Hey, 

How do working in space law and drone regulations sound to you?

Would you want to work with leading space companies around the world and help them draft critical contracts? 

Would you like to advise unicorn startups regarding the upcoming drones regulations?

What skills do you really need to learn to do this kind of work?

You may have heard of the Manfred Lachs Space Moot. The possibility of arguing space law provisions may fascinate you. 

But have you ever thought of working in these areas in real life? It used to be very difficult, next to impossible in the past to make a real career that involved the space or satellite industry.

However, Ikigai Law, a Delhi based boutique law firm for instance, advised and worked with ISRO’s commercial arm with regards to the private moon mission and other regulatory matters. 

There are other tech lawyers who are working on these issues too. Imagine how the manufacturing or launch of a satellite is financed! Can it be mortgaged? Who drafts the many agreements that go into the process?

There are various launch contracts, finance agreements, tech transfer agreements, manufacturing agreements, other contracts which involve the government, manufacturers, contractors and subcontractors. This is what law firms like Ikigai does for technology companies working in the space sector or any other high technology sectors for that matter.

Recently, the government opened up India’s space sector for full foreign investment. It is going to be really amazing in the years to come as India could become a hub of satellite launches and space technology, because we have not only developed sophisticated space tech, we are also super cost effective compared to every other space faring nation.

Remember how cheap our Chandrayaan was? You bet with some reforms and a bit of luck India would attract companies like SpaceX or Virgin Galactic to set up bases in India. Who does not love lower costs?

Already, most of the world comes to India for satellite launches due to cost effectiveness, and with private sector participation, things could get a lot more hot very soon. 

Isn’t that great news for wannabe tech lawyers?

Advanced technology has turned out to be a lucrative area of practice for lawyers. 

Not just space, but there is exciting work for lawyers with respect to drones, UAVs, geospatial mapping, synthetic food, gene tech and what not. 

But let’s stick to drones for a bit, because it is becoming a huge industry in itself. It is hard to imagine, but drones could become a bigger industry than two-wheelers and four-wheelers, the entire automobile industry put together in another 10 years. 

Who knew the smartphone industry would become as big as it is today back in 1998? Imagine that we are in the same situation with drones in 2020. 

Did you know that Vodafone Idea is entering the Drone space along with Zomato? Did you know that Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo are now going to fight it out in the food space through Drones? 

Imagine your late-night food deliveries being done by drones, it is not the future, it is our present. We have the technology already, they are just figuring out how to roll it out! 

A big part of how to role it out is legal and regulatory.

Guess who is going to take care of all the regulatory requirements? Think of leading tech law firms who are specialising in this domain. 

Nishith Desai Associates has been at the forefront, they were the ones who helped draft these drone regulations in the first place!

JSA and Trilegal also have very respectable tech law practices. All big law firms have partners specializing in technology law. However, very few focus exclusively on specific hi-tech, and that is a space being filled by amazing boutique law firms like Ikigai.

There are many more tech focused practices getting set up as we speak and this is one sector that is not that badly hit by the recession. Tech companies are still reporting growth!

What do I have to learn if I want to work with such matters?

Don’t run off to learn space law. That is unlikely to help. Reading the outer space treaty is a fun thing to do, but it will not help you to draft a satellite launch agreement or help a startup figure out how to get licenses to fly drones commercially. 

You will need primarily 3 skills: 

• Ability to draft tech contracts.
• Ability to advice clients on legal and policy issues related to emerging technology.
• Navigate regulatory requirements and public authorities to protect business interests.

Of course, there may also be litigation as well at times. However, it is likely that you will rope in people with litigation experience in those cases. IP issues can also be significant, but those are again usually handled by specialised IP lawyers.

How do we teach these skills at LawSikho?

In light of the pandemic and recession, we had realised long back that it would be important for us to tap into these emerging areas of technology if we want to place our students reliably!

So we have been teaching these topics, including drone regulations for over a year now, in our technology law course.

To give you a brief understanding, here is an excerpt from our course on Technology law where the drone regulations are being taught in a module. Hope you like it. 

