Hungary sees need for own laws regulating drone use

Budapest, February 5 (MTI) – Addressing an international conference on the use of drone technologies in Budapest, head of Hungary’s data protection office said the country needed special and independent regulations.

Drones carry a new dimension when it comes to data protection, Attila Peterfalvi said, adding that legislation containing detailed regulations is in preparation and related recommendations had been drafted in November. He added that the inappropriate use of remotely operated aircraft is currently a crime in Hungary.

He told the conference that the use of drones poses data-handling and data-protection challenges. Unmanned aerial vehicles can penetrate the most private sphere of individuals and record images as well as carrying out surveillance and reconnaissance, Peteralvi said. Domestic regulation must separately define categories for the state, commercial and private uses of drones.

Under current regulations, drones can be operated only under a licence obtained from the national traffic control authority, Peterfalvi said, adding that an increasing number of people had been using drones as a hobby. He noted the prohibition on taking images with drones for private purposes. Protecting minors was especially important, he added.

He said “the mere presence” of drones may impact privacy as fear of obtrusion can change the behaviour of a private individual. It is easier to violate someone’s physical and psychological dignity with data recording equipment carried by drones, he added.

Peterfalvi further noted that using drones can have a negative impact on constitutional rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and religion as well as the prohibition of discrimination.

Current Hungarian legislation does not prohibit submitting in civil lawsuits images recorded with drones as evidence, but a decision on approving them falls within the judge’s competence, he said.

Giovanni Buttarelli, EU commissioner for data protection, said the use of drones needed regulation and he noted that this was lacking in most European Union member states. Before the market for drones fully takes off, data-protection rules must be worked out, he added.

Photo: Pixabay

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters