6.3.2015 Official Journal of the European Union L 631 II (Non-legislative acts) REGULATIONS COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2015/340 of 20 February 2015 laying down technical requirements and administrative procedures relating to air traffic controllers’ licences and certificates pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 923/2012 and repealing Commission Regulation (EU) No 805/2011 (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC, Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC ('), and in particular Articles 8c(10) and 10(5) thereof, Whereas: (1) Air traffic controllers and persons and organisations involved in their training, testing, checking and medical examination and assessment must comply with the relevant essential requirements set out in Annex Vb to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008. In particular, they are to be certified or licensed once they have demonstrated compliance with the essential requirements. The European licence has proved to be an effective way of recognising and certifying the competence of air traffic controllers, who as a profession play a unique role in the operation of safe air traffic control. The Union-wide competence standard has reduced fragmentation in this field and thus contributed to more efficient organisation of work in the current context of increased regional collaboration between air navigation service providers. Maintaining and improving the common licensing scheme for air traffic controllers working in the Union is an important part of the European air traffic control system. To this aim, technical requirements and administrative procedures related to air traffic controllers’ licences and certificates, reflecting the state of the art in this domain, should now be laid down. The provision of air navigation services requires highly skilled personnel and in particular air traffic controllers, whose competence is demonstrated by a licence, issued on the basis of the detailed requirements set out in this Regulation. The rating on a licence should indicate the type of air traffic service an air traffic controller is competent to provide. The endorsements on the licence should reflect both the specific skills of the controller and the authorisation given by the competent authorities to provide services for a particular sector, group of sectors and/or working positions. The authorities performing supervision and verification of compliance under this Regulation should be sufficiently independent from air traffic controllers when issuing licences or extending the validity of the endorsements, when suspending or revoking licences, ratings, endorsements or certificates in cases where the conditions for their issue are no longer met. Those authorities should also be sufficiently independent from air () OJL79,19.3.2008,p. 1.