(Bloomberg) -- Some drone industry representatives are reactingcautiously to plans by the Obama administration to combat agrowing safety threat by requiring buyers to register their droneswith the government.

The U.S.Transportation Department is creating a task force of publicand private members to recommend how to keep tabs on the swellingnumber of private drone operators, Secretary Anthony Foxx said at apress conference in Washington. In hopes of beating the expectedholiday sales rush, Foxx asked the task force to complete its workby Nov. 20 and finalize the requirement before Christmas.

“Registering unmanned aircraft will help build a culture ofaccountability and responsibility, especially with new users whohave no experience operating in the U.S. aviation system,” Foxxsaid. “It will help protect public safety in the air and on theground.”

While saying they recognize the need for greater accountabilityfor unmanned aircraft and will cooperate with the task force, someindustry spokesmen said they were concerned about how such aregistry would work, the legality and how effective it wouldbe.

“As with all things, the devil is in the detail,” MichaelDrobac, director of the Small UAV Coalition, which representscompanies including Google’s Project Wing and Amazon.com Inc.“Wehave very little detail and much of this feels like it’s beingpulled together very rapidly and with very little input fromindustry.”

Hobbyists

The administration sees registry as a way to encourage hobbyistsand other drone owners to follow rules intended to prevent theaircraft from crashing into planes or hurting people on the ground,Foxx said. In the event of an accident, a registry may help thegovernment track down the operator.

Pilot encounters with drones and other incident reports are onpace to at least quadruple to more than 1,000 this year, the FAAsaid in August. The reports highlight a growing threat to U.S.aviation by unmanned aircraft.

The Academy of Model Aeronautics, which represents hobbyists whofly drones and more traditional remote-controlled aircraft, issueda report saying very few incidents were actual risks of a mid-aircollision. AMA, which requires its 180,000 members to registertheir unmanned aircraft, is working with the government on theproject.

SZ DJI Technology Co., the Chinese company that is the world’sleading manufacturer of small civilian drones, looks forward toworking with the FAA and the Transportation Department, saidBrendan Schulman, the company’s vice president for policy and legalaffairs in the U.S.

“The feasibility and effectiveness of any drone registrationsystem will very much depend on the details of how registrationwould be accomplished, who would manage the process, and whichtypes of drones it would apply to,” Shulman said in an e-mail.

Congress in 2012 exempted drones being flown for recreation fromany U.S. regulation, so long as operators followed safetystandards.

Congressional exemption

That prohibition on government regulation may make it difficultto require owners to register their aircraft, Drobac said. “We needto hear where the authority comes from. Would this bemandatory?” he said.

While most members of Drobac’s trade group would support aregistry, he said he anticipates that at least some may oppose sucha requirement.

Foxx said that creating a registry wouldn’t be the same asregulating the industry and would be legal. There is also no planto require non-commercial operators to get a license, he said.

Trade group

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, atrade group for drone manufacturers, supports the government’sregistration proposal, President Brian Wynne said.

“It should lead to increased accountability across the entireaviation community,” Wynne said.

The task force must resolve details such as whether previouslypurchased drones must be registered and who is responsible forregistering them. Toys and other small drones won’t be part of therequirement, because they are considered a low risk to safety, theTransportation Department said. The task force will recommend whichdrones will be exempt.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the object is to “toensure the use of drone doesn’t interfere obviously with commercialregulation” and “allow the private sector to maximize the economicbenefits associated with this kind of technology” while ensuringsafety.

Non-commercial drone operators must obtain FAA permission beforeflying within five miles of an airport and must stay away frompiloted aircraft and people on the ground, according to the agency.The FAA also has a process for approving drone flights for hire,which must follow similar requirements.

Airplane collisions

Regulators are concerned that a collision between a drone and aplane, which could easily occur at a speed of 200 miles (320kilometers) an hour or more, may damage an aircraft or its engines.Encounters with drones can also cause pilots to be distracted fromother critical tasks.

Tim Canoll, president of the Air Line Pilots Association union,expressed support for the initiative.

“We look forward to engaging in discussions with this task forcein developing the procedures necessary to ensure we maintain thehighest levels of safety of our aviation system,” Canoll said in ane-mail.

Industry groups estimate that at least 500,000 drones have beensold in the U.S., many of which are capable of flying thousands offeet above the ground. Separately, the FAA is finalizingregulations for the commercial use of drones weighing less than 55pounds (25 kilograms). Rules for larger drones will come later, theFAA says.

--With assistance from Angela Greiling Keane in Washington.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.