Washington, DC—The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) today welcomed the publication of a collaboration strategy by authorities in the world’s four leading states of design to streamline the certification process among their regulatory agencies. By adopting this strategy, the Certification Management Team—which includes the Agencia Nacional de Aviacao Civil of Brazil (ANAC), European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—is establishing a framework for risk-based validation principles that encourages one another to accept the original authority’s certifications of new products and technologies without requiring redundant technical evaluation.

In addition, the FAA and EASA published a joint Validation Improvement Roadmap to recognize each other’s certificates and approvals, and ensure a risk-based level of involvement rather than comprehensive, redundant review. This detailed plan with specific deliverables and milestones ensures that the efficiencies and benefits negotiated through the European Union/United States Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement are implemented and realized by manufacturers exporting aviation products and technologies between Europe and the U.S. This enhanced relationship also enables authorities in the U.S. and Europe to adopt a risk-based approach for the acceptance of FAA and EASA approvals and findings of compliance without any further technical review by the validating authority.

“GAMA applauds the Certification Management Team for taking this extremely important step forward to strengthen global leadership and streamline certification processes among authorities,” GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce said. “We particularly appreciate the work of the FAA and EASA in outlining a Validation Improvement Roadmap, for which GAMA has long advocated, to facilitate effective implementation of the EU/U.S. safety agreement and reduce redundant certification inspections, which will better facilitate more safety-enhancing products and technologies reaching our global customer base. In the coming months, GAMA and our member companies look forward to analyzing the plans in more detail, providing input on any future revisions, and tracking the implementation of these improvement initiatives.”