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Article 8

Safety

1. Each Party may request consultations at any time concerning safety standards in any area relating to

aircrew, aircraft or their operation adopted by the other Party. Such consultations shall take place within thirty

(30) days of that request.

2. If, following such consultations, one Party finds that the other Party does not effectively maintain and

administer safety standards in any such area that are at least equal to the minimum standards established at

that time pursuant to the Convention, the first Party shall notify the other Party of those findings and the steps

considered necessary to conform with those minimum standards, and that other Party shall take appropriate

corrective action. Failure by the other Party to take appropriate action within fifteen (15) days or such longer

period as may be agreed, shall be grounds for the application of Article 4 of this Agreement.

3. Notwithstanding the obligations mentioned in Article 33 of the Convention it is agreed that any aircraft

operated by the designated airlines of one Party on services to or from the territory of the other Party may,

while within the territory of the other Party, be made the subject of an examination by the authorized

representatives of the other Party, on board and around the aircraft to check both the validity of the aircraft

documents and those of its crew and the apparent condition of the aircraft and its equipment (called «ramp

inspection»), provided this does not lead to unreasonable delay.

4. If any such ramp inspection or series of ramp inspections gives rise to serious concerns that an aircraft or

the operation of an aircraft does not comply with the minimum standards established at that time pursuant to

the Convention, or serious concerns that there is a lack of effective maintenance and administration of safety

standards established at that time pursuant to the Convention, the Party carrying out the inspection shall, for

the purposes of Article 33 of the Convention, be free to conclude that the requirements under which the

certificate or licences in respect of that aircraft or in respect of the crew of that aircraft had been issued or

rendered valid, or that the requirements under which that aircraft is operated, are not equal to or above the

minimum standards established pursuant to the Convention.

5. In the event that access for the purpose of undertaking a ramp inspection of an aircraft operated by a

designated airline of one Party in accordance with paragraph 3 above is denied by the representative of that

designated airline the other Party shall be free to infer that serious concerns of the type referred to in paragraph

4 above arise and draw the conclusions referred in that paragraph.

6. Each Party reserves the right to suspend or vary the operating authorization of the designated airline of

the other Party immediately in the event the first Party concludes, whether as a result of a ramp inspection, a

series of ramp inspections, a denial of access for ramp inspection, consultation or otherwise, that immediate

action is essential to the safety of the airlines’ operation.

7. Any action by one Party in accordance with paragraphs 2 or 6 above shall be discontinued once the basis

for the taking of that action ceases to exist.

8. Where the Portuguese Republic has designated an airline whose regulatory control is exercised and

maintained by another European Union Member State, the rights of the other Party under this Article shall apply

equally in respect of the adoption, exercise or maintenance of safety standards by that other European Union

Member State and in respect of the operating authorization of that airline.

Article 9

Aviation security

1. Consistent with their rights and obligations under international law, the Parties reaffirm that their

obligation to each other to protect the security of civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference forms an

integral part of this Agreement. Without limiting the generality of their rights and obligations under international

law, the Parties shall, in particular, act in conformity with the provisions of:

a) the Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, done at Tokyo on 14

September 1963;

b) the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, done at The Hague on 16 December