Commonwealth Numbered Regulations

1988 NO. 158 CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS - REG 43

43. (1) Maintenance releases in respect of Australian aircraft shall be issued
only by authorised persons and only in such manner, and in accordance with
such form, as the Authority directs.

(2) The Authority may give a direction specifying the information to be
entered on a maintenance release before its issue.

(3) Where a person appointed as an authorised person for the purposes of this
regulation is a body corporate, the Authority shall specify in the instrument
of appointment the condition that any maintenance release issued by the
authorised person is to be signed, on behalf of the authorised person, by a
specified person or by a person included in a specified class of persons.

(4) The Authority may give a direction with respect to the retention and
transfer of maintenance releases and copies of maintenance releases issued
under this regulation.

(5) The Authority may give a direction specifying the period, or the maximum
period, that a maintenance release of a kind specified in the direction is to
be expressed to remain in force.

(6) Unless the Authority otherwise approves, a maintenance release shall not
be issued in respect of an aircraft unless there is in force a certificate of
airworthiness in respect of the aircraft.

(7) A maintenance release shall not be issued in respect of an aircraft
unless:

   (a)  all maintenance in respect of the aircraft required to be carried out
        to comply with any requirement or condition imposed under these
        Regulations has been certified, in accordance with a system of
        certification instituted under regulation 34 or in a manner acceptable
        to the Authority for the purposes of subregulation 41 (3), to have
        been completed; or

   (b)  in the case of a maintenance release in respect of a flight for which
        permission has been given under regulation 134 and in respect of which
        a direction with respect to the maintenance of the aircraft has been
        given under that regulation-all maintenance in respect of the aircraft
        required to be carried out to comply with that direction has been
        certified, in accordance with a system of certification instituted
        under regulation 34, to have been completed.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7) (a), the existence of an earlier
maintenance release issued by virtue of that paragraph in respect of an
aircraft may, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be accepted by an
authorised person for the purposes of this regulation as proof that all
maintenance required under these Regulations to be carried out on the aircraft
before the date of issue of the earlier maintenance release has been certified
to have been completed as required by that paragraph.

(9) A maintenance release may bear an endorsement that the release is issued
subject to a condition set out in the endorsement, being a condition imposed
for the purpose of ensuring the safety of air navigation.

(10) Where an aircraft has a permissible unserviceability, a maintenance
release issued in respect of the aircraft, or other document approved for use
as an alternative to the maintenance release for the purposes of this
sub-regulation, shall bear an endorsement:

   (a)  setting out each permissible unserviceability that exists with respect
        to the aircraft;

   (b)  setting out such of the conditions (if any) with respect to the use of
        an aircraft with those permissible unserviceabilities set out in any
        direction given under regulation 37 in relation to those permissible
        unserviceabilities as are not set out in any operations manual issued
        with respect to the aircraft or in Part 20 of the
        Civil Aviation Orders; and

   (c)  stating that the maintenance release is issued subject to those
        conditions, whether set out in the maintenance release or the other
        document or otherwise.

(11) A person shall not issue a maintenance release in contravention of this
regulation.

(12) Subregulation (11) does not apply in relation to a person by reason only
that he or she has issued a maintenance release in contravention of a
direction given under this regulation unless the direction has been served by
post on the person or has otherwise been brought to his or her attention.

(13) A person shall not sign a maintenance release to be issued by virtue of
paragraph (7) (a) in respect of an aircraft if:

   (a)  the person considers that:

        (i)    the aircraft is in a damaged condition or is defective;

        (ii)   the damage is major damage or the defect is a major defect, as
               the case may be; and

        (iii)  the damage or defect is not a permissible unserviceability;

   (b)  the person considers that maintenance carried out on the aircraft may
        have adversely affected, to such an extent as to affect the safety of
        the aircraft, the flight characteristics of the aircraft or the
        operating characteristics of any aircraft component, or of any system
        of aircraft components, installed in the aircraft;

   (c)  the person is aware that certain maintenance that has been carried out
        on the aircraft has not been certified, in accordance with a system of
        certification instituted under regulation 34 or in a manner acceptable
        to the Authority for the purposes of subregulation 41 (3), to have
        been completed; or

   (d)  the person is aware that:

        (i)    information entered on the maintenance release is incorrect; or

        (ii)   the maintenance release does not contain all information that
               it is required by or under these Regulations to contain.

(14) Paragraph (7) (a) and paragraph (13) (c) do not apply in relation to
approved maintenance carried out by the pilot in command of the aircraft.

(15) A direction given under this regulation does not have effect in relation
to a person until it has been served by post on the person or has otherwise
been brought to his or her attention.

(16) Where a maintenance release is issued under this regulation, or again
commences to be in force by virtue of regulation 48, in respect of an
aircraft, any other maintenance release in force in respect of the aircraft
immediately before that issue or that commencement, as the case may be, ceases
to be in force.