 In East Germany, the "Hauptverwaltung der Zivilen Luftfahrt" (Central Administration for Civil Aviation) was established on 1 January 1961.It was replaced by the "Staatliche Luftfahrt-Inspektion der DDR" (Public Department of Aviation of the GDR) on 1 January 1968, from which the "Luftfahrt-Bundesamt" took over all operations and most of the staff on 4 October 1990, the day after German re-unification.On 28 September 2003, substantial competences were formally transferred to the European Aviation Safety Agency established by Regulation (EC) 1592/2002.