Genghis - to be quite petulant, it is a matter of fairness. I don't know if you hold a licence but if you have monitored this forum over the last couple of years, you would have realised that engineer licencing has gone through a great deal of turmoil. Those tasks referred to in this post have been done in the past by mechanics aithorised by a company approved under A8-13. JAR 66 changed all that. All mechanics required to do these tasks now have to qualify under JAR 66 A. There are some rights for those holding authorisations issued by their employers before implementation. I personally feel that the JAR 66 route, equitably implemented, is the right way to go. However, there have been some glaring anomalies perpetrated by the CAA and the current topic is an example of just one. The JAA/NAA should apply the same rules for mechanics and pilots.