Open, specific, certified
The European regulation does not classify drones into three categories: it classifies OPERATIONS. The same aircraft can fall into all three depending on what you make it do, and that shift of view is the first thing the examination checks.
Key points
- ‘Open’ category: no prior operational authorisation, and no operational declaration by the UAS operator before the flight. It is the lightest regime in the regulation: which does not mean no step at all with the authority: registration of the UAS operator is still required (Article 14(5)), and a UAS geographical zone may require a flight authorisation under Article 15.
- It is open only to operations that stay within the bounds of Article 4: less than 25 kg at take-off, VLOS at all times, 120 metres at most, no overflight of an assembly of people, no dangerous goods, no dropping of material.
- ‘Specific’ category: as soon as a single one of those requirements is not met, the operation moves there. An authorisation from the competent authority of the Member State of registration is then needed (Art. 5(1)), or a declaration where the operation follows a standard scenario (Art. 5(5)).
- ‘Certified’ category: reserved for high-risk operations: overflying assemblies of people, transport of people, carriage of dangerous goods that may result in high risk for third parties. The UAS is certified, so is the operator, and the remote pilot may have to be licensed.
- The switch is never a matter of convenience: it is triggered by crossing a requirement. Flying in A3 waives no condition of the ‘open’ category, since A3 IS inside the ‘open’ category.
- Registration of the operator is neither an authorisation nor an operational declaration: it is a separate formality, due in the ‘open’ category from 250 g at take-off or as soon as a sensor can capture personal data (Art. 14(5)).
The trap. The examination likes the sentence ‘the open category requires no prior authorisation’ and makes it overflow. It concerns the OPERATIONAL authorisation, nothing else. It waives neither the registration of the operator, nor a flight authorisation that a geographical zone may require under Article 15.
Source
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 (CELEX 02019R0947, consolidated on 01/05/2025), art. 3, art. 4, art. 5, paragraph 1 and paragraph 5, art. 6, paragraph 1, art. 14, paragraph 5, and art. 15, paragraph 1