DRONES, QUADCOPTERS, MODEL AIRCRAFT - RESPONSIBILITY!

On September 25, 2023, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 297 "On the State Registration and Operation of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" was signed.

The decree stipulates that the importation into the territory of Belarus, storage, circulation, operation, and production of civil UAVs are permitted only for organizations and individual entrepreneurs for the purposes of entrepreneurial and professional activities "in compliance with the requirements established by this decree." Individuals are prohibited from importing, storing, circulating, operating, and manufacturing drones.

To import drones, organizations and individual entrepreneurs will need to obtain the appropriate permission from the Department of Aviation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which will organize the registration of such drones held by organizations and individual entrepreneurs.

Regarding the importation, operation, and production of UAVs by individuals, the prohibition HAS COME INTO FORCE.

It is prohibited to be in areas designated as restricted for their use without coordination with the state authorities in whose interests they are established. Such places are determined by the Security Service of the President in accordance with the Law "On State Protection."

Flights are prohibited over populated areas, except for rural ones. To carry out a flight in permitted areas, the owner must submit a plan or application for the use of airspace to the center of the Unified Air Traffic Organization System.

The coordinates of dangerous zones, within which flights of drones and model aircraft are allowed, are listed in the list of dangerous zones in the airspace of Belarus. You can familiarize yourself with its graphical representation on the website mар.nса.by.

Aerial photography requires permission from the General Staff of the Armed Forces. It is issued free of charge and in a short time.

The decree of the Head of State "On Stopping Flights of Model Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" allows military personnel of military formations and employees of internal affairs bodies, as well as workers of militarized security, to use special means, weapons, combat, and special equipment to stop flights of unmanned aerial vehicles that are carried out in violation of current legislation.

Administrative liability in the form of a warning or imposition of a fine (Article 18.35 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). An individual will have to pay up to 20 basic units (one basic unit is 40 rubles), and a legal entity up to 50. A repeated offense within a year is punishable by a fine: for individuals — from 10 to 50 basic units, for legal entities — from 20 to 100.

A separate topic is the consequences that will arise from the launch of UAVs. In this case, the actions of the guilty party may be classified under the articles of the Criminal Code (for example, as hooliganism, an act of terrorism, violation of air transport operation rules, etc.).

Deputy Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Braslav District Executive Committee, Police Major Nikolai Leonidovich Ivanov