I chased up the UK situation earlier this week, exchanging emails with relevant people.
Facts:
The relevant web site is
Dronesafe.uk This is run by CAA & NATS.
The Registration page is here. It is the page to check for situation updates.
There is a CAA page on Drones, but their 'front door' is the Dronesafe site. The effective date is still set for 30th November 2019.
Detail.
I did raise a complaint about no acknowledgement to my enquiry to the CAA. This got an immediate response which included the phrase "
We will actively publicise when the new system goes live".
The lengthy response I quote below came within 24 hours of my complaint, from which I conclude somebodies cage was rattled.
I was assured in an email from the CAA rep that:
... the system is built and ready – we’re currently finalising arrangements for the system with the Government (Department for Transport).
Our IT experts believe the system will cope with demand. Our website was recently used by over a million people in one day during the Thomas Cook repatriation exercise.
The knowledge necessary to pass the education element of the system is contained in the system itself.
If you are an owner / flier then you will be both an operator and a flier – so will be required to register and also undertake the educational element.
We undertook months of users testing with drone users from both the commercial and enthusiast sectors so are well aware of the different types of user. Many of us are also active in the drone community ourselves.
The system has been developed to cope with the many different types of commercial and enthusiast users. For example a large commercial organisation may have one accountable manager for their drone operation that does not fly drones and several drone pilots. In that case the accountable manager registers as the operator and the pilots would undertake the education package. Another example could be I let someone fly my drone. In which case I’m the responsible operator as the drone owner and they would need to undertake the education test.
Flyer registration lasts for 3 years, and is free
.
Operator registration lasts for one year, a fee is payable, but hasn't been set, yet.
Drones will have to be marked with the Operators ID.
I also saw that an agreement had been reached between them that enforcement is in the hands of the Police not the CAA
.
The Derbyshire Police (for example) already have a unit responsible for operating their Drones, this has been nominated as the local specialist enforcement section.
Opinion.
I do not have strong feelings that the date (30/11/2019) will be achieved, and I am extremely sarcastic about the management failure to have the system operational 7 weeks before the effective date.
Hope this helps.