The Federal Aviation Administration has formally entered into rulemaking that would allow it to recognize aircraft maintenance organization certificates issued by foreign civil aviation authorities, a change the aftermarket repair industry has pursued for more than five years.
Chris Parfitt, manager of the FAA Flight Standards Service General Aviation Group, confirmed the action during the Aeronautical Repair Station Association's Annual Symposium in March 2026. Parfitt described the rule as permissive rather than mandatory: it would give the FAA legal authority to enter into mutual recognition agreements within bilateral aviation safety agreements without obligating it to do so with any specific partner.
The rule addresses a longstanding structural gap in U.S. aviation law. Bilateral aviation safety agreements, known as BASAs, are classified as executive pacts and cannot override FAA regulations. As a result, foreign repair stations operating in countries with existing BASAs must still obtain separate FAA certification, even when their home authority applies comparable oversight standards.
Under the current framework, Canada is the only country whose maintenance organization certificates receive automatic FAA recognition. The proposed rule would extend that flexibility to other bilateral partners, including potentially the European Union.
An ARSA-led coalition of 14 organizations petitioned for the rulemaking in 2020, arguing that duplicative certification audits drive costs without delivering safety benefits. The rule has now received a formal regulation identifier number, placing it on track for a public comment period. Aviation MRO providers communicating regulatory changes to clients can find support for aviation maintenance video production at relyoncontent.com.
Source: Aviation Week -- https://aviationweek.com/mro/safety-ops-regulation/faa-broaden-mutual-recognition-mro-approvals