881 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 48.10 

PART 48—REGISTRATION AND 

MARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR 
SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT 

Subpart A—General 

Sec. 
48.1

Applicability. 

48.5

Compliance dates. 

48.10

Definitions. 

48.15

Requirement to register. 

48.20

Eligibility for registration. 

48.25

Applicants. 

48.30

Fees. 

Subpart B—Certificates of Aircraft 

Registration for Small Unmanned Aircraft 

48.100

Application. 

48.105

Requirement to maintain current in-

formation. 

48.110

Registration: Persons intending to 

use small unmanned aircraft for purposes 
other than as model aircraft. 

48.115

Registration: Individuals intending to 

use the small unmanned aircraft exclu-
sively as a model aircraft. 

48.120

Invalid registration. 

48.125

Foreign civil aircraft. 

Subpart C—Aircraft Marking 

48.200

General. 

48.205

Display and location of unique identi-

fier. 

A

UTHORITY

: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 106(g), 40101, 

40103, 40113–40114, 41703, 44101–44103, 44105– 
44106, 44110–44113, 45302, 45305, 46104, 46301, 
46306. 

S

OURCE

: Doc. No. FAA–2015–7396; Amdt. No. 

48–1; 80 FR 78645, Dec. 16, 2015, unless other-
wise noted. 

Subpart A—General 

§ 48.1

Applicability. 

(a) This part provides registration 

and identification requirements for 
small unmanned aircraft that are part 
of a small unmanned aircraft system as 
defined in § 1.1 of this chapter. 

(b) Small unmanned aircraft eligible 

for registration in the United States 
must be registered and identified in ac-
cordance with either: 

(1) The registration and identifica-

tion requirements in this part; or 

(2) The registration requirements in 

part 47 and the identification and reg-
istration marking requirements in sub-
parts A and C of part 45. 

(c) Small unmanned aircraft intended 

to be operated outside of the territorial 
airspace of the United States, or reg-
istered through a trust or voting trust, 
must be registered in accordance with 
subparts A and B of part 47 and satisfy 
the identification and registration 
marking requirements of subparts A 
and C of part 45. 

§ 48.5

Compliance dates. 

(a) 

Small unmanned aircraft used ex-

clusively as model aircraft. 

For small un-

manned aircraft operated by the cur-
rent owner prior to December 21, 2015, 
compliance with the requirements of 
this part or part 47 is required no later 
than February 19, 2016. For all other 
small unmanned aircraft, compliance 
with this part is required prior to oper-
ation of the small unmanned aircraft. 

(b) 

Small unmanned aircraft used as 

other than model aircraft. 

Small un-

manned aircraft owners authorized to 
conduct operations other than model 
aircraft operations must register the 
small unmanned aircraft in accordance 
with part 47 of this chapter. Beginning 
March 31, 2016, small unmanned air-
craft operated as other than model air-
craft may complete aircraft registra-
tion in accordance with this part. 

§ 48.10

Definitions. 

For purposes of this part, the fol-

lowing definitions apply: 

Citizen of the United States or U.S. cit-

izen 

means one of the following: 

(1) An individual who is a citizen of 

the United States or one of its posses-
sions. 

(2) A partnership each of whose part-

ners is an individual who is a citizen of 
the United States. 

(3) A corporation or association orga-

nized under the laws of the United 
States or a State, the District of Co-
lumbia, or a territory or possession of 
the United States, of which the presi-
dent and at least two-thirds of the 
board of directors and other managing 
officers are citizens of the United 
States, which is under the actual con-
trol of citizens of the United States, 
and in which at least 75 percent of the 
voting interest is owned or controlled 
by persons that are citizens of the 
United States. 

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