On 22 November 2017, the Helsinki Declaration was adopted with the aim of delivering advanced drone services safely and securely in Europe.

The Declaration was adopted at a high-level conference on drones jointly organised by the Commission and the Finnish authorities and falls within the context of the European Aviation Strategy.

In particular, the Declaration sets three priority areas for sector-wide cooperation in order to ensure that safe commercial drones operations are up and running by 2019:

• legal requirements for drones and drone operations, for the safe and effective use of the airspace;

• further investment in long term R&D projects;

• effective standard setting process adapted to the fast-evolving digital technologies of the drone and U-Space market (the so called “U-Space” covers altitudes up to 150 meters and will guarantee that drone use in low-level airspace is safe, secure and environmentally friendly).

Sara Capruzzi