Thu, Oct 20, 2022 page3

• Taiwan, UK sign air safety agreement

  POST-BREXIT DEAL: The two states would recognize certificates issued by each other’s governments, as EU-issued documents are no longer valid, an official said

  • By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan and the UK are to mutually recognize their criteria, regulations and procedures to inspect and certify aviation products after signing a bilateral aviation security agreement on Tuesday.

  Under the agreement, Taiwanese aviation products exported to the UK are no longer subject to batch-by-batch inspections, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said in a statement, adding that the same would apply to UK-made products entering Taiwan.

  CAA Director-General Lin Kuo-hsien (林國顯) said that talks to draft an agreement began last year, after the UK officially left the EU on Dec. 31, 2020.

  

  Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Lin Kuo-hsien on Tuesday signs a Taiwan-UK bilateral agreement through which both sides would mutually recognize each other’s safety criteria for aviation products.

  Photo courtesy of the Civil Aeronautics Administration

  With the British Civil Aviation Agency taking over the responsibilities of the EU Aviation Safety Agency in the UK, Taiwan no longer accepts British products’ EU-issued documents, he said.

  EU-issued documents for Taiwanese products are also no longer valid in the UK, he added.

  Since the beginning of last year, the CAA had to inspect British aviation product imports batch by batch to ensure their safety, while the British agency adopted a similar procedure for aviation products from Taiwan, Lin said.

  The bilateral agreement, which was finalized following multiple rounds of negotiation, stipulates methods of mutual recognition for aviation products, he said.

  Lin had originally planned to fly to London and sign the agreement there.

  However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the soon-to-opened legislative session, the agreement was first signed by British Civil Aviation Agency Chief Executive Officer Richard Moriarty in London and later by Lin in Taipei, the CAA said.

  Taiwan has developed aircraft cabin seats that can withstand gravitational force up to 16G and manufactures widely used aviation products including containers, pallets and cargo nets, Lin said.

  “All these products, including those previously certified by the EU agency, have obtained technical standard order authorizations from the British agency. They can be directly exported to the UK and require no secondary certification,” he said.

  “This would save time and costs required for the verification of Taiwanese aviation products to be sold in the UK and effectively increase the competitiveness of our technical standard products. The deal will also help the country’s civil aviation industry expand in the international market,” Lin added.

  The CAA first signed a bilateral airworthiness agreement for exports with the US in 2003, followed by an agreement with the EU in 2009, the agency said, adding that similar agreements have also been signed with Israel and Brazil.
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