Remotely Piloted Aviation Systems (RPAS) - Frequently Asked Questions

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
MEMO
Brussels, 8 April 2014
Remotely Piloted Aviation Systems (RPAS) - Frequently

Asked Questions
What is a civil drone?

The term drone is used to describe any type of aircraft that is automated and operates
without a pilot on board. There are two types of drones.
1. Remotely Piloted Aviation Systems (RPAS), in short a drone where the aircraft is
controlled by a human pilot from a distant location. This means that there is always a pilot
in charge – even if remotely. These are the only types of drones that can be authorised
currently, and under the new framework, for use in EU airspace.
2. Unmanned drones. These are drones which are automatically programmed – without
being piloted, even remotely. These are not yet authorised for use, either by ICAO or
under EU rules.
The term "civil" drones is used to cover those RPAS that are used for civil purposes such
as delivering mail or inspecting an oil platform out at sea. Over time, civil drones have a
great potential to execute numerous tasks, including jobs which are dirty, dull or
dangerous for people.
What are civil drones used for?

Civil drones are already being used to take over repetitive or sometimes dangerous tasks
which can be more effectively or safely be performed by a machine.
In Europe, drones are being used for safety inspections of infrastructure, such as rail
tracks, dams, dykes or power grids. National authorities are making more use of drones in
disaster relief actions, e.g. to overfly flooded areas or to support the fighting of forest or
building fires.
Elsewhere, drones operators support precision farming through more effective and timely
application of fertilizers or insecticide.
In the future drones could make it possible to develop more efficient wind turbines and
produce more "green" electricity, or to complete coverage of telecommunications in a
cost-effective way. At the opposite side of the scale, engineers are working on micro
drones which could be used to tackle gas or chemical leaks, or which could be
programmed to act like bees to pollinate plants.
The sector is evolving very fast with industries signalling their interest in adapting drones
to execute specific services for which there is a market.
MEMO/14/259
What is the size of the drones market, who are the major players?
The technology for drones is maturing and the market for civil drones is evolving fast. On
some estimates in the next 10 years civil drones could be worth 10% of the aviation
market. That's 15 billion euro per year.
There are already more than 1,700 different types of drones produced by official
manufacturers, with about one third in Europe.
Drones manufacturing may create up to 150,000 European jobs by 2050, following some
industry estimates.
Currently, the US and Israel dominate the global RPAS manufacturing sector, particularly
in the field of military RPAS. Other non-European Union countries, such as Brazil, China,
India and Russia, also show potential to become strong competitors.
Europe is also very active. Some 500 manufacturers are producing drones worldwide, of
which about a third are in Europe. More than 1,000 operators have been granted an
operating licence in Europe. In France for example, the number of approved operators
increased from 86 in December 2012 to 431 in February 2014. Sweden and the UK also
issued more than 200 operators' licences each in recent years.
What are the current rules covering the use of civil drones?
The rules covering drones are currently set at UN level, by the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO), the UN body dealing with civil aviation. ICAO allows drones
operations (RPAS) provided a national authority gives a specific authorization, i.e.
authorising the use of drones in a non-segregated airspace (this means in the same
airspace also used by 'manned' air traffic). Such authorisations are typically restricted to
specific operations under specific conditions in order to avoid safety hazards.
Some EU member states, such as Sweden, France, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Czech
Republic, Lithuania and the UK have adopted legislation for simple operations by light
RPAS, to avoid this case-by-case authorization process. However, national authorizations
do not benefit from mutual recognition and do not allow for European wide activities,
either to produce or to operate drones. The authorisation procedures also do not provide a
coherent framework, with the necessary legal safeguards in relation to concerns about
safety, security, privacy, liability to be built in.
What is the problem?

