Investigations into accidents and incidents in civil aviation

The common position keeps to the spirit of the Commission proposal and incorporates amendments 1, 5, 6, 7 and 10 adopted by the European Parliament and accepted by the Commission. However, the Council has not incorporated amendments seeking to: - extend the scope of the directive, outside Community territory, to all incidents involving an aircraft registered in a Member State or operated by a company established in a Member State. However, the directive does make provision for this possibility if the investigating authority hopes to learn lessons on air traffic safety; - set a period of 24 hours' hospitalisation for the definition of serious injury; - exclude the possibility of external agencies intervening in enquiries; - ensure that an accident report is published. The common position calls for the accident report to be made public, if possible within twelve months of the date of the accident, the deadline also proposed by the European Parliament.