Drone regulations in Europe: what changes on December 31, 2020 for drone legislation
Drone regulations are changing in 2021 in Europe (and therefore in France). The bulletin from the Directorate of Civil Aviation Safety (DSAC) informs us about changes to drone regulations in Europe for the registration of drones for professional drone operators and remote pilots.
Drone regulations in Europe for UAS operators in 2021
From December 31, 2020, all drone remote pilots must register as European operators of unmanned aircraft on board (UAS) with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on the AlphaTango portal. The operator number obtained must be affixed to the aircraft. This step is mandatory even if you have already registered your drone on this same website (or if you have already submitted a declaration of drone piloting activity). This procedure is easy to complete and only applies to drone operators residing in France or planning to fly in France. Any professional drone operator residing in another country must register in their country of origin. For your information, drone legislation stipulates that each operator can only register in one European country.
Drone legislation: please note that this operator number will be required for all your administrative procedures.
Drone legislation is changing as of December 31, 2020. Your European Aircraft Operator's License (EAL) number will be required for all future administrative procedures. Whether it's an application for operating authorization, a flight notification, a prior declaration of flight authorization, or mission planning, you will need to provide your EAL registration number. All authorizations required for your specific activities, drone use, aerial photography, or other scenarios are subject to this requirement.
Registration as a European drone operator, everything happens on the AlphaTango portal.
You can now register as a European UAS operator. Simply log in to your AlphaTango account and click "Register" in the "UAS Operator" section. This feature is available today on your AlphaTango account homepage once you are logged in.
A unique recording, or almost?
This registration is mandatory for all aircraft operators. However, a few specific cases are exempt from this registration procedure.
- Registration is not required if you are an operator in the open category, your drone weighs less than 250 grams and does not have a sound recording, photography or video recording device, and/or it is a "toy" drone according to Directive 2009/48/EC.
- Registration is not mandatory if you are a drone pilot within a model aircraft association. However, this situation is still under discussion with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Therefore, at present, model aircraft associations and their members are not required to register as European UAS operators for recreational activities within these associations. The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) will communicate further on this subject with French model aircraft associations at a later date.
Remote identification of your aircraft or electronic signaling?
For reasons of aviation safety and privacy, European regulations require that certain classes of UAS be equipped with remote identification devices. This device emits an electronic signal containing your identification code. This code must be entered into the remote identification device. It will be provided to you upon registration as a UAS operator on AlphaTango. This code consists of your DGAC operator number and three additional characters to prevent data entry errors. In practice, you will need to enter this code into the UAS via an interface provided by the manufacturer. As long as you are not using an aircraft with a class C1, C2, C3, C5 or C6 designation, You are not subject to this obligation.
This European remote identification system is independent of the national electronic identification requirement applicable to all unmanned aircraft weighing over 800g. The electronic identification of your drone weighing over 800 grams is a measure implemented in France to prevent malicious acts (except in cases of exemption). This national requirement remains in effect even after the European regulation comes into force.
For more information on electronic reporting and exemption cases, here is the AlphaTango help sheet.
The help sheet for registering on Alpha Tango.
French and European authorities are cooperating to enable a convergence of these two systems, so as to avoid double import for aircraft already equipped with a remote identification device in the European sense of the term.
The DSAC guides are available below. You can download them.
The Open Category Guide
This guide is intended for recreational drone pilots outside of model aircraft associations and for professional operators who operate on low risk operations (within visual line of sight, outside restricted areas).
The guide for the specific category.
This document is intended for professional operators who work in other types of operations.
And what about GESTADRONE in all of this?
Our drone activity management software solution will automatically update as soon as these new European measures come into effect. For GESTADRONE users, this regulatory "reform" will be virtually seamless, a significant advantage given the cumbersome regulatory procedures for drone flights.
Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding drone regulations in 2021.
