The CAA works closely with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to promote the highest common standards of safety and environmental protection in civil aviation.
Aviation regulation and policy is, as far as possible, harmonised across the world to ensure consistent levels of safety and consumer protection. Within Europe much of the regulations and legislation that the CAA uses to protect consumers is developed and enforced on a Europe- wide basis. These predominantly originate from the European Commission or via an EC agency.
The CAA plays an active role in assisting with the development of these policies and regulations and has a close working relationship with the EC and other relevant bodies.
European regulation covers areas ranging from emissions trading to financial protection for air holidays, compensation for passengers whose flights are cancelled or delayed, the harmonisation of air traffic control and the setting of safety regulations.
An EC agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), is responsible for developing aviation safety regulation for Europe. The agency also acts as the body responsible for approving new aircraft designs for aircraft, for example the certification of the Airbus A380.
The CAA works very closely with EASA to implement and enforce the regulations in the UK.
There is also a major project underway in Europe, that the CAA fully supports, to harmonise Europe's air traffic control systems. Known as the Single European Sky (SES) it aims to improve efficiency and capacity while reducing aviation's impact on the environment.
SES - The Single European Sky initiative (SES) is intended to create an airspace and air traffic management system (ATM) that is designed, managed and regulated in a harmonised way and which ensures efficient utilisation of airspace at all levels across the EU.
SESAR - Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) is the technical implementation programme for the Single European Sky (SES) to modernise the European ATM system.