EASA Regulatory Framework

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) sits at the centre of a layered system of European aviation law. Regulations adopted by the EU set binding rules for pilots, operators, aircraft and aerodromes in every Member State; EASA drafts those rules, publishes the material that explains how to comply with them and certifies aircraft types; and national authorities issue most licences and approvals and oversee the people who hold them. Around this core stand older and broader European bodies, Eurocontrol and ECAC, and the Single European Sky legislation for air traffic management.

Knowing the structure is practical, not academic. A question that begins "under EU-OPS" or "under Part-NCO" is asking about a specific rule set, often with different figures, and a pilot reading an operations manual or an AIP needs to know whether a sentence is binding law or accepted guidance. The system also explains why France, for example, lists many of its differences from ICAO as differences in EU regulations (see Chicago Convention and ICAO).

From JAA to EASA

The first common European rules came from the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), an associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference through which national authorities co-operated to write Joint Aviation Requirements (JARs): JAR-OPS for air operations, JAR-FCL for flight crew licensing, JAR-145 for maintenance organisations and others. The JARs harmonised a great deal, but they had a structural weakness: they became law only when each State wrote them into its national legislation, and States could do so late, partially or with differences.

The European Union replaced this co-operation with an agency. EASA, based in Cologne, was established by EU regulation, and the regulation that sets out its tasks and powers is known as the Basic Regulation. The current one is Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, which replaced Regulation (EC) No 216/2008, a number still cited in many implementing rules and AIPs. The Basic Regulation sets out essential requirements and gives the European Commission power to adopt detailed implementing rules, which EASA drafts. Being EU regulations, they apply directly in every Member State, without national transposition. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, outside the EU, also apply them by agreement.

EASA itself issues type certificates for aircraft designed in or imported into the system, publishes certification specifications such as CS-25 for large aeroplanes, and prepares the rules. National authorities keep most day-to-day oversight: France's AIP notes, for instance, that EASA sets the continuing airworthiness requirements for a type while each Member State remains responsible for the continuing airworthiness of individual aircraft on its register.

JAR-OPS and EU-OPS Legacy

JAR-OPS 1 was the JAA code for commercial air transport by aeroplane. Before EASA's remit covered operations, the EU turned it into binding law as EU-OPS, an annex to an EU regulation, and EU-OPS in turn was replaced by the Air OPS Regulation. Many textbook and question bank items still carry EU-OPS numbering or figures, for example:

• the operations manual in four parts: A general, B aeroplane operating matters, C route and aerodrome information, D training;
• mass and balance rules in EU-OPS 1 Subpart J;
• the "fuel policy" of EU-OPS 1.255, carried into Part-CAT until the fuel and energy scheme of CAT.OP.MPA.180 to 185 replaced it from 30 October 2022;
• the all-weather operations minima of EU-OPS, largely carried into Air OPS until Regulation (EU) 2021/2237 replaced them from 30 October 2022.

Air OPS Regulation (EU) 965/2012

Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 of 5 October 2012, the Air Operations (Air OPS) Regulation, lays down the technical requirements and administrative procedures for air operations. The regulation's articles set its scope and transition dates; the substance is in annexes, each called a Part:

Part-ORO is Annex III, Part-CAT Annex IV and Part-SPA Annex V. Each rule carries a reference built from its Part, subpart and section: CAT.GEN.MPA.180 is in the general requirements of Part-CAT, on documents to be carried; CAT.OP.MPA.181 in operating procedures, on fuel planning; CAT.IDE.A.185 in instruments, data and equipment for aeroplanes; CAT.POL.A in performance and operating limitations for aeroplanes.

Third-country operators flying commercial air transport into, within or out of the EU need an EASA authorisation under Part-TCO, which is set out in a separate regulation, (EU) No 452/2014.

Part-CAT, NCC, NCO, SPA and SPO

Part-CAT covers commercial air transport: carrying passengers, cargo or mail for remuneration. An operator must first hold an air operator certificate (AOC) issued by its competent authority under ORO.AOC.100. The AOC remains valid as long as the operator keeps complying (ORO.GEN.135), and its operations specifications list what the operator may do.