Do check out the entire syllabus of our tech law diploma course (you will have to scroll down quite a bit), it will blow your mind and prepare your future for working at a top tech company as in-house counsel or as a tech lawyer at a top law firm. Or maybe, you will advise your own clients soon, who knows? 

Anyway, please let us know how you like this chapter on drone laws. 

Now let’s learn some Drone Laws!

Regards

Ramanuj Mukherjee

CEO, LawSikho

S. LawSikho is running hour-long webinars every day. Want to learn how to improve your learning skills? Prepare an LLM application to a foreign university? Career opportunities in new, upcoming areas of law? Don’t miss these high-quality webinars with industry and academic experts. 

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P. S. All our premium courses are covered under an unwavering 45 days full money-back guarantee. 

After taking a course, if you feel like it is not working out for you, maybe you are not getting enough value out of it or it is not meeting your expectations, just get in touch with us. We will refund every rupee you paid for the course.

No questions asked, as long as the minimum requirements of the refund policy are fulfilled.

Sample Chapter on Drone Laws from LawSikho’s Technology Laws Course

Learning Objectives

• To understand the different types of drones.
• To understand the restrictions imposed by the government on flying of drones.
• To learn about the qualifications required by an individual to fly a drone.
• To understand what safety measures need to be taken before flying a drone.
• To learn about the registration requirements of a drone and its operator.
• To learn about the penalty for violations of Drone Rules, 2018.

How do Indian regulations define drones?

As per para 1.1 of the Civil Aviation Requirements (‘CAR’), Section 3 – Air Transport Series X, Part I, Issue I (hereinafter ‘Drone Requirements’) notified by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (‘DGCA’) effective from 1st December 2018, drones are unmanned or autonomous aircraft are unmanned aircraft that can fly with no pilot on board. 

In other words, drones can be defined as aircraft without pilots on board, whose flight (speed, navigation, aerobatics, etc.) is controlled by onboard computers that are in turn directed by remotes operated by humans.

Remotely piloted aircraft or drones along with the remote pilot station and other components collectively form the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (‘RPAS’).

The Drone Requirements have been issued by the Directorate under Rule 15A and Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. They lay down the requirements for the issue of Unique Identification Number (‘UIN’) and Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (‘UAOP’) for a Civil RPAS. They also impose other operational requirements.

Civil RPA is categorized in accordance with Maximum All-Up-Weight (including payload) as indicated below:

• Nano: Less than or equal to 250 grams (no registration required).
• Micro: Greater than 250 grams and less than or equal to 2 kg.
• Small: Greater than 2 kg and less than or equal to 25 kg.
• Medium: Greater than 25 kg and less than or equal to 150 kg.
• Large: Greater than 150kg.

What are the different uses of drones?

One of the most important uses of a drone is for defence purposes. Drones can be used to conduct regular surveys of potentially hazardous areas in order to protect people and places. Using drones in such areas helps to cover a wider area and does not engage much manpower.

Drones can also be used for industrial purposes in the following areas:

1. Disaster Management: In a situation of a disaster, drones can be very useful for delivering aid to the victims and locating the survivors. Assessment of the damage can be very useful with the help of drones.
2. Urban Planning: Mapping can be made very easy with the help of drones.
3. Construction: Survey of on-site conditions is very helpful with the help of drones as they can help to keep a watch on the on-going progress on the construction site.
4. Wildlife conservation: Monitoring of the wildlife species can be very helpful with the help of drones.
5. Agriculture: Agriculture can be monitored to a great extent and planting of crops can also be made very easy with the help of drones.
6. Geographic Mapping:  High-resolution data can be acquired from difficult to reach locations.
7. Healthcare: Drones can be used even for delivering medicines on time in remote areas.
8. Weather Forecasting: Drones can be used for monitoring the weather conditions and assessing the possible dangers.
9. Waste Management: Drones are best suited for identifying where to dispose of the garbage.
10. Mining: Drones can be used heavily for measuring the materials deep in the mines. 
11. Law enforcement: Drones can be used extensively for monitoring large crowds in order to ensure the enforcement of the law. Drones can be used for various purposes like for tracking illegal activities.
12. Utilities: Tracking telecommunication towers and any damage can be traced very easily with drones. This would help with service reliability. Tracking oil spills can also be made very easily with the help of drones.
13. Cinematography: In this field too, drones would be useful pushing the limits of cinematography.
14. Advertisement: Drones can be used heavily for advertisements and for marketing. They can power aerial advertising at live events or high traffic locations. 
15. Shipping and delivery: For the purposes of shipping and delivery which can be made very easy with the help of drones. Be it delivery of pizzas, small parcels or letters, drones can be a very effective way for any such delivery. 

A business operating in any of the above industries can deploy drones and will require basic legal inputs and expertise to use/license them.

There are instances of drones being utilised for unscrupulous purposes as well. Recognizing that drones may be misused for industrial espionage or military reconnaissance, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (‘MoCA’) also released the National Counter Rogue Drone Guidelines (‘NCRD Guidelines’) in 2019 with an aim to address the perceived law and order and national security issues that are anticipated due to unregulated and unchecked operation of drones. The NCRD Guidelines aim to bring out the various counter rogue drone measures and guidelines that can be deployed to address the relevant threats in an effective manner. The scope of the NDRD Guidelines includes: Laying out guidelines for assessing and proceeding against the drone threat; Creating awareness and training about the various technologies involved in handling drone threat; Ready reckoner for anti-drone safety and defence measures; and Understanding multi-dimensionality of drone threats.

There are primarily two types of compliance required for drones: registration of the drone itself and a permit for the pilot who operates the drone remotely. An operator must satisfy certain eligibility conditions to be able to obtain a permit. In some cases (discussed below), registration of the drone or the pilot is not necessary.  

Registration of drones and criteria

Rule 30 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 specifies that only those aircraft which satisfy the following conditions can be granted a certificate of registration:-

• Where it is owned by citizens of India.
• Where it is owned by the Central Government or the State Government or any other governmental companies can get their aircrafts registered. 
• Where it is owned by any company having its registered office and principal base in India, in which the chairman and at least two-thirds of its directors are citizens of India and the company’s substantial ownership and effective control is vested in Indian Nationals.
• Where it is owned by any company or corporation registered outside India but carrying business within India with all the above conditions or is owned by Central or State Government.

Unique Identification Number for registered drones

As per the rules notified by the Government of India describing requirements for the operations of Civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, all Civil RPA would be required to have a UIN number. UIN number is issued to them by the DGCA without which a drone is not allowed to be operated.

Such a UIN would be granted to only those people whose RPAS will fulfil the below-mentioned requirements:

• The person owning the RPAS is a citizen of India.
• Where the RPAS is wholly controlled by the Central or State Government, or the company which owns it is controlled by either of the said governments.
• When the RPAS is controlled by a company which is registered and has its principal place of business in India, with its chairman and two-thirds of its directors being citizens of India and substantial ownership and effective control is vested in Indian Nationals.
• By a company or corporation registered elsewhere than in India, provided that such company or corporation has leased the RPAS to any organisation mentioned above.

The person applying for a UIN shall submit the duly filled application (through Digital Sky Platform), as per the format of the Application for UIN of RPA given in Annexure IV of the Drone Requirements. Other documents such as the flight manual, maintenance guidelines, specification of the RPAS and certain compliance certificates are submitted along with the application and fees to the DGCA. Approval and clearance regarding Equipment Type Approval (‘ETA’) needs to be taken from Wireless Planning and Coordination (‘WPC’) Wing in Department of Telecommunication for the remotely piloted aircraft operating in de-licensed frequency band or bands. 

All entities except RPAS owned by the government or by a company controlled by the government are required to obtain security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (‘MHA’). An alternate option is provided to a citizen of India, who may submit self-attested copies of at least two of three valid identity proofs such as passport, driving licence or Aadhaar card instead of the MHA security clearance.

If all the documents are complete, the UIN would be issued in 2 working days in the form given in Annexure V. 

Fees For obtaining UIN

To obtain a UIN number, one needs to pay Rs. 1000 for each drone.

Drones which do not require any UIN

There are certain types of remotely piloted aircraft or drones which do not require any Unique Identification Number or operator permit and same are mentioned below:-

• Nano remotely piloted aircraft flying up to 50 feet, flying in an uncontrolled space or enclosed premises used for research and development services,  are not required to obtain UAOP or UIN.
• Remotely piloted aircraft owned or operated by NTRO, ARC or Central Intelligence Agencies are not required to obtain UAOP or UIN.

Permit for Operation of Drones 

A UAOP means Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit. If a person wishes to operate remotely piloted aircraft, one needs to obtain this permit. 

The Civil RPA operators need to submit a filled application through Digital Sky Platform with the fees for issue of UAOP to DGCA. Such an application need to be made at least 7 working days prior to the actual commencement of operations along with the following documents:

• Standard operating procedures as per Para 12 of the Drone Requirements. These include take-off/landing, collision avoidance, noise abatement, right of way, communications, etc.;
• Permission of the land/property owner from which the drones will take-off  and landing of remotely piloted aircraft;
• Details of the remote pilot along with security clearance from MHA or self-attested copies of at least two out of three valid identity proofs viz. Passport, Driving License or Aadhar Card;
• Insurance details;
• Security programme as approved by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The UAOP would be issued by the DGCA within 7 working days as per the format for issue of Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit in Annexure-VII. 

The validity of a UAOP would be for a period of five years from the date of issue. The UAOP would be non-transferable and renewal of the same is based on fresh security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A permit is not required in the following cases:

• In case of Nano RPA operating below 50 feet (15 m) AGL.
• In case of Micro RPA operating below 200 feet (60 m) AGL.
• In case of RPA owned and operated by the State and Central Government, owned by NTRO, ARC and Central Intelligence Agencies.

Fees for obtaining/renewal of UAOP

For the purpose of obtaining or for the renewal of UAOP, the fees are as follows:

• For the issue of permit – Rs. 25,000.
• For renewal – Rs. 10,000.

Currently, the Drone Requirements only permit drone operations performed in the visual line of sight (‘VLOS’). However, the government is looking at how to implement and regulate beyond visual line of sight (‘BVLOS’) drone operations as well. BVLOS drones can potentially be used for operations over large areas of land, including delivery of goods, laying of utility lines and remote agricultural activities.  An idea to allow BVLOS operations in pursuance of an evidence-based regulatory approach was floated in 2019. Accordingly in 2020, 10 consortia, including Asteria Aerospace, ShopX, Spicejet, and Dunzo, were permitted by DGCA to carry out BVLOS drone projects in designated airspaces across the country.  Last month in June, the Ministry of Civil Aviation published the draft Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020 to invite comments on regulations around BVLOS operations, and to bring drone traders under its ambit. The draft rules also propose establishing dedicated drone ports and corridors in “permitted areas if warranted by the nature and requirements” of drone operations, although separate licenses will have to be obtained from the regulator for those, yet unspecified, permitted areas.

Qualifications for flying a drone

Eligibility criteria for remote pilots

There are a few requirements according to the DGCA rules which need to be followed for training a pilot for flying the drone:

• A remote pilot shall be of at least 18 years of age and should have passed 10th in English and undergone ground and practical training.
• The ground training shall be obtained at any DGCA approved Flying Training Organization (FTO) and will include the following theory subjects:
• Basic Radio Telephony (RT) techniques including knowledge of radio frequencies.
• Flight Planning and ATC procedures.
• Regulations are specific to an area of operations.
• Basic Knowledge of principles of flight and aerodynamics for fixed wing, rotary wing and hybrid aircraft.
• Airspace Structure and Airspace Restrictions with knowledge of No drone Zones.
• Basic Aviation Meteorology.
• The practical training of the pilot would involve the RPA in flight having live components, and/or simulated flight in which the pilot would be training to demonstrate control of RPA throughout its operating conditions, including learning how to recover during emergencies and times when system malfunctioning.
• Though the above-mentioned requirements are not applicable to Nano and Micro category RPA pilots, the same will be applicable only to Small, Medium, Large category RPA pilots.

Insurance of Drone Pilots

All RPA Pilots shall have insurance for liability in respect of any damages occurring to a third party from any drone incident, due to them. However, there is no minimum prescribed amount that has to be insured. The amount of insurance cover is to be assessed by the operator himself or herself.

