MEP’s air safety action call

Date: 07/02/02

By Laurence Frost

THE planned European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) should be given tougher powers to fine companies that break air safety rules, an MEP is to recommend.

The move comes after investigations by police revealed that old and faulty plane parts sold as new may have caused at least two recent disasters, including the New York crash that killed 265.

German conservative MEP Ingo Schmitt will tell fellow deputies that the agency needs powers similar to those of the US Federal Aviation Admin-istration (FAA), which can impose stiff financial sanctions on firms that break the rules.

'We were wondering if it's possible to do the same thing at EU level,' said Sven Ott, spokesman for the MEP, who drafted the Parliament's position on the original proposal.

Schmitt has asked European Commission experts to advise him on the feasibility of the plan in time for discussions in the Parliament's transport committee later this month. 'If it's possible we will present the amendments,' said Ott.

The EASA will set new EU-wide safety standards for airline and airport staff, procedures, aircraft and parts, as well as carrying out inspections to monitor implementation of rules by member states.

'We're open to any proposals that could improve the management and efficiency of the agency,' said a spokesman for Loyola de Palacio, the transport commissioner. 'Of course if you have sanctions it helps enforcement.'

De Palacio was forced to take into account member states' reluctance to hand sweeping powers to a federal-style agency when she first tabled the plan, now in the hands of ministers and MEPs.

Commission officials believe the EASA could be given powers to fine parts makers who fail to monitor and report on their products' safety. But they doubt the agency would have the authority or the resources to take direct action against fraudulent parts sellers.

Police seized parts from warehouses around Italy last month during a probe into fraudulent sales of components from ageing Airbus A300 planes of the type that crashed in New York on 1 November.

Italian firm Panaviation had allegedly broken-up planes to sell parts to airlines using false airworthiness certificates. The FAA is due to warn 167 countries that the scam may have affected more than 1,000 aircraft.

The planned European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) should be given tougher powers to fine companies that break air safety rules, according to MEP Ingo Schmitt.