On the 8th of May 2025 the UK CAA released a set of policy recommendations (CAP 2610) following its Review of UK UAS Regulations. These proposals are aiming to simplify the UK regulations, enhance safety, and support the growth of the drone sector.
Key proposals include:
- Simplifying Operational Categories: Renaming the Open Category subcategories from A1, A2, and A3 to 'Over', 'Near', and 'Far' to make them more intuitive.
- Legacy Drones: Allowing legacy drones to continue operating indefinitely under existing operational requirements in most cases.
- Class Marking: Introducing UK-specific product markings (e.g. replacing C0 label with UK0) for class-marked drones, with implementation starting January 1, 2026
- EU Class-Marked Drones: Permitting EU class-marked drones to operate in the Open Category under the same subcategories as their UK equivalents until January 1, 2028
- Remote ID and Geo-Awareness: Implementing Direct Remote ID and geo-awareness/geo-fencing requirements for drones to enhance safety and security
- Night Operations: Mandating flashing lights for drone operations conducted in the dark
- Registration Requirements: Removing the registration exemption for 'toy' drones and requiring pilots flying drones weighing 100g or more to take the free online CAA Flyer ID test
These proposals are designed to simplify the regulatory framework, improve safety standards, and foster innovation within the UK drone industry. The recommendations have been submitted to the Department for Transport for ratification and if approved, will be implemented through a statutory instrument with a timetable to be determined.
Please keep in mind these are still just proposals at this time, as soon there's any official changes to the UK regulations we'll update our guides and help our students to appreciate the changes and new requirements.
We believe these proposed changes should be viewed positively as they should allow greater freedom & flexibility with drones. Time will tell!
