Breakthrough as Europe and America sign aviation agreement

America and the European Union have officially concluded a long-awaited bilateral aviation safety agreement (BASA) designed to make government oversight of aviation more efficient and to pave the way for future regulatory cooperation.
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The move is expected to have beneficial effect on MRo operations in the Middle East that operate to EASA or FAA or both standards


 The BASA  allows reciprocal acceptance FAA and EASA certification and oversight of civil aviation products and repair stations. The US and the EU specifically agree to recognise each other’s ‘findings of compliance and approvals.’ This means, for example, that the FAA can determine a US repair station is eligible for an EASA approval to work on European registered products without a separate inspection by European regulators.


The BASA is good news for the industry. Duplication of oversight was a real fear, and the BASA takes a lot of expense and bureaucracy out of the equation.

Importantly, the BASA makes provision for annexes to be developed and added by a Bilateral Oversight Board, leaving the door open for agreements in other areas, including flight crew licensing.

EASA’s proposals to hammer the N-register operator in Europe have been put back to 2014, and may now be subject to bilateral negotiations.

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