Aeronautical authorities of mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR signed “Cooperation Arrangement on Mutual Acceptance of Approval of Aircraft Maintenance Organizations” in Beijing

To promote aviation safety and increase operational efficiency between the three places, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong SAR (HKCAD) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) have agreed on the cooperation of the mutual acceptance of approval of aircraft maintenance organizations. The respective Cooperation Arrangement was signed on 02 June 2006 in Beijing. From now on, the approval of maintenance organizations by one Authority will simultaneously be accepted by the other two Authorities. The signing ceremony for the “Cooperation Arrangement for the Mutual Acceptance of Approval of Aircraft Maintenance Organizations”, officiated by the Vice Minister of CAAC, Mr. Gao HongFeng and the Deputy Director-General of the CAAC Office of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, Mr. Pu ZhaoZhou, was held on 02 June 2006 at 11:00am in Beijing. The signatories were the Director-General of Flight Standards of CAAC, Mr. Jiang HuaiYu, the Director-General of HKCAD, Mr. Norman Lo and the President of AACM, Mr. Chan Weng Hong. To avoid the duplication of inspections and evaluations, the three Authorities permit the acceptance of each other’s maintenance certification system. The Arrangement applies to: 1. the acceptance by one Authority of the maintenance performed under the maintenance system of the other Authorities on civil aircraft and aircraft components; 2. the acceptance by one Authority of the approval of maintenance organizations by the other Authorities and the certification of civil aircraft and aircraft components by approved maintenance organizations in the other territories; 3. the cooperation and assistance with respect to maintaining the continuing airworthiness of civil aviation and aircraft components; 4. the exchange of information regarding maintenance standards and maintenance certification systems; and 5. the cooperation in providing technical evaluation and assistance. After the signing, the Arrangement will be effective when the three parties have accomplished their respective internal procedures for bringing it into effect. By that time, it will greatly reduce the work load and the economic burden on the maintenance organizations due to redundant inspections and testing and will also give the airlines a greater flexibility in selecting their maintenance organizations. In addition, it will help the three Authorities to achieve resources sharing and impose a better monitoring on the airlines and the maintenance organizations. The three parties have held discussions in evaluating the rules, standards, practices, procedures and systems for the approval and monitoring of maintenance organizations since 1999. They agreed on the cooperation of the mutual acceptance of approval of maintenance organizations in the aspects of aircraft components and aircraft engines respectively in May 2002 and February 2004. After that, they held 7 meetings before they finally agreed to extend the cooperation scope to the present stage of all maintenance items. Until now, there are a total of 36 maintenance organizations in the three areas: 29 in mainland China, 6 in Hong Kong SAR and 1 in Macao SAR. In addition to maintenance certification system, the three Authorities set up a working group for the licensing of aircraft maintenance engineers with the aim of standardization and mutual acceptance. Several meetings have been held by the group to compare and coordinate the regulations and requirements of the licensing systems as well as their examinations. Such cooperation is expected to be concluded within this year. The rapid growth of the civil aviation industry has led to the urge for stricter technical requirements. Since the handover, CAAC, HKCAD and AACM have enhanced their cooperation in order to better exploit the resources and improve the technical level. The three Authorities hope that their cooperation can be extended to other areas.