Hamburg, 2020/07/15 – Europe is harmonising all drone regulation. This is a great chance – and a big challenge: Chance, because finally you have a single, harmonised market for your products. Challenge because you are required to implement a lot of new features to your organisation and to your drone, too.
Since July 1st 2019, new European drone regulations (EU 2019/945 and 2019/947) are in place. They will progressively replace national regulations for civil operations of drones. The new risk-based approach categorizes operations in 3 different categories: 'Open', 'Specific' and 'Certified'. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the effectivity date of the regulations has been pushed back to 01.01.2021. 'Open' category drones must carry a CE marking and are subject to more than 100 requirements. Professional and other drones flown in the 'Specific' category are subjected to even more rules; e. g. you might need to develop using industry standard processes.
The regulations have been adapted based on the recommendations made by JARUS (Joint Aviation Rulemaking for Unmanned Systems) and are mostly risk-based. These new regulations might have severe impacts on the requirements and operations with regard to:
- Internal processes & procedures
- Design & manufacturing
- Testing
- Training
- Operations & maintenance manuals
- Documentation
Even further, depending on the type of operations, the new changes include a set of new requirements for drone manufacturers and service providers as you need to provide assurances to the operators.
The new regulations will create big opportunities:
- Harmonised European market
- Light UAS Operator Certificate (LUC)
- Key enabler for more complex operations
- Fosters innovative solutions
- Beyond-visual-line-of sight
- Autonomous operations
However, every opportunity creates risk. Start anticipating the necessary actions to be one step ahead of the competition:
