The European Commission, with the support of EASA, is developing the EU regulatory framework for UAS operations. Regulations (EU) 2019/945 and 2019/947 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘UAS Regulations’) lay down the requirements for UAS operations in the ‘open’ and ‘specific’ categories. Regulation (EU) 2021/664 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘U-space Regulation’) lays down the requirements for the U-space. The UAS Regulations became applicable on 31 December 2020 while the U-space Regulation will become applicable on 26 January 2023.

The above-mentioned Regulations have been developed using a performance-based and technology-agnostic approach. When demonstrating compliance to the competent authority, applicants may propose those means of compliance that best fit their needs and may use for this purpose available industry standards. In particular, Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2019/947 requires UAS operators to conduct a risk assessment, and the related acceptable means of compliance (AMC) describe the recommended methodology called ‘specific operation risk assessment’ (SORA).

The European UAS Standards Coordination Group (EUSCG), led by EASA, developed the Rolling Development Plan for UASs (U-RDP), listing more than 800 standards, developed by standardisation bodies from different parts of the world.

In 2019, the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) funded the AW-Drones project with the aim to contribute to the safe use of UASs by supporting the ongoing EU regulatory process for the identification of technical standards and procedures. In particular, the AW-Drones project assessed the standards listed in the U-RDP with regard to maturity, coverage, cost of compliance, environmental impact, impact on EU industry competitiveness and social acceptance. The assessment, however, did not include the evaluation of the technical content to determine whether the standards are adequate to meet the safety objective of the provisions of the related regulations.