EU Legislation

This blog is brought to you by Drone Class, your drone trainer for flying in the open and specific category.

An overview of all published EU legislation which is the basis for our drone training in the open and specific category.

Rules of thumb for flying

Before we dive into the laws, let's briefly review the rules for pilots in the open category:

Fly up to 120 meters high
Always keep the drone in sight
Don't fly the drone over people
Do not fly in no-fly zones unless you have permission

In other blogs you can read more about: flying in the open category and the mandatory pilot registration.

Regulation EU 2022/425

Drones without Cx label and less than 2 kilos can be operated in subcategory A2 till January 1 2024. After 2023 not labelled drones from 250 grams are in subcategory A3 or subcategory A1 (less than 250 grams).

European standard scenarios can be declared in 2024 and for flying in the specific category Remote ID is required.

Regulation EU 2021/1166

The European STS can be declared to the NAA (National Aviation Authority) from December 3, 2023. The original date (December 2021) has been postponed by two years.

Regulations EU 2021/664, 665 and 666

These legal texts are intended for in particular the certified category and especially to establish U-Space. This is a new airspace class in which, for instance, manned UAS flights will take place in the future.

Regulation EU 2020/1058

This publication introduces the technical requirements for C5 and C6 labels, that are compulsory for STS (in the specific category).

Regulation EU 2020/746

This legislative text regulates the postponement of the introduction of the EU drone regulation (EU 2019 945/947). You will find these regulations in brief below.

Regulation EU 2020/639

In this publication, the first two European standard scenarios are introduced: flying on sight in populated, residential areas (STS-01) and flying out of sight in sparsely populated areas (STS-02). There are requirements for the operator, the aircraft and the pilot. An STS can be declared to the NAA.

Regulation EU 2019/947

In this legislative text, the frameworks are formulated for operations in the open, specific and certified category. The current legacy drones, which do not have a Cx label, fall into the limited open category: From December 31 2020, you must keep a distance of 50 meters from uninvolved persons in subcategory A2.

Regulation EU 2019/945

In this publication Cx labels (C0, C1, C2, C3 and C4) have been introduced. A Cx label contains technical requirements and limitations for manufactured unmanned aircraft. As standards have not yet been adopted in the EU, manufacturers are not able to comply till likely fall 2022.

EASA Easy Access Rules UAS

In order to bundle all rules, EASA has created a document for unmanned aviation.

National legislation

EASA member states are still able to establish local geographic zones to restrict UAS traffic. Furthermore, state actors (government-affiliated organizations) are allowed to fly state aircraft under existing national legislation.