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HANDBOOK OF SPACE LAW

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RESEARCH HANDBOOKS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

This highly original series offers a unique appraisal of the state-of-the-art of research and
thinking in international law. Taking a thematic approach, each volume, edited by a
prominent expert, covers a specific aspect of international law or examines the
international legal dimension of a particular strand of the law. A wide range of
sub-disciplines in the spheres of both public and private law are considered; from
international environmental law to international criminal law, from international
economic law to the law of international organisations, and from international
commercial law to international human rights law. The Research Handbooks comprise
carefully commissioned chapters from leading academics as well as those with an
emerging reputation. Taking a genuinely international approach to the law, and
addressing current and sometimes controversial legal issues, as well as affording a clear
substantive analysis of the law, these Handbooks are designed to inform as well as to
contribute to current debates.
Equally useful as reference tools or introductions to specific topics, issues and debates,
the Handbooks will be used by academic researchers, post-graduate students, practising
lawyers and lawyers in policy circles.
Titles in this series include:
Research Handbook on the Theory and History of International Law
Edited by Alexander Orakhelashvili
Research Handbook on International Sports Law
Edited by James A.R. Nafziger and Stephen F. Ross
Research Handbook on International Conflict and Security Law
Jus Ad Bellum, Jus in Bello and Jus Post Bellum
Edited by Nigel D. White and Christian Henderson
Research Handbook on International Law and Migration
Edited by Vincent Chetail and Céline Bauloz
Research Handbook on International Energy Law
Edited by Kim Talus
Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism
Edited by Ben Saul
Research Handbook on the Law Treaties
Edited by Christian J. Tams, Antonios Tzanakopoulos and Andreas Zimmerman
Handbook of Space Law
Edited by Frans von der Dunk

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Handbook of Space Law

Edited by

Frans von der Dunk

Harvey and Susan Perlman Alumni/Othmer Professor of
Space Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA and
Director, Black Holes B.V., Leiden, the Netherlands

with

Fabio Tronchetti
Associate Professor, School of Law, Harbin Institute of
Technology, People’s Republic of China

RESEARCH HANDBOOKS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Cheltenham, UK + Northampton, MA, USA

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© The Editors and Contributors Severally 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical
or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the
publisher.

Published by

Edward Elgar Publishing Limited

The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK

Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.

William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014950972

This book is available electronically in the

Law subject collection
DOI 10.4337/9781781000366

ISBN 978 1 78100 035 9 (cased)

ISBN 978 1 78100 036 6 (eBook)

Typeset by Columns Design XML Ltd, Reading

Printed and bound in Great Britain by T.J. International Ltd, Padstow
03

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Contents

List of figures xi
List of tables xii
List of contributors xiii
Foreword xx
Preface xxiv
List of abbreviations xxxi

1. The background and history of space law 1

Peter Jankowitsch
1.1 A political overview 1
1.2 Space law and the new majority in the United Nations 9
1.3 Space law and the United Nations 10
1.4 Space law and space arms control 14
1.5 New branches of space law: An unfinished history 20
1.6 The future of space law 26

2. International space law 29

Frans von der Dunk
2.1 Introduction 29
2.2 The key characteristics of international space law 37
2.3 The core substance of international space law: The UN
space treaties 49
2.4 Beyond the core of international space law 106
2.5 Concluding remarks 125

3. National space law 127

Irmgard Marboe
3.1 Introduction 127
3.2 International law requirements 130
3.3 Examples of national space laws 139
3.4 International initiatives 179
3.5 Conclusion 184

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vi Handbook of space law

4. European space law 205

Frans von der Dunk
4.1 Introduction 205
4.2 Operational integration of space activities: The European
space organizations 208
4.3 Regulatory integration of space activities: The European
Community/Union 239
4.4 The convergence of the European Space Agency and
European Union 251
4.5 Concluding remarks 267

5. International organizations in space law 269

Frans von der Dunk
5.1 Introduction: Intergovernmental organizations and outer
space 269
5.2 Regulatory intergovernmental organizations and outer
space: A survey 271
5.3 Operational intergovernmental organizations and outer
space: An introduction 282
5.4 INTELSAT 283
5.5 INMARSAT 290
5.6 EUTELSAT 295
5.7 INTERSPUTNIK 301
5.8 ARABSAT 305
5.9 IGO involvement in space law: A legal assessment 307
5.10 Satellite communication IGO privatization: A legal
assessment 317
5.11 Concluding remarks 329

6. Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 331

Fabio Tronchetti
6.1 Introduction 331
6.2 Militarization versus weaponization of outer space 333
6.3 The legal framework regulating military uses of outer
space: The UN space treaties 334
6.4 The legal framework regulating military uses of outer
space: Other relevant international regimes 342
6.5 The legal framework regulating military uses of outer
space: General public international law 350
6.6 Other legal regimes affecting military activities in outer
space 359

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Contents vii

6.7 Recent developments 377

6.8 Conclusion 381

7. Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 382

Peter van Fenema
7.1 Introduction 382
7.2 The main categories of actors and their relevance from
a legal perspective 384
7.3 The existing regulatory framework 403
7.4 Legal aspects of launch safety and space traffic management 405
7.5 Legal aspects of market access and competition issues 417
7.6 Conclusion 452

8. Legal aspects of satellite communications 456

Frans von der Dunk
8.1 Introduction: The definitional issues 456
8.2 The ITU regime and satellite communications 458
8.3 The UN ‘regime’ on direct broadcasting by satellite 493
8.4 Concluding remarks 500

9. Legal aspects of satellite remote sensing 501

Fabio Tronchetti
9.1 Introduction 501
9.2 Remote sensing from space: Characteristics and
applications 502
9.3 The evolution of remote sensing activities 505
9.4 The legal framework for remote sensing activities 513
9.5 Conclusion 553

10. Legal aspects of satellite navigation 554

Lesley Jane Smith
10.1 Introduction 554
10.2 The current GNSS systems 556
10.3 Legal aspects of the use of GNSS in the transport sector 577
10.4 Regional and national GNSS: Legal aspects 594
10.5 Alternative heads of liability: Certification and
augmentation 599
10.6 Civil aviation: Liability for navigational aids and
development of CNS/ATM systems 602
10.7 GNSS and the maritime transport sector 607
10.8 The road sector and autonomous driving systems 610
10.9 GNSS in the context of the rail transport sector 613

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viii Handbook of space law

10.10 Feasibility of a UNIDROIT GNSS Convention 614

10.11 Conclusion 615

11. Legal aspects of public manned spaceflight and space station

operations 618
Carla Sharpe and Fabio Tronchetti
11.1 Introduction 618
11.2 From single-state space stations to the International Space
Station 620
11.3 The legal framework regulating ISS activities 626
11.4 The legal framework regulating ISS activities 638
11.5 Military uses of the International Space Station 653
11.6 The future of the International Space Station 657
11.7 Conclusion: The International Space Station as a model for
future cooperation in space activities? 659

12. Legal aspects of private manned spaceflight 662

Frans von der Dunk
12.1 Introduction 662
12.2 The key definitional issues 666
12.3 Legal issues of private sub-orbital manned spaceflight 672
12.4 Legal issues of private orbital manned spaceflight 697
12.5 Legal issues of both sub-orbital and orbital private
manned spaceflight 708
12.6 Concluding remarks 715

13. Environmental aspects of space activities 717

Lotta Viikari
13.1 Introduction 717
13.2 Environmental hazards 719
13.3 Space law from an environmental perspective 725
13.4 The way forward 756
13.5 Conclusion 765

14. Legal aspects of space resource utilization 769

Fabio Tronchetti
14.1 Introduction 769
14.2 The (natural) resources of the moon and other celestial
bodies 771
14.3 Extraterrestrial mining: Where do we stand now? 772

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Contents ix

14.4 The legal status of celestial bodies and extraterrestrial

natural resources 777
14.5 International seabed mining 792
14.6 The use of the geostationary orbit 798
14.7 Mineral activities in Antarctica 803
14.8 A legal regime for the exploitation of extraterrestrial
natural resources 809
14.9 Conclusion 812

15. International trade aspects of space services 814

Frans von der Dunk
15.1 Introduction: The development of an international trade
regime 814
15.2 The general aspects of the GATT, GATS and WTO regimes 818
15.3 Launch services: International trade regime issues 836
15.4 The international trade regime for satellite communications 843
15.5 Prospective candidates for application of the GATS/WTO
regime? 853
15.6 Concluding remarks 872

16. Financing space ventures 874

Mark Sundahl
16.1 Introduction 874
16.2 The nature and challenges of financing space ventures 876
16.3 Secured transactions under Article 9 of the Uniform
Commercial Code 882
16.4 The UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in
Mobile Equipment and the Space Assets Protocol 887

17. Insurance in the context of space activities 910

Cécile Gaubert
17.1 Introduction 910
17.2 Third-party liability insurance 912
17.3 Property damage insurance 930
17.4 Space debris in the context of insurance 937
17.5 Astronauts’ insurance 941
17.6 The role of the insurance broker 943
17.7 Conclusion 944

18. Intellectual property rights in the context of space activities 949

Catherine Doldirina
18.1 Introduction 949

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x Handbook of space law

18.2 Copyright 952

18.3 Patent 972
18.4 Conclusions 989

19. Dispute resolution regarding space activities 995

Maureen Williams
19.1 The background – the law in force: Public international
law/space law 995
19.2 The landmarks and precedents for progressive
development of the law 1014
19.3 Redesigning the system: The indispensable reform 1031
19.4 The conclusions so far: Sparkles of hope 1045

Index 1047

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Figures

10.1 National Space Based PNT management structure for GPS 558
10.2 Interagency GLONASS Commission management structure 560
10.3 Galileo organizational structure 564
10.4 Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems overview 574
10.5 Overview of the contemporary satellite navigation systems 576

xi

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Tables

3.1
Conditions for authorization in selected national space
legislation 183
3A.1 Elements of regulation in national space legislation 188
7A.1 Launch record 1997–2012 (=16 years) 454
8.1 Matrix of key terminology of the Radio Regulations, Art. 5(1) 466
8.2 Nine frequency bands as per the Radio Regulations, Art. 2(1) 471
8.3 Twelve frequency bands as per IEEE Standard 521-2002 472
10.1 SAPOS services, overview 572

xii

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Contributors

Catherine Doldirina works at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in the

field of legal and policy aspects of access to and use of geographic and
earth observation data. She is engaged in legal research related to access
to satellite remote sensing data and to space activities since 2005. Her
expertise lies in the field of intellectual property law, some fields of
European law, (geographic) data policies and regulations, as well as
general questions of space law. In 2011 she defended her PhD thesis
‘Remote sensing data and the common good’ at the Institute of Air &
Space Law, McGill University (Montreal, Canada). She has lectured on
European competition law, European copyright law and space law at
various universities in Canada and Europe. She authors work on various
aspects of space law and is a member of the International Institute of
Space Law (IISL). For the past two years she has been involved in the
work of the Group on Earth Observations. She is a co-chair of the GEO
Data Sharing Working Group and of its Legal Interoperability subgroup
that conducts work on analysis and proposal of best policy and legal
options for unrestricted access and use of resources shared through the
Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
Cécile Gaubert is Vice President and Head of Legal and Claims with the
Aviation & Space Department of Marsh France. She studied the draft
UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol at the European Center for Space Law
(ECSL) with the European Space Agency, before joining Marsh in June
2000 as the legal adviser of the Space Team. Since May 2007 she has
been in charge of the management of a team of five dedicated aviation
and space legal specialists and claims handlers involved in aviation and
space activities.
She holds a degree (Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées) in
European and Business Law from the University of Paris XI and a
certificate from the European Centre for Space Law’s Summer Course.
She has published several articles relating to space insurance and has
given a number of speeches and presentations to colloquia on specific
topics of space insurance such as GNSS signal liability, space tourism
and space debris among others. She is a member of various space-related
institutes: IDEST (Institut pour le Développement du Droit de l’Espace et
des Télécommunications) and IISL (International Institute for Space

xiii

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xiv Handbook of space law

Law). She has also been invited to French universities for lectures on
space and aviation insurance.
Dr Peter Jankowitsch was Permanent Representative to the United
Nations (New York), the OECD and ESA in the Austrian Foreign Service
and a member of the Austrian Federal Government (Minister of Foreign
Affairs) and the Austrian Parliament. While Chair of the UN Committee
on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (1972–1991), several of the UN
space treaties as well as some of the Principles on state activities in space
were adopted.
Holding positions in UNISPACE 82 and 99, he also represented
Austria in a number of international space conferences and organizations.
Head of delegation in the Council of ESA (1993–1998), he was also a
member of its Long Term Space Policy Group. In 2004 he was appointed
to the ESA/EU High Level Space Policy Group. With Hubert Curien, one
of the founders of EURISY, he helped in the launching of ESPI, later
joining its Advisory Council. From 1998 he chaired the various super-
visory bodies of the Austrian Air and Space Agency, representing it in
many international bodies.
A member of the Board of Trustees of the International Academy of
Astronautics, he chairs its Social Sciences Section and was also an
Associate Editor of Acta Astronautica. Authorising various articles and
publications on space law and international cooperation in space he has
given numerous keynote addresses and presentations to conferences,
workshops and academic seminars, advising inter alia the Scientific
Advisory Board of the Cologne Commentary on Space Law.
An Honorary Board Member of the IISL, he received the Allan D.
Emil Memorial Award for International Cooperation in Astronautics in
1981, and the Social Sciences Award of the IAA in 2001. A commander
of the Legion d’Honneur, he also holds numerous other awards.
Professor Dr Irmgard Marboe is Professor of International Law at the
Department of European, International and Comparative Law at the Law
Faculty of the University of Vienna. She has been the head of the
Austrian National Point of Contact for Space Law of the European
Centre for Space Law since 2009.
Between 2009 and 2011 she was involved in the drafting of the
Austrian Outer Space Act, which entered into force on 28 December
2011. From 2008 to 2012 she was the chair of the Working Group on
National Space Legislation of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN
Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which led to the
formulation of ‘Recommendations on national legislation relevant to the
peaceful exploration and use of outer space’ adopted by the United

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Contributors xv

Nations General Assembly as Resolution A/AC.105/RES/68/74 on 11

December 2013.
She is the editor of the book Soft Law in Outer Space – The Function
of Non-Binding Norms in International Space Law (Vienna 2012). Other
publications in the area of space law deal with telecommunications and
space, national space legislation, and the return of space objects and the
rescue and return of astronauts. Further research focuses include inter-
national investment law, international arbitration, culture and religion in
international law as well as Islam and international law. She has been
invited as a speaker to numerous international symposia and workshops
and teaches international law and space law at the University of Vienna
and other universities.
Russell Louis ‘Rusty’ Schweickart is a former US astronaut, research
scientist, US Air Force fighter pilot, and business and government
executive. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautics/Astronautics from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956 and 1963 respectively.
Chosen in NASA’s third astronaut group, he is best known as the
Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 9 mission, the first manned flight test
of the Lunar Module, on which he performed the first in-space test of the
Portable Life Support System used by the Apollo astronauts who walked
on the Moon. As backup commander of the first Skylab mission, he was
responsible for developing the hardware and procedures used by the
Skylab crews to perform critical in-flight repairs of the Skylab station.
After Skylab, he served for a time as Director of User Affairs in NASA’s
Office of Applications.
He left NASA in 1977 to serve for two years as California governor
Jerry Brown’s assistant for science and technology, then was appointed
by Brown to California’s Energy Commission for five-and-a-half years,
serving as chairman for three. He took the initiative to establish the
Association of Space Explorers in 1984 with the support of several other
astronauts and cosmonauts. As part of his activities there, he also
initiated the ASE NEO Committee and chaired it for its first seven years.
He is furthermore co-founder and currently Chairman Emeritus of the
Board of the B612 Foundation, a group that aims to defend earth from
asteroid impacts.
In addition, he inter alia was Executive Vice President of CTA
Commercial Systems and Director of Low Earth Orbit Systems, where he
led CTA’s efforts in developing a second generation LEO communication
satellite constellation designed to provide regular commercial electronic
messaging services on a global basis. Prior to his CTA work he had
founded and was president of Courier Satellite Services, a global satellite

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xvi Handbook of space law

communications company, which developed LEO satellites to provide

worldwide affordable data services.
His satellite and telecommunications work involved him in the devel-
opment of international communications regulations and policies, includ-
ing participation in the 1992 and 1995 World Radiocommunications
Conferences of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). He
also served at the 1995 WRC as a US delegate. Finally, he worked
extensively in Russia and the former Soviet Union on scientific and
telecommunications matters.
Carla Sharpe is a graduate of the University of Cape Town Commerce
Faculty and the International Space University Executive MBA Pro-
gramme. She is currently reading for her PhD in Space Science Eco-
nomics. Carla is a founding member of the South African Space
Association as well as Women in Aerospace Africa. She is also a member
of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the International Institute of Space
Law (IISL). Her research and papers focus on the sustainable develop-
ment of space activities within developing nations from an economic and
policy perspective. She currently leads business and economic develop-
ment for the Square Kilometre Array Africa (SKA Africa) Project Office.
She has co-organised several symposia and conferences in South Africa
including the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), hosted in Cape
Town in 2011.
Professor Dr Lesley Jane Smith has been a full Professor of inter-
national and European economic law at the Leuphana University in
Lünebürg, Germany, since 1996 and is a Visiting Professor for space law
at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. She is a qualified member of
the bar (UK/Germany) and partner in the law firm of Weber-Steinhaus &
Smith, Bremen. She was Rector at the Riga Graduate School of Law,
University of Latvia, for a period of two years from 2007 to 2009.
She has written widely on the subject of international space law,
particularly commercial space law and intellectual property. She is an
expert on developments within the European Union relating to its
emerging space programmes and policy.
She is a member of the editorial committee of ‘Studies in Space Law’,
published by Brill, Netherlands. She is a member of the International
Academy of Astronautics (IAA), a Board Member of the International
Institute of Space Law (IISL) and Board Member (Legal) for Women in
Aerospace Europe (WIA-E).
Professor Dr Mark Sundahl is the Associate Dean for Administration
and Professor of Law at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall

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Contributors xvii

College of Law, where he teaches Space Law and International Business

Transactions.
He has written and lectured broadly in the field of space law and
focuses primarily on the business, legal and policy issues arising from
commercial space activity. He recently published The Cape Town Con-
vention: Its Operation and Relation to the Law of Outer Space (Brill
2013). He is a member of the Commercial Space Transportation Advis-
ory Committee (COMSTAC), which advises the Federal Aviation Admin-
istration regarding new regulations governing private space activity. He is
also a Member (and former Assistant Secretary) of the International
Institute of Space Law and serves of counsel to The Law Offices of Jon
P. Yormick Co., L.P.A. where he heads the firm’s Aerospace and Defense
Practice.
Dr Fabio Tronchetti is an Associate Professor of Law at the School of
Law of the Harbin Institute of Technology, People’s Republic of China,
and an Adjunct Professor of International Space Law at the School of
Law of the University of Mississippi, United States. Previously he was
Lecturer and Academic Coordinator at the International Institute of Air
and Space Law, Leiden University, the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in
International Space Law (Leiden University) and an Advanced LL.M in
International Relations (Bologna University, Italy). He has participated as
a speaker in several international conferences on space law and public
international law matters and published numerous articles in the fields of
space law and policy, European law and public international law. He is
the author of the books The Exploitation of Natural Resources of the
Moon and Other Celestial Bodies: A Proposal for a Legal Regime
published by Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, and Fundamentals of Space Law
and Policy, published by Springer. He is Member of the International
Institute of Space Law, the European Centre for Space Law, and the
Asian Society of International Law.
Dr Peter van Fenema is Adjunct Professor of Law at McGill University,
Institute of Air and Space Law (Montreal, Canada). As a graduate of
Leiden University, the Netherlands, he obtained his LL.M degree from
McGill University in 1973 with a thesis on the UN Space Liability
Convention of 1972. For almost 25 years he worked for KLM Royal
Dutch Airlines, primarily in the field of (the negotiation of) bilateral air
transport agreements, and for the last seven years was its Vice President
government and industry affairs. In September 1999, two years after his
departure from KLM, he obtained his Doctor of Laws degree from
Leiden University with a thesis on space transportation law and policy

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xviii Handbook of space law

and export controls, entitled ‘The international trade in launch services –

The effects of U.S. laws, policies and practices on its development’.
He currently teaches (part-time) at McGill University, and frequently
lectures on air and/or space law and policy at other institutions world-
wide. He is a member of the Board of Editors of Air and Space Law, a
bi-monthly published by Kluwer Law International. On behalf of the
Netherlands Civil Aviation Authorities he was appointed Air Transport
Expert for Mediation/Dispute Resolution at ICAO, Montreal. He is a
member of the European Aviation Club, the European Air Law Associ-
ation (EALA), the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and the
European Centre for Space Law (ECSL). He is also the author of a
number of articles on both air and space law and policy, and is active as
a consultant in these fields.
Professor Dr Lotta Viikari (Doctor of Laws and Licentiate of Admin-
istrative Sciences) is Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty
of Law, University of Lapland (since 2008). She is also Director of the
Institute of Air and Space Law, University of Lapland (since 2009).
Previously, she has worked as a researcher in various research projects
and institutions. She has also served as Assistant Professor in Constitu-
tional Law and International Law (University of Joensuu) and Acting
Professor of Private International Law (University of Lapland).
She has published especially in the areas of space law and policy,
international environmental law, and law of the sea. Her publications
include three monographs of which The Environmental Element in Space
Law: Assessing the Present and Charting the Future (Studies in Space
Law 3, Brill) was awarded the Social Science Book Award of the
International Academy of Astronautics in 2009 and the Finnish Lawyers’
Society Award for the best legal PhD dissertation in Finland in 2007.
Professor Dr Frans von der Dunk has held the Harvey and Susan
Perlman Alumni/Othmer Chair of Space Law at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s LL.M. Programme on Space, Cyber and Tele-
communication Law since January 2008. He also is Director of Black
Holes BV Consultancy in space law and policy, based in Leiden. He was
awarded the Distinguished Service Award of the International Institute of
Space Law (IISL) in Vancouver, in October 2004, and the Social Science
Award of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) in Valencia,
in October 2006. He defended his dissertation on ‘Private Enterprise and
Public Interest in the European “Spacescape”’ in 1998 at the University
of Leiden.
He has written more than 130 articles and published papers, given
more than 140 presentations at international meetings and has been

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Contributors xix

visiting professor at over 30 universities and other academic institutions

across the world on subjects of international and national space law and
policy, international air law and public international law. He has
(co-)organised some 20 international symposia, workshops and other
events, and has been (co-)editor of a number of publications and
proceedings. As of 2006, he is the Series Editor of ‘Studies in Space
Law’, published by Brill.
He has acted as legal advisor or legal task manager in more than 90
projects, advising various government agencies and international organ-
isations as well as a number of non-governmental organisations and
industrial stakeholders on matters of space law and policy, including
major space applications such as satellite navigation, remote sensing and
private commercial spaceflight.
Professor Dr Maureen Williams was educated at the Universities of
Buenos Aires, Paris, Oxford and London (UCL) and has been visiting
professor at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (Cambridge),
Tulane University (New Orleans) and the Max Planck Institute (Heidel-
berg). Her doctoral thesis on Telecommunication Satellites was awarded
first class honours. She holds chairs of international law in Argentina at
the University of Buenos Aires and Belgrano University (Buenos Aires)
and is currently a Senior Career Scientist (investigadora superior) at the
National Council for Scientific Research of Argentina (CONICET) and
Director of Research Projects in International Law (www.conicet.gob.ar).
She is Chair of the Space Law Committee of the International Law
Association (ILA) and Council member thereof, Member of the Board of
Directors of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and the
Ibero-American Institute of Air and Space Law in Madrid. She is full
member of the International Academy of Astronautics and the Royal
Institute of International Affairs in London and formed part of the Group
of Experts of the Permanent Court of Arbitration for the drafting of rules
for dispute settlement in space law.
She is part of the Group of Experts on the Teaching of Space Law,
UNOOSA, Vienna. In June 2013 she represented the legal area in a Panel
of Experts commemorating 50 years of women in space (COPUOS). She
is author of various books and around 250 articles on international
law/space law in the United Kingdom, Argentina, the United States,
Germany, Spain and Brazil, among others.

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Foreword

As an astronaut I never expected to be interested in, let alone involved in,

space law – which is of course what this book is all about. But that was
back when I was the payload and not the purveyor. I got my big toe wet
back in the 1970s when my responsibility shifted to remote sensing and I
began brushing up against the permissible/impermissible boundaries of
image resolution, access and ownership. Recently my work in protecting
earth from asteroid impacts led me into the United Nations Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and a full body dunking
into the deep waters of international space law. The shifting of impact
zones across the earth’s surface in the process of removing them from the
planet, the inherent liabilities in the event of a malfunction during
deflection, the potential use of weapons of mass destruction technologies
to avoid a global catastrophe, and the contending geopolitical self-
interests of the nations involved sent me screaming for a legal life
preserver!
And there, via intermediary friends, was Frans von der Dunk, calmly,
with great Dutch dignity, standing on the legal shoreline prepared to hurl
me a bright orange life preserver. We became close friends and Frans,
with his thoughtful insights and great depth in space law became an
essential and increasingly productive member of our planetary defence
team.
Our ‘team’ is a bit too glib a descriptor perhaps. Back in 2001 a
number of scientists, engineers and astronauts gathered at the Johnson
Space Center to wrestle with the frightening fact that astronomers were
discovering increasing numbers of asteroids whose earth-crossing orbits
made them potential impact threats. Yet no one was addressing whether
anything could be done when we inevitably discovered one on an impact
trajectory. After concluding that indeed current space technology could
enable, with adequate early warning, the deflection of an asteroid from
such an impact, we formed a non-profit public charity (B612 Foundation)
to explore the technical issues involved and hopefully develop concepts
and techniques to materialize the capability.
It was almost immediately obvious, as our research illuminated the
physical (especially geographical) implications of asteroid deflection that
there were huge geopolitical consequences unavoidably embedded in the

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Foreword xxi

process. Difficult social and political choices, including the need for
threshold criteria involving public safety, liability and cost needed to be
addressed. And how to ensure that the interests of individual states, or
even private space entrepreneurs, would be properly aligned in the
process? Most choices, however, rested well outside the technical arena.
It slowly became obvious to those of us involved that preventing an
asteroid impact would indeed properly be a collective worldwide action.
Ultimately I came to understand that this unprecedented yet inevitable act
would be the first instance of humanity collectively reordering (ever so
slightly) the shape of the solar system in order to enhance human
survival. Taking the difficult choices which lie ahead to the United
Nations became mandatory.
In 2005 I realized that my best shot for gaining the necessary attention
of the international community to the sticky decisions necessary to
initiate a deflection campaign was to enrol the Association of Space
Explorers (ASE) in garnering high-level political attention. While astro-
nauts and cosmonauts are wonderful keys to opening otherwise-locked
political doors, one needs to be prepared with impressive substance in
order to prevent those doors from (politely) slamming shut, shortly
thereafter, in one’s face. Hence, in 2006 we enrolled, inter alia, Peter
Jankowitsch, Frans von der Dunk, and other eminently qualified inter-
national diplomatic and legal experts in organizing and illuminating the
geopolitical choices and decisions which would confront the international
community when an impact threat materialized.
It was in the process of developing our report (www.space-
explorers.org/ATACGR.pdf) to the UN COPUOS action team on Near
Earth Objects (NEOs) that I came to appreciate the depth of the
international legal challenges of the issue and the wisdom and collective
experience of the Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation (PATM) that we
pulled together to sound the trumpet within COPUOS. That report,
delivered to the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of COPUOS in
2009, has slowly worked its way to the General Assembly (December
2013) and now back to COPUOS for growing flesh on the skeletal bones
thus far assembled.
Science fiction has a wonderful record of early warning for later
realization in the space biz. Albeit perhaps grossly simplified, the early
insights and ideas of Arthur Clarke et al nevertheless opened the minds
of future scientists, engineers, and yes, even lawyers (!) – at least to the
extent they understood and were able to communicate with the scientists
and the engineers – to the reality of current and future human use of our
space environment. Thus far, while providing military benefits to many
nations, space has proven to be a questionable venue for the positioning

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xxii Handbook of space law

of weapons. But the spectre ever lurks in the near background, and my
work in planetary defence (preventing asteroid impacts) hovers on that
threshold. Asteroids, in human scale, are massive objects and tweaking
their orbits to protect life on earth requires the use of energy levels in
space that, directed otherwise, potentially threaten that same life. Nuclear
explosions and directed energy devices may well be required to divert an
earthward-bound asteroid, and assuring the wise and judicious use of
such powerful instruments is a challenge for the international regime,
political and legal.
Nor is planetary defence the only emerging challenge for the field.
Asteroids have become something of a space hula hoop. The United
States is currently leading an initiative to bring a small asteroid, or a
boulder from a larger one, back to earth/moon space for astronauts and
researchers to meddle with. A mini-space version of bringing the
mountain to Mohammed, as it were. Inherent in this Asteroid Redirect
Mission of NASA’s, likely with international participation, rests a bundle
of asteroid-associated benefits: human exploration, science, planetary
defence, and space resource utilization. Each of these, with the possible
exception of science, is brimming with legal unknowns and precedents.
And though no single book, legal or otherwise, will be able to address all
those comprehensively, I would hope this particular book at least will
provide a major tool in the legal toolkit and point the lawyers – as well as
some scientists, engineers or politicians – in the right directions.
Beyond the ‘official’ (read governmental) programmes lies the boiling
sea of private space initiatives. And the tide is rising … fast! Private
launch vehicles and spacecraft of many kinds for both people and cargo
are proliferating. Equally diverse and innovative are the people devising,
funding and participating in all this turmoil. The simmering soup of
future space objects ranges from one-way human missions to Mars to
international passengers popping up to the edge of space; from private,
deep space telescopes in solar orbit, to flocks of mini-telescopes spying
the ground below and even swarms of pico-sats controlled by university
students. With all the hyperactive, entrepreneurial minds generating this
Bolero-like crescendo, international space law seems destined for excit-
ing times indeed!
In homage to the collection of nations which made possible my flight
into space on Apollo 9 in the spring of 1969 I carried with me copies of
the Outer Space Treaty, the UN Declaration of Human Rights and (a bit
more self-serving) the Return of Astronauts (‘Rescue’) Agreement. I
knew little at the time of the intensive collective effort that went into
producing these seminal agreements of the early space years. In the years
since my astronaut days ended I have come to appreciate the subtle,

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Foreword xxiii

powerful influence the work of many creative legal minds imprinted on

our collective understanding of the ‘common heritage’ of humanity …
the space environment into which we were born and now operate. But
like all frontiers in the past, this one will be filled to the brim with
surprises.
The intellectual front lines of the coming skirmishes along this new
frontier will doubtless be populated by the readers of this Handbook of
Space Law. Just as the book offers a multi-angular approach to the
various main issues involved, the increasing diversity and audaciousness
of the entrepreneurs in the emerging space arena will require a matching
multi-dimensional cast of space lawyers. Hopefully they will be more
credibly prepared for the challenges ahead than the lawyer-statistician
who advised his client to always carry a bomb when he flew since the
probability of encountering two bombs on any single flight was incred-
ibly remote. Wise and thoughtful, sometimes out-of-the-box, but prag-
matic thinking will definitely be in order and welcomed.
Standing philosophically above the fray one can surely anticipate that
the opening of space exploration to a younger and less entrenched set of
creative minds will inevitably result in dramatic leaps forward … and
backward. The human future will doubtless be powerfully shaped,
perhaps enabled by, the manner in which the inevitable intersections of
limited interests are handled in this process. At its core the practice of
law, space law included, brings to human evolution the collective wisdom
of enabling experience. We are all in this together. Our future will clearly
be shaped by the collective integrity of our actions as we move outward
into the cosmic environment. My conviction is that the essence of
insights into historic human behaviour represented in the law, applied
with imagination to the present, will enable an exciting and open-ended
human evolution.

Rusty Schweickart
Apollo 9

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Preface

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Before you lies the result of a multi-authored process, a Handbook of
Space Law, which is meant to provide fundamental guidance to all those
interested in studying, in a comprehensive yet still comprehensible
fashion, the legal aspects of mankind’s main activities in outer space,
directed toward outer space or directly benefiting from outer space.
When I started writing this Preface, the combination of my manual
clumsiness and the computer’s precocious urge to auto-correct first
resulted in the heading ‘prospect’ – which in this case I’d actually like to
look upon as a Freudian slip of the pen. A Handbook of Space Law can
no longer just address the legal state of affairs ‘as is’; ‘space law’ is a
body of law perhaps more than any other body of law moving (hopefully)
forward. Ongoing developments continuously seem to call for the adap-
tation or even dismissal of existing parts of space law and/or creating
novel parts altogether, and any Handbook worth its salt should not only
outline the lex lata but also the underlying structures and approaches
allowing for a true understanding of the lex ferenda, what it should
address and how it should address it.
Presuming a considerable knowledge and understanding of law, espe-
cially general public international law, the Handbook is first of all aimed
at graduate and post-graduate students at faculties and schools of law,
including doctoral, JSD and PhD students studying space law as a
comprehensive academic discipline. Secondly, however, it also aims to
provide fundamental support to those researching space law or a particu-
lar area thereof in the context of an academic, governmental, industry or
law firm-career – or even merely on their own account. How that is
supposed to work in such a new and complex context as that of ‘space
law’ perhaps requires a bit more explanation – notably why the project of
the Handbook was initiated, what it addresses and how it then does
address that.

