Regulation (EC) No 300/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 on common rules in the field of civil aviation security and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 (Text with EEA relevance)

9.4.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 97/72

(1)

In order to protect persons and goods within the European Union, acts of unlawful interference with civil aircraft that jeopardise the security of civil aviation should be prevented by establishing common rules for safeguarding civil aviation. This objective should be achieved by setting common rules and common basic standards on aviation security as well as mechanisms for monitoring compliance.

(2)

It is desirable, in the interests of civil aviation security generally, to provide the basis for a common interpretation of Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 7 December 1944.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 establishing common rules in the field of civil aviation security (3) was adopted as a result of the events of 11 September 2001 in the United States. A common approach is needed in the field of civil aviation security and consideration should be given to the most effective means of offering assistance following terrorist acts that have a major impact in the transport field.

(4)

The content of Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 should be revised in the light of the experience gained, and the Regulation itself should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation seeking the simplification, harmonisation and clarification of the existing rules and the improvement of the levels of security.

(5)

Given the need for more flexibility in adopting security measures and procedures in order to meet evolving risk assessments and to allow new technologies to be introduced, this Regulation should lay down the basic principles of what has to be done in order to safeguard civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference without going into the technical and procedural details of how they are to be implemented.

(6)

This Regulation should apply to airports serving civil aviation located in the territory of a Member State, to operators providing services at such airports and to entities providing goods and/or services to or through such airports.

(7)

Without prejudice to the Convention on offences and certain other acts committed on board aircraft, Tokyo, 1963, the Convention for the suppression of unlawful seizure of aircraft, The Hague, 1970, and the Convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviation, Montreal, 1971, this Regulation should also cover security measures that apply on board an aircraft, or during a flight, of Community air carriers.

(8)

Each Member State retains the competence to decide whether to deploy in-flight security officers on aircraft registered in that Member State and on flights of air carriers licensed by it as well as to ensure, in accordance with paragraph 4.7.7 of Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and under the terms of that Convention, that such officers are government personnel who are specially selected and trained, taking into account the required security and safety aspects on board an aircraft.

(9)

The various types of civil aviation do not necessarily present the same level of threat. In setting common basic standards on aviation security, the size of the aircraft, the nature of the operation and/or the frequency of operations at airports should be taken into account with a view to permitting the grant of derogations.

(10)

Member States should also be allowed, on the basis of a risk assessment, to apply more stringent measures than those laid down in this Regulation.

(11)

Third countries may require the application of measures that differ from those laid down in this Regulation in respect of flights from an airport in a Member State to, or over, that third country. However, without prejudice to any bilateral agreements to which the Community is a party, it should be possible for the Commission to examine the measures required by the third country.

(12)

Even though, within a single Member State, there may be two or more bodies involved in aviation security, each Member State should designate a single authority responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of security standards.

(13)

In order to define responsibilities for the implementation of the common basic standards on aviation security and to describe what measures are required by operators and other entities for this purpose, each Member State should draw up a national civil aviation security programme. Furthermore, each airport operator, air carrier and entity implementing aviation security standards should draw up, apply and maintain a security programme in order to comply both with this Regulation and with whichever national civil aviation security programme is applicable.

(14)

In order to monitor compliance with this Regulation and with the national civil aviation security programme, each Member State should draw up and ensure the implementation of a national programme to check the level and quality of civil aviation security.

(15)

In order to monitor the application by Member States of this Regulation, and also to make recommendations to improve aviation security, the Commission should conduct inspections, including unannounced inspections.

(16)

As a general rule, the Commission should publish measures that have a direct impact on passengers. Implementing acts setting out common measures and procedures for the implementation of the common basic standards on aviation security which contain sensitive security information, together with Commission inspection reports and the answers of the appropriate authorities should be regarded as EU classified information within the meaning of Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 29 November 2001 amending its internal rules of procedure (4). Those items should not be published and should be made available only to those operators and entities with a legitimate interest.

(17)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (5).

(18)

In particular, the Commission should be empowered to adopt general measures amending non-essential elements of the common basic standards by supplementing them, set criteria allowing Member States both to derogate from the common basic standards and to adopt alternative security measures, and adopt specifications for national quality control programmes. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it with new non-essential elements, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(19)

When, on imperative grounds of urgency, the normal time-limits for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny cannot be complied with, the Commission should be able to apply the urgency procedure provided for in Article 5a(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC for the adoption of common rules for safeguarding civil aviation.

