This is not news
EASA have been working on this for years -
Functions and responsibilities of B1 and B2 support staff - link with sign-off
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The objectives of this NPA are the following:
1. Address the need for Part-145 organisations to better evaluate the complexity of each maintenance task and assign it to appropriately qualified personnel authorised to sign off or to non-authorised personnel under supervision.
2. Better define who can be authorised to sign off maintenance tasks, under which qualification criteria and under which authorisation process.
3. Clarify how the licensed support staff evaluate that maintenance tasks are performed to the required standard and which level of supervision they should place on the personnel authorised to sign off.
4. Clarify how the licensed support staff should record that all maintenance tasks have been carried out to the required standard, in particular those carried out by non-licensed ‘signoff’ personnel.
Consideration has been given to the fact that, although objectives 3 and 4 above apply only to the base maintenance environment, objectives 1 and 2 can only be achieved in a consistent manner if they are addressed for all the maintenance environments (line and base maintenance, as well as component maintenance).
Can't work out why it has taken so long to level the playing field though