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Drone rules

Remote ID in the European Union

Last reviewed: 2026-10-15

What is Remote ID? How the technology works: the standards, what a broadcast contains, and Bluetooth vs Wi-Fi transmission.

In the European Union, Remote ID is called Direct Remote Identification (DRI). The same rules apply in every EASA member state — the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — under Commission Regulations (EU) 2019/945 and 2019/947. National details for France, Switzerland and Norway have their own pages.

What the class labels mean

Drones built for the EU market carry a class label from C0 to C6, on the drone and on its packaging. It shows that the drone meets the EU product requirements for that class: above all a maximum take-off mass (MTOM, payload included) and a set of safety features.

Class Max. take-off mass Main requirements Category
C0 under 250 g top speed 19 m/s, height limited to 120 m open, A1
C1 under 900 g top speed 19 m/s, height limit, Direct Remote ID, geo-awareness open, A1
C2 under 4 kg height limit, low-speed mode of max. 3 m/s, Direct Remote ID, geo-awareness open, A2 or A3
C3 under 25 kg, under 3 m in size height limit, Direct Remote ID, geo-awareness open, A3
C4 under 25 kg no automatic flight modes apart from stabilisation, no Remote ID — mostly model aircraft open, A3
C5 under 25 kg, under 3 m in size as C3, plus low-speed mode of max. 5 m/s and flight termination specific, STS-01
C6 under 25 kg, under 3 m in size top speed 50 m/s, programmable flight path, containment, flight termination, Direct Remote ID, geo-awareness specific, STS-02

A C1 drone may also weigh more than 900 g if a collision with a person's head transfers less than 80 J. Drones without a class label — sold before 2024, or privately built — can still fly in the open category: under 250 g in A1, up to 25 kg in A3.

Which drones must broadcast it?

In the EU the trigger is the drone's class label, not a flat weight limit as in the US:

Situation Direct Remote ID
Drones with class label C1, C2, C3, C5 or C6 Built in by the manufacturer, must be switched on
Class C0 (under 250 g) and C4 Not required
Any drone flying in the specific category Required
Drones without a class label ("legacy" drones) in the open category Not required

Since 1 January 2024 these requirements are fully in force. Because the rule follows the class label, some drones under 250 g carry a C1 label and broadcast Remote ID too — while an older drone without any label may broadcast nothing at all.

Model aircraft count as drones under EU law, so the same table applies — but in practice few of them broadcast. C4 is the class label for model aircraft, and it needs no Remote ID; privately built and unlabelled models flying in the open category don't need it either. Most model flying happens in clubs and associations under an Article 16 authorisation from the national aviation authority, which sets its own conditions. Model aircraft at club fields are therefore typically exempt from Remote ID.

Building drones for the EU market? For a C1, C2, C3, C5 or C6 class label, a notified body has to check the drone, Direct Remote ID included. Our db151pcb Direct Remote ID module already has an EU type-examination certificate (ATN-CER-21550-0283-2025). It works stand-alone, so integration is quicker, and the notified body ALTER Technology can reuse its compliance documentation and gives a discount — see how it works on bluemark.io.

What does the broadcast contain?

Every EU DRI broadcast carries:

It is a one-way radio broadcast over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi — no internet, no central database. Anyone nearby with a suitable receiver can read it.

The operator registration number

Every EASA country issues the number in the same format, XXXxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xyz:

Because operators register where they live, the country code in a broadcast tells you where the operator is registered, not where the drone is flying.

U-space: network identification on top

U-space is the EU's traffic management system for drones, set by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/664 and applicable since 26 January 2023. Member states can designate parts of their airspace as U-space airspace, typically over cities or busy areas. Inside it, every drone flight must use a certified U-space service provider (USSP), which offers four mandatory services:

Network identification comes in addition to Direct Remote ID, not instead of it: a drone that must broadcast keeps doing so in U-space, and DroneScout sees that broadcast as anywhere else. The network data itself goes to the USSP and cannot be received by an app nearby — see the FAQ. Very few U-space airspaces have been designated so far, so most drone flights in the EU still happen outside U-space.

Pilot certificates

Next to the rules for the drone, the EU sets rules for the person flying it. The minimum age is 16 (some countries allow younger pilots), and certificates are issued by the national aviation authority and accepted in every EASA state. There are three certificates — A1/A3, A2 and STS — and the names don't line up with the class labels one to one. What you need depends on the drone's class label and where you fly it:

Class label Category and subcategory What the pilot needs
C0, or under 250 g without a label open, A1 No training; read the manufacturer's instructions
C1 open, A1 — no flying over uninvolved people A1/A3
C2 open, A2 — down to 30 m from uninvolved people, 5 m in low-speed mode A2
C2 open, A3 — far from people A1/A3
C3, C4, or up to 25 kg without a label open, A3 — far from people A1/A3
C5 specific, standard scenario STS-01 STS certificate + STS-01 practical training
C6 specific, standard scenario STS-02 STS certificate + STS-02 practical training
Any other drone or flight in the specific category operational authorisation Set by the authority in the authorisation

C5 and C6 drones belong to the specific category, so the pilot certificate is not enough on its own: the operator must also send a declaration to the national aviation authority before flying. STS-01 (C5) is a flight within sight (VLOS) up to 120 m over a controlled ground area, also in populated places. STS-02 (C6) is a flight beyond sight (BVLOS) up to 120 m over a controlled ground area in sparsely populated places, up to 1 km from the pilot, or 2 km with airspace observers. Flights that fit no standard scenario — a heavier drone, or one without a C5 or C6 label — need an operational authorisation from the authority, based on a risk assessment (SORA) or a predefined risk assessment (PDRA). The authority then also decides what training the pilot needs.

A Remote ID broadcast shows the operator registration number, not the pilot's certificate.

How to see it

DroneScout receives DRI broadcasts on Android and iPhone and shows each drone live on a map, with the fields above. It implements the European standard ASD-STAN EN 4709-002 and the US ASTM F3411 over all four transports (Bluetooth Legacy, Bluetooth Long Range S8, Wi-Fi Beacon and Wi-Fi NaN). Phones differ in which of those they can receive — see the FAQ for why an iPhone sees fewer drones, and how DroneScout Bridge fixes that.

Official sources