The common position reflects the outcome of informal contacts
between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council. Although the proposal
has been restructured to make it more logical and readable, in essence the
common position text retains all the principal elements proposed by the
Commission.
The main
changes made to the Commission’s proposal are as follows:
- Scope: The impact of the Directive on civil air traffic controlled
by service providers primarily dealing with military traffic was
adjusted to align the approach with that taken under the Single Sky
Regulations;
- Social
questions: The recitals were used to
clarify, in response to concerns from the European Parliament, that the
Directive would not impact upon existing national provisions governing
the employment relationship between controllers and employers, and that
further implementing measures would involve consultation of the social
partners at European level.
- Language
requirements: Although the basic requirement
for language proficiency at operational level (level 4) proposed by the
Commission is retained (for English and, when deemed necessary for
safety, for a local language), the common position also permits expert
level (level 5) for imperative reasons of safety.
- Improved
mutual recognition: Licences and all their
associated ratings, rating endorsements, language endorsements and
medical certificates are clearly made subject to the principle of mutual
recognition without conditions. Only the geographically specific unit
endorsements, for which particular conditions can be imposed by the
national authority, remain outside this automatically recognised
"community passport". In addition a licence holder working in
a Member State other than the one which issued his/her licence, has the
right to exchange the licence for one issued by the country in which
he/she is working.
- Roles of
the national supervisory authorities in cross-border cases: The common position clarifies that it is only the national authority
which issues licences, ratings and endorsements that has the power to
withdraw them. However, the national authority of the Member State where the controller is working is responsible for the maintenance of ratings and
endorsements and can also suspend them temporarily.
- Transitional
arrangements for existing licence holders:
Existing licence holders are exempted from the age and educational
requirements for accessing the profession and from the requirement to
complete approved initial training.
- Minimum
and maximum ages: The minimum age (for a
student licence) is fixed at 18, but the recognition of licenceholders
from other Member States is only obligatory for those aged 21 and above.
A Member State retains the freedom to impose a maximum age, but only as
a condition relating to a specific unit endorsement.
- Additional
harmonization: The common position includes
some additional harmonisation regarding the specifications for licences
(a new Annex I) and requirements for training providers (an expanded
Annex IV).
- Deletion
of unnecessary provisions on accounting standards for training
providers: The provisions of Article 11 of
the Commission proposal on accounting management for training providers
were considered excessive and unnecessary by both Council and
Parliament, and do not feature in the common position text.
The Council
has noted the undertaking given by the President of the Parliament's
TRANSPORT Committee, in the context of these contacts, to recommend this text
for approval by the Parliament without amendment in second reading, following
which the Directive will be deemed to have been adopted in accordance with
the common position.