Source: https://www.schoenherr.eu/publications/publication-detail/does-austrian-aviation-law-comply-with-the-new-eu-rules-for-drones/
Timestamp: 2020-08-14 13:44:36
Document Index: 235542120

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art 140', 'Art 57', 'Art 3', 'Art 3', 'Art 75', 'Art 105', 'Art 109']

Does Austrian aviation law comply with the new EU rules for drones?: Schoenherr Attorneys at Law
19 June 2019 | newsletters
Drones (coll.; "unmanned aircraft [systems or vehicles]" in technical terms) are aircraft operated with no pilot on board. Once mainly developed and used for military purposes, drones are increasingly influencing our everyday lives.1 Drones vary greatly in size, performance and type.2 Civil drones are operated for risky flights to accident areas (e.g. firefighting, overflying flooded areas, finding missing persons3), can assist authorities4 (e.g. border control), deliver commercial services such as infrastructure (e.g. bridges, railways, nuclear plants) maintenance and monitoring, aerial mapping5 (e.g. for construction planning, insurance, urban planning), filming6 (see "Can flying photo drones be shot down?"), farming7, forestry, fisheries or may deliver packages8. In fact, taxi drones9 may turn out to be a landmark in drone operations (see "Taxi drone EHang 216 takes off in Austria"). Considering that unmanned aerial toys will increasingly impact the Single European sky airspace, proper harmonised rules on safe and secure drone operation within the EU and its internal (aviation) market are urgently needed. EU-wide harmonised rules on civil drones must take into account their great variety of use these days.
The new "EASA-Basic Regulation"10 (BR) entitles the EU to regulate all civil unmanned aircraft (drones) irrespective of their operating mass. However, according to Art 140 BR, the special provisions on drones in the BR will apply for drones as soon as delegated and implementing acts according to Art 57 f enter into force. These tertiary acts set out detailed requirements for civil drone operations pursuant to the BR. The tertiary legislation will enter into force on 1 July 2019. Nevertheless, the new EU drone law will only be gradually applicable beginning one year after the entry into force, as of 1 July 2020. Appropriate transitional measures will enable EU Member States to convert the national documentation on civil drones in accordance with the EU drone law. The new EU drone law must be widely implemented as of 1 July 2020 and is finally applicable for all types of civil drones as of 1 July 2022.11
The special provisions for civil drones in the AA determine categories of drones to provide their secure operation based on different legal conditions. For this, Sections 24c ff AA refer to criteria concerning the modality of drone operation such as kinetic energy, operating mass, purpose of use (esp. non-commercial/commercial) and visual line of sight (VLOS). The Austrian legislator has decided that the four main national categories will be toys ("unbemannte Geräte", Section 24d AA), model aircraft ("Flugmodelle", Section 24c AA), RPAS class 1 ("unbemannte Luftfahrzeuge der Klasse 1", Section 24f AA) and RPAS class 2 ("unbemannte Luftfahrzeuge der Klasse 2", Section 24g AA).
Toys are limited to non-commercial flights with max 79 Joule kinetic energy and an altitude of max 30 m above ground level. An operational approval ("Betriebsbewilligung") issued by a competent aeronautical authority is not compulsory for toys and model aircraft not exceeding 25 kg. Apart from these two categories, a technical certification of model aircraft above 25 kg by the Austrian Aero Club or of RPAS class 1 and 2 by the Austro Control is stipulated. Such operational approvals may be issued in the form of a decision on the permission ("Bewilligungsbescheid") to operate on the application of a drone operator. The civil operation of drones, which does not comply with at least one of the necessary and cumulative preconditions for model aircraft according to Section 24c par 1 AA, falls under the category of RPAS. RPAS operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) belong to RPAS class 2. RPAS which do not correspond with the regime of Section 24c par 1 AA but are operated without technical aid in direct unobstructed VLOS count as RPAS class 1. In other words, any commercial flight of a civil drone within VLOS must comply with the requirements for RPAS class 1 to obtain obligatory operational approval by Austro Control. In conclusion, the valuable or commercial purpose of a flight with an unmanned aircraft is of primary importance for its categorisation pursuant to the Austrian legislation in force.
Unmanned aircraft means any aircraft operating or designed to operate autonomously or to be piloted remotely without a pilot on board (Art 3 no 30 BR). Furthermore, the EU drone law regulates unmanned aircraft system (UAS) consisting of the unmanned aircraft and the equipment to control it remotely (Art 3 no 3 DR).
The EASA assists the EC and investigates and monitors Members States, which are primarily responsible for the implementation of Union law concerning drones (Art 75, 83, 85 BR).
A Board of Appeal is responsible for deciding on appeals brought by persons against the decisions of the EASA (Art 105 BR). Actions may be brought before the Court of Justice (ECJ) for the annulment of acts of the EASA. Union institutions and Member States may bring actions against decisions of the EASA directly before the ECJ, without being required to exhaust the appeal procedures before the Board of Appeal (Art 109, 114 BR).
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