---
title: "21.1 Competent authority — Annex I, Initial Airworthiness · Avioverse"
description: "For the purpose of this Annex, the ‘competent authority’ shall be:"
url: "https://avioverse.aero/regulations/easa/initial-airworthiness/annex-i/general/21-1"
---

# 21.1 Competent authority

Annex I · Regulation (EU) No 748/2012 · EAR revision 27 Nov 2025

IR Implementing rule

## 21.1 Competent authority

For the purpose of this Annex, the ‘competent authority’ shall be:

(a) for Section A, Subpart A,

1\. for design organisations, the Agency;

2\. for production organisations that have their [principal place of business](https://avioverse.aero/glossary/easa/principal-place-of-business) in a territory for which a Member State is responsible under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944 (‘the Chicago Convention’), the authority designated by that Member State or by another Member State in accordance with [Article](https://avioverse.aero/glossary/easa/article) 64 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, or the Agency if the responsibility has been reallocated to the Agency in accordance with Article 64 or 65 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139;

3\. for production organisations that have their principal place of business outside a territory for which a Member State is responsible under the Chicago Convention, the Agency;

(b) for Section A, Subparts B, D, E, J, K, M, O and Q, the Agency;

(c) for Section A, Subparts F and G:

1\. for natural or legal persons that have their principal place of business in a territory for which a Member State is responsible under the Chicago Convention, the authority designated by that Member State or by another Member State in accordance with Article 64 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, or the Agency if the responsibility has been reallocated to the Agency in accordance with Article 64 or, as regards Subpart G, Article 65 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139;

2\. for natural or legal persons that have their principal place of business outside a territory for which a Member State is responsible under the Chicago Convention, the Agency;

(d) for Section A, Subpart H and I, the authority designated by the Member State where the aircraft is registered or will be registered:

(e) for Section A, Subpart P:

1\. for aircraft registered in a Member State, the authority designated by the Member State of registry;

2\. for unregistered aircraft, the authority designated by the Member State which prescribed the identification marks;

3\. for the approval of the flight conditions related to the safety of the design, the Agency.

IR · 21.1 — Regulation (EU) No 748/2012 · Regulation (EU) 2022/203 · Initial Airworthiness Easy Access Rules · EAR revision 27 Nov 2025

[All rules in General provisions](https://avioverse.aero/regulations/easa/initial-airworthiness/annex-i/general)

Consolidated from the EASA Easy Access Rules (revision 27 Nov 2025, extracted 13 Oct 2026) for convenience. Not the official publication — verify against the Official Journal of the European Union and the EASA publications before operational use.