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Preface xxv

WHY
When I was approached more than three years ago by Edward Elgar
Publishers to consider editing a (Research) Handbook of Space Law, the
most fundamental question was of course why such a book might be
necessary or even merely desirable. ‘Space law’ is not exactly perceived
as a field of law critical to the millions of active lawyers, law students
and other law experts around the world on a day-to-day basis. As a
consequence, there are not (yet!) hundreds of law schools teaching it or
hundreds of other institutions undertaking research in the area. And to the
extent that ‘space law’ was perceived to merit its special niche in higher
education and research, there were high-quality publications around
which would surely allow proper navigation within this niche.
Indeed, there are a few books around that, explicitly or implicitly, were
seen to cover all of space law in a coherent scheme. Most of them,
however, were written fairly long ago, such as the epochal treatise of
Manfred Lachs (which also was fairly succinct), the joint work of Myres
McDougal, Harold Lasswell and Ivan Vlasic, and the books of Wilfred
Jenks and Carl Christol. Others were, in addition, only available (at least
originally) in their own languages, such as Gennadi Zhukov and Yuri
Kolosov’s Russian introduction, the multi-author German volume edited
by Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel, French books edited by Jacqueline Dutheil de
la Rochère respectively written by Pierre-Marie Martin and an Italian one
by Elisabeth Back-Impallomeni. Thus, they all pre-dated the most
fundamental paradigm change in space law so far: the fundamental shift
of focus from largely strategy- and science-dominated state-run space
activities to specific almost day-to-day terrestrial applications and the
attendant fundamental inroads which the private and commercial sector
made into the space arena.
The above was also true for a number of treatises that each tackled
space law from a very specific vantage point, such as Nandasiri Jasentu-
liyana, due to his UN career addressing space law from the UN
perspective, Nicholas Matte, who was Director of one of the leading
institutes of air and space law addressing space law as a body of law
adjacent to air law, Henri Wassenbergh, who wished to address – and
reform – space law from his own philosophical angle, and Bin Cheng,
very much focusing on the five UN space treaties and a few inter-
governmental organizations. The latter also holds true for the Cologne
Commentary on Space Law, whereas by contrast the Projects 2001 and
2001-Plus have focused in great depth on commercialization and privat-
ization as such, taking substantial knowledge and understanding of the

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xxvi Handbook of space law

corpus juris spatialis internationalis for granted whilst much of the

analysis moreover was not officially published and remains difficult to
access.
For many years the only book coming close to a handbook and at least
updated a few times, was the truly introductory one by Isabella
Diederiks-Verschoor, most recently revised by Vladimir Kopal. As with
the technology underlying space activities, however, updating an intro-
ductory volume or handbook can only go so far, and at some point a
more fundamental overhaul or even a total rethinking of the approach to
the subject matter would become necessary.
Of course, the moment I had decided to tackle the challenge put before
me by Edward Elgar, more books started appearing which addressed, at
least in principle, all of space law. Many were by younger authors,
offering a fresh look at the substance and structure, although by their
very nature often too succinct to serve as proper handbooks. Other recent,
more voluminous efforts by contrast either tied space law into the
broader fabric of space politics, policies and economics, focused on the
Outer Space Treaty as the source also of all future space law, or were
modestly but purposefully labelled a ‘treatise’.
In short: I still felt it worthwhile to develop a (Research) Handbook of
Space Law as the publisher proposed, while insisting, however, that it
could also serve as a Handbook proper for higher-level students of space
law (almost by definition, in view of the nature of the discipline, such
students are in the later stages of their university career or even beyond)
– hence the title as it now lies before you.

WHAT
This Handbook addressing ‘space law’, the most important question is
then: what is ‘space law’? In view of the multi-dimensional character of
space law, at the outset a broad definition is required, even if it would
then be commensurately less likely that the – any – Handbook could
cover ‘space law’ comprehensively in any appreciable detail. Yet, ‘space
law’ should be defined as ‘every legal or regulatory regime having a
significant impact, even if implicitly or indirectly, on at least one type of
space activity or major space application’, which in principle encom-
passes both international and national law and regulation, as well as
regional and institutional arrangements as appropriate. In conformity with
this definition, the multi-faceted approach to the Handbook means it
comprises a few main sections, which address their respective subject-
matter from a few fundamentally different and cross-cutting angles.

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Preface xxvii

First, following a general introduction to the history and background of

space law in Chapter 1, the next four chapters address the various main
fields of law and regulation from a ‘formal’ perspective: Chapter 2
international space law properly speaking (with an obvious focus on the
UN space treaties, still the most fundamental set of legal documents
pertaining to space activities); Chapter 3 national law (mainly as an
instrument to implement international law vis-à-vis non-governmental
entities); Chapter 4 the specific ‘legal order’ pertinent to European space
activities; and Chapter 5 the special context of intergovernmental organ-
izations and their role in international space law.
Secondly, Chapter 6 addresses the main military, defence- and
security-related aspects of space activities, implying that the major focus
of the legal analyses conducted elsewhere in the book would be on
non-military, read civil and commercial uses – even as certain particular
aspects of military use also are discussed by some other chapters.
Thirdly, a set of six chapters focuses on substantive categories of space
activities and applications currently crucial from a global perspective, and
analyses each of those in turn: Chapter 7 launch activities; Chapter 8
satellite communications; Chapter 9 satellite remote sensing; Chapter 10
satellite navigation; and Chapters 11 and 12 manned spaceflight –
subdividing it further into public manned spaceflight and private manned
spaceflight respectively.
Fourthly, Chapter 13 addresses a major aspect intersecting with all
formal and substantive areas tackled before – the growing concerns about
environmental effects of space activities and how to address them, which
are then juxtaposed with the discussion in Chapter 14 of a major future
threat to – inter alia – such environmental interests: the possibilities for,
parameters for and consequences of the exploitation of celestial
resources. Other similarly cross-cutting analyses follow, largely focusing
on the commercial and private aspects of space activities: Chapter 15 on
the international trade aspects thereof; Chapter 16 on the financing of
space ventures; Chapter 17 on insurance aspects; and Chapter 18 on
intellectual property rights.
Fifthly and finally, the procedural subject of dispute settlement in the
context of space activities and their major applications is addressed by
Chapter 19 – as a conceptually logical capstone of the overarching legal
analysis also considerably looking into the future: what are the possibil-
ities in the legal realm to address disputes which may arise in any of the
above legal and regulatory regimes or sectors?

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xxviii Handbook of space law

HOW
Further to the definition of ‘space law’ and all it entails, at least in my
view as laid out above, at the same time as subdividing the analyses into
five main parts, the Handbook addresses ‘space law’ essentially at three
levels at the same time – which in the end also is responsible for its
extended size.
The first level constitutes an effort to address, analyse and explain
particular fields as fitting within the larger ‘structure’ of ‘space law’ as a
multi-faceted discipline, requiring in many respects a multi-angular and
multi-dimensional approach. Space law involves several regimes that
were developed for space in particular (notably, of course, the five
UN-originating space treaties) but even more that were only partly or not
at all so targeted, yet in the course of the space era did become relevant
for at least one category of space activities or space applications.
The reader should thus obtain an understanding of how such various
regimes interact. How the space treaties, the ITU regime, and the
developments in the WTO context are all of overriding importance for
satellite communications. How launching activities give rise both to
application of those space treaties and of general treaties and law on
security-sensitive technology, or on military applications – as well as
requiring a licence under national law. How undertaking remote sensing
requires not only compliance with the space treaties and the UN
resolution on remote sensing, but also the appropriate use of intellectual
property rights – as do ISS operations, albeit rather differently. How
international liability and insurance for space activities are inter-
connected. How environmental concerns may interfere with exploitation,
and vice versa. And so on.
The result of this first-level approach materializes in the introductory
paragraphs and conclusions, pointing out the inter-regime relationships at
a certain level of abstraction, and even more so in the very frequent
cross-referencing to the other chapters relevant for a certain issue,
development or sector. It is hoped in particular that this structural level of
analysis will allow the reader to easily understand also how future
developments that give rise to legal parameters, consequences or con-
siderations and/or future legal regimes that become relevant for space
activities and applications would fit into this multi-dimensional discipline
of ‘space law’.
The second level refers to the actual substance of the various regimes
or sets of regimes (in the case of national space law), where obviously
choices had to be made, but by and large the key regimes as of today of

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Preface xxix

major importance for space activities and applications have been covered
– in sufficient depth and detail so as to allow a fairly comprehensive
understanding of both the particular regime itself and where to look for
further details, if needed. In many respects not all details of a particular
regime at issue could actually be addressed (also here, choices had to be
made), so instead the most salient, telling or practically important details
or examples have been singled out for treatment.
In other words, it is hoped that at this substantial level of analysis the
reader will not only obtain a fairly comprehensive high-level overview of
the particular regime at issue, but if studying or researching it further,
will also be able to properly discern and relate other specific details or
examples to this overarching survey.
The third level is of a more prospective character: I have challenged
the various contributors as well as myself to also cast a look into the
future and dare to make some provisional predictions of future problems
and/or future solutions. There is no doubt that within a few years some of
those ‘predictions’ will prove wrong, and that others which have hardly
been expected will become reality instead, but also in the selection of
such ‘forward-looking analyses’ an effort has been made to analyse and
explain how they would result from, or otherwise relate to, the existing
structure and substance of the various legal regimes comprising ‘space
law’ in its broader sense.
Hopefully, therefore, these third-level prospective analyses will above
all challenge also the reader to think about future developments in
mankind’s space endeavour and what they might or should mean for
space law, as well as about future developments in space law and what
they might mean for mankind’s space endeavour.

THANK YOU
In view of the broad scope of this undertaking – the epithet ‘cosmic’
naturally comes to mind – it is inevitable that this project could not have
been (more or less) successfully concluded without the help of a great
number of people. At the risk of omitting names also entitled to being
mentioned, I want to express my gratitude to all concerned.
Whilst the undersigned remains, as Editor, ultimately responsible for
any flaws that the Handbook may show, many of the actual contributions
have been provided by specialists in respective special areas within space
law as a whole, as long-standing authorities, leading young minds
thinking out of the box – or, in most cases, both. It is wonderful how they
kept up with my constant bugging and tinkering – and then finding they

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xxx Handbook of space law

had to wait for the final result much longer than anticipated. I sincerely
hope they are not disappointed.
Most specifically, in this regard, thanks are due to the Assisting Editor
Dr Fabio Tronchetti, who not only himself contributed various chapters,
but also double-checked my comments and proposals regarding the
various chapters of the others as well as my own chapters, and kept a
check on my more fundamental and structural approaches as well. Also
my research assistants at UNL have provided invaluable support in
collecting all the details I insisted on being included – Robin Scott,
Dammy Oluyole and especially Sandra Teichert: thank you for that!
More generally, the environment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
College of Law has been very supportive for this kind of undertaking –
which in today’s academic world unfortunately is not always a given
anymore.
Personally, I take great pride also in the willingness of Rusty
Schweickart, as an ultimate representative of ‘practitioners’ of space
activities, to express his views of space law and its relevance for space
activities in the Foreword to this book. To me, it confirms once more that
in spite of the many lawyer jokes going around – many of which are
really great – there is indeed a place under the sun for space law and
space lawyers.
Finally, of course, I owe gratitude to Edward Elgar Publishing: by
allowing me to live out my idiosyncratic ideas and approaches and
ultimately come up with a book almost double the intended size, it is
clear that Ben Booth, Megan Ballantyne and David Fairclough, in
particular, valued quality over velocity – and I can only hope they are
also pleased with the result of the process, seeing this as a major step
forward, if perhaps not for all mankind, at least for all (space) lawyers.

Frans von der Dunk

Lincoln/Leiden,
April 2014

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Abbreviations

ABM Anti-Ballistic Missile

ADR Active debris removal
APRSAF Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum
APSCO Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASETA Asociación de Empresas de Telecomunicaciones de
la Comunidad Andina
ATC Air traffic control
ATV Automated Transfer Vehicle
BNSC British National Space Centre
BSS Broadcasting-satellite services
CCL Commerce Control List
CD Conference on Disarmament
CEE Colombian Commission of Space
CGEA Community General Export Authorisation
CNES Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
CNSA Chinese National Space Administration
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Central Southern
Africa
COPUOS Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
CORS Continuously Operating Reference Stations
COSPAR Committee on Space Research
COSTIND Chinese Commission of Science, Technology and
Industry
COTS Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
COUP Consolidated Operations and Utilization Plan
CRAF Committee on Radio Frequencies
CS Commercial Service
CSA Canadian Space Agency

xxxi

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xxxii Handbook of space law

CSG Centre Spatial Guyanais

DSB Dispute Settlement Body
EARC Extra-ordinary Administrative Radio Conference
EASA European Aviation Safety Agency
EC European Community
ECAC European Civil Aviation Conference
ECSL European Centre for Space Law
ECSS European Cooperation for Space Standardization
EEC European Economic Community
EGAS European Guaranteed Access to Space
EGNOS European Geo-stationary Navigation Overlay
System
ELDO European Launcher Development Organisation
ELV Expendable launch vehicle
ESA European Space Agency
ESF European Science Foundation
ESOC European Space Operations Centre
ESPLS European Space Products Liability Scheme
ESRO European Space Research Organisation
ESSP European Satellite Services Provider
ETG European Tripartite Group
EU European Union
EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites
FAA US Federal Aviation Administration
FAI Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
FANS Future Air Navigation Systems
FCC Federal Communications Commission
FMS Foreign Military Sales
FSS Fixed satellite services
GAGAN GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation
GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GBAS Ground-Based Augmentation Systems

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Abbreviations xxxiii

GCC Gulf Cooperation Council

GEO Geostationary orbit
GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems
GJU Galileo Joint Undertaking
GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System
GMDSS Global Maritime Distress and Safety System
GMES Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
GMPCS Global Mobile Personal Communications by
Satellite
GNP Gross National Product
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
GPS Global Positioning System
GSA GNSS Supervisory Authority
GSLV Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle
HEO Highly elliptical orbit
HP High Precision
IAA International Academy of Astronautics
IADC Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee
IAF International Astronautical Federation
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
ICD Interface Control Document
IGA Intergovernmental Agreement
IGO Intergovernmental organization
IISL International Institute of Space Law
ILA International Law Association
IMO International Maritime Organization
IMSO International Mobile Satellite Organization
INF Intermediate Nuclear Forces
IOV In-Orbit Validation
IPR intellectual property rights
ISRO Indian Space Research Organization
ISS International Space Station
ITARs International Traffic in Arms Regulations

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xxxiv Handbook of space law

ITSO International Telecommunications Satellite

Organization
ITU International Telecommunication Union
JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
LAAS Local Area Augmentation System
LEO Low earth orbit
LRG Launch risk guarantee
MCB Multilateral Control Board
MEO Medium earth orbit
MFN Most Favoured Nation
MLM Multipurpose Laboratory Module
MOU Memorandum of understanding
MSC Meteorological Satellite Center
MSS Mobile satellite services
MTCR Missile Technology Control Regime
MTSAT Multifunctional Transport Satellites
NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NDGPS Nationwide Differential GPS System
NEO Near-Earth Object
NGO Non-governmental organization
NGS National Geodetic Survey
NPS Nuclear power source
NT National Treatment
OOS On-orbit satellite servicing
OOSA UN Office for Outer Space Affairs
OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe
PAROS Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space
PCA Permanent Court of Arbitration
PLN Pre-launch notification
PPP Public–Private Partnership
PPS Precise Positioning Service
PRS Public Regulated Service

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Abbreviations xxxv

PSLV Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

PTO Public Telecom Operators
RIISO Residual International Intergovernmental Satellite
Organization
RLV Reusable launch vehicle
Roscosmos Space Agency of the Russian Federation
SADC Southern African Development Community
SAPOS Satellite Positioning Service
SATMS Space and Air Traffic Management System
SBAS Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems
SES Société Européenne des Satellites
SiS Signal in Space
SLASO Australian Space Licensing and Safety Office
SNS Space Network Systems
SOL Safety-of-Life
SOP Systems Operations Panel
SP Standard Precision
SPAC Satellite Positioning Research and Application
Center
SPS Standard Positioning Service
SSN Space Surveillance Network
STSC Scientific and Technical Sub-Committee
TAA Technical Assistance Agreement
TT&C Telemetry, Tracking, and Command
UCC Uniform Commercial Code
UN United Nations
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
UNIDIR UN Institute for Disarmament Research
UNIDROIT International Institute for the Unification of Private
Law
UOP User Operations Panel
USML United States Munitions List
WAAS Wide Area Augmentation System
WARC World Administrative Radio Conferences

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xxxvi Handbook of space law

WDA Warehouse and Distribution Agreement

WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization
WRC World Radio Conferences
WTO World Trade Organization

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1. The background and history of space law

Peter Jankowitsch

1.1 A POLITICAL OVERVIEW

Space law, much like other branches of public international law and
indeed international law itself, has its origins in the need to establish a
certain number of more or less simple rules to govern relations between
members of an increasingly organized international community, primarily
the community of states. In this effort a widening number of areas on
land, sea and finally air as well as new subjects, such as humanitarian
ones, were covered by an ever larger body of law and treaties.
While the human mind, science, but also early examples of science
fiction turned their attention early on to the space enveloping earth, outer
space, there was no legal dimension to this sphere. It was only with the
appearance of new technologies, in particular the development of rocket
technology from theoretical beginnings to its first use as a means of
warfare during the Second World War, that the possible legal aspects of
this new kind of human activity began to stimulate legal thinking on this
subject. As Vladimir Kopal has pointed out, many of the early writers on
space law, including the author of a first comprehensive monograph on
the subject, Vladimir Mandl, had a background in air law.1 Mandl,
however, points out in his study, published in Germany as early as 1932,
that reaching outer space by rockets would raise a variety of new issues
not settled by air law and therefore needing the creation of a new body of
law.2

1
See V. Kopal, Origins of Space Law and the role of the United Nations, in
Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011),
221 ff. Cf. also S.E. Doyle, Origins of International Space Law and the
International Institute of Space Law of the International Astronautical Federa-
tion (2002), 1–20.
2
See V. Mandl, Das Weltraum-Recht: Ein Problem der Raumfahrt (1932),
48 ff.; see further e.g. V. Kopal & M. Hofmann, Vladimír Mandl (20.3.1899–
8.1.1941), in Pioneers of Space Law (Ed. S. Hobe) (2013), 57 ff.; N. Jasentuli-
yana, Space Law: Development and Scope (1992), 18–9.

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2 Handbook of space law

These writings became more numerous as the 1950s progressed and

the International Geophysical Year of 1958 approached, in which a
growing number of authors such as John Cobb Cooper,3 Rolando
Quadri,4 Charles Chaumont,5 Nicolas Matte,6 Eugene Pépin7 and others
argued for legal regulation of this issue. Although they could not yet
produce the new international rules they were calling for, their import-
ance resided in the fact that they already produced some kind of
consensus on the nature and content of such a law.
The most powerful drive towards creating such a new branch of
international law finally came from geopolitical considerations, namely
the opening, in outer space, of a new field of competition and possibly
confrontation of the two superpowers of the day, the United States and
the Soviet Union. Their confrontation had already become much more
dangerous and global as it successively left the European theatre in
which, beginning with the emergence of an Iron Curtain, it had started

3
See e.g. J.C. Cooper, The Boundary between Territorial Airspace and
International Outer Space, in Explorations in Aerospace Law: Selected Essays by
John Cobb Cooper, 1946–1966 (Ed. I.A. Vlasic) (1968), 298; J.C. Cooper, Legal
Problems of Spacecraft in Airspace, in ibid., 308.
4
See e.g. R. Quadri, Diritto Internazionale Pubblico (5th edn., 1968),
685–7; R. Quadri, Droit international cosmique, in 98 Recueil des Cours (1959),
505–98; further e.g. S. Marchisio, Rolando Quadri (22.12.1907–2.4.1976), in
Pioneers of Space Law (Ed. S. Hobe) (2013), 151 ff.
5
See e.g. C. Chaumont, Les problèmes du droit international de l’espace
extra-atmosphérique, in Institut des Hautes Études Internationales de
l’Université de Paris (1958), 3 ff.; C. Chaumont, Les perspectives que doit
adopter le droit de l’espace’, in 7-2 Revue de Droit Contemporain (1960), 5–12;
C. Chaumont, Die Brüsseler Entschließung des Institut de Droit International
zum Weltraumrecht, in 15 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1966), 20–35.
6
See e.g. N.M. Matte, Aerospace Law (1969); also N.M. Matte, The Law
of the Sea and Outer Space: A Comparative Survey of Specific Issues, in 3
Ocean Yearbook (1982), 13–37; N.M. Matte, Deux Frontières Invisibles: De la
Mer Territoriale à l’Air ‘Territorial’ (1965), 157–240; N.M. Matte, Aerospace
Law: Telecommunications Satellites, in 166 Recueil des Cours (1980), 119–249.
7
See e.g. E. Pépin, Legal Problems Created by the Sputnik, Lecture given
on 6 November 1957 to the Canadian Bar Association (Quebec Maritime and Air
Law Section), reprinted in Legal Problems of Space Exploration, A Symposium
(1961), 187 ff.; also E. Pépin, Introduction to Space Law, 4 New York Law Forum
(1958), 258–61; E. Pépin, The Legal Status of the Airspace in the Light of
Progress in Aviation and Astronautics, 3 McGill Law Journal (1956), 70–7; E.
Pépin, Les Problèmes Juridiques De L’Espace, 6 McGill Law Journal (1959),
30–42; E. Pépin, Legal Problems Created by the Sputnik, 4 McGill Law Journal
(1957), 66–72. Further e.g. A. Kerrest de Rozavel, Eugène Pépin (27.06.1887–
27.04.1988), in Pioneers of Space Law (Ed. S. Hobe) (2013), 21 ff.

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The background and history of space law 3

and rapidly developed into a worldwide contest. Its major players were
constantly in search of new areas and fields where military, political or
technological advantage over the adversary could be gained. Military
technology was one of the foremost areas of their competition.
The rapid development of nuclear arms was also a clear sign that in
this confrontation no avenue would be left unexplored and that few limits
would be respected. While, thus, land, air and sea were already theatres
of an unending arms race, the question remained to what extent it might
also reach into new spheres. Here, early ballistic weapons developed by a
desperate Nazi Germany towards the end of the Second World War
pointed in an ominous new direction. When, thus, in October of 1957, the
Soviet Union managed to launch a first man-made object into outer
space, it became clear that a new area of competition between the two
superpowers of the day had been opened, especially as the United States
had been caught quite unawares and were certain to react in one way or
another.
It is not easy to speculate, even today, on the motives and ultimate
reasons that made the two superpowers refrain from such an arms race
and instead engage in a different sort of competition whose first, largely
civilian high points were the first venture of a human being into outer
space and later the peaceful landing on the moon. If in the end, therefore,
such a more peaceful turn of events occurred, we can assume that next to
political considerations there must also have been powerful economic
ones such as the cost, even more prohibitive in those early days than
today, of moving large military structures into outer space and maintain-
ing them. Finally, space technology was still in its infant stage, lacking
powerful launchers, sophisticated means of communications and intelli-
gence.
As early as 1963, therefore, and well before the conclusion of the first
major outer space treaty, general understandings were reached between
the United States and the Soviet Union to ban the deployment of nuclear
weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in outer space.8 Origin-
ally in the form of a bilateral agreement, it was later welcomed by the
General Assembly of the United Nations in Resolution 1884(XVIII),
unanimously adopted on 17 October 1963.9

8
This would be the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmos-
phere, in Outer Space and Under Water (hereafter Partial Test Ban Treaty),
Moscow, done 5 August 1963, entered into force 10 October 1963; 480 UNTS
43; TIAS No. 5433; 14 UST 1313; UKTS 1964 No. 3; ATS 1963 No. 26.
9
Question of general and complete disarmament, UNGA Res.
1884(XVIII), of 17 October 1963; UN Doc. A/RES/18/1884. See further e.g. M.

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4 Handbook of space law

The way was thus opened for entering into a much wider agreement on
the principles that should henceforth govern the activities of states in the
exploration and peaceful uses of outer space, and here again the General
Assembly set out these principles in its historic Resolution 1962(XVIII) of
13 December 1963.10 This led to the negotiation and signing in January
1967 of the Outer Space Treaty in London, Moscow and New York.11
While geopolitical motives have thus had the strongest impact on the
willingness of the international community during these otherwise highly
controversial and conflict-stricken years to arrive at such a wide-reaching
agreement, this should not obscure other factors which promoted this
innovative process.
For the origins of air law, technological factors also had a large part to
play and here interesting parallels between air and space law exist. Thus, as
Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor notes in her now classic Introduction to Space
Law,12 it was the Wright brothers’ engine-powered flight in 1903 that
eventually led to a first series of international conferences and agreements
on rules and regulations for air traffic, in particular the famous Paris
Convention of 1919,13 preceding the later Chicago Convention of 1944.14
Similarly, the first flights of man-made objects into outer space
beginning with Sputnik called for an urgent need to develop the legal
principles which the academic world had already requested earlier.

Dauses, Bestehen und Inhalt von Weltraumgewohnheitsrecht – Ein Beitrag zur

Lehre von den Rechtsquellen des Weltraumrechts, in 20 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (1971), 267–79; A.E. Gotlieb, Nuclear Weapons in Outer Space, 3
Canadian Yearbook of International Law (1965), 3–35.
10
Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, UNGA Res. 1962(XVIII), of 13 December
1963; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 37.
11
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).
12
See I.H.P. Diederiks-Verschoor & V. Kopal, Introduction to Space Law
(3rd edn., 2008), 2.
13
Convention Relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation (Paris Con-
vention), Paris, done 13 October 1919, entered into force 11 July 1922; 11 LNTS
173; UKTS 1922 No. 2; ATS 1922 No. 6.
14
Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), Chi-
cago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force 4 April 1947; 15 UNTS 295;
TIAS 1591; 61 Stat. 1180; Cmd. 6614; UKTS 1953 No. 8; ATS 1957 No. 5;
ICAO Doc. 7300.

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Contrary to air law, however, the time span between a first technological
breakthrough and a first legal reaction was cut by half.
As another leading expert on air and space law, Bin Cheng remarked in
an essay published on the 30th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty,
‘the treaty was drawn up not only in some haste within the space of less
than 12 months but also less than ten years after the launch of the earth’s
first artificial satellite’.15
The signing and entry into force, shortly thereafter, of the Treaty on
Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of
Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (usually
referred to as the Outer Space Treaty) thus signifies the creation of an
entirely new branch of public international law, the law of outer space. This
law is and remains of an original and innovative nature in many respects.
In subjecting the exercise of state sovereignty in outer space to new
rules rarely to be found in the traditional pages of international law, much
more strongly marked by Realpolitik, the Outer Space Treaty creates a
new ethic and an entirely new spirit in the cold relations between states.
Most importantly perhaps, unlike the continents and seas newly discov-
ered by European empires and their navies in previous centuries, outer
space, including the moon and all other celestial bodies, is not subject to
national appropriation.16 And unlike the high seas, which since Salamis
and Actium, have been among the preferred theatres of war and military,
naval engagements, the exploration and uses of outer space were to be
reserved for peaceful purposes only.17 It is innovative also in the sense
that to this day it has attempted, albeit not always successfully, to move
ahead of technological developments and to try to create a secure legal
environment for future scientific or economic activities.
This ambitious design is perhaps best exemplified by the visionary
dispositions of such follow-up treaties as the 1979 Moon Agreement.18 By
designating in its Article 11 the moon itself, as well as its natural resources,
as the ‘Common Heritage of Mankind’ (echoing, incidentally, a similar
disposition for natural resources in the deep sea-bed contained in the new

15
B. Cheng, Space Objects and Their Various Connecting Factors, in
Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D.
Crowther) (1997), 203.
16
See Art. II, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 11.
17
Cf. e.g. Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 11.
18
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979).

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6 Handbook of space law

law of the sea19) a step was certainly made towards a future, more broadly
designed regime for such resources. The scope for such a regime would
even be wider as the provisions of the Moon Agreement are also applicable
to other celestial bodies within the solar system other than the earth.20 Not
surprisingly, this treaty has, although adopted unanimously by the General
Assembly of the United Nations and although it could enter into force some
years later, found to this day only a handful of states willing to ratify it and
thus endorse the principles it contains.
Among the many new and path-breaking principles contained in the
1967 Outer Space Treaty special attention is due to its Article VI which
incorporated the principle of international responsibility of states for
national space activities, whether such activities are carried out by
governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities. It also stipulates
that national space activities are carried out in conformity with the
provisions of the Outer Space Treaty. The wording of this principle
emerged as a compromise formula which reconciled the then strongly
opposed views of those, like the Soviet Union, wishing to reserve space
activities to states only, and those, like the United States and other
Western powers, advocating and allowing access to space and space
activities to non-state actors as well.
During the period of 12 years that followed the entry into force of the
1967 Outer Space Treaty four other major space treaties were concluded
at the United Nations. Here the finalization and signature of an Agree-
ment on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and Return
of Objects Launched into Outer Space, in short the 1968 Rescue
Agreement,21 was accelerated by a tragic space event that occurred just
on the day of the signature of the Outer Space Treaty.22

19
See in particular Art. 136, United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea, Montego Bay, done 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November
1994; 1833 UNTS 3 & 1835 UNTS 261; UKTS 1999 No. 81; Cmnd. 8941; ATS
1994 No. 31; 21 ILM 1261 (1982); S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-39.
20
See Art. 1(1), Moon Agreement, supra n. 18.
21
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 December
1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56; Cmnd. 3786;
ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968).
22
On 27 January 1967 the crew of Apollo 1, Roger Chaffee, Ed White and
Gus Grissom, were killed by a fire that broke out during a ‘plugs-out-test’ of
their spacecraft in their space capsule.

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The background and history of space law 7

The next and third of the space treaties originating from within the
United Nations, the 1972 Liability Convention,23 is considered to be one
of the most interesting instruments from a purely legal point of view. The
Liability Convention is based on two different legal principles: the
principle of absolute liability of the launching state, which shall be
obliged to pay compensation for damage caused by its space object on
the surface of the earth or to aircraft in flight;24 on the other hand it also
contains the principle of liability based on fault in the event of damage
caused elsewhere.25
The fourth UN treaty, the 1975 Registration Convention,26 had as its
main objective the implementation of the principles that had already been
spelled out in less detail in Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty.27
When drafting the terms of the fifth legal instrument, the 1979 Moon
Agreement, in the late 1970s negotiators again elaborated on a number of
principles already found in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. But when
negotiating this Agreement, the drafters, in dealing with the status of the
natural resources of the moon, were not in a position to rely on the Outer
Space Treaty as, in this respect, the Treaty remains mostly silent.
As opinions on this matter diverged, a generally acceptable compro-
mise was found by joining confirmation of the freedom of scientific
investigation, the exploitation and use of the moon as a right of all states
with the stipulation to establish an international regime governing the

23
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29
March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971).
24
See esp. Art. II, IV(1.a), Liability Convention, supra n. 23.
25
See esp. Art. III, IV(1.b), Liability Convention, supra n. 23.
26
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January 1975, entered
into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS
1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975).
27
Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 11, provided in relevant part: ‘A
State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is
carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any
personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body … Such objects or
component parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on
whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall,
upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.’

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8 Handbook of space law

exploitation of the natural resources of the moon, as such exploitation

might become feasible.28
With the conclusion of the Moon Agreement the early and dynamic
phase of UN law making by treaties in the field of outer space had come
to an end. This did, not, however, mean that efforts of the world
organization to create multilateral rules for this new dimension of human
activity had totally ceased.29 The United Nations now turned or rather
returned to the practice of declaring legal principles for space by
Resolutions of the General Assembly, a practice it had already employed
in the period that preceded the adoption of the five outer space treaties.
But while the first of these Resolutions, in particular Resolution
1962(XVIII) of 13 December 1963, had the objective of launching the
process of international cooperation in space and thus creating a basis for
a space legislation process later, now the establishment of a number of
sets of principles by UN General Assembly Resolutions had to regulate
more special and more technical categories of space activities. In this
way the sets of principles elaborated and adopted by the General
Assembly included principles governing television broadcasting (1982),30
remote sensing of the earth from space (1986),31 the use of nuclear power
sources in outer space (1992)32 and a Declaration on international
cooperation for the benefit and in the interest of all states, taking into
particular account the needs of developing countries (1996).33
These sets of principles, while based to a large degree on the previous
space treaties, particularly the Outer Space Treaty, are not legally binding
– Resolutions of the General Assembly, which are simply recommenda-
tions to member states lacking this force.34 Principles thus adopted,

28
See esp. Art. 6(1) resp. Art. 11(5), Moon Agreement, supra n. 18.
29
See further infra, § 1.3.
30
Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for
International Direct Television Broadcasting, UNGA Res. 37/92, of 10 December
1982; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 39.
31
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space,
UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3 December 1986; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43;
25 ILM 1334 (1986).
32
Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space,
UNGA Res. 47/68, of 14 December 1992; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 47.
33
Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of
Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of all States, Taking into
Particular Account the Needs of Developing Countries, UNGA Res. 51/122, of
13 December 1996; UN Doc. A/RES/51/122.
34
See A.D. Terekhov, UN General Assembly Resolutions and Space Law, in
Proceedings of the Fortieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 14; V.

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however – most of them by consensus – still form a code of conduct and

reflect a wide legal conviction of the present international space com-
munity on special categories of space activities.
These General Assembly Resolutions if followed, as is the case, by a
constant practice of states and international organizations, may play a
significant role either in establishing customary rules of international
law35 or serve as a basis for future international negotiations on treaties
to regulate the same subjects but this time in a legally binding manner.

1.2 SPACE LAW AND THE NEW MAJORITY IN THE

UNITED NATIONS
While it was earlier the security concerns of the major space powers that
overshadowed and influenced the development of space law, the ‘new
majority’ of developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America
that became dominant in the United Nations from the 1960s onwards
brought a different kind of concern to these deliberations. Developing
nations saw a need to use this new technology for the benefit of their
economic and social advancement. There was, in particular, a fear that
space benefits would remain limited to a small number of advanced,
industrialized countries. This view was clearly echoed by U Thant who,
as Secretary-General of the United Nations, submitted to the 1968 Vienna
Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space a
Memorandum in which he warned participants that ‘the space age was
increasing the gap between the developed and the developing areas at an
alarming rate’.36
An effort was therefore made to give space law or basic principles of
space law a direction that would also benefit developing countries. One
of the best reflections of this effort can be seen in a Declaration adopted
in 1996 whose lengthy title is an appeal, couched in some legal terms, to
conduct the exploration and uses of outer space ‘for the Benefit and in
the Interest of All States, Taking into Particular Account the Needs of

Kopal, The Role of United Nations Declarations of Principles in the Progressive

Development of Space Law, 16 Journal of Space Law (1988), 5 ff.
35
See V. Vereshchetin & G.M. Davilenko, Custom as a Source of Inter-
national Law of Outer Space, 13 Journal of Space Law (1985), 113; A. Cassese,
International Law (2005), 168.
36
P. Jankowitsch, The Role of the United Nations in Outer Space Law
Development: Past Achievements and New Challenges, 26 Journal of Space Law
(1998), 105.

