No New Foreign Repair Stations After August 2008

On May 13, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) head Kip Hawley admitted to a Senate committee that the agency will not produce a final security rule for repair stations by an Aug. 3, 2008 deadline mandated in legislation passed last year.

In a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hawley was asked about the status of the rule by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) an outspoken critic of contract maintenance. While Hawley stated that a notice of proposed rulemaking will be released in the summer of 2008, a final rule will not be issued before the deadline.

Industry will pay for this lapse by TSA. Under the "Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007", if the TSA fails to produce its final rule by August 3, no new foreign repair stations can receive a Federal Aviation Administration part 145 certificate. Renewals of certificates will still be allowed and those stations who apply for a part 145 certificate before August 3 will still receive consideration.

ARSA fought hard to remove this damaging provision for this exact reason-the industry is now being punished for the failure of a government agency to complete a required task. In fact, TSA was originally assigned the task of creating a security rule for repair stations under a law passed in 2003. The agency has admitted that the rulemaking is not a priority due to the current safety levels at repair stations (ARSA agrees that the mandate was extraneous), but such an excuse will not help those foreign partners seeking a certificate after Aug. 3, 2008.

In addition, ARSA sent a letter to Administrator Hawley in November 2007 urging the agency to issue the final rule before the August 2008 deadline.

ARSA's letter may be found here.

More information on the underlying legislation may be found here.