The Air Navigation (Minimum Age for Operators of Small Unmanned Aircraft) Regulations 2019

Statutory Instruments

2019 No. 1286

Civil Aviation

The Air Navigation (Minimum Age for Operators of Small Unmanned Aircraft) Regulations 2019

Made

27th September 2019

Coming into force

1st October 2019

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by article 94C(1)(c) of the Air Navigation Order 2016(1).

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Air Navigation (Minimum Age for Operators of Small Unmanned Aircraft) Regulations 2019 and come into force on 1st October 2019.

Minimum age to register as SUA operator

2.  The age prescribed for the purposes of article 94C(1) of the Air Navigation Order 2016 is 18 years(2).

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Vere

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Transport

27th September 2019

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe for the purposes of article 94C(1) of the Air Navigation Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/765) (“the 2016 Order”), the age which a person must have attained to be issued with a certificate of registration as a small unmanned aircraft operator (“SUA operator”) .

Article 94C of the 2016 Order sets out the circumstances in which the Civil Aviation Authority (“the CAA”) must issue a certificate of registration as an SUA operator to a person, or renew that person’s certificate of registration. Article 94C(1) provides that the CAA must issue or renew the certificate of registration if the person (a) has applied to the CAA, in such manner as the CAA may require, (b) has supplied such information and evidence as the CAA may require, and (c) has, in the case of an individual, attained the age (if any) that is prescribed.

Regulation 2 of these Regulations prescribes the age of 18 for the purposes of article 94C(1) of the 2016 Order.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as only minimal impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

This instrument is available on www.legislation.gov.uk.

(1)

S.I. 2016/765. Article 94C was inserted into the Air Navigation Order 2016 by the Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018 (S.I. 2018/623), article 7. In article 94C(1)(c) of the Air Navigation Order 2016, “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State (see section 105 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 (c.16)).

(2)

The meaning of SUA operator is set out in article 94G of the Air Navigation Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/765). Article 94G provides that “the “SUA operator”, in relation to a small unmanned aircraft, is the person who has the management of the small unmanned aircraft.”