(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 lays down technical requirements and administrative procedures related to air operations of aircraft as set out in Regulation (EU) 2018/1139. Such technical requirements and administrative procedures should be regularly updated to ensure that they reflect the state of the art in developments and best practices in the air operations domain. 

(2) Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 sets out requirements for ramp inspections of aircraft operated within the Union. Due to the latest developments in ramp inspections, the related provisions in Article 4 and Subpart RAMP of Annex II to that Regulation should be updated to align the annual oversight programme with the prioritisation criteria for alcohol testing and clarify the criteria for identifying operators subject to prioritised ramp inspections, including EU operators and those holding certain thirdcountry operator authorisations. Moreover, the qualification and recency requirements for ramp inspectors should be updated to ensure that alcohol testing is conducted by suitably trained personnel. 

(3) Advances in aviation technology such as the introduction by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) of the ‘Extended Diversion Time Operations (EDTO)’ concept, which replaces the previous ‘Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS)’ concept, enable more efficient and environmentally sustainable operations. References to ‘ETOPS’ in Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should therefore be replaced by references to ‘EDTO’. 

(4) The authority requirements in Part-ARO of Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should be updated to ensure coherence with the legal framework established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 by improving clarity and consistency across various areas, including the management system, allocation of tasks to qualified entities, oversight planning, record-keeping, and the handling of findings and enforcement measures. 

(5) To ensure legal certainty following the adoption of specific regulatory framework for balloon and sailplane operations, point ARO.OPS.300 of Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 on introductory flights should reflect that the competent authority may establish additional conditions for such operations in accordance with Part-BOP of Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2018/395 and Part-SAO of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1976. 

(6) The templates for the air operator certificate and the associated operations specifications in Appendices I and II to Annex II (Part-ARO) to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should be updated to clarify the meaning of the ‘date of issue’, align terminology and data fields, including the replacement of references to ‘ETOPS’ by ‘EDTO’, and also to refine certain notions and definitions to improve consistency, accuracy and usability for competent authorities and operators. 

(7) The organisational requirements for operators should be updated to clarify the designation of the competent authority and ensure consistency with the corresponding authority requirements on the management and closure of findings. Furthermore, the requirements on the operator's responsibilities should include the identification of standards in the execution of operational control and the description of the functions with associated tasks, responsibilities and decision-making authority of the personnel involved in the exercise of operational control. 

(8) The occurrence reporting provisions applicable to operators should be updated to reflect the evolution of the EU safety reporting framework, to strengthen the systematic reporting and follow-up of safety events, and to enable more effective sharing of safety information both within operators and with other relevant organisations, while ensuring consistency with the applicable Union legislation on mandatory and voluntary occurrence reporting. 

(9) The requirements for cabin crew training and checking should be amended to clarify when differences training is required and to harmonise the validity requirements for annual and triennial recurrent training and checking, thereby improving consistency and reflecting a more suitable operational practice. 

(10) The requirements regarding operator's responsibility to define the functions of operations control personnel and the tasks and responsibilities associated therewith, as well as the requirements regarding the training and the qualification of operations control personnel should be aligned with the relevant standards of Annex 6 to the Chicago Convention and should also consider the industry best practices. To that end, a new Subpart (ORO.OCP) dedicated to operations control personnel is introduced in Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, with detailed and proportional requirements that cover the tasks and responsibilities of operations control personnel, their training and qualification as well as the minimum requirements covering the training and qualification of instructors and assessors of operations control personnel. The new Subpart ORO.OCP is applicable to commercial air transport (CAT) and noncommercial air transport with complex aircraft (NCC) aeroplane operators that use operations control personnel for the execution of operational control. 

(11) The new Subpart ORO.OCP introduced in Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should consider the use of modern training techniques such as competency-based training and assessment (CBTA), while preserving proportionality and flexibility for operators of different sizes and types of operation, including the possibility to adapt training content and methods, such as familiarisation flights or equivalent alternatives, to achieve the required level of competence. 

(12) The provisions on the prevention and detection of misuse of psychoactive substances should be updated to clarify that the related procedures apply only to flight crew, cabin crew and other safety-sensitive personnel under the operator's direct control, ensuring consistency with the revised definition of safety-sensitive personnel. 

(13) The provisions on dangerous goods in Annexes I, III, IV, V, VI and VIII to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 make reference to and generally incorporate the provisions of Annex 18 to the Chicago Convention and related documents, in particular ICAO Doc 9284 ‘ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air’, which are amended regularly. The recent amendments to Annex 18 to the Chicago Convention and related documents contain updated reporting requirements, modifications of the approval process, changes to the information-handling obligations, including clearer provisions for personnel training and for ensuring that information provided to the pilot-in-command is also made available to operations control personnel responsible for monitoring dangerous goods. The corresponding provisions in Annexes I, III, IV, V, VI and VIII to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should be amended accordingly. 

(14) Following the introduction of the fuel/energy scheme under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1296, further updates to Regulation (EU) 965/2012 should be made to accommodate emerging propulsion technologies, clarify the application of destination-alternate and reserve-energy concepts, and harmonise related planning and en-route performance requirements.

(15) Given the necessity of rapid protective measures during public health emergencies of international concern, requirements under Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should mandate the carriage of a universal precaution kit in relevant aeroplane operations and ensure its consistent use with other equipment not subject to airworthiness approval. 

(16) Experience has shown the need for greater clarity and legal certainty regarding the content and accessibility of first-aid kits, which should lead to the introduction of qualitative requirements across the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 965/2012. 

(17) To guarantee coherent and predictable recurrent training for specialised helicopter operations, the crew training and checking requirements for helicopter night vision imaging system (NVIS) operations and helicopter hoist operations (HHO) should be clarified by specifying the need for suitably qualified instructors, embedding NVIS and HHO elements within the training programmes of Subparts ORO.FC and ORO.TC of Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, and defining explicit validity periods for the associated checking requirements. 

(18) The provisions on helicopter terrain awareness and warning systems (HTAWS), passenger and crew survival suits, and emergency breathing systems (EBSs) should be updated to improve survivability in the event of accidents in hostile environments, while allowing sufficient transition periods for operators and manufacturers to adapt. 

(19) To strengthen safety oversight, ensure proportionality of requirements and improve harmonisation across Member States, the rules related to the mixed use of aircraft and compliance monitoring should be adapted. 

(20) As regards flight data recorders, cockpit voice recorders and data link recorders, the references to past dates of application of Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 pertaining to such equipment should be deleted across the Annexes ensuring consistency, legal clarity and coherence within the Union’s aviation safety rules. 

(21) To ensure consistency and provide legal certainty, references in Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and its implementing acts should be replaced by references to Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 and its delegated and implementing acts. 

(22) In order to ensure proper implementation of this Regulation, operators and Member States’ competent authorities should be given sufficient time to adapt their procedures to the new requirements established by this Regulation. Therefore, its application should be deferred. The transitional periods should reflect the complexity of the amendments, in particular those related to the introduction of competency-based training for certain categories of operations control personnel and the modifications to helicopter safety equipment. 

(23) Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(24) The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has prepared a draft implementing rule and submitted them to the Commission with Opinion No 01/2026 in accordance with Article 75(2), points (b) and (c), and Article 76(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139. 

(25) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established in accordance with Article 127 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139,