ATM/ANS.AR.A.001 Scope

Regulation (EU) 2017/373

This Annex establishes the requirements for the administration and management systems of the competent authorities responsible for certification, oversight and enforcement in respect of the application of the requirements set out in Annexes III to XIII by the service providers in accordance with Article 6.

ATM/ANS.AR.A.005 Certification, oversight and enforcement tasks

Regulation (EU) 2017/373

(a) The competent authority shall exercise certification, oversight and enforcement tasks in respect of the application of the requirements applicable to service providers, monitor the safe provision of their services and verify that the applicable requirements are met.

(b) The competent authorities shall identify and exercise the responsibilities for certification, oversight and enforcement in a manner which ensures that:

(1) specific points of responsibility exist to implement each provision of this Regulation;

(2) they are aware of the safety oversight mechanisms and their results;

(3) relevant information exchange is ensured between competent authorities.

The competent authorities concerned shall regularly review the agreement on the supervision of the service providers providing air navigation services in functional airspace blocks (FABs) that extend across the airspace falling under the responsibility of more than one Member States referred to in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 550/2004 and, in the case of cross-border provision of air navigation services, the agreement on the mutual recognition of supervisory tasks referred to in Article 2(5) of Regulation (EC) No 550/2004, as well as the practical implementation of those agreements, in particular in the light of achieved safety performance of the service providers under their supervision.

(c) The competent authority shall establish coordination arrangements with other competent authorities for notified changes to functional systems involving service providers under the oversight of the other competent authorities. Those coordination arrangements shall ensure the effective selection and review of those notified changes, in accordance with point ATM/ANS.AR.C.025.

REVIEW OF THE AGREEMENT

The agreement on the supervision in a functional airspace block (FAB) or in cases of cross-border provision should include the frequency of the review.

CONCLUSION OF AN AGREEMENT

The agreement on the supervision in a FAB or in cases of cross-border provision may be concluded among:

(a) the competent authorities nominated or established under agreements concluded among Member States in accordance with Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 550/2004; or

(b) the competent authorities of the service providers in cases of cross-border provision.

COORDINATION ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN COMPETENT AUTHORITIES FOR SELECTION AND REVIEW OF MULTI-ACTOR CHANGES

(a) When the notification of a change to a service provider’s functional system indicates, as per AMC1 ATM/ANS.OR.A.045(a), that the change will affect the services provided by other service providers either directly or by affecting the context in which these services are delivered, these other service providers and the notifying service provider are participating in a multi-actor change. Some or all of these other service providers may also notify their competent authorities because they either have to make a reactive change or they are participating in a cooperative change to their functional systems.

(b) If there are service providers participating in the multi-actor change who are proposing to make changes to their functional systems and are under the oversight of more than one competent authority, then the decision to review and the review itself of safety assessments and safety support assessments has to be a coordinated activity involving all the competent authorities that oversee the service providers participating in the multi-actor change.

(c) Normally, competent authorities act independently when making decisions on how to select and review safety assessments, but in the case of multi-actor changes that cross State boundaries, the only way to ensure the effective selection and review of the notified changes is through coordination with other competent authorities. Coordination arrangements, which are difficult to define in advance, are to be established when the need arises. The objective of these agreements should be to ensure that the overall change is safe, i.e. the overall safety case is based on a complete and correct set of assumptions and mitigations and the associated risk assessments are valid.

(d) The arrangements should ensure that:

(1) the competent authorities involved evaluate in a harmonised way the risk posed by the change, and as a consequence there is an agreement on what safety (support) assessments will be reviewed by each competent authority; and

(2) individual reviews of safety (support) assessments assure the necessary conditions are met, i.e. common assumptions and common mitigations are used correctly in each safety (support) assessment and the identified risks are valid.

(e) However, the assurance that the set of common assumptions and common mitigations are complete and correct cannot be provided in each individual safety case. The argument for that assurance has to be made in an overall safety case and reviewed collectively by the competent authorities involved in the overall change. The form of this collective review should be included in the coordination agreement.

ATM/ANS.AR.A.010 Certification, oversight and enforcement documentation

Regulation (EU) 2017/373

The competent authority shall make available the relevant legislative acts, standards, rules, technical publications and related documents to its personnel in order to perform their tasks and to discharge their responsibilities.

