Standardisation

Harmonising standards for aviation operations and supporting their implementation, regionally and globally.

About

We develop fit-for-purpose technical and operational, civil and military standards, published in the form of EUROCONTROL specifications and guidelines. They serve as means of compliance with global and EU requirements, support harmonised deployment and facilitate an open market for our stakeholders.

We create awareness and assist all stakeholders in understanding and implementing European and other requirements, capturing their generic needs and servicing them.

We conduct impact assessments to bridge the gap from R&D to deployment and beyond, from problem analysis to best option selection and ex-post evaluation, using European best practice.

Supporting standardisation

Single European Sky specifications

Our technical specifications and guidelines provide presumption of conformity with the European Union Interoperability Regulation, where recognised as SES Community Specifications. Our standards also serve as acceptable means of compliance for supporting the implementation of the EU regulatory requirements developed by EASA.

European ATM standards

We closely coordinate and collaborate with EUROCAE in developing aviation standards. A similar coordination and cooperation effort is applied by the broader European standardisation community through the European ATM Standards Coordination Group (EASCG). We contribute our knowledge, experience and harmonisation material to complement their work.

Global standards

Our specifications are used as means of compliance and guidance material by the international community. They are further enhanced by our participation and coordinated efforts with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the RTCA.

Implementation support

Global and European requirements may include regulations, standardisation or other approaches to deploying a regulation, programme, concept or technology. Using our knowledge and experience of the global and regional aviation frameworks and of developing requirements, we create awareness and a deeper understanding of those requirements and their impacts for stakeholders. Where appropriate, we bring them together and capture generic support needs, leading to the development and provision of a variety of deployment tools (standards, manuals, templates, training, etc.).

Visit our standardisation portal

Check out our new standardisation portal, developed by EUROCONTROL, which makes it easy to see all of the new and updated specifications and guidelines we are currently working on.

The public portal offers you a simple way to provide feedback on any of the upcoming standards in development. You can also log in to participate in ongoing consultations.

Fostering aviation interoperability and deployment of new tools through harmonised ATM standards

Development process

 

The standards development process is mandated by the States and provides a validated outcome on the basis of a defined need.

Using an inclusive, cooperative and transparent process, our standards contribute to improving the safety, interoperability and performance of the entire aviation sector.

Our process consists of five phases.

In collaboration with rule-makers and interested parties and their working arrangements, we determine the overall need and approach to be adopted by ensuring that the reason/problem requiring a standard is clear and justified and that the right type of standard is selected. Laterally, we provide impact assessment (IA) workshops for external stakeholders at the request of stakeholders who feel that a greater emphasis on IA is required, at all levels from R&D to deployment. IA starts upstream of all major developments and drives the decision-making and directions/solutions selected. Where applied properly, IA delivers successful mandatory and non-mandatory solutions. Examples are available in Europe. IA starts with problem analysis and leads to the identification of objectives and options to address the problem. It then rationalises which option may be best to develop. Once deployed, IA will also analyse the suitability of each solution, thereby refining the process.

Our experts draft the texts of future standards in cooperation with European organisations and institutions, States and industry. We proceed in an impartial manner, in strict compliance with the Agency’s working arrangements, directly involving stakeholders who express a special interest.

We validate the draft material through informal (end-to-end) or formal, open and wide public consultation. Formal consultation directly accesses over 200 stakeholders, and the material is also published on the website for public consumption. We work to ensure transparency and stakeholder involvement.

We publish the validated and approved standards on our website and they are free of charge.

In collaboration with our LSSIP colleagues, we monitor the use of our standards. We perform a periodic review of the existing standards to ensure relevance and reflect the evolution of the business (e.g. change in references, new technological developments, etc.). Stakeholders also have the possibility to initiate and/or contribute to the task by filing change requests for existing material. To provide feedback and suggest changes, please contact us.

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