ART.200 Initial evaluation procedure – general

(a)     Upon receiving an application for an authorisation in accordance with TCO.300, the Agency shall assess the third country operator's compliance with applicable requirements in Part-TCO.

(b)     The Agency shall complete the initial assessment within 30 days after receipt of all required documents pursuant to point TCO.300(c) and (d) of Annex 1.

When the initial assessment requires a further assessment or an audit, the assessment period shall be extended for the duration of the further assessment or the audit, as appropriate.

(c)      The initial assessment shall be based on:

(1)     documentation and data provided by the third country operator;

(2)     relevant information on the safety performance of the third country operator, including ramp inspection reports, information reported in accordance with ARO.RAMP.145(c)[10], recognised industry standards, accidents records and enforcement measures taken by a third country;

(3)     relevant information on the oversight capabilities of the State of the operator or State of registry, as applicable, including the outcome of audits carried out under international conventions or State safety assessment programmes; and

(4)     decisions, investigations pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005 or joint consultations pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 473/2006.

(d)     When the third country operator does not provide the information required for the assessment in accordance with point TCO.300(c) and (d) of Annex 1 within the timeline established by the Agency, the Agency may decide to suspend the assessment of the application until the information is provided. In this case, the Agency shall inform the third country operator of its decision.

(e)     When the Agency cannot establish a sufficient level of confidence in the third country operator and/or the State of the operator during the initial assessment, it shall:

(1)     reject the application when the outcome of the assessment indicates that further assessment will not result in the issue of an authorisation; or

(2)     conduct further assessments to the extent necessary to establish that the intended operation will be conducted in compliance with the applicable requirements of Part-TCO.

(f)      When an application from a third country operator was previously rejected or authorisation revoked, the Agency may decide to wait 9 months from the date of revocation or rejection before starting to process the new application.