S.M.N. Many thanks for the info. I was not commenting on RYR in particular: from your information it would be the same for any airline. I did have to go through this fiasco as a TRE; doing an authorisation course in 3 different countries. I didn't understand all the whys & wherefores, just wondered why it was necessary and why they were making an easy job difficult. Given that EASA is supposed to be a standardisation organisation for EU it would seem they have regressed into something more akin to pre-JAA and more nationalistic.
It is not such good advertisement for their understanding & knowledge of the industry. Muppet city, but perhaps we already suspected that.