#TECM2609293AFrance Sets Registration and Safety Rules for Maritime Drones
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This order creates the operating, registration, safety, and risk-review framework for maritime drones in France, including both surface and underwater drones. Operators must submit a registration file, risk analysis, equipment details, operating limits, and documents for the remote operations center before a certificate can be issued. The law matters most for manufacturers, shipowners, maritime technology companies, and remote operations centers. High-risk drones generally cannot receive final registration unless risks are reduced, while temporary certificates may be available for trials or limited high-risk cases. Operators must also report major changes, accidents, communication failures, and events that affect safety or the environment.
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Key Changes
- Creates a registration certificate process for maritime drones operated in France.
- Requires a formal risk analysis using defined frequency, severity, and risk acceptance criteria.
- Sets mandatory equipment and documentation requirements for drones and remote operations centers.
Obligations
What this law requires
Before a maritime drone can receive an operating/registration certificate, the operator must submit a registration file including a risk analysis, equipment details, operating limits, and documents relating to the remote operations center.
Operators must reduce any risk classified as “high” by implementing additional or alternative safety measures before operating the maritime drone; high-risk scenarios are unacceptable without risk reduction.
For medium/ALARP risks, operators must implement all reasonably practicable safety measures, unless additional measures are shown to be impracticable or disproportionate to the risk reduction achieved.
Remote operations centers must maintain the mandatory equipment and systems listed in Annex 3, including alarms, navigation displays, emergency power/fire alarms where required, data recording, radio distress relay capability, and duplicated data communications between the drone and the remote operations center.
Remote operations centers must keep the mandatory plans and documents listed in Annex 3, including the drone registration certificate, operator authorization document, safety plan, emergency instructions, stability file where applicable, communication-loss emergency plan, drone-loss recovery plan, connectivity management plan, and security protocol.