"The European Parliament Transport Committee has delivered a strong and unambiguous message, safety and judicial investigations must be strictly independent from each other and sensitive safety information must be fully protected if we want to continue preventing future accidents" said Capt. Martin Chalk, ECA President. "We wholeheartedly welcome the pro-safety stance developed by the EP rapporteur Mrs de Veyrac and her fellow-Parliamentarians."

IFATCA President Alexis Brathwaite stressed "this balanced and unanimous vote is very good news for Europe's travelling public. The EP agrees that the sole objective of any accident investigation should be to understand what happened and why, in order to improve aviation safety, without apportioning blame or liability."

Accident investigations are key drivers for safety improvements, an opportunity to learn from accidents to prevent them from re-occurring. Safety professionals, pilots and air traffic controllers cooperate in such investigations and provide safety testimony. However, the prior proposed Regulation did not protect this testimony from being used in criminal proceedings. This would have prevented the free flow of information.

Fourteen stakeholder organizations sent a clear message to the EU that the future regulations must fully protect safety data and information if the industry wants to continue improving air safety and preventing future accidents. ?The use of safety information in judicial proceedings should be strictly limited to clearly defined cases.? said Capt. Martin Chalk, ECA President.