EASA now offers a single machine‑readable XML file that contains the full publication history of all Easy Access Rules (EARs) ever published on its website.
This new file helps you to:
- keep a complete record of all EAR publications;
- automatically feed publication data into your content management systems; and
- compare different EAR files efficiently and accurately.
What the XML file contains
The XML file covers every EAR published on the EASA website.
For each publication, it provides:
- the full original EAR name;
- the machine‑readable EAR file name;
- links to the XML and PDF versions;
- simple check sums to verify file integrity;
- the generation date; and
- publication notes, such as revision dates or amendment/issue numbers.
Publications are grouped by aviation domain. Each domain has its own dedicated notes section so that you can store and manage publication‑related information directly in your own systems.
Standardised file naming for better automation
To support reliable data handling and smooth system integration, EASA uses a clear, structured naming convention for all generated EAR files. Every file name has four parts, separated by underscores:
- Domain ID – a fixed six‑character code that identifies the domain or project.
- Date stamp – the generation date in ISO format (YYYY‑MM‑DD).
- Time stamp – the generation time in 24‑hour format (HH.MM.SS).
- Context label – a short file description using hyphens instead of spaces.
This pattern is:
- machine‑readable, using consistent separators to avoid ambiguity;
- chronological, so that files can be sorted by date and time; and
- ready for alphabetical sorting thanks to fixed widths and zeropadding.
With segments separated by underscores, users can easily split the file name into an array and use each part as metadata for automated processing. The naming convention thus avoids spaces and restricted characters, thereby ensuring compatibility with major operating systems such as Linux, Windows, macOS, as well as cloud storage services like AWS S3 and Azure Blob.
Complete historical coverage of existing publications
All EAR publications available to date, more than 300 EAR files in both PDF and XML formats, are already included in the new XML publication history file, which will be updated with any future EAR publications.
EAR documents will remain accessible in their usual locations under each aviation domain on the EASA Regulations page, as well as on their dedicated EAR pages.
Supporting digital reuse of regulatory content
The EAR publication history XML file represents another step towards greater digital accessibility and reusability of EASA regulatory content. By providing structured publication metadata and a complete historical record, EASA enables you to manage, track, and process Easy Access Rules more efficiently, while preserving seamless access to all published versions.
For questions, please contact us at: erules [at] easa.europa.eu (erules[at]easa[dot]europa[dot]eu)
