The new year brings us new drone regulations across Europe. From 31 December 2020, they are going to be effective across all EU countries, plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and the UK. DJI has issued a statement regarding the new rules and invited all users to “embrace them.”
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published a proposal for the new regulations in July. The proposal has been accepted and it should make life easier for drone pilots. First of all, the drone rules will be identical across these countries so you won’t have to worry about learning new ones when you travel between them. And second, it should become easier to fly your front in populated areas.
EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky said:
“With the publication of these documents, European drone operators can now safely operate drones in populated areas. This is a matter of concern and interest for many European citizens and we are pleased to now have the needed regulatory framework in place to allow industry to go ahead and implement new innovative service solutions.”
In the statement, DJI invited all users to “embrace new EU drone regulation.” The company explains how the rules are going to change: there will be a distinction between low-, medium- and high-risk categories. Each of them will have different requirements for products and drone operators. “The most widely used category will be the Open Category (low risk),” DJI explains, “which will be managed through the so-called CE (Conformité Européenne/European Conformity) marking process.” This is an established process for products sold in Europe which ensures that they comply with all the safety, health, and environmental regulations. “In addition to already existing CE marking, the new CE class identification labels for drones will define, amongst others, which types of drones (categorized by weight), can be flown in which type of environment,” DJI writes further. The A1 environment allows flying over people, the A2 environment allows flying near people, and the A3 environment only allows flying away from people.
You can find more information on drone regulations in Europe in DJI’s statement and on EASA’s website.
[via Drone DJ]
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