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CIME card in France - a mandatory crew certificate?

I don’t see much link between CIME cards and ID checks? the former is required for pilots to enter airside otherwise they have to be escorted by CIME holder (likely handler who does it for the love) or searched by security (again this is not police, or douanes, or customs, or navy seals…it’s usually the fat lady or the ugly dude wearing hiviz and put hands between legs ), AFAIK, having passport, licence and getting police ID check is not enough to go airside in few airports

Police can randomly check identity and citizenship everywhere in France, even in supermarket, the carriage of identity documents is mandatory (if one has the wrong skin colour, more than ski or beach doze, it’s no longer random)

within a radius of 5 km and any international airport of the Union

I am keen to see reference where that “5km” comes from? looks like rules for drone pilots

Last Edited by Ibra at 05 Feb 22:46
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

Capitaine wrote:

The douane have scarily far-reaching powers, although I think this is the same for customs in all countries.

Indeed, though their modus operandi seems to vary from country to country. Last year, I had my Czech-registered car stopped and searched by German customs halfway between Cologne and Hanover. An unmarked car pulled in front of me on a motorway and turned on a scrolling LED sign: “CUSTOMS – FOLLOW ME”. They took me to a rest stop, dug through all my luggage and didn’t even apologise for inconvenience.
In Czechia, I often see vehicles marked “Customs” standing near motorway junctions. According to the press, they also routinely visit big public markets to check for counterfeit/contraband goods.

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic

Ultranomad wrote:

They took me to a rest stop, dug through all my luggage and didn’t even apologise for inconvenience.

I presume they were real customs?
Questions for the German pilots – how would you know that whoever is stopping you on the road is actually a customs patrol?

EGTR

I asked that question to a well known German pilot and his reply was: “this is impossible because impersonating an officer is againt the law”.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

arj1 wrote:

I presume they were real customs?
Questions for the German pilots – how would you know that whoever is stopping you on the road is actually a customs patrol?

Guess what, they have special ID cards to identify them as representatives for responsibilities of public administration. There are also a number of stories on people from certain civil service agencies pretending to be such without being properly authorised. So, be prepared to face unlawful assumption of public authority even from so-called officials – you better learn how the correct ID cards look like. An easy one to spot are green cardboard cards, which are indeed common public services IDs, but not for this application. If you are bright and have the guts, keep the green card and call police to let them check the identity of the one presenting the card – have fun!

Last Edited by MichaLSA at 06 Feb 13:59
Germany

Graham wrote:

Any government employee who demands that someone in the UK identify themselves and justify their presence within a certain distance of an airport is going to get told to get stuffed. The very idea is truly bizarre.

Having a foot in each country, I run into this very often. It’s super common when you go to a meeting in a large-ish office building to be asked for an official ID before you get in. I usually get away with a business card, but not always.

Last month I got into a “fight” while trying to do a blood test. First they’re genuinely shocked when you pay yourself rather than brandishing your “Carte Vitale” (providing free healthcare at the point of service, available to 99% of French people and most migrants too), and she refused to do it without seeing my ID. I told her that since this was done for my own information, she should not care who I was, and that it was weird that she treated like this the only person she’d see all day who would actually pay for her salary. She didn’t like it at all. I gave in…

EGTF, LFTF

denopa wrote:

Having a foot in each country, I run into this very often. It’s super common when you go to a meeting in a large-ish office building to be asked for an official ID before you get in. I usually get away with a business card, but not always.

Being based at a quite interesting Inner-EU border right now, I do the same and for that purpose even put my picture on the business card. It surprises in how many cases controlleties are happy with that … and don’t think about the implications!

Last Edited by MichaLSA at 06 Feb 18:46
Germany

After a frustrating 18 months trying to get AOPA (UK) and PPL/IR to create an ‘official’ card, I ended up creating my own:

The important information is that it contains: Names; Picture; Date of Birth; the word ‘Crew’; & an ‘official’ organization.
Mine has got me 4 times last year, not only airside, but through Customs without my passport being stamped!

