ATCO.A.010 Exchange of licences

(a)       If the licence holder is to exercise the privileges of the licence in a Member State for which the competent authority is not the one that issued the licence, the licence holder shall submit an application to exchange his/her licence for a licence issued by the competent authority of the Member State where the privileges are to be exercised in accordance with the procedure established by this authority, except where otherwise foreseen in agreements concluded among the Member States. For this purpose, the authorities involved shall share all the relevant information needed to carry out the licence exchange according to the procedures referred to in ATCO.AR.B.001(c).

(b)       For the purposes of the exchange and for exercising the privileges of the licence in a Member State other than that in which the licence was issued, the licence holder must fulfil the language proficiency requirements referred to in ATCO.B.030 established by the respective Member State.

(c)       The new licence shall include ratings, rating endorsements, licence endorsements and all valid unit endorsements in the licence, including the date of their first issue and expiry, if applicable.

(d)       Following the receipt of the new licence, the licence holder shall submit an application referred to in ATCO.A.005 together with his/her air traffic controller licence in order to get new ratings, rating endorsements, licence endorsements or unit endorsements.

(e)       Following the exchange, the previously issued licence shall be returned to the authority that issued it.

[applicable until 3 August 2024 - Regulation (EU) 2015/340]

ATCO.A.010 Application for change of competent authority

(a)       If the licence holder is to exercise the privileges of a unit endorsement in a Member State of which the competent authority is not the one that issued the licence, the licence holder shall request a change of the competent authority to the competent authority of the Member State where those privileges are to be exercised in accordance with the procedure established by that authority. For this purpose, the competent authorities involved shall share all the relevant information needed to carry out the change of competent authority and licence exchange according to the procedures referred to in point ATCO.AR.B.001(c) and point ATCO.AR.D.003.

(b)       In derogation to point (a) above, a change of the competent authority is not required when only synthetic training device instructor or assessor privileges are exercised in a synthetic training device environment or when privileges of a student air traffic controller licence are exercised.

(c)       For the purposes of exercising the privileges of the licence in a Member State other than that in which the licence was issued, the licence holder must fulfil the language proficiency requirements referred to in point ATCO.B.030 established by the Member State where the privileges are to be exercised.

[applicable from 4 August 2024 - Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/893]