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10 Handbook of space law

Developing Countries’.37 It certainly reflects a further stage of the

North–South debate on space cooperation, without, however, marking, as
some authors believe,38 an end to it, and the role of space law in this
regard.
What it certainly does do is to combine the principle of the freedom of
the exploration and utilization of outer space with a reminder to space
powers to fulfil their obligation to conduct these activities for the benefit
of all countries.39 Space powers should foster international cooperation
on an equitable and mutually acceptable basis. Developing countries
newly interested in space activities might thus be motivated to pool their
energies so as to develop common strategies towards outer space, that
could also include efforts towards better legal regulations.

1.3 SPACE LAW AND THE UNITED NATIONS

In apparent contrast to the creation of other, earlier bodies of inter-
national law, an international organization with a broad, all-encompassing
mandate like the United Nations, established to ‘maintain international
peace and security’ and to encourage the ‘progressive development of
international law and its codification’ became the first and primary source
of space law.40 This was also obvious in view of the global reach of space
activities, which from their onset required a high degree of international
cooperation that, by its nature, could only be found and practised in a
universal organization like the United Nations.
It was therefore a natural course of events that as early as 1958, shortly
after the launch of the first man-made space object, the General Assem-
bly created an Ad Hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,
made up of 18 members who were to study the technical, legal and other
aspects brought about by the appearance of the first satellites.41 The Ad

37
Preamble, 10th para., UN GA Res. 51/122, supra n. 33; see also Annex,
sub 1.
38
Cf. e.g. V. Liebig & K.U. Schrogl, Space Applications and Policies for the
New Century (2000), 137.
39
Cf. also Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 11.
40
Art. 1(1) resp. Art. 13(1.a), Charter of the United Nations (hereafter UN
Charter), San Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945;
USTS 993; 24 UST 2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67;
Cmd. 6666 & 6711; CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1.
41
See Question of the peaceful use of outer space, UNGA Res. 1348(XIII),
of 13 December 1958; Resolutions adopted on the reports of the First Commit-
tee, General Assembly – Thirteenth Session, at 5.

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Hoc Committee met for the first time on 6 May 1959, and it established
two Sub-Committees – one scientific and technical, and one legal – and
submitted a report which became part of a final report of the Ad Hoc
Committee approved on 25 June 1959.42
The Ad Hoc Committee became permanent by General Assembly
Resolution 1472(XIV) of 12 December 1959,43 but not without Cold War
controversies marring its beginnings. The Soviet Union first boycotted
the Committee for not being sufficiently representative, also asking that
its decisions be made by consensus rather than by majority vote as the
West had suggested. An agreement was finally reached to create a
Committee of 24 members that was designed as a subsidiary body of the
General Assembly, to which it was to report, thus underlining its strongly
political character.
Cold War politics were also decisive in attributing leadership in a
Committee in which a careful balance between East and West was to be
achieved. Austria, a neutral country, was chosen to take the chair of the
main Committee, now called COPUOS; the other members of the bureau
being Romania as Vice-Chair and Brazil as Rapporteur.44 A certain
balance between East and West was also maintained in attributing the
chairs of the two Sub-Committees of COPUOS, the Legal Sub-
Committee long having been chaired by a representative of Eastern
countries, while the chair of the Scientific and Technical Sub-Committee
remained in the hands of the Western group of countries.
A special case was China, which, for a number of years, after the
People’s Republic had had its membership of the United Nations
restored, had refused to join the Committee, which it considered to be too
strongly dominated by a Soviet-American tandem. However, it later took
its seat as Chinese space programmes began to develop and as more and
more member states of the United Nations took part in its work.
Still, the Cold War configuration of COPUOS was to remain
unchanged well into the period after the end of the Cold War, when
ultimately the usual system of rotating chairmanships was adopted by the
Committee. The Committee, after some protracted negotiations, had

42
See Document A/4141, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space, of 14 July 1959, www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/gadocs/A_
4141E.pdf, last accessed 12 April 2014.
43
International co-operation in the peaceful uses of outer space, UNGA
Res. 1472(XIV) A, of 12 December 1959; Resolutions adopted on the reports of
the First Committee, General Assembly – Fourteenth Session, at 5.
44
See e.g. I. Seidl-Hohenveldern & G. Hafner, Liber Amicorum Professor
Ignaz Seidl-Hohenveldern: In Honour of His 80th Birthday (1998), 73.

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12 Handbook of space law

finally adopted the practice of consensus for its decision making in 1962
when the Chair of COPUOS, Ambassador Franz Matsch of Austria, read
the following statement into its record:

I should like to place on record that through informal consultations it has been
agreed among the members of the Committee that it will be the aim of all
members of the Committee and its sub-Committees to conduct the Commit-
tee’s work in such a way that the Committee will be able to reach agreement
in its work without need for voting.45

The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was the first
UN standing body to use this procedure in its purest form. The fact that
all the space law agreements drafted in its Legal Sub-Committee were
therefore adopted by consensus, although this methodology sometimes
slowed down negotiations, provided them with broad international
acceptance, particularly from the major space powers, who could thus
identify with the compromise solutions found in the Committee. The fact
that today – with one exception – the majority of outer space treaties are
accepted by a large number of states also testifies to this.
Thus the Outer Space Treaty itself today has 102 states parties, 26
others having already signed it.46 The Rescue Agreement has 92 states
parties and has been signed by 24 additional states, while two inter-
national organizations have declared their acceptance of the rights and
obligations established under this Agreement.47 Similarly, 89 states are
now parties to the Liability Convention and 60 states are parties to the
Registration Convention.48 In both cases there are also numerous add-
itional signatory states and international organizations accepting rights
and obligations deriving from them. The only exception so far is the
Moon Agreement with a meagre 15 states parties and four more states
signatories to it.49
The importance of the legislative work of the Committee and particu-
larly its Legal Sub-Committee was also underlined by the fact that its
proceedings were recorded verbatim until 1985, a privilege only enjoyed
by such important organs of the General Assembly as its First Committee
and of course the Assembly itself.

45
UN Doc. A/AC.105/OR.2, of 19 March 1962, at 5. See also UN Doc.
A/518l, of 27 September 1962, at 3–4.
46
See www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/treatystatus/index.html, last
accessed 2 January 2014.
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid.
49
Ibid.

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The background and history of space law 13

The adoption and consequential practice of the consensus rule was,

however, not the main reason why the legislative functions of the
Committee and its legal sub-body have been grinding almost to a
complete halt in recent years. One major reason for this development was
a new ideology, triggering a massive political movement that first
surfaced in some major, mostly Western, parts of the developed world
and then became more general. Under various brand names and slogans
like ‘supply-side economics’, its principal aim was to liberalize and
deregulate national and international markets and as a consequence
reduce the influence of states and governments in economic and social
matters. Not by coincidence, these policies were generally also referred
to as the ‘Washington Consensus’.50
Such an atmosphere was certainly not conducive to the acceptance of
new rules and regulations in outer space, which at the same time
experienced the massive entry of particularly aggressive private sector
players, motivated by expectations of rapid growth and quick economic
benefit. Much of the resistance to the introduction of new legal frame-
works therefore came from these new players as well as from govern-
ments displaying an ever higher degree of reluctance to enter into new
treaty commitments of a multilateral character.
One of the best examples to illustrate this change in political atmos-
phere was the lamentable fate of the Moon Agreement. Although first
adopted unanimously by the General Assembly of the United Nations in
Resolution 34/68 of 5 December 1979,51 the United States and all other
Western powers joining in this consensus, this later change in political
atmosphere created new and unforeseen barriers to its ratification, many
of its provisions now seeming to be in contrast to a more market-friendly
world.
Next to a changed economic philosophy, more assertive national
interests have also played their part: more powerful national space
agencies, not least those operating in some of the most technologically
advanced countries, apparently saw little merit in accepting new legal
obligations of an international character and preferred to cast their
international relations in bilateral form. This was also true, for instance,
as far as responsibilities to support efforts of developing countries to
become users of space technology were concerned.

50
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Consensus, last accessed 12
April 2014.
51
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies, UNGA Res. 34/68, of 5 December 1979; UN Doc. A/34/20.

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14 Handbook of space law

The clearest rejection of new multilateral treaty making came from the
United States, which, in its new National Space Policy adopted in 2006,
stated that ‘the United States will oppose the development of new legal
regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit US access to or
use of Outer Space’.52
At the same time, however, technological progress as well as new and
multiple uses of outer space continued, creating new problems and
challenges for which legal solutions were just as important as technical
ones. And in the same way that it remains beyond doubt that economic
globalization, particularly after the experience of the last great crisis,
cannot safely and successfully function without some degree of regu-
lation, the global nature of space cooperation certainly required a
minimum of universally accepted rules to stay on course and to avoid
lawlessness, chaos and conflict in outer space.

1.4 SPACE LAW AND SPACE ARMS CONTROL53

The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer
Space and Under Water (better known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty54)
concluded in August 1963, which has since attracted 126 states parties (a
few more having just signed it),55 was the first legally binding inter-
national instrument that clearly acknowledged the fact that outer space
constitutes a new dimension in international security, deserving attention
no less than that given to other, more terrestrial ones.
An even clearer link of that kind was created by the Outer Space
Treaty of 1967. Prohibiting the placing in orbit around the earth or
stationing in outer space of any objects carrying nuclear weapons or
other weapons of mass destruction, the installation of such weapons on
celestial bodies or the stationing of such weapons in outer space in any

52
National Space Policy of the United States of America, of 31 August
2006, Section II, Principles, para. 7, available at www.whitehouse.gov/sites/
default/files/microsites/ostp/national-space-policy-2006.pdf, last accessed 2 Janu-
ary 2014.
53
This section draws in its substance from a paper ‘Arms Control in Outer
Space: The Need for New Legal Action’ which the author presented to an SIPRI
Symposium ‘Outer Space – can Militarization be checked’, held in Stockholm,
21–23 September 1983; see Space Weapons – The Arms Control Dilemma (Ed.
B. Jasani) (1984), 173 ff.
54
Partial Test Ban Treaty, supra n. 8.
55
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_the_Partial_Test_Ban
_Treaty, last accessed 2 January 2014.

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The background and history of space law 15

other manner,56 it subjected outer space – in a manner relevant to its

special nature – to a new body of arms control measures designed to
exclude the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruc-
tion.
While these treaty commitments certainly go some way towards
creating a special status for outer space and could be seen as a first
element in the building of a new and at least nuclear weapon-free
‘sanctuary’, they are first and foremost not much more than an extra-
terrestrial extension of arms control measures designed for more trad-
itional theatres of warfare. They are therefore only to a minor degree
addressed to the new possibilities offered by this medium.
A somewhat larger perspective is offered by the further provisions of
Article IV of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which explicitly outlaws ‘the
establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing
of any kind of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on
celestial bodies’. These provisions – although limited to celestial bodies
and in particular the moon – constitute a somewhat rudimentary but
conceptually more hopeful design of an outer space environment placed
outside terrestrial battlegrounds.
These provisions are strengthened by the arms control article of the
Moon Agreement, which not only repeats the prohibitions concerning
nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction contained in Article
IV of the Outer Space Treaty, but also prohibits ‘any threat or use of
force or any other hostile act or threat of hostile act on the Moon’.57 It
likewise prohibits ‘use [of] the Moon in order to commit any such act or
to engage in any such threat in relation to the Earth, the Moon,
spacecraft, the personnel of spacecraft or man-made space objects’.58 The
importance and weight of these provisions is also underscored by the fact
that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as well as the 1979 Moon Agreement
were the fruit of an intensive international legislative effort, conceived
and negotiated multilaterally in the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space and later adopted unanimously by the General Assembly of
the United Nations.
In contrast to it, two further international agreements that had added to
these beginnings of arms control provisions for outer space have resulted
from bilateral arms control negotiations between the United States and
the Soviet Union. These are the 1972 US–Soviet Treaty on the limitation

56
See Art. IV, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 11.
57
Art. 3(2), Moon Agreement, supra n. 18.
58
Ibid.

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16 Handbook of space law

of anti-ballistic missile systems, the ABM Treaty,59 which also prohibited

the deployment of ABM systems in outer space, and the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT I) Agreement.60 Both treaties established the
principle of ‘non-interference’ with the so-called ‘national technical
means of verification’.61
The provisions contained in these two bilateral agreements constituted,
at the time they were passed, a further step in arms control for outer
space as for the first time they addressed themselves not only to the
extension of weapons systems existing on earth to outer space but also to
the protection of technologies which – if we assume that national
technical means of verification included satellites – are typical for the
space environment only. Although their scope was limited due to the fact
that at the time of their adoption there were only these two countries able
to deploy such space objects, and although the United States later
withdrew from the ABM Treaty,62 they provided important indications on
the direction and extensions a more complete system of arms control
provisions for outer space would have to take.
Indeed the principle of non-interference with national technical means
of verification63 was not only incorporated in other bilateral US–Soviet
arms control treaties such as the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF)
Treaty,64 but also remained on the agenda of subsequent discussions

59
Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Socialist
Soviet Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (hereafter
ABM Treaty), Moscow, done 26 May 1972, entered into force 3 October 1972,
no longer in effect 13 June 2002; 944 UNTS 13; TIAS No. 7503; 23 UST 3435.
60
Interim Agreement on Certain Measures with Respect to the Limitation of
Strategic Arms (hereafter SALT I Agreement), Moscow, done 26 May 1972,
entered into force 3 October 1972; TIAS 7504; 23 UST 3462.
61
See Art. XII(2), ABM Treaty, supra n. 59, resp. Art. V(2), SALT I
Agreement, supra n. 60.
62
On 13 December 2001 US President George W. Bush notified Russia of the
US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty in accordance with the clause that required six
months’ notice before terminating the agreement. President Bush stated that ‘I
have concluded the ABM treaty hinders our government’s ability to develop ways to
protect our people from future terrorist or rogue state missile attacks’; cf.
http://articles.cnn.com/2001-12-13/politics/rec.bush.abm_1_abm-treaty-rogue-state-
missile-attacks-anti-ballistic-missile-treaty?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS, last accessed 2
January 2014. The US withdrawal took effect from June 2002.
63
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_technical_means_of_verification,
last accessed 2 January 2014; further infra, § 6.4.
64
Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Socialist
Soviet Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-
Range Missiles (hereafter INF Treaty), Washington, done 8 December 1987,

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The background and history of space law 17

under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I),65 as well as others
like the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.66
A look at this existing body of space arms control provisions shows a
picture that is certainly incomplete and lacks a coherent approach. This
becomes even more obvious when one considers that none of the treaties
and agreements mentioned above is specifically and exclusively directed
at arms control in space but contains such provisions rather as a
by-product of other concepts. An analysis of this body of law will also
have to focus on the philosophy and motivations that lie behind these
provisions. Here again it appears difficult to identify a unifying concept.
As pointed out above, some elements of these provisions suggest that
there may indeed have been some effort towards the concept of a fully
demilitarized ‘sanctuary’, moving well beyond terrestrial concepts of
arms control, deterrence or military balance. While also incomplete and
not devoid of loopholes, the provisions relating to the moon and other
celestial bodies bear closest resemblance to the concept of ‘sanctuariz-
ation’.67 Other provisions, however, rather suggest the idea that outer
space is being regarded as a kind of support area for earth-based military
– and of course civilian – activities, but that at least some specific rules
and regulations should serve to govern its use.
This conceptual ambiguity is hardly surprising given the diversity of
the actors concerned, a diversity clearest not perhaps among the archi-
tects of the multilateral treaties, but between the two major space powers
of the times who pursued hugely different interests and policies. Difficult
as it may be to identify some coherent concept or philosophy behind
these various provisions, it appears all the same that – with all caution
that has to be exercised in offering judgement on these matters – they all
suggest a measure of restraint in the military uses of outer space as even
the incomplete measures adopted originally were certainly supposed to
avoid the conversion of outer space into one of the full-scale battlefields
of the future.

entered into force 1 June 1988; UST LEXIS 211; 27 ILM 90 (1988); S. Treaty
Doc. No. 100-11.
65
Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms
(hereafter START I Treaty), Moscow, done 31 July 1991, not entered into force;
S. Treaty Doc. No. 102-20.
66
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, New York, done 24 September 1996, not
yet entered into force; Cm. 3665; 35 ILM 1439 (1996); S. Treaty Doc. No.
105-28 (1997).
67
Cf. e.g. Art. IV(2), Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 11; Art. 3, Moon
Agreement, supra n. 18.

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18 Handbook of space law

As in other fields concerning basic rules of space law, however,

progress in devising new pages of space law to maintain its peaceful
character and limit its military uses was just as slow and hesitating and
no new agreements could therefore be concluded. In particular, talks
between the United States and the Soviet Union on anti-satellite (ASAT)
weapons, which were conducted in three rounds from June 1978 to June
1979, were suspended without any tangible success, although it was
hoped at the time that an ASAT agreement would be reached and could
be signed at the same time as the SALT II Treaty.68 While the suspension
of these talks perhaps owed more to the world political situation of the
times – in particular to the freezing of East–West relations after the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan – than to the subject matter itself, the fact
remains that no serious effort was made in the following years to reopen
these negotiations.
The same lack of progress characterized the various multilateral bodies
in which the problems of arms control in outer space were to be
addressed. Chief among them, the first two Special Sessions of the
General Assembly of the United Nations devoted to disarmament held in
1978 and 1982, while not failing to recognize the dangers of a potential
arms race in outer space and while calling for further measures to be
taken and international negotiations to be held in order to prevent such a
development, did not produce any new agreements on the matter.69
In view of the remarkable reluctance of many of those concerned to
seriously tackle the issue of arms control in outer space, it was not
surprising that it was only in 1982 and after protracted negotiations that
the Committee on Disarmament of the United Nations, the predecessor of
the current UN Conference on Disarmament (CD), finally came to the
conclusion that the prevention of an arms race in outer space should be
put on its agenda.70 The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,
while inhibited by its mandate from taking up matters of arms control in
outer space and putting them on its agenda, thus became one of the main

68
Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Socialist
Soviet Republics on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (hereafter SALT
II Treaty), Vienna, signed 18 June 1979, not entered into force; UST LEXIS 220;
18 ILM 1112 (1979); S. Exec. Doc. Y, 96-1.
69
See Final Document of the Special Session of the General Assembly on
Disarmament, 17 ILM 4, July 1978, 1016–37.
70
See Report of the Disarmament Commission, Official Records of the
General Assembly, Thirty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 42 (UN Doc. A/36/42),
para. 19.

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The background and history of space law 19

fora for the expression of international movements of concern on

developments threatening the uses of outer space for peaceful purposes.
Similarly, the Second United Nations Conference on the Exploration
and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held in Vienna in August 1982, urged
in its report ‘all nations, in particular those with major space capabilities
… to contribute actively to the goal of preventing an arms race in Outer
Space and to refrain from any action contrary to that aim’.71 However, all
these appeals, including a host of General Assembly resolutions to
prevent an arms race in space, did not produce any new agreements in the
only UN body legitimated to engage in multilateral talks on disarmament
and arms control. Although it finally entered into negotiations on the
prevention of an arms race in space, now generally referred to as the
PAROS issue,72 these negotiations, which had made some progress,
collapsed in 1995 after a disagreement between China and the United
States. At that time the CD had been negotiating a Fissile Material
Cut-off Treaty (FMCT),73 which was near completion and in which the
United States had shown great interest. China insisted that it would
support that item only if the PAROS issue was to be considered at the
same time. The United States, then under the Bush administration, had,
however, argued consistently that there was no space race and that there
was therefore no need to negotiate on the prevention of an arms race in
outer space.74
This conflict was carried forward into the new century, the CD having
been blocked by this as well as many other issues and regularly unable to
even agree on an agenda for its annual meetings in Geneva.75

71
Report of UNISPACE 82, UN Doc. A/CONF.101/10, of 31 August 1982,
para. 15, at 5.
72
‘PAROS’ stands for ‘Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space’.
73
On this point see T. Hitchens, Saving Space: Threat Proliferation and
Mitigation, Paper commissioned by the International Commission on Nuclear
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, http://icnnd.org/Documents/Hitchens_
Saving_Space.pdf, last accessed 2 January 2014. See for the text of the 2009
draft plus explanations http://fissilematerials.org/library/2009/02/draft_fissile_
material_cutoff_.html, last accessed 2 January 2014.
74
See N.L. Remuss, Space and Security, in Outer Space in Society, Politics
and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 524.
75
See further infra, § 6.7; concerns towards a progressive weaponization of
outer space and attacks against space objects have grown in the past years,
resulting in discussions with the CD and COPUOS and also in legal proposals,
such as the Russo-Chinese Draft PPWT Treaty (Draft Treaty on the Prevention of
the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against

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20 Handbook of space law

As this short history shows, initial efforts to use space law and
ambitious multilateral treaties like the Moon Agreement to create a
secure space environment, prevent an arms race in space and provide
outer space with a special status, have been aborted at a rather early
moment and left space arms control provisions as an unfinished torso.
While it is certainly a kind of ‘Nuclear Free Zone’ similar to such zones
on earthly continents, few further steps to shield it from armed conflict of
a non-nuclear character have been accomplished.
The reasons why states were and to a large extent still are reluctant to
discuss and accept an arms control treaty covering outer space can be
found first and foremost in unwillingness to abandon or expose the
technical and military advantages that the uses of outer space generate
and that have generally been acquired at the cost of huge financial
investments, especially as far as advanced military technology in space is
concerned. Such concerns obviously make a global agreement compli-
cated.
What actually exists in the form of rudimentary arms control pro-
visions appears all the more outdated and near-obsolete in the face of the
dynamic development of space uses, space technology and the concurrent
total dependence of the contemporary world system on space-based
technology for its functioning and even survival.

1.5 NEW BRANCHES OF SPACE LAW: AN

UNFINISHED HISTORY
If the history of the development of space law and the emergence of new
rules to govern space activities as well as relations between old and new
actors in space, particularly private actors as opposed to the original state
actors, did not stop after 1979, the year of the adoption of the last of the
great space treaties, the reason was the growing importance of space and
space technologies in world affairs and the interests of a growing number
of states and international organizations. These interests led to the
adoption by a variety of new actors of new norms, which of course took
somewhat different forms from the traditional sources of space law, much
as their influence made itself felt. The development of such norms also
became necessary as space law as it was originally conceived was only

Outer Space Objects, presented 12 February 2008 to the Conference on Disar-

mament, www.cfr.org/space/treaty-prevention-placement-weapons-outer-space-
threat-use-force-against-outer-space-objects-ppwt/p26678, last accessed 18
March 2014).

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The background and history of space law 21

considered as an instrument regulating relations between states with no

other actors present in space, originally for mainly economic but also
military reasons.76
The opening of space for many other activities than those of states
using them originally for their political or military purposes made it
necessary to specify new types of regulations and frameworks, many of
them technical and scientific, that were not covered by the space treaties.
First among such new norms, creating also some legal obligations, were
the wide varieties of bilateral treaties regulating space cooperation
between states and governmental space agencies. The United States alone
had already then concluded, following a count made in the late 1990s by
Eileen Galloway,77 more than 1,000 technical and scientific agreements
with some 100 countries and international organizations, and the number
keeps increasing.
Such norms also emanated from a variety of new space cooperation
departures such as INTELSAT78 or INMARSAT,79 formerly public
satellite operators that are now privatized, or INTERSPUTNIK,80 which
from the 1970s onwards concluded agreements that created not only legal
obligations among its members but could also be seen as addressing the
regulation of specific aspects of space uses and space cooperation. In a
similar manner such rules and regulations concerning specific areas of
space uses and cooperation also originated from the International Tele-
communication Union (ITU).81

76
Cf. further infra, § 2.2.2.2.
77
As per P. Jankowitsch, A Historical Perspective of the Outer Space
Treaties, www.iip.at/publications/ps/0303jankowitsch.htm, last accessed 12 April
2014.
78
INTELSAT was originally established as an intergovernmental satellite
operator, until its operations were privatized in the early 2000s; see further infra,
§ 5.4.
79
INMARSAT was originally established as an intergovernmental satellite
operator, until its operations were privatized in the early 2000s; see further infra,
§ 5.5.
80
INTERSPUTNIK was established in 1971 by the Agreement on the
Establishment of the ‘INTERSPUTNIK’ International System and Organization
of Space Communications (hereafter INTERSPUTNIK Agreement), Moscow,
done 15 November 1971, entered into force 12 July 1972; 862 UNTS 3; TIAS
859 (1973) No. 12343; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.VIII.1; see
further infra, § 5.7.
81
The ITU is currently based on the Constitution of the International
Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22
December 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No.

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22 Handbook of space law

Of even more significance in this respect was certainly the creation of

the European Space Agency, whose Convention entered into force in
1980,82 to guide the activities of European states in space matters, in
particular ‘to pursue and to strengthen European cooperation, for exclu-
sively peaceful purposes, in space research and technology and their
space applications’.83 While built on the basic respect for the legal
framework existing in space, in particular for the peaceful uses of outer
space, it certainly became one of the most influential and most powerful
among the new actors, not only in the implementation, but also in the
progressive development of new norms governing the cooperation of
states as well as non-state actors in space matters.
Having been invested by its Convention with legal personality84 the
Agency was also empowered to ‘cooperate with other international
organisations and institutions and with Governments, organisations and
institutions of non-member States, and conclude agreements with them to
this effect’.85 While it remains debatable whether the wide and frag-
mented body of agreements and legal obligations regulating the relations
between ESA and its member countries, as well as the host of agreements
concluded between ESA and many governments and governmental space
agencies, can be characterized as ‘space law’, they must certainly be
considered as an important contribution to creating a stable and trans-
parent legal framework for many types of space operations.
The latest effort in this direction comes from the European Union,
which, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon,86 giving it a

24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary
Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 1; and the Convention of the International
Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU Convention), Geneva, done 22 Decem-
ber 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24;
Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary
Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 71. See further infra, § 8.2.
82
Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Agency (hereafter
ESA Convention), Paris, done 30 May 1975, entered into force 30 October 1980;
UKTS 1981 No. 30; Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975); Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, C.I.1. See further infra, § 4.2.2.
83
Preamble, 3rd para., ESA Convention, supra n. 82.
84
See Art. XV, ESA Convention, supra n. 82.
85
Art. XIV(1), ESA Convention, supra n. 82.
86
Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty
establishing the European Community (hereafter Treaty of Lisbon), Lisbon, done
13 December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009; OJ C 306/1 (2007).

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The background and history of space law 23

shared competence in space matters,87 has become a potential major

player in this field. By proposing an international Code of Conduct for
Outer Space Activities88 to address many aspects of security, safety and
sustainability in space, the European Union offered to enter the domain
of space rule making, albeit starting from the very beginning with a
soft-law instrument of a non-binding character. Although the fate of the
EU Code of Conduct remains uncertain at the time of writing, this
undertaking provides a good impression of the possible role of actors
such as the European Union in further developments of space law.
So certainly, in the realm of space law, as some authors have remarked,
‘international intergovernmental organizations such as the European
Space Agency, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and
more recently the European Union play an important regulatory, admin-
istrative and legal role at the international level’.89 And their addition that
‘the development of international law has also extended to private
non-governmental entities and even to individuals’ certainly also extends
to space law.90
Another relatively new page in the development of space law is the
national space legislation in the strict sense of the word, where again the
United States took a leading and path-breaking role with its National
Aeronautics and Space Act of 29 July 1958.91 The political importance of
this legislative innovation was underscored by the fact that the body of
the US Senate at this time dealing with space matters, the Senate Special

87
See further e.g. Protocol on the Exercise of Shared Competence, Treaty of
Lisbon, supra n. 86; Arts. 2(2), 4(3), 189, Treaty establishing the European
Community as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on
European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereafter
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), Lisbon, done 13 December
2007, entered into force 1 December 2009; OJ C 115/47 (2009).
88
European Union Draft Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities,
initially endorsed by the Council of the European Union on 3 December 2008,
later revised and endorsed by the Council of the European Union on 27
September 2010 and again on 26 September 2013, http://eeas.europa.eu/non-
proliferation-and-disarmament/pdf/space_code_conduct_draft_vers_16_sept_2013_
en.pdf, last accessed 2 January 2014.
89
S. Freeland, The Role of ‘Soft Law’ in Public International Law and its
Relevance to the International Legal Regulation of Outer Space, in Soft Law in
Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 11.
90
Ibid.
91
National Aeronautics and Space Act, Public Law 85-568, 85th Congress,
H.R. 12575, 29 July 1958; as amended through 1983; 72 Stat. 426; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, E.III.1 (original instalment).

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24 Handbook of space law

Committee on Space and Aeronautics,92 was chaired by no other than

Senator Lyndon B. Johnson.
Today national space legislation is a rapidly expanding branch of a
particular type of space law as more and more states in Europe and other
parts of the world adopt national rules, which, based on international
space law, create a framework for the authorization of governmental but
also private space activities.93
The importance of national space legislation as a new avenue to
promote the principles of space law was also recognized by the General
Assembly of the United Nations in Resolution 63/90.94 As a follow-up a
working group of the Legal Sub-Committee of COPUOS in accordance
with a multi-year work plan entered into a most productive exchange of
information on national legislation relevant to the peaceful exploration
and uses of outer space.95 While national space legislation cannot be
considered as a totally new branch of space law, it contributes, as some
authors have stated, ‘considerably to the transparency of the procedures
of authorization. Even if such legislation is not mandated by the Outer
Space Treaty, it is an important means of ensuring responsible and
transparent implementation of the international obligations of the states
concerning authorization of space activities carried out by non-
governmental entities.’96
An overall review of these new branches and types of space law leads
to the conclusion expressed currently by many authors that, as a
consequence of the reduced and virtually complete standstill of the
codification process in space law making there now appears ‘a tendency
to produce relevant international instruments containing non-binding
principles, norms, standards or other statements of expected behaviour in

92
See United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration History
Office, From Engineering Science to Big Science: The NACA and NASA Collier
Trophy Research Project Winners, Government Printing Office, 1998, 173; also
S.J. Dick, Why We Explore (2008), www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/
Why_We_29.html, last accessed 12 April 2014.
93
See further infra, Chapters 3 and 4.
94
International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, UNGA Res.
63/90, of 18 December 2008; UN Doc. A/RES/63/90.
95
See Draft Report of the Working Group on National Legislation Relevant
to the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Committee on the Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space, Legal Subcommittee, Fiftieth Session, UN Doc. A/AC.105/
C.2/2011/CRP.4, of 24 March 2011.
96
I. Marboe & F. Hafner, Brief Overview over National Authorization
Mechanisms in Implementation of the UN International Space Treaties, in
National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 68.

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The background and history of space law 25

the form of recommendations, charters, terms of reference, guidelines,

codes of conduct’.97 In the words of this author: ‘this phenomenon has
been qualified as “soft law”, a term that can be defined, according to
leading authors, as “all those social rules generated by State[s] or other
subjects of international law which are not legally binding but which are
nevertheless of special legal relevance”’.98
The international community has certainly not remained totally oblivi-
ous to these new developments and challenges. Many of these issues
were addressed by the last great UN Conference on the Exploration and
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space held in Vienna in July of 1999, which
recommended several measures such as reviewing the existing treaties
and their interpretation, thus clarifying problematic areas with the aim of
making them more widely acceptable.99 It also recommended dealing
with a variety of issues raised by the commercialization and privatization
of space activities as well as working on proposals to cover new and
expanding areas of space activities to meet further regulatory challenges.
It also called for the adoption of new methods of regulating complex
technical issues.
Many of these issues also remain on the agenda of the UN Committee
on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its Legal Sub-Committee,
although it is here that the reluctance of many of the current space
powers to enter into new and binding legal obligations can be most
strongly felt. Over most of the past years the Committee, while consid-
ering some important legal matters that could have required new sets of
regulations, has been unable to achieve concrete results in these matters.
Last but not least, such issues also were and continue to be regularly
addressed by important non-governmental organizations of the space
world such as the International Institute of Space Law (IISL),100 the
Space Law Committee of the International Law Association (ILA)101 or
the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL).102

97
M. Ferrazzani, Soft Law in Space Activities – An Updated View, in Soft
Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 100.
98
Ibid., i.a. quoting D. Thürer, Soft Law, in Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum), Vol. IX (2012), 271.
99
See Report of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration
and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (1999), A/CONF./184/6, 3.
100
See further www.iislweb.org, last accessed 12 April 2014.
101
See further www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/29, last accessed
12 April 2014.
102
See further www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ECSL/, last accessed 12 April 2014.

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26 Handbook of space law

The increasing pace of commercialization of space activities driven by

ever more numerous private actors will have or already has left a
permanent impact on international space law, which, at its origins, was
intended to regulate relations between states or state actors only. Many
issues related to private space activities such as property rights, intellec-
tual property rights, liability of non-governmental entities, insurance,
legal status of space tourists and others require adequate regulation,
especially as future advances in space technology can be expected. These
new issues have already, although to a limited degree, resulted in the
introduction of certain elements of private international law into new
space regimes such as the UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol103 or the
Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Rules on Outer Space Disputes.104
Some authors, in this context, have also argued for the creation of a
separate branch of international private law in the form of ‘international
space private law’.105

1.6 THE FUTURE OF SPACE LAW

There is a significant degree of agreement between authors dealing with
space law that the progressive development and codification of the law of
space has moved through several stages, of which only the first one
produced a number of binding legal instruments in the form of the five
classical space treaties, in addition to which contiguous legal instruments,
such as the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, although only partially
addressing outer space, can also be considered as part of this core corpus
juris spatialis.
In the subsequent stages, the history of space law displays an increas-
ing number of less-binding norms of varying origins, only a small
number of which have received the more universal cover of Resolutions
of the General Assembly of the United Nations, most of them, however,
entering the field from other sources.
As some authors argue, both processes constitute a unitary develop-
ment in view of the common origin of all these rules resting, despite their
diversity and difference of purpose, on the main principles of the law of
space as spelled out by the 1963 Resolution of the General Assembly and

103
See further infra, § 16.4.
104
See further infra, § 19.3.
105
Cf. e.g. M. Yuzbashyan, Potential Uniform International Legal Framework
For Regulation of Private Space Activities, in Proceedings of the International
Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 39 ff.

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The background and history of space law 27

the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.106 There is less dispute, however, about the
fact that the main developments of space law today happen in the field of
‘soft law’, that is in the proliferation of various non-binding rules, many
of which show a tendency to develop into customary law.107 This process
is exemplified by many contemporary examples, the best of which is
certainly the slow ascendance of rules for space debris mitigation from an
essentially non-legal agreement between major space agencies to a status
of soft-law regulation blessed by a 2007 Resolution of the General
Assembly.108
Contrary to these developments some authors still continue to argue for
a future of international space law beyond ‘soft law’. They see many
convincing and concrete reasons for this, mainly in the fields of security
and safety of space operations, which need a guarantee of long-term
sustainability. They see hard law as much more appropriate and effective
in these as well as many other cases in which juridical certainty,
predictability and responsibility are needed.109 All this seems to suggest
that the history of space law is far from being over and that it will
proceed in further stages dominated not only by states and their inter-
national organizations, but also, and to an increasing degree, by non-state
actors.
In the final analysis the emergence of new rules and regulations for
outer space will still require the legitimacy and universality that only
global organizations like the United Nations can provide. When introduc-
ing the initial Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of
States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space to the General
Assembly of the United Nations in December of 1963, Manfred Lachs,
one of the most important architects of space law, remarked that

106
See e.g. J.H. Castro Villalobos, The Legal Categories in Outer Space, in
Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 265.
107
For a discussion of ‘soft law’ in works of public international law
scholars, see e.g. A. Boyle, Soft Law in International Law-Making, in Inter-
national Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2006); O. Schachter, The Twilight Existence of
Non-Binding International Agreements, 71 American Journal of International
Law (1977); H. Hillgenberg, A Fresh Look at Soft Law, 10 European Journal of
International Law (1999), 499.
108
See F.G. von der Dunk, Contradictio in terminis or Realpolitik? A
Qualified Plea for a Role of ‘Soft Law’ in the Context of Space Activities, in Soft
Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 54.
109
See e.g. J. Montserrat Filho & A. Fabricio dos Santos, Is There a Future
for Space Law Beyond ‘Soft Law’?, in Proceedings of the International Institute
of Space Law 2010 (2011), 234.

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28 Handbook of space law

it ought to be made clear that principles as enumerated do not constitute a

closed chapter. We have to welcome what was achieved and strive for further
agreements. The law of outer space is in its formative stage only. We must
proceed with prudence and care-take full benefit of agreements reached …
make them a living reality and continue with our efforts for further agree-
ments.110

No less illuminating are his comments on the first space treaties when he
said:

Looking at the body of law now existing, it could not be claimed that the
rules adopted attained all the required objectives … some of them demand
further elaboration, while others are not free of imprecision or leave room for
improvement. Some others constitute a bare scaffolding for the law of
tomorrow, indications or merely inklings of the trend to be followed. This
notwithstanding, the balance-sheet is impressive. Principles and rules, instru-
ments of law have come into being which are universal in scope and
character. They are clear and unequivocal on many issues.111

These remarks and comments will certainly keep their validity as the
course of space law continues into the twenty-first century.

110
M. Lachs, The Law of Outer Space: An Experience in Contemporary
Law-making (reissue 2010), 128.
111
Ibid., 130.

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2. International space law

Frans von der Dunk

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.1.1 International Space Law as a Branch of Public International

Law

International space law is usually defined as a branch of general (public)

international law, a subset of rules, rights and obligations of states within
the latter specifically related to outer space and activities in or with
respect to that realm.1 Public international law in turn is usually defined

1
See M. Lachs, The Law of Outer Space (reprint 2010), 11–25; P.
Malanczuk, Space Law as a Branch of International Law, 25 Netherlands
International Law Yearbook (1994), 143–80; N.M. Matte, Space Law, in Ency-
clopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. 4 (2000), 552–7; G.
Zhukov & Y. Kolosov, International Space Law (1984), 1–17; G. Gál, Space Law
(1969), 38–46, 129–39; B. Cheng, Studies in International Space Law (1997),
esp. 70–87; V. Kopal, Evolution of the Doctrine of Space Law, in Space Law –
Development and Scope (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1992), 17–32; N. Jasentuliyana,
International Space Law and The United Nations (1999), 1–32; M.J. Kleiman,
J.K. Lamie & M.V. Carminati, The Laws of Spaceflight (2012), 57 ff.; T. Neger
& E. Walter, Space Law – An Independent Branch of the Legal System, in Outer
Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011),
234–9; early on C.W. Jenks, International Law and Activities in Space, 5
International and Comparative Law Quarterly (1956), 99–114; cf. also M.N.
Shaw, International Law (6th edn., 2008), 541 ff.; P. Malanczuk, Akehurst’s
Modern Introduction to International Law (7th edn., 1997), 201–8.
In line with this, Art. III, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of
States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington,
done 27 January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205;
TIAS 6347; 18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24;
6 ILM 386 (1967), already provides for essential application of general inter-
national law to outer space, following the lex specialis derogat legi generali
principle, in particular where and to the extent that space law itself is moot or
fundamentally open to conflicting interpretations; cf. also Resolution 2222(XXI),
of 19 December 1966.

29

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30 Handbook of space law

with reference to the Statute of the International Court of Justice,2 as

comprising at a first level treaties and customary international law, and at
a secondary level general principles of law, the writings of the most
respected legal experts, regulations emanating from international organ-
izations and – arguably – what is called ‘soft law’.3
The most outstanding feature of public international law is of course
that states act both as ‘makers’ and as ‘breakers’ of the law, that is to say
they are not only the main creators of such rules, rights and obligations,
they are usually also the subjects of such rules.4 This essentially is no
different for international space law.5

2
See Art. 38(1), Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Fran-
cisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; 156 UNTS 77;
USTS 993; 59 Stat. 1031; UKTS 1946 No. 67; ATS 1945 No. 1; further R.
Wolfrum, Sources of International Law, in Encyclopedia of Public International
Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IX (2012), 299–313; H. Thirlway, The Sources of
International Law, in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003), 117–44; J.
Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (8th edn., 2012),
20–47; Shaw, supra n. 1, 69–128; specifically as applied to space: Malanczuk,
Space Law, supra n. 1, 158–63; S. Gorove, Sources and Principles of Space Law,
in Space Law – Development and Scope (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1992), 45–58; E.
Galloway, Consensus Decisionmaking by the United Nations Committee on the
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 7 Journal of Space Law (1979), 3–13; V. Kopal,
The Role of United Nations Declarations of Principles in the Progressive
Development of Space Law, 16 Journal of Space Law (1988), 5–20; V.S.
Vereshchetin & G.M. Danilenko, Custom as a Source of International Law of
Outer Space, 13 Journal of Space Law (1985), 22–35; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen,
Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 31–52, esp. 39–43.
3
See for a recent thorough discussion of this concept in the context of
space law in particular Soft Law in Outer Space – The Function of Non-binding
Norms in International Space Law (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012); M. Ferrazzani, Soft
Law in Space Activities, in Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds.
G. Lafferranderie & D. Crowther) (1997), 429–47; and broader e.g. D. Thürer,
Soft Law, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IX
(2012), 269–87; D. Shelton, International Law and ‘Relative Normativity’, in
International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003), 145–50, 166–70.
4
See further e.g. Crawford, supra n. 2, 115 ff.; Shaw, supra n. 1, 195 ff.;
A. Cassese, International Law (2001), esp. 117 ff.; C. Warbrick, States and
Recognition in International Law, in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003),
205 ff.; C. Walter, Subjects of International Law, in Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IX (2012), 634 ff.
5
See in particular P. Malanczuk, Actors: States, International Organ-
isations, Private Entities, in Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds.
G. Lafferranderie & D. Crowther) (1997), 23–36. Also e.g. Gál, supra n. 1, 37;
Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1, 64–8 (focusing on the key overarching concept of

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On the one hand, states jointly draft and agree to the texts of treaties,
and then each in their sovereignty decide to vote for or against them, or
ratify or abstain from ratifying them.6 Likewise, states are the ones who
by their behaviour and attendant opinio juris give rise to the conclusion
that customary international law exists and is binding upon them.7
On the other hand, by and large the rights and obligations that were
codified or developed in public international law were almost exclusively
addressed directly at states, and even to the extent they were (also)
addressed to other actors, states were held internationally responsible for
their activities, at least vicariously.8
Occasionally yet increasingly, especially as of the last half century,
intergovernmental organizations, as encompassing groups of states still

‘state responsibility’ as reflecting this state-oriented character of space law; see

also further, infra, § 2.3.1); A. Soucek, International Law, in Outer Space in
Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 294–6.
6
The one main exception to such a rather legalistic approach to inter-
national law concerns the concept of jus cogens; see F.G. von der Dunk, Jus
Cogens Sive Lex Ferenda, in Air and Space Law: De Lege Ferenda (Eds. T.L.
Masson-Zwaan & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 219–39; C.Q. Christol, The
Jus Cogens Principles and International Space Law, in Proceedings of the
Twenty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1984), 1–9; more in
general J.A. Frowein, Ius Cogens, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law
(Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VI (2012), 443–6; F.A. Mann, Further Studies in
International Law (1990), 84–102; Shelton, supra n. 3, 150–9; Shaw, supra n. 1,
123–7.
7
See on customary international law in the context of space law e.g.
Vereshchetin & Danilenko, supra n. 2, 22–35; in general terms Shaw, supra n. 1,
72–93; Thirlway, supra n. 2, 124–30; Crawford, supra n. 2, 23–30, 33–4;
Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 39–46; T. Treves, Customary International Law,
in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. II (2012),
937 ff.; including such key concepts as ‘acquiescence’ (silence by consent) and
‘persistent objector’ (a state which expressly and consistently objects to a norm
of customary international law and thereby can escape being bound by it). On the
problems with customary law in general, see B.D. Lepard, Customary Inter-
national Law: A New Theory with Practical Applications (2010).
8
See on this issue of what used to be called ‘vicarious’, ‘indirect’ or ‘due
care’ responsibility e.g. A. Kees, Responsibility of States for Private Actors, in
Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VIII (2012),
959–65; as applied to space Cheng, supra n. 1, 606–7; Malanczuk, Space Law,
supra n. 1, 164; Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 257 ff.; A. Kerrest de Rozavel,
Remarks on the Responsibility and Liability, in Proceedings of the Fortieth
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 138; S. Bhat & P.I. Bhat, Legal
Framework of State Responsibility and Liability for Private Space Activities, in
Space Law in the Era of Commercialization (Ed. S. Bhat) (2010), 138.

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32 Handbook of space law

being of an essentially public nature, have obtained a similar status of

co-creators and subjects of general public international law – a legal role
developed in the space law context in a special manner.9 Only in
exceptional circumstances, usually in the context of crimes against
humanity and crimes of war, can individual persons or entities be held
directly accountable in the international legal realm.10 This latter legal
role has consequently not developed to any appreciable extent in the
context of international space law.

2.1.2 The Relationship Between International (Space) Law and

National (Space) Law

A further consequence of this state-oriented conception of (public)

international law is its complex interaction with national laws of the
states comprising the international community, which could usually be
further subdivided in public and/or administrative law11 (as essentially
dealing with the role, competences, rights and obligations of the state and
state organs in a national context) and private law12 (as essentially

9
Cf. e.g. D. Akande, International Organizations, in International Law (Ed.
M.D. Evans) (2003), 272–86; Crawford, supra n. 2, 166–99; Shaw, supra n. 1,
1295 ff.; Walter, supra n. 4, 636; G. Lafferranderie, The European Space Agency
(ESA) and International Space Law, in International Organisations and Space
Law (1999), ESA, SP-442, 19–24. Most far-reaching are the developments in the
context of the European Economic Community, then European Community, now
European Union, where a separate legal order has developed that is often
considered intermediate between public international law and national law; see
also further infra, § 4.3.
10
See e.g. comprehensively R. McCorquodale, The Individual and the
International Legal System, in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003),
299–325; also Crawford, supra n. 2, 671 ff.; Shaw, supra n. 1, 397–443; cf.
further Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 353–61.
11
A standard definition of ‘public law’ would be ‘constitutional law,
criminal law, and administrative law taken together’; Garner’s Dictionary of
Legal Usage (3rd edn., 2011), 729; cf. also Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
(2009), 342 (defining ‘public’ as opposed to ‘private’). ‘Criminal law’ would
usually be understood to provide a special branch of public law referring to ‘the
administration of justice’; Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, 236; or ‘[t]he law
of crime and its punishment’; Bouvier Law Dictionary (2012) Vol. I, 1554.
‘Administrative law’ is ‘the regulation of regulations’; Bouvier Law Dictionary,
Vol. I, 1546; alternatively ‘[t]he procedures created by administrative agencies
(governmental bodies)’; Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary, 12.
12
‘Private law’ almost by definition would be the opposite of ‘public law’;
cf. Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, 729.

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International space law 33

dealing with the relations between citizens, and sometimes foreigners,

amongst themselves in that same national context).13 That interaction,
also when it comes to space law specifically, could best be summarized
along two lines.
On the one hand national sovereignty of individual states was and
remains the point of departure. Not only did states ‘make’ the law which
they could respectively be held to; wherever international legal obliga-
tions were absent they could determine the prevalent legal regime at
liberty (cases of jus cogens excepted14). This national sovereignty, which
‘geographically’ speaking extended to the national territory, the inland
waterways and the territorial waters,15 was explicitly recognized in
numerous treaties,16 and in the juridical realm translated into the exclu-
sive competence to exercise jurisdiction – whether to legislate, to
adjudicate or to enforce.17
On the other hand, once states have subscribed to certain treaty
regimes or could be held to have accepted rules of customary inter-
national law, they are to that extent restrained in their sovereign discre-
tion – after all, pacta sunt servanda;18 and ‘[a] party may not invoke the

13
See on the interaction of international and national law in general
Crawford, supra n. 2, 48 ff.; Shaw, supra n. 1, 129–94; E. Denza, The
Relationship between International and National Law, in International Law (Ed.
M.D. Evans) (2003), 415–42.
14
Cf. supra, n. 6.
15
Cf. e.g. Art. 2, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
Montego Bay, done 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November 1994;
1833 UNTS 3 & 1835 UNTS 261; UKTS 1999 No. 81; Cmnd. 8941; ATS 1994
No. 31; 21 ILM 1261 (1982); S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-39.
16
See e.g. Art. 2(1), Charter of the United Nations (hereafter UN Charter),
San Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS
993; 24 UST 2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd.
6666 & 6711; CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1; Art. 1, Convention on
International Civil Aviation (hereafter Chicago Convention), Chicago, done 7
December 1944, entered into force 4 April 1947; 15 UNTS 295; TIAS 1591; 61
Stat. 1180; Cmd. 6614; UKTS 1953 No. 8; ATS 1957 No. 5; ICAO Doc. 7300.
17
See e.g. B.H. Oxman, Jurisdiction of States, in Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VI (2012), 546–57; V. Lowe, Juris-
diction, in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003), 329–55; Shaw, supra
n. 1, 645 ff., esp. 649–51; Crawford, supra n. 2, 456 ff.; Malanczuk, Akehurst,
supra n. 1, 109–17; specifically with respect to space: Cheng, supra n. 1,
437–41.
18
See Art. 26, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, done 23
May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS 331; UKTS 1980
No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969). The Vienna

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34 Handbook of space law

provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a

treaty’.19 Moreover, the mirror side to a state’s sovereign control over its
national territory and its citizens (including legal persons such as
companies and associations) is the need to respect other states’ sover-
eignty,20 and the fundamental responsibility as a state that arises in case
somehow from within its sphere of control the rights of other states are
violated and the concurrent requirement to provide appropriate reparation
arises.21

2.1.3 The Genesis of International Space Law

Historically, the concept of public international law (or ‘law of nations’

as it was often called) as summarily sketched above goes largely back to
the seventeenth century, when with the 1648 treaties resulting in the
Peace of Westphalia22 the modern concept of the ‘state’ as distinct from

Convention on the Law of Treaties is generally perceived to constitute customary

international law also for those states that are not party to the Convention, at
least in major respects; see A. Aust, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
(1969), in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. X
(2012), 712–3; Thirlway, supra n. 2, 122; Crawford, supra n. 2, 377–8; Shaw,
supra n. 1, 902–7; M. Fitzmaurice, The Practical Working of the Law of Treaties,
in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003), 176.
19
Art. 27, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 18; see also
Art. 13, Draft Declaration of Rights and Duties of States, Annex, UNGA
Resolution 375(IV), of 6 December 1949.
20
Cf. already Art. 2(4), (7), UN Charter, supra n. 16; further Shaw, supra n.
1, 489–92; Crawford, supra n. 2, 447–9, 453–5.
21
See (esp.) Arts. 1, 2, 4–6, 8, 11, 12, 31, ILC Draft Articles on
Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, Part 1; UN Doc
A/56/10(2001); also the famous Chorzów Factory Case; Case concerning the
factory at Chorzów (Merits) (Germany v. Poland), Permanent Court of Inter-
national Justice, 13 September 1928, P.C.I.J., Ser. A, No. 17, esp. 29; further e.g.
Crawford, supra n. 2, 539 ff., esp. 569–80; Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, esp.
269–71; Shaw, supra n. 1, 800–6.
22
Actually several treaties were concluded at the same time: the Treaty of
Peace between Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Peace of
Münster), Münster, done 30 January 1648, entered into force 14 May 1648; the
Treaty of Peace between France and the Holy Roman Empire (Treaty of
Münster), Münster, done 24 October 1648, entered into force January 1649; and
the Treaty of Peace between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden (Treaty of
Osnabrück), Münster, done 24 October 1648, entered into force January 1649;
see B. Fassbender, Westphalia, Peace of (1648), in Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. X (2012), 865–9.

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International space law 35

property of a sovereign monarch took hold in Western Europe, soon to

spread over the whole world.23
Once, in 1957, mankind first entered into outer space, albeit not yet in
person but rather through the proxy of an artificial earth satellite,
Sputnik-1, the clear international character of the realm and any activities
taking place therein immediately led to the realization that an effective,
fair and transparent legal regime could only be developed principally at
the international level as between such states – and the specific body of
‘space law’ came into being.
Following the geopolitical and technological constellation of the
1950s, a core body of international space law thus developed from the
launch of Sputnik-1 onwards.24 Interestingly and to a certain extent
uniquely, the two antagonistic superpowers, in spite of their Cold War
rivalry, not only led these developments, but were actually able to arrive
at a general understanding that outer space should remain outside of the
arms race as much as possible and by contrast should remain free and
open for (in particular) scientific exploration, and finally that inter-
national law was to play a crucial role in guaranteeing such an out-
come.25
In addition to other factors discussed elsewhere,26 this was the conse-
quence of a rather unique and fortunate geopolitical constellation. After
all, usually a set of legal rights and obligations appreciated by the one
superpower already for that very reason alone would look suspicious to
the other superpower. Yet, in the particular context of mankind’s first
exploits in outer space both superpowers apparently perceived the legal
constraints under discussion to be restraining the opponent more than
themselves.

23
For an overview of the role of the Peace of Westphalia in the Werdegang
of general international law, see R. Grote, Westphalian System, in Encyclopedia
of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. X (2012), 870–4; S.C. Neff, A
Short History of International Law, in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans)
(2003), 37 ff.; Cassese, supra n. 4, esp. 19–30; Shaw, supra n. 1, 22–31; further
Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 9–12.
24
See on the early history and Werdegang of international space law e.g.
Lachs, supra n. 1, 27–39; Gál, supra n. 1, 23–30; S.E. Doyle, Origins of
International Space Law and the International Institute of Space Law of the
International Astronautical Federation (2002), 1–93; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
1–22; S. Hobe, Historical Background, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law
(Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 2–12.
25
See for an extended analysis of this history Chapter 1.
26
See supra, §§ 1.1, 1.4.

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36 Handbook of space law

On the one side, the United States, following the political shockwaves
that Sputnik-1 and an ensuing string of Soviet ‘space firsts’ well into the
mid-1960s27 generated, felt so threatened by the perceived ‘missile gap’
that any treaty providing for limits to military uses of outer space would
slow the seeming Soviet progress to long-term dominance of outer space
and hence was worthwhile. It would for those reasons be perceived,
realistically speaking, as limiting Soviet freedom of action far more than
that of the United States.
The Soviet Union from its side, however, must have realized rather
early on that the missile gap was more propagandistic hype than a
strategic reality.28 While this obviously did not keep it from milking any
new ‘defeat’ of the opponent to the maximum, it would understandably
be apprehensive that one day the United States would draw level with
and then overtake it29 – and would appreciate that by then it had better
have an international legal system in place that precluded the latter from
achieving precisely such a long-term military dominance in outer space.
This unique constellation of mutual perception of one’s own inferiority
versus the other’s superiority immediately following Sputnik-1 gave rise
to a fundamental willingness on both sides to work together and arrive at
a legal regime entailing substantial limitations to all, but notably of
course military, activities in outer space. Thence followed the establish-
ment of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)

27
Following Sputnik-1, the first orbiting man-made satellite, the Soviet
Union inter alia was first in launching a living being into outer space (Laika in
1957), putting a man in outer space (Yuri Gagarin in 1961), rendezvousing two
spacecraft in orbit (in 1962), sending a woman into outer space (Valentina
Tereshkova in 1963), sending a proper crew into orbit (three men in 1964) and
achieving the first space walk (Alexei Leonov in 1965).
28
Cf. also M.H. Hersch, Inventing the American Astronaut (2012), 36–7,
pointing in this regard to the differing US and Soviet philosophies of spaceflight;
W.A. McDougall, … the Heavens, and the Earth (1985), 237–75; further J.M.
Logsdon, John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon (2010), 6–8, 71 ff., 239.
29
And indeed, from 1965 the most spectacular – read manned – firsts in
outer space were generally American: in 1965, shortly after Leonov’s first
spacewalk, Gemini-5 for the first time gave the United States the record for the
longest flight, and the United States in 1966 performed the first proper docking
in space, in 1968 with Apollo-8 travelled around the moon, while Apollo-9’s
Schweickart in 1969 tested the first lunar device in outer space, and in the same
year Apollo-11’s Armstrong and Aldrin for the first time actually landed on the
moon.

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International space law 37

as a UN General Assembly body to codify and develop international

space law, first as an ad hoc committee, a year later as a permanent one.30
COPUOS, supported by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs
(OOSA) based in Vienna since 1993 and itself encompassing two
subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Sub-Committee and the
Legal Sub-Committee, was to constitute the central, for many years often
even only relevant platform for developing and codifying legal instru-
ments regulating human activities in outer space. Such activities included
those by ‘remote control’, read guided from earth through radio waves
directed at unmanned space objects. COPUOS included by and large all
states seriously and substantially interested in spacefaring; its member-
ship increased from 18 to (as of today) 74.31

2.2 THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF

INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW
2.2.1 The First Three Phases in the Development of Space Law

Often, in the history of COPUOS developing what became commonly

known as the corpus juris spatialis internationalis three phases could be
distinguished in rather straightforward fashion, by focusing on the role of
COPUOS as the main platform for agreeing on space law development.32

30
By means of UNGA Res. 1348(XIII), Question of the peaceful use of
outer space, of 13 December 1958; Resolutions adopted on the reports of the
First Committee, General Assembly – Thirteenth Session, at 5; resp. UNGA Res.
1472(XIV) A, International co-operation in the peaceful uses of outer space, of
12 December 1959; Resolutions adopted on the reports of the First Committee,
General Assembly – Fourteenth Session, at 5. See succinctly E. Galloway,
Patterns of Space Law in the 21st Century, in Air and Space Law in the 21st
Century (Eds. M. Benkö & W. Kröll) (2001), 328–30; further supra, § 1.3.
31
See www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/copuos.html, last accessed 5
January 2014. For an overview of COPUOS’ role and history see Jasentuliyana,
supra n. 1, 23 ff.; Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1, 17–29; V. Kopal, Origins of
Space Law and the Role of the United Nations, in Outer Space in Society,
Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 224–32; N. Jasentuli-
yana, The Lawmaking Process in the United Nations, in Space Law – Develop-
ment and Scope, (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1992), 33–44; C.Q. Christol, The
Modern International Law of Outer Space (1984), 12–20.
32
Chapter 1 already discusses some main elements in this fundamental
change over time of the character of UN-developed space law; see supra, §§ 1.1,
1.5. Further e.g. V.S. Vereshchetin, The Law of Outer Space in the General Legal
Field (Commonality and Particularities), in Proceedings of the International

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38 Handbook of space law

From a more abstract perspective, by now a fourth phase should be

discerned, not necessarily clearly distinguishable in time from the others
but providing a more fundamental paradigm change; this fourth phase
will therefore be addressed separately further below.33

2.2.1.1 The first phase

In the first phase, COPUOS drafted a handful of UN Declarations,
Resolutions with considerable political and moral force, but no binding
legal character – although they could, partly or comprehensively, come to
be considered as providing for rules of customary international law.34 The
most important of those Resolutions were Resolution 1721(XVI)B of
1961,35 positing the principle of registration with the United Nations of
any space object launched into outer space, and Resolution 1962(XVIII)
of 1963,36 hailed as the ‘Principles Declaration’ as it achieved a blueprint
for an all-encompassing legal regime for outer space.
This phase is largely of historical interest now, as the second phase by
and large marginalized any discussion on whether those Resolutions

Institute of Space Law 2009 (2010), 3–14; S. Hobe, The Relevance of Current
International Space Treaties in the 21st Century, 27 Annals of Air and Space Law
(2002), 335–46; S. Hobe, Space Law – An Analysis of its Development and its
Future, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A.
Soucek) (2011), 476–89; P. Jankowitsch, The Role of the United Nations in
Outer Space Law Development: Past Achievements and New Challenges, 26
Journal of Space Law (1998), 101–10; Malanczuk, Space Law, supra n. 1,
151–4; cf. Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 22–66; also F.G. von der Dunk, The
Undeniably Necessary Cradle – Out of Principle and Ultimately Out of Sense, in
Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D.
Crowther) (1997), 402 ff.
33
See infra, § 2.4.1.
34
See e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1, 125–49; A.D. Terekhov, UN General
Assembly Resolutions and Outer Space Law, in Proceedings of the Fortieth
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 97–107; C.Q. Christol, Space
Law – Past, Present and Future (1991), 311–28.
35
UNGA Res. 1721(XVI) B, of 20 December 1961; General Assembly –
Sixteenth Session, Resolutions adopted on reports of the First Committee, at 6.
See further e.g. Christol, supra n. 31, 215–7; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 84–5;
B. Schmidt-Tedd & L.I. Tennen, The 1975 Convention on Registration of Objects
Launched into Outer Space, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S.
Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 234–8.
36
Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, UNGA Res. 1962(XVIII), of 13 December
1963; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 37. See further e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1,
153–5; Terekhov, supra n. 34, 98–9; Kopal, supra n. 2, 7–9.

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International space law 39

reflected customary international law, the main exception being the

resolution on registration, which continues to be relevant in respect of
those states that did not ratify the convention later promulgated on the
issue.37

2.2.1.2 The second phase

The Principles Declaration within a few years was essentially trans-
formed into a binding convention, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967,38
which thus heralded a second phase. In this phase, under the guidance of
the two superpowers the world’s leading nations in space were able to
arrive at a general understanding of what the limitations should be to
conducting outer space activities, and to accept them as binding law in
the form of treaties.
Several articles and aspects of the Outer Space Treaty were soon to be
seen as requiring elaboration beyond the mere positing of the leading
principles and broad legal rules. Thus, the obligations stemming from
Articles V and VIII of the Outer Space Treaty concerning foreign
astronauts/cosmonauts and foreign spacecraft were soon elaborated by
the 1968 Rescue Agreement;39 the liability concept provided by Article
VII of the Outer Space Treaty gave rise to the 1972 Liability Conven-
tion;40 and further to Resolution 1721(XVI)B and Articles V and VIII of

37
See further infra, § 2.3.4.
38
Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1. See e.g. K. Traunmüller, The ‘Declaration
of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration of Outer
Space’: The Starting Point for the United Nations’ Law of Outer Space, in Soft
Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 145–60; further on the Outer Space
Treaty infra, § 2.3.1.
39
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 Decem-
ber 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56;
Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968); also Resolution 2345(XXII),
of 19 December 1967. See further infra, § 2.3.2.
40
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29
March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971); also Resolution 2777(XXVI), of 29 November 1971. See further infra,
§ 2.3.3.

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the Outer Space Treaty, registration was addressed in some detail by the
1975 Registration Convention.41
All four conventions so far were able to generate widespread accept-
ance: the score for the Outer Space Treaty currently reads 102 parties and
26 signatories, for the Rescue Agreement 92 and 24 respectively, plus 2
intergovernmental organizations, and for the Liability Convention 89 and
22 respectively, with 3 such intergovernmental organizations.42 Even for
the Registration Convention, with lesser numbers of 60 and 4 respec-
tively, and 2 intergovernmental organizations,43 this score may be
deemed to qualify as quasi-global acceptance in view of the large
measure of acceptance (at least in theory44) by those states in practice
qualifying as registration states.45
This ‘golden age’ of space law treaty making effectively came to an
end, however, with the 1979 Moon Agreement,46 the last treaty to be

41
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January 1975, entered
into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS
1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975); also Resolution
3235(XXIX), of 12 November 1974. See further infra, § 2.3.4.
42
Status as of 1 January 2013; see www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/
treatystatus/index.html, last accessed 5 January 2014. Art. 6, Rescue Agreement,
supra n. 39, and Art. XXII, Liability Convention, supra n. 40, allow for
intergovernmental organizations under certain conditions to become de facto
parties to those treaties. See further infra, §§ 2.3.2.2 and 2.3.3.7 respectively.
43
Status as of 1 January 2013; see www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/
treatystatus/index.html, last accessed 5 January 2014. Art. VII, Registration
Convention, supra n. 41, allows for intergovernmental organizations under
certain conditions to become de facto parties to the convention. See further infra,
§ 2.3.4.3.
44
As e.g. Y. Lee, Registration of Space Objects: ESA Member States’
Practice, 22 Space Policy (2006), 42–51, makes clear, actual compliance presents
a considerably less favourable picture. Cf. also Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
89–96; Y. Zhao, Revisiting the 1975 Registration Convention: Time for Revi-
sion?, in United Nations Treaties on Outer Space: Actions at the National Level,
Proceedings of the United Nations/Republic of Korea Workshop on Space Law
(2004), ST/SPACE/22, 127–34.
45
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, The Registration Convention: Background
and Historical Context, in Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law
of Outer Space (2004), 450–3; also further infra, § 2.3.4.2.
46
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979); also Resolution 34/68, of 5 December 1979. See further infra,
§ 2.3.5.

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drafted in the bosom of COPUOS. Destined to elaborate in particular the

Outer Space Treaty with respect to celestial bodies (as opposed to the
vacuum void around them), it became embroiled in extended discussions
regarding the Moon’s claimed status as ‘common heritage of mankind’
and the consequences thereof for prospective mineral exploitation.47 The
result was a treaty ultimately ratified by a mere 15 states, none of them
major spacefaring nations, and with only four more signatory states.48

2.2.1.3 The third phase

Partly also because of the expanding range of states becoming interested
in spaceflight and becoming members of COPUOS, it was surmised, the
period in which more or less global agreement on binding international
space law documents was achievable was now over, with the fate meeting
the Moon Agreement being considered ultimate proof. In the next, third,
phase, COPUOS would largely aim at further developing international
space law by means again of essentially non-legally binding UN Resolu-
tions, hoping, as it were, that through practice and experience major parts
of it would become customary international law. This is, beyond the
substance of those Resolutions to be addressed further below, the main
issue in the present context.
It was in this spirit that in 1982 a first major Resolution was drafted on
direct broadcasting satellites49 – which failed to achieve consensus as a
consequence of the divide between haves and have-nots regarding the

47
See e.g. L. Viikari, From Manganese Nodules to Lunar Regolith (2002),
esp. 90–124; F. Tronchetti, The Exploitation of Natural Resources of the Moon
and Other Celestial Bodies (2010), esp. 9–130; also F.G. von der Dunk, The
Moon Agreement and the Prospect of Commercial Exploitation of Lunar
Resources, 32 Annals of Air and Space Law (2007), 91–113; S. Hobe, Adequacy
of the Current Legal and Regulatory Framework Relating to the Extraction and
Appropriation of Natural Resources in Outer Space, 32 Annals of Air and Space
Law (2007), 115–30; S. Hobe, P. Stubbe & F. Tronchetti, Historical Background
and Context, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 336–7; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
183–97.
48
Status as of 1 January 2013; see www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/
treatystatus/index.html, last accessed 5 January 2014. In recent years the Moon
Agreement has received some attention again, but this has not given rise to any
appreciable interest on the part of the major spacefaring nations to consider
ratifying it, even if after a thorough overhaul of its provisions.
49
Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for
International Direct Television Broadcasting, UNGA Res. 37/92, of 10 December
1982; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 39.

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42 Handbook of space law

freedom to broadcast into other states.50 The next Resolution, on remote

sensing,51 fared considerably better; adopted by consensus it has since
generally been considered to comprise rules of customary international
law.52 The third Resolution usually referred to in this context, on the use
of nuclear power sources in outer space,53 enjoyed a similar fate as it was
essentially of a technical guidelines nature.54 In more recent times two
more major Resolutions followed: the so-called ‘Benefits Declaration’55
laying out the general principles applicable to international cooperation

50
See F. Koppensteiner, The 1982 UN Principles Governing the Use by
States of Artificial Earth Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcast-
ing, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 161–81; D.I. Fisher,
Prior Consent to International Direct Satellite Broadcasting (1990), esp. 45–54;
Cheng, supra n. 1, 154–5; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 263–8; Christol, supra
n. 34, 115 ff.; Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 42; S. Courteix, International Legal
Aspects of Television Broadcasting, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercial-
ization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 109–10. Also further infra, § 8.3.
51
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space,
UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3 December 1986; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43;
25 ILM 1334 (1986).
52
See A. Ito, Legal Aspects of Satellite Remote Sensing (2011), 45–66; J.I.
Gabrynowicz, The UN Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from
Outer Space and Soft Law, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012),
183–93; Cheng, supra n. 1, 589–97; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 420–9;
Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 43–4, also 314–20 focused on security issues. Also
further infra, § 9.4.1.2.
53
Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space,
UNGA Res. 47/68, of 14 December 1992; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 47.
54
See L. Viikari, The Environmental Element in Space Law (2008), 83–5,
173–4; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 289–5; Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 44–6; D.A.
Porras, The United Nations Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power
Sources in Outer Space, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012),
205–32. Also further infra, § 13.3.1.4.
55
Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of
Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of all States, Taking into
Particular Account the Needs of Developing Countries, UNGA Res. 51/122, of
13 December 1996; UN Doc. A/RES/51/122. See also M. Benkö & K.U.
Schrogl, Article I of the Outer Space Treaty Reconsidered After 30 Years, in
Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D.
Crowther) (1997), 67–79; Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 61–81; Jasentuliyana, supra n.
1, 46–50; G. Hafner, The Declaration on International Cooperation in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of all
States, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 267–87; B.D. Lepard,
The Legal Status of the 1996 Declaration on Space Benefits: Are Its Norms Now
Part of Customary International Law?, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I.
Marboe) (2012), 289–313.

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International space law 43

in space, further to Articles I and III of the Outer Space Treaty, and the
2007 Resolution endorsing the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,56 which
in turn were derived from the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the
Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC).57
In essence this third phase is still lingering as the main COPUOS-
guided developments in space law continue to play at the level of
non-binding declarations and resolutions and the fate of the Russo-
Chinese proposal for a treaty on de-weaponization of outer space58 has
once more proven the unlikelihood of the majority of the world’s
spacefaring nations agreeing to a fundamental treaty on outer space
matters. To many observers it looks like the major contributions emanat-
ing from COPUOS to further development of space law would continue
to take such a form: sets of formally non-binding principles and
guidelines hopefully sooner (or later) achieving a status of customary
international law.

2.2.2 The Nature of the Corpus Juris Spatialis Internationalis

2.2.2.1 The main parameters and paradigms of international space

law
This brings analysis to the substance of the five treaties forming the heart
of international space law, which as such has been dealt with in great
detail by literature, and will therefore once again only be summarized
here. The present purpose is to sublimate from the substance thereof the
overarching parameters and paradigms, the red thread of that corpus juris
spatialis internationalis, impacting and guiding all substantive issues and
developments of space law and hence allowing for an understanding of

56
Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the United Nations Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (A/62/20); endorsed by General Assembly
Resolution 62/217, of 21 December 2007; A/RES/62/217, p. 6, at 26. See further
infra, § 13.3.2.1.
57
See IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, IADC-02-01, Revision 1,
September 2007. Cf. C. Wiedemann, Space Debris Mitigation, in Soft Law in
Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 315–24; on the discussion of the IADC
Guidelines vis-à-vis the role of e.g. COPUOS e.g. Viikari, supra n. 54, 246–56.
58
Draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer
Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects (hereafter Draft
PPWT Treaty); presented 12 February 2008 to the Conference on Disarmament,
hwww.cfr.org/space/treaty-prevention-placement-weapons-outer-space-threat-use-
force-against-outer-space-objects-ppwt/p26678, last accessed 18 March 2014; see
further infra, § 6.7.

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44 Handbook of space law

the true distinctive character of that body of law and the fundamental
changes that have appeared over time in its context.
It so happens, moreover, that many of these parameters and paradigms
warrant a fresh look and a new perspective, as necessitated in many
instances by the paradigm-changing developments space activities and
space law have undergone during the last decades. That applies to begin
with to the space treaties themselves, to some extent addressed here, but
also to other key documents that have often been included in the notion
of the corpus – the various UN Resolutions mentioned, further treaties
having a major impact on space activities and the regime developed in
the context of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This
holds true even as these usually are not comprehensive in scope ratione
materiae in that they do not basically address all space activities across
the board, which also means that in a number of respects these would be
more appropriately discussed in some of the more specialized chapters in
the book.59

2.2.2.2 The focus on scientific and military usage of outer space

Outer space originally and for many years was the domain of activities
either of a scientific or of a military/strategic nature, including the
element of political prestige in the context of the Cold War. The impact
of Sputnik-1 was first and foremost a strategic one, resulting in the
prestige-driven race for the moon.60 Astronauts were usually highly
qualified engineers but in addition either the crème de la crème of air
force or navy pilots or the crème de la crème of scientists – actually, far
more frequently the former rather than the latter. Of the 12 men the
United States has put on the moon, exactly one was a scientist by
education – and a tremendous bureaucratic battle had to be won to get
him a place on the very last Apollo mission to the moon instead of a
more traditional pilot-astronaut originally slated for that seat.61

59
See further infra, § 2.4.
60
See in extenso McDougall, supra n. 28, esp. 307 ff.; Logsdon, supra
n. 28, e.g. 18–22.
61
This concerned geologist Jack Harrison Schmitt, who ultimately replaced
Joe Engle as lunar module pilot on the Apollo-17 mission against great resistance
(at least initially) from mission commander Gene Cernan and many others at
NASA. See e.g. Hersch, supra n. 28, 96–8; A. Chaikin, A Man on the Moon
(2007), 449–51, 503; M. Croft, One More Time, in Footprints in the Dust (Ed. C.
Burgess) (2010), 317–9; and more generally about the attitude of NASA to
scientists as astronauts, Hersch, e.g. 75–102.

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With the exception of a niche area where satellites were used for more
mundane telecommunication purposes, a niche that slowly started grow-
ing from the late 1960s onwards, there was no revenue whatsoever to be
found in space and space activities, which in addition proved tremen-
dously costly and risky at the same time. Only states could be interested,
for the sake of the public good, in investing enormous sums of money in
space and space activities for science or military purposes, and only they
could afford them.62
So costly and risky, as a matter of fact, were space activities, that apart
from the superpowers few states were able (or willing) to bear such
costs and risks on their own. Most states either piggybacked on the broad
shoulders of the space powers, or pooled their financial and technological
resources in unique intergovernmental organizations such as
INTELSAT,63 INMARSAT64 and the European Space Agency (ESA).65

2.2.2.3 The ‘state-centricity’ of space law: The legal side of

scientific and military usage
The traditional ‘state-centricity’ of the human endeavours in outer space
was reflected almost one-on-one in the legal area, most notably in the

62
See S. Chaddha, U.S. Commercial Space Sector: Matured and Successful,
36 Journal of Space Law (2010), 20 ff.; also (somewhat erratically and biased)
S.H. Bromberg, Public Space Travel–2005: A Legal Odyssey into the Current
Regulatory Environment for United States Space Adventurers Pioneering the
Final Frontier, 70 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2005), 640 ff. (both focusing
on the United States); K. Kasturirangan, Space Technology for Humanity: A
Profile for the Coming 50 Years, 23 Space Policy (2007), 159–60 ff. (focusing on
India); more generally, F.G. von der Dunk, As Space Law comes to Nebraska,
Space comes down to Earth, 87 Nebraska Law Review (2008), 500–2; J.I.
Gabrynowicz, Space Law: Its Cold War Origins and Challenges in the Era of
Globalization, 37 Suffolk University Law Review (2004), 1051–7; D.M. Gray,
Space as a Frontier – The Role of Human Motivation, 15 Space Policy (1999),
161–3.
63
INTELSAT, privatized in the early 2000s, was originally established as an
intergovernmental consortium for developing and operating an infrastructure for
fixed satellite communications on behalf of its member states; see further infra,
§ 2.4.2.1, incl. n. 299.
64
INMARSAT was also privatized in the early 2000s, but had been
established as an intergovernmental organization for maritime, then all mobile
satellite communications; see further infra, § 2.4.2.1, incl. n. 302.
65
ESA was established to pool material, including notably financial and
scientific resources, of a set of European states for space research and develop-
ment, broadly interpreted; see further infra, § 2.4.2.2, incl. n. 319; also §§ 4.2.2–
4.2.4.

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46 Handbook of space law

Outer Space Treaty – of which the other four conventions essentially

comprised elaborations.66
Thus, the traditional concept of state responsibility, which under
general public international law applied only directly to acts of a state
itself violating its international legal obligations towards another state,
was widened in the space law context to include all space activities as
long as qualifying as ‘national activities in outer space’.67 Article VI of
the Outer Space Treaty uses the phrase ‘international responsibility’
instead of the more common ‘state responsibility’, but as such respons-
ibility under Article VI is attributed to states, the former actually
constitutes an extension of the latter in order to encompass full respons-
ibility of the state also for activities by ‘non-governmental entities’ and of
international organizations.68
Along similar lines, states were going to be held squarely liable for
damage caused by space objects (to be) launched into outer space – even
if built, launched and operated exclusively by private entities.69 Thereby,
Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention

66
Cf. Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 32–40; Gorove, supra n. 2, 46–8; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 2, 65–8.
67
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1 (emphasis added). If such
activities happened to be conducted by ‘non-governmental entities’, the states
concerned actually had to undertake ‘authorization and continuing supervision’
of such activities to guarantee conformity with the rules of the Outer Space
Treaty. See M. Gerhard, Article VI, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds.
S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 111–22; F.G. von der
Dunk, Private Enterprise and Public Interest in the European ‘Spacescape’
(1998), 17–22; F.G. von der Dunk, The Origins of Authorisation: Article VI of
the Outer Space Treaty and International Space Law, in National Space Legisla-
tion in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 3–28; P.G. Dembling & D.M
Arons, The Evolution of the Outer Space Treaty, 33 Journal of Air Law and
Commerce (1967), 436–8; Cheng, supra n. 1, 237–9, 608–9.
68
As different from general public international law, in space law the
activities of private entities are fully equated to state activities for the purpose of
international/state responsibility; see supra, § 2.1.1 and n. 8. See for the
background to this compromise between the United States and the Soviet Union
e.g. B. Perlman, Grounding U.S. Commercial Space Regulation in the Constitu-
tion, 100 The Georgetown Law Journal (2012), 954; J. Hermida, Legal Basis for
a National Space Legislation (2004), 30; also V.S. Vereshchetin & G.V. Silves-
trov, Space Commercialization in the Soviet Union: Facts, Policy and Legal
Issues, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992),
32–40; Malanczuk, supra n. 5, 31–2.
69
See Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1 and Arts. I(c), II–V, Liability
Convention, supra n. 40, where international liability is allocated to the state(s)

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constituted an even larger extension of state-centricity as compared to

more traditional public international law, where the concept of state
liability was only found in a handful of treaties addressing specific
circumstances.70
Furthermore, not only did the international space law regime as
indicated primarily address states (and intergovernmental organizations,
still public in character after all, only in subsidiary fashion whilst
mentioning ‘non-governmental entities’ just once71); it also did so largely
in addressing very much the politico-military and scientific aspects of
space activities.
The use of space for peaceful purposes figures very prominently
throughout the Outer Space Treaty, and a prominent effort was made to
minimize the risk of nuclear war using space,72 to a priori demilitarize
the moon73 and to establish confidence- and transparency-building meas-
ures avant la lettre.74 The express reference to the UN Charter as part of
the general body of international law applicable to outer space was also
to a large extent for reasons of its generic prohibition of the threat or use
of force against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states,
which was to be extended comprehensively to outer space.75

qualifying as ‘launching State(s)’ regardless of any private involvement in launch

or operation of the space object in question.
70
See further on this infra, § 2.3.3.4, notably n. 220.
71
In Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
72
Cf. Art. IV, 1st para., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1; also e.g. the general
obligations of Art. III and the focus on international cooperation. On Art. IV, see
in detail K.U. Schrogl & J. Neumann, Article IV, in Cologne Commentary on
Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009),
70–85 ff.; Christol, supra n. 31, 20–37; also P.S. Dempsey, Overview of the U.S.
Space Policy and Law, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S.
Jakhu) (2010), 374–85. More in general supra, § 1.4 & infra, § 6.3.1.
73
Cf. Art. IV, 2nd para., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1; also Arts. 2, 3,
Moon Agreement, supra n. 46.
74
Cf. Art. X, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, which aims at allowing states
parties to be present at space launches conducted by other states parties, albeit
subject not only to reciprocity but also to further agreement. See A. Kapustin,
Article X, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-
Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 183–8. Also the Registration Convention,
supra n. 41, as a whole from this perspective could be viewed as a confidence-
and transparency-building measure.
75
See Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, Art. 2(4), UN Charter, supra
n. 16 respectively. Cf. O.M. Ribbelink, Article III, in Cologne Commentary on
Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 67–9;
P. Jankowitsch, Legal Aspects of Military Space Activities, in Space Law –

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Likewise, the freedom for exploration and use – probably the most
fundamental substantive principle applicable to outer space, enshrined in
Article I of the Outer Space Treaty – certainly was in major part inspired
by a desire to protect the interests in scientific exploration.76 Later
discussions on whether ‘use’ effectively did or should include ‘exploit-
ation’, in particular exploitation of mineral resources,77 constitute further
proof of this.
Or from another angle, the definition of ‘damage’ as the basis for
liability claims under the Liability Convention was only concerned with
physical damage, not harm such as interference with operations and loss
of revenues, which, commercially speaking, could be at least as import-
ant.78

Development and Scope (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1992), 145–8; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 2, 501–25 ff.; Lachs, supra n. 1, 98.
76
See also Preamble, 3th & 4th paras., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
Further S. Hobe, Article I, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 34–6.
77
Hobe, supra n. 47, 116–20, makes a clear case for ‘use’ being inclusive of
‘exploitation’. At the same time, the Moon Agreement sows confusion on this
point by singling out exploitation as being ruled by the ‘common heritage of
mankind’ principle, whereas use and exploration remain part of the res or terra
communis; cf. Arts. 11(1) (5) resp. 4(1); also von der Dunk, supra n. 47, 101–3.
Further S.E. Doyle, Issues of Sovereignty and Private Property, in Air and Space
Law in the 21st Century (Eds. M. Benkö & W. Kröll) (2001), 315; P.G.
Dembling, Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and
Use of Outer Space Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, in Manual
on Space Law (Eds. N. Jasentuliyana & R.S.K. Lee) Vol. I (1979), 11; Cheng,
supra n. 1, 374 ff.; S.R. Freeland, Space Tourism and the International Law of
Outer Space, in Space Law in the Era of Commercialization (Ed. S. Bhat)
(2010), 26; Christol, supra n. 31, 42, 375 ff.; Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 22; Hobe,
supra n. 76, 35. Also infra, §§ 14.4.2.1, 14.4.2.2.
78
‘Damage’ was defined by Art. I(a), Liability Convention, supra n. 40, as
‘loss of life, personal injury or other impairment of health; or loss of or damage
to property of States or of persons, natural or juridical, or property of inter-
national intergovernmental organizations’, whereas Arts. II and III principally
addressed such damage ‘caused by [a] space object’. See further L.J. Smith & A.
Kerrest de Rozavel, The 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage
Caused by Space Objects, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 111–3; Christol, supra n. 31,
91–105; Cheng, supra n. 1, 323–4; C.Q. Christol, International Liability for
Damage Caused by Space Objects, 74 American Journal of International Law
(1980), 355–68; B.A. Hurwitz, State Liability for Outer Space Activities in
Accordance with the 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage
caused by Space Objects (1992), 12–20.

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But also outside of that core body of international space law, many
important treaties and treaty-like arrangements on space activities that
saw the light of day were drafted with a similar focus on military issues
– such as the Nuclear Test Ban Treaties79 and the ABM Treaty80 – or on
scientific issues – the International Space Station (ISS) was developed
primarily as a low-orbiting laboratory for applied science,81 and the ESA
Convention established the aforementioned European Space Agency to
make European cooperation in research and development for space
activities more effective and cost-efficient.82

2.3 THE CORE SUBSTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL

SPACE LAW: THE UN SPACE TREATIES

2.3.1 The Outer Space Treaty

The Outer Space Treaty83 represents the most fundamental and all-
encompassing of the space treaties, and hence the foundation for all of
space law. As indicated, however, no effort will be attempted to address
all of its substance and legal ramifications – to the extent these indeed

79
This concerned the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmos-
phere, in Outer Space and Under Water (Partial Test Ban Treaty), Moscow, done
5 August 1963, entered into force 10 October 1963; 480 UNTS 43; TIAS No.
5433; 14 UST 1313; UKTS 1964 No. 3; ATS 1963 No. 26; respectively the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, New York, done 24 September 1996, not yet
entered into force; Cm. 3665; 35 ILM 1439 (1996); S. Treaty Doc. No. 105-28
(1997). Cf. also Cheng, supra n. 1, 526–7; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 510–4;
Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67, 423–4.
80
Agreement Between the United States of America and the Union of
Socialist Soviet Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
(ABM Treaty), Moscow, done 26 May 1972, entered into force 3 October 1972,
no longer in effect 13 June 2002; 944 UNTS 13; TIAS No. 7503; 23 UST 3435.
See also e.g. Jankowitsch, supra n. 75, 150–3.
81
See further infra, § 2.4.3.1.
82
See further infra, § 2.4.2.2.
83
See on the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, in general from amongst a
wealth of literature, Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009); Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67,
419–56; J.F. McMahon, Legal Aspects of Outer Space: Recent Developments,
British Yearbook of International Law (1965), 417–30; Christol, supra n. 31,
20–58; Cheng, supra n. 1, 215–64; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 53–80; Dembling,
supra n. 77, 1–51; also Lachs, supra n. 1, esp. 11–64; Zhukov & Kolosov, supra
n. 1, 33–88.

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50 Handbook of space law

concern key elements of the corpus juris spatialis, they will be addressed
in relevant chapters elsewhere.84 Rather, the overarching principles and
clauses of the Outer Space Treaty as shaping and directing the remainder
of space law will be assessed here – partly since those continue to
provide major bones of contention amongst the space lawyers.
Two of those key concepts, of international responsibility and liability
of states, have already been touched upon briefly in the context of the
state-oriented character of space law,85 but their legally speaking most
important aspects still remain to be addressed.
The other major issue, in many respects the mirror side to the
state-centricity of responsibility and liability, concerns outer space as a
‘physical’ realm, its definition and legal status, and the resulting deline-
ation of the scope of application of space law – where other concepts for
such delineation have also been asserted. This issue pervades the Outer
Space Treaty and much of what came after it, and determines the
fundamental parameters for all legal regulation of activities in outer
space. In addition, it gave rise to more specific and long-standing debates
on a legal (lower) boundary of outer space and the existence of a ‘right of
innocent passage’ to outer space.

2.3.1.1 International responsibility and international liability

With respect to responsibility and liability, the main aspect to be noted
beyond the absolute state-centricity prevailing in the Outer Space Treaty
and the Liability Convention is the large potential for confusion resulting
from the concurrent use of those two concepts of accountability in the
same convention in an outer space context.86 Noting that at least in the

84
E.g., Art. IV on military uses of outer space (see infra, § 6.3.1), Art. V on
astronauts as elaborated by the Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39 (see infra,
§ 2.3.2, also §§ 11.4.3.2, 12.5.1), and environmental concerns following from
Art. IX (see infra, § 13.3.1.1). More generally, it also applies to issues such as
international cooperation and the role of intergovernmental organizations (see
Chapter 5), exploitation of celestial resources (see Chapter 14) and the appli-
cation of the Treaty as a whole to various major civil uses of space (see infra,
e.g. §§ 7.4.1, 8.3.1, 9.4.1.1, 10.3.1).
85
See supra, § 2.2.2.3.
86
For an extended analysis of this issue, cf. e.g. F.G. von der Dunk,
Liability versus Responsibility in Space Law: Misconception or Misconstruc-
tion?, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(1992), 363–71. Also Bhat & Bhat, supra n. 8, 131–49; Smith & Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 78, 123–5; Cheng, supra n. 1, 603–20, 632–8; M. Pedrazzi,
Outer Space, Liability for Damage, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law
(Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VII (2012), 1109 ff.; Christol, supra n. 34, 236–48; S.

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Russian, Spanish and French text versions of the Outer Space Treaty –
which are equally authentic87 – only one generic phrase is used for both
‘responsibility’ and ‘liability’, there are at least four major interrelated
problems of partial overlaps arising here.
Firstly, whilst international responsibility generally focuses on con-
formity with international law (in this case, the Outer Space Treaty and
by extension, as that treaty is considered the basis of the comprehensive
legal framework for outer space activities, essentially all of space law88)
and liability, at least in a space law context, to compensating for damage
caused, the two overlap where internationally wrongful acts may entail
the causation of damage.89
However, whilst the liability aspect properly speaking has been further
elaborated by the Liability Convention to be briefly discussed further
below,90 there is no principled reason why the more general concept of
state responsibility could not be used also for obtaining compensation for

Gorove, Liability in Space Law: An Overview, 8 Annals of Air and Space Law
(1984), 373 ff.; Jasentuliyana, International Space Law, supra, n. 1, 200–3;
V. Kayser, Launching Space Objects: Issues of Liability and Future Prospects
(2001), 31–44; more insightfully still N. Horbach, The Confusion about State
Responsibility and Liability, 4 Leiden Journal of International Law (1991), 47 ff.
87
See Art. XVII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
88
Cf. also Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, referring to general
international law in principle being applicable to outer space as well. See further
e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1, 618; Lachs, supra n. 1, 113–4; Gál, supra n. 1, 129–39;
Bhat & Bhat, supra n. 8, 139.
89
Cf. also the discussions within the ILC leading to separate sets of Draft
Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts,
adopted in August 2001; Report of the ILC on the Work of its Fifty-third
Session, UN Doc A/56/10(2001), 26 ff. – which may call for compensation for
damage in certain cases of reparation for injuries as a consequence of an
internationally wrongful act; see Arts. 34, 36 – and Draft Articles on Inter-
national Liability for Injurious Consequences arising out of Acts not Prohibited
by International Law, which ended up sub-divided into draft articles on the
prevention of transboundary damage from hazardous activities (see UN GA
Resolution 62/68, of 8 January 2008; UN Doc A/RES/62/68(2008)), and draft
principles on the allocation of loss in the case of transboundary harm arising out
of hazardous activities (see UN GA Resolution 61/36, of 18 December 2006; UN
Doc A/RES/61/36(2006)). Further the Chorzów Factory Case, supra n. 21, at 29;
see Mann, supra n. 6, 124 ff.; R.M.M. Wallace, International Law (3rd edn.,
1997), 173–80; Cassese, supra n. 4, 182–212; cf. also e.g. Christol, supra n. 34,
212; Bhat & Bhat, supra n. 8, 135 ff.
90
See infra, § 2.3.3.

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52 Handbook of space law

damage in cases where the liability concept may not offer a particular
relief.91
Thus, at least in theory, a state that is the victim of damage caused by
an unlawful act (or of damage the causation of which constitutes an
unlawful act in itself) might choose to seek reparation for such injuries
not from a state technically liable under Article VII of the Outer Space
Treaty and the Liability Convention, but from a state technically respons-
ible under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty.
It is here where the second problem arises, that responsibility and
liability in the context of space law in spite of their similarity and overlap
are attributed quite differently. Whilst a state is responsible for ‘national
activities in outer space’ under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, it is
liable by reason of its being the ‘launching State’ of the space object
causing the damage under Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty and the
Liability Convention. In particular in the context of private space
activities, a different set of states might thus be held responsible from
that to be held liable.92
Take, for example, a telecommunications satellite being launched, then
sold in orbit to a private operator of a third state not at all involved in the
launch and hence not qualifying as a ‘launching State’ of the satellite. If
the satellite would then cause damage compensable under the Liability
Convention, the original launching state(s) would remain liable even if no
longer able to exercise any jurisdiction and control over the operator
actually accountable for the damage – once a launching state, always a
liable one. Yet, states and their nationals suffering the damage may also

91
Whilst many authors seem to assume that compensation for damage as a
consequence of space activities (notably of course through the concept of the
‘space object’ causing such damage; see Arts. I(c), II–V, Liability Convention,
supra n. 40) is exclusively regulated by Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1,
and the Liability Convention (cf. Lachs, supra n. 1, 113 ff.; Jasentuliyana, supra
n. 1, 35–6; Christol, supra n. 31, 91, 104 ff.; Cheng, supra n. 1, e.g. 305–6; Lyall
& Larsen, supra n. 2, 66–7; Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1, 64–8), nowhere is it
explicitly provided that the Liability Convention would serve as the sole remedy,
neither is it even explicitly argued.
Interestingly, e.g. Art. XI, Liability Convention, does already refer to one
specific alternative dispute settlement route: that of national judicial procedures.
Similarly, ‘[t]he provisions of this Convention shall not affect other international
agreements in force insofar as relations between the States Parties to such
agreements are concerned’ (Art. XXIII(1)), and ‘[n]o provision of this Conven-
tion shall prevent States from concluding international agreements reaffirming,
supplementing or extending its provisions’ (Art. XXIII(2)).
92
See on the ‘launching State’ further infra, § 2.3.3.1.

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International space law 53

or instead hold the third state responsible on account of this being a

national activity of that state – and next request compensation from that
third state for the damage caused in the context of the satellite’s
operations.
Obviously, such complexities – most authors not seeming to be aware
of the potential availability of an Article VI-responsibility option for
obtaining reparation for injuries – are not conducive to a transparent,
effective and comprehensive framework for handling damage caused by
outer space activities. Until either a generally acknowledged and authori-
tative document is drafted formally excluding the use of Article VI for
obtaining reparation for damages or an equally authoritative judgment of
an international court or tribunal would so rule in a given dispute, this
problem remains.
Thirdly, the relevance of this issue is enlarged by the limited scope of
compensable damage under the Liability Convention – presumably
excluding such other major categories as damage by electronic interfer-
ence and indirect, consequential and loss-of-revenue types of damage.93
Since state responsibility under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty does
not suffer from such limitations to possible compensable damage, states
may well be tempted to put forward claims on that basis, rather than the
more obvious but more circumscribed one of the Liability Convention.
Fourthly, the problem is aggravated still further by the uncertainty, in
particular, as to what ‘national activities’ refers to in the context of
Article VI. Generally, three schools of thought may be distinguished. The
first simply equates ‘national activities’ to ‘activities of nationals’.94 The
second argues that ‘national activities in outer space’ of a state essentially
should equate with cases where that state also qualifies as a state liable

93
See further on this infra, § 2.3.3.1.
94
This argument is predominantly based on Art. IX, Outer Space Treaty,
supra n. 1, where a certain responsibility of a state for activities of its national is
expressly provided for. Cf. e.g. (with some reservations) K.H. Böckstiegel, The
Terms ‘Appropriate State’ and ‘Launching State’ in the Space Treaties –
Indicators of State Responsibility and Liability for State and Private Activities, in
Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1992),
13–4; Gorove, supra n. 86, 377; Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 8, 139; P. Nesgos,
International and Domestic Law Applicable to Commercial Launch Vehicle
Transportation, in Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (1985), 100; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 66; Christol, supra n. 34,
247. This interpretation does not, however, solve the issue of why Art. VI did not
then phrase its yardstick for attribution identically to that of Art. IX. Cheng,
supra n. 1, 659, even refers to ‘a slip of the pen’ in describing Art. IX’s usage of
the term ‘nationals’ only.

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54 Handbook of space law

for damage (in accordance with Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty)
and a state registering the satellite (in accordance with Article VIII of the
Outer Space Treaty), in an effort to take away the inconsistency in
attribution.95
The third school takes a more fundamental approach of logic, essen-
tially equating national activities for which a state can be held respons-
ible with those over which it is entitled to exercise some form of
generally accepted jurisdiction. In other words: responsibility under
Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty encompasses both activities
conducted from the territory of the state concerned (not just launching
activities, but also, for example, satellite communication, satellite remote
sensing and satellite navigation activities) and activities conducted by its
nationals, and as relevant also activities conducted involving space
objects registered by that state.96
A final point of note in the context of responsibility in particular
concerns the role of public international organizations. While they are to
some extent recognized as legitimate actors in space, ‘activities …
carried on in outer space … by an international organization’ as to
‘responsibility for compliance with this Treaty’ gives rise to such
responsibility ‘both by the international organization and by the States

95
Cf. e.g. V. Kayser, An Achievement of Domestic Law: U.S. Regulation of
Private Commercial Launch Services, 17 Annals of Air and Space Law (1991),
341–3; H.A. Wassenbergh, Public Law Aspects of Private Space Activities and
Space Transportation in the Future, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Collo-
quium on the Law of Outer Space (1996), 246.
This interpretation does not solve the issues of why Arts. VI and VII
respectively, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, use quite different concepts and
terminology, or why Art. VIII actually refers to ‘jurisdiction’ and not to
‘nationality’. Also and more fundamentally it overlooks the fact that ‘activities in
outer space’ comprise more than only the launching activities which Art. VII,
Outer Space Treaty, and the Liability Convention, supra n. 40, focus on.
96
See e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1, 658–63, also addressing the practical
problems arising from such interpretations; V.S. Vereshchetin, Space Activities of
‘Non-Governmental Entities’: Issues of International and Domestic Legislation,
in Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(1984), 263; Lachs, supra n. 1, 114; Gerhard, supra n. 63, 112–4; von der Dunk,
Private Enterprise, supra n. 67, 18–9; implicitly (by referring to a 1963
resolution of the Institute of International Law) Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1,
66–7.

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International space law 55

Parties to the Treaty participating in such organization’.97 Also Article

XIII of the Outer Space Treaty98 makes clear that, as a consequence
largely of the erstwhile Soviet refusal to recognize intergovernmental
organizations as legal entities enjoying their own separate international
legal personality, they are essentially to be seen as platforms for
sovereign states cooperating, rather than autonomous actors in the space
arena.

2.3.1.2 Outer space as a ‘global commons’ and the freedom of

exploration and use
The concepts of international/state responsibility and state liability, as
mentioned, effectively constitute the counterpart to the fundamental
character of outer space as constituting a ‘global commons’, a ‘res
communis’ or ‘territorium extra commercium’.99 In a sense, the broadness
of the responsibility- and liability-concepts should provide some guaran-
tees that the tragedy of the global commons – where by definition all feel

97
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1. See also A. Kerrest de Rozavel,
International Organisations as Active Subjects of International Law of Outer
Space, in International Organisations and Space Law (Ed. R.A. Harris) (1999),
259.
98
Art. XIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, refers in this context to ‘cases
where [activities] are carried on within the framework of international inter-
governmental organizations’, and ‘[a]ny practical questions arising in connection
with activities carried on by international intergovernmental organizations in the
exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial
bodies, shall be resolved by the States Parties to the Treaty either with the
appropriate international organization or with one or more States members of that
international organization, which are Parties to this Treaty’ (emphasis added).
See further e.g. U.M. Bohlmann & G. Suess, Article XIII, in Cologne Commen-
tary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I
(2009), 215–22; Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67, 437–8.
99
On these concepts as applied to outer space see further Cheng, supra n. 1,
434–44; F.G. von der Dunk, The Dark Side of the Moon – The Status of the
Moon: Public Concepts and Private Enterprise, in Proceedings of the Fortieth
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 119–24; S.R. Freeland & R.
Jakhu, Article II, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 48–55; Viikari, supra n. 47, 17–21;
Hobe, supra n. 47, 120 ff.; Gál, supra n. 1, 122–9, 139 ff.; Lachs, supra n. 1,
44–5; Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 26–33, 41–5; V. Pop, Who Owns the Moon?
(2009), 73–97; in general Crawford, supra n. 2, 203 ff.; Shaw, supra n. 1, 487 ff.;
also Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 147 ff.

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56 Handbook of space law

entitled, but no one feels truly responsible – could be avoided in the

context of outer space.100
The most fundamental clause determining the overall legal status of
outer space is Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, which determines that
‘[o]uter space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not
subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of
use or occupation, or by any other means’. It thereby establishes outer
space as a realm beyond national territorial jurisdiction, essentially akin
to the high seas.101 One consequence thereof is that no state may extend
the scope of its territorial jurisdiction, for example regarding how an
individual may obtain title to land, to outer space or any celestial body, as
well as to minerals and archaeological treasures to be found there and
vice versa what rights the government would have to nationalize real
estate for the purpose of a highway or a railway.102
This obviously does not mean states cannot exercise any jurisdiction in
outer space. Non-manned space activities are usually controlled from
some earthly territory where national sovereign territorial jurisdiction
would normally apply to anyone undertaking those activities, and in
respect of manned space activities states remain also entitled to exercise
jurisdiction over their nationals (personal jurisdiction), as well as over
space objects registered with them and personnel on board such
objects.103

100
Cf. also V. Pop, Planetary Resources in the Era of Commercialisation, in
Space Law in the Era of Commercialization (Ed. S. Bhat) (2010), 60–5.
101
See Arts. 86–120, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
supra n. 15. Cf. on Art. II, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, Freeland & Jakhu,
supra n. 99, 44–63; Christol, supra n. 31, 46–8; Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67,
429–32; Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 26–33.
102
Cf. the Statements of the Board of Directors of the International Institute
of Space Law (IISL) of 2004 and 2009, at www.iislweb.org/docs/IISL_Outer_
Space_Treaty_Statement.pdf and www.iislweb.org/docs/Statement%20BoD.pdf,
last accessed 12 April 2014; also on the lunar (un)real estate-hoax e.g. P.M.
Sterns & L.I. Tennen, Privateering and Profiteering on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies: Debunking the Myth of Property Rights in Space, in Proceed-
ings of the Forty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2003), 56–67;
F.G. von der Dunk et al., Surreal Estate: Addressing the Issue of ‘Immovable
Property Rights on the Moon’, 20 Space Policy (2004), 149–56; Tronchetti,
supra n. 47, 197–211; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 183–5; and for a comprehen-
sive background analysis Pop, supra n. 99, 1–156.
103
As per Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, and the Registration
Convention, supra n. 41. See further infra, § 2.3.4.1.

