REPORT on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a European Parliament and Council directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation
(PE-CONS 3619/2003 – C5‑0129/2003 – 2000/0343(COD))
23 April 2003 - ***III
European Parliament delegation to the Conciliation Committee
Rapporteur: Gerard Collins
PROCEDURAL PAGE
At the sitting of 14 June 2001 Parliament adopted its position at first reading on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation (COM(2000) 847 – 2000/0343 (COD)).
At the sitting of 3 July 2002 the President of Parliament announced that the common position had been received and referred to the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism (8133/1/2002 – C5‑0312/2002).
At the sitting of 23 October 2002 Parliament adopted amendments to the common position.
By letter of 6 February 2003 the Council stated that it was unable to approve all Parliament's amendments.
The President of the Council, in agreement with the President of Parliament, convened a meeting of the Conciliation Committee on 18 February 2003.
By letter of 25 March 2003 the Parliament informed the Council that it was necessary to extend the period for the work in committee, as laid down in Article 251(7) of the EC Treaty.
At the meeting the Conciliation Committee considered the common position on the basis of the amendments proposed by Parliament. Agreement was reached by exchange of letters of 13 March 2003 and 27 March 2003.
At its meeting of 27 March 2002 the Parliament delegation approved the results of the conciliation by ten votes to one, with one abstention.
The following took part in the vote: Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Vice-President and chairman of the delegation; Gerard Collins, rapporteur; Jacqueline Foster, Georg Jarzembowski, Giorgio Lisi (for Charlotte Cederschiöld), Karla M.H. Peijs (for Françoise Grossetête), Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (for Konstantinos Hatzidakis), Brian Simpson, Ulrich Stockmann, Herman Vermeer (for Luciano Caveri), Mark Francis Watts (for Renzo Imbeni) and Jan Marinus Wiersma.
On 9 April 2003 the co-chairmen of the Conciliation Committee established that the joint text had been approved, pursuant to paragraph III.8 of the Joint declaration on practical arrangements for the new co-decision procedure,[1] and forwarded it to Parliament and the Council in all the official languages.
The report was tabled on 23 April 2003.
- [1] OJ C 148, 28.5.1999, p. 1.
DRAFT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION
European Parliament legislative resolution on the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee for a European Parliament and Council directive on occurrence reporting in civil aviation (PE-CONS 3619/2003 – C5‑0129/2003 – 2000/0343(COD))
(Codecision procedure: third reading)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee (PE-CONS 3619/2003 – C5‑0129/2003),
– having regard to its position at first reading[1] on the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2000) 847[2]),
– having regard to the amended proposal (COM(2001) 532[3]),
– having regard to its position at second reading[4] on the Council common position[5],
– having regard to the Commission's opinion on Parliament's amendments to the common position (COM(2002) 647 ‑ C5‑0541/2002)[6],
– having regard to Article 251(5) of the EC Treaty,
– having regard to Rule 83 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of its delegation to the Conciliation Committee (A5‑0118/2003),
1. Approves the joint text;
2. Instructs its President to sign the act with the President of the Council pursuant to Article 254(1) of the EC Treaty;
3. Instructs its Secretary-General duly to sign the act and, in agreement with the Secretary-General of the Council to have it published in the Official Journal of the European Union;
4. Instructs its President to forward this legislative resolution to the Council and Commission.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Introduction
The adoption of a directive on accident and investigation in 1994 was the first achievement in Community air safety policy. However, as the number of accidents is, fortunately, very low, the opportunities to learn from them are limited and lessons are drawn only after a tragedy has already happened.
This proposal complements the 1994 directive with a more proactive one that will address reporting of incidents, defects or malfunctions, described under the generic term of "occurrences".
Experience has shown that often before an accident occurs, a number of incidents and numerous other deficiencies have shown the existence of safety hazards. The improvement of the safety of civil aviation requires a better knowledge of these occurrences to facilitate analysis and trend monitoring in order to initiate corrective action.
Various categories of personnel working in civil aviation observe occurrences relevant to the prevention of accidents and should therefore report them. The efficiency of detection of potential hazard would be greatly enhanced by the exchange of information on such occurrences.
When an occurrence involves aircraft registered in a Member State or operated by an undertaking established in a Member State, this occurrence should be reported even when it happened outside the territory of the Community.
Safety information should be available to entities entrusted with regulating civil aviation safety or investigating accidents and incidents within the Community and, as appropriate, to the people who may learn from them and take or initiate the necessary action to improve safety.
Thus, the general objective of this proposal is to contribute to the improvement of air safety by ensuring that safety critical information is reported and collected, stored, protected and disseminated in order to facilitate its effective analysis and monitoring.
First and second reading
The subject was addressed in the Gerard COLLINS (UEN, IRL) report, adopted at first reading on 14 June 2001 and containing 10 amendments, mainly on protection of the information passed and the names of individual persons and undertakings, on proceedings where the reported occurrence was the result of an act of gross negligence, on consistency with the ICAO's technical reporting requirements and on the reports to be submitted by the Commission.
The Council adopted its common position on 17 June 2002. It incorporated, either wholly or in substance, most of the amendments submitted by the Parliament at first reading.
At second reading (23 October 2002) Parliament adopted 2 amendments:
- whereas the reporter of an incident should be protected from sanctions, in situations where a reported occurrence is the result of an act of gross negligence, Member States must be permitted to institute proceeedings, and
- the first reading amendment on "voluntary confidential reporting" was reinstated to complement mandatory reporting due to the importance of these reports for a better understanding of human factors, which may be involved in the occurrence of air accidents.
The directive in conciliation
The Council decided it could not accept the Parliament's amendments and the EP delegation was constituted on 15 January 2003. The conciliation procedure was opened on 18 February without debate at another conciliation committee meeting.
Two trialogue meetings took place on 18 February and 11 March where new compromise texts were agreed. The EP delegation met on 27 March and approved those agreements:
- amendment 1 (proceedings) was accepted with the addition of the mention "without prejudice to the applicable rules of penal law", which is consistent with the reference to cases of gross negligence. Accordingly, the reference to "similar proceedings" proposed by the Council, was rejected,
- amendment 2 (voluntary confidential reporting) was completely re-drafted in order to establish a clear distinction between mandatory and voluntary reporting and their distinct scopes.
Thus, in addition to the system of mandatory reporting, Member States may designate bodies to put in place a system of voluntary reporting to collect and analyse information on observed deficiencies which are not required to be reported under the system of mandatory reporting, but which are perceived by the reporter as an actual or potential hazard.
In that case, Member States shall establish conditions for the "disidentification" (removing from reports submitted all personal details pertaining to the reporter which might lead to his/her identity) of voluntary reports.
Finally, Member States shall ensure that relevant information deriving from the analysis of this reporting is stored and made available to all parties so that it can be used for improving safety in aviation.
Conclusions
The delegation regards the end result of conciliation as very satisfactory for Parliament, as the joint text has incorporated its amendments, either in full or in a reworked form. It therefore proposes that the House adopt the text at third reading.