NTIA Announces Meeting Dates for UAS Multistakeholder Process
On July 13, 2015, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) announced the dates of four multistakeholder meetings to address issues related to the commercial and private operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). NTIA is convening these meetings pursuant to a February 2015 Presidential Memorandum establishing a multistakeholder process to “develop and communicate best practices for privacy, transparency, and accountability issues regarding commercial and private UAS use.” NTIA has already published a Request for Comment on these issues, the responses to which were due on April 20, 2015. The meetings will be held on August 3, 2015; September 24, 2015; October 21, 2015; and November 20, 2015 from 1 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time. The meetings will be held in the Boardroom at the American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006.
The objectives of the August 3, 2015, meeting are to: 1) briefly review the current regulatory environment for commercial UAS operation; 2) briefly discuss the range of commercial uses of UAS; 3) engage stakeholders in a discussion of high-priority substantive issues stakeholders believe should be addressed by best practices for privacy, transparency, and accountability for UAS operation; and 4) engage stakeholders in a discussion of logistical issues, including the potential establishment of working groups and identification of concrete goals and stakeholder work between the August and September meetings. The three subsequent meetings are aimed at continuing the discussion of best practices, and may include “circulation of stakeholder-developed straw-man drafts and discussion of the appropriate scope of best practices.” NTIA expects to schedule additional meetings in December 2015 or January 2016 to consider external feedback on the stakeholders’ work.
The full Notice of Open Meetings is available here.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Angela Simpson’s blog post announcing the first meeting is available here.
