Joint European Drone Associations (JEDA) and ASTM International announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the XPONENTIAL Europe Drone event in Düsseldorf, Germany, during the Standards Forum.
The MoU establishes a framework for cooperation to strengthen awareness, participation, and alignment around international voluntary consensus standards. This work will support safe, scalable, and harmonized drone operations and technologies across Europe and global markets.
“This Memorandum brings our National Member Drone Associations closer to the standards work that is increasingly referenced across Europe, and it strengthens the feedback loop between industry and regulators as operations scale, and the implementation of U-space and related frameworks accelerates,” says Julie Garland, President, JEDA. “By connecting European stakeholders directly with ASTM’s consensus-based process, we can help reduce fragmentation, improve interoperability and harmonization to accelerate the safe integration of UAS into European airspace.”
Under the MoU, JEDA and ASTM International intend to collaborate on activities such as: Enhancing understanding of international standards relevant to drone technologies and operations; Growing knowledge and participation in the development of international standards and technical documents influential to international trade; Supporting technical needs of stakeholders by expanding access to ASTM standards and technical committee participation; Jointly sponsoring training programs for JEDA members; Connecting European leaders and technical experts with relevant ASTM technical committees to encourage direct engagement in standards development.
“The future of aviation will be built across borders—and it will require trusted, consensus-based standards,” says Jeff Grove, ASTM’s vice president of global policy, cooperation, and communication. “This MoU strengthens global collaboration so innovation can advance safely, regulators and industry can align, and the market can have confidence in the responsible integration of UAS and advanced air mobility.”
The agreement was signed during XPONENTIAL Europe, a leading European forum bringing together industry, regulators, and technology providers focused on advancing uncrewed aviation and enabling services.
For more information about this collaboration, ASTM standards activities related to drones, or opportunities to participate, please contact Julie Garland at julie.garland@jeda-uas.eu or visit: https://jeda-uas.eu. For more information on ASTM, visit https://www.astm.org/.
