AMC1 21L.A.9(d) Completeness and timely availability of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness

• ED Decision 2023/013/R found in: Initial Airworthiness and Environmental Protection (748/2012) Part-21 Part-21L (Jul 2024)

AMC1 21L.A.9(d) Completeness and timely availability of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness ED Decision 2023/013/R COMPLETENESS AND TIMELY AVAILABILITY OF THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTINUED AIRWORTHINESS (ICAs) FOR TYPE-CERTIFICATE (TC) APPLICANTS OR DECLARATION OF DESIGN COMPLIANCE (a)     An applicant or declarant may wish to choose among the three options described below. Once the certification programme or demonstration of compliance for a declaration starts, it may be necessary to modify the initially selected option to accommodate programme changes. All such changes should be coordinated with EASA. (1)     Option 1: Complete ICAs are available at the time of the design approval (type certificate (TC)) or submission of a declaration of design compliance (i)      The ICAs will be made available at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. This option minimises the risk of incomplete ICAs, especially for changes. (ii)     With all ICAs available at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, they should also be furnished / made available to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and made available to any other person required to comply with any of those instructions in accordance with point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761), without using the provision to delay certain parts of the ICAs after the entry into service of the product. (iii)     Frequently, there is only a short period of time between the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance and the entry into service. Nevertheless, applicants/DAHs or declarants may still wish to apply Option 2 or 3 for a part of their ICAs as stated below. (2)     Option 2: Complete ICAs are available at entry into service (TC or submission of the declaration of design compliance) If an applicant or declarant plans to make part of the ICAs available to EASA upon entry into service, the following approach is acceptable: (i)      For the Airworthiness Limitations Section (ALS), as part of the type design, notwithstanding the selection of Option 2: the applicant or declarant submits the ALS prior to the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. Any ALS content that is incomplete, not yet demonstrated for compliance, or delayed beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, requires to be compensated through an interim limitation to establish compliance within this limitation. The interim limitation is notified to the aircraft operator(s) concerned as a temporary operational limitation in a manner agreed with EASA. In this context, ALS content is understood as the task method (e.g. a detailed inspection), including its reference, title and applicability, and the associated threshold / interval / life-limit. The accomplishment procedure itself, i.e. how to carry out the task, is usually described in other parts of the ICAs (e.g. in the aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) or the non-destructive testing (NDT) manual). However, a feasibility study of the accomplishment procedure is required for compliance with specific requirements. (A)     This may typically apply when the aircraft’s structural full-scale fatigue testing required for compliance with the fatigue- and damage-tolerance requirements, considering the expected operational life, will not be completed prior to the type certificate being issued. In this case, a temporary operational limitation is assigned and stated in the ALS, dependent on the aircraft’s full-scale fatigue testing progress. The ALS is effectively incomplete beyond this temporary operational limitation, as the required justification and the resulting ICAs are not yet available to support the safe operation of the aircraft beyond this limitation. (B)     A type certificate data sheet (TCDS) or airworthiness data sheet notation is not necessary since the product is provided with complete ALS content up to the established temporary operational limitation. (ii)     A compliance plan identifying those parts of the ICAs that are only to be made available upon entry into service is produced, submitted to EASA and agreed between the applicant/declarant and EASA prior to the design approval or registration of the declaration of design compliance (refer also to point (iv) for the ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval/registration of a declaration of design compliance). (iii)     A commitment is made to produce, verify and, when requested, submit to EASA the relevant ICAs prior to entry into service. This commitment should be provided in a compliance document (e.g. the compliance plan). If the respective organisation responsible for design has not previously exercised the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of a declaration of design compliance, the required procedure should be agreed with EASA. (iv)     The ICAs considered necessary at the time of design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance are provided or made available in a format that adequately defines the data. Furthermore, the way the data is presented at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance offers the same understanding of the data as the final published format does. The applicant or declarant should agree with EASA, in a compliance plan, on all ICAs necessary at the time of the design approval or registration of the declaration of design compliance. The Agency investigation may vary from no involvement or evaluating a limited sample of the ICAs to performing a thorough review of specific parts of the ICAs. (v)      In cases where EASA has doubts as to whether the applicant/holder or declarant can fulfil the applicable requirements of point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761) to control and support delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval, or type certificate (TC), or submission of the declaration of design compliance and until entry into service, EASA may decide to assign a condition for entry into service for non-ALS ICAs or withhold the registration of the declaration of design compliance. As a condition for the entry into service, a note should be included in the type certificate data sheet (TCDS) or airworthiness data sheet as a result of these pending issues under the ICAs paragraph as follows: ‘Note: The ICAs are not complete. As per point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761) of Annex Ib (Part 21 Light) to Commission Regulation (EU) No 748/2012, they must be completed before the entry into service of the aircraft. Contact EASA for information on the status.’ The decision to assign a condition may be based on the applicant’s or declarant’s performance, e.g. if the applicant or declarant has already demonstrated in previous projects that it has provided the complete set of ICAs before the entry into service, if the applicant or declarant has already experienced difficulties in providing the ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, or has previously failed on a different project to meet its commitment to complete the ICAs prior to entry into service, or if the applicant/holder or declarant has no previous experience with the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. (vi)     Post-TC action or the submission of the declaration of design compliance is established together with EASA (if EASA requests such a review) to review the ICAs’ status upon entry into service. (vii)    If all ICAs are made available to EASA at the time of entry into service, they should also be furnished at that time to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and made available to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions in accordance with point [21.A.7](#_DxCrossRefBm1649096932), without using the provision to delay certain parts of the ICAs beyond the entry into service. (3)     Option 3: Complete ICAs are available after the entry into service (TC or registration of declaration of design compliance) As per point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761)(d), certain ICAs dealing with the ‘overhaul or other forms of heavy maintenance’ may be delayed until after the aircraft entry into service. Although there is no definition of what is meant by ‘overhaul or other forms of heavy maintenance’, the intention of the requirement is to provide flexibility to applicants/holders or declarants for long-lead ICAs of a scheduled nature. If an applicant or declarant plans to make part of the ICAs available only after the entry into service, the following is acceptable for the complete set of ICAs: (i)      For the ALS, as it cannot be delayed until after the entry into service, point (i) of Option 2 applies. (ii)     For ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, point (iv) of Option 2 applies. (iii)     A detailed compliance plan identifying those parts of the ICAs that are to be provided prior to and after the entry into service. For ICAs made available after the entry into service, the plan should account for when the ICAs are needed so that they can be complied with. This approach may only be used for scheduled maintenance accomplishment procedures, where threshold / interval / life-limit requirements of the related scheduled tasks are established. In that respect, the following aspects should be considered: (A)     The majority of the ICAs are of an unscheduled nature; therefore, these items should be available at entry into service at the latest. (B)     Consideration should be given to the fact that a number of tasks are used for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance (e.g. an operational check of a system is planned as a scheduled task at a certain point in time, but is also required as part of the installation procedure to determine the operational status of the system). (C)     For ICAs to be made available after entry into service, the detailed plan should contain threshold(s) controlled by the applicant/holder, stating the maximum value in flight hours (FHs) / flight cycles (FCs) or calendar time (CT), or a combination of them as applicable, by which point in time the delayed ICAs should be made available. (D)     This detailed plan should be available prior to the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance and should be either directly integrated or cross-referenced in a compliance plan. (E)     Information on the format in which the ICAs delayed until after entry into service will be made available in time (e.g. regular revisions or temporary revisions (TRs) or service information (SBs, SIL, etc.). (iv)     A procedure/programme that ensures a detailed plan is produced and implemented in the applicant’s or declarant’s organisation in order to ensure the timely availability (to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions and to EASA, if involved and when requested). (v)      A commitment is made to produce, verify and provide the relevant ICAs in accordance with the established detailed plan. This commitment should be provided in an appropriate document (e.g. a compliance plan). If the respective organisation responsible for design has not previously exercised the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, the required procedure should be agreed with EASA. (vi)     In order to ensure that the applicant/holder or declarant can meet their obligations as set out in point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761) to control and support delaying the ICAs, EASA may decide: (A)     for ICAs delayed until entry into service, to assign a condition/notation for the entry into service to be included in the TCDS or airworthiness data sheet as a result of these pending issues under the ICAs paragraph, as per point (v) of Option 2; (B)     for ICAs delayed until after entry into service, to assign an interim limitation to be published and included in the ALS as a temporary operational limitation, also for non-ALS ICAs, to compensate for the delayed ICAs; this approach may only be used for scheduled maintenance accomplishment procedures, where task and interval requirements are available. The decision to assign a condition/limitation may be based on the applicant’s or declarant’s performance, e.g. if the applicant or declarant has already demonstrated in previous projects that it has provided the complete