Alcohol and drug testing in the field of civil aviation

Order No. 2022-830 of 1 June 2022 on alcohol and drug testing in the field of civil aviation allowing the gendarmerie and the police to carry out alcohol and drug testing on flight crew and cabin crew members was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic on 2 June 2022..

Personnel concerned

• pilots (of all types of aircraft);
• cabin crew members;
• student pilots;
• flight test crew members;
• remote pilots operating unmanned aircraft (for the riskiest operations, the characteristics of which will be laid down by decree);
• professional parachutists.

Terms

The provisions concern all flights, whether they are commercial or private flights.

These provisions are similar to the ones in the Highway Code, adapted to the aviation field. Thus alcohol and drug tests will be conducted mainly by the air transport gendarmerie and will be carried out according to the same principles as in the road sector. These controls will be organized taking into account the concern to disrupt as little as possible crews and airline operations.

Administrative measures to withhold or suspend the licences or authorisations to operate are also provided for, as well as a system of criminal sanctions in the event of a positive test or in the event of a refusal to submit to a test. Such measures and penalties are similar to the ones in force in the Highway Code and in the provisions of the Transport Code applicable to seamen.

Other provisions

Following the Germanwings accident on 24 March 2015, the European Commission adopted Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/1042 of 23 July 2018, which lays down rules for Member States to carry out alcohol testing (and additional testing for other psychoactive substances) of flight crew and cabin crew members operating on board aircraft using aerodromes on their territory. This regulation is applicable since 14 February 2021.

Law 2021-1308 of 8 October 2021 empowered the Government to adopt by ordinances the legislative provisions necessary to implement this regulation. There was no provision in the national law enabling such checks to be carried out on flight crews, even though they are possible in the road and maritime fields.

This legal framework will be completed with texts implementing these legislative provisions.