Drone Laws in Myanmar (Burma)

There Don’t Seem to Be Any Official Drone Laws in Myanmar

We haven’t found any official drone laws for Myanmar in our research. The countries drone laws are unclear which has led to confusion for many who are looking to operate their drone.

Based on a New York Times article, here is what we were able to find:

• According to some travelers, even when they had prior permission to bring their drone with them it was confiscated.
• Importing a drone into the country could result in jail time.
• Drones are prohibited over many parts of the capital and Yangon (Myanmar’s largest city).
• Drones are prohibited around the Palace in Mandalay.
• Drones are prohibited near airports.
• Drones are prohibited from operating over gatherings of people.
• Drones are prohibited from operating over private property without prior permission.

Although it looks like drone operations may be legal in some areas, we don’t recommend assuming that you can travel to Myanmar and fly your drone.

The confusion over official drone laws doesn’t necessarily mean you can fly wherever or however you like in Myanmar—in fact, it could mean that authorities will be generally opposed to the use of drones, especially by tourists.

The same cautionary note applies to bringing a drone through customs. Sometimes, when a country has no drone-specific laws, some customs officials choose to confiscate drones and some choose not to—but it’s almost impossible to know what you’ll run into until you’re actually there with your drone.

For countries that do not have drone/ sUAS regulations, it’s typically the country’s national or civil aviation authority that sets and enforces those regulations. To make sure you don’t get in trouble or get your drone taken away, we recommend contacting Myanmar’s Department of Civil Aviation: aiso@ais.gov.mm / +951 533015

At a minimum, a good rule of thumb for flying in Myanmar would be to follow these rules for flying your drone (these rules are taken from the U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration’s rules for flying a drone):

• Avoid flying within five miles of an airport
• Keep the drone within visual line-of-sight
• Fly at or below 400 feet
• Fly during daylight or civil twilight
• Fly at or under 100 mph
• Yield right of way to manned aircraft
• Do not fly directly over people
• Do not fly from a moving vehicle, unless in a sparsely populated area

Know something we don’t about drone laws in Myanmar? Send us an email at support[at]horizonap[dot]com. We are not international aviation attorneys and do our best to keep this page up-to-date for drone pilots, but the reality is that given the pace of the small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) industry and how governments are responding, drone regulations in Myanmar can change throughout the year, and those changes can be hard to track. If we missed something, please reach out to let us know.