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1. Member States shall ensure that their safety investigation authorities establish between them a European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities (the Network), composed of the heads of the safety investigation authorities in each of the Member States and/or, in the case of a multimodal authority, the head of its aviation branch, or their representatives, including a chairman chosen among these for a period of 3 years. In close consultation with the members of the Network, the chairman shall draw up the annual work programme of the Network, which shall comply with the objectives and meet the responsibilities set out in paragraphs 2 and 3 respectively. The Commission shall transmit the work programme to the European Parliament and the Council. The chairman shall also draw up the agenda for the meetings of the Network.

2. The Network shall seek to further improve the quality of investigations conducted by safety investigation authorities and to strengthen their independence. In particular, it shall encourage high standards in investigation methods and investigator training.

3. In order to achieve the objectives set out in paragraph 2, the Network shall be responsible, in particular, for:

(a) preparing suggestions to and advising Union institutions on all aspects of development and implementation of Union policies and rules relating to safety investigations and the prevention of accidents and incidents;

(b) promoting the sharing of information useful for the improvement of aviation safety and actively promoting structured cooperation between safety investigation authorities, the Commission, EASA and national civil aviation authorities;

(c) coordinating and organising, where appropriate, ‘peer reviews’, relevant training activities and skills development programmes for investigators;

(d) promoting best safety investigation practices with a view to developing a common Union safety investigation methodology and drawing up an inventory of such practices;

(e) strengthening the investigating capacities of the safety investigation authorities, in particular by developing and managing a framework for sharing resources;

(f) providing, at the request of the safety investigation authorities for the purpose of the application of Article 6, appropriate assistance, including, but not limited to, a list of investigators, equipment and capabilities available in other Member States for potential use by the authority conducting an investigation;

(g) having access to information contained in the database referred to in Article 18, and analyse the safety recommendations therein with a view to identifying important safety recommendations of Union-wide relevance.

4. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of the activities of the Network on a regular basis. The European Parliament shall also be informed whenever the Council or the Commission submits requests to the Network.

5. The members of the Network shall neither seek nor accept instructions from any body which could affect the independent status of safety investigations.

6. EASA shall, as appropriate, be invited as an observer to the meetings of the Network. The Network may also invite observers from safety investigation authorities of third countries and other relevant experts to attend its meetings.

7. The Commission shall be closely associated with the work of the Network and shall receive the necessary support from the Network on relevant aspects related to the development of the Union civil aviation accident investigation and prevention policy and regulation. The Commission shall provide the Network with the necessary support, including but not limited to assistance for the preparation and organisation of its meetings, as well as for the publication of an annual report covering the activities of the Network. The Commission shall transmit the annual report to the European Parliament and the Council.