The Open Category transition period is extended in the UK to 1 January 2026 following a formal decision announced by the Department for Transport.

It follows the outcome of the CAA’s consultation published last June where 70+% of the 4500 respondents favoured an extension beyond twenty-four months. ARPAS-UK was in favour of a 24 months extension.

Presumably, respondents voted for the ability to use their legacy drones beyond December 2022… and may not have considered that the transition extension would also trigger the postponement of class marking drones in the UK.

To be fair, in Europe, the implementation of Class marking has also taken more time than anticipated. The transition period is extended to 1 January 2024. Identifying and nominating the notified bodies that would perform the homologation, defining precisely the standards for drone class identification labels and going through the process of certification with the drone manufacturers has taken time. We know of 2 CE marking drones to date:

• In June 2022,  SenseFly announced that the eBee X Series Drones were the world’s  first to receive EASA’s C2 Certificate.
  • In August 2022, DJI announced that they were granted the world’s first C1 Drone Certificate for its DJI Mavic 3 series.
  • We understand that DJI was targeting the class marked C0 before year-end for its DJI Mini 3.

Coming back to the UK, our understanding is that the EU class marking has no UK legal recognition. Drone manufacturers sell global products and those drones will probably be sold on the UK market. Operators will enjoy the additional safety features, but it will not change the authorised operations and current thresholds:

• 250g in the A1 subcategory, flying over uninvolved people, but not over crowds
  • 500g in  the A1 subcategory, no intentional flight over uninvolved people, with a A2 CofC theoretical test as a competency requirement
  • 2kg in  the A2 subcategory, flying no closer than 50m horizontally from uninvolved people, with a A2 CofC theoretical test as a competency requirement.

3 years is a long time… Although it can be difficult to wisely react in the heat of the moment, maybe we could collectively consider a review milestone mid-2024 at the latest, to collect return of experience 6 months after the end of the transition period in Europe. Engagement with the drone ecosystem could contribute to that review. Also,  addressing that stumbling block of identifying the UK organisations, the so-called “notified bodies”, that would deliver those class marking accreditation in the open, but also in the specific or certified categories.

ALS