The European Commission and Japan today have signed an agreement on civil aviation safety, Travel Biz monitor reported. This is done to further boost the EU’s cooperation with Japan and reinforce the competitiveness of the EU’s aviation industry, according to the European Commission’s update. 

This agreement will help the EU sector recover

One and a half years after the EU and Japan’s Economic Partnership Agreement, and the Strategic Partnership Agreement implementation started, today’s signature shows the mutual trust and commitment to deepen their strategic partnership. Common rules will help European and Japanese companies to cooperate and decrease the administrative burden for authorities, creating better investment and growth opportunities. This bilateral civil aviation safety agreement (BASA) will support EU manufacturers of aeronautical products to increase their trade and market share in the Japanese market. This will help recover the sector from the current crisis.

Adina Valean, Commissioner for Transport said: “This agreement will facilitate our aviation industry’s access to the Japanese aeronautical products market, helping this hard-hit sector recover from the crisis. We are also stepping up cooperation between the EU and Japanese aviation authorities, towards an even higher level of civil aviation safety and environmental compatibility.” The BASA aims to ease trade in aircraft and related products. The BASA will eliminate unnecessary duplications of evaluation and testing activities for aeronautical products, decrease costs for authorities and the aviation industry, and promote the EU Civil Aviation Authorities and Japan’s cooperation.

The BASA will significantly reduce the time required for manufacturers of aeronautical products to achieve the approvals for exports to Japan. It will also provide a stronger level of legal certainty, even on intellectual property rights (IPR) leading to greater cooperation between companies the European commission, and Japanese companies. The BASA will also strengthen transport connectivity along with the EU’s Connecting Europe and Asia Strategy. The BASA between the EU and Japan is designed to generate growth for European business growth and innovation and provide passengers with safer, cleaner, and cheaper flights, which is the Commission’s Aviation Strategy for Europe. Pending its entry into force, the agreement will be provisionally applied from the signature. 

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