Existing and future drone owners pay attention: the rules have been changed considerably. And that means both good and bad news. Before we discuss the new rules, let’s start with the initial situation. Until December 31, 2020, each EU country had its own drone rules. In the Netherlands you as a consumer were allowed to fly 120 meters high, but in Belgium only 10 meters and only above your own property. For those who also used their images commercially, the options were limited. Without an exemption, for example, you were not allowed to fly above ‘connected buildings’, but such an exemption was difficult to arrange, especially if flying was only an afterthought and not, for example, for inspection purposes. That meant real estate agents often took for granted a possible fine and still took off illegally to take pictures of houses.
Consumers also regularly made mistakes – sometimes consciously, sometimes simply because of ignorance. This resulted in fines of up to 7,800 euros. This ignorance was not surprising: you can see the most beautiful drone images pass by in almost every TV program and on various YouTube channels – also above the city, events and nature reserves. Sometimes permission has been requested for this, but sometimes not. This was often not clear to a consumer and the drones themselves did not initially indicate this: buying a drone at Schiphol and taking off immediately outside was just possible until a few years ago. New regulations and clear policy on what is and what is not allowed was therefore really necessary.
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