A Harmonized European Drone Market? – New EU Rules on Unmanned Aircraft Systems

The European drone market has been showing steady growth year after year. New EU drone rules will come into force as of July 1 st , 2020, with the European Union setting itself the target to replace national rules with a common regulation with the ultimate goal of creating a harmonized European drone market. This study will clarify that the EU's regulatory framework covers all types of existing and future drone operations, creating an international market for unmanned aircraft services. This move will facilitate the enforcement of citizen's privacy rights and address security issues and environmental concerns to the benefit of the EU citizens. Moreover, this study will show that national legislators are now faced with the difficult task of replacing their national regulations with EU rules, however these were drafted so fast that they still leave a number of issues to be decided on by national legislators. The method of this study comprised of content analysis of existing legislation. The current doctrine were confronted with existing regulations, documents, and materials.