Capabilities of the competent authorities
1. Competent authorities shall have the technical and operational capacity and expertise to fulfil their obligations under Article 18. To this end, they shall:
(a)
have appropriately documented procedures, and adequate resources;
(b)
employ personnel with sufficient knowledge, professional integrity, as well as experience and training to perform their allocated tasks;
(c)
take any action required to contribute to the safe, efficient and secure operations of UAS in the U-space airspace under their responsibility.
2. Competent authorities shall be capable of taking or initiating any appropriate enforcement measures necessary to ensure that the U-space service providers and single common information service providers under their oversight comply with the requirements of this Regulation.
Tasks of the competent authorities
The designated competent authorities shall:
(a)
establish, maintain and make available a registration system for certified U-space service providers and single common information service providers;
(b)
determine what traffic data, whether live or recorded, U-space service providers, single common information service providers and air traffic service providers are to make available to authorised natural and legal persons, including the required frequency and the quality level of data, without prejudice to personal data protection regulations;
(c)
determine the level of access to the information for different users of the common information, and ensure it is made available in accordance with Annex II;
(d)
ensure that data exchanges between air traffic service providers and U-space service providers are made in accordance with Annex V;
(e)
define the manner for natural and legal persons to apply for a U-space service provider or single common information service provider certificate in accordance with Chapter V;
(f)
establish a mechanism to coordinate with other authorities and entities, including at local level, the designation of U-space airspace, the establishment of airspace restrictions for UAS within that U-space airspace and the determination of the U-space services to be provided in the U-space airspace;
(g)
establish a certification and continuous risk-based oversight programme, including the monitoring of the operational and financial performance, commensurate with the risk associated with the services being provided by the U-space service providers and single common information service providers under their oversight responsibility;
(h)
require the providers of common information and U-space service providers to make available all necessary information to ensure that the provision of U-space services contribute to safe operations of aircraft;
(i)
carry out audits, assessments, investigations and inspections of the U-space service providers and single common information service providers as established in the oversight programme;
(j)
take into account the required levels of safety performance when defining the requirements for each U-space airspace that have been subject to an airspace risk assessment as referred to in Article 3(1);
(k)
regularly monitor and assess the levels of safety performance and use the results of the monitoring of safety performance in particular within their risk-based oversight.
Entry into force and application
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
It shall apply from 26 January 2023.
