The committee adopted the report by Ulrich STOCKMANN (PES, DE) amending - under the 2nd reading of the codecision procedure - the Council's common position on the proposed regulation on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation. The main amendments were as follows:
- a scientific and medical evaluation of the provisions on flight and duty time limitations and rest requirements, as well as of the provisions on cabin crews where appropriate, should be completed within two years of the regulation's entry into force, rather than three years as proposed. The evaluation should be carried out by the European Aviation Safety Agency, which should also help the Commission to draw up proposals to amend the relevant technical provisions;
- the committee introduced a safeguard clause stipulating that "under no circumstances" should the provisions of the regulation constitute valid grounds for watering down levels of safety protection existing in the Member States. It would therefore be possible to retain collective agreements which provide for better conditions as regards flight and duty periods;
- as disruption to rosters can often have a negative impact on the safety of operating models of overnight express cargo service providers, MEPs inserted a recital providing for the Commission to carry out an assessment and propose adjustments to the provisions on flight and duty time limitations "to take account of these special operating models";
- finally, the committee called for the harmonisation of cabin crew training "in order to allow for mutual recognition of training qualifications throughout the Community". In this connection, the option of cabin crew licensing should be "investigated further".