In its Proposal(1) for a regulation on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 216/2008, the Commission proposed to split current Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 into two separate articles: Article 59 deals with measures of urgent nature, while Article 60 deals with flexibility measures.

Under Article 59 (Safeguard provisions), the Commission proposed that the new Regulation and the delegated acts and implementing acts to be adopted shall not prevent a Member State from reacting immediately to a problem involving a serious risk to aviation safety and requiring immediate action by that Member State to address it.

The Commission's proposal is currently in the negotiation process between the European Parliament and the Council.

The European Aviation Safety Agency has started developing common safety regulations that are ‘operation centric'. Such rules do not take the weight of a drone as a starting point, but the potential safety risk of a particular operation for which the drone is used. These regulations will also serve security objectives. Registration, identification or geofencing (i.e. keeping drones in or out a specific airspace such as aerodromes) are measures that indeed contribute to guaranteeing high levels of both safety and security for European citizens.

(1) COM(2015) 613 final, 2015/0277 (COD) of 7.12.2015.