Luxembourg

UAS regulations

Update: 2020 (harmonised regulations for EASA Member States)

On 28 February 2019 the EASA Committee has given its positive vote to the European Commission’s proposal for an Implementing Act regulating the operations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the open and specific categories. This proposal is mainly based on EASA’s Opinion No 01/2018 [ https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/opinions/opinion-012018 ].  

The easy access rules for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Regulation (EU) 2019/947 and Regulation (EU) 2019/945)
Revision from September 2021 https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/easy-access-rules/easy-access-rules-unmanned-aircraft-systems-regulation-eu
 
On 11 June 2019 common European rules on drones, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945 [ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2019/945/oj ]& Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 [ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2019/947/oj ], have been published to ensure drone operations across Europe are safe and secure. The rules will amongst others help to protect the safety and the privacy of EU citizens while enabling the free circulation of drones and a level playing field within the European Union.
 
A major milestone in the regulation of operations of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in Europe was achieved on 10th October 2019 with the publication of the Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance materials (GM )  [ https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/agency-decisions/ed-decision-2019021r ] for the Regulation on UAS operations in the open and specific category.

With the publication, EASA will support UAS operators and Member States in complying with the adopted EU regulation. The document includes the description of a risk assessment methodology to evaluate the danger of an UAS operation and to identify mitigation measures to make the operation safe.
The methodology for conducting a risk assessment of the operations in the specific category is called SORA (Specific Operation Risk Assessment) and offers a very structured approach to evaluate all aspects and identify mitigations and safety objectives.

The timeframe for the European changes is listed here [ https://www.easa.europa.eu/drones-regulatory-framework-timeline ] and may change due COVID-19
 
All other related documents can be found here :[  https://www.easa.europa.eu/latest-news?news_cat[]=2204& ]  (e.g. Opinion “Standard scenarios for UAS operations in the ‘specific’ category”; Opinion 01/2020 - High-level regulatory framework for the U-space; ).

Before the EASA changes were implemented, previous regulations for individual Member States can be found here:   https://dronerules.eu/en/professional/regulations 


Regulations for Luxembourg: https://dronerules.eu/en/professional/regulations/luxembourg

[LATEST UPDATE: May 2020, David Guerin; the information below may not be up to date and will be incorrect after EASA standardised rules come into effect.]


UAV regulations are not translated into English. An unofficial translation indicates that UAV regulations apply to devices weighing between 300 grams to 25 kg. UAV operators may not operate it while under the influence of psychotropic substances. UAV operators are responsible for determining that their craft is airworthy. UAVs must remain within line of sight and cannot fly further than 1000 meters from the operator. They must remain 50 meters from buildings, vehicles, and people, and may not fly over 120 meters without prior authorization from the CAA.

Details about aerial works are to be found on the following website:

http://www.dac.public.lu/services/Espace_operateurs/travail_aerien/index.html

The DAC is aware that not all of the required information can be provided by operators of small UAS below 25kg. Therefor an administrative procedure has been put in place in order to facilitate UAS operations. The mentioned tax of 619,73€ has only to be paid once for UAS photography within Luxembourg airspace. Aircraft registration number, airworthiness certificates and pilot licenses do not need to be provided. For application the following form can be used:

ADM310-1 Demande d'autorisation de UAS

No general authorization is granted to UAS operators! All UAS operation authorizations are mission specific! A copy of the contract between the contracting entity and the UAS operator has to be joined to the application!

General restrictions due to safety reasons:

no flights above 50 meters above ground are allowed;

no people or animals can be overflown;

the UAS is only allowed to operate within the predefined working area box;

the working area must be delimited for public access;

the UAS must be programmed not to leave the delimited working area box under any condition;

the UAS pilot must always keep direct eye contact with the UAS;

in case of any malfunction the UAS must immediately initiate a safe auto-landing manoeuvre;

the operations have to be covered by an public responsibility insurance;

The applicant can request for a derogation from those general restrictions by presenting a safety case demonstrating that an acceptable level of safety for other airspace users as well as for any third parties on the ground is still guaranteed