You are overlooking the fact that each individual CAA can interpret the JAA laws as they see fit. There is no JAA ATPL. There is a license that is issued by a particular CAA that "conforms" to JAA standards. This is a big time contradiction. The purpose of the JAA was standardzation, but in reality it is simply an evolution in bueacracy and confusion. You have to do whatever the CAA in your country tells you to do in order to satisfy the requirments. Fight it all you want...but in the end your license is coming from your local CAA office, not JAA headquaters in Holland or EASA in Cologne (another useless evolution in paper-pushing).