Members
Introduction
The EASCG is a joint coordination and advisory group established to coordinate the ATM-related standardisation activities, essentially stemming from the European ATM Master Plan, in support of Single European Sky implementation.
European Commission
The Single European Sky regulatory framework adopted by the by the European Parliament and the Council in March 2004 and amended in December 2009 provides the legal basis for a seamless, interoperable and safe air traffic management (ATM) system with the objective to enhance current air traffic safety standards, to contribute to the sustainable development of the air transport system and to improve the overall performance of air traffic management (ATM) and air navigation services (ANS) for general air traffic in Europe, while meeting the requirements of all airspace users.
Standards and specifications in support of technical/procedural harmonisation and interoperability play a crucial role in the modernisation of the European ATM network, and more particularly, in the SES context, for the deployment of SESAR and its solutions.
The European Commission took the initiative in July 2014 to bring together the various organisations developing ATM related standards and specifications with the objective to clarify, streamline and eventually coordinate the European ATM standardisation activities. This initiative resulted in the establishment of the EASCG which held its first meeting in January 2015.
As originator and promoter of the EASCG, the European Commission, full member of the EASCG, is financially supporting the work of the EASCG through a grant to EUROCAE, which provides EASCG's secretariat.
EUROCAE
EUROCAE currently has over 500 members, including industry, service providers, regulators, research institutes and international organisations.
EUROCAE membership is open to organisations and industries worldwide. EUROCAE, in the interest of its stakeholders, develops technical specifications for the aviation industry and in support of regulations, aiming to increase safety, market potential, facilitate interoperability and encourage technological development.
The development of EUROCAE documents is governed by a well-proven core process promoting team work, excellence, industry buy-in and consensus while ensuring safety. To date, EUROCAE has published more than 300 EUROCAE documents (EDs), which are recognised worldwide as high quality and state of the art standards.
Working Groups (WGs) are well known in the aviation environment and their competencies are recognised in Europe by the European Commission, the EASA, EUROCONTROL, the European CAAs, Airports, ANSP’s, Airlines, etc... and internationally by ICAO, US FAA, IATA, CANSO and many more.
WGs are tasked to develop standards based on a consensus-driven process by the involved members and submitted to a worldwide open consultation. EUROCAE WGs currently involve more than 5 000 experts from more than 40 countries around the globe participating and contributing on voluntary basis.
Many EUROCAE WGs are developing documents jointly or in close collaboration with partner organisations including RTCA and SAE.
EUROCAE is a plenary member of the EASCG and provides the Secretariat to the group.
EUROCONTROL
EUROCONTROL is an intergovernmental organisation of 41 Member States, committed to building, together with its partners, the European Union’s vision for a Single European Sky. EUROCONTROL supports its Member States and stakeholders (including air navigation service providers, civil and military airspace users, airports and aircraft/equipment manufacturers) in a joint effort to make aviation in Europe safer, more efficient, more cost-effective and with a minimal environmental impact.
EUROCONTROL and its expertise are key in developing and supporting all regional and global standardisation activities relevant for ATM. In this context, EUROCONTROL develops fit-for-purpose technical and operational, civil and military standards, published in the form of EUROCONTROL Specifications and EUROCONTROL Guidelines. These serve as means of compliance with global and EU requirements, support harmonised deployment and facilitate an open market for EUROCONTROL stakeholders.
All EUROCONTROL Specifications and Guidelines are available via https://www.eurocontrol.int/library and can be found here. Furthermore, public access to the standardisation portal to monitor ongoing and planned standardisation material is made available via https://www.eurocontrol.int/standardisation and can be found here.
EUROCONTROL, as an organisation involved in the planning and development of ATM-related standards, is a plenary member of the EASCG.
EASA
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is the centrepiece of the European Union's strategy for aviation. Its objectives are to:
- promote and achieve the highest common levels of safety and environmental protection in civil aviation
- ensure a single regulatory and certification process among Member States
- facilitate the internal aviation single market & create a level playing field
- work with other international aviation organisations & regulators
EASA regularly revises the risks and improves the common regulations applied among EU countries so they are always of the highest standard. EASA works hand in hand with the National Aviation Authorities and aviation industry across Europe to achieve these goals.
