'Amsterdam Declaration' Adopted During EASA High Level Conference On Drones

The European Commission, EASA and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management together with the National Authorities and industry have adopted the “Amsterdam Declaration” concluding two days of lively discussions at the EASA High Level Conference on Drones.

The conference was an opportunity for EASA to discuss its proposed rules and have an exchange with the aviation community.

“We need to regulate differently on drones, faster and better, encouraging innovation while ensuring safe, secure and socially acceptable operations,” said Patrick Ky, EASA Executive Director. “The drone community has a key role in providing feedback to the regulators, which we use to identify the areas that the European Institutions and industry need to focus on. This paves the way to make areas such as urban mobility integrated in a multimodal transport system a reality.”

The Amsterdam declaration urges the European Institutions and industry to continue the good progress towards the delivery of the common European drone services market by setting seven priorities:

• Providing support to Member States in the implementation of the European drone regulations;
• Developing, in close cooperation with Member States and all stakeholders, an institutional framework for a competitive U-space services market and how drones need to be operated in the Single European Sky;
• Developing European product standards for drones and of other standards to meet the European performance requirements taking into account the global dimension;
• Supporting cities in their efforts to provide a fertile ground for innovative multimodal solutions integrating the 3rd dimension into their urban planning processes;
• Developing communication and promotion material for information campaigns to all drone users and other actors involved in drone operations such as local authorities;
• Further enhancing the European U-space Demonstrator Network to speed up the opening of the drone services network;
• Investing in the necessary research and development activities that are a key enabler for the growth of safe, secure and green drone operations in Europe.

Violeta Bulc, EU Commissioner for Transport, Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA, Rob Huyser Acting Director General for Civil Aviation at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, key note speaker Jean Brice Dumont, Executive Vice-President of Engineering of Airbus Commercial Aircraft and more than 650 participants from over 50 countries met during the EASA High Level Conference on Drones, which was hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. The conference was organized during the launch of the Amsterdam Drone Week, a new platform to bring together drone experts, regulatory bodies and industry.  

(Source: EASA news release)

FMI: www.easa.europa.eu