Drones in your event permit: how do you word it?

Almost every large event now has a sentence about drones in its permit. Usually something like: the use of unmanned aircraft above the event site is not permitted. That sentence is legally fine and operationally often worthless, because nobody can establish when it has been broken.

Where a clause usually fails

• The area is not bounded. "Above the site" leaves open whether the strip beside the fence counts, and that is exactly where the pilots stand.
• There is no altitude. A drone at 120 metres is a different matter from one at 15 metres above people’s heads.
• No exception is arranged for the photographer the organiser hired, so the clause is stretched the first time it is applied.
• It does not say who establishes a breach and who enforces. Without that agreement it turns out to be nobody.

What belongs in it

1. A bounded area, preferably with coordinates or a map annex, including the fringe where a pilot might stand.
2. An altitude below which the ban applies in any case.
3. The period, with date and time window, including build-up and breakdown if you want those covered.
4. An explicit exception for flights the organiser has authorised, with the requirement that those aircraft are registered by serial number in advance.
5. Who establishes a breach, who approaches the pilot and who is called when that does not work.
6. The agreement that observations are recorded and shared with the municipality afterwards.

The point organisers forget

A ban is only enforceable if you can show it was broken and by whom. For that you need the serial number, the time, the altitude and the pilot’s position. Those four are exactly what sits in the Remote ID signal almost every drone has broadcast since 2024. Read what is in that signal.

So write into the clause that detection is in place and that observations are recorded. That cuts both ways: it makes enforcement possible and it leaves you with evidence afterwards rather than an impression.

An example wording

Flights with unmanned aircraft are not permitted within the area marked in annex A, during build-up, breakdown and opening hours, up to an altitude of 150 metres. Flights authorised in writing by the organiser in advance, and whose serial number has been registered in advance, are excepted. The organiser shall provide for detection of unmanned aircraft within this area, shall record observations and shall make these available to the municipality afterwards.

What to agree with the municipality

• Whether the safety region knows the clause and can work with it.
• Who is called when approaching the pilot does not work, and on which number.
• Whether the police get access to the picture during the event, and if so for how long.
• In what form you deliver the observations afterwards.

At the events we covered in 2026 that last agreement was valued most: a daily export with times and positions, which let the municipality base the following year’s policy on something. See the cases or request a proposal.