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International space law 57

The nature of outer space as being beyond the individual territorial

jurisdiction of states is further confirmed by the fundamental freedom of
activities there:

The exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other
celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all
countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development,
and shall be the province of all mankind.
Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for
exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a
basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be
free access to all areas of celestial bodies.
There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer space, including the
Moon and other celestial bodies, and States shall facilitate and encourage
international cooperation in such investigation.104

Whilst at the time of drafting of the Outer Space Treaty the possibility of
(commercial) exploitation other than of the ‘void’ of space for activities
such as communications using satellites was not substantially taken into
account, it has meanwhile been generally agreed that ‘use’ in this context
also includes such ‘exploitation’.105 Next to the concepts of responsibility
and liability as discussed before, the references to international law,
international cooperation and the interests of all countries in the above
clauses106 serve as a check (or at least the possibility of creating such
checks) on unfettered unilateral usage of outer space to the detriment of
all others.
At the same time, this – and in particular the use of the phrase
‘province of all mankind’107 – should not be mistaken as meaning that
outer space as a whole should be considered a ‘common heritage of

104
Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1. See further Dembling & Arons,
supra n. 67, 429–32; Hobe, supra n. 76, 25–43; Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 20–3;
Christol, supra n. 31, 38–46.
105
See also supra, § 2.2.2.3, text at n. 76.
106
See Arts. I, III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
107
See on this novel key concept of the Outer Space Treaty e.g. Christol,
supra n. 31, 44–6; Lachs, supra n. 1, 43 ff.; Hobe, supra n. 76, 38–9; Zhukov &
Kolosov, supra n. 1, 41 ff.; von der Dunk, Private Enterprise, supra n. 67, 68–9;
N.M. Matte, Legal Principles Relating to the Moon, in Manual on Space Law
(Eds. N. Jasentuliyana & R.S.K. Lee) Vol. I (1979), 259.

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mankind’ in the sense that this concept has been developed in the context
of the law of the sea108 and the Moon Agreement.109
The main distinction between a ‘global commons’/‘province of all
mankind’/‘res communis’ approach and that of the ‘common heritage of
mankind’ concerns the fundamental freedom in the former context for
individual states to act unless specific international obligations have been
agreed upon such as, for example, found in the Outer Space Treaty and
the Liability Convention.
As for the common heritage of mankind, by contrast that basic
freedom has been replaced for exploitation in particular with a presump-
tion that an international regime is required before any such exploitation
could take place, and such exploitation can then take place only within
the limits of that international regime.110 In addition, following the actual
elaboration of the ‘common heritage of mankind’ concept in the law-of-
the-sea context, the assumption would be that any elaboration for the
moon and other celestial bodies – where the concept has at least been
posited – would fundamentally entail the transfer of technology to, and
sharing of exploited resources with, all states, regardless of their actual
involvement in the exploitation activities.111
Of course the non-applicability of the ‘common heritage of mankind’
concept to outer space as a whole does not mean the freedom of activity
there would be unfettered. Rather, any limits to such freedom would have

108
Cf. esp. Arts. 136 ff., United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
supra n. 15. See further Shaw, supra n. 1, 533–4, 628–35; Crawford, supra n. 2,
326–30; Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 207–8, 233–4.
109
Cf. Art. XI, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46, and discussion infra, § 2.3.5.2;
further Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 38–61, 85–130; Hobe, supra n. 47, 124 ff.; von
der Dunk, supra n. 47, 101–3; Report of the Sixty-Ninth Conference, ILA (2000),
576, 586 ff.; Resolution 1/2002, Space Law, Seventieth ILA Conference, and
Report of the Seventieth Conference, ILA (2002), accessible via www.ila-hq.org/
en/committees/index.cfm/cid/29, last accessed 12 April 2014; Pop, supra n. 99,
121–34 (labelling the concept ‘reaping without sowing’); Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 2, 193–7; Cheng, supra n. 1, 365–74; Shaw, supra n. 1, 548–9; Malanczuk,
supra n. 1, 208; Matte, supra n. 107, 265–70.
110
Cf. for a balanced discussion Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 190 ff., esp.
195–6; further e.g. Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 139–44; Hobe, supra n. 47, 124–5.
See also infra, §§ 14.4.2.2, 14.4.3.
111
See further e.g. Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 99–108; Lyall & Larsen, supra n.
2, 195–6; for the elaboration of the ‘common heritage of mankind’ principle in
the law of the sea on these two core elements Arts. 144, and 140(2) respectively,
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra n. 15; further Viikari,
supra n. 47, 52–8; Shaw, supra n. 1, 629–31; Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1,
193–5; Crawford, supra n. 2, 327–9.

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to be imposed by general international consensus, read international

treaties with more or less global application – of which the Outer Space
Treaty itself provided the most immediate example – and customary
international law, rather than by one state or group of states alone (for
example by blocking any consensus on an international regime).
Specifically, the Outer Space Treaty provided for further limitations to
any potentially unfettered freedom to act in outer space in the context of
its ‘global commons’ character by requiring all space activities to be
conducted in accordance with general international law,112 by imposing
certain limitations on military uses,113 by imposing certain coordination
and consultation requirements in case of potentially harmful space
activities,114 and by allowing access ‘to representatives of other States
Parties to the Treaty on a basis of reciprocity’ to ‘[a]ll stations, instal-
lations, equipment and space vehicles on the Moon and other celestial
bodies’.115 Some other important provisions, notably those of Articles V
and VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, finally, will be discussed in some
detail below.
As a further consequence of so determining outer space to be a ‘global
commons’, the Outer Space Treaty would obtain an elevated legal status
as a treaty not simply constituting an international binding agreement
between a set of states, but establishing the broad legal framework for an
entire specific area.116 Without amounting to jus cogens such a status
would override the normally applicable res inter alios acta principle and
the equally principled legal equality of states under international law.

112
See Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
113
As per Art. IV, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1; see further supra,
§ 2.2.2.2, and infra, § 6.3.1.
114
Cf. Art. IX, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1; see further infra, § 13.31.1.
Further S. Marchisio, Article IX, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S.
Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 169–82; Dembling &
Arons, supra n. 67, 440–2; Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1, 69–73; Jasentuliyana,
supra n. 1, 205–8.
115
Art. XII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1. See further L.J. Smith, Article
XII, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd &
K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 207–14; Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67, 447–51;
Cheng, supra n. 1, 248–50, pointing at the essentially military/security-related
background to this clause.
116
The so-called ‘traité-lois’ as opposed to ‘traité-contrats’; cf. e.g. Craw-
ford, supra n. 2, 31–2; (carefully) Wallace, supra n. 89; Thirlway, supra, n. 2,
122–3; M. Fitzmaurice, Treaties, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law
(Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IX (2012), 1062.

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60 Handbook of space law

Following such an argumentation – which has also worked noticeably

in the context of the continent of Antarctica117 – the general principles
and legal regime posited by the Outer Space Treaty can also be upheld
against those currently not parties to it. Or, at the very least, the burden
of proof as regards why certain of those principles and rules would not be
binding upon them rests with such non-parties.
Currently, most of those non-parties are small(er) states which have so
far shown no, little or only derivative interest in space activities. Should
they be allowed, once seriously becoming interested in outer space, to
legally ignore the Outer Space Treaty’s regime, developed by the major
space powers of the 1960s (the United States, the Soviet Union and their
respective allies on both sides of the Cold War-fence) and accepted by
the newer space powers (China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and
many others from other parts of the geopolitical world)? Noting, more-
over, that allowing a non-party to the Outer Space Treaty to fundamen-
tally ignore it ultimately could cause the whole international space law
regime to come crashing down? Noting, finally, that the Outer Space
Treaty’s regime has generally been endorsed with customary legal status,
causing non-protesting parties to have acquiesced in this regime, which
prominently acknowledges, even protects, mankind’s overarching inter-
ests including those of developing countries by its very first Article?

2.3.1.3 The boundary question

A further fundamental consequence of the determination that outer space
is a global commons, where freedom to operate is the baseline rule and
restrictions to that freedom can only arise under jus cogens, international
treaties or customary international law, is the need, at least in principle,

117
The Antarctic Treaty (Washington, done 1 December 1959, entered into
force 23 June 1961; 402 UNTS 71; TIAS 4780; 12 UST 794; UKTS 1961 No.
97; Cmnd. 913; ATS 1961 No. 12) fundamentally recognizes that states need to
substantially invest in the area in order to be entitled to become a ‘Consultative
Party’ and thereby have a formal voice in further developing the legal regime
applicable to Antarctica; cf. Arts. IX, X, XII, esp. XIII, Antarctic Treaty. This
effective claim to collectively determine the legal status of Antarctica by the
states parties has generally become accepted also by other aspiring states who,
rather than trying to ignore the regime once having become interested in the
continent, have tried – and usually succeeded – in becoming parties themselves,
joining the club. See further e.g. S. Vöneky & S. Addison-Agyei, Antarctica, in
Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. I (2012), 420
ff., esp. 433–4.

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to agree on a boundary vis-à-vis the underlying realm of air space118 –

where, after all, the individual sovereignty of states over their own
airspace reigns supreme (airspace over the high seas and Antarctica
excepted).119
The one, historical occasion where this issue came to the fore most
prominently – and continued to remain on the agenda of the COPUOS
Legal Sub-Committee for many years as part of the so-called
‘delimitation/definition’ question – concerned the geostationary orbit, the
most popular orbit for many space applications, in particular satellite
communications.120 This orbit however also happened to be above the
equator, which in view of its ‘geostationary’ character meant that
equatorial states were faced with (the prospect of) satellites being more
or less permanently stationed above their territory – even if at an altitude
of about 35,786 km.
Consequently, those states in 1976 claimed that those parts of the
geostationary orbit that were above their respective territories were
subject to their respective sovereignty.121 Though no one contested that,
at this altitude and being used by satellites, the geostationary orbit would
logically be considered part of outer space, the lack of any agreed
boundary between outer space and airspace made it easier to claim

118
See further in detail M. Benkö & E. Plescher, Space Law – Reconsidering
the Definition/Delimitation Question and the Passage of Spacecraft through
Foreign Airspace (2013), 3–48; Cheng, supra n. 1, 425–56, 645–8; Gál, supra
n. 1, 59 ff.; G. Oduntan, The Never Ending Dispute: Legal Theories on the
Spatial Demarcation Boundary Plane between Airspace and Outer Space, 1(2)
Hertfordshire Law Journal (2013), 64 ff.; Christol, supra n. 31, 435 ff.;
Galloway, supra n. 30, 333–5; Lachs, supra n. 1, 53–6; Zhukov & Kolosov,
supra n. 1, 153–66; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2; Hobe, supra n. 76, 31.
119
Cf. Art. 1, Chicago Convention, supra n. 16.
120
See further infra, § 8.2.1.
121
This concerned the famous Bogotá Declaration of 3 December 1976, in
Conclusion 2. The result was i.a. a claim by the equatorial countries that any
‘device to be placed permanently on the segment of a geostationary orbit of an
equatorial state shall require previous and expressed authorization on the part of
the concerned state’ (Conclusion 3, sub (d)), as if such a device equated with an
aircraft traversing sovereign national airspace. See also e.g. M.L. Smith, Inter-
national Regulation of Satellite Communication (1990), 201–18; S. Gorove,
Developments in Space Law – Issues and Policies (1991), 41–6; Freeland &
Jakhu, supra n. 99, 55; Oduntan, supra n. 118, 75–8; S.R. Freeland, The Impact
of Space Tourism on the International Law, in Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2006), 187, at n. 17; Benkö & Plescher,
supra n. 118, 41.

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62 Handbook of space law

sovereignty over it by way of exception with a view to its special

physical character.
Indeed tellingly, the long-standing item on the COPUOS Legal Sub-
Committee’s agenda often linked the legal status of the geostationary
orbit to the question of defining outer space; for example the fortieth
session of the Legal Sub-Committee in 2001 discussed the agenda item
as ‘Matters relating to (a) The definition and delimitation of outer space;
(b) The character and utilization of the geostationary orbit, including
consideration of ways and means to ensure the rational and equitable use
of the geostationary orbit without prejudice to the role of the Inter-
national Telecommunication Union’.122
In the end, it was especially the geopolitical fact of life that the
equatorial states comprised a small minority amongst all states interested
in the geostationary orbit, which ensured these claims were never
successful; the reference to ‘equitable use’ was as far as any effort to
arrive at a special privileged status for the equatorial states would get.123
Apparently, only Colombia (which has an article in its Constitution
claiming that ‘the segment of the geostationary orbit, the electromagnetic
spectrum and the zone in which it operates are also part of Colombia’),
while acknowledging that ‘the international community advocates the
establishment of the principle of the non-appropriation of outer space,
where, it asserts, the stationary orbit is located’, still maintains ‘that
Colombia has not renounced sovereignty over the segment of the
geostationary orbit that corresponds to it’.124
Until recently, apart from this ill-fated proposition with respect to the
geostationary orbit, the issue of a geographical boundary between the
respective applicability of air law and space law could be considered a
more or less theoretical one. This also allowed room for applying either a
‘wait-and-see’ attitude or a ‘functionalist approach’. Following the for-
mer, it was not necessary (or at the very least too early) to establish a

122
Historical summary on the consideration of the question on the definition
and delimitation of outer space, UN Doc A/AC.105/769, of 18 January 2002,
§ 23, at 6. See also e.g. Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 3, 31 ff.
123
Oduntan, supra n. 118, 76, speaks of ‘the most formidable brick wall of
technically constructive and legally framed refutations by the industrial powers
including the communist states’, then adding most non-equatorial developing
countries to the opposition as well.
124
Art. 101(4), Political Constitution of Colombia; see UN Doc A/AC.105/
865/Add. 13, of 6 March 2013, at 2, 3. Note also that Colombia still implies that
these claims are ‘in accordance with international law’; Art. 101(4).

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proper boundary, an attitude especially espoused by the US authorities.125

Following the latter, the respective application of air law and space law
was to be determined by reference to the types of activities and/or the
technology used for those – without yet addressing the possible hybridity
of activities (assuming a simple dichotomy of air transportation versus
space activities126) or technological designs (assuming a simple
dichotomy of aircraft versus spacecraft127). In either case, many experts
concluded that a ‘spatially’ defined boundary between the application of
air and space law respectively was not appropriate or helpful.

125
Cf. the statement of the US delegate to the COPUOS Legal Sub-
Committee, Unedited Transcript of its 644th Mtg., 4 April 2011, COPUOS/
LEGAL/T.644, at 2, as quoted by V. Nase, Delimitation and the Suborbital
Passenger: Time to End Prevarication, 77 Journal of Air Law & Commerce
(2012), 754; see also 754–6. Further e.g. D.N. Reinhardt, The Vertical Limit of
State Sovereignty, 72 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2007), 84–8, 113;
Oduntan, supra n. 118, 66–9; V.J. Vissepó, Legal Aspects of Reusable Launch
Vehicles, 31 Journal of Space Law (2005), 175–6.
126
The underlying assumption was that ‘air transportation’ was about trans-
porting passengers and cargo, usually on a commercial/private basis, from one
point on earth to another, whereas ‘space activities’ concerned the launch into
outer space of certain useful payloads, or occasionally humans called astronauts
or cosmonauts – two rather separate notions, apparently, even more separate
through their usage of aircraft and spacecraft respectively; cf. infra, n. 127. Cf.
also Oduntan, supra n. 118, 69–72; Nase, supra n. 125, 752–3. That separation,
however, is now seriously at issue, with commercial suborbital spaceflight
(‘space tourism’) aiming to (also) transport passengers from A to B on earth as
well as to launch small satellites or other payloads into the lower regions of outer
space; cf. further infra, esp. § 12.2.2.
127
The underlying assumption was that ‘aircraft’ as defined by the Chicago
Convention, supra n. 16 (‘any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere
from the reactions of the air other than the reactions of the air against the earth’s
surface’; e.g. Annex 7 to the Chicago Convention, Aircraft nationality and
registration marks, 5th edition, July 2003, Definitions; Annex 8, Airworthiness of
aircraft, 10th edition, April 2005, Definitions), and ‘space objects’ as part-defined
under further space treaties (see esp. infra, § 2.3.3.2) could be clearly separated,
already at the basic level of horizontal take-off and landing versus vertical
take-off and landing. That separation, however, is also fundamentally comprom-
ised with the various technologies proposed for private suborbital vehicles, which
range from vertical take-off and landing through two-stage-to-space to horizontal
take-off and landing; see e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, The Integrated Approach –
Regulating Private Human Spaceflight as Space Activity, Aircraft Operation, and
High-Risk Adventurism, 92 Acta Astronautica (2013), 200–3; Reinhardt, supra
n. 125, 68, 119–20.

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64 Handbook of space law

Aircraft operations and certainly commercial aviation transportation,

the main target for air law as based upon that notion of sovereignty, only
rarely took place above altitudes of 12 or 13 km, whereas the lowest
orbiting satellites flew at much higher altitudes (after a short passage
through airspace, usually the airspace of the state of launch or over the
high seas).128 The US Space Shuttle, until recently the only manned
space vehicle using an almost horizontal flight path upon return, also
crossed airspace only above the high seas and/or the United States
itself.129 The Soviet Buran shuttle, flying only once in an unmanned test
flight, did cross the upper regions of Turkish airspace upon its return, but
without Turkey being aware at the time, the issue of whether permission
should have been requested for such a passage was not raised (other than
by some authors130).131
The advent of private commercial sub-orbital flight, however, also
known somewhat imprecisely as ‘space tourism’,132 is now bringing the
boundary issue back to the table, inevitably calling for a spatialist
demarcation of the respective fields of application of air and space law, in
other words: for a ‘geographical’ boundary between airspace and outer
space.133
After all, the prospective operators sell these flights as spaceflights
with reference to the altitude of 100 km above the earth – at the same
time some vehicles to be used look much more like aircraft than rockets,
and are from an operational perspective best seen as having developed
out of experimental aircraft. By the same token, the boundary issue
provides excellent insight into some of the key characteristics of outer
space and space activities from a legal perspective, and how definitions

128
Cf. Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 8, stating it to be ‘unlikely … that an
aircraft will ever fly above 60 km’. See further e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
esp. 167–9; Lachs, supra n. 1, 56–8; Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1, 153–4; Gál,
supra n. 1, esp. 79–82.
129
See in detail Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 17–25.
130
See thus, on this issue of such ‘innocent passage’ through foreign airspace
on the way to and from outer space, further infra, § 2.3.1.4; also e.g. Gál, supra
n. 1, 102–4; Christol, supra n. 34, 329–40; Cheng, supra n. 1, 648–9; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 2, 171–2; Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 103. On the origins of the
concept in the law of the sea, see e.g. Shaw, supra n. 1, 570–7; Crawford, supra
n. 2, 317–9; Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 176–7; Wallace, supra n. 89,
143–6.
131
See in detail Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 19–27, 34–5.
132
See further on this infra, § 12.2.1.
133
See e.g. Nase, supra n. 125, 749–67; broader Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 66
ff., esp. 76–7, also 88–100, 120–2 (extensively quoting Cheng).

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and concepts in space law are (and should be) intricately connected to
scientific, technical and operational definitions and concepts – but only if
the latter are clear cut, comprehensive and generally agreed upon.
Much confusion, however, has arisen on this issue, and to the extent
experts (and others) have undertaken efforts to arrive at a geographical
boundary, many theories have been used for arriving at a particular figure
– and consequently, many figures have been quoted: ‘In fact between
1957 and 1960 alone the proposals made ranged from 20 km to
1,500,000 [km].’134 The two approaches making most sense with a glance
to the previous functionalist theories, as not unduly subsuming spacecraft
under an air law regime or vice versa subsuming aircraft under a space
law regime, were the ones based on the highest altitude where aircraft
could benefit from the upward lift of the available air and the lowest
altitude where spacecraft could feasibly orbit the earth respectively. Even
those approaches, however, as will be seen, were not without their
problems – should actual or potential maximum or minimum altitudes be
used? – and they were, in addition, often erroneously and confusingly
treated as synonymous.
The particular figure of 100 km (equating to some 62 miles135)
ultimately emanated from the discussions on the theorem of the eminent
scientist Theodore von Kármán, whose calculations pointed out that
below a certain altitude ‘the Earth’s atmosphere becomes too thin for
aeronautical purposes (because any vehicle at this altitude would have to
travel faster than orbital velocity in order to derive sufficient aerodynamic
lift from the atmosphere to support itself)’.136 In other words, the von
Kármán line as such bases itself on the maximum altitude of feasible
aviation.
Several authors then referred to 83/84 km as the von Kármán line –
notably including the first major advocate of that ‘primary jurisdictional

134
Oduntan, supra n. 118, 81, and for a good overview of some of those
proposals more generally 72–81; Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 31–40; also
Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 66–7, 112–9; himself proposing a 12 nm/22 km/72,912
ft boundary in 2007, at 127.
135
It should be further pointed out that when ‘miles’ are used in this context,
usually – so also in this book – statute miles are referred to, a statute mile being
defined as 5,280 ft = 1.609 km; confusion often arises, however, where
frequently also nautical miles are used, which equate with 6,076 ft = 1.852 km;
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile, last accessed 6 January 2014.
136
As per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line, last accessed 6 January
2014; see also www.fai.org/icare-records/100km-altitude-boundary-for-astro
nautics, last accessed 6 January 2014. See further e.g. Benkö & Plescher, supra
n. 118, 7–9.

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line’ amongst the space lawyers.137 However, to start with, arguments

generally were far from consistent.138 A further complication arose from
the various types of miles used in various publications.139 Finally, Haley
himself was not claiming the 275,000 feet altitude to be written in stone,
either:

137
This concerned the then President of the International Astronautical
Federation (IAF), usually referring to 275,000 ft (amounting to 83.82 km): see
A.G. Haley, Space Age Presents Immediate Legal Problems, in Proceedings of
the First Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1959), 9; A.G. Haley, Space
Exploration – the Problems of Today, Tomorrow and in the Future, in Proceed-
ings of the Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1960), 50; A.G.
Haley, Survey of Legal Opinion on Extraterrestrial Jurisdiction, in Proceedings
of the Third Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1961), 40.
More recently the same altitude could be found in S. Hobe, Legal Aspects of
Space Tourism, in 86 Nebraska Law Review (2007), 442; M. Gerhard, Space
Tourism – The Authorisation of Suborbital Space Transportation, in National
Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 280; cf. also
Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 113–4.
138
Cf. as for Haley himself: Space Exploration, supra n. 137, 49, refers to
‘the occurrence of free molecular oxygen in the atmosphere up to 90 km
(295,000 ft). It is only above this level (called the von Kármán Line)’ (emphasis
added); and Survey, supra n. 137, 41, states: ‘Representatives of the USA and the
USSR in connection with arriving at agreements within the Federation Astronau-
tique Internationale as to records in both air flight and space flight have agreed
upon the definition of space flight as being flight above 62 miles (100 km)
altitude. At this point aircraft flight must end and space flight begin. This
agreement coincides with the Kármán line theory’ (emphasis added).
139
Cf. supra, n. 135. E.g. M.S. McDougal, H.D. Lasswell & I.A. Vlasic, Law
and Public Order in Space (1963), 334, refer to a US Air Force Major accepting
‘the Karman line of 53 miles’, which in view of Haley’s/Von Kármán’s focus on
275,000 ft might have suggested statute miles (53 statute miles would equate to
85.28 km), were it not that this statement was then lumped together (in fn. 450)
with that of a Colonel from the US Air War College in 1958, explicitly referring
to ‘50 nautical miles’ (emphasis added), which assumes also the Major was
referring to nautical miles. This is moreover strengthened by the very next
sentence in McDougal, Lasswell & Vlasic, that ‘[i]n support of this altitude it is
also emphasized that agreement has been reached within the Federation Astro-
nautique Internationale to the effect that for the purposes of keeping records the
flight exceeding 62 miles (100 km) altitude will be considered as “space flight”’.
G.H. Reynolds & R.P. Merges, Outer Space – Problems of Law and Policy
(1989), 11, even consciously or unconsciously step over the distinction in
effectively using both at the same time: ‘Above an altitude of approximately
53–62 miles (the so-called von Karman line) aerodynamic lift is largely
non-existent.’ Note that 53 nautical miles would equate to 98.15 km; 62 statute
miles to 99.75 km – both awfully close to 100 km. Even more imprecisely, J.B.

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This is a critical jurisdictional line, marking the theoretical limit of air flight,
which I term the Kármán Line. It must be noted with care that the exact
location of this line of primary jurisdiction is not presented as an apodictic
solution of the problem. The Kármán primary jurisdictional line may eventu-
ally remain, or, after due consideration of such developments as improved
techniques of cooling and the discovery of more heat resistant materials, this
line may be changed significantly. But, while these changes will be in the
exact location of the Kármán Line, the existence of the line is certain and
wherever the line is finally drawn will be the place where ‘airspace’
terminates.140

As the 100 km boundary has been asserted inter alia by the Fédération
Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as being agreed by both the United
States and the Soviet Union, as well as by von Kármán himself after
considerable discussion with other scientists and, possibly, indeed driven
by (the prospects of) developments such as suggested, this would be the
logical altitude of reference.141 In other words, to start with from an
aviation-perspective a boundary at 100 km altitude would make consid-
erable sense.
From a space perspective, meanwhile, the logical approach would be to
determine the minimum altitude of feasible orbits, arriving at a line
dividing ‘non-orbital velocity’ from ‘orbital velocity’142 – and this begged
the question of how such a line would then square with the maximum
altitude of feasible aviation. From this perspective it was realized that
only very rarely did satellites seem to ‘dip’ below an imaginary 100 km

Marciacq et al., Accommodating Sub-Orbital Flights into the EASA Regulatory

System, in Safety Regulations and Standards (Eds. J.N. Pelton, R.S. Jakhu & T.
Sgobba) (2010), 193, state: ‘Calculations of that line [the von Kármán line]
differ, and that is why some see it as 54 miles (c. 83 km) and others at 60 miles
(almost 100 km)’.
140
Haley, Space Exploration, supra n. 137, 50.
141
As per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line, last accessed 6 January
2014, and www.fai.org/icare-records/100km-altitude-boundary-for-astronautics,
last accessed 6 January 2014; see also supra, text at n. 136. Cf. also extended
discussion and analysis of early alternative proposals in McDougal, Lasswell &
Vlasic, supra n. 139, 323–49.
142
Cf. also Oduntan, supra n. 118, 71; Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 116. This
furthermore ties in with the issues concerning the definition of ‘sub-orbital’; see
extensively F.G. von der Dunk, Beyond What? Beyond Earth Orbit?…! The
Applicability of the Registration Convention to Private Commercial Manned
Sub-Orbital Spaceflight, 43 California Western International Law Journal
(2013), 285–9; also e.g. Nase, supra n. 125, 748–9.

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altitude line.143 Thus, to the extent that (prior to the advent of space
tourism) the boundary question had been discussed in a legal and/or
COPUOS context, by and large those discussions had converged on a
‘lowest perigee rule’, ‘perigee’ referring to the point closest to earth in
(usually) elliptical earth orbits.144
Not that this ‘lowest perigee rule’ was not fraught with difficulties in
itself. Some presumed it to refer to the lowest altitude at which an orbit
around the earth would be sustainable: ‘[t]he lowest perigee at which
space objects are still able to continue effectively their orbiting around
the Earth for a longer period of time meets these requirements and
remains a valid basis for defining outer space despite a rapid progress in
space technology’.145 This would, however, merely shift the issue as to
what ‘sustainable’ would actually refer to rather than provide a self-
understood criterion. In other words: the few cases of satellites briefly
dipping below a 100 km boundary to be agreed would have to be treated
as exceptions to the rule, rather than push such a rule to its problematic
limits.
To some extent skirting the above scientifically-, technically- and/or
operationally-based discussions, many states were in any event looking
for a singular altitude where sovereign air space was giving way to the
global commons of outer space. Thus, indeed ‘[t]he determination of a
demarcation line is primarily of legal significance. Scientific consider-
ations are merely necessary to arrive at a suitable legal demarcation
which would have a concrete and sensible basis, and around which the
consensus of states can be built’.146 Consequently:

The argument that the job should be left to competent scientists to deal with
in the future is not cogent enough and therefore, is unacceptable. Scientists

143
See for a general overview e.g. Oduntan, supra n. 118, 79–80. E.g.
Cheng, supra n. 1, 450, refers to one satellite (UK Skynet-II(A)) in 1974 having
had a perigee of 96 km (and, at 451, to the next lowest one with a perigee at 104
km); whereas in the UN register of space objects reference can be found to a
1990 COSPAR satellite with a perigee of 78 km, see ST/SG/SER.E/258, of 7
January 1993, at 5. Oduntan, 79, in quoting other authors makes reference to
altitudes as low as 50 miles, and himself arrives at a preliminary suggestion of 55
miles as the upper boundary of airspace properly speaking (at 82). Cf. further
Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 8 ff., 31 ff.
144
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis, last accessed 6 January 2014.
145
V. Kopal, Issues Involved in Defining Outer Space, Space Object and
Space Debris, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (1992), 38.
146
Oduntan, supra n. 118, 65.

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will, like lawyers, remain undecided on this. In any case any consensus
reached now on the basis of science alone is at the mercy of the inevitable,
next scientific or technological development. Besides it is more realistic to
hold the view that the problem of the lack of demarcation is basically legal
and political in terms of the problems and conflicts it would lead to.147

Tying in with the natural instinct of states to look for clear, geographi-
cally defined boundaries to determine where their respective sovereign
territorial jurisdiction gives way to lack of such jurisdiction148 – witness
for example the extended process in the law of the sea to determine in
quite precise terms the extent of territorial waters, contiguous zones,
exclusive economic zones and continental shelves149 – considerable state
practice and opinio juris has developed assuming, firstly, a boundary
would indeed be necessary, and, secondly, that a 100 km altitude
following the debate on the von Kármán line would make most sense
from this perspective.150
Various Soviet/Russian proposals for establishing a boundary presented
to COPUOS over the years,151 answers by Pakistan,152 Germany153 and

147
Oduntan, supra n. 118, 81–2. Cf. also Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 4,
quoting UN Doc. A/AC.105.39, of 6 September 1967, at 7, stating: ‘No scientific
and technical criteria could be found which would permit a precise and lasting
definition of outer space and which would be acceptable to all States.’
148
See e.g. Cassese, supra n. 4, 55 ff.; Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 69 ff.;
Oduntan, supra n. 118, 64–8, incl. authors quoted.
149
Cf. e.g. Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 77–81, 124–6; Oduntan, supra n. 118,
83; Wallace, supra n. 89, 134–72; also Arts. 3, 33(2), 56–57, 76 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra n. 15.
150
See for an extended version of the argument, Benkö & Plescher, supra
n. 118, 32–5; von der Dunk, supra n. 142, 328–34; further also e.g. Freeland,
supra n. 77, 20–4; Neger & Walter, supra n. 1, 239–41; Hobe, supra n. 137,
441–2; M. Chatzipanagiotis, The Legal Status of Space Tourists in the Frame-
work of Commercial Suborbital Flights (2011), 6–17; Gerhard, supra n. 137,
280–2; Cheng, supra n. 1, 450 ff.; cf. also Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 123; Nase,
supra n. 125, 764; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 167–9; earlier Christol, supra n.
31, 502–11.
151
Cf. e.g. V. Kopal, The Question of Defining Outer Space, 8 Journal of
Space Law (1980), 148; Cheng, supra n. 1, 452–5; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
172; Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 115–6; further Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1,
160–71.
152
See A/AC.105/635, of 15 January 1996, p. 6; A/AC.105/C.2/L.204, of 18
February 1997, at § 18.
153
See A/AC.105/635, of 15 January 1996, pp. 4–5. It should be added,
however, that Germany for the time being remained non-committal as to whether

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70 Handbook of space law

Russia itself154 to a Russian-inspired COPUOS questionnaire, a 2002

amendment to the national Australian space law,155 the 2012 Kazakh
national space law,156 the Isle of Man’s Treasury Regulations’ definition
of ‘space object’,157 the 2008 Russo-Chinese proposal for a treaty on the
prohibition of space weapons158 and an EU document defining ‘space-
qualified technology’159 indeed all made explicit reference to that alti-
tude.
Furthermore, several national space laws, including US160 and South
African161 ones, refer to the atmosphere, and the altitude below which a
satellite could feasibly orbit as airspace respectively. If one ignores the
few exceptions referred to, this would point, as argued, to an altitude at
least close to 100 km. In addition, the FAA – the US government agency
tasked with regulating inter alia private sub-orbital flights! – awards
astronaut wings to anyone who has flown at altitudes over 100 km.162

a boundary would be fully and legally recognized; cf. A/AC.105/865, of 27

January 2006, p. 2.
154
See A/AC.105/C.2/L.204, of 18 February 1997, at § 63; A/AC.105/635/
Add.1, of 15 March 1996, p. 6.
155
See Sec. 8, sub 16th, 21st, 33rd & 35th bullet, An act about space
activities, and for related purposes, No. 123 of 1998, assented to 21 December
1998; as amended by amending legislation up to No. 100 of 2002,
www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/num_act/saaa2002247/, last accessed 6 January
2014.
156
See Art. 1(6), Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Space Activities, of
6 January 2012, 2012 No. 528-IV; www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/spacelaw/
national/kazakhstan/528-IV_2012-01-06E.pdf, last accessed 12 April 2014.
157
As mentioned by Freeland, supra n. 121, 187, n. 18.
158
See Art. I(a), Draft PPWT Treaty, supra n. 58.
159
See Annex I, List referred to in Article 3 of this Regulation, Council
Regulation setting up a Community regime for the control of exports, transfer,
brokering and transit of dual-use items, No. 428/2009/EC, of 5 May 2009; OJ L
134/1 (2009), at 134/28. Note that the European Union comprises such major
space powers as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.
160
Cf. Sec. 103(1)(A), National Aeronautics and Space Act, Public Law
85-568, 85th Congress, H.R. 12575, 29 July 1958; as amended through 1983; 72
Stat. 426; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.III.1.
161
Cf. Sec. 1, sub 15th bullet, South African Space Affairs Act, 6 September
1993, assented to on 23 June 1993, No. 84 of 1993; Statutes of the Republic of
South Africa – Trade and Industry, Issue No. 27, 21–44; National Space
Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 413. Also Nase, supra n. 125, 762,
already taking it for granted that this refers to a 100 km boundary.
162
See R.D. Launius & D.R. Jenkins, Is It Finally Time for Space Tourism?,
4 Astropolitics (2006), 279 at n. 63; Nase, supra n. 125, 762. The US Air Force,
US Navy and NASA, by contrast, have routinely handed astronaut wings to those

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Also, at least one US state, Virginia, at one time was contemplating the
inclusion of the same altitude into its state-level legislation.163
Finally, on a more private level (as indicated) the FAI,164 the global
world aviation sporting events organization following von Kármán’s lead,
and a recent study of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA),
one of the most authoritative bodies of individual experts on matters of
outer space, both make reference to a 100 km altitude as the point of
re-entry into a national airspace.165 Whilst in themselves such pronounce-
ments (just like the insistence of private spaceflight operators that
travelling further away from the earth than 100 km makes one a space
traveller) cannot create customary international law, soon they may force
states to take a stance on this issue one way or another.
As a consequence, it seems likely a more formal agreement on a
boundary between airspace and outer space, presumably at an altitude of
some 100 km, would be required – if it is not going to be developed as a

having achieved altitudes of 50 miles and over, which in view of the standard
usage of nautical miles in those branches of the US military forces must be taken
to refer to 92.6 km; cf. United States Naval Aviation 1910–1995, Appendix 20,
Evolution of Naval Wings (Breast Insignia), 662; Launius & Jenkins, ibid.;
Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 88.
163
House Bill No. 3184, Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute, proposed
by the House Committee for Courts of Justice on 2 February 2007, defines
‘spaceflight activities’ by means of a one-on-one reference to sub-orbital flights,
and then – effectively under an inverted ‘geographic’ approach! – defines
‘suborbital’ to mean ‘a distance at or above 62.5 miles from the Earth’s mean sea
level’; Art. 24, Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act, § 8.01-227.8, ‘Defin-
itions’. The legal effect of Virginia’s approach, however, may be offset by
another state, New Mexico, defining space as ‘any location beyond altitudes of
sixty thousand feet above the earth’s mean sea level’ in the Gross Receipts and
Compensating Tax Act, N.M. Stat. § 7-9-54; following a private e-mail dated 6
March 2007 from L. Montgomery, Senior Attorney, Office of the Chief Counsel
of the FAA (on file with the author). 60,000 ft translates into some 18 km only.
Note that both US states are in the frontline when it comes to developing private
commercial spaceflight (cf. further infra, § 12.3.4.4), hence apparently have a
clear appetite for clearly delineating their jurisdiction also in a vertical sense.
Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 118–9, further refers to a failed 2002 proposal at the
federal level to arrive at a 37 miles/60 km lower boundary of outer space.
164
See Launius & Jenkins, supra n. 162, 279 at n. 63; Nase, supra n. 125,
763; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 168.
165
See IAA Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management, International
Academy of Astronautics (2006), 39.

