Explanatory Statement
Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998
CASA ADCX 001/26 — Repeal of Airworthiness Directive AD/ECUREUIL/124 Instrument 2026
Legislation
Under section 98 of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act), the Governor-General may make regulations for the purpose of carrying out and giving effect to the provisions of the Convention on International Civil Aviation relating to safety, amongst other things. Under regulation 39.001 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR), the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) may issue an airworthiness directive (AD) for a kind of aircraft or aeronautical product. Under subsections 98 (5B) and (5BA) of the Act, an AD is a legislative instrument unless it is expressed to apply in relation to a particular person, a particular aircraft or a particular aeronautical product.
Under subsection 33 (3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, where an Act confers a power to make, grant or issue any instrument of a legislative or administrative character (including rules, regulations or by-laws), the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like conditions (if any) to repeal, rescind, revoke, amend, or vary any such instrument.
Under Annex 8 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the State of Design has overall responsibility for continuing airworthiness of an aircraft type and must provide any information necessary to ensure the continuing airworthiness of a type to appropriate States of Registry. ADs (and their equivalents) are the most common form of continuing airworthiness information and are issued by most International Civil Aviation Organization Contracting States.
The State of Registry of an individual aircraft is responsible for its continuing airworthiness. Under Annex 8, the State of Registry must develop or adopt requirements to ensure the continuing airworthiness of aircraft. When a foreign State of Design issued an AD before 1 October 2009 for a type of aircraft on the Australian Register, CASA, as Australia’s national airworthiness authority, must assess that information and, if appropriate, issue an Australian AD to mandate the requirements of the foreign State of Design.
Background
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued EASA AD 2006-0337 and CASA issued AD/ECUREUIL/124 to mandate the requirement of this AD for Australian operators.
EASA has revoked EASA AD 2006-0337 by issuing AD 2026-0089 which is automatically adopted by CASA under Part 39 of CASR. This foreign AD applies to Airbus AS 350 and EC 130 Helicopters.
Repeal
This instrument repeals the Australian AD AD/ECUREUIL/124 because the requirements of AD/ECUREUIL/124 have been superseded by EASA AD 2026-0089 issued on 7 May 2026 with an effective date of 21 May 2026.
Consultation
No public or other consultation has taken place on the repeal of AD/ECUREUIL/124 because the requirements of AD/ECUREUIL/124 have been superseded by EASA AD 2026-0089 which must now be complied with because it is a Foreign State of Design AD. For this reason, it is CASA’s view that it is not necessary or appropriate to undertake any consultation under section 17 of the Legislation Act 2003 (LA).
Office of Impact Analysis (OIA)
An Impact Analysis (IA) is not required because ADs are covered by a carve out by the Office of Impact Analysis under which an IA is not required for Australian or foreign airworthiness directives (OIA23-06244).
Sunsetting
As the instrument relates to aviation safety and is made under CASR, Part 4 of Chapter 3 of the LA (the sunsetting provisions) does not apply to the instrument (as per item 15 of the table in section 12 of the Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015). However, this instrument will be repealed in accordance with section 48A of the LA, which will occur before the sunsetting provisions would have repealed the instrument if they had applied. Therefore, the exemption from sunsetting does not affect parliamentary oversight of this instrument.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is at Attachment 1.
Making and commencement
The instrument has been made by a delegate of CASA relying on the power of delegation under subregulation 11.260 (1) of CASR and subsection 94 (1) of the Act.
The instrument commences on 21 May 2026 and is automatically repealed in accordance with section 48A of the LA
Attachment 1
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the
Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
CASA ADCX 001/26 — Repeal of Airworthiness Directive AD/ECUREUIL/26 Instrument 2026
This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms
recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the
Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the legislative instrument
The purpose of this legislative instrument is to repeal an Australian airworthiness directive (AD) that is no longer required because the EASA airworthiness directive with the requirements it mandated has recently been revoked by EASA, and EASA has issued a new foreign AD that is automatically adopted by CASA under Part 39 of CASR.
The repealed AD related to inspection and rectification or maintenance of specified aircraft or aeronautical products.
Human rights implications
This legislative instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This legislative instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority