21.B.431 Oversight principles

OVERSIGHT TEAM AND PROCEDURES

(d)The competent authority should appoint a design organisation oversight team for each holder of a DOA. This team is responsible for conducting all the relevant tasks related to the oversight. The team should consist of a team leader to manage and lead the team and, if needed, one or more team members. The team leader should report to the manager who is responsible for the activities of the competent authority as defined in point 21.B.25(b).

(e)The competent authority should perform sufficient oversight activities for a holder of a DOA to justify the recommendations for the maintenance, amendment, limitation, suspension or revocation of the approval.

(f)The competent authority should prepare procedures for the oversight of a design organisation as part of the documented procedures that cover at least the following elements:

(1)appointment of the investigation team;

(2)review of results of past oversight activities;

(3)preparation and planning of the investigation;

(4)evaluation of the documentation (design organisation handbook, procedures, etc.);

(5)auditing;

(6)follow-up of corrective actions;

(7)recommendation for the amendment, limitation, suspension or revocation of a design organisation approval; and

(8)continued surveillance.

OVERSIGHT TEAM SELECTION

(c)Team leader selection The team leader should satisfy all of the criteria for a team member and will be selected by considering the following additional criteria:

(5)the capability to lead and manage a team;

(6)the capability to prepare reports and be diplomatic;

(7)experience in oversight (not necessarily only Part 21 Section A, Subpart J); and

(8)a knowledge of design management systems.

(d)Team member selection The competent authority should determine the size of the team and the specialisations to be covered, taking into account the scope of work and the characteristics of the applicant. Team members should be selected by considering the following criteria:

(4)training for Part 21;

(5)education and experience, to cover the appropriate aviation knowledge, investigation practices; and

(6)the ability to verify that an applicant’s organisation conforms to its own procedures, and that its key personnel are competent.

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ASSESSMENT

(a)As a result of the oversight, the competent authority should be satisfied as to the effectiveness of the organisation’s management system and processes.

(b)When significant changes take place in the organisation, the competent authority should determine whether there is a need to review the existing assessment to ensure that it is still valid.

ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF COMPLIANCE The competent authority should have a procedure for formally recording the proposal, discussion and disposition of alternative means of compliance (deviations from existing AMC). This procedure is necessary to record satisfaction by the competent authority that the use of alternative means provides for compliance with the applicable requirements. The alternative means of compliance should only be allowed to be used by the organisation once agreement has been found with the competent authority. For those alternative means of compliance where previously no formal satisfaction was recorded, a pragmatic approach should be followed on both organisation and competent authority side as to the need to formally record acceptance of such an alternative means of compliance. Note: EASA Management Board Decisions 03-2004 (Section 2, Article 2, Paragraph 2) and 12-2007 (Section 2, Article 3, Paragraph 2) already required a formal process on the handling of deviations from AMC.