Spitoon,
The toughest the EU can get is a Directive. When a Directive is agreed, all countries have to pass their own legislation that meets the Directive's standards. How each country does it is up to them. The idea of 'precedence over national legislation' does not exist in EU law.
My understanding (which could be completely wrong) is that there has been recent general legislation which brings the EASA under the EU - previously it was, as you imply, a separate convention. I reckon this would have taken the form of a Directive. Within this overall framework, you might then get a bunch of Regulations but these are (if I've got it right) of a specific nature - the equivalent of an order by a Secretary of State under UK domestic legislation. So a legally binding specific / technical rule might be changed by a Regulation but not the overall law.
Genghis,
Could it be that the EASA legislation has been read into UK law and states the relative competence of the two regulatory systems. Moreover, you can't be sure that the CAA is explaining the legal situation entirely correctly....
Last edited by answer=42; 6th Jan 2005 at 21:41.