EASA and FAA Certification Forms: Types, Usage, and Issuance

Aviation certification forms are the standardised documents that establish the airworthiness, conformity, and traceability of aircraft parts, components, and assemblies as they move through manufacturing, maintenance, export, and continued operation. The two most widely encountered forms in international aviation procurement are FAA Form 8130-3 (the United States Authorized Release Certificate) and EASA Form 1 (the European Authorised Release Certificate). Both serve the same fundamental function — they release a part to service with a documented statement that it conforms to approved design data and is in a condition for safe operation — and a mutual-acceptance framework between the FAA and EASA governs how each is recognised across jurisdictions.

FAA Form 8130-3

FAA Form 8130-3, formally titled the Authorized Release Certificate, Airworthiness Approval Tag, is the United States document used to certify the airworthiness status of a civil aviation article. It accompanies a new, used, overhauled, or repaired part and records the regulatory basis under which the part has been approved or returned to service.

Purpose and Scope

The form is used in three principal contexts:

New parts produced under an FAA production approval, including a Type Certificate (TC), Production Certificate (PC), Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA), or Technical Standard Order Authorization (TSOA).
Used or maintained parts returned to service following maintenance, preventive maintenance, inspection, alteration, or overhaul performed by an FAA-certificated repair station (14 CFR Part 145), an air carrier maintenance organisation (Part 121 or 135), or an authorised individual (Part 43).
Export airworthiness approval for aviation articles (components and parts) being exported from the United States to a foreign aviation authority. The export use of FAA Form 8130-3 is documented in FAA guidance (AC 21-12 and its current revision).

Who Can Issue FAA Form 8130-3

Issuance authority is restricted to persons and organisations specifically authorised by the FAA. These include FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors, Designated Airworthiness Representatives (DARs), Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) holders acting within the scope of their procedures manual, FAA-certificated production approval holders for parts they produce, and Part 145 repair stations authorised to return parts to service. The completing block of the form distinguishes between Block 14 (a maintenance release statement under 14 CFR Part 43) and Block 13a/13b (a new-part conformity statement under 14 CFR Part 21).

When FAA Form 8130-3 Is Required

The form is required whenever a part is released as a new article from a production approval holder, returned to service after maintenance by a Part 145 repair station, or exported to a foreign aviation authority that requires an approved release document. It is also customary across the secondary parts market — surplus dealers, brokers, and MROs — as the trace document of record proving the part's origin and approval status. Operators and continued airworthiness organisations rely on the form to verify that a part is eligible for installation on a specific aircraft.

Dual Release Statements

Where a part is intended for installation on aircraft registered in another jurisdiction, FAA Form 8130-3 can be issued with a dual release statement covering both FAA and EASA acceptance. The dual-release statement is added to Block 12 (Remarks) and references the FAA-EASA Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) Technical Implementation Procedures (TIP) revision in force. Dual-release issuance is restricted to organisations specifically approved for it and applies only to articles eligible under the TIP scope — notably, certain critical components and parts not produced under a licence from the design approval holder may be excluded from straightforward dual release.

EASA Form 1

EASA Form 1, the Authorised Release Certificate, is the European Union Aviation Safety Agency's equivalent of FAA Form 8130-3. It is defined in EU Regulation 748/2012 (Part-21) and EU Regulation 1321/2014 (Part-M, Part-145, Part-CAO, Part-CAMO) and certifies that a part, component, or assembly has been produced or maintained in accordance with approved data and is in a condition for safe operation.

Purpose and Scope

EASA Form 1 is used to release:

New components produced by a Part-21 Subpart G Production Organisation Approval (POA) holder.
Maintained components returned to service by a Part-145 approved maintenance organisation following maintenance, inspection, repair, or overhaul.
Components imported into EASA jurisdiction from a third-country authority where a bilateral agreement provides acceptance, in which case the originating form (such as FAA Form 8130-3 with a dual release) substitutes for an EASA Form 1.

The form distinguishes between Block 13 (new-part conformity) and Block 14 (maintenance release) so that the regulatory basis of the release is unambiguous on the certificate itself.

Who Can Issue EASA Form 1

Authority to issue EASA Form 1 is limited to:

Part-21 Subpart G Production Organisations for new components within their approval scope.
Part-145 Maintenance Organisations for components returned to service after maintenance, within the scope of their approval ratings.
In specific limited circumstances, Part-CAO (Combined Airworthiness Organisations) for components within the scope and limitations defined in Part-CAO, primarily for non-complex general aviation activities.

The individual signing the form must be authorised in writing by the organisation under its approved Exposition (the MOE for Part-145 or the POE for Part-21G) and must hold appropriate competence and certifying authorisation for the work performed.

When EASA Form 1 Is Required

EASA Form 1 is required whenever a new component leaves the production organisation, when a component is returned to service after maintenance by a Part-145 organisation, and whenever a component is offered into the EU market with claimed airworthiness status. It is the primary document used by installers and continuing airworthiness management organisations to verify that a part is eligible for installation under EU airworthiness rules.

