The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA NZ) have signed an agreement to enhance safety oversight, minimise duplicative regulatory audits and reduce regulatory cost.
The technical arrangement on aviation maintenance will see CAAS and CAA NZ mutually recognise and reciprocally accept approvals pertaining to the MRO of aircraft and aircraft components issued by the respective civil aviation authorities.
The agreement was signed by CAAS’ director-general Han Kok Juan and CAA NZ’s director and chief executive Keith Manch on 30 September during the 41st International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly.
As well as benefitting MRO organisations in Singapore and New Zealand, CAAS and CAA NZ said the agreement would facilitate closer collaboration between them “to support the development of the aviation industries of both countries”.
The agreement was concluded under the ambit of the CAAS-CAA NZ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2019 to strengthen cooperation in enhancing aviation safety.
CAAS has concluded similar technical arrangements with Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Transport Canada, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, Hong Kong China’s Civil Aviation Department, the Civil Aviation Bureau of Japan, the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority, and the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The civil aviation authorities of Singapore and New Zealand are like-minded and share the same commitment to uphold the highest standards in aviation safety as our respective aviation industries recover from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Han Kok Juan. “The agreement with New Zealand adds to the list of countries Singapore has mutual recognition arrangements with; it is a pro-safety, pro-enterprise measure which will help MRO companies fulfil their safety requirements while reducing regulatory cost.”
Manch commented: “The agreement reflects the confidence each authority has in the other’s safety oversight systems, and the close working relationship between the two organisations. The agreement will provide significant time and resource savings, and CAA NZ is looking forward to the agreement taking effect.”