Legal provisions of COM(1998)98 - Registration and use within the EC of certain types of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified and recertificated as meeting the standards of Volume I, Part II, Chapter 3 of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993)

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier COM(1998)98 - Registration and use within the EC of certain types of civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified and ...
document COM(1998)98 EN
date April 29, 1999


Contents

Article 1 - Objective

The objective of this Regulation is to lay down rules to prevent deteriorations in the overall noise impact in the Community of recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes while at the same time limiting other environmental damage.

Article 2 - Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(1) 'civil subsonic jet aeroplane' shall mean a civil subsonic jet aeroplane with a maximum certificated take off mass of 34000 kg or more, or with a certified maximum internal accomodation for the aeroplane type in question consisting of more than 19 passenger seats, excluding any seats for crew only, and powered by engines with a by-pass ratio of less than three;

(2) 'recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplane' shall mean a civil subsonic jet aeroplane initially certificated to Chapter 2 or equivalent standards, or initially not noise-certificated which has been modified to meet Chapter 3 standards either directly through technical measures or indirectly through operational restrictions; civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which initially could only be dual-certificated to the standards of Chapter 3 by means of weight restrictions, have to be considered as recertificated aeroplanes; civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which have been modified to meet Chapter 3 standards by being completely re-enginged with engines having a by-pass ratio of three or more are not to be considered as recertificated aeroplanes;

(3) 'Chapter 2' and 'Chapter 3' shall mean the noise standards as defined in Volume I, Part II, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 respectively of Annex 16 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, third edition (July 1993);

(4) 'operational restrictions' shall mean weight restrictions imposed on the aeroplane and/or operational limitations within the control of the pilot or the operator, such as reduced flap setting;

(5) 'registration of an aeroplane' shall mean the formal act whereby the nationality of an aeroplane is established through its entry on the national register of a Member State or a third country;

(6) 'the territory of the Community' shall mean the territory of the Community subject to the provisions of the Treaty.

Article 3 - Non-complying aeroplanes

1. Recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes shall not be registered in the national register of a Member state as from 1 April 1999.

2. paragraph 1 shall not affect civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which were already on the register of any Member State on 1 April 1999 and have been registered in the Community ever since.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of Directive 92/14/EEC and in particular Article 2(2) thereof, as from 1 April 2002 recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes registered in a third country shall not be allowed to operate at airports in the territory of the Community unless the operator of such aeroplanes can prove that they were on the register of that third country on 1 April 1999 and prior to that date have been operated, between 1 April 1995 and 1 April 1999, into the territory of the Community.

4. Recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which are on the registers of Member States may not be operated at airports in the territory of the Community as from 1 April 2002 unless they have been operated in that territory before 1 April 1999.

Article 4 - Exemptions

1. Member States may grant temporary exemptions from Article 3 for civil subsonic jet aeroplanes whose operations are of such an exceptional nature that it would be unreasonable to withhold a temporary exemption, such as for emergencies. On a transparent and non-discriminatory basis, Member States may limit such exemptions to certain airports and/or certain specified periods of the day.

2. Member States may grant exemptions from Article 3 for civil subsonic jet aeroplanes which are exclusively operated outside the territory of the Community.

3. Member States may grant exemptions from Article 3 for civil subsonic jet aeroplanes leased to an operator which for that reason have been temporarily removed from the register of the Member State in which they were registered during the 6 months before 1 April 1999, provided that legal and economic ownership of the aircraft remains in the Member State.

4. Once a year Member States shall inform the Commission of exemptions granted under this Article.

Article 5 - Overseas departments

This Regulation shall not apply to the overseas departments referred to in Article 227(2) of the Treaty, neither with regard to the provisions concerning the registration of recertificated civil subsonic jet aeroplanes in the national registers of Member States, or concerning the operation of such aeroplanes at airports located in the said departments.

Article 6 - The airport of Gibraltar

1. The application of this Regulation to the airport of Gibraltar is understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom with regard to the dispute over sovereignty over the territory in which the airport is situated.

2. Application of the provisions of this Regulation to Gibraltar airport shall be suspended until the arrangements in the joint declaration made by the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom on 2 December 1987 have come into operation. The Governments of Spain and the United Kingdom shall inform the Council of that date.

Article 7 - Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.


This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.