Considerations TSO, ETSO & TCCA CAN-TSO
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Technical Standard Order (TSO), European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), European Technical Standard Order (ETSO) and Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA), Canadian Technical Standard Order (CAN-TSO).
Sofema Aviation Service (www.sassofia.com) provides regulatory and vocational compliant training for EASA, FAA, OTAR, GCAA & GACA regulations.
A Bi-Lateral Agreement exists between the EU & Canada and between the EU & FAA concerning mutual recognition, the following document considers the relationship.
Acceptance
Acceptance is when an importing authority acknowledges an exporting authority’s issuance and treats it with the same validity as if they had made the issuance.
In plain language:
a) FAA will accept a TCCA CAN-TSO design approval (DA) for articles from Canada and will no longer issue a Letter of TSO design approval (LODA) for the same article.
b) TCCA will accept the FAA’s TSOA for an article from the United States (U.S.) without issuing a CAN-TSO DA for the same article.
c) FAA will accept an EASA ETSOA for an article from the European Union (EU) and will no longer issue a LODA for the same article.
d) EASA will accept the FAA’s TSOA for an article from the U.S. without issuing an ETSOA for the same article.
Concerning Agreements
The U.S.-Canada and U.S.-EU Implementation Procedures (Technical Implementation Procedures) TIP are the only two agreements that currently include complete reciprocal acceptance of TSO articles.
The articles will be marked in accordance with the marking requirements of the exporting authority, and those markings are deemed to meet the Importing Authority’s marking requirements. There is no requirement for dual marking.
Note 1 For articles which had been approved by European National Authorities prior to foundation of EASA (Sept. 28, 2003) the article is marked with the appropriate national marking.
Note 2 For articles which have been approved by TCCA as an appliance type certificate prior to the introduction of CAN-TSO DA (December 2009) the article is marked with the appropriate national marking.
Regarding EU Acceptance of FAA TSO Parts
Only EU member states, under the terms of the U.S.-EU Agreement, are eligible for operating under TSO/ETSO reciprocal acceptance agreement.
Countries where EASA acts as the technical agent (currently Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) will continue to follow the provisions of their applicable bilateral agreements and their associated Implementation Procedures. ETSOAs issued by EASA to non-EU member authorities Non-EU manufacturers are required to use the prefix “EASA.xxx” in their POA, which is listed on the EASA Form 1. The “EASA” indicates that the article was produced in a non-EU country.
Regarding EU Acceptance of TCCA CAN-TSO Parts
Under the TCCA/EASA TIP, TCCA recognizes ETSO approvals from EU member States, including those from the following non-EU but EASA member States: Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland.
However ETSO approvals issued by EASA outside of these States are not eligible for recognition under the TCCA/EASA TIP. EASA has formally notified all ineligible States of this restriction.
Acceptance
Users can accept a TSO approved article that has one label (FAA TSOA or TCCA CAN-TSO DA) and airworthiness tag (FAA 8130-3, TCCA Form One, or EASA Form 1)?
Deviations are covered as part of the reciprocal acceptance of TSO/CAN-TSO/ETSO approvals for articles (or appliances). Partner authorities have evaluated the system of the bilateral partner to assess deviations and found their systems to be equivalent.
Oversight & Assurance
Respective bilateral agreements require a process to be in place for continued maintenance of confidence. The FAA, EASA, and TCCA are currently working on a unified approach to develop and refine this process.
Next Steps
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