Around the turn of the year, changes in laws and regulations come into force in many areas of private and professional life. Regulations expire and new requirements must be observed. This also applies to UAS use. It is therefore essential to always check carefully whether your own drone operations could be affected by new developments. The main legal basis for commercial UAS operations in Europe is based on EU Implementing Regulation 2019/947. However, some of the regulations contained therein are subject to time limits.
For example, certificates of competency and remote pilot licenses are only valid for five years after they're issued and need to be renewed after that. Since the first certificates were issued at the end of 2020, they're now expiring and need to be renewed with the relevant authorities. Please note: renewal is only possible during the current period of validity. Once the deadline has passed, certificates of competence and remote pilot licenses may have to be reacquired.
As of December 31, 2025, the operating declarations accepted by some countries, such as Germany, Switzerland, and France, in accordance with individual national standard scenarios will also have lost their validity. If no operating declarations in accordance with the European standard scenarios STS-01 and STS-02 could be submitted instead, the respective UAS operation must have been carried out since January 1, 2026, on the basis of an individual operating permit or, if possible, in accordance with the regulations of the open category.