EESC going local and discussing civilian drones in the Netherlands

On 13 October 2014 a group of EESC Members directly involved with the Committee's opinion on RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft systems; or: civilian drones) met a group of 20 Dutch RAPS stakeholders to discuss how EU policy makers can better respond to the urgent call from Member States to swiftly regulate this innovative aviation segment with a potentially huge economic impact.

Main messages from this meeting:

Dutch Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), as well as other national stakeholders (police, fire brigade, academics etc.) call on the country's government and on the EU Commission to support swift and sound national and European legislation for the professional use of civilian drones.

While the recreational use of civilian drones by private persons is largely uncontrolled, companies that are putting the necessary safeguards for safety, data protection etc. in place are factually disadvantaged.

EESC rapporteur Jan Simons presented the opinion of the Committee, encouraged the Dutch stakeholders to participate in the ongoing public consultation of the European Commission and engaged to taking their messages to Brussels.