Bilateral Agreements
Aviation is a global industry! Even if your operation is a domestic maintenance operation and all you work on are United States (“N”) registered aircraft, it still is a global industry. This was highlighted recently when a dispute arose between two maintenance shops regarding replacement engine mounts.
During an annual inspection, the second maintenance shop challenged the engine mount replacement performed by the first maintenance shop. It seems as though the engine mounts did not have PMA or TSO, so the second maintenance shop jumped to the conclusion that without FAA “pedigree,” the parts, and therefore the maintenance, was done improperly. Unfortunately for the customer who footed the bill, the second maintenance shop didn’t understand the global nature of maintenance.
Those of us who live in Part 43 might recognize the last section of part 43: § 43.17 Maintenance, preventive maintenance, and alterations performed on U.S. aeronautical products by certain Canadian persons, which addresses maintenance performed by a Canadian maintenance organization on a U.S.-registered aircraft or component. This is only the tip of the iceberg; while the Canadian agreement is the only agreement referenced in the maintenance regulations, and Part 21, Subpart N, addresses the acceptance of aircraft engines, propellers and articles for import, in fact there are around 20 separate agreements from around the world. Each agreement is slightly different and contains slightly different limitations.
Before we dig too deep, let’s get back to the basics. What are these agreements?
According to the FAA, bilateral agreements facilitate the reciprocal airworthiness certification of civil aeronautical products imported/exported between two signatory countries. The first generation of these agreements were called bilateral airworthiness agreements. Bilateral airworthiness agreements are executive agreements concluded prior to 1996 through an exchange of diplomatic notes between the U.S. Department of State and its foreign counterpart, based on FAA technical recommendations. A significant number of the early agreements are still valid today. The new generation of agreements are called bilateral aviation safety agreements (BASA). These agreements provide for bilateral cooperation in a variety of aviation areas including maintenance, flight operations and environmental certification. The most recent agreement is the BASA between the U.S. and the European Union.
From a maintenance perspective, it is important to understand that of the 20 or so agreements, only two have a maintenance provision. That doesn’t mean the others are unimportant. For example, the bilateral agreement may allow for the importation and exportation of new replacement parts. There is an important point to make here: when working on an aircraft (any aircraft), the maintenance provider must have return-to-service authority for that state of registry. With one exception, Canada, an FAA authority does not extend to international authority for maintenance. Even the bilateral agreement with the European Union does not allow for U.S. return to service on European registered aircraft; it does generally allow for the mutual recognition of the National Aviation Authorities’ oversight of maintenance providers, but it does not relieve the maintenance organization from obtaining return-to-service authority from the state of registry of the aircraft. A repair station located within the U.S. still must obtain an EASA Part 145 certificate. The BASA allows the FAA to process the local application, acceptance and oversight, but the EASA still issues the EASA certificate.
To compound the US-EU agreement further, there are a significant number of limitations within the overall agreement which provide both generic overall authority to all EASA member states (countries) but also provides expanded authorities to specific countries. Reading the provisions of the EASA agreement carefully is essential.
Getting back to the maintenance error ... the second maintenance shop failed to refer to FAA advisory circular (AC) 20-62E on eligibility, quality and identification of aeronautical replacement parts. The AC states that “New foreign manufactured parts for use on U.S. TCd products may be imported when there is a Bilateral Airworthiness Agreement (BAA) between the country of manufacture and the United States, and the part meets the requirements under § 21.502.”
For the aircraft of concern, a Tobago manufactured by the French company Socata, the second maintenance shop would have referred to the U.S.-French bilateral agreement to find that indeed the agreement did include aeronautical replacement parts. The maintenance shop that performed the maintenance did record the traceability back to the manufacturer; the part was, in fact, “acceptable” for installation and compliant with the bilateral agreement. Because the second domestic maintenance shop failed to understand the global nature of the aviation marketplace, the owner was displaced from their aircraft, the customer was overcharged for work that shouldn’t have been performed, and both the first maintenance shop and the FAA were burdened with unnecessary paperwork.
Where can you get more information on bilateral aviation agreements? A full listing of bilateral agreements can be found at http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/international/bilateral_agreements/baa_basa_listing/.
For guidance on maintenance performed under the U.S.-Canadian bilateral agreement, refer to FAA advisory circular 43-10C for U.S.-Canadian BASA maintenance implementation procedures.
Richard “Ric” Peri is the vice president of government and industry affairs for the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA). AEA supports 1,300 aviation companies in 42 countries. Peri is responsible for aviation regulations in each of these demographics. He participates actively in rulemaking in Europe, Canada, Australia and the U.S.
Peri has more than 40 years of experience in aircraft maintenance. He is a technical expert on aviation maintenance regulations and repair station operations. He is a U. S. Coast Guard veteran, a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a former faculty member at the University of Southern California and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.