General Aviation in The United Kingdom - Regulation

Regulation

The objective of regulation is to "promote high standards of safety in all aspects of aviation", and this is the main area of interaction between the CAA and the GA sector. Efforts focus on assuring appropriate standards of airworthiness, pilot qualification, the rules for the movement of aircraft, and equipment to be carried. The CAA was established as the primary regulatory body for all aviation in the UK in 1972. In 1991 it started working within the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) framework to implement agreed common standards, known as the Joint Aviation Requirements (JAR), throughout the European Union (EU). In 2003 this was taken a step further when the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was established as the central EU regulator, taking over responsibility for legislating airworthiness and environmental regulation from the national authorities. The CAA acts as an agency of EASA on these issues, retaining its original regulatory powers in areas not yet transferred to EASA. Proposed developments seek to establish EASA as the single authority throughout the EU, taking over from individual member states the power to regulate all aviation other than that specifically excluded from the scope of EASA.