History

Following 11 September 2001 and the 2010 Yemen incident, EU regulations have been introduced to close possible security gaps in the aviation industry and in worldwide supply chains. As part of this initiative, the European Commission (EU) created the ACC3, RA3 and KC3 program, setting security standards for non-EU countries shipping cargo and mail by air into the European Union.

Within the exit of the United Kingdom out of the European Union (EU), the UK created its own UK ACC3 scheme/program.



Definition of the EU/UK Cargo Aviation Security bodies:

ACC3:
Air Cargo or Mail Carrier operating into the European Union from a Third Country Airport.

RA3:
A RA3 (Third Country EU Aviation Security validated Regulated Agent) is a cargo handling entity located in a third country that is validated and approved as such on the basis of an EU aviation security validation. A RA3 shall ensure that security controls including screening where applicable have been applied to consignments bound for the European Union and the consignments have been protected from unauthorized interference from the time that those security controls were applied and until the consignments are loaded onto an aircraft or are otherwise handed over to an ACC3 or other RA3.

KC3:
A KC3 (Third Country EU Aviation Security validated Known Consignor) is a cargo handling entity located in a third country that is validated and approved as such on the basis of an EU aviation security validation. A (KC3) shall ensure that security controls have been applied to consignments bound for the European Union and the consignments have been protected from unauthorized interference from the time that those security controls were applied and until transferring to an ACC3 or a third country EU aviation security validated regulated agent (RA3).

Learn more about the ACC3 requirements