Rules history in the UK, the EU, Canada and Australia, one jurisdiction at a time.

Each jurisdiction below has its own section, and nothing in one section applies in another. Association rules (BMFA, FPV UK, MAAC, MAAA) are named as association rules, separate from the law. This is history; the rules in force on 30 October 2026 are on the law in the UK, the law in the EU, the law in Canada and the law in Australia, and the United States has its own page, US rules history.

United Kingdom

• 30 July 2018: the Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2018 (SI 2018/623), amending the Air Navigation Order 2016, barred small unmanned aircraft from flying above 400 feet and required permission to fly over or within 1 km of a protected aerodrome (explanatory note).
• 30 November 2019: under the same Order, operators of aircraft of 250 g or more needed a CAA certificate of registration, with the number shown on the aircraft, and remote pilots an acknowledgement of competency; the CAA was to accept applications no earlier than 1 October 2019. A further 2019 amendment of the Order, which CAP2320 names among the UK's drone law, was not read for this site.
• 31 December 2020: the UK began applying the EU-derived drone rules, Regulations 2019/945 and 2019/947 as retained in UK law, with Open, Specific and Certified categories. No CAA page dating the change directly was read: the date rests on search summaries, and the CAA's Drone Code (CAP2320, March 2026) confirms the retained regulations as the legal basis.
• 31 December 2020, an association authorisation: FPV UK said on 16 December 2020 that the CAA had issued it an Article 16 Operational Authorisation taking effect when the rules changed, letting members fly FPV without an observer in a sterile area such as a race site and as close as 30 m to uninvolved people. That is the association's own account. A December 2025 trade report says FPV UK received an eighth-issue authorisation for 2026, and the BMFA gives its own current authorisation as Issue 8, dated December 2025.
• 1 January 2026: revised rules took effect (CAA, 29 December 2025). The Flyer ID threshold fell from 250 g to 100 g; new aircraft placed on the UK market had to carry a UK class mark (UK0 to UK6); and Direct Remote ID began for class-marked UK1, UK2, UK3, UK5 and UK6 aircraft, UK5 and UK6 in the Specific category (CAP2320; CAA Remote ID page).
• 1 January 2028 (scheduled): Direct Remote ID is due to extend, after a two-year transition, to UK0 drones of 100 g or more with a camera, model aircraft such as UK4 unless exempted, and privately built and legacy drones of 100 g or more with a camera (CAA Remote ID page).

European Union

• 24 May 2019: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947, with Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/945, set up the open, specific and certified categories. This site read 2019/947 in its as-adopted text; it has been amended since.
• 4 June 2020: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/746 postponed the dates of application of 2019/947 by six months because of COVID-19, and moved the transitional deadline in its Article 20 from 1 July 2022 to 1 January 2023 (search summary of the legislation.gov.uk copy).
• 14 October 2020 (last update): EASA's FAQ 116511 said flying with goggles is allowed in the open category if an unmanned aircraft observer is alongside the pilot, citing Article 4(d) of 2019/947.
• 31 December 2020: EASA's FAQ 116446 (updated 13 October 2020) says 2019/947 applied from this date instead of 1 July 2020. Operator registration became mandatory and the specific category opened; drones without a class label could fly in a limited category until 1 January 2023.
• 1 January 2022: member states had to publish geographical zone data in a common digital format (FAQ 116446).
• 21 February 2022: EASA published its page on drone racing and FPV (updated 26 September 2022), setting 16 as the age to fly an FPV racing drone, subject to national exemptions.
• 1 January 2023: the transitional period ended and all open-category operations had to comply fully (FAQ 116446).
• 31 December 2023 and 1 January 2024: EASA's publication of 20 December 2023 says the transitional weight limits of 500 g (A1), 2 kg (A2) and 25 kg (A3) ended on 31 December 2023, and that from 1 January 2024 drones marked C1, C2 and C3 must fly with active remote identification.
• 25 June 2024: EASA's FAQ 140038 said FPV races with spectators belong in the specific category.

In the specific category, operations need the national aviation authority's authorisation or a standard-scenario declaration (EASA FAQ 140038); national variations were not researched.

Canada

• 21 December 2018 and 9 January 2019: Transport Canada's amendments to the Canadian Aviation Regulations for remotely piloted aircraft (SOR/2019-11) were registered on 21 December 2018 and published in Canada Gazette Part II on 9 January 2019. They covered small aircraft of 250 g to 25 kg in basic and advanced operations.
• 1 June 2019: the main operating provisions came into force. As published, section 901.38 prohibited FPV operation unless a visual observer performed detect-and-avoid beyond the device's field of view at all times. The accompanying impact statement said MAAC members at MAAC fields or sanctioned events would receive an exemption from certain provisions.
• 1 June 2019, the exemption: Transport Canada exemption NCR-011-2019, signed 17 May 2019, exempted the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada (MAAC) and its members in good standing from Part IX for models of 250 g to 35 kg flown under MAAC's safety guidelines. The copy read is on Transport Canada's legacy site, so whether it is still in force is unconfirmed.
• 1 April 2025: sections 900.07 and 900.08 began to apply to all remotely piloted aircraft including those under 250 g, and new paragraph 903.01(b) required a Special Flight Operations Certificate to fly one under 250 g at an advertised event (Transport Canada AIM, 19 March 2026).
• 2026, proposed only: Notice of Proposed Amendment NPA 2026-005 proposes Remote ID for aircraft of 250 g to 150 kg, including FPV drones and model aircraft; Transport Canada anticipates full implementation for pilots in 2030 (information-session summary, last modified 14 August 2026). Remote ID in Canada is at the proposal stage only; no final rule was found.

Australia

CASA's own website could not be reached for this site's research, so this section rests on a law-firm summary, CASA's magazine, a CASA instrument hosted by the MAAA, and the Federal Register of Legislation.

• 29 September 2016: the Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment (Part 101) Regulation 2016 commenced and created an "excluded" category for very small remotely piloted aircraft under 2 kg that may be flown without a remote pilot licence or operator's certificate, subject to conditions (Conventus Law, 11 October 2016; secondary and unconfirmed against CASA).
• 20 October 2017: CASA's magazine Flight Safety Australia reported the rule that drones must not be flown over or within 30 m of other people unless the person is essential to controlling or navigating the drone. Whether that wording is current is unconfirmed.
• 19 August 2019, an association policy: the MAAA revised its FPV policy, MOP066, to version D.
• 2019 to 2022, registration: an AIN report matching CASA's 2019 consultation said CASA proposed registering recreational drones over 250 g, excluding flights at CASA-approved model airfields and indoor flights. A search summary of a later CASA consultation says the recreational start date was amended to 1 July 2022; whether that start happened is unconfirmed.
• 1 September 2022: CASA instrument CASA.RPAS.0572, made on 26 August 2022, commenced. It approves MAAA affiliate members and listed visitor classes to fly beyond their own visual line of sight using first-person view, only at registered MAAA club fields and CASA-approved MAAA events and under MOP066 (version D), and is repealed at the end of August 2027.
• 21 October 2024: CASA's explanatory statement for instrument EX64/24 described the visual line of sight rule (CASR 101.073) and the 30 m rule (CASR 101.245) as they stood.
• Remote ID: search summaries show only a government consultation; no rule or start date was found.