Within the EU we have a combination of national legislation and EU legislation (regulations). Beginning with the first EASA Basic Regulation in 2009, the EU has introduced more and more regulations concerning aviation.
A principle of the EU is that regulations completely replaces national legislation for the areas they cover. I.e. EU member states are allowed neither to add to nor to remove from EU regulations. The only exception is if the EU regulations themselves offer member states some leeway. This happens, but only for some rules.
One example is that when the EU introduced the Standardised European Rules of the Air (SERA), it replaced essentially all existing national legislation concerning Rules of the Air. The only exceptions being the cases where SERA explicitly allowed member states to deviate. E.g. the UK retained its less restrictive minimum height rules for VFR as SERA.3105 allows precisely that. Many countries allow lower visibility than the basic 5 km for VFR in class G airspace as SERA.5001 allows that.
Generally speaking, the EU regulations about aviation have resulted in major simplification for international general aviation – particularly in Central Europe where distances between national borders are short.
Of course, EU regulations are a compromise between the old national legislations of all the different EU countries. In some cases the regulations are more restrictive that some national legislation they replace, but in some cases less restrictive. Some national aviation authorities have been unhappy about rules being less restrictive and tried to impose their old rules in their own country regardless, either by retaining old law, keeping old rules in their AIP or by a restrictive interpretation of the EU regulation.
In some cases the EU commission have forced them to abandon that legislation – e.g. the prohibition of IFR flights in class G in Germany and the less restrictive cloud distance minima for VFR in the UK (before Brexit) – but some cases remain. Technically, such legislation is void but it can of course be difficult for an individual to demands his/her rights according to EU regulations if national legislation differs.
It adds to the confusion that flight with so-called “Annex I” aircraft – particularly older aircraft models and ultralight aircraft – is not covered by most EU regulations so national law still applies. This means that completely different rules could apply if you fly a Piper Cub (an Annex I aircraft) or a Piper Cherokee (a non-Annex I aircraft).
A consequence is that some AIPs include invalid information e.g. about avionics requirements – information that runs counter to EU regulations or even to national legislation. (Note that an AIP is not law but information. It can reference or quote law and in some cases the law references the AIP but an AIP is not itself law.)
One example is AIP-Germany GEN 1.5 §3 which for IFR flight requires 2 COM radios with 8.33 kHz channel spacing, one (or maybe even two) VOR receivers and one DME. None of these requirements have any basis in EU regulations. (See my post about avionics requirements which refers to the EU regulations.)
Why would this be? Three possibilities spring to mind
- The rules have changed and the AIP has simply not been updated
- The AIP is correct for commercial traffic and non-commercial traffic is seen as an uninteresting special case.
- The national authority disagrees with the EU rule and wants to trick/scare (take your pick) people into following their own, more restrictive, preferences.
In any case, you don’t have to follow requirements stated in an AIP that run counter to EU regulations. Whether it is a good idea is something you have to decide for yourself. In practise it would depend on the risk you run of getting into trouble with a national authority. Even if you are in the right (and would eventually have your right in court) it could be unpleasant.