The UAE will stop importing drones that fail to the match the new specifications for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a senior Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) official has said.

In May, ESMA approved the new regulatory standards that included a surveillance system for detecting unmanned aerial vehicles.

“Our new standards will come into effect from mid-September following which all drones will need to have a unique serial number. Therefore, no drones will be allowed to enter the country that don’t meet our specification,” Essa Al Hashmi, director of conformity department, ESMA, told Arabian Business.

“Under the new standards, there will be no video or voice recording facility for leisure and commercial drones, while a system to track their geographical location will be required.

“The product will not be allowed … in the market unless it has a certificate of adherence to specification released by us and our stakeholders, such as the UAE Ministry Interior, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, and the General Civil Aviation Authority.”