Overview
ISO/IEC 22460-1:2025 specifies the physical characteristics and basic data sets for drone and UAS remote pilot and remote crew licences. The standard defines requirements and recommendations for both human‑readable and machine‑readable licence elements to support secure identification, international interoperability and automated verification. It establishes a common foundation for domestic and international drone licences (DDrL / IDrL / IUAL) while allowing national and regional authorities to apply additional rules.
Key technical topics and requirements
- Card format and size: Licence design follows ISO ID‑1 size principles for portable, card‑based UAS licences.
- Mandatory and optional data elements: A minimum mandatory data element set is defined, with provisions for supplementary national/regional fields.
- Human‑readable design: Visual layout, categories, symbols and anti‑tamper features to support manual verification (see Annex A, B).
- Machine‑readable technologies: Support for integrated circuits (ISO 7816) and contactless chips (ISO 14443) at the discretion of issuers.
- Security and integrity: Recommendations for cryptography, access control and secure storage of eID/RID within a Drone or UAS Security Module (DSM) to prevent unauthorized remote reading.
- Tiered licence system: Classification of licence types and tiers (DrL TG1–TG2; UAL TG3–TG6) to align skills/privileges with operational complexity.
- Durability and issuance controls: Requirements for card durability, issuance procedures and measures to resist counterfeiting and alteration (Annex C).
- Interoperability mapping: Cross‑references to ICAO and EASA frameworks for harmonized international use (Annex D).
Practical applications and users
- National aviation authorities and regulators: Create or update domestic drone licence programs that are internationally compatible.
- Issuing agencies and credential issuers: Design, produce and personalize secure IDrL/IUAL cards and data sets.
- Card manufacturers and smart‑card integrators: Implement ISO 7816/14443 chip solutions and DSM containers per referenced standards.
- UAS operators, remote pilots and operators’ organizations: Use standardized licences for cross‑border operations and compliance checks.
- UAS Traffic Management (UTM) and enforcement systems: Automate identity verification and access control while preserving pilot privacy and data integrity.
Related standards
- ISO 7816 (contact smart cards)
- ISO 14443 (contactless cards)
- ISO 23629‑8 (eID/RID storage considerations)
- ISO 21895 (reference for UAV weight/categorization)
- Annex D of ISO/IEC 22460‑1:2025 maps to ICAO and EASA requirements
ISO/IEC 22460-1:2025 is essential for stakeholders seeking secure, interoperable and durable drone licence credentials that support both human and machine verification across jurisdictions. Keywords: ISO/IEC 22460-1:2025, UAS licence, drone licence, remote pilot licence, UAS security module, DSM, ISO 7816, ISO 14443, eID/RID, machine‑readable.