....Member States may accept third country licences, including any associated ratings, certificates, authorisations and/or qualifications and medical certificates issued by or on behalf of third countries, in accordance with the provisions of Annex III to this Regulation.
In EASAspeak, 'accept' means either 'validate' (allow the third country licence to be used in EASA aircraft for a limited period without issuing any form of EASA licence or certificate) or 'convert' (issue an EASA licence on the basis of the third country licence).
According to Annex III to the Regulation, a third country PPL with an instrument rating may be 'validated' (for a period not exceeding 1 year) and a third country PPL without an instrument rating may be either 'validated' or 'converted'. There is, however, no method of 'converting' an IR issued by a third country.
To 'validate' a PPL/IR requires 4 exams and the IR and class/type rating skill tests
To 'validate' only a PPL requires 2 exams and the PPL and class/type rating skill tests
To 'convert' only a PPL requires 2 exams and the PPL and class/type rating skill tests
I need to study both the opinion and the draft but, at first glance, it seems as though industry's reaction to the CRD has been wholly ignored.