Safety requirements for Drone Pilot

There are certain safety criteria which are required to be fulfilled by a drone pilot in order for him to drive a drone:

• The operator shall be responsible for the safe custody safety and access control of the RPAS. In case of loss of RPA, the operator shall report immediately to the local police office, BCAS and DGCA.
• The operator of all RPA except Nano RPA shall be responsible for notifying any incident/accident involving RPA to the Director of Air Safety, DGCA who will further intimate to all concerned agencies.
• In case of a damaged RPA which cannot be restored to its original condition, intimation to the DGCA is compulsory for cancellation of the UIN of the same.
• The RPAS operator must ensure that all security measures enumerated in the security programme are in place before operation of each flight.
• An RPAS cannot be sold or disposed of in any manner without prior permission from the DGCA.

Restricted Area for Flying Drones

There are 12 zones which the DGCA has listed as restricted and therefore, in these areas the drone cannot be flown. Same are enumerated below:

• No drones are permitted by DGCA within 5 km of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru airports. 
• No drones are allowed within an area of 3 km from the perimeter of any civil, private or defence airports other than those in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
• Drones are also not permitted within 25 km of the international borders and areas prone to conflict like Line of Control (LOC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) or Actual Ground Position Control (AGPC).
• No drones are allowed near 3 km of the military installations or military facilities unless prior permission from the local military installations and facility.
• Drones are not allowed to fly near any mobile locations such as moving vehicles, aircraft, or ships. Special permission is required to be taken for flying an RPA in environmentally sensitive zones such as the National Parks, Wildlife Conservation Areas, Sanctuaries notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Prior permission is required to be taken for flying drones in such areas.
• Drones are restricted within 3 km from the radius of State Secretariat Complex in State Capitals.
• Drones are also not allowed around 500m into the sea from the coast line provided the location of the ground station is on a fixed platform over land.
• Drones are restricted within 5 km radius from Vijay Chowk in Delhi. However, this is subject to any additional conditions/restrictions imposed by local law enforcement agencies/authorities in view of the security.

Penalty for Violation of Provisions 

Violation of the provisions of the laws for flying drones would attract certain penalties. In case of violation of the provisions of the drone rules, the following actions would be taken against the violator:

• UIN/UAOP issued by DGCA could get suspended/cancelled.
• Breach of compliance to any of the requirements and falsification of records/documents could attract penal action by the government including the imposition of imprisonment and fine as per applicable offences under the Indian Penal Code (such as sections 287, 336, 337 and 338).
• Other necessary actions could be taken as per relevant section of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 or any statutory provisions mentioned in the Act.

Importing of Drones vs Manufacturing of Drones

In order to reduce the dependency on import of drones, the Government of India has given approval to five firms for the manufacturing of drones. This will help boost the Indian industry. 

For drones to be imported in India, a certain application process needs to be followed which is explained as under:

• An entity which intends to import RPAS in India shall obtain Equipment Type Approval (ETA) from WPC Wing, Department of Telecommunication for operating in the delicensing frequency band. Such approval shall be valid only for a particular make and model.
• Application other than nano category would be required to be made to DGCA for import clearance as per format given in the annexures by the Government of India. Based on the import clearance issued by DGCA, DGFT will issue a license for import of RPAS.
• When the import license is received, the person should apply to DGCA for UIN. 

The application process for registering drones locally purchased in India is explained as follows:

• The person applying should ensure that locally purchased RPAS has an Equipment Type Approval (ETA) from WPC Wing, Department of Telecommunication for operating in a de-licensed frequency band. 
• The applicant should submit the information as per format given in Annexure-IB provided by the government in drone rules along with the issue of UIN/UAOP, as is applicable.

Recap

• Drones, as per Indian regulations, are defined as unmanned or autonomous aircraft are unmanned aircraft that can fly with no pilot on board.
• Drones are divided into five categories, i.e., Nano, Micro, Small, Medium and Large.
• Drones can be helpful for agricultural purposes, construction urban planning, healthcare, etc.
• In order to get a drone registered, an individual needs to satisfy conditions under Section 30 of the Aircrafts Rules, 1937.

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