Abu Dhabi: The Light Air Sports committee on Thursday met to discuss the government’s strategy for registering air-system products including drones through a new electronic system prior to their import or export.
The meeting, presided by chairman Ahmad Nasser Al Raisi, inspector-general at the Ministry of Interior and head of the Light Sports Aircraft Systems Committee, discussed the legal procedures, penalties, and fines that violators of the Civil Aviation Law in the UAE may face.
New regulations come after a series of temporary airport closures in recent years due to illegal drones wandering into sensitive air space.
Al Raisi pointed out that the new law focuses on the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) products used in various fields in the country. He said that these products must be registered with the official authorities who will then assign a code number to the drones and monitor them in the market and in the air.
The system will also be used to develop a federal database of the products that will be traded in the UAE market, he said, adding that the committee’s technical team and a number of companies that provide protection systems from UAVs are studying the system that has been put in place.
The committee will visit the departments and institutions concerned with the supervision and inspection of all shops that sell the products in the UAE to familiarise them with the laws and regulations and to ensure their implementation.
Al Raisi emphasised that the implementation of the laws and regulations was crucial in limiting the random spread and misuse of UAVs.
He explained that according to the Federal Civil Aviation law No. 20 of 1991 regarding sanctions and crimes, Article (69) confirms that violators will be imprisoned for not less than a year or fined not more than Dh50,000 or punished by both.
According to Article (70), anyone launching a UAV without a registered licence will be imprisoned for not more than three years and fined not more than Dh100,000 or they will receive either of the two punishments.
