Starting Thursday, civilians who want to use drones must register at the relevant government department with their real names, according to an official regulation recently rolled out by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the Daily Sunshine reported.
The regulation specifies that civilians who possess drones weighing 250 grams or more need to register their drones with their real names and attach the authorized tags onto the drones. Violations will be regarded as illegal acts after Aug. 31.
Shenzhen is considered the most prolific city around the globe at producing drones. There are currently over 300 enterprises that develop and manufacture drones. The number is still growing with an annual increase of over 30 percent. Among them, companies like DJI and AEE are leading the nation in drone R&D.
According to statistics provided by the city’s economy, trade and information commission, Shenzhen’s design and manufacture of consumer drones takes up more than 70 percent of the global market.
However, compared to the rapid growth of the drone industry, regulation is lagging behind causing unbalanced development of drones in terms of quality, maintenance, market access and so forth.
Shenzhen’s market supervision department recently gathered experts from the standardization department as well as representatives from drone-making companies for a seminar to discuss the current standards for drone usage.
“The standards being used now were released around 2010 for a small part of the drone industry and are inadequate for the current mass market,” said a person from the standardization department.
A drone association in Shenzhen has already released eight standards for drone use, according to Yang Jincai, head of the association.
The standards are expected to regulate and supervise the design, manufacture as well as the use of drones, while further and more detailed standards are expected.
