Civil aviation security
The Commission presented its annual report on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 300/2008 on the introduction of common rules in the field of civil aviation security. The report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2016. The main findings of the report are as follows:
Inspections: the Commission started the fifth cycle of inspections of appropriate authorities in 2016. In total, eight appropriate authority inspections were carried out during the year. For most Member States, these inspections showed significant improvements from previous inspections.
The deficiencies most commonly found in 2016 related to shortcomings in the implementation of the National Quality Control Programmes. Some Member States did not sufficiently monitor the adequacy and implementation of the security programmes of airports, air carriers and regulated entities, did not monitor with the expected regularity foreign air carriers and did not fully apply some of the compliance monitoring methodologies required by the Regulation.
In addition, 26 initial inspections of airports were conducted during 2016. The inspection results reflect the efforts made by appropriate authorities. The majority of security requirements were correctly implemented. The level of the compliance index for the most important areas of aviation security remained stable at around 80%. However, progress remains to be made in the areas of access control, screening of staff and of cabin baggage and aircraft security searches.
2016 again showed high compliance levels in relation to screening of hold baggage, in-flight and airport supplies, training and security equipment.
28 inspection files (16 files concerning airport inspections and 12 concerning inspections of appropriate authorities) could be closed. In all, inspection files relating to 8 appropriate authorities and 21 airports remained open at the end of the year.
Legislation and risk assessments: 2016 saw a surge in the terrorist threat levels in general and for civil aviation, marked by the terrorist attacks in Brussels and Istanbul airports. Immediately after the Brussels attack, the Commission convened Member States in an extraordinary session of the Aviation Security Regulatory Committee. The latter reached the conclusion that while there was a need for protecting the public areas of the airports, where the attacks took place, measures designed for the protection of the Security Restricted Areas (SRAs) of airports were not suitable for application at the entry points of terminal buildings. These areas should be kept public and measures should be taken based upon local risk assessments, involving all relevant authorities and stakeholders. A proper balance between the security needs and the other important factors, such as travel convenience, privacy and protection of personal data and facilitation of operational factors should be maintained.
In order to ensure the implementation of proportionate and risk-based protection measures, the Commission and Member States constantly adjust the mitigation measures in order to achieve the highest level of security while minimising adverse effects on operations.
In November 2016 the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) 2016/2096 amending Regulation (EU) No 1254/2009 as regards certain criteria to allow Member States to derogate from the common basic standards on civil aviation security and to adopt alternative security measures. This Regulation clarified the requirements for risk assessments and further specified the types of operations of certain categories of air traffic.
The Commission considers that the exchange of experiences and best practices would be a key element in successfully reinforcing security. It contributes to the goal of preventing terrorist threats against civil aviation through its cooperation with the ICAO and in particular through its capacity building initiative CASE on civil aviation security in Africa and Middle Eastern countries.