The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan together with the Civil Aviation Committee are working to amend the legislation using the Republic of Kazakhstan’s airspace and the activities of aviation,” including on the issues of unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned aircraft systems.

The proposed amendments will replace the Rules for the Operation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the Airspace of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the Rules for the Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Airspace of the Republic of Kazakhstan to establish further requirements for the design and manufacture of unmanned aircraft systems (hereinafter – UAS). It will also determine the types of UAS, the design, production and maintenance of which are subject to certification, the requirements for maintaining the airworthiness of unmanned aircraft of established categories, the conditions for remote identification systems in terms of the frequency range used, the composition of the transmitted information, as well as the classes of UAVs on which this system is required to be installed, the requirements for the flight safety management system for operators with a maximum take-off weight of more than 30 kg. At the same time, it is planned to introduce a new operations category in the “certified” class with the establishment of requirements for both traditionally human-crewed aircraft in terms of operator certification and licensing of external pilots in Addition to the registration of an unmanned aircraft, as well as the requirements for issuing a UAS operator’s certificate (similar to an operator’s certificate by weight, by work performed, or by type of flight).

In Addition, the adoption of amendments to the Law will require amendments to the Rules for the Use of the Airspace of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in particular on the procedure for the development, coordination and establishment of zones of restriction of flights of unmanned aircraft, as well as operational conditions for these zones.

 The introduction of legislative amendments will require changes in the registration of unmanned aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of more than 30 kg in the state register of UAVs and registration with a maximum take-off weight of 30 kg or less with a change in the accounting procedure and transfer to a notification basis without issuing a certificate of registration. The proposed innovations developed, taking into account the experience of advanced countries and ICAO recommendations.

 The adoption of amendments to the Law is planned by the end of this year, followed by introducing regulatory legal acts within three months.

Recall that the Rules for unmanned aerial vehicles operating in the Republic of Kazakhstan’s airspace were approved in January of this year. UAVs’ operation is carried out after registration with the authorized organization in the field of civil aviation, except for UAVs, which are subject to registration with the authorized body in the field of state aviation.

The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan conducts the registration of UAVs under the Rules of the state registration of civil aircraft of the Republic of Kazakhstan and their rights. UAV with a maximum take-off weight of more than 1.5 kg and unmanned aerial vehicles performing operations in the “specific” category with a maximum take-off weight of more than 0.25 kg is subject to accounting.

To date, 279 unmanned aerial vehicles are recorded in Kazakhstan.