The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) publishes a list of plant protection products approved for use with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).

In May 2021, fungicides were approved for the first time in accordance with § 18 PflSchG for the application of plant protection products with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in vineyard steep slopes. These are exclusively products that have already been approved or authorised for use with helicopters in steep vineyard sites.

A list of the approved products with the special conditions and application regulations that apply additionally or differently in the case of application with drones in accordance with § 18 Paragraph 3 No. 2 PflSchG is published on the homepage of the BVL and in the Federal Gazette.

General provisions for the application of drones:

During application, a maximum distance of 2 m above the crop and a maximum flight speed of 13 km/h must be observed. The application may only be carried out with drones that can fly automatically. It must be possible to automatically maintain the distance, speed, height above the crop and start-up and shut-down positions specified by the user during application. They must be equipped with injector nozzles and spraying devices that are registered in the "JKI list of suitable spraying devices for unmanned aerial vehicles (drones)" for the application of plant protection products in steep slope viticulture.

The application of a plant protection product with aerial vehicles additionally requires the approval of the competent authorities of the Länder. Aviation regulations remain unaffected and must be observed.

Source: Technical paper BVL, 24.08.2021

Contact

Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL)
Telephone: 030 18444 -00211
Fax: 030 18444 -00209
E-mail address: pressestelle@bvl.bund.de