_Regulation · Operational restriction_

# Switzerland drone (UAS) framework (FOCA; VLK, SR 748.941)

Canonical ID: `1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817`

- **Jurisdiction:** [Switzerland](/locations/switzerland.md) (id: `3aacc9dc-e1da-4677-babf-92021223d16f`)
- **Kind:** `operational_restriction`
- **Status (derived):** in_effect
- **Effective:** 2023-01-01

Switzerland's drone (UAS) regulatory framework, supervised by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA/BAZL). The DETEC Ordinance on Special Category Aircraft (VLK, SR 748.941) incorporates the EU drone rules (Regulations 2019/947 and 2019/945) into Swiss law, effective 1 January 2023, establishing the Open/Specific/Certified categories. This is the framework under which Matternet operated medical drone delivery for Swiss Post; those operations were suspended in August 2019 after a second crash (a parachute-tether failure near Zurich).

## Sources (4)

1. https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2022/802/en
2. https://www.bazl.admin.ch/en/flight-rules-drones
3. https://spectrum.ieee.org/swiss-post-suspends-drone-delivery-service-after-second-crash
4. https://www.post.ch/-/media/post/ueber-uns/dokumente/bericht-expertenrat-post-drohnen.pdf?sc_lang=en

## Status history

- **in_effect** · 2023-01-01 · editor:DEPLOY content-agent (Sprint 5c-1 EU/Europe regs)
    - Switzerland drone framework (VLK SR 748.941, incorporating EU 2019/947) effective 1 Jan 2023; FOCA-supervised. Matternet/Swiss Post ops suspended 2019.

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