Rulemaking Directorate

The Agency's Rulemaking Directorate contributes to the production of all EU legislation and implementation material related to the regulation of civil aviation safety and environmental compatibility. It submits opinions to the European Commission and must be consulted by the Commission on any technical question in its field of competence. It is also in charge of the related international co-operation. Experts within the Rulemaking Directorate have direct contact with all relevant stakeholders, and make use of the knowledge available within industry and national administrations across the European Union. The Agency's team of experts is composed of persons with a recognised background in aviation and Community regulation, and is led by Mr. Jules Kneepkens.

Rulemaking Director

Jules KNEEPKENS, Rulemaking Director

The Scope of Competence

The Basic Regulation establishes Community competence for the regulation of the airworthiness and environmental compatibility of aeronautical products, parts and appliances, pilot licensing, air operations and third country aircraft. Since October 2009, the scope of the regulation has also been extended to the safety regulation of airport operations and air traffic control services.

rulemaking

A brief introduction to the Rulemaking Directorate

The Rulemaking Directorate's objectives are defined clearly in Article 2 of the Basic Regulation which establishes the Agency. These can be summarised as:

  • To establish and maintain a high uniform level of civil aviation safety throughout all the Member States;
  • To ensure a high uniform level of environmental protection throughout all the Member States;
  • To facilitate the free movement of goods, persons and services;
  • To promote cost-efficiency in the regulatory and certification processes;
  • To promote Community views regarding civil aviation safety standards and rules throughout the world.

The Rulemaking Process

On a more practical level, the regulatory framework for achieving the Article 2 objectives is provided within Article 18 of the Basic Regulation:

The Agency shall, where appropriate:

  • issue opinions addressed to the Commission;
  • issue certification specifications, including airworthiness codes and acceptable means of compliance, as well as any guidance material for the application of this Regulation and its implementing rules;

Operationally, the procedure to be followed for producing rules is further defined by the Management Board MB Decision 01/2012, which describe the rulemaking procedure. According to this procedure a set of internal procedures and work instructions on programming and processing of rulemaking tasks is under revision to reflect the new MB. The previous versions of the internal procedure documents are available in the Procedures and Work Instructions page.

Two consultative bodies have been set up to provide the Agency with a forum for consultation of interested parties and national authorities on all aspects of the rulemaking process.

Agency Rulemaking Process

  • 1
    Drafting and adoption of the Rulemaking Programme
    12
    Months
  • 2
    Initiation of the rule development by defining the Terms of Reference
    2-6
    Months
  • 3
    The drafting of the rule
    3-18
    Months
  • 4
    Consultation phase
    1-3
    Months
  • 5
    Analysis of comments and final review
    2-6
    Months
  • 6
    Adoption and Publication
    2
    Months

If the published document is an Agency Opinion, the decision-making process continues outside of EASA’s remit. The responsibility now lies with the European Commission. The decision for adoption or further amendment of the rule will be taken in the so-called comitology procedure.

Most EASA Opinions are handled through the comitology procedure. Amendments to the Basic Regulation, however, are handled by the Council and the EU Parliament. They do not go through comitology procedure.

The Results of the Rulemaking Process

The Agency provides advice on aviation safety and environmental protection regulations and on best implementation means to the European Commission, to the competent authorities in charge of enforcement and to the regulated persons.
The resulting documents include:

  1. Opinions for EU legislation
    An Opinion is a draft of legislation which is sent to the European Commission. It is further processed either by the European legislator (The Council of Ministers and the European Parliament) or the European Commission before the legislation can be enacted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Opinions are issued in the case of amendments to the Basic Regulation and its Implementing Rules, or when new Implementing Rules are being established.

  2. Decisions (Certification specifications, Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material) for the application of EU law
    Agency Decisions do not constitute mandatory requirements; they provide details in order to support implementation of the requirements published in the related regulations. A Decision can be a Certification Specification (CS, including the general AMC-20), an Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) to a rule, or Guidance Material (GM) to a rule. These items aim to assist in the implementation of the law and they are frequently referred to as 'soft law'. However, with regard to CS, certificates shall be issued and maintained if they are complied with. Regarding AMC, these provide a means for complying with the rule and, at the same time, allow for flexibility in the way of compliance as alternative means of compliance can be proposed. GM are supportive documents to the rule texts. In order to better understand AMC, please consult Acceptable Means of Compliance page.

Current activities

The Agency has adopted its 4-Year Rulemaking Programme for 2013-2016.

The drafting of rules requires that appropriate risk and regulatory impact assessments are made to justify any change. The Agency contracts therefore dedicated studies and research activities to external consultants when it does not have the necessary in-house expertise. These studies are published under Rulemaking Studies and Research Activities page.

The Agency has reached an agreement with the U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transport Canada (TCCA) to promote Rulemaking Co-operation amongst the organisations. The full text of these agreements can be accessed here:

Rulemaking units

The Rulemaking Directorate comprises seven departments:

  1. Environmental Protection
  2. Flight Standards
  3. Product Safety
  4. International Cooperation
  5. ATM / Airport
  6. Process Support
  7. Legal Department

Rulemaking general enquiries:
Please refer to the Rulemaking FAQ.
In case the answer you were looking for in our FAQ section is not available: Submit your enquiry here.