In addition, the Agency’s experts conduct certification and inspection work with the aim of providing European citizens with the safest and most environmentally friendly aviation system in the world.
Standards play a central role to support large scale deployment of new technologies, improving efficiency and sustainability, and enable the certification of systems and services, allowing the demonstration of compliance with regulatory requirements. EASA participates in the standards development processes with the objective of achieving standards to support aviation legislation that are fit for purpose and meet the essential requirements stipulated in EU legislation.
EASA is a plenary member of the EASCG and provides the Chair for the group.
You can find further information at: https://www.easa.europa.eu/light/easa.
SESAR 3 JU
The Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) Joint Undertaking is the technological pillar of the European Union’s Single European Sky policy and a key enabler of the European Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.
SESAR defines, researches and develops operational and technological solutions to modernise air traffic management in Europe, and implements an innovation pipeline through which promising ideas are explored and then moved into real operations. Such an innovation pipeline bridges the gap between exploratory/industrial research and industrialisation, in order to accelerate the market uptake. Hence all the SESAR projects are required to provide recommendations and needs for standardisation activities and, where possible, to provide experimental and demonstrated evidence to support the validation of the standards.
The SESAR 3 JU is an active participant in the European Air Traffic Management Standards Coordination Group (EASCG), with the objective to coordinate standardisation activities, identify their links with the R&D activities and to provide a forum for discussion. In fact the European ATM Standardisation Rolling Development Plan managed by the EASCG is of key importance to the SESAR 3 JU to identify the need for standards emerging from the SESAR programme to ensure the necessary planning of standardisation development activity to support the deployment of SESAR solutions.
SESAR 3 JU maintains and regularly updates the European Air Traffic Management (ATM) Master Plan, which is the main planning tool for ATM modernisation across Europe. It defines the development and deployment priorities needed to deliver the SESAR vision.
The SESAR 3 JU also maintains a close working relationship with EUROCAE and its members to promote and support the development of coherent and comprehensive standards under the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed in March 2023.
CEN & CENELEC
CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) are recognized by the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as European Standardization Organizations responsible for developing standards in relation to a wide range of materials, processes, products and services.
The members of CEN and CENELEC are the National Standardization Bodies and National Electrotechnical Committees of 33 European countries. European Standards (ENs) and other standardization deliverables that have been adopted by CEN and CENELEC are accepted and recognized in all of these countries. European Standards (ENs) are developed through a process of collaboration among experts nominated by business and industry, public authorities, research institutes, consumer and environmental organisations and other stakeholders. When correctly applied, they contribute to enhancing safety, improving performance and quality, facilitating cross-border trade and strengthening the European Single Market. CEN and CENELEC cooperate with the European Commission to develop and adopt harmonized standards and other deliverables that support the implementation of EU policies and legislation. The domains covered by CEN and CENELEC are numerous: aerospace, chemistry, construction, consumer, electro-technical, ICT,...
Air Traffic Management is one of them. The CEN/TC 377 “Air Traffic Management” has developed standards in the area of Information security and software assurance levels. In this frame CEN and CENELEC participate in the European Air Traffic Standardization Coordination Group (EASCG).
ETSI
ETSI is one of the world’s leading standards development organizations for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Founded initially to serve European needs, ETSI has grown rapidly to become highly-respected as a producer of technical standards for worldwide use. In addition to our global focus, ETSI is formally recognized by the European Commission as a European Standardization Organization (ESO) and is thus deemed competent to produce European Norms in support of the Single European Sky as well as Harmonised Standards for ground ATM Equipment under the Radio Equipment Directive (2014/53/EU).
ETSI membership is composed of manufacturers and network operators – all the “big names” and many smaller companies too – plus national administrations, ministries, regulators, universities, research groups, consultancies and user organizations. A powerful and dynamic mix of skills, resources and ambitions, all working together to bring the very best ICT solutions to the global marketplace. Geographically, our membership of over 930 companies and organizations is drawn from more than 60 countries on 5 continents.