set of ICAs before the entry into service, if the applicant or declarant had already difficulties in providing the ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, or has failed before in a different project to control and support delaying the ICAs, or if the applicant/holder or declarant has not previously exercised the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. (vii)    Post-TC action or the submission of the declaration of design compliance should be established with EASA to regularly review the ICAs’ status, if EASA requests such a review, taking into account other oversight activities. (viii)   An applicant/holder or declarant should provide visibility, regarding the ICAs that are delayed beyond entry into service, to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions. This can be achieved by providing this information, for example, on a website or in a document, such as a maintenance planning document (MPD) or an aircraft maintenance manual (AMM), preferably in the principal ICAs manual. This visibility information is then itself considered ICAs information. (ix)     It is assumed that for those ICAs that are made available to EASA at the time of entry into service, they are also at the same time furnished to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and made available to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions in accordance with point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761). This is to satisfy EASA that such a delayed publication will not have an adverse effect on the continuing airworthiness of any given aircraft. To allow the timely review and incorporation of a delayed part of the ICAs into continuing airworthiness activities and processes (e.g. amendment of the aircraft maintenance programme) by the person or organisation responsible for the aircraft continuing airworthiness or for performing maintenance, EASA considers that the delayed ICAs should typically be made available 2 years before the actual ICAs have to be used, when using normal revisions as a format. However, shorter time margins may be acceptable, provided that the format used ensures the prompt notification of the availability of the delayed ICAs or the ICAs itself, but they should not be shorter than 1 year before the ICAs have to be used. (b)     Completeness and timely availability of changes to the ICAs (TC or declaration of design compliance) Point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm1649097761)(e) regulates the distribution of changes to the ICAs required from the TC holder or declarant. Those changes to the ICAs could result from the design change process (minor and major changes), in-service experience, corrections, and others. A programme showing how changes to the ICAs are distributed is part of the respective procedures (e.g. design organisation procedures, or other procedures used to demonstrate design capabilities). For changes to the ICAs triggered by design changes, typically these procedures follow the same principles as those available for TCs or the initial declaration of design compliance (Options 1 to 3), while taking into account the relevant privileges, e.g. that a DOA may approve minor changes in accordance with point [21.A.263](#_DxCrossRefBm1649096918)(c)(2) of Annex I (Part 21). ##### AMC1 21L.A.9(d) Completeness and timely availability of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness *ED Decision 2023/013/R* **COMPLETENESS AND TIMELY AVAILABILITY OF THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTINUED AIRWORTHINESS (ICAs) FOR TYPE-CERTIFICATE (TC) APPLICANTS OR DECLARATION OF DESIGN COMPLIANCE** (a) An applicant or declarant may wish to choose among the three options described below. Once the certification programme or demonstration of compliance for a declaration starts, it may be necessary to modify the initially selected option to accommodate programme changes. All such changes should be coordinated with EASA. (1) *Option 1*: Complete ICAs are available at the time of the design approval (type certificate (TC)) or submission of a declaration of design compliance (i) The ICAs will be made available at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. This option minimises the risk of incomplete ICAs, especially for changes. (ii) With all ICAs available at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, they should also be furnished / made available to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and made available to any other person required to comply with any of those instructions in accordance with point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257), without using the provision to delay certain parts of the ICAs after the entry into service of the product. (iii) Frequently, there is only a short period of time between the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance and the entry into service. Nevertheless, applicants/DAHs or declarants may still wish to apply Option 2 or 3 for a part of their ICAs as stated below. (2) *Option 2*: Complete ICAs are available at entry into service (TC or submission of the declaration of design compliance) If an applicant or declarant plans to make part of the ICAs available to EASA upon entry into service, the following approach is acceptable: (i) For the Airworthiness Limitations Section (ALS), as part of the type design, notwithstanding the selection of Option 2: the applicant or declarant submits the ALS prior to the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. Any ALS content that is incomplete, not yet demonstrated for compliance, or delayed beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, requires to be compensated through an interim limitation to establish compliance within this limitation. The interim limitation is notified to the aircraft operator(s) concerned as a temporary operational limitation in a manner agreed with EASA. In this context, ALS content is understood as the task method (e.g. a detailed inspection), including its reference, title and applicability, and the associated threshold / interval / life-limit. The accomplishment procedure itself, i.e. how to carry out the task, is usually described in other parts of the ICAs (e.g. in the aircraft maintenance manual (AMM) or the non-destructive testing (NDT) manual). However, a feasibility study of the accomplishment procedure is required for compliance with specific requirements. (A) This may typically apply when the aircraft’s structural full-scale fatigue testing required for compliance with the fatigue- and damage-tolerance requirements, considering the expected operational life, will not be completed prior to the type certificate being issued. In this case, a temporary operational limitation is assigned and stated in the ALS, dependent on the aircraft’s full-scale fatigue testing progress. The ALS is effectively incomplete beyond this temporary operational limitation, as the required justification and the resulting ICAs are not yet available to support the safe operation of the aircraft beyond this limitation. (B) A type certificate data sheet (TCDS) or airworthiness data sheet notation is not necessary since the product is provided with complete ALS content up to the established temporary operational limitation. (ii) A compliance plan identifying those parts of the ICAs that are only to be made available upon entry into service is produced, submitted to EASA and agreed between the applicant/declarant and EASA prior to the design approval or registration of the declaration of design compliance (refer also to point (iv) for the ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval/registration of a declaration of design compliance). (iii) A commitment is made to produce, verify and, when requested, submit to EASA the relevant ICAs prior to entry into service. This commitment should be provided in a compliance document (e.g. the compliance plan). If the respective organisation responsible for design has not previously exercised the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of a declaration of design compliance, the required procedure should be agreed with EASA. (iv) The ICAs considered necessary at the time of design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance are provided or made available in a format that adequately defines the data. Furthermore, the way the data is presented at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance offers the same understanding of the data as the final published format does. The applicant or declarant should agree with EASA, in a compliance plan, on all ICAs necessary at the time of the design approval or registration of the declaration of design compliance. The Agency investigation may vary from no involvement or evaluating a limited sample of the ICAs to performing a thorough review of specific parts of the ICAs. (v) In cases where EASA has doubts as to whether the applicant/holder or declarant can fulfil the applicable requirements of point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257) to control and support delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval, or type certificate (TC), or submission of the declaration of design compliance and until entry into service, EASA may decide to assign a condition for entry into service for non-ALS ICAs or withhold the registration of the declaration of design compliance. As a condition for the entry into service, a note should be included in the type certificate data sheet (TCDS) or airworthiness data sheet as a result of these pending issues under the ICAs paragraph as follows: ‘*Note*: The ICAs are not complete. As per point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257) of Annex Ib (Part 21 Light) to Commission Regulation (EU) No 748/2012, they must be completed before the entry into service of the aircraft. Contact EASA for information on the status.’ The decision to assign a condition may be based on the applicant’s or declarant’s performance, e.g. if the applicant or declarant has already demonstrated in previous projects that it has provided the complete set of ICAs before the entry into service, if the applicant or declarant has already experienced difficulties in providing the ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, or has previously failed on a different project to meet its commitment to complete the ICAs prior to entry into service, or if the applicant/holder or declarant has no previous experience with the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. (vi) Post-TC action or the submission of the declaration of design compliance is established together with EASA (if EASA requests such a review) to review the ICAs’ status upon entry into service. (vii) If all ICAs are made available to EASA at the time of entry into service, they should also be furnished at that time to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and made available to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions in accordance with point [21.A.7](#_DxCrossRefBm485230423), without using the provision to delay certain parts of the ICAs beyond the entry into service. (3) *Option 3*: Complete ICAs are available after the entry into service (TC or registration of declaration of design compliance) As per point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257)(d), certain ICAs dealing with the ‘overhaul or other forms of heavy maintenance’ may be delayed until after the aircraft entry into service. Although there is no definition of what is meant by ‘overhaul or other forms of heavy maintenance’, the intention of the requirement is to provide flexibility to applicants/holders or declarants for long-lead ICAs of a scheduled nature. If an applicant or declarant plans to make part of the ICAs available only after the entry into service, the following is acceptable for the complete set of ICAs: (i) For the ALS, as it cannot be delayed until after the entry into service, point (i) of Option 2 applies. (ii) For ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, point (iv) of Option 2 applies. (iii) A detailed compliance plan identifying those parts of the ICAs that are to be provided prior to and after the entry into service. For ICAs made available after the entry into service, the plan should account for when the ICAs are needed so that they can be complied with. This approach may only be used for scheduled maintenance accomplishment procedures, where threshold / interval / life-limit requirements of the related scheduled tasks are established. In that respect, the following aspects should be considered: (A) The majority of