Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority
Article 4
1. Each Member State shall ensure that safety investigations are conducted or supervised, without external interference, by a permanent national civil aviation safety investigation authority (safety investigation authority) capable of independently conducting a full safety investigation, either on its own or through agreements with other safety investigation authorities. 2. The safety investigation authority shall be functionally independent in particular of aviation authorities responsible for airworthiness, certification, flight operation, maintenance, licensing, air traffic control or aerodrome operation and, in general, of any other party or entity the interests or missions of which could conflict with the task entrusted to the safety investigation authority or influence its objectivity. 3. The safety investigation authority shall, in the conduct of the safety investigation, neither seek nor take instructions from anybody and shall have unrestricted authority over the conduct of the safety investigations. 4. The activities entrusted to the safety investigation authority may be extended to the gathering and analysis of aviation safety related information, in particular for accident prevention purposes, in so far as these activities do not affect its independence and entail no responsibility in regulatory, administrative or standards matters. 5. In order to inform the public of the general aviation safety level, a safety review shall be published annually at national level. In this analysis, the sources of confidential information shall not be revealed. 6. The safety investigation authority shall be given by the respective Member State the means required to carry out its responsibilities independently and shall be able to obtain sufficient resources to do so. In particular: (a) the head of the safety investigation authority and/or, in the case of a multimodal authority, the head of its aviation branch shall have the experience and competence in civil aviation safety to fulfil his or her tasks in accordance with this Regulation and national law; (b) the investigators shall be afforded status giving them the necessary guarantees of independence; (c) the safety investigation authority shall comprise at least one available investigator able to perform the function of the investigator-in-charge in the event of a major air accident; (d) the safety investigation authority shall be allocated a budget that enables it to carry out its functions; (e) the safety investigation authority shall have at its disposal, either directly or by means of the cooperation referred to in Article 6, or through arrangements with other national authorities or entities, qualified personnel and adequate facilities, including offices and hangars to enable the storage and examination of the aircraft, its contents and its wreckage.