EASA study

 

The EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) was established by the European Parliament in 2002. The aim of EASA is to create a single regulatory framework to promote the highest common standards of safety and environmental protection in civil aviation, to oversee their uniform application across Europe, and to promote them at world level.

As a first step, the competencies assigned to EASA are in the domains of certification of aeronautical products, parts and appliances and the approval of organisations and personnel engaged in the construction and maintenance of these products. At present the competencies of the agency are being enlarged with air operations, the licensing of air crew and foreign aircraft. As a logical next step the European Commission has expressed the intention to further extend the competencies of EASA in the field of regulation (including safety & interoperability) of airports, air traffic management and air navigation services in 2010. As this extension would require a new European Parliament and Council Regulation it is necessary to assess the impact of such a change on a European and National scale.

In cooperation with ECORYS – as main contractor – NLR-ATSI has carried out this impact assessment. As part of the assessment an extensive stakeholder consultation has been carried out. This was done by the distribution of a questionnaire to all affected parties and a substantial number of interviews with a selection of main stakeholders. The impact assessment also included an analysis of a number of possible alternatives for the intended rule change.

The study concluded that the introduction of a common regulatory framework may lead to improvement in the overall air transport safety level within Europe. It was also concluded that the integration of different competences in the field of aviation safety into a single organisation is expected to lead to the most effective organisation that requires the lowest number of interfaces. The assessment revealed further that there is a clear reason to intervene in the current situation. All reviewed policy options are expected to lead to positive impacts on safety, through the introduction of a common approach towards safety across the EU. However, this positive safety impact is expected to be highest in the case of the extension of EASA competences since this would enable a truly holistic systems approach within one organisation.

Finally, the assessment also identified a series of important issues which need to be addressed as part of the intended rulemaking process. It is extremely important that a careful transition path is developed. The current experience after the establishment of EASA shows that there are clear growing pains that affect the attitude of e.g. Member States towards EASA negatively. Another important issue is the distribution of activities and responsibilities between EASA and the National Aviation Authorities (NAA), especially in the field of certification and supervision. It has been concluded that a number of activities in the regulation chain, being certification and licensing of national service providers, inspection on the application of rules and enforcement can be most effectively carried out by the NAA (or accredited entities).