Return to Membership > Brexit - UK Aviation Remains Subject to the EASA Standards and Bilaterals

UK Aviation Remains Subject to the EASA Standards and Bilaterals Through the End of the Year

Good news! The UK and EU have taken the position that EASA regulations will continue to apply to the UK (and in the UK) during the transition period (post-Brexit). The transition period will last from Februrary 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.

The EU and UK have both signed the Withdrawal Agreement. The EU issued a formal notice announcing the Withdrawal Agreement, earlier today. Article 127(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement states:

“Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, Union law shall be applicable to and in the United Kingdom during the transition period.”

This means that the Regulation (EU) 2019/494 (which had originally been expected to control aviation safety between EU and UK) will not come into effect.

The UK CAA updated their Brexit microsite, this morning, to reflect the application of EU law during the transition period.

This is a significant relief to many; as late as January 15, the EU had published plans that stated that the UK would have no recourse to EASA rules after Brexit, explaining that for the UK aviation community:

“All current EU law-based rights, obligations and benefits cease”

The industry is breathing a collective sigh of relief that this is not coming to pass (at least not yet).

International Response

In order for this to be truly effective, the rest of the world will need to allow the UK to be covered under the EU agreements, like bilateral aviation safety agreements and working arrangements. If they refuse to allow the EU agreements to be extended to the UK (which will no longer be a part of the EU, tomorrow) then this could cause significant issues in accepting UK-sourced aviation goods and services. The US has taken a leadership role in this regard by announcing its acceptance of the transition-period relationship.

Earlier today, the FAA circulated a letter from FAA Associate Administrator Ali Bahrami announcing that the United States will treat the UK as remaining subject to the US-EU aviation safety agreements during the transition period.

We expect other countries to continue to honor this relationship during the transition period (as of this morning, no analogous announcements had been made by Brazil, Canada or Japan – the other three nations to have negotiated post-Brexit airworthiness agreements with the UK – but this dearth of guidance is likely due to the short timing).

The fact that other countries are likely to honor this arrangement would make aircraft parts transactions smoother for the coming year, but it is not 100% good news. The UK-Canada bilateral aviation safety agreement (BASA) was expected to permit reciprocal acceptance of component maintenance – a dramatic leap forward in international aviation safety comity. Transport Canada has not issued any formal statement concerning the effect of the Withdrawal Agreement, but if they do treat the UK as part of the EU for bilateral aviation safety agreement purposes (during the transition period), it may delay to an important advance.

Resources: