This agreement will enter into force on 1st May 2011.
“The purpose of the agreement is to enable the reciprocal acceptance of findings of compliance and approvals, promote a high degree of safety in air transport and ensure regulatory cooperation and harmonisation between the United States and the EU as regards airworthiness approvals and monitoring of civil aeronautical products, environmental testing and approvals of such products, and approvals and monitoring of maintenance facilities”.
The formal decision of the Council of Europe can be viewed at: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/11/st06/st06821.en11.pdf
The full US - EU agreement can be viewed at: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st08/st08312.en09.pdf
Although the decision relates to aviation safety, this important agreement is an example of reciprocity between EU and US aviation certification agencies, and as such contributes to the establishment of a “level playing field” for EU and US manufacturers and suppliers of aviation products and maintenance services
A major benefit of this approach is that the agreement has been signed by the US and the EU administrations, each represented by one central aviation agency; the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US; and, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), representing the aviation safety agencies of all EU Member States.
In addition to highlighting the elegant and straightforward language of this legislation in an Appendix to the newsletter, the editors believe that the creation of an EU Aviation Security Information Agency could permit the conclusion of security agreements in a similar manner. Establishing such an agency was recommended in the November 2010 “Study on the Legal Situation Regarding Security of Flights from Third-countries to the EU” prepared by Innovative Compliance and DLA Piper for the EU Directorate General for Mobility and Transport, and is surely relevant to the on-going debate on the subject of third-country validations.
Imagine the existence of an EU wide aviation security agency, entering into agreements with the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to implement “one stop security”, ensuring mutual recognition of security certifications under the EU known consignor and the US certified cargo screening security regulations, and accepting the equivalence of the security controls performed by EU and US accredited parties.
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