Farmers use a drone to spray herbicide in a water-fed paddy field in Baoying County, East China's Jiangsu Province on Sunday. In recent years, the county has used modern agricultural machinery such as drones to improve the efficiency of planting and reduce labor. Photo: VCG

An EU directive on regulating legal liabilities on drones could be an effort by the bloc to "export its standards", a Chinese industry insider has claimed.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the EU is drafting rules to make it easier to sue drone makers and artificial intelligence systems.

A regulation known as AI Liability Directive is expected to be announced by the European Commission on Wednesday, the news agency reported.

Given the large market share owned by Chinese commercial drone makers worldwide, the new EU directive has aroused interest in China, though the new rule is unlikely to challenge the leading position held by leading Chinese drone producers, according to one industry insider.

China is the world's leader in commercial drones manufacturing. In 2021, the country was home to 12,000 companies in the sector with a combined annual output of 87 billion yuan ($12 billion), according to a report by the Securities Times in July.

The southern tech hub Shenzhen city is home to 1,500 drone companies, with an annual output of 60 billion yuan, accounting for 70 percent of the global market share in consumer-grade drones and half of the industrial-grade drones.

An industry insider told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that the rolling-out of the new EU regulation could have other motives, with some European lawmakers hoping to ratchet up non-trade barriers to the EU market using the added layer of standards.

"Want to stay clear of lawsuits in our market? Come and go through a few more layers of our standards," the insider said. "Though for competitive Chinese drone makers this won't be an issue. The tactics are not new."

Despite producing some competitive brands in the past, the EU nowadays could almost field no drone products in the field, the person said. "European brands are included under the 'others' category in most market share tally."

The AI Liability Directive will need approvals from EU countries and the lawmakers before it can become law, according to Reuters.