Transfer, Suspension, Surrender and Revocation of Design Approvals

Type Certificates (TC), Restricted Type Certificates (RTC), Supplemental Type Certificates (STC) may be transferred to another design approval holder subject to eligibility criteria. The new holder must be provided with all design data from the former holder and be able to meet the obligations of 21.A.44, or 21.A.118A as applicable and demonstrate their capability in accordance with 21.A.14.

An application for a transfer may only be made by an authorised person of the design approval holder. The application is submitted on CAA Form SRG1726NR.

In some circumstances such as following a suspension of a design approval pending its surrender, we will request that potential new approval holders of suspended design approvals advise us of their wish to have the approval transferred to them. This request will be notified on the Certification Notification page of the website.

UK Technical Standard Order Authorisations (UKTSOA) may not be transferred, except in the case of a change of ownership of the holder. 21.A.621 refers.

Suspension temporarily limits the validity of a design approval until satisfactory resolution of the circumstances that led to the suspension is implemented. Resolution could be the reinstatement, transfer, surrender or revocation of the design approval.

The design approval for an STC or UKTSOA may be suspended on notification of surrender from the holder. This would not normally apply for the expected surrender of a Type Certificate (TC)/Restricted Type Certificate (RTC).

A design approval may also be suspended in other exceptional circumstances.

We will notify of any suspension on the Certification Notification page and update the status within respective Product List, STC Register or UKTSOA Register. If a TC or RTC is suspended we will also annotate the respective TCDS and TCDSN.

Following a voluntary request to surrender from the existing holder, the action by the CAA to invalidate a design approval is permanent and irreversible.

If a design approval for a Type Certificate (TC)/Restricted Type Certificate (RTC is surrendered, the affected UK-registered aircraft are no longer eligible for a Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) and will be subject to restricted operations. The TC/RTC will then be revoked and the TCDS and TCDSN of a surrendered TC or RTC on our website will be identified as revoked.

If an STC or UKTSOA is surrendered, the affected aircraft on the UK-register may continue to operate unless and until an unsafe condition has been identified, at which point the Airworthiness Directive (AD) process will control the necessary actions. No subsequent embodiments of the design change or release on Authorised Release Certificate (Form 1) of manufactured parts/articles are permitted.

Aircraft operating on other registers may be subject to restrictions by the respective aviation authority.

Surrender of a design approval may result in us reviewing the former holder’s Design Organisation Approval (DOA) to be satisfied of the continued capability to meet the obligations of Part 21.

An authorised person of the design approval holder should advise us of their intent to surrender the design approval by e-mail to apply@caa.co.uk. We will consider the impact of the surrender and temporarily suspend it. The suspension will be notified on the ‘Certification Notifications’ page, which will likely include a request for any potential new design approval holder to contact us. The formal surrender or transfer will follow the completion of any suspension period.

We will notify of any surrender on the Certification Notification page and update the status within the respective Product List, STC Register or UKTSOA Register.

The revocation of a design approval is a permanent and irreversible action by us to invalidate a design. We may revoke an approval following the identification of an unresolved unsafe condition or an involuntary circumstance resulting in the design approval holder’s inability to meet its obligations.

A Type Certificate (TC), Restricted Type Certificate (RTC) will be revoked following its surrender.

We will notify of any revocation on the Certification Notification page and update the status within respective Product List, STC Register or UKTSOA Register. The TCDS and TCDSN of a revoked TC or RTC on our website will be identified as revoked and may be removed from our website.