The Federal Aviation Administration is considering adopting a proposal which would mean all remote-controlled drones weighing more than nine ounces would have to be registered with authorities.
The new rules were drawn up by a drone task force comprising drone manufacturers, regulators, airline pilots and law enforcement.
If passed, drone owners would have to disclose their names and addresses to help authorities track down owners if a drone is involved in a collision or encroaches on restricted airspace such as an airport.
Commercial drone companies which conduct aerial photography are already registered but the new proposal has been rejected by hobbyist group the Academy of Model Aeronautics.
"Unfortunately the task force recommendations may ultimately prove untenable by requiring the registration of smaller devices that are essentially toys and do not represent safety concerns," said its executive director Dave Mathewson.
The weight limit would include small drones owned by hundreds of thousands of hobbyists nationwide, Mathewson said.
FAA administrator Michael Huerta and transportation secretary Anthony Foxx have said they want to set up a drone registry before the end of the year, and have the legal authority to do so, despite a 2012 law forbidding the FAA from regulating model aircraft for ‘hobby or recreational use.’
