New European Regulatory Framework for Drones

New European Regulatory Framework for Drones: Modifications in the Network and EMCDDA Directive.

The drone / RPAS sector continues to make progress in terms of regulation and regulations. Last July, the European Commission published the new Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 of the European Parliament and the Council on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Agency for Security Aerial and by which different European regulations are modified.

In this sense, article 137 of this regulation proposes the following modification in the directive of EMCD:

Amendments to Directive 2014/30 / EU

 In Article 2(2) of Directive 2014/30/EU, point (b) is replaced by the following:

Therefore, as of the date of applicability of the above Regulation, equipment within the scope of the new EASA Regulation will be excluded from the EMCD;  however the following aviation equipment will not be excluded from the EMCD:

• radio equipment not intended for exclusive airborne use (e.g. ground aviation radio equipment);
• drones in the ‘open category’, ‘specific category’ as well as ‘certified category if not intended to operate only on frequencies allocated by the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union for protected aeronautical use’.

It should be noted that:

1. the above equipment will not be covered by the EMCD if it falls within the scope of the RED (e.g. when communicates with radio waves of frequencies below 3000 GHz);
2. ground aviation equipment might be excluded from EMCD on the basis of Article 2 (3).