Sir - I refer to your Comment "Fools' language" (Flight International, 2-8 April).
The European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) is only a "club" of civil-aviation authorities, without legal basis, and its activity is linked to technical matters only. Moreover, it refuses to examine the social aspects of Joint Aviation Requirements (JARs).
The consequences, therefore, of the agreement allowing freighting by a member state airline for a non-European Union airline will have serious implications for European employment.
The European administration should take into account all aspects of JAA regulations. It is common practice to run down the lack of democratic process on steps taken by the European Commission, but what of the JAA's decision-making where no counterpower exists?
France has discussed the implementation of JAR-OPS with employers and employees and has adopted, by consensus, the "OPS-1" decree, in the French version.
As for the use of the national language, French law makes a provision for official statements to be written in French. Moreover, the adoption of statements written in English gives a competitive advantage to English-speaking countries.
Can we not say that the UK refusal to implement the Maastricht social chapter makes it adequately anti-competitive already?
Geoffroy Bouvet
President
SNPL
Pantin, France
Source: Flight International