In the aeronautical sector, ETSI is involved in the production of European Norms in support of the Single European Sky as well as Harmonised Standards for ground ATM equipment, meteorological radars, aeronautical satellite services, direct air-to-ground communication, communication on board aircraft and much more.
ETSI has also more than 110 established partnerships in place. ETSI is independent of all other organizations and structures, a key feature for ensuring neutrality and trustworthiness. That brings benefits not only in the acceptance of our standards and other publications, but also in our growing range of ancillary services, such as interoperability testing which is very important in the aeronautical sector as well.
ETSI's standardization activities are open to all interested companies and organizations. For more information about how you can be involved, please visit https://www.etsi.org/membership. For details about ETSI's current activities in aeronautics, please visit https://portal.etsi.org/ERM and select ERM TGAERO.
ETSI and EASCG
ETSI is involved in the production of aeronautical standards for European Air Traffic Management Network (EATMN) as well as Harmonised Standards for ground ATM equipment under the Radio Equipment Directive (2014/53/EU). As such ETSI provides valuable contribution to the European ATM standardisation rolling development plan as defined by EASCG as well as to the CP1 roadmap as defined in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/116. Together with the other EASCG members, ETSI guarantees a very good level of coordination which is of paramount importance for assuring on-time delivery of standards and avoiding overlapping.
Furthermore, the following organisations are invited to participate as observers:
ASD
ASD is the voice of European Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries. With 25 major European companies and 25 National Associations as our members, the overall representation adds up to more than 4,000 companies across 21 European countries. We are actively supporting the competitive development of the sector in Europe and worldwide. Our members collectively employed 921,000 people and generated a turnover of €261 billion in 2022 – accounting for 98% of the people employed, and 97% of the aerospace and defence industry's turnover within the EU Member States.
Standards are essential to the aviation industry in order to meet objectives related in particular to safety and interoperability and also reliability and performance. Standards and specifications also contribute significantly to the success of many of industry’s collaborative or individual projects in SESAR, and form a large part of their deliverables.
The EASCG’s European ATM standards rolling development plan provides industry with both clarity and steering concerning ATM standard-making activities, in addition to enabling a collaborative risk-monitoring in support of the SES implementation and the shift to more performance-based regulation.
CANSO Europe
CANSO – the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation – is the global voice of air traffic management (ATM) worldwide. CANSO Members support over 90% of world air traffic. Members share information and develop new policies, with the ultimate aim of improving air navigation services (ANS) on the ground and in the air. CANSO represents the views of its Members to a wide range of aviation stakeholders, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, where it has official Observer status. CANSO has an extensive network of Associate Members drawn from across the aviation industry.
CANSO’s objectives in Europe are: to deliver a safe, efficient and sustainable air traffic management system across Europe; and strengthen air traffic management (ATM) performance. CANSO Europe acts as the voice of the ATM industry in Europe with industry partners and European institutions; represent the interests of air navigation service providers; and seek to steer the development and implementation of European legislation.
EDA
The European Defence Agency was established under a Joint Action of the Council of Ministers on 12 July, 2004, "to support the Member States and the Council in their effort to improve European defence capabilities in the field of crisis management and to sustain the European Security and Defence Policy as it stands now and develops in the future”.
To implement the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty (Art.42 TEU), this Joint Action was first replaced by a Council Decision on 12 July 2011 which was revised by Council decision (CFSP) 2015/1835 of 12 October 2015 on the statute, seat and operational rules of the EDA.
The European Defence Agency, within the overall mission set out in the before-mentioned Council decision, has three main missions:
- supporting the development of defence capabilities and military cooperation among the European Union Member States;
- stimulating defence Research and Technology (R&T) and strengthening the European defence industry;
- acting as a military interface to EU policies.
EDA acts as a catalyst, promotes collaborations, launches new initiatives and introduces solutions to improve defence capabilities. It is the place where Member States willing to develop capabilities in cooperation do so. It is also a key facilitator in developing the capabilities necessary to underpin the Common Security and Defence Policy of the Union.
