What the new drone regulations means for you.

As you may have heard there will be new regulations on drones starting in 1 July 2020. The new drone regulations 2019/947 & 2019/947 will take affect in 1 July 2020 but will have a transitional period ending 1 July 2022. After 1 July 2022 all drones that are put on the market will have to have the new CE-mark, and, among other things, be able to identify remotely in real time.

The biggest change from 1 July 2020 is that you as an operator will have to register with the NAA (in Sweden it is Transportstyrelsen). Depending of the weight of your drone you will (most likely) also have to take on online training and online exam. The exam will consist of 40 multiple-choice questions distributed appropriately across the following subjects:

1. air safety;

2. airspace restrictions;

3. aviation regulation;

4. human performance limitations;

5. operational procedures;

6. UAS general knowledge;

7. privacy and data protection;

8. insurance; ix. security.

What does the new drone regulations means for me as an operator if I fly my drone [model xxxx]? (which happens to be one of the most common drones on the market).

The image below hopefully gives you some clarification. But first there are two main questions you will have to ask yourself;

1. Does it have a the new CE-mark? (C0 to C4) and 
2. What is the weight of my drone?

If it does have a Cx-mark it is well market on the drone and its box, and looks like this (the number may alter).

If it does not have a C(x)-mark the "magic limit" is to stay below 500g, till 1 Juli 2022. After that it will be reduced to 250g. [2019/947 Article 22] The If your drone weighs in under 500g you only have to register with the authorities, but no exams or insurance will be required.

For today, no drones sold are yet to have Cx-marking, which means that the transitional regulations (2019/947 Article 22) comes into act, Article 22 adjusts the weight limits for a limited transitional time and ends 1 July 2022. It reads that drones which does not meet with the C(x) requirements and has a MTOW of:

• < 500g belongs to A1,

• < 2kg belongs to A2 and

• < 25 kg belongs to A3.

The same article also reads that for the same period the safety buffer for A2 i extended from a min. of 30 m to a min. of 50m.

This image gives you an overview of what you will have to do, based on the drone you fly, starting from 1 July 2022;

Compare it to this image, which shows what you will have to do when a new model of your drone is sold with Cx-mark. Starting from 1 July 2020.

Drone without C(x) mark will for the limited period fall under 2019/947 Article 20 and until 1 july 2022 be categorised with by the following weight limits; MTOW <250g, limited A1 (similar to C0), MTOW <500g belongs to A1, MTOW < 2 kg belongs to A2 and MTOW < 25 kg belongs to A3. After 1 July 2022 these more generous limits will no longer apply and drones without the new CE-mark (c0-c4) will belong to either A1 or A3, (A1 are only those with MTOW < 250g).

During the transitional period the following applies:

I hope these images brought you some clarifications. If you have any questions you can reach me at "max (at) scanax.com "