Within the framework of the EU-Japan Aviation Partnership Project (APP), a workshop on Ramp Inspection and Third Country Operator (TCO) was organised in Cologne and Amsterdam from 11 to 14 March 2024. The programme started on the premises of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) with an exchange on the EU Ramp Inspection Programme including information on the data analysis, the ramp inspection tool, and future development of the programme, and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) ramp inspection system, including legal framework, inspectors, and statistics.

The Japanese delegates furthermore visited the Dutch authority in charge of ramp inspections in the Netherlands, two ramp inspection training organisations and observed ramp inpections including alcohol testing on crew members, leading to extended discussions and the sharing of experience and insights in effective inspection techniques and risk assessment methodologies. In addition to EASA and JCAB, the contributors to this workshop were the inspection authority of the Netherlands (ILT), Ciconia Aviation, and JAA Training Organisation.

EASA and JCAB concluded this activity had been helpful in understanding their respective systems and experience in the ramp inspection domain, and agreed to continue deepening exchanges on this subject in the future.