Civil drone standards to bolster industry

In a bid to further promote the healthy and orderly development of the drone industry, China's top market regulator has intensified efforts to advance the registration, activation and operational identification management of civil unmanned aerial vehicles.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) recently approved and released two compulsory national standards: one for the real-name registration and activation of civil UAVs and the other for the operational identification of relevant systems, both of which will take effect from May 1, 2026.

"The introduction of these two new standards will provide technical solutions to the key questions of 'who is allowed to fly' and 'who is currently flying'," an official from SAMR's standards technical management department said.

According to the document, the real-name registration and activation standard clarifies requirements for registrants, registration management, information inquiry, de-registration, data exchange interfaces and graded protection. It has also made clear that drones must not be capable of flight before activation or after deactivation.

The operational identification standard, on the other hand, requires drones to automatically transmit their identity, location, speed and status information to regulators upon startup and throughout the entire flight process, enabling real-time management of flight activities.

The new standards were formulated in response to the country's rapidly expanding drone usage, the SAMR official said.

Data from the China Air Transport Association showed that by the end of 2024, a total of 2.213 million drones had been registered under real names nationwide, up 74.7 percent year-on-year, with that number having already reached 2.726 million by the end of June this year. In addition, civil drones also logged a cumulative 24.47 million flight hours from January to June, a year-on-year growth of 149 percent.

"The two standards will also help further support the effective implementation of the current Interim Regulations for Managing UAV Flight, providing an important safeguard for the safe and orderly development of the drone industry," the official added.

The interim regulations, which took effect on Jan 1, 2024, are China's first administrative rules dedicated to unmanned aircraft management. By establishing a full-chain governance system covering production and manufacturing, sales and operations, operator qualifications, airspace use, flight activities, supervision and emergency response, they are believed to have filled a longstanding regulatory gap in China's drone sector.