Following an advice of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the European Commission may prohibit the European air companies to use any USSR-made aircraft due to they have not undergone certification. According to the data provided by EASA, around 260 Soviet planes are in use in the EU.
      
      The European Commission obliged all European air carriers to use only certified aircraft in September 2003 and gave them 42 months to submit all documents needed for certification. At the beginning of 2007 that term was prolonged for one year and finally expired on March 28, 2008.
      
      Representatives of the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry express an opinion that USSR-made aircraft could not and cannot be certified in accordance with the European rules as when these planes were developed and produced, such requirements simply did not exist.
      
      Tupolev aircraft manufacturer suggests that only those planes that are going to be launched in mass production must be certified, such as TU-204 and TU-214. However, the process of TU-204 certification already lasts for eight years and the experts believe that it might be difficult to undergo it successfully.
      
      Source - aviaport.ru

Nick :
No certification due to safety reasons ? or is it a way to protect their own European aircraft industry ? If those TU-planes are realy "unsafe", than the 260 that are in use now should have taken out already long time ago. To me, it's a way of eliminating competition in a world of globalisation and free market. It's easy in fact : step 1: analyse the competitors product and production system and compare it with your own. step 2 : create rules according to what your own companies can achieve and the competitors can not. step 3 : make sure you can place it in a legal context.

Added: 16 April 2008 13:32