EU–US agreement: how mutual recognition of maintenance organisations works

A bilateral safety agreement

The Agreement between the United States of America and the European Community on cooperation in the regulation of civil aviation safety was signed in Brussels on 30 June 2008. Following the exchange of diplomatic notes on 15 March 2011, it entered into force on 1 May 2011. It belongs to the family of bilateral aviation safety agreements the FAA concludes with its main partners, and rests on a simple principle: within a defined scope, each party accepts the findings of compliance and approvals issued by the other.

The agreement contains two major technical annexes:

• Annex 1, covering airworthiness and environmental certification of civil aeronautical products;
• Annex 2, covering maintenance, that is, the approval and oversight of repair stations and maintenance organisations.

In June 2018, EASA published a consolidated version reflecting an amendment to Annex 2 and an extension of the agreement's scope to other areas, including personnel licensing and training, air operations and air traffic management.

How Annex 2 works

Annex 2 covers the reciprocal acceptance of findings of compliance, approvals, documentation and technical assistance for the oversight of maintenance organisations. It relies on a recommendation from the home oversight authority:

• a European maintenance organisation approved by an EU authority can be issued an FAA certificate and operations specifications, provided that authority has sent a recommendation to the FAA and the conditions of the annex are met;
• a US repair station certificated by the FAA under 14 CFR Part 145 can obtain an EASA approval, on the FAA's recommendation and endorsement.

In both cases, the shop is not audited end to end by the foreign authority: it remains overseen by its national authority, which also checks compliance with the other party's specific requirements.

Special conditions

Since the two systems are not identical, the annex identifies special conditions, meaning differences significant enough to be addressed explicitly. They are set out in an appendix and cover, in particular:

• quality monitoring procedures;
• return-to-service procedures;
• use of FAA Form 8130-3;
• English language proficiency for personnel authorised to return products to service.

For a European shop, these conditions translate into an FAA supplement to the organisation's manual, describing how these requirements are applied day to day.

Governance and implementing texts

Annex 2 is steered by a Joint Maintenance Coordination Board (JMCB), responsible for developing and revising detailed guidance. This guidance is gathered in the Maintenance Annex Guidance (MAG), a document separate from the agreement and organised in sections: interaction between authorities, US repair stations seeking EASA approval, and EU organisations seeking FAA certification. On the US side, Advisory Circular AC 145-11, dated 9 March 2012, sets out an acceptable method for obtaining, renewing or amending these approvals.

On entry into force, the national authorities of seventeen Member States were designated to act on behalf of the FAA in issuing, renewing and amending FAA certificates for shops on their territory, with a two-year transfer period.

A commercial lever for repair shops

For a component or engine shop, dual recognition determines access to fleets registered on both sides of the Atlantic. It avoids multiplying audits and eases the circulation of parts released to service. In return, it demands rigorous documentation discipline: any deviation from the special conditions is a potential finding during audits by the national authority, which also acts on behalf of the partner authority.

The mechanism illustrates an underlying trend: mutual trust between authorities is becoming an industrial asset, on a par with technical capability.