Recently, the Department of Transport under the Civil Aviation Administration ("CAAC") has drafted the Interim Administrative Measures for the Use of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for Profit-oriented Flight Activities (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") to solicit comments from entities concerned before August 31, 2017.
The Draft for Comment, comprised of 20 articles, shall apply to business activities that are conducted within the territory of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions) with UAVs for certain operations, such as aerial spraying, aerial video-shooting, aerophotography, and aerobatic flights, and the training to prospective UAV operators. The Draft for Comment clearly states that applying UAVs to profit-seeking flight activities requires the obtaining of a business permit. To obtain such business permit for UAV-related activities, an applicant should meet four requirements, such as "where the subject of these business activities should be a corporate legal person, with its legal representative a citizen of Chinese nationality". An UVA Business Permit remains valid permanently. Furthermore, the Draft for Comment stipulates that permit holders should report information about relevant operations through a designated system within 72 hours once relevant flight activities have come to an end.