European Union / EASA — Drone Regulation Index 2026

Drone Regulation Index 2026

How European Union / EASA reads across the four measured pillars.

Established

78.5

of 100

A higher score never means less regulated. It means the rules, as published, are more proportionate, more navigable and more reachable for an operator who intends to comply.

This score sits close to a tier edge — closer to it than to the middle of its own tier — so the tier itself is inside the model's uncertainty.

Jointly placed with Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom — these results are treated as the same outcome. Scores inside the equivalence window are treated as the same result. The window is the largest movement any market's score shows across plausible alternative pillar weightings, so any smaller difference sits inside the model's own uncertainty.

weight 25% · 5/6 measures resolved

weight 35% · 5/5 measures resolved

weight 20% · 5/6 measures resolved

weight 20% · 3/4 measures resolved

What works in European Union / EASA's favour

BVLOS pathway maturity: rung 5 of 5.
ADV-01 · 100.0/100 · includes guidance
Operational authorisation route: 4/4 route elements expressed.
ADV-02 · 100.0/100 · binding basis
Populated-area advanced pathway: bvlos.populated_area_pathway.
ADV-08 · 100.0/100 · includes guidance
- Guidance · Annex A to AMC1 to Article 11
Published zone framework: official zone framework.
AIR-01 · 100.0/100 · binding basis
Named authority and process: named authority/process elements.
CLR-02 · 100.0/100 · binding basis

Where the framework constrains operators

No measure fell to the constraint threshold in this market.

Administrative components

Reported, never scored. These describe how the administrative machinery is built rather than how much process it imposes.

Permission touchpointsreported3/4 permission touchpoints

Advanced operations components

Reported, never scored. These record the shape of an advanced-operations route where it exists, without judging how open it is.

Risk-assessment pathwayreportedrisk-assessment route present
Predefined or standard scenarioreportedpredefined/standard scenario present
Repeat or generic permissionreportedrepeat/generic permission present

Digital infrastructure

Reported, never scored. Digital services differ in maturity in ways that reflect a market's investment programme rather than the legal position an operator faces, so they inform the picture without moving any score.

UTM / U-space availabilitynot resolvedUTM/U-space does not resolve
Digital registrationreporteddigital registration
Digital authorisation and flight planningreporteddigital authorisation
UTM / U-spacenot resolveddoes not resolve
Remote identificationreportedremote ID CONDITIONAL
Open or API-accessible regulatory datanot resolveddoes not resolve

Data confidence

High confidence (87.6/100)

Most measures resolved from published facts, predominantly on a binding legal basis, from a fully servable corpus.

Resolved from binding law: 77.8%
Conditions machine-classified: 94.4%
Measures resolved: 85.7%
Corpus publicly servable: 100.0%

18 of 21 measures resolved (85.7% of those applicable). Unresolved means our corpus does not currently express the rule in a machine-resolvable way. It is a statement about our data, never a finding that the activity is permitted or prohibited.

Measures we could not resolve (3)

AIR-03 Temporary restriction visibility — temporary restriction publication does not resolve
CLR-03 Machine-resolvable exceptions — fewer than two exception sets resolve
EFF-04 Night operation access — night operations do not resolve

Every measured statement links to the regulatory provision it was derived from. Where a citation names a parent-framework instrument, that instrument applies directly in the market shown.

This is not a league table. Markets are grouped into tiers and listed alphabetically inside each tier; we publish no position, no ordering within a tier and no country-versus-country winner.

The Index is a comparison of regulatory frameworks, not legal advice and not an operational clearance. Always confirm the current rule with the responsible authority before flying.

methodology dri-scoring-1.0.0 · topics a2-topics-1.0.0 · presentation dri-presentation-1.0.0 · generated 2026-09-01

Read the full methodology

This page gives general regulatory information. It is not flight clearance, operational authorisation or legal advice, and it does not guarantee that a flight is legal. See sources and methodology and terms.