Safety Oversight
Oversight, both initial and ongoing are functions undertaken by the NSA to verify that regulatory objectives and requirements are met in an effective manner. NSA will obtain that verification primarily through the audit process which may include direct sampling of the output or effectiveness of the provider’s processes and procedures.
NSA may engage the services of Recognised Organisations, Notified Bodies and expert personnel to establish compliance with applicable requirements. Also, NSA may take into account, where appropriate, the results of assessments carried out by accredited bodies.
Initial oversight is the process through which the NSA obtains objective information to enable a decision to be made to permit an organisation to operate in a particular ATM functional area.
In the context of Regulation (EC) no 1034/2011 as enacted in the Republic of Kosovo by Regulation no 6/2012 and Regulation (EC) 550/2004 as enacted in the Republic of Kosovo by Regulation no 9/2009, that decision may relate to:
- the issue or renewal of a certificate, or
- enabling the designation or renewal of a designation by the State of an organisation holding a certificate to provide services within specific airspace blocks,
- the proposed operation of new systems and changes to the ATM system, or
- the supervision of compliance with the interoperability regulation, essential requirements, implementing rules and/or community specifications.
Therefore initial oversight applies to certification of ANS provision, as well as to the introduction of new systems and major changes to existing systems.
Whether a change is ‘major’ or ‘minor’ it is the responsibility of the service provider to satisfy itself and to demonstrate to the NSA that the resulting system will meet all appropriate safety requirements throughout its complete lifecycle. ANS providers are required through Regulation no 6/2012 to notify the NSA of any planned changes, both ‘major’ and ‘minor’.
For a ’major’ change, the acceptance by NSA of a safety case before the change is implemented is the normal means of achieving this whereas ‘minor’ changes would normally be implemented directly through the procedures and processes within the provider’s SMS and possibly be audited during audit of the SMS.
Ongoing oversight is the function undertaken by NSA to verify that objectives and regulatory requirements continue to be met for the operational lifetime of the function or system.
The methods by which ongoing safety oversight is achieved include the monitoring of safety performance and regulatory audits which are normally done routinely, but ad-hoc action may be initiated where received information suggests that such action is necessary.
Feedback from ongoing oversight shall be used to monitor Safety Performance and achievement of the national Safety Targets and well as loop back into the regulatory process to improve quality of the regulations and safety rules. In special circumstances findings from the ongoing oversight may provide the basis for the issue of Safety Directives.
The NSA each year prepares an Annual Audit Programme of the oversight of all organisations and services under the oversight responsibility of the NSA. The Programme will include all the known oversights to be performed to ensure that the NSA fulfils its oversight obligations. The planning process is risk-based and considers inputs from various sources, including:
- Follow-up activities to verify the implementation of corrective actions related to previous audits or if a previous audit for some reason was not able to address the complete scope of requirements;
- Follow-up activities to verify compliance with safety requirements generated through the safety assessment process and requirements stemming from the Interoperability Regulation (11/2009).
- Activities to be implemented due to the identification of areas of particular concern to safe provision of services;
- Oversights to be performed for the initial certification of a service provider / training institute initiated by the reception of an application for certification.