Cap. 641 Art. 20Aircraft maintenance licence.

(1) In the case of an EASA Part-66 Aircraft Maintenance

Licence issued by the Directorate, the licence shall be issued in accordance with the Basic Regulation and any applicable implementing rules made under that Regulation.

(2) The Directorate shall grant an aircraft maintenance licence, subject to such conditions as it shall deem fit, if it is satisfied that the applicant is:

(a) a fit person to hold the licence; and

(b) qualified by having the knowledge, experience, competence and skill in aeronautical engineering to act in the capacity to which the licence relates:

Provided that the Directorate may establish, through regulatory instruments published under article 5, the criteria to be met by persons or organisations in order for them to qualify for the issue of an aircraft maintenance licence.

(3) For the purposes of sub-article (2) the applicant shall supply such evidence and undergo such examinations and tests as the Director General may require.

(4) An aircraft maintenance licence authorises the holder:

(a) to issue certificates of release to service in accordance with this Act for such overhauls, repairs, replacements, modifications, maintenance and inspections of such aircraft and such equipment as may be specified;

(b) to issue recommendations or statements for the issue of a permit to fly for such aircraft as may be specified in a regulatory instrument; and

(c) to extend the validity period of the national certificate of airworthiness in accordance with the Act or any regulatory instrument made under it.

(5) Subject to article 90 on the suspension and revocation of licences under this Act, an aircraft maintenance licence shall remain in force for the period specified in the licence, which shall not exceed five (5) years.

(6) An aircraft maintenance licence may be renewed by the Directorate if it is satisfied that the applicant is a fit person and is qualified in accordance with sub-article (2).

(7) The Directorate may issue a certificate rendering valid for the purposes of this Act any aircraft maintenance licence granted under the law of a Contracting State other than Malta:

Provided that the holder of an equivalent aircraft maintenance engineer’s licence granted or issued under the law of any Contracting State other than Malta may issue a certificate of release to service for an aircraft registered in Malta if:

(a) it is issued in accordance with the privileges endorsed on the licence;

(b) the overhaul, repair, replacement, modification, maintenance or inspection has been carried out in the Contracting State under the law of which the licence has been granted;

(c) the aircraft was issued a certificate of airworthiness; and

(d) the aircraft has a maximum take-off mass of not more than two thousand seven hundred and thirty kilograms (2,730kg).

(8) An aircraft maintenance licence granted in accordance with this Act shall not be valid unless it has been signed by the holder in indelible ink or pencil but if the licence is annexed to an aircraft maintenance licence issued under Part-66 it is sufficient if that Part-66 licence has such a signature.

(9) The holder of an aircraft maintenance licence granted under sub-article (2) or of an aircraft maintenance licence granted under Part-66 shall not exercise the privileges of such a licence if the holder knows or suspects that his physical or mental condition renders him unfit to exercise such privileges.