By Order of the Minister of Transport no. 931/2019 regarding the measures for the application of art. 16 of Regulation (EU) No. 376/2014 on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation [1], published in the Official Gazette, Part I No. 499 of June 20, 2019, AACR has been designated as the body responsible for the implementation of art. 16 (6), (9) and (11).
This article, entitled "Protection for the sources of information", sets out a number of obligations applicable to both States and industry regarding the principles of "Just culture". Specifically, the following principles are established:
• of limiting commencing judicial proceedings, without prejudice to applicable national criminal law, with the exception of gross negligence or wilful violations (art. 16(6));
• limiting the prejudice of employees and contracted staff by the employer, also with the exception of gross negligence or wilful violations (art. 16(9));
• the obligation of organizations to adopt, after consultation with staff representatives, internal rules describing how the principles of “Just culture” are guaranteed and applied with that organization (art. 16(12)).
In essence, this body has the role of issuing views on the “Just culture” policy and rules applied at the national level of states and civil aviation organizations. As such, one of the main responsibilities of this body is to receive and manage complaints from employees or contracted staff in the civil aviation industry about alleged breaches of the “Just culture” rules. Employees and contracted staff may report to this body the alleged violations of the provisions of para. (6), (9) and (12), as well as those of the provisions of the entire article 16, and can not be sanctioned for these reports.
In addition, this body has the following responsibilities:
• may decide to review internal “Just culture” rules adopted by civil aviation organizations;
• provides advice to state authorities on taking action against those who violate the principles of protection of reporters or persons mentioned in occurrence reports, such as remedies or sanctions;
• coordinates with state authorities responsible for imposing sanctions for violating the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 376/2014 and provides advice on remedial measures or sanctions it intends to adopt.
Complaints can be sent to contact details available on Romanian CAA website (www.caa.ro) such as petitii@caa.ro, preferably with the mention “Notice regarding Just culture rules”.
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[1] REGULATION (EU) No 376/2014 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 3 April 2014 on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation, amending Regulation (EU) No 996/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Directive 2003/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulations (EC) No 1321/2007 and (EC) No 1330/2007