Rolling Circle, thank you for putting JWF in his place as I was about to do the same. I have copied the text from the CAA website and posted it below. Now, hopefully nobody else will try to put the fear of god into all of us who hold ATPL passes. Incidentally, am I correct in thinking that the old rule of 5 years from 1st pass to unfreezing the ATPL still exists to maintain the validity?
ATPL(A) EXAMINATION CREDITS
We would like to correct a growing misconception within the aviation industry that the holder of a UK CPL/IR(A) with
‘frozen’ ATPL(A) credits will lose those credits if he/she does not obtain a national ATPL(A) by 30 June 2002. It is true that CAA will not be able to issue a UK CPL(A) or ATPL(A) on or after 1 July 2002 except to a pilot who held that same licence on 30 June 2002 (ANO Article 22(2)(d), which means that a national licence can be renewed but an initial issue cannot be made. However, there is no necessity for a UK licence holder to convert to a JAR-FCL licence by any specific
date and national licences can remain valid, so that a UK CPL/IR(A) can be renewed after 1 July 2002 and the ATPL(A) theoretical knowledge credit will be retained. After 1 July 2002, at the point where a national ATPL(A) would have been issued, and provided the pilot meets all the criteria for conversion of a national to JAR-FCL ATPL(A) as detailed in Appendix 1 to JAR-FCL 1.005, the CAA can issue a JAR-FCL ATPL(A). Until such time as EC Directive 91/670/EEC is withdrawn, and there appear to be no plans to do this in the immediate future, a UK national licence can still be validated for use in other EU States.
The only circumstance in which all holders of a UK national licence would be forced to obtain a JAR-FCL licence would be if the EU mandated such a move. The Authority has argued against such a suggestion and intends to continue to do so. However, in such an eventuality CAA would seek amendment to JAR-FCL to ensure that ATPL(A) knowledge credits are retained.
Date 2 February 2000
JWF, hope this clarifies the situation once and for all.