S.L. 499.9 Art. 20Validation of licences.

(1) Subject to subarticles (2) and (6), the Director General may issue a certificate of validation rendering valid for the purposes of this Order any flight crew licence granted under the law of any country other than Malta and not being a JAR-FCL

licence referred to in article 18(3). A certificate of validation may be issued subject to such conditions and for such periods as the Director General may think fit.

(2) Pursuant to Council Directive 91/670/EEC on mutual acceptance of personnel licences for the exercise of functions in civil aviation the Director General shall, subject to subarticles (4) and (5, issue a certificate of validation rendering valid a relevant licence granted under the law of an EEA State or Switzerland.

(3) For the purposes of this article, a relevant licence is one based on requirements equivalent to those for the equivalent licence granted by the Director General under article 19.

(4) (a) The Director General may ask the Commission for an opinion on the equivalence of a licence submitted for validation pursuant to subarticle (2) within three weeks of receipt by the Director General of all necessary information in respect of an application for validation.

(b) If the Director General does not ask the Commission for such an opinion he shall, within three months of receipt of all necessary information in respect of the application, either issue the certificate of validation or inform the applicant of any additional requirements or tests which are necessary to enable the Director General to grant the certificate of validation.

(5) (a) If after the examination of a licence the Director General has reasonable doubts as to the equivalence of that licence, the Director General may stipulate any additional requirement or test as may be necessary to enable the certificate of validation to be issued.

(b) Any such additional requirements or tests shall be notified as soon as reasonably practicable to the licence holder, to the authority which issued the licence and to the Commission.

(6) Pursuant to the said Council Directive, the Director General shall issue a certificate of validation rendering valid any licence issued in accordance with the requirements of Annex 1 to the Chicago Convention, if the bearer satisfies the special validation requirements laid down in the Annex to the said Council Directive.