Ana, Keglović, Diana Božić

AIR TRANSPORT ACQUIS AND QUALITY SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

AIR TRANSPORT ACQUIS AND QUALITY SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

Ana Keglović, LLB, Diana Božić, B.Sc.

University of Zagreb

Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering

Vukelićeva 4, HR-10 000 Zagreb, Croatia

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ABSTRACT

The strategic priority of the Republic of Croatia is to join the European Union, whereby Croatia has been asked apart from the adoption, implementation and standardization of the acquis communautaire also to meet high standards in the performance of the public administration authorities. The sole implementation of the EU acquis in the transport policy, particularly considering the air transport which is the subject of this paper, shall not be sufficient for the general standardization process and the harmonization of the whole package of high standard norms; therefore it is absolutely indispensable to prepare the capacity of the public administrative bodies for all the commitments undertaken for the membership in the European integrations and to regulate the organisational framework for their cooperation.

The paper consists of two models on possible solutions covering the organisational structure and operation of the state administrative bodies based on the quality system. According to the same models the organisation of the activities of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) itself may be reformed, taking into account the requests of the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA), the member of which the Croatian Civil Aviation Authority aims to become.

1INTRODUCTION

The establishing of the common transport policy within the European Community started as early as in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome. The first White Paper [[1]] laid down the basic principles in opening the transport market based on liberalization and free market. The second White Paper (2001) consists of 60 particular measures which provide for sustainable growth in the area of transport by 2010.

The legislative framework regulating transport issues within the EU covers all categories and forms of transport ranging from the access to market to transport safety, environmental protection, infrastructure and similar.

With the view to establishing the highest level of cooperation in the field of air transport the EU regulates its relations with the third countries, prior to their status of full members, by means of legal institutes such as EEA, EASA, ECAA and the EC/ Switzerland Agreement on Air Transport. These legal instruments regulate the access of the Non-Member States to European transport market on the principles of equality and reciprocity.

2ACQUIS COMMUNAUTAIRE IN THE AIR TRANSPORT LAW

The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2002 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency[[2]] – EASA, stipulates that the European Commission shall conclude bilateral agreements on air transport with Non-Member States, which incorporate the adoption of the acquis communautaire[[3]]in air transport. Full members of the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) shall thereby have more favourable negotiating position when concluding the agreements in question. Since the Republic of Croatia has a status of a country candidate, it is necessary to achieve the status of a full JAA member as soon as possible, given that the transitional restructuring period of the JAA expires by the end of the year 2003.

By signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement Croatia undertakes the commitment to bring its legislation in compliance with the acquis. This leads to harmonization of legislation in certain areas which thereby ceases to be voluntarily, partly or a matter of choice, but it becomes obligatory, comprehensive and irrevocable.

The adoption and implementation of the acquis relating to air transport in the legal system of the Republic of Croatia is the necessary precondition for its integration in existing and future European associations in the area of air transport, but it shall also contribute to the effective regional activities of the public administrative bodies in the context of globalisation.

The commitment to harmonize legislation starts with the association process. Within the related process the first step is to be the screening process[[4]], which is carried out by the candidate countries in coordination with the EU on two different levels – multilateral and bilateral.

According to the above mentioned, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications has drafted a list of national legislation to be harmonized with the EU regulations as a preparatory legislative measure in harmonization of the air transport legislation. The area in question shall be regulated by the Agreement on Air Transport between the Republic of Croatia and the EU, or by a separate bilateral agreement which shall include the following areas:

  • the third package of liberalization measures and other rules of civil aviation transport
  • competition rules
  • technical adjustment
  • air transport safety.

Nevertheless, the complete harmonization of Croatian regulations in this area is foreseen for October 2004, when the new Air Transport Act is to be adopted.

