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UAS regulations

The Portuguese CAA ANAC has a drone landing page: https://www.anac.pt/VPT/GENERICO/DRONES/Paginas/AeronavesCivisPilotadasRemotamente.aspx

For information:
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

Portugese regulations: https://dronerules.eu/en/professional/regulations/portugal

[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.]

News 2017-08: new regulations are in draft consultation, ref https://dre.pt/ (publication soon)

Since 14 December 2016, new regulations are in place. According to an unofficial translation, the regulations seem quite straight forward, with some unusual points:

- operation up to 25kg weight

- No mention of Airworthiness Approval

- 400 ft AGL max

- Daylight operations only

- Only VLOS (BVLOS possible with approval and under certain conditions)

- Observers are allowed (VLOS) with bilateral communication with PIC

- Safe distance from people and building

- Out of restricted areas

- Different from model airplanes (own regulation)

- No recreational / commercial distinction

- Need to follow Data Protection Laws

- Single UAS use only