05 Jul 2017 entered into force changes to the Air code of the Russian Federation concerning the "fate" of quadcopters (the Federal law from 03.07.2016 years № 291 – FZ "On amendments to the Air code of the Russian Federation" (hereinafter – the "Law").
So what innovations are awaiting the owners of quadcopters? Does the procedure of state registration for them and in what order? Where to go to register a Quad?
For a start, it should be noted that the Law does not establish a full-fledged state registration of quadcopters. The changes only affect folks the maximum takeoff weight ranging from 0,25 kilograms to 30 kilograms. The action of the common Law as imported into the Russian Federation and produced in the territory of the Russian Federation "unmanned civil aircraft." Such devices shall be registered in the order established by the Government of the Russian Federation (paragraph 3.2 of article 33 of the air code).
In fact, the Law does not contain rules governing the accounting treatment of quadcopters, but only contains a reference rule for other legal act.
The paradox is that the Russian Government has still not approved the accounting treatment of such equipment. In the legal databases there is only a draft Decree of the RF Government "On approval of the procedure of consideration of civil unmanned aircraft imported to the Russian Federation or manufactured in the Russian Federation". Accordingly, at the moment, the rule of Law on account of quadcopters actually can not be implemented.
However, consider in more detail the individual "gaps" of the Law and the above-mentioned draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation, with which it will be possible to face in practice in the case of approval of the last in the present edition.
Immediately would like to note that in Law there is no norm about its retroactivity. Therefore, it does not apply to relations arising before its entry into effect (article 4 of part I of the civil code). Therefore, a situation of uncertainty as to the owners of quadcopters, purchased and imported to Russia or manufactured in Russia before the entry into force of the relevant changes, that is, until 05.07.2017. The question of the necessity of registration of such quadcopters remains open.
In the draft resolution on consideration of civil unmanned aircraft proposed to create a database of such vessels to be maintained by the FSUE "Zaschitainfotrans", subordinated to the Ministry of transport of the Russian Federation. The order of formation of the information in this database and their amendment is similar to the procedure of setting and cancelling registration of the vehicle. Entering information into the database and retrieving information from it should be on a reimbursable basis. However, the authors of the project and the legislator does not establish "incentive" for obligatory execution by owners of quadcopters rules on their paid account. For example, in these documents there is no measure of liability that applies to anyone who violates the above requirement, and the mechanism for their detection and recording of offences. Therefore, the actual implementation of the rules on mandatory accounting quadcopters initially is questionable.
Provides that for registration of a quadrocopter to the owner or his legal representative must submit an application, drawn up in a single copy. The results of any document (receipts) to the applicant confirming acceptance of his appeal, is not set. The time of submission of registration varies in time with the time of entering the information about the Quad in the database. Place of submission and receipt of statements may differ from decision-making on the inclusion of the Quad in the database. Under these above conditions, the applicant is not immune from falling into a situation where for whatever reason you will not see any information that they have submitted the statement for statement on the account, and no evidence to the contrary. The procedure of the formulation of the quadcopter on the account will need to start anew.
The draft does not specify a list of specific documents annexed to the application, including the question remains about the necessity of submission of the payment document confirming the owner of the quadcopter of funds for his registration. Accordingly, in practice, this can be reflected in the endless debates and questions about the legality of the refusal of acceptance of documents or refusal in registration of the quadcopter. Therefore, the owners of quadcopters can not do without qualified legal assistance.
From p. 19 of the draft resolution should, in some cases, the result of the application for registration of a quadrocopter, in addition to notice of registration and of entry in the database, you may be assigning account identification mark. However, neither the draft regulation nor the Law does not name specific cases or features and characteristics of a quadrocopter, which requires the owner of quadcopter to obtain account identification. These documents are not spelled out the procedure for the application of account identification mark on the quadcopter and not the person named, endowed with such powers.
In addition, the authors of the draft resolution included in item 22 of the rule, which contradicts condition p. 19, and finally "knocks the little bit of" owners of quadcopters in assessing the need of obtaining account identification. In particular, in clause 22 provides for the imposition of the ban without any exemptions for flight operations of unmanned aircraft without requiring a distinguishing mark.
Special attention should be paid to section IV of the draft resolution. The "Failure in accounting for the unmanned aircraft and the clearance to the management and ownership of unmanned aircraft", it appears that the developers have exceeded the limits of authority of the Government of the Russian Federation, specified in clause 3.2 of article 33 of the air code. This rule calls for the determination of the Government of the Russian Federation, only the accounting treatment of an unmanned aerial vehicle.
In the section although and contains an exhaustive list of grounds under which the applicant denied the account of a quadcopter, but the wording is so vague that can actually provide them unfounded broad interpretation and a denial given of the apparatus. For example, if the "characteristics of target hardware and target loads (precision navigation, sensors, camera resolution) allow to use unmanned aircraft to collect restricted information", it can be a cause of failure in accounting quadcopter. Used the phrase "privileged information" is not enshrined in the current legislation of the Russian Federation, as the definition (concept, term). Its borders are difficult to establish objectively. Therefore, it can create difficulties in the uniform understanding and application in practice of the grounds for refusal in consideration of unmanned aircraft.
We would like to note that neither the draft resolution nor the Law in any way does not cover such an important topic as the use of unmanned aircraft in illegal activities, although in practice has recorded similar cases. So, in the United States identified an incident where a quadcopter was used to transport drugs from Mexico.
In our opinion, and the Law, and the above-mentioned draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation require major modifications. Otherwise, "the owners of quadcopters" have to initially "hurt" before you form a normal working mechanism of registration of quadcopters.