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Drone rules

Remote ID in the European Union

Last reviewed: 2026-10-07

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.

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.

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. In the open category:

Flights in the specific category, such as the standard scenarios STS-01 and STS-02, need more: a theory certificate plus practical training, or an operational authorisation from the authority. 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