Drones are already beginning to appear in our skies but there are no clear general rules,
at national or at European level, which put in place the necessary safeguards protect the
safety, security and privacy of people.
In addition, operational and technical rules also need to be further developed in order to
ensure that civil drones can fly like 'normal' air traffic and be integrated among 'normally
piloted' aircraft in non-segregated airspace without affecting the safety and the operation
of the whole aviation system.
It is clear that mastering civil drones (RPAS) technology is key to the future
competitiveness of the European aeronautics industry - on some estimates in the next 10
years it could be worth 10% of the aviation market.
The impact of drones and their many applications on the economy could potentially be
compared to the development of the internet in the nineties. It means that the safe
development of the European market for drones is crucial step towards building the
aviation market of the future.
2
For all these reasons the European Council, in December 2013, asked the Commission to
develop a framework for the safe integration of RPAS into civil airspace as from 2016.
What are we proposing?

The Communication on opening the market for RPAS is an invitation to all stakeholders to
build together a policy framework for the development of a competitive drones market as
well as rules that will tackle all citizens' concerns.
This policy framework will concern civil rules and commercial operations, in line with EU
competence. It does not address military applications.
The proposal will cover the following aspects:
1) Strict EU wide rules on Safety

Safety is the paramount objective of EU aviation policy. The integration of RPAS will be
based on the principle that all operations will have an equivalent level of safety in
comparison to regular, manned, aviation.
The regulatory framework would first focus on areas where technologies are mature and
where there is sufficient confidence on the basis of concrete lessons learnt. Building on
growing expertise and the development of the enabling technologies, regulatory measures
will be introduced step by step and more complex RPAS operations will be progressively
permitted.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is best placed to develop such common rules
which must be compatible with ICAO standards.
2) Protect citizens' fundamental rights

Drone operations must respect the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
including the respect for the right to private and family life, and the protection of personal
data. Flexibility, discretion, low costs and ever more sophisticated sensors are some of the
characteristics that make RPAS unique tools for effective and discrete surveillance and
monitoring missions. But the increased use of RPAS together with the capacity to store
ever increasing amounts of data on the ground may raise ethical, privacy and data
protection concerns.
The Commission will assess how to ensure that RPAS applications comply with the
applicable data protection rules. Privacy needs continuous monitoring by the competent
authorities including the national data protection supervisory authorities.
3) Tough controls to ensure Security

RPAS are not immune to potential unlawful actions and might potentially be used as
weapons. Terrorists, criminals or rogue states could use their own RPAS, could jam the
navigation or communication system signals of other RPAS or hijack ground control
stations.
Security aspects are vital when developing the necessary information streams to manage
4D trajectories in the future air traffic management system. As this information needs to
be shared in real time by all aviation stakeholders to optimize the performance of the
system, the security dimension becomes all the more important. Security aspects
therefore are essential elements of the future air traffic management system, of which
RPAS will become an integral part.
3
The identified security requirements will then need to be translated into legal obligations
for all relevant players, like the air navigation service provider, RPAS operator or telecom
service provider, under the oversight of the competent authorities at the national or
European levels.
4) Guarantee third party liability and insurance

The current third-party insurance regime has been established mostly in terms of manned
aircraft. The Commission will assess the need to amend the current rules for RPAS
specificities and the way to promote the development of an efficient insurance market
where fees correspond to the real financial risk estimated on the basis of acquired
evidence through incidents and accident reporting.
5) Support market development and European industries

The Commission will support the emergence of a RPAS market and the competitiveness of
the related industrial sectors making use of EU instruments such as the Horizon 2020 and
COSME programmes. It will promote the development of RPAS applications and the
related technologies, stimulate user-driven innovation, and foster the creation of cross-
sectorial industrial value chains, appropriate support infrastructures and clusters.
The Commission will also identify policy opportunities to promote the utilisation of this
innovative technology. For instance, RPAS may play a role in Copernicus, the EU’s Earth
Observation Programme, where they could effectively complement space-borne and on-
site sensors for some monitoring and surveillance services.
IP/14/384
STATEMENT/14/110

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 8 April 2014

Remotely Piloted Aviation Systems (RPAS) - Frequently

What is a civil drone?

What are civil drones used for?

What is the problem?

What are we proposing?

1) Strict EU wide rules on Safety

2) Protect citizens' fundamental rights

3) Tough controls to ensure Security

4) Guarantee third party liability and insurance

5) Support market development and European industries

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