PURPOSE: to conclude an agreement between the
European Union and the Government of the People's Republic of China
on civil aviation safety.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may
adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the
act.
BACKGROUND: on 7 March 2016, the Council
authorised the Commission to conduct negotiations with the Chinese
Government on civil aviation safety in order to facilitate trade
and investment between the EU and China in aeronautical products,
parts and appliances. The Council addressed a set of negotiating
directives to the Commission to carry out the negotiations and
appointed a special committee to be consulted in this
task.
On 29 September 2017, after 4 rounds of
negotiations between the Commission and the Civil Aviation
Authority of China (CAAC), the two negotiating teams agreed on a
draft text for the Agreement and its annex on airworthiness and
environmental certification. The text was initialled on 8 December
2017.
CONTENT: the Commission proposes that the
Council approve on behalf of the Union the Agreement on civil
aviation safety between the European Union and the Government of
the People's Republic of China.
The agreement is based on mutual trust in
the systems and comparison of regulatory differences. It
entails obligations and methods to cooperate between the
authorities and technical agents so that the latter can issue their
own certificate on the aeronautical product, part or appliance
without duplicating all the assessments done by the other
authority.
The draft text provides that:
- each party shall accept findings of compliance as
results of specified procedures of the other Party's Competent
Authority;
- also ensures that confidence is maintained through an
appropriate mechanism;
- gives the possibility to the Parties to consider ways
to further enhance the functioning of the Agreement and make
recommendations for modifications including addition of new annexes
to the Agreement via the Joint Committee.
Products covered: the draft agreement covers
all aeronautical products from the outset. However, for new
Chinese products entering the EU market, the European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA) will exercise special procedures and scrutiny
during the first validation of a given product category; subsequent
validations will be subject to the 'level of involvement'
principle.
Certificates: the draft text describes and
defines the modalities of acceptance and validation of
certificates. In order to take account of the different levels of
maturity of the regulatory systems in the EU and China, an Appendix
states that there are differences between the modalities applicable
to EU certificates and those applicable to certificates issued by
the CAAC.
Chinese production of aeronautical
products for export to the EU: it was agreed that EASA will establish a list
of Chinese production certificate holders accepted by the EU. This
list will be published on the EASA website. The CAAC will not be
formally involved in the creation or maintenance of this list, nor
may it veto its content.
EU manufacturing sites in
China: the
agreement provides that an EASA production certificate may include
these sites, which is particularly important for EU companies
operating in China. The existing arrangements cannot be changed
without the agreement of both sides.
It should also be noted that the
agreement:
- already provides for a wide range of (future) areas of
(potential) cooperation, including personnel licensing and
training, aircraft operations, air traffic services and air traffic
management;
- creates a framework for regulatory cooperation, mutual
assistance and transparency;
- establishes provisions on the exchange of
security-related information;
- includes specific provisions that reinforce the
protection of confidentiality and the protection of proprietary
data and information, as well as the possibility for third
countries to participate.
Lastly, the agreement establishes a Joint
Committee to administer the agreement, and a first joint
sub-committee on airworthiness and environmental certification
issues.