Article 5 Competent authority

1.Member States shall nominate or establish one or more competent authority(ies) with allocated responsibilities for the certification and oversight of persons and organisations subject to this Regulation.

2.Within a functional airspace block or in the case of cross-border service provision the competent authorities shall be designated by agreement of the Member States concerned.

3.If a Member State nominates or establishes more than one competent authority, the areas of competence of each competent authority shall be clearly defined in terms of responsibilities and geographical area, where appropriate. Coordination shall be established between those authorities to ensure effective oversight of all persons and organisations subject to this Regulation within their respective remits.

4.The competent authority(ies) shall be independent from air navigation service providers and training organisations. This independence shall be achieved through adequate separation, at least at functional level, of the competent authorities on the one hand and air navigation service providers and the training organisations on the other hand. The competent authorities shall exercise their powers impartially and transparently. The first subparagraph also applies to the Agency, where it acts as a competent authority pursuant to Article 6(2)(b) and (3)(a)(ii).

5.Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities have the necessary capability to conduct the certification and oversight activities covered by their certification and oversight programmes, including sufficient resources to fulfil the requirements of Annex II (Part ATCO.AR). In particular, Member States shall use the assessments produced by the competent authorities in accordance with point ATCO.AR.A.005(a) of Annex II in order to demonstrate their capability.

6.Member States shall ensure that, with respect to the personnel of the competent authorities that carry out the oversight and certification activities under this Regulation, there is no direct or indirect conflict of interest, in particular relating to family or financial interests of the personnel concerned.

7.The competent authority(ies) nominated or established by a Member State for the purposes of Commission Regulation (EU) No 805/2011 shall be deemed to remain the competent authority for the purposes of this Regulation, unless otherwise determined by the Member State concerned. In the latter case, Member States shall notify the Agency of the name(s) and address(es) of the competent authority(ies) that they nominate or establish in application of this Article, as well as any changes thereto.