Air transport safety, civil aviation: prevention of accidents, collect and dissemination of information

Apart from the reservation about the deletion of Article 9, the Commission considers that the text of the common position adopted unanimously by the Council is acceptable in that it respects the essential principles of the original proposal. It also takes account to a large extent as the amendments adopted by Parliament on first reading. The Commission requested the inclusion of the following statement in the Council minutes: "The Commission recalls the position that it expressed at the Council meeting of 16 October 2001, namely that in view of the importance of confidential reports for a better understanding of human factors which may be involved in the occurrence of air accidents and given the support it has received on this point from the European Parliament and the representatives of civil aviation personnel, the Commission is opposed to the deletion of this article." In addition, the Commission regrets the deletion of paragraph 3 which gave a clear political signal about the principle that the occurrence reporter should be regarded as conveying an important positive message for air safety and therefore encouraged to do so without risking any counterproductive sanctions.