News

Hogan Lovells Launches Unmanned Aircraft Systems Group

23 October 2014

As commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) begins to take flight, the Hogan Lovells Privacy and Information Management practice has partnered with colleagues across the firm to respond to the needs of manufacturers and operators of UAS. The launch of the group comes at a time when government activity to regulate UAS is creating both new opportunities and risks in the marketplace.

In the last few weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration granted permission to six aerial photo and video production companies to deploy UAS in the national airspace and is considering numerous other petitions. At the same time, the White House has confirmed that an interagency review of domestic UAS use is underway.

Regulatory activity also has picked up in the United Kingdom (UK). Last week, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office released privacy compliance guidance for operators of surveillance systems, including unmanned aerial systems, in the UK.

For more information about the Hogan Lovells UAS group, including its multidisciplinary approach, click here. Also, click here for an article by the Hogan Lovells privacy team on the privacy risks and future regulatory scenarios for UAS in the United States and here for the UK Information Commissioner’s surveillance report.

Authored by the HL Chronicle of Data Protection Team