GM1 21.1 Competent authority

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PART 21 Each certificate or approval in accordance with Part 21, Section A, Subparts F, G, H, I, and P is normally issued and overseen by the competent authority of the Member State in which the applicant or holder is located. Therefore, to ensure consistency between the competent authorities of the Member States in issuing certificates and approvals, the implementation of Part 21 should be based on the following three principles:

(a)the establishment and maintenance of an effective organisation and of the corresponding processes by the competent authorities;

(b)the operation of the competent authorities in accordance with Part 21 and the AMC and GM thereto; and

(c)a standardisation process that is established and applied by EASA to assess the standard(s) achieved, and to provide timely advice and guidance to the competent authorities. As a result, the responsibility for implementation of Part 21 has two main objectives:

(a)to ensure that certificates and approvals are only granted to applicants that comply with the requirements of Part 21; and

(b)to ensure that there is sufficient visibility of the processes, to give EASA and the Member States the necessary confidence in the certificates or approvals granted.