The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will enact laws to have stricter regulations on the sale and operation of drones, according to a statement by the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) [official website] Monday. The regulations will focus on [Reuters report] imports, sales, and performance and will also address separate regulations for heavier drones and pilotless aircraft. The GCAA is currently developing a process [Arabian Aerospace report] in Abu Dhabi to link drone approval systems so that private drone users can have their devices approved more quickly. The GCAA hopes this will make the air space safer. The agency currently operates an app that allows users to learn of current regulations [materials] and drone no-fly zones, but there have still been incidents of airport closures because of the unmanned vehicles. The GCAA has not yet set a date for the new regulations.

The use of drones [JURIST backgrounder] is controversial in both the international arena and in domestic circles. In April Human Rights Watch issued a report stating that fully autonomous weapons, as opposed to the current remote-controlled drone weapons, must be internationally prohibited [JURIST report]. Also in April a US appeals court upheld a district court’s dismissal of a Freedom of Information Act request for information about the US government’s use of drones for “targeted killings.” In November the Second Circuit ruled that the US government may keep secret [JURIST report] memoranda related to the legal justification for the use of drones for targeted killings of those in other countries believed to be involved in terrorism.