{"id":"1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817","slug":"switzerland-drone-framework","kind":"operational_restriction","headline":"Switzerland drone (UAS) framework (FOCA; VLK, SR 748.941)","summary":"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).","locationId":"3aacc9dc-e1da-4677-babf-92021223d16f","effectiveAt":"2023-01-01T12:00:00.000Z","expiresAt":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","formFactors":["aerial"],"aliases":["Switzerland drone framework","FOCA UAS rules","VLK SR 748.941","BAZL drones"],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.234Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.234Z","location":{"id":"3aacc9dc-e1da-4677-babf-92021223d16f","name":"Switzerland","slug":"switzerland","kind":"country","parentLocationId":null,"lat":null,"lng":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","aliases":["CH"],"collisionRisk":"high","reviewNote":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-31T04:22:21.889Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-31T04:22:21.889Z"},"derived":{"status":"in_effect"},"sources":[{"id":"9c602fc3-93a4-44bd-86d5-5f5a735e4246","regulationId":"1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817","url":"https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2022/802/en","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"DETEC Ordinance on Special Category Aircraft (VLK, SR 748.941) - official","sourceName":"Fedlex (Swiss official)","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.772Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.772Z"},{"id":"ec0402cb-ff4a-4932-a0e3-838bbf4bbdf5","regulationId":"1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817","url":"https://www.bazl.admin.ch/en/flight-rules-drones","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"FOCA/BAZL - flight rules for drones","sourceName":"Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (official)","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.851Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.851Z"},{"id":"9adb8abb-70b6-46d4-8c42-c435c88885b7","regulationId":"1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817","url":"https://spectrum.ieee.org/swiss-post-suspends-drone-delivery-service-after-second-crash","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"Swiss Post suspends drone delivery after a second crash (2019)","sourceName":"IEEE Spectrum","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.929Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:53.929Z"},{"id":"4814873c-6f3f-48d9-a461-64e2e0bc6d28","regulationId":"1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817","url":"https://www.post.ch/-/media/post/ueber-uns/dokumente/bericht-expertenrat-post-drohnen.pdf?sc_lang=en","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"Swiss Post expert-board report on the drone incident","sourceName":"Swiss Post (official)","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:54.006Z","updatedAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:54.006Z"}],"statusEvents":[{"id":"ea4fc82d-641c-4df8-8e31-7d76e8021137","regulationId":"1f99d3ae-ae8e-4df1-b1b2-71a9c543f817","status":"in_effect","reason":"Switzerland drone framework (VLK SR 748.941, incorporating EU 2019/947) effective 1 Jan 2023; FOCA-supervised. Matternet/Swiss Post ops suspended 2019.","source":"editor:DEPLOY content-agent (Sprint 5c-1 EU/Europe regs)","effectiveAt":"2023-01-01T12:00:00.000Z","createdAt":"2026-05-31T13:17:54.083Z"}]}