Activites

• 2004/04/30 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 2004/36
  • OJ L 143 30.04.2004, p. 0076-0086
• 2004/04/21 Final act signed
• 2004/04/21 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2004/04/01 Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading
  • T5-0261/2004 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the joint text reached in the Conciliation Committee on safety rules for aircraft from non-EU countries using Community airports. (Rapporteur: Nelly MAES (Greens/EFA, B). (Please refer to the summary dated 27/01/04).�

• 2004/03/31 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• #2574
• 2004/03/30 Council Meeting
• 2004/02/26 Joint text approved by Conciliation Committee co-chairs
  • 3616/2004
• 2004/02/04 Formal meeting of Conciliation Committee
• 2004/01/27 Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading
  • A5-0125/2004
• #2557
• 2004/01/20 Council Meeting
• 2003/10/09 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T5-0422/2003 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Nelly MAES (Greens/EFA, Belgium) and made some amendments to the common position. (Please see the summary of 10/09/03.)�

• 2003/09/10 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A5-0301/2003
• 2003/06/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2517
• 2003/06/13 Council Meeting
  • 08478/1/2003 summary

    To recall, the text of the Commission proposal was greatly inspired by that of the common position which was reached by the Council in the framework of an earlier legislative procedure on the same subject that could eventually not be finalised because of the Gibraltar issue. Given this context, the Council could from the outset agree to several elements of the Commission proposal. On a few points, however, the Council decided to modify the text of this proposal, generally in order to make it simpler, clearer and easier to understand. The modifications often resulted from amendments presented by the European Parliament. Overall, the Council is of the opinion that the text of its common position is appropriate and balanced. With respect to the amendments proposed by the European Parliament in first reading, the Council observes that a large majority of these amendments have been integrated - to the letter or in spirit, partially or in full - in the common position. The Council holds therefore that the text of its common position ensures by and large that the aim sought by the amendments of Parliament is achieved. The main modifications operated by the Council are the following: - Article 1 (objective) and Article 2 (scope) have been merged in one single Article 1 (Scope and objective). The Council reinforced the provision according to which the Directive is without prejudice to the Member States' right to carry out inspections not covered by this Directive and to ground, ban, or impose conditions on any aircraft landing at its airports in accordance with Community and international law (Article 1(2)). This modification allows Member States, in accordance with Community and international law, to continue to carry out safety checks regarding Community aircraft, without extending the scope of the Directive to such aircraft, which would encounter legal problems; - Article 4 (ramp inspection): a new paragraph allows Member States to establish rules in order to carry out ramp inspections in accordance with a spot-check procedure in the absence of any particular suspicion, provided that such rules comply with Community and international law, and provided that the spot-check procedure is carried out in a non-discriminatory way. This paragraph was inserted further to an amendment of the European Parliament, which was much welcomed by the Council; - Article 6 (protection and dissemination of information): - the first paragraph of Article 6 was brought in line with the text of Article 8 (1) of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on occurrence reporting in civil aviation (2000/0343 COD), as it has been agreed on 9 April 2003 by the Conciliation Committee. The Member States have presented a statement for entering into the minutes of the Council meeting: the Member States agree that when exchanging information in application of Article 5, the Member State providing the information shall indicate to what extent the confidentiality of such information is protected under the rules of its national law. The member States receiving the information shall ensure that this information shall be given the same protection of confidentiality; - the second paragraph was changed so that, instead of the Member States publishing half yearly information to the public, it is now for the Commission to publish yearly an aggregatedinformation report available to the public containing an analysis of the information received; - the third paragraph, in which reference is made to Regulation 1049/2001/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, is again largely inspired by the Directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation, see Article 7(2) thereof. - Article 7 (Grounding of aircraft): the text of this Article was revised to better comply with international practice in this field; - Article 9 (Imposition of ban or conditions on operation): the Council decided to modify this Article in the sense that the Commission will have the possibility to issue a recommendation to the other Member States to extend a measure taken by one Member State against an operator or operators of a third country to the airports located in their respective territories. In the view of the Council, this modification is needed in order to assure a balanced division of responsibilities between the Commission and the Member States with respect to safety matters; - Article 11 (Implementation): the delay for implementation of the Directive has been extended from 2 years to 3 years. As regards the amendments of Parliament, the Council endeavoured to incorporate them to the greatest extent possible. However, in various cases it was impossible to integrate an amendment literally and to the full, because the relevant texts had been substantially modified or had even been deleted.�

• #X018
• 2003/03/27 Council Meeting
• 2002/11/26 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(2002)0664 summary

    The Commission's amended proposal accepts 13 out of the 19 amendments proposed by the European Parliament. These amendments aim to: - emphasise that Union is not asking from third countries what the Community is not already doing itself; - emphasise that monitoring of safety standards is necessary for all aircraft; - emphasise that the effectiveness of ramp inspections is guaranteed by the application of uniform methods; - emphasise that Community action is not aimed at third countries as such but at aircraft - from third countries - that fail to comply with internationally agreed safety standards; - introduces the concept of spot-checks procedure. This procedure is already applied in practice by several Member States; - increased monitoring of aircraft or airlines previously deficient; - ensuring that best use is made of existing safety data; - emphasises that this directive and the creation of the European Air Safety Agency will take due account of existing procedures and knowledge. In the original proposal, ramp inspections could only be carried out if an aircraft was suspected of non-compliance with international safety standards. The modified wording allows that spot-checks are also carried out, providing they are non-discriminatory. In order to avoid that documents published may lead to misinterpretation which could be detrimental to the reputation of the parties involved, a sentence has been added to ensure that technical information are presented in a comprehensible way. A new sentence is also added to inform the public of the action taken on its complaints by the authorities. A new sub-sentence was added to be more precise regarding possible measures to improve safety in the originating countries.�

  • DG ['Energy and Transport'],
• 2002/09/03 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T5-0395/2002 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by its rapporteur Nelly MAES (Greens/EFA, Belgium) on third country aircraft using Community airports. (Please refer to the document dated 10/07/02.) Parliament pointed out that recent surveys have frequently shown third country aircrafts' flight manuals, radio navigation charts, global positioning systems, flight management systems and crew medical and type rating are not updated. Their load and trim sheets are not correct, and their life jackets, first-aid kits and fire extinguishers are allowed to pass their dates of use. Spot-check inspections could be stepped up in the case of aircraft in which defects have already been identified frequently in the past, or on aircraft belonging to airlines whose aircraft have frequently attracted attention.�

• 2002/07/10 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0265/2002
• 2002/01/17 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2002/01/14 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2002)0008 summary

    PURPOSE : to contribute to the improvement of air safety by assessing the safety of third countries aircraft using Community airports. CONTENT : with regard to the safety assessment of third countries, there is a general agreement on the need to set in place a system for assessing the levels of safety actually achieved by foreign carriers operating services to and from EU countries. The aim of this proposal is to set in the Community the legal framework for the introduction and the operational application of such a safety assessment of third countries aircraft while leaving enough margin to the Member States to build the corresponding mechanisms individually or collectively, for example within the JAA, as they see fit. Moreover, the need for such an initiative is further reinforced by the recent terrorist events in the United States of America. The purpose of the draft Directive shall be to contribute tothe improvement of the air safety by ensuring that : - information is collected and disseminated so that sufficient evidence can be established to decide on measures required to ensure the safety aof the travelling public as well as of people on the ground; - third-country aircraft, their operation and crew are inspected whenever there is reasonable suspicion that international safety standards are not being met and such aircraft are grounded if this is necessary to ensure immediate safety; - appropriate measures for rectification of identified shortcomings are decided and implemented. The international safety standards the respect of which is to be controlled are those contained in the Annexes to the Chicago Convention of 1944 to which all Member States are Parties. The Commission has ensured that its proposal is consistent with such international obligations of its Member States under the Chicago Convention by limiting mandatory inspections to aircraft operators for which there is indication of possible deficiencies and by avoiding to impose systematic random inspections which should be considered as contrary to the Convention.�

  • DG ['Energy and Transport'],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2002)0008
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0265/2002
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0395/2002
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(2002)0664
• Council position published: 08478/1/2003
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0301/2003
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0422/2003
• Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading: A5-0125/2004
• Joint text approved by Conciliation Committee co-chairs: 3616/2004
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading: T5-0261/2004
• : Directive 2004/36
• : OJ L 143 30.04.2004, p. 0076-0086

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)