Aircraft flying in national airspace are required by the ICAO Chicago Convention and national regulatory rules to have visible markings to determine nationality and registration. UAS shall comply with these rules, although small UAS will have unique rules or exemptions from existing rules due to their small size. This standard is designed to allow UAS to comply with these marking requirements in Annex 7 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation as amended by state regulatory rules.

Many ICAO states are assigning UAS to different classes and categories to define the rules UAS must operate under. The ICAO Annex 7 Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) apply to UAS Aircraft with the exception of small UAS. The classification of what constitutes a small UAS (sUAS) has been left to ICAO states and the rules under which sUAS operate are dictated by each state.

This practice follows ICAO Annex 7 SARPS except in areas where the unique aspects of UAS may not allow compliance. In these cases, this document will address the issue and recommend the need for an alternate compliance method.