France proposes safety measures related to civilian drones Direction générale de l'aviationcivile (Directorate-General for Civil Aviation) has published following decrees pertains to Civilian drones Decree on weight specification It aims to set an identical weight threshold at 800 g, pursuant to Article L6111-1(II) and Articles L6214-2, L6214-4 and L6214-5 of the Transport Code, and draft Articles R. 114-1, R. 136-5, R. 137-2 and R. 138-1 of the Civil Aviation Code Click here for details Civilian unmanned aerial vehicles to be equipped with an audible warning device It aims to supplement, in order to guarantee public safety and State security, French legislation concerning UAVs, i.e. the Order of 17 December 2015 relating to the design of civilian UAVs, the conditions for their use and the skills required by those using them, and the Order of 17 December 2015 on the use of airspace by UAVs, as amended on 30 March 2017. The aim of the requirements in this draft decree is to ensure that, if control of a drone is lost, an audible warning shall alert third parties on the ground that it is about to crash. However, only drones registered in France pursuant to Article L6111-1 of the Transport Code after 1 July 2018 shall be required to comply with the obligation to have an audible warning. Click here for details Capacity limitation of civilian unmanned aerial vehicles of a weight exceeding 800 g It aims to ensure that drones will, in time, have a capacity limitation device that prevents them from flying above a maximum altitude of 150 m. This will prevent drones from wandering off-course and, in particular, recreational drones from deliberately flying into airspace used by manned aircraft, as well as prevent drones from getting close to sensitive sites by flying covertly,because at a significant height, these behaviours are likely to constitute an attack on State security. Click here for details Products covered: Civilian unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), Civilian unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) of a weight exceeding 800g HS Code: 950300 Proposed date of adoption: 31 December 2017 Proposed date of entry into force: The day following publication in the Official Journal (Journal officiel de la République française) Final date for comments: 60 days from the date of notification. |