ARO.GEN.350 Findings and corrective actions — organisations

(a) The CAA shall have a system to analyse findings for their safety significance.

(b) A level 1 finding shall be issued by the CAA when any significant non-compliance is detected with the applicable requirements of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and its Implementing Rules, with the organisation’s procedures and manuals or with the terms of an approval, certificate, specialised operation authorisation or with the content of a declaration which lowers safety or seriously hazards flight safety.

The level 1 findings shall include:

(1)   failure to give the CAA access to the facilities of the organisation in accordance with point ORO.GEN.140 of Annex III (Part-ORO) to this Regulation, or for balloons operators in accordance with points BOP.ADD.015 and BOP.ADD.035 of Annex II (Part-BOP) to Regulation (EU) 2018/395, during normal operating hours and after two written requests;

(2)  obtaining or maintaining the validity of the organisation certificate or specialised operations authorisation by falsification of submitted documentary evidence;

(3)  evidence of malpractice or fraudulent use of the organisation certificate or specialised operations authorisation; and

(4)  the lack of an accountable manager.

(c) A level 2 finding shall be issued by the CAA when any non-compliance is detected with the applicable requirements of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and its Implementing Rules, with the organisation’s procedures and manuals or with the terms of an approval, certificate, specialised operation authorisation or with the content of a declaration which could lower safety or hazard flight safety.

(d) When a finding is detected during oversight or by any other means, the CAA shall, without prejudice to any additional action required by Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and its Implementing Rules, communicate the finding to the organisation in writing and request corrective action to address the non-compliance(s) identified. Where relevant, the CAA shall inform the State in which the aircraft is registered.

(1)   In the case of level 1 findings the CAA shall take immediate and appropriate action to prohibit or limit activities, and if appropriate, it shall take action to revoke the certificate , specialised operations authorisation or specific approval or to limit or suspend it in whole or in part, depending upon the extent of the level 1 finding, until successful corrective action has been taken by the organisation.

(2)   In the case of level 2 findings, the CAA shall:

(i)   grant the organisation a corrective action implementation period appropriate to the nature of the finding that in any case initially shall not be more than three months. At the end of this period, and subject to the nature of the finding, the CAA may extend the three-month period subject to a satisfactory corrective action plan agreed by the CAA; and

(ii)  assess the corrective action and implementation plan proposed by the organisation and, if the assessment concludes that they are sufficient to address the non-compliance(s), accept these.

(3)   Where an organisation fails to submit an acceptable corrective action plan, or to perform the corrective action within the time period accepted or extended by the CAA, the finding shall be raised to a level 1 finding and action taken as laid down in (d)(1).

(4)   The CAA shall record all findings it has raised or that have been communicated to it in accordance with point (e) and, where applicable, the enforcement measures it has applied, as well as all corrective actions and the date of action closure for findings.

[...]