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72 Handbook of space law

rule of customary international law, where the above could be seen as at

least an unequivocal tendency towards agreement on such a rule.166
Even if not a foregone conclusion, such a practical/legal modification
of the originally scientific/technical/operational concept of a ‘lowest
perigee rule’ would indeed be requisite. Otherwise, from a space perspec-
tive any boundary would have to be established at or below the altitude
where any satellite would arrive at its perigee, which would mean at 78
km or less to cover every actual possible satellite orbit as proven so far –
with the ‘reverse’ result that some experimental aircraft would now be
able to reach into what would then be outer space, creating havoc with
the current legal definitions or conceptions of ‘outer space’, ‘airspace’,
‘aircraft’ and ‘spacecraft’ and the ensuing applicability of many of the
attendant legal obligations.167 Under such an approach, such aircraft
would, for example, be able to overfly foreign sovereign territory at an
altitude of, for instance, 80 km, arousing all sorts of political and military
sensitivities, as aircraft are by definition much more manoeuvrable than
satellites.

2.3.1.4 The issue of a ‘right of innocent passage’ through foreign

airspace
Establishing agreement on a 100 km lower boundary of outer space (or
indeed establishing a boundary at any similar altitude), as demarcating it
from the underlying, largely sovereign airspaces of the world, would
solve many current jurisdictional issues and confusions – but it would
certainly not solve all such problems. For example, with certain experi-
mental aircraft able to fly higher and higher, their flight paths may in the
future start crossing those of certain satellites dipping below that altitude
– as the ‘lowest perigee rule’ for determining the lower boundary of outer
space would now simply have been replaced by a more or less fixed 100
km altitude. More importantly for the present discussion, no agreement

166
Cf. M. Lachs, Freedoms of the Air – The Way to Outer Space, in Air and
Space Law: De Lege Ferenda (Eds. T.L. Masson-Zwaan & P.M.J. Mendes de
Leon) (1992), 245 (‘The time may be approaching when a decision to define the
frontier between the two dimensions will have to be taken’); also e.g. H.P. van
Fenema, Suborbital Flights and ICAO, 30 Air and Space Law (2005), 398; S.R.
Freeland, Fly Me to the Moon: How Will International Law Cope with
Commercial Space Tourism, 11 Melbourne Journal of International Law (2010),
101–2.
167
Note that those aircraft would, for those portions of flight, operate in a
global commons subject only to the rules of international space law, being
considerably less developed and precise than those of – international as well as
national – air law.

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on demarcation would ipso facto solve the conundrum of ‘innocent

passage’ through foreign airspace.168
Thus, a 100 km boundary would indeed raise the issue of a ‘right of
innocent passage’ for satellites with respect to the short parts of those
(elliptical) orbits which would dip into the upper areas of what now
would be airspace. After all, such satellites in relevant orbits operation-
ally speaking simply cannot stay out of the 75–100 km area; prohibiting
them from briefly dipping into that realm means prohibiting their orbits
altogether. On the other hand, for satellites this will remain a rather
exceptional scenario, limited, moreover, to the upper parts of any
perceived air space where no routine commercial aviation takes place,
only experimental or close-to-experimental aviation – but how different
would that be once private manned sub-orbital spaceflights were under-
taken?169
It seems the United States – ironically the very state where private
commercial spaceflight, likely to force the issue of agreeing to a
boundary at whatever altitude, is about to take off in the near future –
increasingly turns out to be the only state adamant that it is, inter alia for
reasons of the above conundrum, at the very least too early (and possibly
undesirable altogether) to draw such a legal line between airspace and
outer space. Conundrum or not, however, one may discern a strong
tendency towards customary legal acceptance of a 100 km boundary in
most other parts of the world as a matter of practice and perhaps even
already as a rule of customary international law.
If such a boundary were indeed accepted without states protesting
vehemently against certain satellites briefly ‘dipping’ into the 75–100 km
altitude realm above their respective territories, a right of innocent
passage – for satellites only, as manned spaceflight would be an

168
Cf. on the issue of a ‘right of innocent passage’ through foreign airspace
supra, n. 130; further e.g. Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 17–29, 47–8;
Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 71–5, 100 ff., 116–8; B. Schmidt-Tedd & S. Mick,
Article VIII, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-
Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 160–1 (who contest the existence of such a
right, but largely based on the assumption that every vehicle traversing national
airspace would be an aircraft in the sense of the Chicago Convention, supra n.
16; see further on this infra, § 12.3.2.2); Oduntan, supra n. 118, 68–9; T.L.
Masson-Zwaan, The Aerospace Plane: An Object at the Cross-Roads Between
Air and Space Law, in Air and Space Law: De Lege Ferenda (Eds. T.L.
Masson-Zwaan & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 253, 257–8; Lachs, supra
n. 1, 56–8.
169
See further infra, esp. §§ 12.2, 12.3, 12.5.2. Cf. also Benkö & Plescher,
supra n. 118, e.g. 10–3.

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altogether different issue in view of its manoeuvrability among other

things – would come into being by acquiescence. If states by contrast
were to protest to such use of their upper airspace, prohibiting those
satellites from flying in the first place as a legal solution would fly
straight in the face of the fundamental freedom of use and exploration of
outer space as per Article I of the Outer Space Treaty.170
Obviously, for private manned sub-orbital spaceflight a different ana-
lysis would apply. For the foreseeable future, the sub-orbital hops would
not present too much of an issue: they would need to operate in
operational compatibility with air law, in particular in order to clear
surrounding air spaces as needed by aircraft – but this is a matter of
national air law, not international air law (just as clearing the airspaces
for Vostok and Apollo launches was an exclusively Soviet and American
affair respectively). However, once other – notably smaller – countries
got involved in sub-orbital flights and/or started transporting passengers
between different parts of the world, this might well have to be
reconsidered.171
It may be noted also that in the law of the sea – one of the three legal
realms usually referred to when new rules of space law are being
discussed172 – specific rules have been devised for so-called ‘land-
locked’ states to allow them to benefit from the freedoms of the high
seas, which go even further than the right of innocent passage in that
field of international law. The latter only presumes the use of some other
state’s territorial waters subject to a range of conditions, the former the
actual use of harbours and ports of another state and workable terrestrial
connections therewith:

170
So e.g. Lachs, supra n. 166, 244–5.
171
For example, this would have to be dealt with in the context of space
traffic management regimes (see infra, § 7.4) and/or the international trade
regime relevant to air transport services (cf. infra, § 15.5.4).
172
The main focus of such comparisons is either the law of the high seas, as
these constitute a global commons just like outer space, or specific sub-sets of
rules, such as regarding jurisdiction on board ships, exploitation of non-living
resources or certification of crew and craft. The other two regimes referred to
would be that of Antarctica, as this is (with the exception of a few states still
clinging to their territorial claims – cf. also Art. IV, Antarctic Treaty, supra
n. 117) also considered a global commons and Antarctica presents the environ-
ment on earth closest to outer space in many respects; and that of air law,
essentially for historical and technical/operational reasons. See for a critical
appraisal of the latter e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, A New ‘Star’ in the Firmament, 6
The Korean Journal of Air and Space Law (2011), 409–13.

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Land-locked States shall have the right of access to and from the sea for the
purpose of exercising the rights provided for in this Convention including
those relating to the freedom of the high seas and the common heritage of
mankind. To this end, land-locked States shall enjoy freedom of transit
through the territory of transit States by all means of transport.173

Using this right of land-locked states to access to international waters as

an analogous precedent,174 it should be argued that protest by states
whose upper airspace (following a 100 km boundary) would be briefly
traversed by satellites diving towards and then again rising up from their
perigee could only be legitimate to the extent such passages would not be
‘innocent’. Again, the law of the sea may be helpful in providing
guidance as to what ‘innocent passage’ should be taken to mean more
specifically. Firstly:

1. Passage means navigation through the territorial sea for the purpose of:
(a) traversing that sea without entering internal waters or calling at a
roadstead or port facility outside internal waters; or
(b) proceeding to or from internal waters or a call at such roadstead or
port facility.
2. Passage shall be continuous and expeditious. However, passage includes
stopping and anchoring, but only in so far as the same are incidental to
ordinary navigation or are rendered necessary by force majeure or
distress or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, ships or
aircraft in danger or distress.175

Translated into the outer space context: passage can only possibly be
subject to a right of innocent passage if it is on the way to or from outer
space in a continuous and expeditious manner, without somehow actually
landing on or departing from the territory of the state whose airspace is at
issue, unless a case of force majeure, distress or rescue is at hand.
Secondly, as to the element of ‘innocence’:

1. Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good

order or security of the coastal State. Such passage shall take place in
conformity with this Convention and with other rules of international
law.

173
Art. 125(1), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra
n. 15; see more broadly Arts. 124–32.
174
See also Neger & Walter, supra n. 1, 252–3 on this analogy.
175
Art. 18, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra n. 15.

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2. Passage of a foreign ship shall be considered to be prejudicial to the

peace, good order or security of the coastal State if in the territorial sea it
engages in any of the following activities:
(a) any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity
or political independence of the coastal State, or in any other manner
in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the
Charter of the United Nations;
(b) any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind;
(c) any act aimed at collecting information to the prejudice of the
defence or security of the coastal State;
(d) any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security of
the coastal State;
(e) the launching, landing or taking on board of any aircraft;
(f) the launching, landing or taking on board of any military device;
(g) the loading or unloading of any commodity, currency or person
contrary to the customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and
regulations of the coastal State;
(h) any act of wilful and serious pollution contrary to this Convention;
(i) any fishing activities;
(j) the carrying out of research or survey activities;
(k) any act aimed at interfering with any systems of communication or
any other facilities or installations of the coastal State;
(l) any other activity not having a direct bearing on passage.176

It should not be that difficult to translate such requirements for ‘inno-

cence’ as appropriate to the context of space law and space objects either;
those sub 2(a), (b), (h), and (k) would already be prohibited in more or
less straightforward fashion by existing outer space law,177 whereas the
others are either irrelevant (such as the one sub 2(i)) or effectively
subsumed in paragraph 2(k) by reference to ‘any … activity not having a
direct bearing on passage’.
Referring to one of the other legal regimes often serving as guidance
for space law – that of air law – one may next point to a key formulation
on how crimes on board aircraft are handled:

A Contracting State which is not the State of registration may not interfere
with an aircraft in flight in order to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over an
offence committed on board except in the following cases:

176
Art. 19, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra n. 15.
177
Cf. e.g. Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, and its inclusion of
general international law, prohibiting acts of aggression from outer space as well
as other acts intended to inflict substantial harm on other states without
underlying justification. See further Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 118, 32–4.

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(a) the offence has effect on the territory of such State;

(b) the offence has been committed by or against a national or permanent
resident of such State;
(c) the offence is against the security of such State;
(d) the offence consists of a breach of any rules or regulations relating to the
flight or manoeuvre of aircraft in force in such State;
(e) the exercise of jurisdiction is necessary to ensure the observance of any
obligation of such State under a multilateral international agreement.178

In other words, a state in whose sovereign national airspace an aircraft

registered by another state is flying when a crime is committed on board
is not supposed to apply its sovereign right to exercise territorial
jurisdiction over such a crime unless the crime has a distinct nexus with
that state, as specified by one of the five alternative scenarios listed.
Transposing these general concepts to space law: as long as a satellite,
flying for short parts of its orbit above a state other than the state(s)
under whose international responsibility the satellite operates but below a
100 km altitude, operates in conformity with applicable international
(space) law and does not undertake specific activities directly impacting
the sovereign terrestrial realm of the underlying state (let alone cross
foreign airspace at an altitude endangering normal aviation), it should be
considered to have such a ‘right of innocent passage’.
Note that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does
not even require, for a ‘right of innocent passage’ to apply, an obligation
of the state making use of that right to inform, much less to do so in
advance, the state whose territorial waters are at issue of its intention to
make use of such a right.
Ships, however, move with velocities which are dimensions smaller
than space objects, so it would be appropriate in this respect to deviate
from the law of the sea, and insist on some mechanism of information
provision in order to guarantee that the state whose upper airspace is
traversed will not be completely unaware of such transit. The least that
could be required is compliance with the Registration Convention’s
requirements to provide relevant information, including, in particular,
under ‘additional information concerning a space object carried on its

178
Art. 4, Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on
Board Aircraft (Tokyo Convention), Tokyo, done 14 September 1963, entered
into force 4 December 1969; 704 UNTS 219; TIAS 6768; UKTS 1969 No. 126;
Cmnd. 2261; ATS 1970 No. 14; 2 ILM 1042 (1963); ICAO Doc. 8364.

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78 Handbook of space law

registry’179 to the extent feasible such information as allows relevant

states to determine their respective airspace may be at issue. In the
current electronic environment, including OOSA’s register of space
objects being available online, it should not be too difficult in addition to
ensure automatic forwarding of such information to relevant states.
The only current caveat would then apply to direct broadcasting
satellites, where a majority of the world’s states have indicated their
strong legal support for a rule of prior consent as per the UN Principles
on satellite direct broadcasting180 – and would consequently be entitled to
demand any transmission of broadcasts into their territory to be sus-
pended during that transition through the upper part of their airspace.
This, however, seems to be a purely theoretical matter, as satellites
orbiting so low would hardly be useful for broadcasting purposes, and are
so far used exclusively for two-way communications, remote sensing and
scientific research activities.
Logically, the first real test to such a ‘right of innocent passage’ would
consequently come only once it no longer concerned unmanned and
hardly manoeuvrable satellites, but rather manned and pilot-flown sub-
orbital vehicles which would traverse such upper parts of the airspaces of
other states than those internationally responsible for those flights.181 A
more extended analysis and regime would then likely be necessary, which
may or may not involve ‘innocent passage’ properly speaking.

2.3.2 The Rescue Agreement

As indicated earlier, Articles V and VIII of the Outer Space Treaty,

dealing respectively with the status of astronauts and the basic require-
ment to return space objects to the state of launch, gave rise to the 1968
Rescue Agreement,182 which was developed rapidly after the Outer Space
Treaty itself, and entered into force less than 12 months after the latter.

179
Art. IV(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 41.
180
UNGA Res. 37/92, supra n. 49; also infra, § 8.3.1.
181
See further e.g. infra, esp. § 12.2. Cf. also e.g. Benkö & Plescher, supra
n. 118, 28–9, 42–6.
182
See on the Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39, in general I. Marboe, J.
Neumann & K.U. Schrogl, The 1968 Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the
Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, in
Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U.
Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 1–82; J.M. de Faramiñan Gilbert & M.C. Muñoz

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The treaty was essentially part of a package deal, preserving some key
interests of the major spacefaring nations, where the Liability Convention
and Registration Convention soon to be concluded were in turn to
preserve some key interests notably of all other states.183 Along the lines
of the underlying two articles of the Outer Space Treaty, the essential
substantive clauses of the Rescue Agreement focused on two main issues.

2.3.2.1 Personnel of a spacecraft

Firstly, the Rescue Agreement addresses the ‘personnel of a spacecraft’,
who are to be rescued, rendered assistance and returned safely and
promptly by another state than the launching state if found to be in
distress.184 The precise extent of the duties of such a third state in this
respect depends on whether the personnel concerned were found on its
territory or in areas outside of its jurisdiction, notably the high seas – but
also outer space itself.
Generally, those duties to come to the rescue were considered to follow
from the terms of Article V of the Outer Space Treaty, which provided
for astronauts to be regarded as ‘envoys of mankind in outer space’. This
was not a term denoting formal diplomatic status, but indicated that
astronauts were, as ‘representatives’ of mankind in the dangerous outer

Rodríguez, The Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space: Some Legal
Questions, in The Astronauts and Rescue Agreement – Lessons Learned (Eds. G.
Lafferranderie & S. Marchisio) (2011), 35–54; Cheng, supra n. 1, 265–86; P.G.
Dembling & D.M. Arons, The Treaty on Rescue and Return of Astronauts and
Space Objects, 9 William and Mary Law Review (1968), 630–3; F.G. von der
Dunk, A Sleeping Beauty Awakens: The 1968 Rescue Agreement after Forty
Years, 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 411–34; Lachs, supra n. 1, 75–88;
Christol, supra n. 31, 152–212; R.S.K. Lee, Assistance to and Return of
Astronauts and Space Objects, in Manual on Space Law (Eds. N. Jasentuliyana
& R.S.K. Lee) Vol. I (1979), 53–81.
183
Such interests notably pertained to being assured that any damage caused
to them by the space activities of others would be generously compensated under
a no-fault liability regime. See further e.g. Marboe, Neumann & Schrogl, supra
n. 182, 9–10; Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 95; Schmidt-Tedd &
Tennen, supra n. 35, 236–7; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 81–3.
184
Arts. 2–4, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39. Further e.g. Marboe, Neumann
& Schrogl, supra n. 182, 48–62; Christol, supra n. 31, 171–6; Lee, supra n. 182,
65–9.

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80 Handbook of space law

space environment, entitled to a certain level of support in situations of

distress above and beyond normal humanitarian considerations.185
One issue in respect of the provisions of the Rescue Agreement
concerns the precise meaning of the term ‘personnel’, where Article V of
the Outer Space Treaty referred to ‘astronauts’ (in the Russian version
‘cosmonauts’). As the Rescue Agreement itself in its full title as well as
its Preamble also referred to ‘astronauts’, the two terms were generally
considered to be synonymous, with ‘personnel’ perhaps pointing a bit
more precisely to their standard role of employees in the service of a
space agency tasked with specific operational duties.186
This issue of the precise definition of ‘astronauts’ and ‘personnel of a
spacecraft’, whether as synonymous or as slightly different notions, has
in recent years become more relevant. Both in the context of the ISS and
in the context of the national US Commercial Space Launch Act
reference was made to a new concept of ‘spaceflight participant’,187
which suggested an increasing perception that not all humans venturing
into outer space – and notably not ‘space tourists’ – should be entitled to
the epithet ‘envoys of mankind’ and the ensuing support noted above.188

185
See Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 129–34; F.G. von der Dunk & G.M. Goh,
Article V, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-
Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 98; Cheng, supra n. 1, 259, 460; cf. further
Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 187–8; M.J. Sundahl, The Duty to Rescue Space
Tourists and Return Private Spacecraft, 35 Journal of Space Law (2009), 167–71;
cf. also Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67, 436.
186
Cf. e.g. Lachs, supra n. 1, 76–7, 83; Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 190–1.
187
See Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assign-
ment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers,
ISS Multilateral Crew Operations Panel, November 2001, Revision A, of 28
November 2001, p. 4; at http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/isscrewcriteria.pdf, last
accessed 12 April 2014; and Sec. 50902, sub 17, 51 U.S.C. 509 respectively.
Further infra, §§ 11.4.3.2 and 12.3.4.3 respectively.
188
See further infra, §§ 11.4.3.2, 12.5.1. Cf. also an insightful analysis in
Sundahl, supra n. 185, 174–89; further Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 129–34;
Freeland, supra n. 77, 24–6; Freeland, supra n. 166, 103–4; A. Farand, Space
Tourism: Legal Considerations Pertaining to Suborbital Flights, in The Astro-
nauts and Rescue Agreement – Lessons Learned (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & S.
Marchisio) (2011), 55–69; S. Hobe, Space Tourism as a Challenge to the
Astronaut Concept, The Astronauts and Rescue Agreement – Lessons Learned
(Eds. G. Lafferranderie & S. Marchisio) (2011), 71–82; Hobe, supra n. 137,
454–8; also, however rather equivocally, Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 150, 29–38.

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2.3.2.2 Space objects (and their launching authorities)

Secondly, the Rescue Agreement addresses space objects189 found outside
the territory of the state responsible for launching, which are also to be
recovered and returned, at the expense of the ‘launching authority’.190
Whilst so far no cases exist of the Rescue Agreement having been
invoked with respect to astronauts, a number of instances of invocation
for the purposes of returning space objects or component parts thereof
have been documented.191
The aforementioned ‘launching authority’, key recipient of rights and
bearer of obligations under the Agreement (also with regard to ‘its’
astronauts), is defined as ‘the State responsible for launching, or, where
an international intergovernmental organization is responsible for launch-
ing, that organization’, subject to certain conditions which include a
formal declaration by such an organization.192
This represented a novelty not only in space law, but in public
international law at large: an intergovernmental organization could
qualify as a party to at least the substantive obligations of a treaty on a
more or less equal footing with sovereign states.193 At present, ESA and
EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteoro-
logical Satellites) have actually issued the requisite Declarations and
thereby accepted all the rights and obligations of a ‘launching authority’
under the Rescue Agreement.194

189
See for a discussion on the definition of ‘space objects’ infra, § 2.3.3.2.
190
See Art. 5, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39. Further Marboe, Neumann &
Schrogl, supra n. 182, 63–70; Christol, supra n. 31, 176–81; Lee, supra n. 182,
69–73.
191
See for the most interesting cases K. Hodgkins, Procedures for Return of
Space Objects under the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of
Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, in Proceedings
United Nations/International Institute of Air and Space Law Workshop on
Capacity Building in Space Law, 2003, 61–6; also Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
100–2, esp. fn. references; von der Dunk, supra n. 182, 425–31.
192
Art. 6, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39. See further Marboe, Neumann &
Schrogl, supra n. 182, 71–4; Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 97, 260; Christol,
supra n. 31, 200–2; Dembling & Arons, supra n. 182, 658–9; Cheng, supra n. 1,
279–80; also B. Cheng, Space Objects and their Various Connecting Factors, in
Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D.
Crowther) (1997), 205–8.
193
Procedural rights such as to amendment or withdrawal (Arts. 8 and. 9
respectively, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39) remained reserved to sovereign
states parties.
194
See Status of International Agreements relating to activities in outer space
as at 1 January 2013, A/AC.105/C.2/2013/CRP.5, of 28 March 2013, p. 10.

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2.3.3 The Liability Convention

Whilst Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty had introduced the essential
principle of states being held liable for damage caused by space objects
launched or procured by them or from their territory or facility, it was the
Liability Convention195 which formally labelled such states ‘launching
States’196 and elaborated the liability regime actually applied to such
damage.197 The Liability Convention took almost five years to be
finalized from the entry into force of the Outer Space Treaty. Essentially,
that regime as per the Convention entailed eight key elements; whereas
its application in actual practice would also have to be taken into
consideration in assessing its importance.

2.3.3.1 The definition of the ‘launching State’

Differently from the lack of definition of ‘national activities in outer
space’ of a particular state and the consequent uncertainties as to
attribution of international responsibility for private activities under
Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty,198 the attribution of international
liability under the Liability Convention (in elaboration of Article VII of
the Outer Space Treaty) would seem rather straightforward. Article I(c)
of the Liability Convention simply provides: ‘The term “launching State”
means: (i) A State which launches or procures the launching of a space
object; (ii) A State from whose territory or facility a space object is
launched’.

195
See on the Liability Convention, supra n. 40, in general e.g. L.J. Smith,
A. Kerrest de Rozavel & F. Tronchetti, The 1972 Convention on International
Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, in Cologne Commentary on
Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013),
83–226; Christol, supra n. 31, 59–128; Cheng, supra n. 1, 286–356; Christol,
supra n. 78, 346–71; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 9–109; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
105–14; Bhat & Bhat, supra n. 8, 141–4; in a broader context also R. Bender,
Space Transport Liability – National and International Aspects (1995), esp.
279–335.
196
See Art. I(c), Liability Convention (supra, n. 40), see infra, § 2.3.3.1.
Further Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 107–9; Cheng, supra n. 1,
309–10; Christol, supra n. 31, 107–8; Kayser, supra n. 86, 35–6; Hurwitz, supra
n. 78, 21–3.
197
See for the discussion of the relationship of such liability to that of
international responsibility as per Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1, supra,
§ 2.3.1.1.
198
See supra, § 2.3.1.1.

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Of the four alternative criteria thus used to determine the liable state,
the most unequivocal and undisputed criterion under the Liability Con-
vention is clearly that of use of the state’s territory for the launch at issue
as the definition of ‘territory’ under international law is rather unequivo-
cal. Even launches from national airspace have generally been assumed
to form part of launches from a state’s ‘territory’ for the purpose of the
Liability Convention.199
With respect to the other three criteria, however, how would they apply
to cases where it was not a state organ but a private company which
would ‘launch’ or ‘procure’ the launch, or the launch would take place
from a private facility as opposed to a state-owned one? Should the
reference to, for example, ‘[a] State which launches’200 be read broadly,
following the equation under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty of
activities conducted by non-governmental entities to governmental activ-
ities including ‘non-state entities which launch’ as long as somehow most
closely related to the state concerned? Most states indeed understood this
to mean they might still be held liable under those headings also for
private launches, but only some extended this to private procurement or
launches from private facilities, hence calling for authorization before
allowing them to take place; in that manner, implicitly or explicitly they
largely ignored the latter in their national legislative efforts.201
Or should it be read narrowly, meaning that if there is, for instance, no
state which ‘procures’ the launch at issue (but a private satellite operator),
at least under this criterion there is no launching state, hence no liable
state? Indeed, other states have apparently understood it this way, in the
context of their national space laws and licensing regimes not requiring a
private entity, for example procuring a launch elsewhere, to obtain a
licence including appropriate liability derogation arrangements.202

199
See e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1, 330; Hobe, supra n. 24, 7.
200
Art. I(c) (i), Liability Convention, supra n. 40.
201
See in general e.g. I. Marboe & F. Hafner, Brief Overview over National
Authorization Mechanisms in Implementation of the UN International Space
Treaties, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk)
(2011), 51–7; von der Dunk, Private Enterprise, supra n. 67, 107–64; also infra,
§ 3.3.
202
The only clear exceptions here are the UK Outer Space Act, 18 July 1986,
1986 Chapter 38; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 293;
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.I; 36 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraum-
recht (1987), 12, cf. Sec. 1(a); and the French Law on Space Operations (Loi
relative aux opérations spatiales); Loi n° 2008–518 du 3 juin 2008; unofficial
English version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 453, cf. Art. 2(3).

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84 Handbook of space law

Furthermore, in particular the phrase ‘procuring’ gave rise to widely

varying interpretations, from the application by states of their relevant
authorization requirements (and thereby allowing the private space activ-
ities to go ahead) to financing the launches concerned. Also here,
consequently, states differed considerably in their actual approach as
evident in their respective national space legislation.203
Finally, complicating matters further still, two principles of inter-
national accountability (‘responsibility’ and ‘liability’, the one attributing
private enterprise by means of the concept of ‘national activities’, the
other through the concept of the ‘launching state’) presented by the
international space treaties continue to cause additional confusion. It is
the international responsibility of Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty
which calls for authorization and continuing supervision, of which
national space laws form the most comprehensive and transparent repre-
sentation. Yet it would be the international liability following Article VII
of the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention which would
most directly be of concern to states, since they would have to foot the
bill also of any relevant damage privately caused, and thus provide a
principal stimulus for the establishment of national space laws regulating
inter alia reimbursement of the state in case of such international
claims.204

2.3.3.2 The definitions of ‘damage’ and ‘compensation’

Secondly, the damage that was to be considered compensable under the
Convention’s regime was delineated as ‘loss of life, personal injury or
other impairment of health; or loss of or damage to property of States or
of persons, natural or juridical, or property of international inter-
governmental organizations’.205 Thus, for example damage to the envir-
onment of the high seas or consequential and indirect damage was not
included.206
On the other hand, the Liability Convention also provided for what in
essence amounts to unlimited liability, in the following terms:

203
See also infra, § 7.2.2. With respect to the UK Outer Space Act at one
time there actually was a discussion as to whether banks financing a satellite
launch, hence in a broad sense ‘procuring’ it (see also s. 13(2), UK Outer Space
Act), would actually be required to obtain a licence under the Act as well; see
von der Dunk, Private Enterprise, supra n. 67, 134.
204
See further infra, § 2.3.3.2.; also § 3.2.3.
205
Art. I(a), Liability Convention, supra n. 40.
206
See supra, literature mentioned in n. 78; cf. further also e.g. Smith &
Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 113, 175; Kayser, supra n. 86, 47–50.

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The compensation which the launching State shall be liable to pay for damage
under this Convention shall be determined in accordance with international
law and the principles of justice and equity, in order to provide such
reparation in respect of the damage as will restore the person, natural or
juridical, State or international organization on whose behalf the claim is
presented to the condition which would have existed if the damage had not
occurred.207

This phrasing suggests that, at least if equity and justice so required,

compensation also of indirect and consecutive damage could be enter-
tained, leading some others to suggest that it would actually depend upon
what the case at hand was and who was adjudicating it as to whether
such damage would also be compensated.
The scope of application of the Convention further follows from the
above definition of the concept of damage: both Article II and Article III
of the Liability Convention speak of ‘damage caused by a space object’,
which is commonly agreed to include all damages resulting from
physical collision of that space object with the damaged items.
Beyond that, some authors contend that it also includes damage caused
by a space object without direct physical collision, such as by way of
electronic or laser interference,208 that indirect or consequential damage
is also an inherent element of the liability compensable under the
Convention; and exceptionally it has even been argued that damage
caused by wrongful signals emitted from a satellite would fall within the
Convention’s definition.209 Since such efforts to apply the Liability
Convention to a broader range of damages are nevertheless generally

207
Art. XII, Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See further Smith & Kerrest
de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 172–5; Cheng, supra n. 1, 332–42; Christol, supra
n. 31, 92–3, ff.; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 50, 53–4.
208
Cf. e.g. discussion in Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 111,
114–5, esp. 126–9, 174–5; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 12–20; authors quoted in
Christol, supra n. 31, e.g. 96–7.
209
This concerned the damage caused by an aircraft crashing due to faulty
satellite navigation guidance (cf. B.D.K. Henaku, The Law on Global Air
Navigation by Satellite: An Analysis of Legal Aspects of the ICAO CNS/ATM
System (1998), 221) and the damage caused by a remote sensing satellite
operator not forwarding information which might have helped to mitigate the
(consequences of) the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami respectively (see Ito, supra
n. 52, 191–4, discussing several claims brought against NOAA; also e.g.
www.theage.com.au/news/asia-tsunami/european-victims-file-first-lawsuit/2005/
03/06/1110044254434.html, last accessed 6 January 2014; www.news24.com/
SciTech/News/Tsunami-lawsuit-unfounded-20050308, last accessed 6 January
2014).

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86 Handbook of space law

frowned upon, this remains one of the more salient liability-related issues
of today’s space environment, calling for global agreement one way or
another.

2.3.3.3 The definitions of ‘space object’ and ‘launch’

The above pattern of non-clarified concepts is aggravated by two more
unresolved definitional issues. As the space object whose operations
trigger the Liability Convention if causing damage is usually defined
with reference to its being launched into outer space (or at least an effort
being made to do so),210 and the liable entities are also determined
through their involvement in the launch as ‘launching States’, these two
concepts of ‘space object’ and ‘launch’ constitute the second major
problematic element of the Liability Convention. The Convention only
determines that a ‘space object’ ‘includes [its] component parts’,211 and
that ‘launching’ explicitly ‘includes attempted launching’.212
While the underlying assumption may have been that a launch consti-
tuted a kind of (at least initially) vertical departure from a land-based
launch facility aiming at entering outer space using rocket engines, any
such assumption has by now been ‘corrupted’ by air launches conducted,
for example, by Pegasus. In such cases, the proper spacecraft was
released from underneath an aeroplane in mid-air where the very first

210
On Art. I(d), Liability Convention, supra n. 40, and the definition of
‘space object’ see in particular Lachs, supra n. 1, 65–7; Smith & Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 78, 114–5; Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 150, 20–1; Hurwitz,
supra n. 78, 23–6; Cheng, supra n. 1, 324–6, 493–507; Zhukov & Kolosov,
supra n. 1, 85 ff.; Hobe, supra n. 137, 443–4; Kayser, supra n. 86, 44–5; S.
Gorove, Issues Pertaining to the Legal Definition ‘Space Object’, 2 Telecommu-
nications and Space Journal (1995), 136–45; V. Kopal, The 1975 Convention on
Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space in View of the Growth of
Commercial Space Activities, in Air and Space Law in the 21st Century (Eds. M.
Benkö & W. Kröll) (2001), 377; also Christol, supra n. 78, 348–50 (discussing
the space shuttle in this context); Gál, supra n. 1, 207 ff. (focusing on the issue
with a view to the Outer Space Treaty). This is also reflected in a number of
national space laws; e.g. Sec. 1(c), Dutch Space Law (Law Incorporating Rules
Concerning Space Activities and the Establishment of a Registry of Space
Objects, 24 January 2007; 80 Staatsblad (2007), at 1; Nationales Weltraumrecht/
National Space Law (2008), at 201), defines a ‘space object’ as ‘any object
launched or destined to be launched into outer space’.
211
Art. I(d), Liability Convention, supra n. 40. Cf. further Vissepó, supra
n. 125, 198.
212
Art. I(b), Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See further Smith & Kerrest
de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 113–14; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 20–1; on what constitutes
a launch also Gál, supra n. 1, 207–9.

