EU law and drones in 2020

Just recently, at the end of January this year, the following came into effect Ordinance of the Minister of Infrastructure amending the Ordinance on the exclusion of the application of certain provisions of the Aviation Law to certain types of aircraft and determination of the conditions and requirements for the use of such aircraft., and we have already been made aware that there is no reason to be particularly attached to the new regulations.

Plans, estimates, announcements of the introduction of the various stages of the unified law have already appeared several, but thanks to the scientific conference organized by the Institute of Aviation 'Exploitation of Unmanned Flying Systems', held on 6.03.19 in Warsaw, it has been properly arranged.

New EU law on BSP flights to take effect as early as the first half of next year. Currently, the regulation, which has already been adopted by the European Parliament, is being translated into Polish.

After the final formulation of the Polish-language version, it will enter into force within 21 days, and after just one year it will become completely effective.

For now, we can be sure that the previously existing divisions of drones by operational weight will cease to apply. As opined by The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA): 'Unmanned aircraft operate in the same airspace as manned aircraft, so unmanned aircraft should be included in the scope of this Regulation, regardless of their operating mass'. Original source: https://www.easa.europe.eu/document-library/opinions/opinion-012018.

What such unification entails - we will find out exactly soon enough. However, we can be sure that it will not be as colorful as before...after all, Poland is one of the most liberal countries when it comes to 'drone' law.

As for certifying operators - a 2-year transition period is announced. But basically for what? For retraining of existing operators from the new law? Or maybe it's going out on a limb for us and introducing an EU-wide respected drone license and it won't be so bad...