Implementing Regulation (EU) 923/2012 provides a binding regulatory framework for air traffic. This also applies to drone operations. However, the Standardised European Rules of the Air were designed for manned aviation. As a result, some requirements cannot be applied to UAS operations in this specific category. The Federal Ministry of Transport had remedied this situation by means of a general ruling. It has now extended the temporary exemption until further notice.
Legal certainty and clarity are highly valued assets, which is why they have constitutional status in Germany. Laws and regulations must be designed in such a way that those affected know what is expected of them. If this is not the case, or if individual provisions even contradict each other, good advice can sometimes be expensive. This is the case in the internal relationship between Implementing Regulation (EU) No 923/2012 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947. The Standardised European Rules of the Air agreed in 2012 must be observed by all airspace users. However, since unmanned aviation was much less of a focus than it is today just under 13 years ago – an eternity from a technological perspective – its requirements were not fully taken into account in the SERA regulations. This has resulted in a number of ambiguities in the internal relationship between DVO 923/2012 and the ‘Drone Regulation’ 2019/947. Take the lighting regulations, for example. With regard to the obligation to apply visual or instrument flight rules under certain conditions, the SERA requirements even contain aspects that are simply not feasible in unmanned aviation.
This is not only annoying, but also poses a real problem for both UAS operators and the competent licensing authorities. This is because, in order for an application for an operating licence to be approved, it must, of course, comply with all relevant legal requirements. In order to clarify this, the former Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport took advantage of the options offered by Article 71(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 on common rules for civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency last October. By general ruling, the provisions of SERA.2005 (compliance with air traffic rules), which stipulate the obligation to apply visual or instrument flight rules, were suspended for UAS operations in the special category. The same applies to SERA.3215 (lights to be carried by aircraft) and SERA-6001 (classification of airspace). Section 4 (flight plan submission) and Section 5 (visual weather conditions, visual flight rules, special flights under visual flight rules, instrument flight rules) have also been suspended in the Federal Republic of Germany with effect from 21 October 2024, as neither of these sections reflect the reality of UAS operations and are therefore not applicable.
As a fundamental amendment to the relevant legal provisions for drone operations is not foreseeable, the exemptions initially granted until 20 June 2025 have now been extended until further notice. With this move, the Federal Ministry of Transport, under its new minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU), is sending a clear signal that it is prepared to find efficient solutions to enable commercial drone operations.
> This article was written in cooperation with Drones, the magazine for the drone economy. www.drones-magazin.de
