Drone Governance Simplified

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, vide notification dated August 25, 2021, has issued the new Drone Rules, 2021¹ ("Drone Rules") in supersession of the Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021 ("UAS Rules"). Interestingly, the UAS Rules came into effect on March 15, 2021 after over 9 months of deliberation but were shortly put under public consultation for all stakeholders, after which the draft of Drone Rules were published on July 15, 2021.

Now in force, the Drone Rules seek to govern all persons owning, possessing or engaged in leasing, operating, transferring or maintaining an unmanned aircraft system ("UAS") in India except UAS used by the Indian naval, military or air forces. Taking inspiration from the UAS Rules, the Drone Rules classify a UAS basis the maximum all-up weight including payload which helps differentiate the kind of approvals and licenses its usage would require –