Civil aviation: repealing an obsolete directive

The European Parliament adopted by 624 votes to 2, with 5 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council repealing Council Directive 89/629/EEC.

The European Parliament adopted its position at first reading by taking over the Commission's proposal.

The proposed Regulation aims at repealing Directive 89/629/EEC.

It is recalled that Council Directive 89/629/EEC provided that aeroplanes that exceeded the relevant noise emission standards under that Directive could continue to operate, if they had already been entered in a national register of a Member State. However, it applied a no-addition rule: no new registrations of such aeroplanes were possible after that Directive entered into force.

Directive 2006/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council introduced a complete phasing-out of all aeroplanes which did not meet the relevant noise emission standards, including those previously covered by Directive 89/629/EEC, regardless of whether they had been registered or not. This led to a situation in which the aeroplanes concerned were no longer allowed to fly in the Union skies and had to be removed from the Member States’ national registers.

Consequently, Directive 89/629/EEC is obsolete.