Written evidence submitted by Kent academic Dr Alan Mckenna has been quoted within a House of Lords report on the civilian use of drones.<\/p>\n
The report, Civilian Use of Drones in the EU<\/a>, was prepared by the European Union Committee and published on 5 March.<\/p>\n Dr McKenna, an Associate Lecturer in Law at Kent Law School, submitted written evidence<\/a> about the civil use of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) in the EU in September. His evidence was subsequently quoted a number of times within the final report.<\/p>\n Dr McKenna was quoted as recommending that \u2018all small RPAS commercial pilots should be required to undertake training to obtain a licence.\u2019\u00a0 He was further quoted saying that there should be a ‘requisite standard recognised across Europe, but that there should be adequate competition amongst such certification providers’.<\/p>\n In respect of concerns about the capacity of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to regulate the increasing number of RPAS, Dr McKenna was quoted as being in agreement with both ARPAS-UK and the British Model Flying Association, that ‘they did not think the CAA had the human resources necessary to enforce the regulations for RPAS use.’<\/p>\n Dr McKenna will attend the House of Lords later this week, to\u00a0discuss the report\u00a0in more detail\u00a0in a seminar with fellow\u00a0evidence contributors.<\/p>\n Dr McKenna\u2019s research interests include the information society, communication law, information law, media, human rights, information technology law, international commercial law, data protection, privacy and asbestos-related issues.<\/p>\n For further details of Dr McKenna’s research interests and publications, visit his staff profile page<\/a>.<\/p>\n