Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC, Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC^f1, and in particular Article 14(7) thereof,

Whereas:

The United Kingdom notified its intention to grant an approval derogating from the common aviation safety rules contained in Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011^f2. Pursuant to Article 14(7) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008, the Commission assessed the need for, and the level of protection emerging from, the proposed derogation, based on the recommendation from the European Aviation Safety Agency (‘the Agency’).

The proposed derogation, notified by the United Kingdom on 2 August 2013, concerns the conversion of the existing national licences for sailplane pilots, set out in Article 4(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011. The United Kingdom argued that the derogation is needed so that the holder of any non-statutory qualification document issued by the British Gliding Association (BGA) may be credited with compliance with the relevant parts of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, in accordance with the conversion report that has been developed in consultation with the Agency in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011. The derogation would enable the United Kingdom to issue equivalent Part-FCL LAPL(S) or SPL licences and instructor and examiner certificates to the holders of such qualification documents.

The United Kingdom also gave reasons demonstrating that an equivalent level of protection would be achieved should the proposed derogation be granted. Based on the recommendation from the Agency, issued on 8 October 2013, the Commission concluded that the proposed derogation would provide a level of protection equivalent to the one attained by application of the common aviation safety rules, provided certain conditions are met.

In accordance with Article 14(7) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008, a decision by the Commission that a Member State may grant a proposed derogation needs to be notified to all Member States, which would also be entitled to apply the measure in question. This Decision should therefore be addressed to all Member States. The description of the derogation, as well as the conditions attached to it, should be such as to enable other Member States to also apply that measure when they are in the same situation, without requiring a further decision by the Commission. For these purposes, considering that the aforementioned conversion report is not publicly available, the United Kingdom should make it available to the other Member States upon their request. In addition, the Member States should exchange information on the application of this measure where they apply it, in accordance with Article 15(1) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008, as this application may have effects outside the Member States that grant the derogation.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the European Aviation Safety Agency Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: