Drone Rules, 2021 – A New Lifeline To The Drone Industry

People for a long time have been fascinated by the idea of flying cars, the cars which would make short distance travelling easy and reduce the burden of being stuck in huge traffics. Well, the new Drone Rules, 2021 is a move to make this idea into a reality. The Ministry of Civil Aviation on 25th August, 2021 notified the updated Drone guidelines 2021, replacing it with the now repealed Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 (UAS Rules) which were issued on March 12, 2021.

Drone means an aircraft that can operate autonomously or can be operated remotely without a pilot on board. The first circular with regards to the drone technology was introduced in 2014 wherein a blanket ban on civil drones was imposed. It is only with this recently notified Drone Rules, 2021 that the drone sector has been given a new lifeline by way of liberalisation in drone policies. These new rules are expected to open the Indian markets for huge technological and economic inflows in the Drone Sector. This major shift in drone policy certainly may help in growing the drone sector in such a way that India is expected to become a drone hub by 2030.

SALIENT FEATURES

Some of the salient features of the Drone Rules, 2021 are

    (i) The reduction in the no. Of forms for drone operations from 25 to 5,
    (ii) Reduction in the types of fees from 72 to 4,
    (iii) Introduction of Digital Sky Platform which shall be user-friendly window system with minimum human interference alongwith self-generated approvals. The above-mentioned forms are to be filed online on Digital Sky Platform. This platform will help in easing the approval process.
    (iv) The categorization of zones into green, yellow and red and availability of interactive airspace maps on the digital sky platform within 30 days of notification,
    (v) No permission requirement for operation of drones in the green zone.
    (vi) Reduction and Delinking of the quantum fees for remote pilot license from dro0ne’s size,
    (vii) Increase in the all up weight from maximum of 300kgs to 500kgs,
    (viii) Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management (UTM) System on the digital sky platform,
    (ix) Time bound availability of type certificates
    (x) No requirement for permission of operation of nano drones and micro drones for non commercial purpose.
    (xi) No requirement of permission for operation of drones for R& D.
    (xii) Application of provisions and rules under the Motor Vehicles Act, mutatis mutandis, for third party insurance of drones and compensation in case of damage to life and/or property caused by such a drone.
    (xiii) Acceptance of approvals already granted by international aviation regulators, as may be specified by the Central Government for type certificates.
    (xiv) Issuance of Remote Pilot License by the Director General within 15 days after completion of proficiency test from the authorised remote pilot training organisation and issuance of remote pilot certificate thereof.



While the list is not exhaustive and the Government has shown willingness to track the impact of the new rules under the six monthly report, a lot of addition, modification and upgradation of these feature may be seen in the coming years.



APPLICABILITY

These New rules shall apply to: -
(i) All the drones which are owned, possessed, leased, operated, manufactured, traded, transferred or maintained by a person in India; and
(ii) All drones being operated for the time being, in and over India.

Additionally, the New Rules only apply for civil uses of drones and excludes the drones used by naval, military or air forces of the Union. Further, in cases where the drones weigh above 500 kilograms all up weight the Aircraft Rules, 1937 shall apply. In order to facilitate the No permission – No take off drone operations in the country the number of green zones have been increased from 32 to 66 under the new rules. Further, the government through The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also aims developing a Standard operating procedures and Training Procedure Manuals on the Digital Sky platform for self monitoring by drone operators.

A few things that the drone operators have to mandatorily comply with are that all drones need to have a Type Certificate, a Unique Identification Number and air worthiness certificate unless exempted. Even when the drone is already possessed and owned the same has to be registered on the digital sky platform before its operation. The drone operators also have to verify on the digital sky platform before the flying the drone even on the green zone and have to take prior permission for operation of drones in the yellow zones.

SAFETY & SECURITY MEASURES

While these new liberalised rules are rewarding for the industry there are certain safety and security measures that have to be complied by the Drone operators. The general safety measure that a drone operator has to comply with is that no person should operate a drone in such a manner that it endangers the safety and security of any person or property. There are other proposed safety measures that the drone operators may have to comply with as and when notified by the Central Government and they are measures like No Permission- no take off hardware and firmware, real time tracking beacon has to be installed on the drone that communicates the drone’s location, altitude, speed and unique identification number and the drones’ Geo –fencing capability. In case the drone operators fail to comply with the rules or are in violation of the rules then a penalty may also be imposed by the authorities which may be an amount upto Rs. 1 lakhs.

TAKEAWAY FOR START UPS

One key takeaway from the Drone Rules, 2021 is that the policies are certainly made in accordance to the needs of the industry and has taken a rather permissive approach to the sector. The aim through these policies are to give a push to the Drone Sector while also allowing foreign imports and investments into the industry which shall be huge breakthrough for the start-ups in that eco-system. Even though, the policies are foreign investor friendly yet the rules have made clear that the certificate of air worthiness may prescribe standards that may promote Made-In-India technologies, designs, components, and drones and of India’s Regional Navigation Satellite System named Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).

Challenges

The Drone Rules, 2021 is a welcome and a bold move to push the start ups in this sector towards growth however, the bare perusal of the rules makes one wonder about certain challenges that these rules either have overlooked or not covered in depth. Some of the assumed challenges are as follows:

    1. Breach of Privacy – As the drones are allowed to operate in the green zone freely, it creates a great risk to the privacy of individuals and entities that shall be in the range of the drone and are not aware of the “data” that might be captured by such drones without the consent of the individuals and entities. The Rules have categorically missed the aspect of breach of privacy of individuals and entities while ongoing drone operations.
    2. Risk to Job Employment: One might foresee the future that many food and other deliveries in the future might happen through drones and in that case what happens to the majority of low paying jobs in the service sector companies like amazon, zomato, swiggy etc. Not all of the workers may afford or be able to get the remote pilot license that is mandatory for the drone operation. On one hand the manufacturing (if the environment is conducive) of drones shall create jobs to a large extent on the other hand it shall take the jobs from the service sectors to great extent.

These challenges although might look small as yet but might lead to huge chaos if not planned properly by the policy makers.

Conclusion: -

These above Drone regulations features will help India in process of operating Drones in easy and simple way. This leads to less paper work and more opportunities for operating Drones. Many Sectors such as ecommerce, agriculture, manufacturing and surveillance are all keen on working with drone-tech start-ups. While some have already been working in this space, others are exploring trials. In near future many drones will be used as cargo deliveries as stated in New Drone policy. The main reason for this regime is to provide growth-oriented approach for start-ups and other stakeholders.

As our Honorable Prime Minister rightly said on his twitter page that “The new Drone Rules will tremendously help start-ups and our youth working in this sector. It will open up new possibilities for innovation & business. It will help leverage India’s strengths in innovation, technology & engineering to make India a drone hub”

(The contents of the article are personal opinion and should not be treated as a legal advice and the author shall bear no liability whatsoever if relied upon by the user without seeking independent legal advice)

-Adv. Shilpa D.
Founder