European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Acceptance of PMA Parts
SofemaOnline considers the acceptance of Parts Manufacture Authority (PMA) parts within the European System.
An FAA PMA is the normal approval mechanism for any company that wants to produce and sell aircraft parts, however, is not in possession of a production certificate for a complete aircraft, engine or propeller. In accordance with EASA Decision No. 2007/003/C PMA parts are approved following the issue of the FAA PMA (without the requirement for a separate application).
The European Union (EU) regulations require that EASA issue certificates for the design of parts and of their installation into products subject to those EU regulations. This created a problem because when EASA was formed, several significant EU member states had long-standing agreements to accept FAA-PMA parts from the United States. This made sense for supporting European air carriers who were already using such parts.
EASA Decision No. 2007/003/C provides for the following:
1) The EU needs to approve parts before they can be installed on aircraft, and this approval needs to cover design and installation eligibility.
2) Member states have concluded bilateral agreements with the United States for the acceptance of FAA-PMA parts.
3) As long as EU-member states continue to have bilateral agreements with the United States for the acceptance of FAA-PMA parts, it is most efficient to approve those parts in advance.
4) Therefore, the 2007 decision pre-approves all FAA-PMA parts that meet at least one of three criteria:
a) The first category of EASA-approved parts is FAA-PMA parts that are not ‘critical components.’ These are considered approved by EASA. No further action is required.
Note: A ‘critical component’ is a part identified as critical by the design approval holder, or otherwise by the exporting authority.
Note: Most PMA parts are not critical components. For these parts, EASA requests that the statement “This PMA part is not a critical component” be written in the Remarks Block of the FAA Form 8130-3.
b) The second category of FAA-PMA parts that are automatically considered to be approved by EASA are those for which the design data comes from a licensing agreement from the holder of the FAA design approval (type certificate or supplemental type certificate).
Note: Such parts can be identified in the FAA’s PMA database because they will indicate that the design approval basis is a licensing agreement.
EASA requests that the statement “Produced under licensing agreement from the FAA design approval holder” be written in in the Remarks Block of the FAA Form 8130-3 for licensed parts.
c) The third category is for non-licensed critical FAA-PMA parts. These are only automatically approved by EASA if the PMA holder can show that the part has received an explicit approval by means of a design change or STC from EASA.
Note: This is normally accomplished when the PMA holder applies for an EASA STC through the local FAA Aircraft Certification Office, and in response, EASA issues an STC to validate the PMA design.
Further Guidance
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For details please see: www.sassofia.com, www.
