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Drone laws in China

Last verified 27 October 2026 against Civil Aviation Administration of China. Drone law changes fast — often twice a year. Every fact below links to the official source it came from. Verify with the regulator before you fly.

This page covers the rules issued by Civil Aviation Administration of China and applying in mainland China, under the national regime administered by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the national air traffic management authorities. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have their own, separate drone rules and are not covered by this page. .

Mainland China regulates drones through the Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aircraft, in force since 1 January 2024, and the CAAC's CCAR-92 operating rules. Aircraft are sorted into five classes — micro, light, small, medium and large — and every civil drone must be registered in its owner's real name, with no weight threshold. Airspace above 120 m and around airports, borders, military sites and critical infrastructure is controlled and needs prior approval. Since 1 May 2026 new drones must be registered before they can be activated, and a drone with no operational-identification sending function may not be flown at all. The revised Civil Aviation Law, in force since 1 July 2026, writes drones into the statute but leaves those thresholds unchanged. Beijing has its own, much stricter municipal rules: the whole city is controlled airspace, and from 15 November 2026 owning or storing a drone anywhere in Beijing is prohibited. The Beijing rules apply only in Beijing.

At a glance

Registration from
Every civil drone, whatever its weight — sub-250 g models included. The owner registers in their real name on the CAAC's national platform and receives a registration mark. Since 1 May 2026 newly made drones cannot be activated until they are registered; drones already in use have a 12-month transition. Flying toys, model aircraft and indoor flight fall outside the scheme. since source
Pilot credential
No licence for micro (under 250 g) or light (up to 4 kg empty, 7 kg take-off) drones, but flying a light drone in controlled airspace requires a CAAC theory-training certificate. Small, medium and large drones need a CAAC operator licence: full legal capacity, CAAC-assessed training, a clean medical and drug record, and no conviction for specified intentional offences in the past five years. Minors are limited to micro (and, depending on legal capacity, light) drones with an adult supervising on site. since source
Max altitude
120 m above ground. All airspace above 120 m true height is controlled airspace and needs prior approval. Micro drones are limited by definition to 50 m. since source
Remote ID
Mandatory. Every drone except micro must report identification data to the national unmanned aircraft supervision platform in flight, and micro, light and small drones must also broadcast identification automatically. Since 1 May 2026 a mandatory national standard, GB 46750-2025, has set the technical requirements and barred any civil drone that has no operational-identification sending function at all from flying. Drones that can already send broadcast or network identification but do not meet the standard's specified clauses may fly until 1 November 2026, by which date manufacturers must fit a module giving both broadcast and network identification; aircraft fitted with such a module then have 36 months from 1 May 2026 to comply in full. Drones made before 2024 that cannot report automatically may fly only with a flight approval. The standard does not apply to large drones flown only in civil-aviation controlled airspace with the required communication, navigation and surveillance capability, or to indoor-only aircraft. since source
BVLOS
Permitted with the right licence: a small or medium operator licence with a BVLOS rating, or a large-drone licence. Relay flight over a cellular network or the internet always needs a flight approval, even in airspace otherwise open to small drones. since source
Can a visitor fly?
Unconfirmed. Unconfirmed. The national rules set no nationality exemption from real-name registration, but no official source we could verify explains how a short-term foreign visitor registers or activates a drone. Surveying and mapping flights by foreign nationals or with foreign drones are prohibited, with confiscation, fines of CNY 100,000–500,000 (up to CNY 1 million in serious cases) and possible expulsion. Beijing is off-limits: bringing a drone into the city, even in transit, is prohibited. source
Where you may not fly
Controlled airspace covers everything above 120 m; prohibited and restricted areas; and the airspace over and around airports, border zones, military and other classified sites, nuclear and hazardous-materials sites, power stations and substations, fuel stations, water works, transport hubs, ports, expressways, electrified railways, radar and satellite stations, and major heritage sites. Temporary controlled airspace can be declared at 24 hours' notice (30 minutes in emergencies). Flying there needs air traffic management approval, requested by 12:00 the day before. Flying over crowds always needs approval. Micro, light and small drones may fly outside controlled airspace without applying. In Beijing, the whole municipality has been controlled airspace since 1 May 2026, and all drone flight there is prohibited from 15 November 2026. source
Penalties
Flying an unregistered drone: an order to correct and a fine of up to CNY 200, or CNY 2,000–20,000 in serious cases. Flying without a required operator licence: CNY 5,000–50,000, or CNY 10,000–100,000 in serious cases. Flying a micro, light or small drone in controlled airspace without approval: police order the flight stopped and may fine up to CNY 500; in serious cases the drone is confiscated and the fine is CNY 1,000–10,000. Commercial operation without an operating certificate: CNY 50,000–500,000. Separately, since 1 January 2026 the revised Public Security Administration Punishments Law has made flying a civil drone in breach of airspace management rules an offence carrying 5 to 10 days' administrative detention where the case is serious, rising to 10 to 15 days if the flight illegally crosses the national or border line. Beijing sets its own penalties, including confiscation. since source

Can a visitor fly?

