The Irish Aviation Authority (Nationality and Registration of Aircraft) Order, 2015 (S.I. 107/2015) will come into operation on 1st June 2015. It revokes and replaces with minor changes the previous statutory instrument (S.I. 634 of 2005) to take into account the Standards in Annex 7 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. It includes a new provision to permit the use of nationality mark "EJ" for aircraft to be registered in Ireland.

The use of "EJ" shall be at the discretion of the Irish Aviation Authority and subject to any conditions or criteria that the IAA may specify (s.11 (1) S.I. 107/2015). The Order provides that the nationality mark shall be the capital letters "EJ" and the registration mark of every such aircraft shall be a group of four (4) capital letters, e.g. EJ-ABCD.

The current nationality mark of aircraft registered in Ireland, consisting of capital letters "EI", shall continue to be available and the registration mark of every such aircraft shall be a group of three (3) capital letters, e.g. EI-EFG. The Irish Aviation Authority will no longer issue the letter "Q" in the registration in order to reduce and avoid confusion with the international code of signals and the Order is more prescriptive and detailed as to requirements to paint and display nationality and registration marks (see s. 11(4)S.I. 107/2015).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.