New drone regulations are in effect. Is the so - called "drone export ban" that the industry is worried about coming?

Author | Zhang Ziyi

Editor | Yuan Silai

After a period of spectacular growth, the drone industry may enter an adjustment period. Some even believe that "the maritime ban in the era of great navigation" is about to fall.

The pessimism stems from the promulgation of new regulations in the drone industry. Starting from January 1, 2026, China will officially implement the newly revised "Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Security Administration Penalties", which includes "unauthorized flights" in management. In addition to fines, those with serious circumstances will face public security penalties or even criminal liability.

At the same time, two standards, "Requirements for Real - name Registration and Activation of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" (GB 46761—2025) and "Specification for Operational Identification of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems" (GB 46750—2025), will also be officially implemented on May 1, 2026. All civil drones need to complete real - name registration and cannot be capable of flight before activation and after deactivation.

Before flying, drone pilots need to report in advance when flying in the core control airspace. After take - off, drones weighing 250 grams and above must also conduct safety management and location reporting.

It is worth noting that the new regulations establish the principle of "classified management": although micro and light drones are exempt from holding a pilot's license in the suitable flight airspace, users still need to establish an awareness of "full - process compliance". They should not only focus on flight parameters but also actively avoid no - fly zones and comply with height limits.

These rules seem to be raising the usage threshold and affecting more users' participation, which once caused panic in the industry. Nike, a drone pilot, told Hard Krypton that after the new regulations were finalized, the drone pilot industry is experiencing great turmoil. Some pilots who did not register their drones with real names were fined and their drones were confiscated. This also makes client companies consider the issue of new regulations, and they no longer give priority to hiring pilots for shooting and other needs. The market demand for pilots has dropped precipitously.

Drones are an important part of the low - altitude economy. In 2025, the low - altitude economy was written into the "Government Work Report" and was included in the "15th Five - Year Plan" for the first time. It was clearly listed as one of the country's strategic emerging industries and will be cultivated and strengthened.

Actually, in 2023, the State Council and the Central Military Commission announced the "Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", which already stipulated real - name system and advance reporting at that time. The new regulations are actually not a major overhaul but some supplements.

However, the low - altitude area covers the area below 1000 meters, and there are still difficulties in fuzzy airspace management. Therefore, along with the "15th Five - Year Plan", more detailed management policies have been successively introduced to achieve classified and graded management in the low - altitude range. The new drone regulations may also be the product of this thinking.

From this perspective, the industry may not need to be overly panicked. The status of the "low - altitude economy" is beyond doubt, and the purpose of the policy is to promote the more orderly development of the industry. Of course, the industry will have short - term concerns and pains and needs more help to get through this transition period.

01 Great Turmoil in the Drone Pilot Industry

For the drone pilot industry, the impact of the new regulations is direct.

After years of development in the drone industry, there has been a demand for drone pilots in many fields. For example, commercial aerial photography, agricultural plant protection, power line inspection, mapping, and emergency rescue.

Relevant data shows that as of the end of 2024, the number of people holding drone pilot licenses issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) was approximately 273,000. And the number of real - name registered drones in the entire drone industry has exceeded 2.17 million.

This also means that the vast majority of registered drones (mainly aerial photography entertainment drones) are operated by unlicensed pilots or within the scope of legal exemptions, and the penetration rate of professional pilots is not high.

It is worth noting that the "Flight Management Regulations" do not require all pilots to obtain a pilot's license. Micro (<250g) and light (<4kg) aerial photography drones, which dominate the market, enjoy the 'exemption from license' in the suitable flight airspace.

Therefore, for the vast majority of ordinary players who use drones to record their lives, "real - name registration" is a mandatory obligation, but "obtaining a license" is not a necessary option.

In addition, according to the supporting "Rules for the Operational Safety Management of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles", the new regulations also provide more detailed legal guidance on the airspace and altitude that drones can use.

In the core airspace demarcation, the regulations implement graded height limits based on aircraft performance: the upper limits of the suitable flight heights for micro drones (≤250 grams) and light drones (≤4 kilograms) are strictly locked at 50 meters and 120 meters above ground level respectively.

