Air safety legislation within the European Community : development and application.

Abstract

Aviation is an industry which is undergoing a continuous growth, placing it as one of the most significant industries in today's economy. This means that the safety concerns surrounding any single flight from prior to taking off to landing are growing exponentially. This is not only with regards to the airworthiness of the aircraft, and the air operations off and onboard the aircraft, but also relative to air traffic management, which is also central to air safety in general. It is a general understanding that air safety encompasses all commercial interests and to this end it has long been regulated on an international level through various Conventions, such as the Paris Convention of 1919, and the Chicago Convention of 1944, the latter instrument negotiated under the auspices of International Civil Aviation Organisation. On a European level, air safety was addressed through the European Civil Aviaition Conference and the Joint Aviation Authorities. These however, although beneficial, only set minimum standards and non-binding measures. A proper depiction of this is provided in Chapter 1. In the last decade, the European setting has witnessed a drive towards achieving a legislative structure which could be legally enforced particularly throughout the European Union, thus creating a harmonised approach to air safety and reducing to a minimum the fragmentation existing within the European Community at the time. Chapter 2 sees the adoption of Regulation 1592/2002, with the main feature being the 3 creation of a European Aviation Safety Agency (BASA). This Regulation was updated by another Regulation, recently adopted, which extended the Agency's competences, endowing the European Community with increased competence to regulate over different factors making up the overall aviation safety chain. An in-depth examination of the structure of the Agency and its functions are dealt with in Chapter 3. This also progresses into an analysis of endeavours to further develop the existing Basic Regulation, together with the adoption of other instruments supporting the Basic Regulation such as Implementing Rules and Acceptable Means of Compliance are of essence to understand the general trend in developing a practical legislative framework on a European Level. An attempt at pointing out what developments the European Community could develop in the near future is also made within this Chapter. In conclusion, a set of recommendations which could possibly ensue from such developments together with an evaluation of the coercive elements of this legislative structure is undertaken.