U-Space – Civil Liability for damages caused by Unmanned Aircraft

Abstract

The global drone market has been showing steady growth year by year. This article will analyze existing regulations and materials on UAV operations in U-Space, as well the infrastructure concept of U-Space and its economic aspects, as the system aims to ensure the safe, fast and effective development of services relying on UAVs equipped with new technologies, the foundation of which is a safe, traffic management system (ultimately automatic). The goal of this article is to showcase the possible entities liable for damage caused by a drone flying in U-Space airspace and demonstrate the PansaUTM system – the backbone of PANSA’s U-Space. The method of study comprises a content analysis of existing legislations. The current doctrine were confronted with existing regulations, documents and materials. It is too early to make an assessment of existing regulations concerning U-Space. However, the study makes it clear that, taking into account the complexity of the concept itself and its substantial impact on the aviation industry and beyond, the biggest challenges for national (or EU) legislators is the creation of standards for U-Space service provision and the identification of entities responsible for damages caused by UAVs used in it. The study shows that U-space concept requires much more involvement of the legislator and stakeholders to ensure the safety of airspace users, people and infrastructure on the ground. Moreover, the article proposes a solution for compensation for damages caused to third parties in U-Space.