This height indicator is anchored to the "true distance from the ground surface", which means that if a pilot launches a light drone from the top of a 100 - meter - high building, its legal climbing space is only 20 meters.

For any flight mission involving the control airspace, it must be reported in advance through the Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Comprehensive Management Platform (UOM). This "true height" limit aims to build a physical safety buffer zone between the minimum flight height of civil aviation flights (300 meters) and low - altitude aircraft to avoid the risk of mid - air collisions from the system design.

In Nike's view, the current division of test flight areas and control areas on the UOM platform is not perfect enough. In some places, drones can fly near airports but are not allowed to fly in the wilderness. Fortunately, local governments have been actively promoting small policies that comply with local airspace management, and the efficiency of such management processes and procedure approvals may be improved in the future.

What Nike is worried about is whether each region will have its own airspace regulations in the future, whether the role of the UOM platform will be affected by local regulations, and whether there will be situations where some places support the regulations of the UOM while others do not. And drone pilots are a mobile group, and it will obviously be very difficult for them to adapt to new regulations in each place.

02 The Matthew Effect in the Drone Industry

Since the new regulations were just finalized, there are still many uncertainties and areas that need to be gradually promoted and implemented.

For drone companies, it may be a reshuffle where the strong get stronger.

The new regulations require that all drones must have the "operational identification" function (i.e., Remote ID), and drones that are not activated and registered will not be able to take off (hardware locked).

In the past, if manufacturers of cheap toy drones want to add a dedicated identification module and registration locking program to their products, not only will their Bill of Materials (BOM) cost increase significantly, but the companies also need to have software development and back - end docking capabilities. Manufacturers without such technical capabilities may have to leave the market.

Understanding and keeping up with laws and regulations is also a major threshold for small and medium - sized drone manufacturers.

An insider in the drone industry told Hard Krypton: "Small companies are relatively weak in terms of technology, cost, and the ability to interpret regulations. Without hiring a dedicated regulatory team to study policies, it is difficult for them to figure things out. Their functions are usually just aerial photography, but their consumer groups are looking for lower - priced or more restricted consumer - grade scenarios. The risks will be passed on to users, and whether users are still willing to use their products is a new problem."

In the view of the above - mentioned person, currently, relatively large - scale or more professional drone companies in the market, such as DJI and Yingling, attach great importance to regulations and have dedicated teams to study the rules. Their products already come with functions such as "operational identification", so the impact on their existing products is not significant.

Taking DJI, the industry leader, as an example, its consumer - grade drones cover all user needs through the Mavic series (flagship professional), Air series (mid - end advanced), and Mini series (entry - level popular).

The research of China Galaxy Securities Research Institute found that the DJI Mini series is the sales pillar. Its core advantage is that it weighs less than 249 grams and does not need to be registered in most regions of the world, which greatly reduces the usage threshold. This is the core driving force for its successful popularization as a mass consumer electronic product. Both the Air series and the Mavic series do not exceed 4 kg, fully covering the aerial photography needs of the mid - end and high - end markets.

In the new drone regulations, drones below 250 grams are subject to the least restrictions and only need real - name registration and reporting on the UOM platform.

However, some insiders in the drone industry said that currently, it is impossible to handle the process of complying with all local new regulations. Many users will ask on the APP background or after - sales platform how to fly legally and reasonably. And local new regulations are likely to change every day, which will be a very big challenge for manufacturers to keep up with in a timely manner.

Over the years, the Chinese drone industry has established an absolute position in the world. While the global consumer - grade drone market continues to grow, it also faces an increasingly perfect and strict regulatory environment. The core of regulation lies in balancing the relationship between technological innovation, industrial development, public safety, and airspace order.

Looking back at China's regulations on the drone industry in the past decade, they have been continuously improved through exploration. The path of standardizing emerging technologies is inevitably accompanied by pains and reshaping.

The industry hopes that with the iteration of the UOM platform and the refinement of local airspace policies, "compliance" will no longer be a constraint. And this implementation and adjustment need time and more discussions to achieve a balance, so that the "low - altitude economy" and the industry can develop more prosperously.