Air Navigation (Environmental Standards for Non-EASA Aircraft) Order 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Air Navigation (Environmental Standards for Non-EASA Aircraft) Order 2008. The noble Lord said: The Government have been working with the International Civil Aviation Organisation to tighten noise standards with which new aircraft must comply. The latest standard, called the chapter 4 noise standard, became a legal standard on 1 January 2006 and will mean that new aircraft have to meet stricter noise standards than before. Work is also under way to tighten emissions standards. Aircraft engines must meet ICAO emissions standards covering smoke, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen. The oxides of nitrogen standard was recently tightened by 15 per cent from 1 January 2008 for new engine designs. The UK continues to press for further tightening to be agreed by the ICAO in 2010. Although principally targeted at reducing oxides of nitrogen emissions in the vicinity of airports, such measures will also have beneficial effects on climate change. Until March 2007, the noise and emissions certification of all aircraft was undertaken by the Civil Aviation Authority. The European Aviation Safety Agency—the EASA—was then established, and it took on responsibility for the first type of aircraft, jets and large aircraft. These are called EASA aircraft. For simplicity, we call the second category of aircraft non-EASA aircraft. These include microlight aeroplanes and aircraft in the service of customs and the police, and they continue to be regulated by the CAA. The order sets out the noise and emissions standards with which these non-EASA aircraft must comply. Beyond that, there are no new requirements, and no new impacts or costs. This is, in essence, a tidying-up order. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Air Navigation (Environmental Standards for Non-EASA Aircraft) Order 2008. 27th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord Adonis.)