The European Union (EU) Council on Tuesday adopted what it called the first ever EU-wide rules for civil drones of all sizes. In a news release, the EU said the new rules on drones “lay down the basic principles to ensure safety, security, privacy, data protection and environmental protection.”
The rules require that drone operators must be registered if their drones are capable of transferring more than 80 Joules of kinetic energy upon impact with a person.
The EU release said that other detailed rules will be set by the European Commission with help from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and will be based on the principles outlined in the new EU regulation.
The new rules are expected to be published in the EU Journal by the end of July and will go into effect 20 days after publication.