3FEATURES OF THE LATER PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTATION

3.1 Legal framework

In almost two past years of the active process of implementation of the acquis relating to air transport in the legal system of the Republic of Croatia, the Civil Aviation Authority has translated and published the relevant regulations and set out the activities in the transitional period to be undertaken until the entry into force of the new national regulations. By officially publishing the translations of the above-mentioned JAA regulations the national legislation in this area has ceased to be in effect and it has been used in practice only for the activities to be completed before coming into force of the new regulations, i.e. within the time limit set for harmonization of the operational activities concerning air transport with the new standards. From the legal point of view such a solution is neither positive nor recommendable since it leaves numerous legal gaps and at the same time fails to provide legal certainty for the parties to the proceedings relating to air transport issues.

Incomplete regulations, lack of information, undefined conditions and methods of acceptance on the part of the Croatian aviation authority as well as inadequate legal interpretation represent the key failures of the Civil Aviation Authority in the later period of implementation, which have consequently lead to the fact that the time periods set for harmonization of activities of the users relating to the defined transitional period for most of the standards have been by far exceeded.

The JAA regulations in the area in question still do not completely cover the related issues, thus the operators and users of services in air transport in the Member States rely in their everyday practice on the adopted and verified national standards which comply with the ICAO recommendations. However, the Croatian aviation authority has easily given up on the general national legislation in the area of air transport, in spite of the related ICAO recommendations. Here it has to be pointed out that this gap is also a consequence of the fact that the national air transport regulations have not been revised in the past eleven years, especially considering the general aviation in the Republic of Croatia that shows a continually growing trend.

3.2Institutional framework

The competent state administration authority in the area of air transport that fails to accept the responsibility in the process of implementation and low awareness of the leading officials on the necessity of the adoption and implementation of the acquis has, according to the published translations of the relevant regulations, nevertheless resulted in the high level of compliance of the regulations relating to air transport in the Republic of Croatia, taking into consideration the time period for implementation, whereas from the aspect of the users of the regulations in question (operators, educators, employees, service providers) there is a great deal of confusion, discontent and resistance to changes in all relevant areas.

Moreover, according to the ICAO audit reports the internal organization of the administrative authority lacks unambiguous written procedures, the objectives fail to be laid down and the position related responsibilities and obligations have been inadequately regulated.

With regard to the above mentioned it is to be pointed out that the Council of Europe defined general conditions for the membership in the EU at its conference in Copenhagen 1993, thereby stating the most important conditions – the stability of the institutions which ensure democracy and the rule of law and the ability to undertake commitments under the membership, including the realization of the objectives under Political, Economic and Monetary Union.

Thus, the adoption of the acquis relating to air transport law without its implementation and application shall be considered insufficient for the EU membership.

4PROBLEMS OF THE CURRENT INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications has pursuant to the decisions of the Croatian Government been subject to organizational changes, establishing eight administrative units for performing the administrative and professional activities within its scope, and apart from the cabinet of the minister and the secretary's office, the independent department for quality system issues, aircraft accidents, air transport infringements and international cooperation. Taking into account that the aim of this paper is to present a different approach to the organization of the state administration authority, taking the Central Aviation Authority, which is one of eight administrative unit of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications, as an example, everything that has been presented in this paper can be applied to the whole transport area.

The public administration reform relating to Central Aviation Authority which has been based on the ICAO audit report with the aim of organizing the CAA in compliance with the international standards and the acquis concerning the air transport law, has proved that pure "copying" of the existing and already acknowledged models without the complete insight into the relevant issue may cause more harm than good in everyday practice.

Due to the approach that seems to misunderstand the functional existence of the administration and its departments there are inevitably more problems occurring, particularly in the application of the adopted new standards. This kind of approach leads to frustration, non-acceptance and rejection, which definitely do not contribute to improvements, development and sustainable growth.