Part-NCC covers non-commercial operations with complex motor-powered aircraft, the larger and more sophisticated aeroplanes and helicopters defined in the Basic Regulation, such as the business jets a company flies for its own staff. The operator declares its activity to the competent authority and runs a management system. Part-NCO covers non-commercial operations with other-than-complex motor-powered aircraft, the world of private and club flying, and places most duties on the pilot-in-command: fuel planning, documents, equipment and passenger briefing.

Part-SPO covers specialised operations (SPO), in which the aircraft is used for a specialised activity such as aerial photography, survey, advertising or parachute dropping. A commercial SPO operator declares its activity to the competent authority, and listed high-risk commercial activities need an authorisation as well.

Part-SPA is not a type of operation but a set of specific approvals that any operator needs for certain operations, whatever Part it flies under. Examples include low-visibility operations (SPA.LVO), reduced vertical separation minima (SPA.RVSM), RNP AR approaches under performance-based navigation (SPA.PBN), ETOPS and the carriage of dangerous goods.

Implementing Rules and AMC

European aviation law has two layers of material with very different legal force.

• Hard law consists of the Basic Regulation and the implementing and delegated regulations adopted under it, such as the Aircrew Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, Air OPS (EU) No 965/2012, the Standardised European Rules of the Air (EU) No 923/2012 and the aerodromes Regulation (EU) No 139/2014. They are binding in their entirety.
• Soft law is published by EASA in ED Decisions. Acceptable means of compliance (AMC) are non-binding standards that show one way of meeting an implementing rule; compliance with an AMC gives a presumption of compliance with the rule. Guidance material (GM) explains or illustrates the rules. Certification specifications (CS) set the design standards for aircraft.

An operator may propose an alternative means of compliance instead of an AMC, but must show that it meets the implementing rule; an operator holding a certificate, such as an AOC, needs the competent authority's approval before using it. AMC and GM are numbered after the rule they support, for example AMC1 NCO.OP.125, which since 30 October 2022 holds the final reserve fuel figures that the rule itself no longer states. EASA's Easy Access Rules consolidate each regulation with its AMC and GM in one document, which is how most pilots and operators read them.

Competent Authorities and NAAs

A competent authority is the authority designated to issue, oversee and enforce a given certificate, licence, approval or declaration. For most operators and pilots it is the national aviation authority (NAA) of a Member State, often called the civil aviation authority (CAA), such as France's DGAC. The State of the Operator is normally competent: France's GEN 1.7 notes that it is the competent authority for NCC operators, and for NCO operators flying aircraft registered in a third country. EASA itself is the competent authority for type certification and for third-country operators. Pilots meet the concept in FCL.045, which obliges them to produce their licence, medical certificate and identification when an authorised representative of a competent authority asks.

The United Kingdom's CAA now regulates outside the EASA system, applying its own retained versions of the EU regulations. It also publishes Civil Aviation Publications (CAP), its numbered series of manuals and guidance, such as CAP 413, the UK radiotelephony manual.

Eurocontrol, ECAC and Single European Sky

The European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1955 under the auspices of the Council of Europe and ICAO, with members stretching from Iceland to Turkey. It works to harmonise civil aviation policy across Europe, and the JAA grew up as one of its associated bodies.

Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, was established by a convention signed in Brussels on 13 December 1960 by Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It is intergovernmental, not an EU agency, and its membership is wider than the EU. It runs the Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre and European air traffic flow management, the task of its former Central Flow Management Unit (see air traffic flow management).

The Single European Sky (SES) is the EU's legislation for air traffic management. Its first package included Regulation (EC) No 550/2004 on the provision of air navigation services; later rules include SERA and the Mode S surveillance requirements. Eurocontrol supports it as the Network Manager.

Ramp Inspections

A ramp inspection is an unannounced check of an aircraft, its documents and its crew by inspectors of a competent authority while the aircraft is on the ground. Under Part-ARO, Member States inspect aircraft of third-country operators, known as SAFA inspections, and of operators overseen by other Member States, known as SACA inspections, so that each State can check the aircraft landing at its airports. Inspectors look at the licences and aircraft documents, the condition of the aircraft and its equipment, and the cargo and cabin. Findings are graded by their significance to safety, and a serious one can keep the aircraft on the ground until it is corrected. Repeated findings feed the EU's decisions on which third-country operators may fly in Europe.

General aviation pilots meet ramp inspections too, which is why the documents required by NCO.GEN.135 and FCL.045 matter even on a local flight (see aircraft registration and documents).

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.