COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2021/1338 of 11 August 2021 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/373 as regards reporting requirements and reporting channels between organisations, and requirements for meteorological services - text published in the Official Journal of the European Union

Objective

To amend the reporting requirements and reporting channels between organisations, and the requirements for meteorological services in Regulation 2017/373.

Summary

This Regulation amends annexes I, II, III, V and VI of Regulation 2017/373, the most notable changes being:
Changes relevant to all annexes: 

• Updated references to reflect changes in legislation (e.g. references to Regulation 216/2008 replaced by references to Regulation 2018/1139)
• Updated the wording of some provisions

Changes relevant to specific annexes

• Annex I: Updated definitions for "cloud of operational significance", "volcanic ash advisory centre (VAAC)" and D-VOLMET and added definitions for "volcano observatory", "Geography Markup Language (GML)" and "space weather centre (SWXC)".
• Annex II: Specified a 30 day timeframe for competent authorities to notify EASA in case of any significant problems with the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 and its delegated and implementing acts
• Annex III:
  • Added a provision for the establishment and maintenance of an occurrence-reporting system, including mandatory and voluntary reporting. This system must be in compliance with Regulation 376/2014 and Regulation 2018/1139.
  • Added provisions for initial mandatory reports for ATM/ANS providers that are not established in an ЕU Member State. These must be made as soon as practicable (but within 72 hours), in a form, established by the competent authority, contain all pertinent information and safeguard the confidentiality of the identity of the persons involved.
• Annex V:
  • Added a provision that hourly METAR and SPECI may be issued for aerodromes not serving scheduled international commercial operations (as opposed to the obligation to issue half-hourly reports for aerodromes serving scheduled international commercial operations)
  • Added provision for space weather advisories (these are basically the same as those for volcanic ash and tropical cyclone advisories).
  • Added provisions for SPECI (these are basically the same as those for METAR)
  • Removed the respective values in metres in most situations where feet are used (e.g. cloud height)
  • Removed the respective values in m/s in situations where kt are used (e.g. wind speed)
  • Added a provision that RVR is to be reported in metres
  • Added the option for the competent authotity to prescribe a special period of validity (i.e. less than 9 hours) for routine TAFs for aerodromes which operate for less than 9 hours.
  • Added a provision that TAFs are to be filed for transmission not earlier than 1 hour before the commencement of their period of validity.
  • Removed the provision for providing volcanic ash advisories in graphical format.
  • The forecasts for upper wind, upper-air temperature, icing, turbulence, tropopause level and temperature, etc. must be issued within 5 hours after standard time of observation (instead of 6).
  • The SIGWX forecasts must be disseminated within 7 hours after standard time of observation (under normal operations) and not within 9 hours (during backup operations), instead of 9 hours in all cases.
  • Removed the Example(s) column in the METAR/SPECI, TAF, windshear, AIRMET/SIGMET, VA advisory and TC advisory templates.
• Annex VI: no major changes.

Entry into Force

The Regulation entered into force in September 2021. 
The new template for METAR and SPECI (point 32 of Annex IV) as well as the new SNOWTAM format (Annex V) apply from 12 August 2021.

Regulation 2021/1338 amending Regulation 2017/373 as regards reporting between organizations and requirements for meteorological services (OJ, 12.08.2021)

Further  Reading

European Commission

• EUR-Lex Portal: Regulation 2021/1338 (available in different languages and file formats)