Being compliant and being able to demonstrate compliance go hand-in-hand.
Compliance of procedures used by Air Traffic Control the Netherlands (LVNL) is secured in operational documentation, training and actual operations. During prior European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and National Supervisory Authority (NSA) audits, however, it was found that compliance with relevant laws and regulations could not always be demonstrated. LVNL’s Procedures (PRO) department is responsible for ensuring compliance of air traffic control procedures. There was however no consolidated list of issues that required compliance verification and/or confirmation. As such, it could not be stated with certainty that PRO is compliant with all relevant laws and regulations.
MovingDot developed a plan aimed at establishing verifiable compliance of procedures and was actively involved in the execution of the plan. Verifiable compliance not only consists of verifying and documenting current compliance, but also monitoring thereof to preserve compliance. The first step consisted of identifying all relevant rules and regulations which PRO must demonstrate compliance for. For the identified open compliance issues, estimates were made with regards to required resources to establish compliance. A selection of the identified issues was investigated by MovingDot, which resulted in documented support of “compliant” or “documented deviation” findings or recommendations. Finally, the approach also included a methodology for securing compliance in the PRO process when changes in regulations and / or ATM system are being considered. The result is a process for verifying compliance of procedures and ongoing compliance monitoring.