EP Sets Air Accident Investigation Criteria

The new EU law will ensure that a safety investigation into an accident is conducted free of pressure from regulatory or other authorities which may be in a conflict of interest, said the Parliament’s press office.

„Any statements taken from individuals by a safety investigator, as well as voice and image recordings inside cockpits and air traffic control units, will be used only for safety investigation, unless there is an overriding reason for disclosure to the judiciary. This will ensure that people can testify without fear to the safety investigators, whose purpose is not to attribute blame but to establish the facts,” said the cited source.

„As is the case at present, the safety investigation authority will be obliged to make public the final accident report ‘in the shortest possible time and if possible within twelve months of the date of the accident or serious incident’,” says the press office, pointing out that each member state is required to „set up a civil aviation accident emergency plan and ensure that all airlines based on its territory have a plan to assist victims of accidents and their relatives.”

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„EU airlines, as well as non-EU airlines departing from an EU airport, will be obliged to produce a list of all those on board an aircraft ‘as soon as possible, and at the latest within two hours of the notification of the occurrence of an accident to the aircraft’,” said the EP. „Their names can only be made public after the families or close relatives of the passengers have been informed by the authorities and only if they do not object. Furthermore, a list of any dangerous goods on board the aircraft will have to be released by the airline immediately after the accident.”

„Airlines will also be required to provide passengers with the means to indicate a contact person in case of an accident. ‘This information may be used by the airlines only in the event of an accident and shall not be communicated to third parties or used for commercial purposes'” says the new law.

According to the EP, „a European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities will be set up to advise the EU institutions, make Europe-wide air safety recommendations, promote best investigation practices and strengthen national safety investigation authorities.

By the end of 2011 the Commission must draft an update of the air safety occurrence reporting directive. The Cologne-based European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will have access to the safety occurrence reports produced by Member States and may be invited to advise in accident investigations.”

The new law was approved by 604 votes to 11, with 26 abstentions. It has already been agreed with the Member States in the Council and will enter into force 20 days after it is published.