
6. Two proposals were presented by the Commission.
In 2000, the Commission presented a proposal (see footnote 1) for the addition of the text of JAR-OPS 1, adjusted where necessary to comply with Community law and policies, as a new Annex to Regulation 3922/91 referred to above. In this proposal, however, the content of the section on safety requirements concerning cabin crew was restricted to those requirements that are the exclusive responsibility of the air operators.
In 1997, another proposal had already been presented for a Directive on the safety requirements and attestation of professional competence for cabin crew, dealing with those requirements that are not the exclusive responsibility of the air operators, as well as additional requirements with respect to age, medical condition, approval of the training organisations, and recognition of the attestations of professional competence (see footnote 5).
7. Since their presentation, both proposals have been discussed extensively by the Council and the European Parliament.
Discussion by the European Parliament of the proposal on JAR-OPS 1 has led to the adoption in first reading of an opinion (see footnote 3), inviting the Commission to adopt 13 amendments.
Following the adoption by the Parliament of an opinion on the proposal for safety requirements for cabin crew, the Commission had already presented an amended proposal for this Directive i.
8. The Council, having examined the proposal for JAR-OPS 1 and the amended proposal for safety requirements for cabin crew jointly, considered more consistent with current practice to change the structure and content of both proposals.
As a consequence the content of the proposed Directive on safety requirements for cabin crew should be limited to training requirements which are operator non-specific, and the operator specific training requirements ought to be covered by the proposed Regulation, as is the case in JAR-OPS 1.
Also the choice of the procedures for Community control of the granting by the Member States of operational short term flexibility (art. 8 paragraphs 3 and 4), was not adequate and use ought to be made of the safeguard procedure, rather than of the regulatory procedure.
Certain changes to the Technical Annex of the proposed Regulation (i.e. the new Annex III to Regulation (EEC) 3922/91) were also agreed upon.
Finally, a committee procedure was considered necessary to enable updating, before entering into force, of new Annex III with amendments to JAR-OPS 1 presently made or envisaged by the JAA.
9. In those circumstances, the Commission presented its amended proposal of 4 February 2002 for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation, which modifies the proposal adopted on 24 March 2000 as COM(2000) 121 final (See footnote 2).
Its aim was to take into account the spirit of those amendments by the European Parliament to which the Commission could agree, as well as the changes to structure and content envisaged by the experts of the Council, including the change of balance between the Regulation and the Directive as far as cabin crew training is concerned.
10. The modified proposal for the complementary Directive on safety requirements of cabin crew was to be presented separately.
11. After a new first reading, the European Parliament adopted, on 4 September 2002, one long and extremely detailed amendment on flight duty and rest times to the Commission's amended proposal of 4 February 2002 (See footnote 4).
The amendment concerned the new subpart Q which the Commission had included in the Technical Annex in response to the European Parliament's previously expressed concern about the absence of provisions on flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements. It covered fully the issue of duty, standby and rest times for both cabin crew and flight crew and restricted the maximum daily flight duty period to 13 hours, or to 11 hours 45 minutes when the duty period is between 22.00hrs and 04.59hrs.
12. Subsequent discussions in the Council have focused on JAR-OPS 1 and cabin crew provisions, without taking up the FTL rules.
Regarding the Amended proposal for a Regulation on the transposition of JAR-OPS, the Council agreed to align the proposal with the latest version of JAR-OPS. Several delegations suggested as well transferring certain other provisions regarding essential requirements and training for cabin crews from the Directive to the draft Regulation.
13. In the light of these developments, the Commission has reconsidered its initial proposals and, to facilitate their adoption, has decided to present an amended proposal which introduces the Flight Time Limitation scheme proposed by the European Parliament as Subpart Q of Annex III, adapted when necessary to comply with Community institutional procedures. A revision clause as well as some small changes to cabin crew rules following the Council suggestions were also added.
14. In addition, Regulation (EEC) Nº 3922/91 apply to the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of aircraft and to persons and organizations involved in these tasks. However, Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 nº 1592/2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency i has introduced new rules covering the design, manufacture and maintenance of aircraft and repealed Annex II to the latter Regulation as from 28 September 2003.
Moreover, its implementation rules, contained in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2042/2003 of 20 November 2003 on the continuing airworthiness of aircraft and aeronautical products, parts and appliances, and on the approval of organisations and personnel involved in these tasks, include provisions on maintenance which are equivalent to those contained in Subpart M of JAR-OPS.
As a consequence, in order to avoid unclear and contradictory legal situations, Regulation (EEC) 3922/91 and its technical Annex should be adapted to take account of these recent Community Regulations.
New Recital relating to Directive on the organisation of working time of mobile workers in civil aviation
15. The present proposal introduces in Annex III a new Subpart Q dealing with Flight and duty time limitations and rest requirement. This issue is already partially covered by Directive 2000/79/EC of 27 November 2000 concerning the European Agreement on the Organisation of Working Time of Mobile Workers in Civil Aviation i.
16. A reference to this last instrument, in the form of a new recital, is necessary in order to clarify that the more detailed and technical requirements contained in Subpart Q are consistent with the minimum standards set out by Directive 2000/79/EC .
Definition of 'Authority' (Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) 3922/91)
17. JAR-OPS provisions refer certain tasks and responsibilities relating to the implementation of JAR-OPS provisions to 'the Authority'. However, this Authority does not appear to be defined or identified in the Regulation.
18. For the sake of the clarity and uniformity in the application of Community rules, it is necessary to introduce a new definition in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) 3922/91. The competent authority of the Member State which granted the air operator's certificate (AOC) to a particular operator, referred to in OPS C 1.175 and responsible in practice of verifying that the operator comply with JAR-OPS provisions, is the most suitable authority for ensuring the implementation of EU OPS provisions.
Amendments derived from the entering into force of Regulation (EC) nº 1592/2002
19. Two Commission Regulations have been adopted covering certification and maintenance of aircraft and related products, parts and appliances, as well as for the certification of design and production organisations. The scope of application described in article 1 i of Regulation (EEC) Nº 3922/91 shall therefore be limited to the operation and maintenance of aircraft and persons and organizations involved in these tasks.
20. However, Subpart M-Aeroplane Maintenance of Annex III to Regulation (EEC) 3922/91 should only be applicable until the entry into force of provisions applicable to maintenance contained in Commission Regulation (EC) 2042/2003, that is on 28 September 2005 according to Article 7 of the last Regulation.
This limitation also implies the deletion of references to the design and manufacture and of provisions exclusively linked to these tasks (i.e. Article 6(2)) all over the text of Regulation (EEC) Nº 3922/91.
21. Article 57 of Regulation (EC) nº 1592/2002 repeals Annex II to Regulation (EEC) Nº 3922/91 as from 28 September 2003. As a consequence, references made to this Annex shall be deleted from the Regulation provisions.
22. The amended proposal includes a new Article 8a in order to allow additional flexibility for establishing national variations on the Flight Time Limitation provisions. It is also specified that the operator requesting a variation has to demonstrate its level of safety.
Scientific evaluation of the provisions of Annex III, Subpart Q by the European Aviation Safety Agency (New Article 8b)
23. A new Article 8b is also added to introduce a revision clause relating to Annex III, Subpart Q after three years.
General Exemption clause (Subpart B)
24. OPS 1.010 and 1.015 provide for a general clause relating to exemptions from the provisions of OPS Part 1. This issue is already covered by Article 8 of Regulation (EEC) 3922/91, which contains a complete regime applicable to exemptions and derogations to the rules contained in Annex III. As a consequence, OPS 1.010 and 1.015 should be deleted.
25. Following discussions in the Council, the new proposal aims at transferring some provisions contained in articles 4, 5 and Annex I to the above mentioned directive into the existing Subpart O of Annex III to Regulation 3922/91. More precisely, these provisions can be found under the titles OPS 1.995, 1.1005 and Appendix 1 to OPS 1.1005.
26. In addition to this straight transfer, some small changes have been introduced to parts OPS 1.988, 1.995, 1.1005, 1.1010 and 1.1025.
Changes to OPS 1.995 aim at giving more clarity to the links between the basic requirements and the various trainings detailed further in the text.
The changes to OPS 1.1005, 1.1010 and 1.1025 contain a reference to the approval by Member State authorities of the training organisations and programmes. This does not imply the issuance of a certificate by the national authorities.
27. The Commission shares the European Parliament's concern about the absence of detailed provisions on flight, duty and rest times for the crew, and specially its clear relation with air safety and aircraft accidents. The applicable requirements are presently still national, unharmonized and even inadequate. The new Subpart Q aims at establishing minimum standards consistent with the provisions of Directive 2000/79/EC and current good practices.
28. Accordingly, the whole amendment proposed by the European Parliament, containing a complete scheme of rules on Flight Time Limitation, is integrated under the title 'Subpart Q - Flight and duty time limitations and rest requirement'.
29. A limited number of changes have been introduced in the amendment in order to ensure that the procedure giving to each Member State the opportunity to introduce variations is compliant with Community legislation and in particular with the additional Article 8a of Regulation (EEC) 3922/91, which details the necessary procedure.
30. In addition to the reference to Article 8a, it is also specified that the operator requesting a variation has to demonstrate its level of safety.
31. Furthermore, other minor changes obey to the fact that the minimum standards contained in Subpart Q should take into account the limits already established in Directive 2000/79/EC concerning the European Agreement on the Organisation of Working Time of Mobile Workers in Civil Aviation.
32. The text of the new Annex III has been updated and a number of typing errors and other amendments of an editorial nature have been corrected.