Author: sa_admin

UAS policy and regulation in the Middle East region is highly controlled.  Given recent and ongoing conflicts and the use of armed drones within this context, personal and commercial use of unmanned aerial systems is dramatically reduced.

Some countries such as Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are insulated sufficiently and with adequate economic resources to attempt to position themselves as leaders in commercial development of UAS.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Bahrain	Middle East	Prohibited
Iraq	Middle East	Prohibited
Jordan	Middle East	Restricted
Kuwait	Middle East	Cautious
Lebanon	Middle East	Restricted
Oman	Middle East	Restricted
Palestinian Territory	Middle East	Prohibited
Qatar	Middle East	Restricted
Saudi Arabia	Middle East	Prohibited
Syria	Middle East	Prohibited
United Arab Emirates	Middle East	Restricted
Yemen	Middle East	Unknown

Due to low economic development across much of the region, UAS policy is generally lacking.  Most countries have ill-defined regulatory frameworks or use aviation rules as ad hoc stand-ins for unmanned aerial system regulations.

However, some countries such as Rwanda have used their unique geographical conditions to provide a broad-spectrum testing environment in hopes of tying the growth of the UAS field to their developing economies.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Angola	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Benin	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Botswana	Sub-Saharan Africa	Prohibited
Burkina Faso	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Burundi	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Cameroon	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Cape Verde	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Central African Republic	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Chad	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Comoros	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Congo	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Côte D’Ivoire	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Djibouti	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Equatorial Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Eritrea	Sub-Saharan Africa	Prohibited
Ethiopia	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unregulated
Gabon	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Gambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Ghana	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Guinea	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Guinea-Bissau	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Kenya	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Lesotho	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Liberia	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unregulated
Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Malawi	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Mali	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Mauritania	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Mauritius	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Mayotte	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Namibia	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Niger	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Nigeria	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cautious
Saint Helena	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Sao Tome and Principe	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Senegal	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Seychelles	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cautious
Sierra Leone	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Somalia	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
South Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	Open
South Sudan	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Swaziland	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	Restricted
Togo	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown
Zambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cautious
Zimbabwe	Sub-Saharan Africa	Unknown

North Africa’s UAS policies are as diverse as the region itself.  Though conflicts have taken place across much of the region and resulted in tightly controlled environments within some countries, many countries have unenforced or unclear regulatory frameworks.  Morocco stands out as the exception with a permissive but regulated standard for unmanned aerial systems.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Algeria	North Africa	Unregulated
Egypt	North Africa	Prohibited
Libya	North Africa	Unknown
Morocco	North Africa	Restricted
Sudan	North Africa	Unknown
Tunisia	North Africa	Prohibited
Western Sahara	North Africa	Unknown

Anticipating the policy environment in the CIS is especially challenging.  Some of the more authoritarian leaning countries such as Belarus or Kyrgyzstan have issued outright prohibitions of civilian UAS operations, while others merely have no defined policy.  Needless to say it is unwise to assume that an undefined policy equals any degree of permissiveness and so the CIS region presents a blind spot in the edification of global UAS regulations.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Armenia	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unregulated
Azerbaijan	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unknown
Belarus	Commonwealth of Independent States	Prohibited
Georgia	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unknown
Kazakhstan	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unknown
Kyrgyzstan	Commonwealth of Independent States	Prohibited
Tajikistan	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unknown
Turkmenistan	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unknown
Ukraine	Commonwealth of Independent States	Restricted
Uzbekistan	Commonwealth of Independent States	Unknown

This region’s UAS policy and regulation run the gammut from welcoming to complete prohibition.  Though prohibitions in North Korea are predictable, the official prohibition of unmanned aerial systems in far more unexpected.  It should be noted that similar to Bangladesh, the prohibition of UAS is a formal position that is not fully enforced.  As such, UAS do operate in these regions despite the official regulations.

