Regulation (EU) No 996/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents in civil aviation and repealing Directive 94/56/EC (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance

• Published date: 12 November 2010
• Official Gazette Publication: Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 295, 12 de noviembre de 2010

02010R0996 — EN — 11.09.2018 — 002.001

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►B REGULATION (EU) No 996/2010 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 October 2010 on the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents in civil aviation and repealing Directive 94/56/EC(Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 295 12.11.2010, p. 35)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EU) No 376/2014 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 3 April 2014	L 122	18	24.4.2014
►M2	REGULATION (EU) 2018/1139 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 4 July 2018	L 212	1	22.8.2018

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▼B

REGULATION (EU) No 996/2010 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 20 October 2010

on the investigation and prevention of accidents and incidents in civil aviation and repealing Directive 94/56/EC

(Text with EEA relevance)

Article 1

Subject matter

1. This Regulation aims to improve aviation safety by ensuring a high level of efficiency, expediency, and quality of European civil aviation safety investigations, the sole objective of which is the prevention of future accidents and incidents without apportioning blame or liability, including through the establishment of a European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities. It also provides for rules concerning the timely availability of information relating to all persons and dangerous goods on board an aircraft involved in an accident. It also aims to improve the assistance to the victims of air accidents and their relatives.

2. The application of this Regulation to the airport of Gibraltar is understood to be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with regard to the dispute over sovereignty over the territory in which the airport is situated.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(1)‘accident’ means an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which, in the case of a manned aircraft, takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, or in the case of an unmanned aircraft, takes place between the time the aircraft is ready to move with the purpose of flight until such time it comes to rest at the end of the flight and the primary propulsion system is shut down, in which:

(a)a person is fatally or seriously injured as a result of:

—being in the aircraft, or,

—direct contact with any part of the aircraft, including parts which have become detached from the aircraft, or,

—direct exposure to jet blast,

except when the injuries are from natural causes, self-inflicted or inflicted by other persons, or when the injuries are to stowaways hiding outside the areas normally available to the passengers and crew; or

(b)the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure which adversely affects the structural strength, performance or flight characteristics of the aircraft, and would normally require major repair or replacement of the affected component, except for engine failure or damage, when the damage is limited to a single engine, (including its cowlings or accessories), to propellers, wing tips, antennas, probes, vanes, tires, brakes, wheels, fairings, panels, landing gear doors, windscreens, the aircraft skin (such as small dents or puncture holes) or minor damages to main rotor blades, tail rotor blades, landing gear, and those resulting from hail or bird strike, (including holes in the radome); or

(c)the aircraft is missing or is completely inaccessible;

(2)‘accredited representative’ means a person designated by a State, on the basis of his or her qualifications, for the purpose of participating in a safety investigation conducted by another State. An accredited representative designated by a Member State shall be from a safety investigation authority;

(3)‘adviser’ means a person appointed by a State, on the basis of his or her qualifications, for the purpose of assisting its accredited representative in a safety investigation;

(4)‘causes’ means actions, omissions, events, conditions, or a combination thereof, which led to the accident or incident; the identification of causes does not imply the assignment of fault or the determination of administrative, civil or criminal liability;

(5)‘fatal injury’ means an injury which is sustained by a person in an accident and which results in his or her death within 30 days of the date of the accident;

(6)‘flight recorder’ means any type of recorder installed in the aircraft for the purpose of facilitating accident/incident safety investigations;

(7)‘incident’ means an occurrence, other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft which affects or could affect the safety of operation;

(8)‘international standards and recommended practices’ means international standards and recommended practices for aircraft accident and incident investigation adopted in accordance with Article 37 of the Chicago Convention;

(9)‘investigator-in-charge’ means a person charged, on the basis of his or her qualifications, with responsibility for the organisation, conduct and control of a safety investigation;

(10)‘operator’ means any natural or legal person, operating or proposing to operate one or more aircraft;

(11)‘person involved’ means the owner, a member of the crew, the operator of the aircraft involved in an accident or serious incident; any person involved in the maintenance, design, manufacture of that aircraft or in the training of its crew; any person involved in the provision of air traffic control, flight information or aerodrome services, who have provided services for the aircraft; staff of the national civil aviation authority; or staff of EASA;

(12)‘preliminary report’ means the communication used for the prompt dissemination of data obtained during the early stages of the investigation;

(13)‘relatives’ means the immediate family and/or next of kin and/or other person closely connected with the victim of an accident, as defined under the national law of the victim;

(14)‘safety investigation’ means a process conducted by a safety investigation authority for the purpose of accident and incident prevention which includes the gathering and analysis of information, the drawing of conclusions, including the determination of cause(s) and/or contributing factors and, when appropriate, the making of safety recommendations;

(15)‘safety recommendation’ means a proposal of a safety investigation authority, based on information derived from a safety investigation or other sources such as safety studies, made with the intention of preventing accidents and incidents;

(16)‘serious incident’ means an incident involving circumstances indicating that there was a high probability of an accident and is associated with the operation of an aircraft, which in the case of a manned aircraft, takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked, or in the case of an unmanned aircraft, takes place between the time the aircraft is ready to move with the purpose of flight until such time it comes to rest at the end of the flight and the primary propulsion system is shut down. A list of examples of serious incidents is set out in the Annex;

(17)‘serious injury’ means an injury which is sustained by a person in an accident and which involves one of the following:

(a)hospitalisation for more than 48 hours, commencing within 7 days from the date the injury was received;

(b)a fracture of any bone (except simple fractures of fingers, toes, or nose);

(c)lacerations which cause severe haemorrhage, nerve, muscle or tendon damage;

(d)injury to any internal organ;

(e)second or third degree burns, or any burns affecting more than 5 % of the body surface;

(f)verified exposure to infectious substances or harmful radiation.

Article 3

Scope

1. This Regulation shall apply to safety investigations into accidents and serious incidents:

(a)which have occurred in the territories of the Member States to which the Treaties apply, in accordance with the international obligations of the Member States;

(b)involving aircraft registered in a Member State or operated by an undertaking established in a Member State, which have occurred outside the territories of the Member States to which the Treaties apply, when such investigations are not conducted by another State;

(c)in which a Member State is entitled, according to international standards and recommended practices, to appoint an accredited representative to participate as a State of Registry, State of the Operator, State of Design, State of Manufacture or State providing information, facilities or experts at the request of the State conducting the investigation;

(d)in which a Member State having a special interest by virtue of fatalities or serious injuries to its citizens is permitted by the State conducting the investigation to appoint an expert.

2. This Regulation shall also apply to issues pertaining to the timely availability of information relating to all persons and dangerous goods on board an aircraft involved in an accident and...