DESIGN ORGANIZATION CERTIFICATES.

SEC. 227. DESIGN ORGANIZATION CERTIFICATES.(a) General Authority To Issue Certificates.—Effective on the last day of the 7-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, section 44702(a) is amended by inserting “design organization certificates,” after “airman certificates,”. (b) Design Organization Certificates.—(1) Plan.—Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall transmit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a plan for the development and oversight of a system for certification of design organizations to certify compliance with the requirements and minimum standards prescribed under section 44701(a) of title 49, United States Code, for the type certification of aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, or appliances.(2) Issuance of certificates.—Section 44704 is amended by adding at the end the following:“(e) Design Organization Certificates.—“(1) Issuance.—Beginning 7 years after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator may issue a design organization certificate to a design organization to authorize the organization to certify compliance with the requirements and minimum standards prescribed under section 44701(a) for the type certification of aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, or appliances.“(2) Applications.—On receiving an application for a design organization certificate, the Administrator shall examine and rate the design organization submitting the application, in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Administrator, to determine whether the design organization has adequate engineering, design, and testing capabilities, standards, and safeguards to ensure that the product being certificated is properly designed and manufactured, performs properly, and meets the regulations and minimum standards prescribed under section 44701(a).“(3) Issuance of type certificates based on design organization certification.—The Administrator may rely on certifications of compliance by a design organization when making a finding under subsection (a).117 STAT. 2532“(4) Public safety.—The Administrator shall include in a design organization certificate issued under this subsection terms required in the interest of safety.“(5) No effect on power of revocation.—Nothing in this subsection affects the authority of the Secretary of Transportation to revoke a certificate.”.(c) Reinspection and Reexamination.—Section 44709(a) is amended by inserting “design organization, production certificate holder,” after “appliance,”.(d) Prohibitions.—Section 44711(a)(7) is amended by striking “agency” and inserting “agency, design organization certificate, ”.(e) Conforming Amendments.—(1) Section heading.—Section 44704 is amended by striking the section designation and heading and inserting the following:“§ 44704. Type certificates, production certificates, airworthiness certificates, and design organization certificates” .(2) Chapter analysis.—The analysis for chapter 447 is amended by striking the item relating to section 44704 and inserting the following: “44704. Type certificates, production certificates, airworthiness certificates, and design organization certificates.”.