## 2 Current European Drone Regulation  
As mentioned above, the European Commission adopted a new set of provisions for the use of drones within the Single European Sky strategy, which is an initiative of the European Commission aiming to reform the current air traffic management system in most of Europe. The aim is not only to guarantee standards on the safety, efficiency, and environmental impact of the air traffic, but also to integrate drones safely into airspace. EU legislation has been radically amended in recent years. In July 2018, European lawmakers passed the new Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 on common rules in the field of civil aviation, which included a new mandate for the EU EASA on drones and urban air \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Category** & **Risk** \\ \hline Open & Low-risk operation \\ Specific & Medium-risk operation \\ Certified & High-risk operation, similar to manned aviation operations \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Categorization of drone operations in the new European regulation. mobility [14]. This regulation adopts a new comprehensive legal strategy for the drone sector and repeals Reg. (EC) 2008/216 [20], which only concerned drones with a take-off weight of more than 150 kg, while drones with a maximum take-off weight of less than 150 kg were within the jurisdiction of the member states. Since neither the EU Parliament nor the EU Council had any objections, both the Implementing and Delegated Acts (Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945 [21] and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 [22]) were published in June 2019 and entered into force on 1 July 2019. Drone operators were required to register either in the member state of their residence or where the drone operator registered their main place of business by July 2020. These regulations were gradually enforced over the course of a one-year transition period from their date of publication. This transition period provided Member States and drone operators with time to prepare before full regulatory enforcement in 2022. The new EU regulatory framework covers all types of existing and future drone operations, enabling operators--once authorized in their state of registration--to freely circulate between Member States. The purpose of introducing these new regulations is to ensure the safety of drone operations, as well as to protect the privacy of EU citizens, with respect to personal data protection and the environment while allowing free access to airspace. The new regulations establish technical and operational requirements, provisions for drone operations, and personnel (minimum requirements and operator training), including both pilots and organizations. The EU regulatory framework defines drone capabilities, types of operation and labels these into three broad risk-based categories (open, specific, and certified) following the distinction suggested by EASA in the Opinion 01/2018 [23]. These three categories of operations are based on the levels of risk involved per drone flight, and each adopts a varied regulatory approach, with drone flight operational limitations decreasing with the requirement for greater authorization from a member state's national aviation authority. Regulation 2019/947 presents a comprehensive system of unified legal regulations that classifies drone operations into the above-mentioned three categories based on different criteria:  
* Open (Article 4 of Regulation 2019/947). Operations in this category shall not be subject to any prior operational authorization, nor to an operational declaration by the drone operator before the operation if the following conditions are met. The drone belongs to one of the classes set out in the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945 or is privately built or meets the conditions defined in Article 20 of Regulation 2019/947.