Other regions are welcoming or cautiously open to UAS development, such as China which is one of the largest producers and consumers of commercial systems.  The most accepting regions tend to be those Pacific regions falling under American or British protection.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Afghanistan	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
American Samoa	East and Southeast Asia	Open
Bangladesh	East and Southeast Asia	Prohibited
Bhutan	East and Southeast Asia	Open
British Indian Ocean Territory	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Brunei Darussalam	East and Southeast Asia	Prohibited
Cambodia	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
China	East and Southeast Asia	Cautious
Christmas Island	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Cook Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Fiji	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
French Polynesia	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
French Southern Territories	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Guam	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Heard Island and McDonald Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
India	East and Southeast Asia	Prohibited
Indonesia	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
Iran	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
Kiribati	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of	East and Southeast Asia	Prohibited
Laos	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Malaysia	East and Southeast Asia	Cautious
Maldives	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Marshall Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Micronesia	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Mongolia	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Myanmar	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
Nauru	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Nepal	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
New Caledonia	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Niue	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Norfolk Island	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Northern Mariana Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Open
Pakistan	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Palau	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Papua New Guinea	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Philippines	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Pitcairn Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Reunion	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Samoa	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Solomon Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Sri Lanka	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Thailand	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
Timor-Leste	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
Tokelau	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Tonga	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Tuvalu	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
United States Minor Outlying Islands	East and Southeast Asia	Open
Vanuatu	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown
Vietnam	East and Southeast Asia	Restricted
Wallis and Futuna	East and Southeast Asia	Unknown

UAS policy in South America is quite diverse.  Though in the extreme case of Venezuela there are outright prohibitions, most other countries are unregulated, generally open or with sensible restrictions on the operation of unmanned aerial systems.

There do remain several countries whose regulatory status with regard to UAS is unclear and whose outlook on the development of such policies remains to be seen.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Argentina	South America	Restricted
Bolivia	South America	Unknown
Bouvet Island	South America	Unknown
Brazil	South America	Restricted
Chile	South America	Restricted
Colombia	South America	Restricted
Ecuador	South America	Open
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	South America	Open
French Guiana	South America	Unregulated
Guyana	South America	Unknown
Paraguay	South America	Restricted
Peru	South America	Cautious
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	South America	Unknown
Suriname	South America	Unknown
Uruguay	South America	Unknown
Venezuela	South America	Prohibited

Central America and the Caribbean is one of the most receptive regions to unmanned aerial systems in the Global South.  This can be explained by the enormously important role that tourism plays in many small island nations, in combination with relatively placid internal and external politics.

Where regions have seen increased crime there is a tendency towards more restrictive regulations as UAS have been used by organized crime.  Cuba stands out at the only country in the region to issue an outright prohibition on the civilian use of UAS.

Country	Region	Regulatory Status
Anguilla	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Antigua and Barbuda	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Aruba	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Bahamas	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Barbados	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Belize	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Cayman Islands	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Costa Rica	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Cuba	Central America / Caribbean	Prohibited
Dominica	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Dominican Republic	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
El Salvador	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Grenada	Central America / Caribbean	Restricted
Guadeloupe	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Guatemala	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Haiti	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Honduras	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Jamaica	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Martinique	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Mexico	Central America / Caribbean	Restricted
Montserrat	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Netherlands Antilles	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Nicaragua	Central America / Caribbean	Restricted
Panama	Central America / Caribbean	Restricted
Puerto Rico	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Saint Barthelemy	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Saint Lucia	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Saint Martin	Central America / Caribbean	Unknown
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Trinidad and Tobago	Central America / Caribbean	Restricted
Turks and Caicos Islands	Central America / Caribbean	Open
Virgin Islands, British	Central America / Caribbean	Unregulated
Virgin Islands, U.S.	Central America / Caribbean	Open

Sarus Humanitarian Aerospace and the Sentinel Project have been conducting ongoing research into the impacts and value of unmanned aerial systems in the humanitarian and development fields.  This has most recently culminated in the comprehensive research document, Unmanned Aerial Systems for Development and Humanitarianism in the Global South – A Survey of Applications and Policies which we encourage you to read.

We have also been researching and writing about humanitarian aerospace for over five years, being one of the early advocates for unmanned aerial systems in the development field:

Challenges of Humanitarian Drones

The Drone Debate: Transparency and Accountability

Drones for Social Good

 

 

Sarus and its parent organization, the Sentinel Project, have been advocating for and working towards practical deployments of unmanned aerial systems for five years.

Our team has conducted familiarization and flight operations in several locations within East Africa and work to develop new technological tools to expand the boundaries of UAS technology in development and humanitarian service.  Head over to the Sentinel Project site to see what we’ve been working on:

Humanitarian Drones: Perceptions vs. Reality in Kenya’s Tana Delta

Drones for Peace and Protection

Chasing Wind Part 2: The Potential of Drones for Peacebuilding

 

 

As advocates for and early adopters of humanitarian aerospace technologies, the Sarus team has been on the forefront of unmanned aerial system in civilian service.

We are constantly looking to partner with organizations and individuals who seem to implement UAS systems within their own countries and regions to advance the impact of these technologies.

If you would like to speak with us about training or partnerships please contact us.