Operations With Foreign and Cross-Border UAS/Drones

OPERATIONS IN SPAIN BY FOREIGN UAS OPERATORS

Foreign UAS operators wishing to carry out transactions in Spain¹ or cross-border transactions should use the following indications depending on the country in which they reside if they are natural persons or in which they have their principal place of business if they are legal persons:

_{¹ Operations in Spain are all operations that take place within Spanish sovereignty territory and airspace.}

UAS OPERATORS WITH MAIN RESIDENCE OR PLACE OF BUSINESS IN A MEMBER STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

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To carry out operations in Spain² within the“open” category, it is necessary to comply with the following requirements:

• Have a UAS operator number provided by the Member State of registration; and
• Ensure that the UAS you want to operate with are identified with the operator number obtained.

In order to carry out operations in Spain within the“specific” category, in addition to the above requirements for open category, it is mandatory to have the following documents depending on the complexity of the intended operation:

• Operation under an operational declaration regime: Until 31 December 2023 it is necessary to formalise an operational declaration in accordance with a Spanish Standard Stage (STS-ES) to operate in Spain. These statements can be made at the AESA website at this link.
• Operation under operational authorisation regime: It is necessary to have and attach a copy of the operational authorisation issued by your State of registration, to access the EASA website to provide the additional mitigation measures and the location(s) of the intended operation, and to request recognition of such authorisation. In this case, EASA will evaluate the documents provided and issue a response indicating how and when it is possible to start the intended operations.
• LUC (Light UAS operator Certificate): Operators with an LUC issued by their State of Registration shall access the AESA website and attach a copy of the terms of the approval received and the place or places where the intended operation will be carried out.

_{² Link to EASA Member States.}

 

UAS OPERATORS WITH MAIN RESIDENCE OR PLACE OF BUSINESS IN A COUNTRY OUTSIDE THE EUROPEAN UNION

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UAS operators having their principal place of business, established or resident in a country other than any Member State of the European Union, including Spain, shall consider as the State of registration the first Member State in which they intend to operate:

• If the first country where they wish to operate is Spain, they must comply with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 as any national operator. For more information, click on this link.
• If the first country where they wish to operate is different from Spain, they should contact the competent authority of the country of the European Union where they wish to operate. This link contains a list of the competent authorities for UAS operations.