GVC Insurance & Data Protection

Question 1

Is third-party liability insurance mandatory for commercial drone operators in the UK?

Accepted Answer

Yes — EU Regulation 785/2004 (retained in UK law) requires insurance for all UAS operations that could endanger third parties

Answer

No — insurance is recommended but not legally required for drones under 20 kg

Answer

Yes — but only for drones over 25 kg MTOM

Answer

No — public liability is only required for specific category operations

Question 2

What is the minimum third-party liability insurance coverage (in Special Drawing Rights, SDR) required for a drone with an MTOM between 500 g and 1 kg under EU Regulation 785/2004?

Accepted Answer

0.75 million SDR

Answer

0.25 million SDR

Answer

1.5 million SDR

Answer

No minimum is specified for this weight class

Question 3

A commercial drone operator collects aerial footage of a construction site containing workers' faces. What data protection obligation arises?

Accepted Answer

The footage contains personal data — the operator must have a lawful basis, inform workers (transparency), and secure the footage appropriately under UK GDPR

Answer

Construction sites are exempt from GDPR because workers are employees of the site owner

Answer

No obligation arises because workers are in a professional, not personal, setting

Answer

The operator must obtain written consent from every worker before flying

Question 4

What should a commercial drone operator include in their privacy notice or information governance documentation?

Accepted Answer

The types of data collected, purposes and lawful basis for processing, retention periods, data subject rights, and contact details for the data controller

Answer

Only the operator's name and CAA operator ID number

Answer

A list of all flights conducted in the past 12 months

Answer

The technical specifications of the drone camera sensor

Question 5

A commercial client asks a drone operator to hand over all raw footage from a photographic survey, including footage of neighbouring properties. What data protection consideration applies?

Accepted Answer

The operator should assess whether sharing footage of third-party properties is justified under UK GDPR and may need to redact or withhold footage of identifiable individuals not covered by the client's lawful basis

Answer

Raw footage belongs entirely to the client once the job is complete — no data protection consideration applies

Answer

The client automatically becomes the data controller for all footage at the point of handover

Answer

Footage of property is never personal data so no data protection consideration arises

Question 6

What is a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and when should a commercial drone operator use one?

Accepted Answer

A contract between the data controller and a data processor setting out how personal data will be handled; required when a drone operator processes data on behalf of a commercial client

Answer

A government form required for every commercial drone operation involving aerial photography

Answer

An insurance document covering data breaches caused by drone operations

Answer

A NOTAM variant used when drones collect surveillance data