EUROPEAN UNION AVIATION SAFETY AGENCY
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety and sustainability; it also promotes a level playing field for the aviation industry worldwide.
The idea of a European-level aviation safety authority goes back
to 1996, but the agency was legally established only on 15 July 2002, as the European
Aviation Safety Agency; it began its work in 2003. It reached full functionality
in 2008.
It was renamed the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in 2018. The United Kingdom was a member until the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020. Most of EASA’s workforce of around 850 aviation experts and administrators work from its European headquarters in Cologne and Brussels, but EASA also has permanent representations in other parts of the world to support the global safety network.
EASA works with the European Commission and EASA Member States to coordinate common positions on matters addressed at global level. It supports its Member States in implementing the ICAO standards, for example through the compliance checklists.
On a global level, EASA closely cooperates with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO on a wide range of aviation topics). EASA has one representative based in Montréal, who directly liaises with ICAO, participates in ICAO meetings, provides information on EASA policies and regulatory developments, and maintains a working relationship on technical matters with the ICAO Secretariat. EASA exchanges safety information with ICAO in order to reduce the burden on its Member States. Specifically, EASA and ICAO have signed a Working Arrangement through which they coordinate their auditing activities. This means that, when inspecting a Member State, EASA may collect evidence needed by ICAO to close their own findings or assess the level of compliance with ICAO standards. EASA provides technical expertise to ICAO activities. EASA experts take part in the work of around 50 ICAO panels, committees, working groups, study groups and task forces. On 30 July 2014, a Working Arrangement on Continuous Monitoring Activities Between ICAO and EASA was signed through which the two Organizations coordinate their auditing activities; under this Working Arrangement, EASA staff are trained as ICAO auditors and take part in USOAP audits (ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme) in the EASA states and elsewhere.
EASA also works with IATA to address issues of common interest and coordinate actions. A particular area of cooperation is the exchange of safety information, based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two organizations in 2012.
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