Civil Aviation Act 1971

27 Design, construction and maintenance of aircraft

(1) Section 7 of the [1949 c. 67.] Civil Aviation Act 1949 (which among other things provides for the delegation by the Secretary of State of his functions with respect to the design, construction and maintenance of aircraft) shall cease to have effect.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Authority to consult the board established in pursuance of the following provisions of this section on all matters appearing to the Authority to be of significance as respects the standards of design, construction and maintenance by reference to which certificates of airworthiness for aircraft are to be granted or renewed in pursuance of Air Navigation Orders and to consult the said board as to whether an aircraft of a new type satisfies the standards of design and construction required for the issue of such a certificate for the aircraft; and—

(a) any question whether a matter is one on which consultations are required by virtue of this subsection shall be decided by the Authority;

(b) it shall be the duty of the Authority to consider all advice given to it by the said board in pursuance of this section;

(c) if the Authority decides not to proceed in accordance with any advice given to the Authority by the said board it shall be the duty of the Authority to inform the board in writing of its reasons for the decision and, if the advice was given in consequence of consultations required by virtue of this subsection, to publish particulars of the case forthwith in the prescribed manner.

(3) There shall be a body of persons, to be known as the Airworthiness Requirements Board (and hereafter in this section referred to as " the board "), of which the functions shall be—

(a) to give advice to the Authority on—

(i) all matters on which the Authority consults the board in pursuance of the preceding subsection, and

(ii) any other matters which appear to the board to relate to the standards mentioned in the preceding subsection and on which the board considers it appropriate to give advice to the Authority;

(b) to consult such persons as the board considers appropriate for the purpose of giving such advice as aforesaid.

(4) The board shall consist of not less than twelve nor more than twenty persons appointed by the Authority of whom—

(a) four shall be appointed on the nomination of any body or persons appearing to the Authority to be representative—

(i) as to one of the four, of manufacturers of aircraft,

(ii) as to another of them, of operators of aircraft,

(iii) as to another of them, of insurers of aircraft,

(iv) as to the other of them, of pilots of aircraft;

(b) more than half the persons for the time being so appointed shall be representative members (and in this paragraph " representative member" means a person appointed to be a member of the board on the nomination of any body or persons appearing to the Authority to be representative of manufacturers or operators or insurers or pilots of aircraft); and

(c) the remainder may include one or more members of the Authority;

and the Authority shall designate as the chairman of the board a member of it nominated by the board.

(5) The provisions of Schedule 6 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the board.