Blog

1.Introduction In June 2020, the DGCA published its draft Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020, which envisages the establishment of an Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management (UTM) System, and sets the stage for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in India. Many countries[1] around the world have begun implementing UTM systems to facilitate basic drone trafficRead more

I. Introduction In this post, we look at the global regulatory framework with respect to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (“BVLOS”) Operations,[1] with a specific focus at the United States and Europe. We begin by describing the regulatory drone framework in the United States of America and Europe in brief (II), followed by an analysisRead more

India has taken steps in quick succession to liberalise its private space industry. In June 2020, the government approved the setting up of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) to facilitate private activity. These steps signal definite changes in policy but there are reasons to be cautious.   India has taken steps in quickRead more

The Ministry of Civil Aviation invited comments to the draft Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Rules 2020. These are Ikigai Law’s comments to the draft rules. Ikigai Law has a market-leading drones law practice and has advised a variety of stakeholders: manufacturers, operators, importers, industry association, think tanks and racing leagues. The Economic Times named IkigaiRead more

Introduction The Drone Federation of India (“DFI”) organised a webinar on 12 June, 2020 to discuss the effects of the draft ‘Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020’ (“Rules”) which the Ministry of Civil Aviation (“MoCA”) had released on 4 June, 2020. The panel consisted of our managing partner, Mr. Anirudh Rastogi, Mr. Neel Mehta, Mr. RahulRead more

Introduction On 4 June 2020, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (“MoCA”) released a draft of the ‘Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020’ (“Rules/ Draft UAS Rules”).[1] Once enacted, these rules will replace the existing Civil Aviation Requirements (“CAR”)  on “Requirements for Operation of Civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft System”[2] which were issued by the Director General ofRead more

Kishore Jonnalaggada of Drone Aerospace Systems was in conversation with Anirudh Rastogi, founder and managing partner at Ikigai Law on a webinar organised by HasGeek. The entire conversation is available here.  Anirudh breaks down the history of drone regulations in India into three phases: first, pre-2014 when there were no explicit regulations governing drone operations; second, post-2014Read more

1. PRELIMINARY The European Commission on March 12, 2019 adopted the ‘Implementing Regulation on rules and procedures for the operation of unmanned aircraft’ along with the ‘Delegated Regulation on unmanned aircraft systems and on third-country operators of unmanned aircraft systems’ (“Regulations”) and its Annex. If objections are not raised by the EU Parliament or byRead more

The Department of Defence Production under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, had published the draft Defence Production Policy, 2018 (draft policy) on 22nd March, 2018. The draft policy is available here. Our detailed comments on the draft policy are available here. In brief, our submissions were: Unmanned aerial vehicles should be included inRead more

Technological advancements have enabled applications of drones in diverse areas such as agriculture, infrastructure, crowd and disaster management and journalism. The benefits of drones have been widely acknowledged by various stakeholders in India such as the military, law enforcement agencies, government and the industry.[1] Recently, the Indian Railways revealed that it intended to deploy droneRead more