COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2020/587
of 29 April 2020
amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1206/2011 laying down requirements on aircraft identification for surveillance for the single European sky and Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 laying down requirements for the performance and the interoperability of surveillance for the single European sky
(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and amending Regulations (EC) No 2111/2005, (EC) No 1008/2008, (EU) No 996/2010, (EU) No 376/2014 and Directives 2014/30/EU and 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 552/2004 and (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91(1), and in particular point (a) of Article 44(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) In order to ensure safe and efficient operations of aircraft, aerodromes, air traffic management, air navigation and of the European air traffic management network, it is necessary to provide for certain improvements to the operating rules related to the use of airspace, aircraft equipment and air traffic management and air navigation services systems and their constituents required for the use of airspace. New and updated safety-related interoperability requirements should therefore be set out in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1206/2011

(2) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011(3). (2) Taking into account the experiences from the ongoing implementation of airborne surveillance capability and the capability of the ground systems to process data, effective and timely installation of aircraft equipment is necessary to enable the full surveillance chain to achieve the expected benefits within the established deadlines. The criteria for exemptions from the requirements to equip aircraft should be amended to provide clarity as to which aircraft are to be equipped and which ones are to benefit of an exemption from those requirements. At the same time, the overall number of aircraft equipped should remain effective and should not impose an undue economic burden.

(3) A significant number of equipped aircraft is already certified in line with the international standard for airborne parts and appliances for the surveillance systems, corresponding to Annex 10 to the Chicago Convention, Volume IV, Third Edition, including all amendments up to No 77. That standard is fully compatible with the anticipated surveillance systems. Mandating the use of the standard corresponding to Annex 10 to the Chicago Convention, Volume IV, Fourth Edition including all amendments up to No 85 as currently provided in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 would impose an undue economic burden. Therefore, the standard corresponding to Annex 10 to the Chicago Convention, Volume IV, Third Edition including all amendments up to No 77 should be considered as the minimum requirement. Therefore, the minimum technical standards to which aircraft operators are to comply laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 should be amended.

(4) State aircraft operating as general air traffic should be equipped with serviceable secondary surveillance radar transponders in line with the requirements applicable to civil aircraft laid out in points (a) and (c) of Article 5(5) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011. The procedures and conditions related to state aircraft that cannot be equipped with serviceable secondary surveillance radar transponders should remain those laid out in Article 8 of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011.

(5) The requirements for the formal arrangements on transferring surveillance data between air navigation service providers should be amended to reflect existing data distribution scenarios to facilitate exchange of surveillance data and to avoid excessive onerous constraints on the delivering provider.

(6) In order to ensure the effectiveness of State aircraft operations, the ability of the European ATM system to ensure that those State aircraft engaged in sensitive operations and training are able to operate with the assignment of discrete SSR codes should be established and therefore Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1206/2011 should be amended accordingly.

(7) The outbreak of the pandemic of Covid-19 virus and the resulting impact on the aviation sector has led to unforeseeable obstacles for aircraft operators to pursue their activities to bring the aircraft in compliance with certain requirements of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011. As a result, the deadline for aircraft operators laid out in Article 5(5), Article 8(1) and Article 8(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 should be postponed to 7 December 2020, and Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 should be amended accordingly.

(8) Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1206/2011 and Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2011 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 127(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139.

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29/04/2020
The coronavirus crisis has made it necessary to reconsider the upcoming 7 June 2020 deadline to equip aircraft with Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B). This surveillance technology makes it possible to periodically broadcast aircraft information, such as identity, speed or position, derived from on-board systems (e.g. determined via satellite), thus enabling the aircraft to be tracked from the ground for surveillance purposes. This technology modernises ground surveillance systems, with the potential to rationalise the European radars network.

As a relief measure to airlines, the Commission amended Regulation 1207/2011 on 29 April 2020 in order to postpone this deadline by 6 months, to 7 December 2020. In addition to the transition period introduced in the amended Regulation, this change will provide aircraft operators that had planned to retrofit their aircraft between now and June, more time to do so, or to put in place an appropriate retrofit programme.

Details on the revised mandate for the ADS-B technology can be found at: https://ads-b-europe.eu/

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/AUTO/?uri=CELEX:32020R0587

Draft

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2019-7642615_en

The objective of this Opinion is to provide regulatory clarity and alignment with the latest ICAO documents and industry standards on the operational usage of Downlink Message (DM) 89 ‘MONITORING’, while ensuring a negligible impact on data link installations that already comply with Commission Regulation (EC) No 29/2009.

This Opinion updates the reference to EUROCAE ED-120 ‘Safety and Performance Requirements Standard For Initial Air Traffic Data Link Services In Continental Airspace’ within Annex III to Commission Regulation (EC) No 29/2009 on data link services (DLS) to take into account the recent ED-120 Change 3. Change 3 removed the use of DM 89 ‘MONITORING’, thus aligning the operational approaches for ‘Air Traffic Data Link Services in Continental Airspace’ as specified in ED-120 with those published within the latest EUROCAE B2 data link standards and the ICAO Global Operational Data Link (GOLD) Manual.

In addition to reflecting in Commission Regulation (EC) No 29/2009 the updated ED-120, including Change 1, Change 2 and Change 3, this Opinion also permits the option for the use of ED-120, including Change 1 and Change 2. However, the option is only proposed to be applicable for aircraft operators to provide flexibility, while for ATS providers this proposal ensures alignment with the recommendations stemming from various documents to remove the use of DM 89 ‘MONITORING’. Therefore, for ATS providers the proposal is to refer to the latest ED-120 standard, including Change 1, Change 2 and Change 3.

This Opinion has no negative impact on the existing ground and airborne data link installations that currently comply with Commission Regulation (EC) No 29/2009.