ATM/ANS.AR.A.015 Means of compliance

Regulation (EU) 2017/373

(a) The Agency shall develop acceptable means of compliance (AMC) that may be used to establish compliance with the requirements of this Regulation. When AMC are complied with, the applicable requirements of this Regulation shall be deemed to have been met.

(b) Alternative means of compliance (AltMOC) may be used to establish compliance with the requirements of this Regulation.

(c) The competent authority shall establish a system to consistently evaluate that all AltMOC used by itself or by the service providers under its oversight allow the establishment of compliance with the requirements of this Regulation.

(d) The competent authority shall evaluate all AltMOC proposed by a service provider in accordance with point ATM/ANS.OR.A.020 by analysing the documentation provided and, if considered necessary, conducting an inspection of the service provider.

When the competent authority finds that the AltMOC are sufficient to ensure compliance with the applicable requirements of this Regulation it shall without undue delay:

(1) notify the applicant that the AltMOC may be implemented and, if applicable, amend the certificate of the applicant accordingly;

(2) notify the Agency of their content, including copies of all relevant documentation;

(3) inform other Member States about the AltMOC that were accepted.

(e) When the competent authority itself uses AltMOC to achieve compliance with the applicable requirements of this Regulation, it shall:

(1) make them available to all service providers under its oversight;

(2) notify the Agency without undue delay.

The competent authority shall provide the Agency with a full description of the AltMOC, including any revisions to procedures that may be relevant, as well as an assessment demonstrating that the applicable requirements of this Regulation are met.

GENERAL

Alternative means of compliance used by a competent authority or by organisations under its oversight may be used by other competent authorities or service providers only if processed again in accordance with ATM/ANS.AR.A.015(d) and (e).

GENERAL

The information to be provided to other Member States following approval of an alternative means of compliance (AltMoC) should contain a reference to the acceptable means of compliance (AMC) to which such means of compliance provides an alternative, where such AMC exists, as well as a reference to the corresponding implementing rule (IR), indicating, as applicable, the point(s) covered by the AltMoC.

ATM/ANS.AR.A.020 Information to the Agency

Regulation (EU) 2021/1338

(a) The competent authority shall notify the Agency in case of any significant problems with the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 and its delegated and implementing acts within 30 days from the time the competent authority has become aware of the problems.

(b) Without prejudice to Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*) and its delegated and implementing acts, the competent authority shall provide the Agency with safety-significant information stemming from the occurrence reports stored in its national database in accordance with Article 6(6) of Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, as soon as possible.

AMC1 ATM/ANS.AR.A.020(b) Information to the Agency

ED Decision 2022/004/R

PROVISION OF SAFETY-SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION TO THE AGENCY

Each competent authority should appoint a coordinator to act as the point of contact for the provision of safety-significant information to the Agency.

GM1 ATM/ANS.AR.A.020(b) Information to the Agency

ED Decision 2022/004/R

MEANING OF SAFETY-SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION STEMMING FROM OCCURRENCE REPORTS

Safety-significant information stemming from occurrence reports means a conclusive safety analysis that summarises individual occurrence data and provides an in-depth analysis of a safety issue, which may be relevant for the Agency’s safety action planning.

GM2 ATM/ANS.AR.A.020(b) Information to the Agency

ED Decision 2022/004/R

SAFETY-SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION STEMMING FROM THE OCCURRENCE REPORTS

The conclusive safety analysis based on the occurrence reports should contain the following:

(a) a detailed description of the safety issue, including the scenario in which the safety issue takes place; and

(b) an indication of the stakeholders affected by the safety issue, including types of operations and organisations;

and, as appropriate:

(c) a risk assessment establishing the severity and probability of all the possible consequences of the safety issue;

(d) information about the existing safety barriers that the aviation system has in place to prevent the likely safety issue consequences from occurring;

(e) any mitigating actions already in place or developed to address the safety issue;

(f) recommendations for future actions to control the risk; and

(g) any other element(s) the competent authority considers essential for the Agency to properly assess the safety issue.

