U.K. Will Leave EU Aviation Regulator in 2021: Aviation Week

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. will withdraw as a member state of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency after Dec. 31, Aviation Week reported, citing an interview with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

“We will leave EASA,” Shapps said in the interview. “A lot of the expertise they have is U.K. expertise, in fact. A lot of the key leading lights were Brits.”

The U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority will take up responsibility for aircraft certification and safety regulation after a transition period. The CAA will also seek mutual recognition of certifications in bilateral agreements with countries and blocs outside the EASA, Shapps said.

Britain has been considered a “third country” within EASA since Jan. 31, a status that doesn’t grant it decision-making capabilities and that will continue through Dec. 31.

The transition period can be extended between the parties once by up to two years, EASA says on its website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Buckley in London at tbuckley25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, James Amott, Christopher Sell

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