Government proposal to improve aviation safety circulated for comments

The Ministry of Transport and Communications requests comments on a draft government proposal for amending legislative amendments to improve aviation safety. Provisions on the permission to set up obstacles to air navigation under the Aviation Act would also be amended at the same time. The deadline for submitting comments is 31 December 2024.

The government proposal revises the provisions on aviation qualifications in order to make major improvements to aviation safety by preventing accidents and dangerous situations. The aim is to provide the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom with the right to notify the employer or contractor when action has been taken to revoke a permit or licence.

If Traficom notices safety deficiencies, it would also be given the option to intervene in aviation-related activities that are not subject to a permit or reporting obligation. This would apply, for example, to parachute jump instructors and glider pilots. Traficom could prohibit or restrict the activities until the deficiencies in safety have been rectified.

The proposal would clarify the legal situation for conducting breath tests and make the current monitoring more effective. An employer would have the right to carry out a breath test of an aircraft crew member or a person working in the air navigation facility in a duty affecting aviation safety in order to determine whether the employee is under the influence of alcohol.

The Aviation Act provisions on obstacle approvals would be amended to the extent that challenges have been identified in their application. Any object raised from the ground that interferes with aviation can be considered an obstacle to air navigation, including buildings, cranes and power lines.

When an application for a permission to set up an obstacle is submitted under the current regulation, the impact assessment requires work at the application processing stage, especially by aerodrome operators and those planning flight procedures. They need to carry out an impact assessment and submit their opinion to Traficom.

The new legislative proposal suggests that the application for a permission to set up an obstacle should be accompanied by reports outlining the impacts. The reports would be submitted by flight procedures planners working in Finland and by the operator of the affected aerodrome. They could also charge a reasonable fee for the reports.

What’s next?

The deadline for comments on the draft proposal is 31 December 2024. All organisations and private individuals may submit comments online at www.lausuntopalvelu.fi. The comments will be taken into consideration during further drafting.

After the consultation round, public officials will continue to draft the government proposal. The proposal would be submitted to Parliament in February 2025, and the acts would enter into force on 1 June 2025.

Inquiries:

Saara Louko, Senior Specialist, saara.louko(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342 048

Iida Huhtanen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, iida.huhtanen(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342 613