EASA and Licensing
Ian,
Interesting comment from the CAA at the tribunal.
Without being too technical; EASA were given legal competence for Certification and Maintenance some years ago. The second tranche contains Operations and Licensing; this was accepted by the EU parliament in December and - according to what was said in court by the CAA - will become effective on the 18th March. The third tranche will include Aerodromes/Heliports.
From the date that legal competence is assigned, EASA are required to develop and provide Operational and Licensing Implementing Rules together with Acceptable Methods of Compliance and Guidance. These requirements will have to be offered for public comment - along with a Regulatory Impact Analysis and justification. (The terms of reference for the working group states that the operational rules shall be based upon EU-OPS and JAR-OPS 3; therefore at the time that the operational requirements are entered into law, EU-OPS will be revoked)
You can expect that such requirements have been, or are in the process of being, developed. The process of development, public comment, reassessment, issue and implementation has to be completed within four years (the longer the development cycle the shorter the implementation cycle).
Although legal competence has been assigned by the EU; each State is responsible for its own regulations up to the date of implementation. At the date of final implementation, EASA will be responsible for ensuring that the Standards intended are upheld but the States will still be responsible for the day-to-say management of Licensing and Operations.
It is unlikely that any State will be permitted exceptions to the requirement but remember that the rule under scrutiny is that for CAT.
Jim