Unconfirmed. The national rules set no nationality exemption from real-name registration, but no official source we could verify explains how a short-term foreign visitor registers or activates a drone. Surveying and mapping flights by foreign nationals or with foreign drones are prohibited, with confiscation, fines of CNY 100,000–500,000 (up to CNY 1 million in serious cases) and possible expulsion. Beijing is off-limits: bringing a drone into the city, even in transit, is prohibited.

Policy timeline

  1. Pending

    Beijing adopts citywide ban on flying, owning and storing drones — in force 15 November 2026

    Not law. This has been proposed or is under review. There is no compliance obligation until it is published.

    Beijing's municipal legislature revised the Beijing Regulations on the Management of Unmanned Aircraft. From 15 November 2026 all drone flight in Beijing is prohibited, as are possessing or storing drones or their core components anywhere in the city, bringing them into the city, and selling or renting them to anyone in Beijing. Units with approved special needs (emergency response, major events, teaching and research, manufacturing, agriculture and forestry) are exempt after a police security assessment. Existing drones must be moved out of the city before 15 November. The city offers police-verified individual owners a subsidised buyback (30% of the sale price, up to CNY 3,000 per drone, until 31 October; 15%, up to CNY 1,500, from 1 to 14 November), scrapping (CNY 200, then CNY 100), or free EMS shipping to an address outside Beijing. Unapproved flight carries confiscation and a CNY 1,000–10,000 fine; unlawful possession or storage carries confiscation and a fine of CNY 500–5,000 for individuals or CNY 5,000–50,000 for organisations. This is a municipal rule and applies only in Beijing.

    Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government · Beijing Regulations on the Management of Unmanned Aircraft, revised 11 September 2026, Arts. 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12 · verified 27 October 2026

  2. In force

    Revised Civil Aviation Law brings drones into the statute

    The comprehensively revised Civil Aviation Law took effect, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress having adopted it on 27 December 2025. It runs to 16 chapters and 262 articles and writes unmanned aircraft into the statute for the first time. Two provisions are drone-specific: anyone engaged in the design, production, import, maintenance or flight of civil unmanned aircraft must apply to the civil aviation authority under the State Council for an airworthiness permit in accordance with state rules, except where those rules dispense with one; and an organisation producing civil unmanned aircraft must assign each aircraft it makes a unique product identification code. Both are framed as statutory backing for rules set elsewhere — the exemptions, thresholds and procedures that decide what an individual flyer must do still come from the Interim Regulations and CCAR-92, which are unchanged. Nothing in the revision alters the registration threshold, the altitude limit or the licence tiers.

    Source: State Council of China (government portal) · Report on the adoption of the revised Civil Aviation Law of the People's Republic of China · published 27 December 2025 · verified 27 October 2026

  3. In force

    Beijing makes the whole city controlled airspace and bans drone sales

    Beijing's first drone regulation, adopted on 27 March 2026, made the entire municipality controlled airspace, so every outdoor flight needs prior approval. It banned selling or renting drones and core components to anyone in Beijing, and bringing them into the city, except by owners of existing drones that had completed real-name registration and a police information check. Existing owners had to register and activate their drones by 30 April 2026 and complete the police check within three months. New storage sites were banned inside the Sixth Ring Road; more than three drones or ten core components at one address counted as a storage site. This is a municipal rule and applies only in Beijing. The 15 November 2026 revision replaces it.

    Source: Xinhua · Xinhua report on the adoption of the Beijing Regulations on the Management of Unmanned Aircraft · published 27 March 2026 · verified 27 October 2026

  4. In force

    National standard requires registration before a drone can be activated

    A mandatory national standard, Requirements for Real-Name Registration and Activation of Civil Unmanned Aircraft, took effect. It applies to every civil drone flown outdoors in China, including self-built drones and products sold as toys or models whose performance reaches civil-drone level. A drone cannot fly until its owner has registered it and the system has confirmed activation, and it must be deactivated and deregistered when it is sold or scrapped. New drones must comply from 1 May 2026. Drones already sold and in use have a 12-month transition, after which drones that do not meet the requirements may no longer be flown.

    Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China · CAAC explanatory note on the mandatory national standard GB 46761-2025 for real-name registration and activation · published 21 April 2026 · verified 27 October 2026

  5. In force

    National standard sets the technical requirements for drone identification

    A second mandatory national standard, GB 46750-2025 Specification for civil unmanned aircraft system operational identification, took effect alongside the real-name registration standard. Issued on 31 October 2025 by the market regulator and the standardisation administration, with the CAAC as the competent department, it requires a civil drone to send its identity, position, speed and status throughout a flight, and sets detailed requirements for the sending end, the communication link and the receiving and processing systems. Identification covers two modes — broadcast, read by receivers nearby, and network, sent to a designated system over a network. The CAAC states the reported data contains no personal information such as name, telephone number or address. The standard does not apply to large drones flown only in civil-aviation controlled airspace that already carry the communication, navigation and surveillance capability that airspace requires, nor to aircraft flown only indoors. It is staged: from 1 May 2026 a drone with no operational-identification sending function at all may not operate; until 1 November 2026 a drone that can send broadcast or network identification but does not meet the standard's specified clauses may still operate, and within that period manufacturers must fit a module giving it both modes; aircraft fitted with such a module have 36 months from 1 May 2026 before full compliance is required. Manufacturers must publish a firmware upgrade plan where an aircraft can be upgraded that way and a hardware upgrade plan where it cannot.

    Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China · CAAC explanatory note on the mandatory national standard GB 46750-2025 · published 20 January 2026 · verified 27 October 2026

  6. In force

    Unauthorised drone flight becomes a detainable public-security offence

    The revised Public Security Administration Punishments Law took effect. Article 46 makes it an offence to fly a civil unmanned aircraft or aviation sports equipment, or to release an unmanned free balloon, tethered balloon or similar airborne object, in breach of the law and regulations on flight airspace management: where the case is serious the penalty is 5 to 10 days' administrative detention. Where the flight or release illegally crosses the national or border line the penalty is 10 to 15 days' detention. This is detention imposed by the police, and it sits on top of the fines the Interim Regulations already carry rather than replacing them. The law was revised on 27 June 2025 by the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress and Article 144 sets its commencement at 1 January 2026.

    Source: State Administration for Market Regulation (government information disclosure) · Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China, Arts. 46 and 144 · published 27 June 2025 · verified 27 October 2026

  7. Pending

    Unique product identification code standard published — in force 1 January 2027

    Not law. This has been proposed or is under review. There is no compliance obligation until it is published.

    A mandatory national standard, GB 46860-2025 Unique product identification code for civil unmanned aircraft, was issued on 2 December 2025 and takes effect on 1 January 2027. The national standards register lists it as not yet in force, with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as the competent department. It is the implementing standard for the requirement in the revised Civil Aviation Law that a producer of civil unmanned aircraft assign each aircraft it makes a unique product identification code. The obligation falls on manufacturers, not on flyers, and we have not verified what it will mean for aircraft already in use.

    Source: State Administration for Market Regulation / Standardization Administration of China · GB 46860-2025, national standards register entry · published 2 December 2025 · verified 27 October 2026

  8. In force

    CAAC operating rules for civil drones (CCAR-92) take effect

    The CAAC's Rules on the Operational Safety Management of Civil Unmanned Aircraft (CCAR-92) took effect on publication. They require every civil drone flying in China to be registered in its owner's real name on the CAAC's national platform. They require manufacturers to build drones that can only be activated after registration. They also set out the operator licence system, including the BVLOS rating.

    Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China · Ministry of Transport Order No. 1 of 2024 (CCAR-92) · published 1 January 2024 · verified 27 October 2026

  9. In force

    Interim Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aircraft take effect

    The first national regulations on drone flight, issued by the State Council and the Central Military Commission, took effect. They sort drones into micro, light, small, medium and large classes, with micro meaning under 0.25 kg empty weight, at most 50 m high and at most 40 km/h. They require real-name registration and set operator licences for small and larger drones. They define controlled airspace, including everything above 120 m, which needs approval requested by 12:00 the day before, and let micro, light and small drones fly without applying outside it. They also require drones to report and broadcast identification data.

    Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China · State Council and Central Military Commission Decree No. 761, signed 31 May 2023 · published 28 June 2023 · verified 27 October 2026

Official sources

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Last verified · next review due 26 November 2026 · this is not legal advice; ListDrone is an information site, not a law firm or an aviation authority · found an error? tell us.