Stop proliferation of national rules on drones! - Hoofdinhoud

Dutch Member of European Parliament Matthijs van Miltenburg (D66/ALDE) stresses the need to integrate drones in the non-segregated airspace in a safe and responsible way. This was his plea in today’s debate in the Transport Committee of the European Parliament. “It was only last week that a drone crashed next to a runway of Schiphol Amsterdam, due to the loss of control on the drone by the operator. And this is certainly not the first incident. Therefore clear European rules on civil use of drones need to be developed quickly, for the sake of safety, security and privacy.”

Developments move quickly

The drone industry moves quickly and offers great opportunities for economic growth. Drones are being used more and more for inspection of large buildings, of infrastructure and for precision agriculture. Van Miltenburg: “As we have seen the last couple of years, technology has caught up with legislation on a regular basis. And because there is no European legislation yet, a proliferation of national rules arises. Large differences exist between for instance licensing, permitted flight altitude and flight range. Companies continually ask for clear European rules on the civil use of drones to be able to invest in the promising developments of drones.”

Privacy

Besides European legislation for the safe integration of drones in the airspace, the safeguarding of privacy is also essential. Fortunately that is already foreseen in the Data Protection Package which is now under negotiation. Next to that, Van Miltenburg supports the development of new technologies providing smart privacy-solutions.