Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA)

Directive 2004/36/EC on the safety of third-country aircraft using Community airports (the so-called 'SAFA Directive') was published on 30 April 2004 , creating a legal obligation upon EU Member States to perform ramp inspections upon third country aircraft landing at their airports. This is the basic legal instrument underpinning what is known as the EC SAFA programme.

As provided under Regulation (EC) No 768/2006 , responsibility for the management and further development of the EC SAFA programme falls upon the European Commission assisted by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) .

Apart from the EU-27, a further 16 states – all members of ECAC (the European Civil Aviation Conference) – also participate voluntarily in the programme via specific ‘SAFA’ Working Arrangements concluded with EASA, giving the programme a truly pan-European dimension.

The 43 participating states engaged in the EC SAFA programme are: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Georgia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine.

Implementation of the EC SAFA Programme