CERTIFICATION
OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM
6.
General.—
No person shall operate an unmanned aircraft system in India unless such
unmanned aircraft system conforms to a type certificate or is exempted from the
requirement of a type certificate under these rules.
7.
Certification
standards.–– The Central Government may, on the recommendation of the
Quality Council of India, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the
standards for obtaining a type certificate for unmanned aircraft systems and
such standards may promote the use of the following—
(a) made-in-India
technologies, designs, components and unmanned aircraft systems; and
(b) Indian
regional navigation satellite system, namely, Navigation with Indian
Constellation.
8.
Type
certification.–– The Director General or any entity authorised by the
Director General in this behalf, may, on the recommendation of the Quality
Council of India or an authorised testing entity, issue a type certificate for
any particular type of unmanned aircraft system.
9.
Application
and procedure for issuance of type certificate.–– (1) Any person, who intends to obtain a type certificate, shall
make an application in Form D-1 on the digital sky platform along with the fee
as specified in rule 46 and the following––
(a) particulars
of the applicant;
(b) details
and required documents in respect of the prototype unmanned aircraft system as
specified therein; and
(c) the
prototype unmanned aircraft system shall be physically handed over to the
authorised testing entity specified therein.
(2)
The Quality Council of India or the
authorised testing entity shall examine the proposal and submit the test report
along with its recommendations to the Director General within sixty days from
the date of receipt of the application.
(3)
On the basis of test report along with the
recommendations received under sub-rule (2), and on being satisfied, the
Director General shall issue to the applicant a type certificate for the
specific type of unmanned aircraft system within fifteen days of receiving such
test report.
10.
Acceptance
of approvals given by foreign regulators.–– On the basis of the approval
granted to any type of unmanned aircraft system by such of the Contracting
States, as may be specified by the Central Government by notification in the
Official Gazette, the Director General may issue type certification to that
type of unmanned aircraft system.
11.
Imports.––
Import of unmanned aircraft systems shall be regulated by the Directorate
General of Foreign Trade or any other entity authorised by the Central
Government.
12.
Mandatory
safety features.–– (1) The
Central Government may, in future, by notification in the Official Gazette,
specify safety features to be installed on an unmanned aircraft system by
persons owning it, which may include among others, the following safety
features, namely:––
(a) ‘No
Permission – No Takeoff’ hardware and firmware;
(b) Real-time
tracking beacon that communicates the unmanned aircraft system’s location,
altitude, speed and unique identification number; and (c) Geo-fencing
capability.
(2) Every
person who owns an unmanned aircraft system shall adopt safety features
notified under sub-rule (1) within such period, not less than six months from
the date of publication of such notification, as the Central Government may
specify.
13. Exemption
from obtaining type certificate in certain cases.— (1) No type certificate shall be required for manufacturing or
importing an unmanned aircraft system.
(2) No type
certificate shall be required for operating the following, namely:–– (a) a model remotely piloted aircraft
system; and (b) a nano unmanned aircraft system.