EU promises new dawn for drone makers
The EU Commission has promised to help European drone makers conquer world markets, as part of wider efforts to export EU aviation rules.
Violeta Bulc, the transport commissioner, said in Brussels on Monday (7 December) upcoming drone laws will create “a European-based regulatory framework” which will “create the conditions” for EU-based commercial producers to “stay the leader, globally.”
She said the laws, to be drawn up by Easa, the EU flight safety agency, based in Cologne, Germany, will “strike a balance between safety, security, legal certainty, privacy and data protection requirements.”
“It will really enable the drone indsutry in Europe to take off,” she said.
The pledge, part of a broader commission “aviation package”, is short on details for the time being. But documents published Monday indicate the EU agency is to draft joint standards on design, production, and certification, while member states will be free to decide where and when they can fly.
With ever-smaller and cheaper drones capable of taking photos or livestreaming audiovisual content, the commission said there’ll be a “safety requirement to equip the unmanned aircraft with an identification device, like an electronic identification chip, also help detecting persons who did not respect privacy or data protection rules.”
It said air safety bodies shouldn’t have to invoke full accident-report protocols in the event of small drone-to-drone collisions.
