Manufacturing under Technical Standard Order Authorization
I am a Technical Standard Order (TSO) approved manufacturer and plan to shift manufacturing of my articles to a foreign country. What are the necessary steps to retain my FAA TSO Authorization?
An FAA TSO authorization represents both a design and production approval. While it may be possible to shift some manufacturing of a TSO article to a foreign country, please note that an FAA TSO authorization holder may not transfer a TSO authorization [14 CFR §21.614]. Once the entire manufacturing of a TSO article is occurring outside the U.S., the relevant FAA approval becomes a letter of TSO design approval under a bilateral agreement [14 CFR §21.621].
Contact the FAA ACO/MIDO office that is responsible for certificate management of your TSO Authorization. Generally, if the TSO authorization involves manufacturing activities at a location outside of the U.S., the FAA must determine whether the proposed activity poses an undue burden on the FAA. The FAA drafts the Undue Burden Paper using information provided by the applicant [14 CFR §21.609(a)].
