A phased approach would be adopted to manage uncrewed aerial vehicles, as the number of people sitting drone pilot license tests has increased to about 8,000 per year, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said on Friday.
Amendments to the Regulations of Drone (遙控無人機管理規則) were announced in December last year and would take effect this year to aid the development of the drone industry, the CAA said.
The amendments lowered the minimum age to apply for a student drone pilot license and register a drone to 14 from 16 to encourage young people to learn about drone use, it said.
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In the initial stage of implementing the new system, authorities would assist with license replacements and guide people seeking to upgrade their licenses to sign up for higher-level tests without retaking the base written test, it said.
That would help drone pilots retain their fundamental skills and knowledge required to proficiently operate the vehicles, it added.
The next stage would focus on development of the drone industry, it said.
The CAA said that it would collaborate with the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection and the Ministry of Digital Affairs to enhance drone product safety and boost the global market share of Taiwan-made drones.
From Dec. 1, commercially available drones weighing 2kg to 25kg will have to pass CAA flight security inspections, it said.
The CAA is collaborating with qualified laboratories to conduct the inspections, it said.
It would visit drone manufacturers nationwide to help them learn more about the inspection rules, as well as to plan inspection schedules and register their products, it said.
Commercial drone products that enter the market after Dec. 1 must abide by the new regulations, while corporate drone use would be required to pass inspection and registration requirement from Dec. 1, 2027, the CAA said.
There are more than 38,000 registered drones of up to 528 different types owned by corporations, of which 422 weighing 25kg or more have passed the inspections, CAA data showed.
There are 749 corporations eligible to apply for drone activities and the number of applications has increased every year to more than 23,000 annually, it said.
The CAA has set up 24 sites for written and flying tests nationwide and issued 22,589 drone pilot licenses, it added.
Demonstration videos of flying tests are available for reference, the CAA said, adding that it would continue to promote license applications with the goal of establishing at least one test site in every administrative region.
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