ATC licences

[jonny2004]

Hi everyone,

Hope someone can help me with this. Can UK ATC ratings be used in the Irish Republic? If not is there some sort of conversion process or do you have to start again from scratch and train for an Irish rating?

Hope someone knows a bit about this.

Merry Christmas to all!

[CAP670]

If yours is a European Harmonised ATC Licence (i.e. accords fully with ESARR5) then yes it's technically valid in the Irish Republic (subject to local [unit] competence) and any local conversion training being successfully completed.

Effective 2006/07 when the European Harmonised ATC Licence becomes a 'Common' ATC Licence in theory you can work in any of the participating states (includes Eire) subject only to speaking and understanding English to ICAO Level 5 and the usual unit competencies.

:D

[GroundBound]

CAP670

With all due respect Sir, I think you are not correct.

Firstly, the European Harmonised Licence, and ESARR-5, are not legally binding documents. The European Harmonised Licence is nothing more than a gentleman's agreement, whereas ESARR-5 must be integrated into national law by each member state of Eurocontrol. However, each state is free to implement it in whatever way it wishes.

Secondly, the EU directive on licensing, due out this year, speaks of "mutual recognition" of EU member state licences. That does not mean that an ATC licence is legally useable in another state (subject to unit qualification).

The answer is "it depends on how the State implements the objectives of ESARR-5, and the impending EU directive, into its own legal system". The most likely implementation is that although a state must recognise another EU state's licence, it will nevertheless issue its own licence to the applicant.

Thus, if you have an ATC Licence issued in an EU member state, that should be adequate to be able to obtain an ATC Licence in another EU member state.



GB

[ebenezer]

Eurocontrol has adopted ESARR5 on Air Traffic Management Services personnel, together with a series of acceptable means to comply with ESARR5.

The requirements on air traffic controllers were
implemented in the UK in November 2003 (I don't know if Eire also participates). These requirements are addressed to
Designated Authorities i.e. CAAs/DGCAs, Air Traffic Services Providers and to individual ATC licence holders in the Eurocontrol participating states (of which Eire is one).

The proposed Common or 'Community' Air Traffic Controller's Licence goes a stage further in that it transposes the relevant requirements of ESARR5 into Community law thereby compelling those EU states that may not have subsumed ESARR5 as yet, to do so.

ESARR5 sets out the requirements pertaining to the Harmonised ATC Licence including training, ratings and common core content.

Whilst it's true that each state can choose not to comply with all aspects (apart from the common core training content), if the state in question is a 'participating state' then de facto, it will be applying ESARR5 and thus the requirements of the Harmonised Licence.

I agree that until the Common ATC Licence comes on line, an individual participating state's ATC licence (subject to an acceptable level of compliance) should permit the holder to obtain an ATC Licence of another participating state.

The Harmonised ATC Licence does not fully facilitate states' mutual recognition of professional qualifications whereas the Common ATC Licence is designed to do precisely that.

The system for Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications is operated by means of two European Directives: 89/48/EEC and 92/51/EEC. The system is founded on the premise that an individual qualified in one EU Member State in a given profession, should be allowed in principle to act in that same professional capacity in another Member State without having to requalify. This requires mutual acceptance of the validity of professional training anywhere in the EU.

However, it's not sufficient for the name of the profession to be the same; the profile of professional activities must broadly correspond - hence the move from a Harmonised ATC Licence to a 'Common' or 'Community' licence which will be binding in law.

;)

[saintex2002]

...Well said ebenezer...And the EU common atco licence will come soon and it's too late to fight against that...Question is now to know how all the EU Atco community will manage that, to be sure that a future Polish atco or Estonian, or spanish or any other Eu atco state member will have the really same way of job ( formation, ratings, renewing licence scheme, incomes, loss of licence insurance, retire process and so on ... ) all over EU...and to be sure to have no social dumping betwen us...
...Are you ready to be, like JAR pilots, part of a low cost ATC provider ???....