Netherlands: what national law adds
The Netherlands does not lower the age and does not create a second register, but it adds what few States do: figures for distances from roads, railways and the electricity grid, and a statutory zoning scheme whose coordinates sit in the text itself.
Key points
- Three players to tell apart: the ministry writes the rule, the environment and transport inspectorate supervises, the national road traffic agency keeps the operator register and issues the flight certificates.
- Two expiry dates that do not coincide: entry in the operator register lasts one year, the flight certificate five years from the date of the examination.
- Distances specific to the Netherlands: 50 metres from motorways, roads for motor vehicles and 80 km/h roads in A1 and A2, 25 metres from railways, and 150 metres from both in A3.
- 150 metres from the structures of the electricity transmission grid, and a ban on flying in the civil and military control zones listed by name, cross-border portions included.
- Zoning: a 30-metre ceiling and a ban on A3 in military low-flying routes and areas; circles of 1,200 metres around uncontrolled aerodromes and heliports; 500 metres around the industrial sites in annex 1.
- Vital infrastructure and secured sites: graded radii of 500, 400, 200, 150 and 100 metres, supplemented by polygons in annex 2.
- Age: the Netherlands has not lowered the European minimum of 16. Below that age what remains is direct supervision by a remote pilot of 16 or over who holds the certificate.
The trap. Dutch zoning moves through its annexes, not through its articles: on 1 January 2026 the industrial sites annex was replaced in full and thirteen polygonal zones were added, without a single distance changing. Relying on a downloaded map or on last year's course means revising a zoning scheme that no longer exists.
Source
Regeling onbemande luchtvaartuigen (wetten.overheid.nl, BWBR0044598, https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0044598/2026-01-01, version as at 2026-01-01), art. 2, 3, 5 to 9; Regeling zonering onbemande luchtvaartuigen (wetten.overheid.nl, BWBR0044597, https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0044597/2026-01-01, version as at 2026-01-01), art. 2 to 6 and annexes 1 and 2; Regeling of 11 November 2025 amending the Regeling zonering onbemande luchtvaartuigen, Staatscourant 2025 No 38071 (https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2025-38071.html), in force from 2026-01-01; Wet luchtvaart (wetten.overheid.nl, BWBR0005555, https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005555/, version as at 2026-01-01), art. 5.7; Regeling onbemande luchtvaartuigen, nota van toelichting, Staatscourant 2020 No 66578, published on 29/12/2020 (https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2020-66578.html), section on the designation of the competent authority and the operator register; Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer, official page “Exploitantnummer aanvragen” (https://www.rdw.nl/drone/exploitantnummer-aanvragen), accessed on 02/09/2026; Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer, official page “Over het vliegbewijs en exploitantnummer” (https://www.rdw.nl/drone/over-het-vliegbewijs-en-exploitantnummer), accessed on 02/09/2026