(20)

The goal of ‘one-stop security’ for all flights within the European Union should be advanced.

(21)

Furthermore, it should not be necessary to rescreen passengers or their baggage arriving on flights from third countries that have aviation security standards equivalent to those laid down by this Regulation. Therefore, without prejudice to the right of each Member State to apply more stringent measures, or to the respective competences of the Community and Member States, decisions of the Commission, and, where necessary, agreements between the Community and third countries, which recognise that the security standards applied in the third country are equivalent to the common standards, should be encouraged since these further one-stop security.

(22)

This Regulation is without prejudice to the application of rules on aviation safety, including those relating to the transport of dangerous goods.

(23)

Penalties should be provided for infringements of the provisions of this Regulation. Those penalties, which may be of a civil or administrative nature, should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

(24)

The Ministerial Statement on Gibraltar Airport, agreed in Cordoba on 18 September 2006 during the first Ministerial meeting of the Forum of Dialogue on Gibraltar, will replace the Joint Declaration on Gibraltar Airport made in London on 2 December 1987, and full compliance with it will be deemed to constitute compliance with the 1987 Declaration.

(25)

Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to safeguard civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference and to provide a basis for a common interpretation of Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of this Regulation, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,

(a)

the setting of common rules and common basic standards on aviation security;

(b)

mechanisms for monitoring compliance.

(a)

all airports or parts of airports located in the territory of a Member State that are not exclusively used for military purposes;

(b)

all operators, including air carriers, providing services at airports referred to in point (a);

(c)

all entities applying aviation security standards that operate from premises located inside or outside airport premises and provide goods and/or services to or through airports referred to in point (a).

1.

‘civil aviation’ means any air operation carried out by civil aircraft, excluding operations carried out by State aircraft referred to in Article 3 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation;

2.

‘aviation security’ means the combination of measures and human and material resources intended to safeguard civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference that jeopardise the security of civil aviation;

3.

‘operator’ means a person, organisation or enterprise engaged, or offering to engage, in an air transport operation;

4.

‘air carrier’ means an air transport undertaking holding a valid operating licence or equivalent;

5.

‘Community air carrier’ means an air carrier holding a valid operating licence granted by a Member State in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers (6);

6.

‘entity’ means a person, organisation or enterprise, other than an operator;

7.

‘prohibited articles’ means weapons, explosives or other dangerous devices, articles or substances that may be used to commit an act of unlawful interference that jeopardises the security of civil aviation;

8.

‘screening’ means the application of technical or other means which are intended to identify and/or detect prohibited articles;

9.

‘security control’ means the application of means by which the introduction of prohibited articles may be prevented;

10.

‘access control’ means the application of means by which the entry of unauthorised persons or unauthorised vehicles, or both, may be prevented;

11.

‘airside’ means the movement area of an airport, adjacent terrain and buildings or portions thereof, access to which is restricted;

12.

‘landside’ means those parts of an airport, adjacent terrain and buildings or portions thereof that are not airside;

13.

‘security restricted area’ means that area of airside where, in addition to access being restricted, other aviation security standards are applied;

14.

‘demarcated area’ means an area that is separated by means of access control either from security restricted areas, or, if the demarcated area itself is a security restricted area, from other security restricted areas of an airport;

15.

‘background check’ means a recorded check of a person’s identity, including any criminal history, as part of the assessment of an individual’s suitability for unescorted access to security restricted areas;

16.

‘transfer passengers, baggage, cargo or mail’ means passengers, baggage, cargo or mail departing on an aircraft other than that on which they arrived;

17.

‘transit passengers, baggage, cargo or mail’ means passengers, baggage, cargo or mail departing on the same aircraft as that on which they arrived;

18.

‘potentially disruptive passenger’ means a passenger who is either a deportee, a person deemed to be inadmissible for immigration reasons or a person in lawful custody;

19.

‘cabin baggage’ means baggage intended for carriage in the cabin of an aircraft;

20.

‘hold baggage’ means baggage intended for carriage in the hold of an aircraft;

21.

