Bilateral Agreements
The European Union has concluded Bilateral Agreements on Civil Aviation Safety (BASA) with Brazil, Canada, China, Japan and the United States. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the United Kingdom also contains a chapter on aviation safety. The overall objective of these agreements is to formalise cooperation in certain areas of aviation safety, such as certification of aircraft and appliances, maintenance, production and/or simulators.
It is important to note that it is the European Union, not EASA, which enters into these Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreements with third countries
- Negotiation of a new BASA and/or Implementing Procedures
A BASA sets out obligations and methods for cooperation between the aviation authorities of the EU (EASA and the competent authorities of EU-member States) and third countries to avoid unnecessary duplication of evaluation, and to facilitate the certification of aeronautical products by the civil aviation authorities. A series of special conditions are therefore set out in the BASA and its Implementing Procedures (IPs) to address, where necessary, the differences between the two Parties.
Note: The associated countries to the EU, namely Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, are not included in the BASA concluded between the EU and a third country and must conclude a separate BASA. Such a separate BASA is very similar if not identical to the “ËU BASA.”
AQE can provide support to third country authorities in defining the differences between the two regulatory systems and establishing the special conditions needing to be met by this third country to address these differences.
- Implementation of an existing BASA and associated IPs
Definitions:
Partner country – A third country with which the EU (or an associated country) has established a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement.
Partner authority – The competent aviation authority of the partner country with whom the EU (or an associated country) has concluded a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement
(Relevant) NAA) – The competent national aviation authority of the EU Member State, or one of the four associated States,
As part of the BASA (and associated IPs), a process for building and maintaining the confidence between the Parties has been established on three pillars:
- Visit of the Partner country by EASA;
- Visit of relevant NAAs by the Partner country’s authority;
- Visit of relevant NAAs by EASA to minimise the number of visits of the Partner authority.
Regarding 2. and 3.:
An NAA is “relevant” when one or more of the approved organisation(s) it oversees holds an approval from the Partner country. In this case, the conditions set out in the BASA and associated IP will apply. Visits, performed either by the Partner authority, or by the EASA on behalf of the partner authority, are undertaken to assess whether that relevant NAA is correctly applying these conditions. This assessment is conducted in accordance with a check list of the relevant IP and will verify elements such as training of the inspectors; recording system; and number and frequency of the oversight visits of the concerned approved organisation. When the Partner authority is visiting an NAA, it will perform an assessment of the authority and of selected organisations, to verify in situ that the relevant NAA is effectively performing the oversight of the approved organisation(s).
AQE can provide support in the following aspects:
- In the maintenance of confidence process, supporting the relevant NAA in its preparation for visits by the EASA (every 4 to 5 years).
- In the building confidence process, to prepare the relevant NAA for the visit of the Partner authority (in the case of a relevant NAA implementing a BASA/IP for the first time).
- In supporting the relevant NAA in correcting significant systemic issues having led to, for example, the suspension, revocation, or limitation of an organisation’s approval certificate(s).