REPORTING CRITERIA FOR SAFETY-SIGNIFICANT INFORMATION STEMMING FROM OCCURRENCE REPORTS WHERE THE AGENCY IS THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY

In the case of occurrences related to organisations certified by the Agency, safety-significant information stemming from occurrence reports should be notified to the Agency if:

(a) the occurrence is defined as a reportable occurrence for organisations certified as Pan-European service providers and service providers in the airspace of the territory to which the Treaty applies and having their principal place of operation or, if any, their registered office located outside the territory subject to the provisions of the Treaty; and

(b) the competent authority has come to the conclusion that:

(1) the organisation certified by the Agency to which the occurrence relates, has not been informed of the occurrence; or

(2) the occurrence has not been properly addressed or has been left unattended by the organisation certified by the Agency.

Such occurrence data should be reported in a format compatible with the European Coordination Centre for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS) and should provide all relevant information for its assessment and analysis, including necessary additional files in the form of attachments.

ATM/ANS.AR.A.025 Immediate reaction to safety problem

Regulation (EU) 2017/373

(a) Without prejudice to Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, the competent authority shall implement a system to appropriately collect, analyse, and disseminate safety information.

(b) The Agency shall implement a system to appropriately analyse any relevant safety information received from the competent authorities and without undue delay provide to Member States and the Commission, as appropriate, any information, including recommendations or corrective actions to be taken, necessary for them to react in a timely manner to a safety problem involving the service providers.

(c) Upon receiving the information referred to in points (a) and (b), the competent authority shall take adequate measures to address the safety problem, including the issuing of safety directives in accordance with point ATM/ANS.AR.A.030.

(d) Measures taken under point (c) shall immediately be notified to the service providers concerned to comply with them, in accordance with point ATM/ANS.OR.A.060. The competent authority shall also notify those measures to the Agency and, when combined action is required, the other competent authorities concerned.

ATM/ANS.AR.A.030 Safety directives

Regulation (EU) 2017/373

(a) The competent authority shall issue a safety directive when it has determined the existence of an unsafe condition in a functional system requiring immediate action.

(b) The safety directive shall be forwarded to the service providers concerned and contain, as a minimum, the following information:

(1) the identification of the unsafe condition;

(2) the identification of the affected functional system;

(3) the actions required and their rationale;

(4) the time limit for completing the actions required;

(5) its date of entry into force.

(c) The competent authority shall forward a copy of the safety directive to the Agency and any other competent authorities concerned within one month from its issuance.

(d) The competent authority shall verify the compliance of service providers with the applicable safety directives.

GM1 ATM/ANS.AR.A.030 Safety directives

ED Decision 2017/001/R

GENERAL

(a) The safety directive is a document issued by the competent authority, mandating actions to be performed by one or more service providers, when evidence shows that aviation safety may otherwise be compromised. Thus, the competent authority is responsible for the determination of the actions required and their rationale.

(b) The competent authority is required to perform a verification of compliance of the service providers with the safety directives in accordance with ATM/ANS.AR.A.030(d). In this respect, ATM/ANS.AR.C.005(a)(6) requires the competent authority to establish a process to verify the implementation of safety directives by the service providers. The actions that need to be taken depend on the content of the safety directive and the nature of the unsafe condition.

CONTENT

[Name of the competent authority]

SAFETY DIRECTIVE

[Logo of the competent authority]

 SD No/ ISSUE No:[…]

 

 Date: dd Month YYYY

This Safety Directive is issued in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373

[Name of the service provider(s)]

[Identification of the affected functional system]

 

Safety Directive Title

[Title]

 

Unsafe condition identified:

[Describe the unsafe condition that is the reason for the issuance of the SD]

Required action(s), their rationale and compliance time(s):

[Describe the required action(s) and their rationale; indicate the compliance time(s) within which the action(s) should be accomplished]

Date of entry into force of SD:

dd Month YYYY

Distributed to:

(a) [service provider(s) address:

 Post code, City

 Country

 Email address:…]

 

(b) [competent authorities concerned]

 

(c) [European Aviation Safety Agency]

Remarks:

 

FORWARDING OF SAFETY DIRECTIVES

For instance, a safety directive that should be forwarded to the Agency under ATM/ANS.AR.A.030 could be a case:

(a) where the competent authority has determined that there is an immediate need to take certain actions in order to respond to a safety recommendation; or

(b) following an accident or serious incident; or

(c) when this or a similar unsafe condition may be present in other service providers of the same Member State.