CAA have confirmed that the 3-yearly continued airworthiness flights are no longer required, nor are the initial C of A flights if you import a new aircraft from another EASA country or a country with a bilateral (eg USA).
However....EASA aircraft will still require an airworthiness approval, and it remains to be clarified exactly what, if any, flight testing will be required. Watch this space!
On the issue of pass/fail, it varies significantly with the type. The Puma varieties tend to pass the perf climbs without difficulty, and the only snags we've found are age-related or minor. The older and smaller types (61, 365 and 76) tend to have difficulty passing the height climbs, although I guess that problem would go away if we didn't have to use gross performance. There are other issues with power assurance as all 76 Arriel operators will know.
I think as a company we will still maintain some form of continued testing for our own benefit, but we will wait for the moment and see what further info comes out of EASA/CAA.
Cheers
Steve