Page 14 - UK SERA Standard European Rules of the Air (Consolidated) January 2022

SERA - Standardised European Rules of the Air

providing for CE marking.
ARTICLE 2(138) GM1 Unmanned free balloons
Unmanned free balloons are classified as heavy, medium or light in accordance with the specifications
contained in Appendix 2 to this Regulation.
ARTICLE 2(141) GM1 Visibility
(a) The two distances which may be defined by a given visibility have different values in the air
of a given extinction coefficient. Visibility based on seeing and recognising an object is
represented by the meteorological optical range (MOR) (Article 2(141)). Visibility based on
seeing and identifying lights varies with the background illumination (Article 2(141)(b)).
(b) The definition of visibility applies to the observations of visibility in local routine and special
reports, to the observations of prevailing and minimum visibility reported in METAR and
SPECI, and to the observations of ground visibility.
ARTICLE 3 Article 3 Compliance
The competent authority shall ensure compliance with the common rules and provisions set out in the
Annex to this Regulation without prejudice to the flexibility provisions contained in Article 14 of the
Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 and the safeguards contained in Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No
549/2004.
ARTICLE 4 Article 4 Exemptions for special operations
1. The competent authority may, either on its own initiative or based on applications by the
entities concerned, grant exemptions to individual entities or to categories of entities from
any of the requirements of this Regulation for the following activities of public interest and
for the training necessary to carry out those activities safely:
(a) police and customs missions;
(b) traffic surveillance and pursuit missions;
(c) environmental control missions conducted by, or on behalf of public authorities;
(d) search and rescue;
(e) medical flights;
(f) evacuations;
(g) fire fighting;
(h) exemptions required to ensure the security of flights by heads of State, Ministers and
comparable State functionaries.
3. This Article is without prejudice to Article 3 and may be applied in the cases where the
activities listed under paragraph 1, cannot be carried out as operational air traffic or where
they otherwise may not benefit from the flexibility provisions contained in this Regulation.
This Article shall also be without prejudice to helicopter operating minima contained in the
specific approvals granted by the competent authority, pursuant to Annex V to Commission
Regulation (EU) No 965/2012.
ARTICLE 4 GM1 Exemptions for special operations
GENERAL
(a) The exemptions covered by Article 4 are intended for cases where the operation is of
sufficient public interest to warrant allowing non-compliance with this Regulation, including
the acceptance of the additional safety risks involved in such operations. Possible
exemptions for normal operations, which are outside the scope of this Article, are covered
by the specific provisions in the Annex (e.g. in provisions containing formulations such as
‘as permitted by the competent authority’, ‘unless otherwise specified by the competent
authority’, etc.).
(b) Depending on the case, the competent authority may decide to grant the exemption to
individual flights, groups of flights, or types of operations performed by specified operators.
(c) The exemptions may be granted either permanently, or as a temporary measure. Where
the exemption is granted permanently, particular attention should be paid to ensuring that
the conditions of the exemptions continue to be complied with over time.
(d) As referred to in Article 4(3), and depending on national rules, some of these operations
may be performed under the Operational Air Traffic (OAT) rules in certain Member States
and, thus, are entirely outside the scope of this Regulation.
ARTICLE 4 GM2 Exemptions for special operations
The competent authority, when granting exemptions in accordance with Article 4, should consider not
only case-by-case requests coming from individual entities, but also may grant general exemptions for
groups of entities entitled to carry out the listed activities.
ARTICLE 4a Article 4a Very-high frequency (VHF) emergency frequency
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Centrik Regulations Team note: This item was due to be inserted by CIR (EU) 2020/469 however, the
applicability date for the addition fell after the EU exit date. Therefore, the addition did not enter UK Law.
ARTICLE 6 Article 6 Monitoring of amendments
1. The competent authority must:
(a) ensure that any amendments adopted under the framework of the Chicago
Convention which are of relevance with respect to the scope of this Regulation are
monitored and analysed; and
(b) where necessary, develop proposals for amendments to the Annex to this
Regulation.
2. The provisions of Article 7 regarding amendments to the Annex shall apply as appropriate.
ARTICLE 7 Article 7 Amendments to the Annex
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