This Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) addresses safety and regulatory coordination issues related to the provision of air traffic services (ATS).
The main objective of this NPA is to maintain a high level of safety in the European Union (EU) air navigation system, in particular with regard to the provision of ATS. In order to achieve this objective, the proposal aims at:
- transposing the relevant International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) provisions on ATS into the EU aviation regulatory framework, thus contributing to their uniform implementation throughout the EU, and supporting EU Member States in fulfilling their obligations stemming from the Chicago Convention; and
- defining proportionate and cost-efficient rules.
The NPA introduces a detailed set of provisions to be placed in the ‘ATM/ANS Common Requirements Regulation’, in particular in Annex IV thereto, and thus removes the existing provision referencing to ICAO Annexes. These provisions provide implementation of the Essential Requirements in Annex Vb 2.(c) to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008. It also proposes associated AMC and GM to facilitate the application by the affected stakeholders.
In addition to the transposition of the ICAO provisions, this NPA proposes a number of measures related to the aerodrome flight information service (AFIS) as this is not explicitly addressed in the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). In this way, this service is proposed to be regulated in the EU context, thus reducing the high diversity of the existing implementation across the EU Member States. In this context, Member States may decide not to provide ATS (ATC or AFIS) at smaller airfields, where the so-called ‘UNICOM stations’, not addressed by EU ATS rules, may be established to support local and, in particular, General Aviation activities.
As this NPA and Regulation (EU) No 923/2012 (standardised rules of the air (SERA)) are closely interrelated, the NPA also proposes minor amendments to said Regulation, which was recently amended by Regulation (EU) 2016/1185.
Safety recommendations submitted to the Agency are also addressed by this proposal.
NPA 2016-09 is divided in two parts. The present sub-NPA(A) includes:
- the procedural information pertaining to the regulatory proposal;
- the explanatory note to the proposed amendments; and
- the regulatory impact assessment.
File for information purposes only:
