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European Union

EASA sorts civil drones by risk, not by hobby or business.

The EASA rules page names open, specific, and certified operations. It does not treat a paid flight as a different legal family from a hobby flight.

Pages opened through 6 November 2026

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Ask which category the flight sits in. Ask later which country will authorize it.

The Japanese guide uses a light Hiroshima dialect. A native speaker has not reviewed it.

On this pageThree categories on one rules pageThe operator count is EASA's sentence

Three categories on one rules page

From the page

The rules page names Regulation 2019/947 and Regulation 2019/945.

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From the page

That page says the rules follow risk. They do not split leisure flying from commercial flying.

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From the page

The same page names three categories of civil drone operations: open, specific, and certified.

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From the page

It says Regulation 2019/947 has applied since 31 December 2020 in the EU Member States, Norway, and Liechtenstein.

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From the page

It describes Switzerland and Iceland as places where the same rule is expected. This page does not call them already covered.

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From the page

In the 2019 text of Regulation 2019/947, an open-category flight needs no prior authorisation, stays under 25 kg, in visual line of sight, and within 120 metres of the surface. Subcategory A3 stays at least 150 metres from residential, commercial, industrial, or recreational areas.

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From the page

Regulation 2020/746, read in full, postponed several 2019/947 dates by six months because of COVID-19. Regulation 2022/425, also read in full, then moved the open-category transition for non-compliant aircraft to 31 December 2023, and the two standard scenarios to 1 January 2024.

news-eu-2020-746 · Full text readnews-eu-2022-425 · Full text read

From the page

From 26 January 2023, Regulation 2021/666 says a manned aircraft in designated U-space airspace, if it is not getting an air traffic control service, must stay electronically conspicuous to the U-space service providers.

news-eu-2021-666 · Full text read

Still blank

The 157-page U-space Easy Access PDF was not read. Regulation 2021/664 itself was not opened. Differences between member states were not opened.

eu-reg-2019-947 · Page openedeu-reg-2019-945 · Page opened

The operator count is EASA's sentence

From the page

A separate EASA page says there are 1.6 million or more registered drone operators in Europe, under one EU rule set, with member states giving the authorizations.

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Still blank

This institute did not count the registers. The page does not show the day of that 1.6 million figure.

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