On 17 February 2021, the Commission published an evaluation on the so-called “Occurrence Reporting Regulation” in order to assess whether its objectives have been met. 

The Occurrence Reporting Regulation was introduced in 2015 in order to improve the safety of the aviation sector by ensuring that relevant information relating to civil aviation is reported, collected, stored, protected, exchanged, disseminated and analysed. Covering the 2015-2019 period, therefore, the document compares the initial expectations with the current situation, and evaluates whether the Regulation has indeed contributed to reducing the number of aircraft accidents and related fatalities, assessing its continued relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, consistency with the other relevant legislation as well as the added value of the Union’s intervention.

The evaluation concludes that the Regulation has succeeded in improving occurrence reporting across the stakeholder groups and the Union in terms of reporting rates, completeness and quantity of safety-relevant data available as well as protection of persons reporting occurrences. Furthermore, the Regulation has been efficient in bringing considerably more benefits than costs, and it continues to be relevant even in light of recent developments in the aviation sector such as, amongst others, the rapid increase in unmanned aircraft operations, as well as the increasing threats related to cybersecurity. Finally, available data show a decrease in the amount of accidents since the Regulation entered into force.

Despite the results being promising, however, the evaluation revealed that the implementation of the Regulation has caused some unexpected consequences in terms of an increased workload for both organisations and competent authorities. Furthermore, some difficulties have been encountered as regards the implementation of the provisions related to a “just culture” and the establishment of cooperation agreements between competent public and judicial authorities in the majority of the Member States.

Marco Stillo