Lately, drones have played multiple roles away from theirmilitary uses, as the technological development of drones has ledto the expansion of their use in civil and commercial purposes byseveral companies in different countries.
Some of the fields that drones are used include thefollowing:
Therefore, the Egyptian legislator worked onissuing Law that regulates drones' uses in the Egyptianterritory, but unfortunately, this law was issued with severalrestrictions, as it is largely influenced by concerns related tothe non-civilian uses of these Drones, which may be used in armedconflicts or terrorist crimes that can harm the nationalsecurity.
Article 1 of the Law No. 216 of the year 2017, regardingregulating using drones in Egypt defined Drones as following:"Drones: Any object that can fly without a pilot withoutcontact with others using any type of technology, whatever itsshape or size, and it can be loaded with additional loads, whetherit is devices, equipment, armament systems, ammunition, explosives,which may threaten the national security of the country, and it isoperated or controlled remotely."
Hence, the law provided a broad definition for the"Drones" term, that includes any object able to flywithout a pilot and can be loaded with another object.
Law No. 216 of the year 2017 prohibits the use of drones inEgypt, import, manufacturing, trading, possessing, trading in, orusing "drones", except after obtaining a permit from thecompetent authority, which is limited by the aforementionedLaw's Executive Regulations No. 931 of the year 2018 to theMinistry of Defense.
In case of not obtaining the mentioned permit from the Ministryof Defense, a penalty of imprisonment for a duration not less thanone year and not exceeding seven years, and a fine of not less than5000 EGP and not exceeding 50000 EGP, or either of these twopenalties, shall be imposed on anyone who imports, manufactures,possessing, trading, or using Drones that are powered bymechanically or wirelessly without a permit from the competentauthority, and the penalty shall be doubled in case of recurrence.And the penalty shall be life imprisonment if any of the criminalacts stipulated previously are committed for a terrorist purpose.Also the penalty shall be death if the act results in the death ofa person.
In all cases, the court shall rule for the confiscation of themachines and tools used in the crime in favor of the armedforces.
Regarding Drones manufacturing or leasing activities, theExecutive Regulation regulated this processes through the followingrules and procedures:
It is worth mentioning that the aforementioned Law'sExecutive Regulation No. 931 of the year 2018, regulates issuingthe permissions to use "drones" for commercial, sports orresearch purposes in Articles Nos. (3) (4) (5) asfollowing:
Furthermore, The Executive Regulation No. 931 of the year 2018differentiates between the termination of the license and itscancellation by the competent authority:
Althoughthe law and its regulationcontain several restrictions as it is largely influenced byconcerns related to the non-civilian uses of these Drones, whichmay be used in terrorist crimes that can harmnationalsecurity, the Executive Regulation have exempted some types of"drones" from the requirement to obtain a permit, if thefollowing technical specifications are available in them:
Finally, it should be noted that the ExecutiveRegulation mentioned specific methods that must be followed inorder to determine the availability of specifications that exempt"drones" from the requirement to obtain a permit; Wherethe regulation obliges the entity requesting the permit to submitan application to the Operations Department of the Ministry ofDefense, and a report from the Customs Authority shall be attachedto the request regarding the availability of the specificationsreferred to in the regulation, and approval is issued after beingexamined by specialists from the Ministry of Defense within thirtydays from the date of submitting the application.
The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.