The present organization of the Civil Aviation Authority complies with the organization of the similar administration authority in the EU; hence the reform consisting of renaming or any radical changes concerning the existing departments and divisions is not necessary. Nevertheless, the obligations and responsibilities within the administrative authority fail to be defined, as well as its functional existence, the transparency in its performance and the services it provides to the users. The estimation of the general performance[[5]] of the Civil Aviation Authority concluded the following:

  • there is no possibility to control the performance and data;
  • the performance of the activities is slow and requires long and unnecessary administrative procedure;
  • there is entropy of data within the regulated standards, also with regard to the users of rights and services;
  • there is no high quality communication between the departments within one and the same administrative authority, or between other public administration bodies in conducting administrative proceedings;
  • there is no precise definition of competence on the level of departments within one and the same administrative authority, or between other public administration bodies;
  • there is a great deal of discontent among service users;
  • the administration is faced with the financial and capacity crisis, its image is in question.

The elements listed above slow down and impede the process of application of the implemented standards in compliance with the EU acquis that require defining the rights and responsibilities within the public administrative bodies.

The acquis undoubtedly provides for the existence of a regulated institute of responsibility and transparency in performing the activities, which unquestionably requires institutionally regulated state apparatus and other interested parties, as in this case the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications have been taken as an example.

The legislation in force, which regulates the status and business activities of the operators and other institutions relating to air transport, also define the obligation to establish the quality control system in their performance. Since the Civil Aviation Authority is competent to control and monitor the performance of the above mentioned institutions, it is clear that public administration bodies are to incorporate and implement the quality system themselves and act accordingly, relying on professionally trained staff.

Pursuant to the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia of 28 September 2000 on introducing the ISO 9001:2000 quality system into the organization and performance of public administrative bodies, the Independent department for quality system issues, aircraft accidents, air transport infringements and international cooperation[[6]] was established within the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications. Taking into account the definitions of quality, in this particular case the quality of the service provided, the purpose of joining the Independent department for quality system issues of one Ministry and particular transport issues such as accidents, infringements and similar, remains unclear.

In order to define, maintain and improve the quality system within one institution it is necessary to have a team of professionally trained experts and employees. Keeping the complexity of the process introducing the quality system in mind, for the time being it would be irresponsible to appoint obligations relating to the department in question other than those falling under its primary competence.

5PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR MORE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION

In the context of the implementation of the acquis concerning air transport it is often heard that the Civil Aviation Authority should be given autonomy and that it should be transformed into a profit agency for air transport. However, considering the real needs and potentials of the Republic of Croatia, the profitability and sustainability of such an agency remains questionable. Therefore, if given the autonomy of competence, clear system of responsibility and with the quality system introduced the Civil Aviation Authority would meet the expectations.

The objective is to create public administration authority which could respond to the needs of the public, professionally and effectively perform its duties, which would be adequately organized and easily respond to changes. This would also enable transparency and control.

The process of adoption of the acquis is only the first step to European integrations; the further steps in its implementation and application are even more demanding. With the view to achieving high standards of performance of the public administration authority it is indispensable to harmonize the domestic legislation with the acquis.

The pressure and the needs of the public aviation to be provided for by a high quality service and legal and technical assistance on the part of the aviation authority are becoming more evident every day. Therefore, in order to meet the prescribed time periods, achieve the transparency of performance and improve the image of the aviation authority, the quality control system is to be introduced on the basis of one of the models of quality control system in the public administration bodies in the EU.

It is essential here to know and to understand the definition of quality of service in order to raise the awareness of the individual that "not the people who work in public service are the problem; the problem lies in the system they work in"[[7]]. Thus, any individual, particularly the leader, should be aware of the fact that the crucial aim is to change the system.

Quality may be defined as[[8]] :

  • measure or indicator of volume, i.e. the use value of a service (product) to satisfy the particular need, in the particular place and time, only when the related service (product) has been proven as goods in the process of exchange of commodities;
  • the sum of all the factors that bring satisfaction to the consumer.

5.1Quality system models applicable to public administration - Civil Aviation Authority

5.1.1Quality system in line with the ISO 9001:2000

According to the theory of organization, an organization means an intended and formalized structure of roles and positions in which the performance of the individual contributes to the realization of the objectives of the group/system. In each and every organization there is a formal organization, formalized or written down, and the key organization, which is rarely thought about, informal and real network of personal and social relations, which is not foreseen in the formal organization, but which is created spontaneously.