Bill amending definition of military devices, introducing drone concept, promulgated

A bill amending the phrase "military devices" to include those devices designed to counteract drones and introducing the phrase "radio equipment" and the concept of "drone" was signed into law on Monday by President Klaus Iohannis.The bill amends and supplements Law 122/2011 on weapons, military devices and ammunition possessed by the Ministry of National Defence and by the foreign armed forces on Romania's soil."The Ministry of National Defence is authorised to possess weapons, military devices and ammunition for its own equipping, in order to carry out activities in defence of the country, according to the law," reads the bill.According to the new law, military devices are "a set of components whose joint operation performs a function in a technical system by the action of a mechanism of initiation or percussion that determines either the throwing of one or more projectiles or one or more mobility-limiting objects, explosive substances, ignited or illuminated by incendiary mixtures, or the emission of harmful, irritating or neutralising gases, or the emission of an electronic signal for interference or misinformation, or the emission of directed high-power microwave or lasers."The drone is defined as any ground, air, water or underwater vehicle capable of navigating autonomously using autopilot or that can be controlled by a remote radio control equipment, while the radio equipment is defined as any device or installation that operates with the help of radio frequencies.The law also stipulates that the personnel of the Ministry of National Defence are authorised to possess, carry and use the weapons, military devices and ammunition with which it is equipped by the units of which it is part, for training, combat missions, as well as other specific missions, according to the law, as established by order of the minister of national defence, as well as for self-defence.The use for training by the personnel of the Ministry of National Defence of military devices that emit electronic signals for jamming or misinformation or that emit directed high-power microwave or lasers is established by order of the minister of national defence.