Alan George/BRUSSELS
A detailed proposal for the establishment of a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is set for adoption by the European Commission (EC) on27 September. It is due to go to the representatives of the 15-nation European Council in early October.
EASA's establishment will involve a transformation of the Joint Aviation Authorities - the Amsterdam-based club of national civil aviation authorities - into an agency of the EC. While the JAA's directives are not legally binding, EASA will have administrative and legal powers.
The issue of airworthiness certificates for new aircraft will be undertaken directly by EASA. As the result of new European legislation, it will also be empowered to set technical and other standards which will be legally binding in all 15 member states of the Union.
Although key issues have yet to be agreed - including the agency's location - it is hoped that EASA could be functioning by the end of next year, although the timing will depend on the pace of the legislative process and any possible delays introduced as a result of the Gibraltar problem.
The EASA project, started in the mid-1990s, was originally proposed as a non-EC, international body and a draft convention for EASA had already been prepared at the time of the March 1999 resignation of Jacques Santer's Commission.
However, one of the first decisions of the present transport commissioner, Loyola De Palacio, following her appointment last September, was that the safety agency should be a purely European Union body. The commissioner felt that it would be too difficult to gain the agreement of some states outside the EU for an effective international organisation and that its operations would be cumbersome.
Source: Flight International
