On December 28, 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration
("FAA") announced two final rules for Unmanned Aircraft
("UA" or "drones"): (1) Remote Identification for Unmanned
Aircraft ("Remote ID") and (2)
Operation of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Over
People. These rules come at a time when drones
represent the fastest-growing segment in the transportation sector,
with over 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000
FAA-certificated remote pilots.
Remote ID final rule
The Remote ID rule establishes a new Part 89 to Title 14 of the
Code of Federal Regulations. Under the final rule, which will
become effective 60 days after the publication date in the Federal
Register (expected in January 2021), all UA required to register
must be able to remotely identify themselves while in flight.
Operational rules take effect 30 months after the effective date of
the final rule (expected to be September 2023).