Last Edited by Peter_G at 06 Feb 19:18
Rochester, UK, United Kingdom

I have a HIAL Airside Badge for Inverness Airport. It says “Private Pilot”. HIAL is a “Quasi Autonomous Non-government Organisation”. I have used it at other UK airports to access my aircraft.
An island strip-based pilot landed at Wick and was approached by 2 CAA guys, there on an inspection. After he explained why he didn’t have a badge, they were happy. The FBO issued a temporary certificate. ( No pic.)
If I take a pax, they need photo ID and get a temporary no-pic pass from Security at the Airside Gate
PS In the past my photo looked like the guy seen on TV during the Lebanon war, standing behind Walid Jumblat.

Maoraigh
EGPE, United Kingdom

In a nutshell:

  • EU regulation requires that a crew card (not a pilot licence) or an airport identification card (or see below for a complete list) be required to enter a security restricted areas.
  • That requirement is not new at all. It has been in EU regulations for at least 12 years.
  • French regulations are more lax, and says a pilot licence + generic ID is enough.
  • France was inspected by the Commission and found not in compliance with EU regulations. Lest they be sanctioned by the commission, France has to go into compliance.
  • More strongly, EU Regulations (not directives) are directly applicable EU-wide without transposition in national law or regulation and supersedes and contrary national, regional, city, … law, regulation, ordinance, etc. Therefore, any French aerodrome applying the laxer French regulation is in breach of the law.
  • To be very clear, France/DGAC absolutely doesn’t want to have such a strong requirement, but they are forced by EU regulation and the Commission enforcing the regulation.
  • The link to “commercial traffic” is that aerodromes that have commercial traffic must have a “security restricted area”, the parking area of the aircraft serving commercial traffic must be a security restricted area. That is not the case of farm strips, aerodromes with only non-commercial traffic, etc. They are not required to have a “security restricted area”.

More details:

  • One of the possible sanctions by the commission it to decertify French aerodromes, which would then have to be treated as third state aerodromes by other member states, meaning in particular transit passengers coming from France would have to undergo “EU certified” security checks at other EU aerodromes.
  • The relevant regulation is section 1.2.2.2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1998 of 5 November 2015 laying down detailed measures for the implementation of the common basic standards on aviation security. It requires that one of the following be required for access to a security restricted area:
    • a valid boarding card or equivalent; that’s what we use at ELLX for our GA passengers; we issue them a boarding card; not one printed in same format and with a QR code like an airline one, but a simple A5 form that lists PIC, airplane, date, passenger name, destination, etc that the PIC fills in by hand and signs
    • a valid crew identification card; in French that’s “Carte d’Identification de Membre d’Équipage”, that’s the “CIME” acronym
    • a valid airport identification card;
    • a valid national appropriate authority identification card; I don’t understand that as “a general ID card issued by any national authority such as the ones that issue national ID cards and passports”, but “a card that identifies the holder as a CAA employee / police agent / border force agent / customs agent / … that has official business in the security restricted area”
    • a valid compliance authority identification card recognised by the national appropriate authority. I understand that as e.g. “a card issued by the EU Commission to identify the holder as a person having official business in the restricted area, such as e.g. inspecting the security processes in order to certify, or renew the certification, of the aerodrome”
  • The same requirement was already in the (now abrogated and superseded by the 2015 regulation) Commission Regulation (EU) No 185/2010 of 4 March 2010.

A “Crew Identification Card” is further defined in sections 1.2.3 and 1.2.4:

1.2.3 Requirements for Union crew identification cards and airport identification cards

1.2.3.1 A crew identification card of a crew member employed by a Union air carrier and an airport identification card may only be issued to a person who has an operational need and has successfully completed an enhanced background check in accordance with point 11.1.3.

1.2.3.2 Crew and airport identification cards shall be issued for a period not exceeding five years.

1.2.3.3 The identification card of a person who fails an enhanced background check shall be immediately disabled or withdrawn, as applicable, and returned to the competent authority, operator or issuing entity, as appropriate.

1.2.3.4 The identification card shall be worn in a visible place at least whenever the holder is in security restricted areas.

A person who is not displaying his identification card in security restricted areas other than those areas where passengers are present shall be challenged by persons responsible for the implementation of point 1.5.1(c) and, as appropriate, be reported.

1.2.4 Supplementary requirements for Union crew identification cards

1.2.4.1 A crew identification card of a crew member employed by a Union air carrier shall display:

(a) the name and photograph of the holder; and
(b) the name of the air carrier; and
(c) the word ‘crew’ in English; and
(d) the expiry date.

Last Edited by lionel at 07 Feb 06:11
ELLX
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