The JAA hasn't really worked out as it should have, mainly because most of the member states never actually adopted the JAR completely.
I disagree what Genghis the Engineer said about UK being an example of the most stringent adoption possible.
I have heard from a reliable source that the only two countries that adopted the JAR from head to toe was Iceland and Luxemburg.
Because of this reluctance to adobt the JAR as it is, politicians and bureaucrats has now decided to make the JAA defunct.
That's what EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency)is for.
When that is up and running, politicians and parliaments in the EU, looses the power to take in the bits and pieces that would fit into their likings. They will have to take it in as it is, just as the thought was behind the JAA.
Proxus
See this link:
EASA