How to Complete EASA Form 1

EASA publishes detailed completion instructions in the Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) to Part-21 and Part-145, and in EASA Easy Access Rules. Key blocks include:

Block 6 / 7 — item description and quantity.
Block 11 — status, identifying whether the item is new, prototype, overhauled, repaired, inspected, or modified.
Block 12 — remarks, where additional certification statements (including dual-release statements for foreign acceptance) are recorded.
Block 13a-13e — production conformity certification (used for new parts under Part-21 Subpart G).
Block 14a-14e — return-to-service certification (used for maintenance under Part-145).

Operators and POA holders should always work from the current EASA Easy Access Rules for Initial Airworthiness (Part-21) and Continuing Airworthiness (Part-M, Part-145, Part-CAO, Part-CAMO), as the AMC/GM is periodically updated.

Cross-Acceptance Between FAA and EASA

The cross-acceptance of FAA Form 8130-3 and EASA Form 1 is governed by the FAA-EASA Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) and its Technical Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness and Environmental Certification (TIP), supplemented by the Maintenance Annex Guidance (MAG) for maintenance-side acceptance.

In practice this means:

From the US to EASA jurisdiction: a properly executed FAA Form 8130-3 with a dual-release statement in Block 12 is accepted as equivalent to EASA Form 1 for components within the TIP scope.
From EASA jurisdiction to the US: EASA Form 1 issued with the appropriate dual-release statement is accepted by the FAA for components within the TIP scope.
Critical components and PMA parts: certain categories — including critical components and parts produced under PMA without OEM licence — may require additional acceptance steps and are not automatically eligible for straightforward dual release.

Procurement teams sourcing parts across jurisdictions should confirm three things on every transaction: that the issuing organisation is approved to apply the dual-release statement, that the part category is within the current TIP scope, and that the regulatory basis cited on the form matches the receiving authority's acceptance criteria.

Other EASA Forms in the Certification Workflow

Beyond Form 1, EASA maintains a numbered catalogue of forms used at various stages of the airworthiness, organisation-approval, and continuing-airworthiness lifecycle. These include forms used for organisation approval applications, personnel nominations, airworthiness review activities, and specific approval scopes. Several of the forms referenced in supplier and operator search activity — including EASA Form 11, EASA Form 14, and EASA Form 19 — sit within this broader catalogue, supporting activities such as continuing airworthiness reviews and specific organisational approvals under Part-M, Part-CAO, Part-CAMO, and Part-21.

Because the EASA forms catalogue has been periodically renumbered and restructured — most recently with the introduction of Part-CAO consolidating elements of Part-M Subpart F and Part-145 light-aircraft maintenance — the authoritative source for the current form number, version, and applicable use case is the EASA Easy Access Rules corresponding to the relevant Part. Organisations should reference the current consolidated regulation and any associated AMC/GM rather than relying on form numbers cited in older guidance, training materials, or third-party summaries.

Regional Authority Acceptance

While FAA Form 8130-3 and EASA Form 1 dominate international parts trade, parts installed on aircraft registered in other jurisdictions are subject to the acceptance frameworks of the responsible authority. National civil aviation authorities including the UK CAA (post-Brexit, operating under its own retained airworthiness framework), Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA), ANAC Brazil, CAAC China, and the Gulf authorities — GCAA (UAE), GACA (Saudi Arabia), and QCAA (Qatar) — each operate either under direct bilateral agreement with the FAA and/or EASA or under their own equivalent release-certificate frameworks. Gulf authorities in particular typically align with ICAO Annex 8 airworthiness baselines but maintain their own approval scopes, designee structures, and acceptance conditions for foreign-released parts. Procurement teams must verify acceptance per aircraft registration state, not per supplier origin.

Key Takeaways

FAA Form 8130-3 and EASA Form 1 are the two dominant airworthiness release certificates in international aviation parts trade, used both for new parts and for components returned to service after maintenance.
Issuance is restricted to specifically authorised organisations — FAA production approval holders, ODA holders, DARs, and Part 145 repair stations for 8130-3; Part-21G and Part-145 organisations for EASA Form 1.
The FAA-EASA BASA and its Technical Implementation Procedures (TIP) provide the dual-release framework that allows 8130-3 to be accepted in EASA jurisdiction and Form 1 to be accepted in the United States.
Critical components and certain PMA parts without OEM licence may be excluded from straightforward dual release and require additional acceptance procedures.
The EASA forms catalogue is broader than Form 1, including supplementary forms (such as Forms 11, 14, and 19) used in organisation approval and continuing airworthiness — operators should consult the current EASA Easy Access Rules for Part-21, Part-M, Part-CAO, Part-CAMO, and Part-145 for the authoritative form definitions in force.
Acceptance is determined by the aircraft's state of registry; Gulf regulators (GCAA, GACA, QCAA), UK CAA, TCCA, ANAC, and CAAC each maintain their own acceptance conditions and may require additional documentation beyond the originating release certificate.