the ICAs are of an unscheduled nature; therefore, these items should be available at entry into service at the latest. (B) Consideration should be given to the fact that a number of tasks are used for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance (e.g. an operational check of a system is planned as a scheduled task at a certain point in time, but is also required as part of the installation procedure to determine the operational status of the system). (C) For ICAs to be made available after entry into service, the detailed plan should contain threshold(s) controlled by the applicant/holder, stating the maximum value in flight hours (FHs) / flight cycles (FCs) or calendar time (CT), or a combination of them as applicable, by which point in time the delayed ICAs should be made available. (D) This detailed plan should be available prior to the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance and should be either directly integrated or cross-referenced in a compliance plan. (E) Information on the format in which the ICAs delayed until after entry into service will be made available in time (e.g. regular revisions or temporary revisions (TRs) or service information (SBs, SIL, etc.). (iv) A procedure/programme that ensures a detailed plan is produced and implemented in the applicant’s or declarant’s organisation in order to ensure the timely availability (to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions and to EASA, if involved and when requested). (v) A commitment is made to produce, verify and provide the relevant ICAs in accordance with the established detailed plan. This commitment should be provided in an appropriate document (e.g. a compliance plan). If the respective organisation responsible for design has not previously exercised the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, the required procedure should be agreed with EASA. (vi) In order to ensure that the applicant/holder or declarant can meet their obligations as set out in point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257) to control and support delaying the ICAs, EASA may decide: (A) for ICAs delayed until entry into service, to assign a condition/notation for the entry into service to be included in the TCDS or airworthiness data sheet as a result of these pending issues under the ICAs paragraph, as per point (v) of Option 2; (B) for ICAs delayed until after entry into service, to assign an interim limitation to be published and included in the ALS as a temporary operational limitation, also for non-ALS ICAs, to compensate for the delayed ICAs; this approach may only be used for scheduled maintenance accomplishment procedures, where task and interval requirements are available. The decision to assign a condition/limitation may be based on the applicant’s or declarant’s performance, e.g. if the applicant or declarant has already demonstrated in previous projects that it has provided the complete set of ICAs before the entry into service, if the applicant or declarant had already difficulties in providing the ICAs considered necessary at the time of the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance, or has failed before in a different project to control and support delaying the ICAs, or if the applicant/holder or declarant has not previously exercised the practice of delaying the ICAs beyond the design approval or submission of the declaration of design compliance. (vii) Post-TC action or the submission of the declaration of design compliance should be established with EASA to regularly review the ICAs’ status, if EASA requests such a review, taking into account other oversight activities. (viii) An applicant/holder or declarant should provide visibility, regarding the ICAs that are delayed beyond entry into service, to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions. This can be achieved by providing this information, for example, on a website or in a document, such as a maintenance planning document (MPD) or an aircraft maintenance manual (AMM), preferably in the principal ICAs manual. This visibility information is then itself considered ICAs information. (ix) It is assumed that for those ICAs that are made available to EASA at the time of entry into service, they are also at the same time furnished to the aircraft operator / aircraft owner and made available to any other person(s) required to comply with any of those instructions in accordance with point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257). This is to satisfy EASA that such a delayed publication will not have an adverse effect on the continuing airworthiness of any given aircraft. To allow the timely review and incorporation of a delayed part of the ICAs into continuing airworthiness activities and processes (e.g. amendment of the aircraft maintenance programme) by the person or organisation responsible for the aircraft continuing airworthiness or for performing maintenance, EASA considers that the delayed ICAs should typically be made available 2 years before the actual ICAs have to be used, when using normal revisions as a format. However, shorter time margins may be acceptable, provided that the format used ensures the prompt notification of the availability of the delayed ICAs or the ICAs itself, but they should not be shorter than 1 year before the ICAs have to be used. (b) Completeness and timely availability of changes to the ICAs (TC or declaration of design compliance) Point [21L.A.9](#_DxCrossRefBm485231257)(e) regulates the distribution of changes to the ICAs required from the TC holder or declarant. Those changes to the ICAs could result from the design change process (minor and major changes), in-service experience, corrections, and others. A programme showing how changes to the ICAs are distributed is part of the respective procedures (e.g. design organisation procedures, or other procedures used to demonstrate design capabilities). For changes to the ICAs triggered by design changes, typically these procedures follow the same principles as those available for TCs or the initial declaration of design compliance (Options 1 to 3), while taking into account the relevant privileges, e.g. that a DOA may approve minor changes in accordance with point [21.A.263](#_DxCrossRefBm485230409)(c)(2) of Annex I (Part 21).