‘accompanied hold baggage’ means baggage, carried in the hold of an aircraft, which has been checked in for a flight by a passenger travelling on that same flight;

22.

‘air carrier mail’ means mail whose origin and destination are both an air carrier;

23.

‘air carrier materials’ means materials either whose origin and destination are both an air carrier or that are used by an air carrier;

24.

‘mail’ means dispatches of correspondence and other items, other than air carrier mail, tendered by and intended for delivery to postal services in accordance with the rules of the Universal Postal Union;

25.

‘cargo’ means any property intended for carriage on an aircraft, other than baggage, mail, air carrier mail, air carrier materials and in-flight supplies;

26.

‘regulated agent’ means an air carrier, agent, freight forwarder or any other entity who ensures security controls in respect of cargo or mail;

27.

‘known consignor’ means a consignor who originates cargo or mail for its own account and whose procedures meet common security rules and standards sufficient to allow carriage of cargo or mail on any aircraft;

28.

‘account consignor’ means a consignor who originates cargo or mail for its own account and whose procedures meet common security rules and standards sufficient to allow carriage of that cargo on all-cargo aircraft or mail on all-mail aircraft;

29.

‘aircraft security check’ means an inspection of those parts of the interior of the aircraft to which passengers may have had access, together with an inspection of the hold of the aircraft in order to detect prohibited articles and unlawful interferences with the aircraft;

30.

‘aircraft security search’ means an inspection of the interior and accessible exterior of the aircraft in order to detect prohibited articles and unlawful interferences that jeopardise the security of the aircraft;

31.

‘in-flight security officer’ means a person who is employed by a state to travel on an aircraft of an air carrier licensed by it with the purpose of protecting that aircraft and its occupants against acts of unlawful interference that jeopardise the security of the flight.

(a)

methods of screening allowed;

(b)

categories of articles that may be prohibited;

(c)

as regards access control, grounds for granting access to airside and security restricted areas;

(d)

methods allowed for the examination of vehicles, aircraft security checks and aircraft security searches;

(e)

criteria for recognising the equivalence of security standards of third countries;

(f)

conditions under which cargo and mail shall be screened or subjected to other security controls, as well as the process for the approval or designation of regulated agents, known consignors and account consignors;

(g)

conditions under which air carrier mail and air carrier materials shall be screened or subjected to other security controls;

(h)

conditions under which in-flight supplies and airport supplies shall be screened or subjected to other security controls, as well as the process for the approval or designation of regulated suppliers and known suppliers;

(i)

criteria for defining critical parts of security restricted areas;

(j)

criteria for staff recruitment and methods of training;

(k)

conditions under which special security procedures or exemptions from security controls may be applied; and

(l)

any general measures designed to amend non-essential elements of the common basic standards referred to in paragraph 1 by supplementing them not foreseen at the date of entry into force of this Regulation.

(a)

requirements and procedures for screening;

(b)

a list of prohibited articles;

(c)

requirements and procedures for access control;

(d)

requirements and procedures for the examination of vehicles, aircraft security checks and aircraft security searches;

(e)

decisions to recognise the equivalence of security standards applied in a third country;

(f)

as regards cargo and mail, procedures for the approval or designation of, and the obligations to be fulfilled by, regulated agents, known consignors and account consignors;

(g)

requirements and procedures for security controls of air carrier mail and air carrier materials;

(h)

as regards in-flight supplies and airport supplies, procedures for the approval or designation of, and the obligations to be fulfilled by, regulated suppliers and known suppliers;

(i)

definition of critical parts of security restricted areas;

(j)

staff recruitment and training requirements;

(k)

special security procedures or exemptions from security controls;

(l)

technical specifications and procedures for approval and use of security equipment; and

(m)

requirements and procedures concerning potentially disruptive passengers.

(a)

the Member State concerned applies the measures concerned in accordance with Article 6; or

(b)

the requirement of the third country is limited to a given flight on a specific date.

(a)

the security measures applied by that Member State under Article 6; and/or

(b)

local procedures that are applicable at the airports served.

(a)

measures and procedures as referred to in Articles 4(3), 4(4), 6(1) and 7(1), if containing sensitive security information;

(b)

the Commission inspection reports and the answers of the appropriate authorities referred to in Article 15(3).