EASA

In response to an ARSA inquiry, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) confirmed that U.S. repair stations with EASA part 145 approval should achieve compliance with EASA human factors requirements by following Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidance. There had been confusion on this issue since some repair stations were told to comply with guidance prepared by EASA for repair stations directly certificated by that agency. The EASA part 145 guidance material for human factors training programs, specified in GM 145.A.30(e), differs from current FAA guidance, notably in its recommendations for topics requiring coverage in a training program.

Effective April 1, 2007, the United States and EASA have agreed to liberalize the reciprocal acceptance of repair data "exported" between the EU and the U.S. This agreement will provide substantial benefits for repair stations and is being implemented in advance of the new EU-U.S. bilateral agreement that is expected to become effective in late 2007 or early 2008.

For U.S.-based repair stations, EASA will generally accept FAA major and minor repair data on all articles (regardless of the State of Design of the product) except those considered "critical." No further showing to EASA would be required. For a full explanation of the new provisions, please consult the following documents: