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ARTICLE · 21 NOVEMBER 2017

Indian Aviation Ministry Proposes Draft Regulations On Drones

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On 1 November 2017 the Ministry of Civil Aviation released the draft norms / civil aviation requirements (CARs) for permitting operation of civil remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, commonly known as ‘drones'.

IndiaTransport
Ketan Kothari
Ketan Kothari
Shweta Dwivedi
Shweta Dwivedi
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On 1 November 2017, India's civil aviation regulator, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India (GOI) released the draft norms / civil aviation requirements (CARs) for permitting operation of civil remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) systems, commonly known as 'drones'. The draft CARs are open for public and other stakeholders' comments for a month, post which the GOI will release the final regulations (expected by the end of this year).

Background

In October 2014, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had banned use of drones in India on account of: (i) privacy and security concerns posed by them; and (ii) the absence of a regulatory framework in India governing their operations. Consequently, in April 2016, for the first time, the GOI proposed draft guidelines for regulating drones, however, it did not formalise. With certain additional changes to the regulations previously proposed, the draft CARs intend to revoke the current ban on use of drones,

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