Single European Sky: provision of air navigation services

The European Commission accepted some of the amendments made by the European Parliament. They include: - those amendments that clarify or improve the text by reinforcing reference to safety, qualification of recognised organisations, recruitment of controllers, international standards, co-operation between service providers, cooperation between civil and military authorities, use of data. - a clause calling for the Commission to take action to help solve the problem of lack of controllers; - a clause stating the prime responsibility of Member States with regard to the relations between civil and military authorities. The following are some of amendments accepted in principle but not as regards wording: - the duration of authorisations. The latter are not meant to be licences but rather certifications of suitability of service providers. The period of validity will be defined within he context of the definition of harmonised conditions; - making the proposed charging scheme fully dependent upon the route charging system laid down in the multilateral agreement of Eurocontrol. The proposed charging scheme would not only apply to route charges but also to terminal and approach charges (where Eurocontrol has no competence). Furthermore the Eurocontrol scheme leaves margins of interpretation and the Commission intends to come to harmonised and binding rules within the community. The amendment is accepted provided that it does not restrict the scope of Community action in this field. - the Commission will express the principle of consultation of industry in a recital, but will not accept the establishment of an industry advisory group having an institutional role; - the amendment specifying conditions for the exchange of operational data is accepted, but confidentiality conditions will be defined at a later stage. The Commission rejected the amendment on a strict separation between national supervisory authorities and air navigation service providers. It also rejected certain amendments affirming the principle of the integrity of air navigation services and the need to have them provided within a single organisation.