Following EDA’s Long Term Review carried out in 2016-2017, Ministers agreed in May 2017 to reinforce the Agency’s mission along the following paths, in accordance with established EDA rules and procedures:
- EDA as the major intergovernmental prioritisation instrument at EU level in support of capability development, coordinating with the EEAS (incl. EUMS) and EUMC in their respective areas of responsibility.
- EDA as the preferred cooperation forum and management support structure at EU level for participating Member States to engage in technology and capability development activities.
- EDA as facilitator towards the European Commission and EU Agencies, and as the interface upon Member States’ request, exploiting wider EU policies to the benefit of Defence and acting as a central operator with regard to EU funded defence-related activities.
EDA role in EASCG :
With more than 11,000 aircraft currently stationed in Europe, the military are Europe’s biggest airline. Europe’s armed forces operate more than 150,000 flights per year. The Single European Sky initiative and its technological pillar, the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) programme, thus have considerable implications for the military.
The military approach is to be “as civil as possible” while remaining “as military as necessary” for its aviation and ATM operations. As an example, a large portion of operations at airports, in TMA and en-route are directly comparable. However, the purposes of military flight operations are substantially different, sharing the same airspace, at the same time, is therefore not always possible. EDA supports its Member States in the identification of the military operational and financial risks expected with the implementation of SESAR. The Agency facilitates also the coordination of military views by gathering input and requirements from Ministries of Defence.
The EDA was originally given responsibility at its Steering Board in November 2010 to evaluate the operational risks and financial implications of the Single European Sky for military aviation. This role was further extended in May 2013 with the adoption of an implementing regulation that set the ground for EDA work at the policy level of SESAR. The regulation provided EDA with the task of facilitating the coordination of military views from and in support of Member States and relevant military organisations and to inform military planning mechanisms of the requirements stemming from SESAR deployment.
The military community must strike a delicate balance between the challenges of complying with SES requirements and the military’s responsibilities for security and defence. The bottom line is to ensure that military aircraft, helicopters, radar systems and aerodromes can operate safely and effectively in the SES framework.
SESAR Deployment Manager
The SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) was created in 2014 by the European Commission and operational stakeholders in European aviation, i.e., airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers. SDM is tasked with planning, coordinating, and synchronizing the implementation of new ATM functionalities mandated by the EU. These functionalities are based on innovative technical and operational solutions resulting from the R&D phase of the SESAR project.
The initial set of ATM functionalities required to be deployed under SDM coordination in the 2015-2027 timeframe is defined in the Common Project 1(CP1, Regulation (EU) No 116/2021). The SESAR Deployment Programme (DP), developed by SDM, provides a project view of the regulation. The DP is used within the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) framework to guide stakeholders in submitting proposals for the most relevant implementation projects to ensure the full and timely implementation of the CP1. If awarded, implementation projects benefit from EU co-funding and are executed under SDM coordination and monitoring. To date, the successive versions of the DP have facilitated over 223 project submissions to CEF calls since 2014, resulting in substantial EU co-funding for implementation.
Aviation is a highly regulated industry based on high levels of safety and global interoperability, involving advanced airborne systems on board aircraft and complex ground systems that together form the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. Modernizing this complex environment is challenging. The early availability of harmonized standards and regulations is critical for the safe, efficient, and timely deployment of new functionalities, as well as for achieving the associated performance improvements.
The development of materials supporting deployment—including guidance, specifications, standards, and regulations—involves a large number of actors across various governmental structures and is often based on voluntary contributions from the industry. SDM has identified the lack or delayed availability of supporting material as one of the highest risks to the full and timely implementation of the CP1.
The European ATM Standardisation Coordination Group (EASCG) was set up to coordinate activities related to standards and regulation in Europe. SDM holds observer status in EASCG. Given their respective roles, SDM can be considered a "customer" of EASCG. In this role, SDM regularly reports to EASCG on the supporting material required to enable timely implementation while ensuring safety and interoperability.