New drone regulations in Sweden from February 2018

[Mimoid]

Finally the authorities in Sweden have come to their senses and lifted the current total ban for camera-equipped drones. So from the first of February 2018, we are allowed to fly our Phantoms again without risking fines or even imprisonment. The new rules are actually very lenient and apply for all drones with a max weight less than 7 kg:

1. Drones need to be marked with the owner's name and contact information
2. Only flying within visual range (max ~500 meter distance) is allowed
3. Max flight altitude is 120 meters AGL
4. Only flying during daytime is allowed
5. Within an aerodrome Control Zone, the max altitude is 50 meters AGL (near some military aerodromes only 10 meters)
6. Keep a reasonable distance from people and animals to avoid unnecessary disturbance
7. Taking discriminating pictures is strictly forbidden
8. Spreading aerial photos without permission is not allowed
9. No flying closer than 5 km from aerodrome runways without explicit permission
10. No flying above crime or accident scenes
11. No flying in restricted air space (around power plants, prisons, military areas, Swedish Royal palaces etc)

Most of these rules are actually common sense and should be reasonably easy to follow.

 

[Jayfdee]

I agree those rules look very sensible and easy to comply, you have a big country with plenty of space to explore and fly.
Not sure about "Spreading aerial pictures without permission", does that mean no youtube, vimeo etc.

 

[Mimoid]

Not sure about "Spreading aerial pictures without permission", does that mean no youtube, vimeo etc.

Yes, that's right. Public spreading of aerial pictures, films etc, from manned or unmanned aircraft in Swedish airspace requires a special permit from the government agency called Lantmäteriet, the Swedish land registration authority. It has been like this since years back, so this is nothing new. The purpose of this regulation is to avoid any harm to be done to the Swedish Total Defense, so pretty aerial footage of sunsets above lakes and waterfalls to be posted on FB are usually good. Aerial closeups of nuclear plants and military radar facilities... not so much.