Refusing an alcohol test can cost the remote pilot certificate. Section 107.59 says a refusal to submit to a test for the percentage by weight of alcohol in the blood, when a law enforcement officer requests it under §91.17(c), or a refusal to furnish or authorize the release of test results the Administrator requests under §91.17(c) or (d), is grounds for denial of an application for up to 1 year after the date of that refusal, or for suspension or revocation of a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating.
What §107.59 actually authorizes
The section adopts the refusal consequence for Part 107. A choice that says there is no certificate consequence, because Part 107 did not adopt the refusal rule, is wrong. A choice that says the only outcome is automatic revocation for 5 years, with no discretion to deny an application instead, invents both the number and the lack of the denial branch. The text gives grounds. The denial branch runs for up to 1 year after the date of the refusal. Suspension or revocation is the other branch, for a certificate the person already holds.
Two refusals are named. One is refusing the test a law enforcement officer requests under §91.17(c). The other is refusing to furnish results, or to authorize their release, when the Administrator requests that under §91.17(c) or (d). Either refusal is inside §107.59. The operating limits that make the test meaningful, the 8 hours and the 0.04 concentration, are the alcohol rules page. A criminal drug conviction is a different section, §107.57(a), on the drug convictions page. Do not answer a refusal item with the conviction list, and do not answer a conviction item with the test refusal.
Showing the certificate is a different duty
During a rooftop inspection, an FAA aviation safety inspector may ask to see the remote pilot certificate and to examine the aircraft. Section 107.7 requires the remote pilot to make the certificate available and to allow the inspector to inspect or test the aircraft and the associated people. The remote pilot in command, owner, or person manipulating the controls must have the certificate and identification in physical possession and readily accessible when exercising remote-pilot privileges, and must present them on request from the Administrator, an authorized NTSB representative, any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer, or an authorized TSA representative. Upon request, the Administrator may also test or inspect the system, the remote pilot, the person manipulating the controls, and the visual observer if one is used.
Declining until the inspector produces a written order is not compliance. The duty is not reserved to law enforcement. Showing the certificate and refusing the aircraft examination, on the theory that inspections need 24 hours' notice, is not compliance either. Twenty-four-hour notice is not in §107.7. This is the document-and-aircraft duty. It is not §107.59. Refusing to hand over the certificate is a §107.7 problem. Refusing the alcohol test described in §107.59 is the alcohol-test problem. They can happen on the same ramp and they are still different rules. How the certificate is carried day to day is the showing your certificate page.
Records the inspector can ask for
Section 107.7 also requires the remote pilot in command, owner, or person manipulating the controls to make available, upon request to the Administrator, any document, record, or report required to be kept under the regulations. When an inspector asks for relevant aircraft and operation records during a compliance inspection, the expectation is that documents, records, and reports required by regulation are made available on request. The duty is not limited to records stored in the aircraft. Destroying old records first, so there is nothing to show, is not an option the rule offers.
Record-retention duties still depend on the specific rule and the person's role. Section 107.7 does not invent a private retention period for every scrap of paper. It requires production of what the regulations require to be kept, and it requires access for the inspection and test. An alcohol-test result the Administrator requests under §91.17(c) or (d) is handled by §107.59 if you refuse to furnish or authorize release. A maintenance note or other record the regulations require is handled by the production sentence in §107.7. Sort the request before you sort the consequence.
On a ramp conversation, listen for which request it is. A law enforcement officer asking for a blood-alcohol test under §91.17(c) is the §107.59 path if you refuse. An FAA inspector asking to see the certificate, look at the aircraft, and read records the rules require you to keep is the §107.7 path. Comply with the inspection. Do not treat a missing written order as a defense. Do not treat a refusal of the alcohol test as a harmless delay. The grounds in §107.59 are denial for up to 1 year after the refusal, or suspension or revocation.
Practice both the refusal item and the inspection item on the free practice test. The lessons are at pricing.