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International space law 87

part of the trajectory essentially is a horizontal one – which activities

were nevertheless legally defined as ‘launches’ at least for the purpose of
space law. Currently, this issue is becoming even more relevant in the
context of sub-orbital flights, some of which take off horizontally, others
vertically, yet others from underneath carrier aircraft wings in mid-air.213
As of now, the only widespread agreement – at least amongst authors –
would be that a space object concerns any man-made object which is at
least attempted to be physically brought into outer space. This also has an
interesting consequence in the context of the long-standing discussion on
‘spatialism’ versus ‘functionalism’ as the most appropriate approach to
applying space law.214 Where ‘spatialists’ advocate that the choice of the
applicable law as regards activities above the earth’s surface (air law or
space law) should depend in a straightforward fashion on where any
object finds itself, ‘functionalists’ by contrast advocate that space law
should be applied to looking at the functions of a particular operation,
that is essentially as soon as a ‘space object’ such as a satellite were
involved – presumably negating the need to establish a clear-cut bound-
ary between airspace and outer space.
When, however, a space object is to be defined with reference to an
intention to bring it into outer space, the latter would still need to be
defined, if only to distinguish an object not intended to reach outer space
(also if still flying very high) from an object intended to do so, even if
just for an upper arc of its sub-orbital trajectory. In other words, any craft
or balloon intended to be flown up to a 90 km altitude would and should
not (under the presumption of a 100 km boundary) qualify as a space
object, whereas any spacecraft or satellite intended to be flown up to 110
km under the same premise would and should so qualify.

2.3.3.4 Absolute versus fault liability

Fourthly, the Liability Convention makes a fundamental distinction
between absolute liability of a state, applicable in cases where ‘damage

213
See further infra, § 12.1; also §§ 7.2.1.1, 7.2.3, on air launches.
214
See e.g. in extenso Kopal, supra n. 151, 154 ff.; also Neger & Walter,
supra n. 1, 237–41; earlier already B. Cheng, The Legal Regime of Airspace and
Outer Space; The Boundary Problem, Functionalism versus Spatialism: The
Major Premises, 5 Annals of Air and Space Law (1980), 323–61; C.Q. Christol,
Legal Aspects of Aerospace Planes, in The Highways of Air and Outer Space
Over Asia (Eds. C.J. Cheng & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 77–90; F.G. von
der Dunk, Space for Space Law? Spatialism and Functionalism Revisited, in
Perspectives of Air Law, Space Law and International Business Law for the Next
Century (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (1996), 63–71.

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[is] caused by its space object on the surface of the Earth or to aircraft in
flight’,215 and fault liability, applicable ‘[i]n the event of damage being
caused elsewhere than on the surface of the Earth to a space object of one
launching State or to persons or property on board such a space object’
(and this of course then applies vice versa as well).216 ‘Fault’ as such,
however, has not been defined any further, which may give rise to
considerable discussions, as happened for example in the case of the
2009 collision between the Cosmos-2251 and Iridium-33 satellites.217
The same principles of absolute and fault liability are applied, firstly, in
case of damage caused by jointly launched space objects, where joint and
several liability applies, and secondly, in cases of jointly caused damage
where debris resulting from a primary collision causes harm to a third
space object or on earth.218 Exoneration from absolute liability is possible
to the extent of ‘gross negligence or … an act or omission done

215
Art. II, Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See further Smith & Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 78, 116–30; Cheng, supra n. 1, 326–8; Hurwitz, supra n. 78,
27–32; Kayser, supra n. 86, 50–1; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 108–9; Zhukov &
Kolosov, supra n. 1, 104.
216
Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See further Smith & Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 78, 131–6; Cheng, supra n. 1, 326–8; Hurwitz, supra n. 78,
32–6; Kayser, supra n. 86, 51; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 109.
217
See F.G. von der Dunk, Too-Close Encounters of the Third-Party Kind:
Will the Liability Convention Stand the Test of the Cosmos 2251-Iridium 33
Collision?, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2009
(2010), 199–209; M. Mejia-Kaiser, Collision Course: 2009 Iridium-Cosmos
Crash, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2009 (2010),
274–84; A.K. Dhan & K. Mohan, ‘Hit and Run’ in the Sky: International
Liability for Damage Caused by Collision Between Space Objects in the Light of
Recent Iridium-Cosmos Incident, in Space Law in the Era of Commercialization
(Ed. S. Bhat) (2010), 151–66; R.S. Jakhu, Iridium-Cosmos Collision and its
Implications for Space Operations, in Yearbook on Space Policy 2008/2009 (Eds.
K.U. Schrogl et al.) (2010), 254–75; in general also Lachs, supra n. 1, 115–7;
Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 133–4, (esp.) 225; Hurwitz, supra
n. 78, 33–4; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 108–9.
218
Cf. Arts. V and IV respectively, Liability Convention, supra n. 40; also
providing for default principles of sharing joint and several liability as between
the various launching states so liable. See further Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel,
supra n. 78, 137–47; Cheng, supra n. 1, 328–31; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 37–9;
Zhukov & Kolosov, supra n. 1, 103–4; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 109–10. For
a discussion of possible reform of the fault liability in this particular context, see
H. Hertzfeld, Fault Liability for 3rd Party Damage in Space: Is Article IV(1) (B)
of the Liability Convention Useful Today?, in Proceedings of the International
Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 215–23.

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with intent to cause damage on the part of a claimant State or of natural

or juridical persons it represents’.219
These clauses conform to the general approach that absolute liability in
the international community is an exception, requiring a specific inter-
national treaty for states to be acceptable, and only applied to high-risk or
even ultra-hazardous activities.220

2.3.3.5 International versus national liability

Fifthly, the Liability Convention specifically addresses ‘international
liability’, that is liability as between one or more states on the one hand
and one or more states on the other. Thus, it does not deal with damage
caused to nationals of the launching state of the space object at issue –
that is something exclusively for national law to deal with – or foreign
nationals who were essentially participating in or invited to the launch.221

219
Art. VI(1), Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See further Smith & Kerrest
de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 148–50; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 40–3; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 2, 110.
220
The other major examples at the international level of absolute liability
for states concern oil pollution and nuclear damage as per the International
Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, Brussels, done 29
November 1969, entered into force 19 June 1975; 973 UNTS 3; UKTS 1975 No.
106; Cmnd. 4403; ATS 1984 No. 3; 9 ILM 45 (1970); 64 AJIL 481 (1970); the
International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for
Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage, Brussels, done 18 December 1971,
entered into force 16 October 1978; 1110 UNTS 57; UKTS 1978 No. 95; Cmnd.
5061; ATS 1995 No. 2; 11 ILM 284 (1972); the International Maritime
Organization Protocol of 1992 to amend the International Convention on Civil
Liability for Oil Pollution Damage of 29 November 1969, London, done 27
November 1992, entered into force 30 May 1996; 1956 UNTS 255; UKTS 1996
No. 86; Cm. 2658; ATS 1996 No. 2; the International Maritime Organization
Protocol of 1992 to amend the International Convention on the Establishment of
an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage of 18
December 1971, London, done 27 November 1992, entered into force 30 May
1996; UKTS 1996 No. 87; Cm 2657; ATS 1996 No. 3; the Convention on Third
Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, Paris, done 29 July 1960, entered
into force 1 April 1968; 956 UNTS 251; UKTS 1968 No. 69; Cmnd. 1211; 55
AJIL 1082 (1961); the Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention of 29
July 1960 on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, Brussels, done
31 January 1963, entered into force 4 December 1974; UKTS 1975 No. 44;
Cmnd. 5948; 2 ILM 685 (1963); and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability
for Nuclear Damage, Vienna, done 21 May 1963, entered into force 12
November 1977; 1063 UNTS 265; Cmnd. 2333; 2 ILM 727 (1963).
221
See Art. VII, Liability Convention, supra n. 40; further Smith & Kerrest
de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 154–61; Cheng, supra n. 1, 308–9; Hurwitz, supra

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The latter clause ties in with the overall aim of the Convention to protect
interests of uninformed third parties, not those knowingly part of the
activities concerned. Also, the reading of Article III clearly means to
exclude claims between launching states of the same space object.222
Furthermore, the Convention does not exclude individuals from pursuing
other means for obtaining compensation for any damage suffered, for
example by suing in the courts of a launching state.223 If such individuals
choose to try and have their state invoke the Liability Convention on the
other hand, they are not required to first exhaust local remedies,
something which is otherwise the default route for claims relating to
private rights, obligations or damage under public international law.224

2.3.3.6 The right to claim

This also brings analysis to the sixth main element, the determination of
the states entitled to assert claims under the Liability Convention. Here,
the state suffering damage or whose nationals suffer damage has the
primary right of claiming, a state on whose territory damage has occurred
a subsidiary right, and a state whose permanent residents suffer the
damage an again subsidiary right in this respect.225
These clauses represent, within the ‘given’ of state-centricity of the
liability regime and a jus standi under the Convention for states only, the
effort to maximize access by victims to the compensatory mechanism of

n. 78, 44–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 111; Kayser, supra n. 86, 52–3; Bender,
supra n. 195, 307–9.
222
Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 40, reads in full: ‘In the event of
damage being caused elsewhere than on the surface of the Earth to a space object
of one launching State or to persons or property on board such a space object by
a space object of another launching State, the latter shall be liable only if the
damage is due to its fault or the fault of persons for whom it is responsible’
(emphasis added). So also Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 33. Cf. further Arts. IV, V,
Liability Convention, which provide some clues on how joint and several liability
in the case of plural launching states is to be addressed, but does not at all
discuss claims between launching states of the same space object; also Cheng,
supra n. 1, 305–20, 344.
223
See Art. XI(2), Liability Convention, supra n. 40; further Smith & Kerrest
de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 167–8; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 52–3; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 2, 111.
224
Cf. Art. XI(1), Liability Convention, supra n. 40; further Lachs, supra
n. 1, 118; Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 166–8; Cheng, supra n. 1,
345–6; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 52; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 111.
225
See Art. VIII, Liability Convention, supra n. 40; also Smith & Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 78, 154–8; Cheng, supra n. 1, 306–8; Christol, supra n. 31,
113–4; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 49–50; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 110–1.

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the Convention – private victims would have at least three options for
convincing a relevant state to take up their claim. An interesting side
issue concerns application of these clauses to juridical persons, where
‘permanent residence’ as a term of art strictly speaking does not apply,
but could yet be interpreted mutatis mutandis as referring to the place of
the headquarters and/or main place of business for companies.

2.3.3.7 Procedural aspects: Diplomatic negotiations and the Claims

Commission
The seventh main element of the Convention concerns the procedural
aspects of handling disputes on claims. The first stage is comprised of
diplomatic negotiations, which only if not successful within a year, may
give rise to a second stage where the dispute settlement system specific-
ally provided for by the Convention is triggered.226 In the first stage
express time limits apply as regards the allowable elapsed time between
damage and assertion of claim.227
The dispute settlement system offered by the Convention amounts to the
setting up of a Claims Commission following quite detailed provisions
outlining constitution of the Commission, default and back-up procedures
for composing the Commission and other procedural matters.228 Essen-
tially, this system is very much similar to standard international arbitration
procedures, except for the absence of binding force of a decision unless
both parties in advance agree otherwise.229 This presented one of the

226
See Arts. IX and XIV respectively, Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See
further Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 159–61; 178–80; Hurwitz,
supra n. 78, 50–5; Cheng, supra n. 1, 344–5; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 110–2.
227
See Art. X, Liability Convention, supra n. 40, notably taking into account
that the moment of reasonable identification of damage and liable state(s) may
differ considerably from the moment of actual occurrence of the damage. Cf.
Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 162–5; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 51–2;
Cheng, supra n. 1, 345; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 111; G.M. Goh, Dispute
Settlement in International Space Law (2007), 36–7.
228
See Arts. XV–XX, Liability Convention, supra n. 40. Further in detail
Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 181–93; F. Tronchetti, L.J. Smith & A.
Kerrest de Rozavel, The 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage
Caused by Space Objects, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 194–9; Hurwitz, supra n. 78,
55–62; Cheng, supra n. 1, 346–54; Goh, supra n. 227, 33–9; Kayser, supra n. 86,
55–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 112–3.
229
See Art. XIX(2), Liability Convention, supra n. 40, which of course
phrases this the other way around, but the essence is nevertheless that an
unwilling party can dodge any legally binding decision at its own discretion. Cf.

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reasons for the Permanent Court of Arbitration to initiate the development

of a specific optional arbitration regime for outer space activities.230

2.3.3.8 Partisanship of international intergovernmental

organizations
The last element of major importance in the Convention concerns the
possibility, even more explicit than in the Rescue Agreement, for
international intergovernmental organizations to become de facto parties
to the Convention, following an explicit declaration and presuming a
majority of members of the organization are party to both the Convention
itself and the Outer Space Treaty.231 So far, ESA, EUTELSAT (under its
old intergovernmental status, yet maintained under its new ‘constitu-
tion’232) and EUMETSAT have deposited such a Declaration.233
Such ‘partisanship’ remains essentially secondary however. Firstly, it
does not pertain to procedural rights in terms, for example, of amend-
ments or withdrawal.234 Secondly, were the organization to be held liable
as a ‘launching State’ for the purposes of the Convention, after six
months claimant states would automatically be entitled to address indi-
vidual member states if no satisfactory solution had been found.235
Thirdly, vice versa, an international organization is not entitled to bring a
claim itself under the Convention where it suffered damage; it depends
on one or more of its member states to do so.236

also e.g. Goh, supra n. 227, 32–3, 35; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 59–61; Tronchetti,
Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 228, 194–7; Cheng, supra n. 1, 351–4;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 113. See further on dispute settlement infra, § 19.1.3.
230
This concerns the Rules on Outer Space Disputes; see further infra,
§ 19.3.
231
See Art. XXII(1), Liability Convention, supra n. 40; further in extenso on
Art. XXII Cheng, supra n. 1, 310–20; also Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 70–4; Kerrest
de Rozavel, supra n. 97, 260–1; Tronchetti, Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra
n. 228, 202–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 112.
232
See on the privatization of this particular public international satellite
operator infra, § 5.2.6.
233
See Status of International Agreements relating to activities in outer space
as at 1 January 2013, A/AC.105/C.2/2013/CRP.5, of 28 March 2013, p. 10.
234
Cf. Art. XXII in conjunction with Arts. XXV & XXVII, Liability
Convention, supra n. 40. See further e.g. Tronchetti, Smith & Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 228, 213–4, 218–20; Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 76–7.
235
Cf. Art. XXII(3), Liability Convention, supra n. 40. See in particular
Cheng, supra n. 1, 317–20; Tronchetti, Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra
n. 228, 205–6.
236
See Art. XXII(4), Liability Convention, supra n. 40. Cf. e.g. Cheng, supra
n. 1, 318–9; Goh, supra n. 227, 36.

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2.3.3.9 Application of the Liability Convention

Fortunately, so far no cases have arisen whereby space objects have
caused substantial death and destruction on the ground calling for
settlement of liability under the Liability Convention’s terms, whilst the
(by now) numerous minor and several major in-space collisions for
various reasons have not given rise to formal invocation of the Conven-
tion either.237 It is essentially a matter of semantics, therefore, whether
the Liability Convention has been applied in practice at least once or not
– with reference to a famous incident in 1978.
In that year the Soviet nuclear-powered satellite Cosmos-954
re-entered the atmosphere over Canada, spreading small pieces of radio-
active debris over a large part of essentially uninhabited areas of the latter
country. The discussions between the two states on the liability of the
Soviet Union, and in particular on the extent of the compensation due,
resulted in a bilateral settlement whereby the Soviet Union ex gratia and
without formally acknowledging liability paid some 3 million Canadian
dollars in final settlement of the claim.238
On the one hand one can state that, since the Liability Convention was
not referred to in the document of final settlement, and neither had a
Claims Commission been set up as the judicial settlement system offered
by the Convention, this claim was settled outside of, and without any
invocation or implication of the Convention.
On the other hand, by contrast, one can point out that not only did the
Canadian claim explicitly refer to the Liability Convention, but that in
addition Articles IX and XIV of the Liability Convention refer to
diplomatic negotiations, which need to be unsuccessful for a year before
the dispute settlement system offered by Articles XIV through XX can
actually be activated – therefore concluding that the Liability Convention
to that extent was applied.239 At the very least, it seems that the

237
Cf. e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 116–20; Cheng, supra n. 1, 286–8;
Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 78, 222–3.
238
Cf. Protocol Between the Government of Canada and the Government of
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, done 2 April 1981, entered into force 2
April 1981; 20 ILM 689 (1981); Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
A.IX.2.2.2. See in more detail Hurwitz, supra n. 78, 113–40; also B.A. Hurwitz,
Reflections on the Cosmos 954 Incident, Proceedings of the Thirty-Second
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1990), 350–3; Viikari, supra n. 54, 40,
45–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 117–8; Christol, supra n. 31, 178–80; Christol,
supra n. 34, 205–7; K.H. Böckstiegel, Case Law on Space Activities, in Space
Law – Development and Scope (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1992), 206.
239
For the Statement of Claim by Canada, see Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, A.IX.2.2.

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Convention served as a stick behind the door for Canada to entice the
Soviet Union to take the claim seriously, as otherwise the dispute
settlement procedure might have been invoked, which would have been
rather embarrassing for the world’s first space power.

2.3.4 The Registration Convention

Almost nine years after entry into force of the Outer Space Treaty, the
Registration Convention240 came to pass as the third element of the
aforementioned package deal, further to the provisions of the earlier
treaty, which had posited the concept of registration and linked it to
jurisdiction and control, but not further specified the details of either:

A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space
is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any
personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Ownership of
objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a
celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in
outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. Such objects or
component parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on
whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall,
upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.241

In addition, the Outer Space Treaty made reference to obligations to

return stranded astronauts to the ‘State of registry of their space
vehicle’.242 In elaborating these provisions of Articles VIII and V
respectively of the Outer Space Treaty, the Registration Convention
realized two sets of substantive obligations.

240
See on the Registration Convention, supra n. 41, in general e.g. B.
Schmidt-Tedd et al., The 1975 Convention on Registration of Objects Launched
into Outer Space, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 227–324; Christol, supra n. 31,
213–45; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 84–96; A.A. Cocca, Registration of Space
Objects, in Manual on Space Law (Eds. N. Jasentuliyana & R.S.K. Lee) Vol. I
(1979), 173–93; Kopal, supra n. 210, 372–85; Y. Lee, supra n. 44, 42–4.
241
Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1. See Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1,
204–5 (pointing out that ‘jurisdiction, control and ownership over space objects
are permanent’); Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty; Schmidt-Tedd & Mick, supra
n. 167, 146–68; Dembling & Arons, supra n. 67, 439–40; Cheng, supra n. 1,
231–3; Lachs, supra n. 1, 66–9.
242
Art. V, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1; cf. also von der Dunk & Goh,
supra n. 185, 94–102.

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2.3.4.1 The national register

On the one hand, the Convention requires states to establish a national
register in which to register any space objects for which they qualified as
the launching state.243 The ‘launching State’ is defined in identical terms
as in the Liability Convention.244 The state of registry then has to inform
the UN Secretary-General of the establishment of such a national
register, of which otherwise the contents and conditions are at the
discretion of the state concerned.245
In cases where two or more states qualify as a launching state, those
states ‘shall jointly determine which one of them shall register the
object’, and this ‘without prejudice to appropriate agreements concluded
or to be concluded among the launching States on jurisdiction and
control over the space object and over any personnel thereof’.246 In other
words: a state of registry is always also liable under the Liability
Convention, whereas the opposite is not necessarily true.
A point which has recently raised questions in view of impending
commercial sub-orbital hops, not making it into orbit but at least briefly
entering what is commonly perceived to be ‘outer space’, is the focus on
space objects ‘launched into Earth orbit or beyond’ – as (presumably)
different from, for example, ‘launched into outer space’.247 Also, the aim
to use sub-orbital vehicles for dozens, perhaps hundreds, of individual
flights raises issues following the focus of the registration system on
registration of space objects as opposed to individual spaceflights. Any
single sub-orbital vehicle may now amass many hours in space (that is,
above 100 km) even if any single flight accounts for only a few minutes.

243
Cf. Art. II(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 41. On Art. II as such see
further Schmidt-Tedd et al., supra n. 240, 249–97; Cocca, supra n. 240, 180–1;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 86–7; Cheng, supra n. 1, 484–5, 626–30.
244
See Art. I(a), Registration Convention, supra n. 41; further B. Schmidt-
Tedd, The 1975 Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer
Space, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd
& K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 244–7; Cocca, supra n. 240, 180.
245
See Art. II(1) and (3) respectively, Registration Convention, supra n. 41.
In practice, it makes a lot of sense for such states to, as a minimum, include in
the contents the parameters which the Convention prescribes for the international
register; see Art. IV(1); further infra, § 2.3.4.2.
246
Art. II(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 41. See further Christol,
supra n. 31, 228; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 86–7; Schmidt-Tedd et al., supra
n. 240, 255–9.
247
See on this in extenso esp. von der Dunk, supra n. 142, 271–80; further
e.g. Hobe, supra n. 137, 446–8; Gerhard, supra n. 137, 282–3; Soucek, supra
n. 5, 349; Schmidt-Tedd & Mick, supra n. 167, 151; Kopal, supra n. 210, 377.

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Moreover, once such flights metamorphose into sub-orbital transporta-

tion, for example from New York to Tokyo, that parameters would change
fundamentally as well.248
Confusion further arose as a consequence of the phrasing used.
‘Sub-orbital’ is a technical/operational criterion of not achieving a full
orbit around the earth,249 but has often been perceived, as a consequence
of ‘sub’ meaning ‘below’, as a ‘geographical’, ‘spatial’ one, as synony-
mous with ‘not reaching outer space’.250 Whilst ‘Earth orbit’ also refers
to a technical/operational criterion (of completing at least one orbit
around the earth), the reference to ‘beyond’ in Article II of the Registra-
tion Convention can only mean it actually is to be seen as a ‘geograph-
ical’, ‘spatial’ criterion. ‘Beyond Earth orbit’ makes sense only if it refers
to an area beyond wherever ‘Earth orbit’ itself refers to. Hence ‘into
Earth orbit and beyond’ would best be equated after all with ‘outer space’
as an area, noting also the above discussion on the ‘lowest perigee rule’
and the convergence of opinion on a 100 km-altitude boundary.251
What little practice has taken place so far in the context of flights not
achieving a full orbit around the earth has concerned ‘one-off’ sounding
rockets, ‘one-off’ deep space probes and ‘one-off’ missiles for military
purposes. This gives rise to the assumption that whilst such sub-orbital
flights perhaps indeed would not need to be registered under the

248
See further infra, e.g. § 12.3.2.1.
249
It should be noted that using the term ‘non-orbital’ instead of ‘sub-
orbital’, when that is what is actually meant, would have allowed for much more
clarity on this point. Freeland, supra n. 77, 20, for such example defines
‘sub-orbital spaceflight’ as ‘spaceflights in which orbital velocities are not
achieved’; yet e.g. deep space flights which can go millions of miles out do not
complete an orbit around the earth yet have escape velocities hugely exceeding
those necessary for achieving orbit.
250
Cf. e.g. Sec. 1, sub 10th bullet, South African Space Affairs Act, supra
n. 161; which defines ‘launching’ in a manner setting off ‘a sub-orbital
trajectory’ against ‘into outer space’; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-
orbital_spaceflight, last accessed 6 January 2014. Conversely, it has also been
equated with reaching outer space (alternatively or expressly phrased as achiev-
ing an altitude of 100 km) but without achieving a full orbit around the earth; cf.
the US case, applying the Commercial Space Launch Act to private sub-orbital
flight because it constitutes spaceflight, cf. Sections 50902(4) & (13), 50904(a),
50905, 50906, 51 U.S.C. 509; see further von der Dunk, supra n. 142, esp.
287–9, further 303–15; also e.g. Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati, supra n. 1, 83–6;
Hobe, supra n. 137, 444–6.
251
Cf. supra, § 2.3.1.3. See for a more detailed argumentation already von
der Dunk, supra n. 142, 322–5; also Nase, supra n. 125, 762–4; Chatzipanagio-
tis, supra n. 150, 21; cf. further Reinhardt, supra n. 125, 115–6.

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Convention’s system, there is nothing inherent in that system excluding

registration of such space objects, as long as they reach a certain altitude
labelled ‘Earth orbit or beyond’. With sub-orbital vehicles presumably
soon hopping in and out of the lower realms of outer space on an
increasingly frequent basis and next perhaps for increasing stretches of
time, it might well be appropriate to actually apply the Registration
Convention to such flights.252

2.3.4.2 The international register

On the other hand, the Registration Convention provides for the estab-
lishment of an international register under the auspices of the UN
Secretary-General.253 The register also happens to encompass infor-
mation provided to the United Nations under the – formally non-binding
– UN Resolution calling upon states to register and provide information
on registered space objects, Resolution 1721(XVI)B.254
The Convention then, firstly, provides for a minimum set of data to be
provided on each space object launched, as follows: ‘(a) Name of
launching State or States; (b) An appropriate designator of the space
object or its registration number; (c) Date and territory or location of
launch; (d) Basic orbital parameters, including: (i) Nodal period; (ii)
Inclination; (iii) Apogee; (iv) Perigee; [and] (e) General function of the
space object’.255 Whilst in itself a binding obligation, the qualification ‘as
soon as practicable’ has unfortunately opened the door to a considerable,
presumably even increasing, measure of non-registration.256

252
So esp. von der Dunk, supra n. 142, 334–40.
253
See Art. III, Registration Convention, supra n. 41. The UN Secretary-
General has delegated these responsibilities to the Vienna-based Office for Outer
Space Affairs (OOSA), where it is electronically accessible at www.unoosa.org/
oosa/en/SORegister/index.html, last accessed 12 April 2014; see e.g. Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 2, 89. Further Schmidt-Tedd, supra n. 244, 298–9; Christol,
supra n. 31, 232 ff.; Cocca, supra n. 240, 181.
254
See supra, § 2.2.1.1, incl. n. 35.
255
Art. IV(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 41. See esp. Christol, supra
n. 31, 232; also more generally on Art. IV: B. Schmidt-Tedd, N. Malysheva & O.
Stelmakh, The 1975 Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer
Space, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd
& K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 300–4; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 87–8; Cocca,
supra n. 240, 181–4.
256
See Christol, supra n. 31, 235–9; Y. Lee, supra n. 44, 43–4, 50;
Schmidt-Tedd et al., supra n. 240, 261–2; Kopal, supra n. 210, 380–1; also Lyall
& Larsen, supra n. 2, 93–6.

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98 Handbook of space law

Secondly, the suggestion is made for states to, ‘from time to time’,
provide ‘additional information concerning a space object carried’ on the
national register.257 Similarly, ‘[e]ach State of registry shall notify the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the greatest extent feasible
and as soon as practicable, of space objects concerning which it has
previously transmitted information, and which have been but no longer
are in Earth orbit’.258
The ‘failure’ to register of many states on many occasions, as well as
the various legal loopholes in the registration obligation, gives rise to the
conclusion that the current system is far from comprehensive and
transparent, for example in comparison to the international system of
registration of aircraft – and hence has led to some attempts to ameliorate
the application of the Registration Convention.259 Once again, the issue
may be forced by the impending arrival of private commercial space-
flights, in particular by the extent these would turn out to be governed by
this regime of space law.260

2.3.4.3 Remaining key provisions

Some back-up duties are provided, notably concerning support for
identification of space objects of potentially hazardous or deleterious
character by using existing tracking and monitoring facilities, noting that
the majority of states do not have the technological and/or financial
capabilities to undertake such tracking and monitoring themselves.261
This clause also, beyond the identical definition of ‘launching State’ of
the Registration Convention and the Liability Convention respectively,
reflects the general intention of the two conventions to maximize
identification of launching states for liability purposes.

257
Art. IV(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 41. With a view to state
practice, this may in particular refer to information on private owners and
operators of the space objects involved, changes in orbital parameters or
geo-stationary slot occupied or even change of actual jurisdiction over the
satellite, in spite of the de jure absence of a possibility of re-registration; see e.g.
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 92–3. Cf. further Christol, supra n. 31, 235–6; more
in general on Art. IV(2) e.g. Schmidt-Tedd, Malysheva & Stelmakh, supra
n. 255, 302–3.
258
Art. IV(3), Registration Convention, supra n. 41.
259
See further infra, § 2.3.6.
260
See further infra, Chapter 12.
261
See Art. VI, Registration Convention, supra n. 41; further Schmidt-Tedd,
Malysheva & Stelmakh, supra n. 255, 307–9; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 89–90;
Cocca, supra n. 240, 186.

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Finally, the Registration Convention has a clause almost identical to

that of the Liability Convention in allowing intergovernmental organ-
izations to become de jure bearers of rights and duties under the
Convention, read become de facto parties to it.262 Again, ESA and
EUMETSAT have so far done so.263

2.3.5 The Moon Agreement

The Moon Agreement264 was supposed to elaborate the Outer Space

Treaty’s regime in particular with respect to the celestial bodies such as
the moon at a time when resource utilization and exploitation seemed
imminent. Any high-level analysis of the Agreement, further to its
aforementioned unfortunate pivotal role in space law-making in the
international arena due to its very limited number of states parties, has to
be undertaken in two distinct parts.265

2.3.5.1 The non-controversial parts – elaborating the Outer Space

Treaty
The non-controversial part of the Moon Agreement, in size representing
the larger part, essentially reiterates the general rules and principles
enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty for the specific context of the moon
and other celestial bodies whilst refining them for the specific purposes.

262
See Art. VII, Registration Convention, supra n. 41; further Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 2, 90–1; U. Bohlmann, The 1975 Convention on Registration of
Objects Launched into Outer Space, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law
(Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 310–4; Cocca,
supra n. 240, 187.
263
See Status of International Agreements relating to activities in outer space
as at 1 January 2013, A/AC.105/C.2/2013/CRP.5, of 28 March 2013, p. 10.
264
See on the Moon Agreement, supra n. 46, in general e.g. S. Hobe et al., The
1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd &
K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 325–426; Cheng, supra n. 1, 357–80; Christol, supra
n. 31, 246–363; Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 38–61; Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 224–49;
H. Bashor, Interpretation of the Moon Treaty: Recourse to Working Papers and
Related International Documents, 32 Annals of Air and Space Law (2007), 149–
200; C.Q. Christol, The 1979 Moon Agreement: Where is it Today?, 27 Journal of
Space Law (1999), 1–33; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 181–97; cf. also Matte, supra
n. 107, 253–82; Doyle, supra n. 77, 316–24.
265
As the main contribution of the Moon Agreement, supra n. 46, to
international space law concerns the ‘common heritage of mankind’ concept, the
substance thereof will – beyond a brief overview below – be discussed infra, see
esp. § 14.4.2.2.

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100 Handbook of space law

Thus, the Moon Agreement reiterated the Outer Space Treaty’s refer-
ences to the ‘global commons’ character of celestial bodies as part of the
global commons of outer space and its characterization as ‘province of
all mankind’, here specified as applying to the exploration and use.266
Article 1, however, does allow for the option to develop specific rules for
celestial bodies in the solar system other than the moon, and ipso facto
excludes ‘extraterrestrial materials which reach the surface of the Earth
by natural means’, the latter being relevant in the case of asteroids and
other Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).267
Also, the Moon Agreement essentially repeats the Outer Space Treaty’s
references to the general application of international law including the
UN Charter, the use of celestial bodies for exclusively peaceful purposes
(made slightly more explicit), the need for international cooperation and
exchange of information, the (slightly elaborated) obligations to assist
astronauts, jurisdiction and control over personnel and space objects,
international responsibility and international liability (to be yet further
elaborated by a future agreement), and open access to areas of the moon
as well as installations and stations thereon (again made slightly more
explicit).268 Finally, also the Moon Agreement allows for inter-
governmental organizations to become de facto parties to its regime.269

266
See Arts. 4, 6, 8, 9, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46, incl. specifics such as
the establishment of manned stations; also the Preamble, explicitly referring to
the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1. Cf. also Art. 11(2), (3), Moon Agreement;
referenced in the context of, yet juxtaposed to, the ‘common heritage of
mankind’ principle, this essentially refers to the ‘global commons’ character of
outer space. See further e.g. S. Hobe & F. Tronchetti, The 1979 Agreement
Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, in
Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U.
Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 364–6; S.R. Freeland, The 1979 Agreement Governing
the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, in Cologne
Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
Vol. II (2013), 372–84.
267
Art. 1(1), and (3) respectively, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46. The latter
clause raises the issue of a dividing line between a celestial body such as the
moon, presumably being a body of rock of a certain minimum size, and NEOs
which below that size would qualify as ‘extraterrestrial material’ rather than as a
celestial body. See e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 175–7; Hobe & Tronchetti,
supra n. 266, 352–4; Matte, supra n. 107, 258.
268
See Arts. 2, 3, 10, 12, 15 respectively, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46.
Further e.g. Hobe et al., supra n. 264, 355–63, 385–7, 400–2, 407–10; Cheng,
supra n. 1, 367–71.
269
See Art. 16, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46. So far no international
organization has done so; cf. Status of International Agreements relating to

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2.3.5.2 The controversial part – the ‘common heritage of mankind’

The controversial part of the Moon Agreement solely concerns the issue of
potential (commercial) exploitation of lunar and celestial bodies’ resources,
reflected by the concept of the ‘common heritage of mankind’.270 The
Moon Agreement failed to achieve any significant measure of ratification
precisely because of the general unease of most major spacefaring states
regarding a system requiring those investing enormous sums for exploit-
ation somehow to share technologies used for and proceeds from such
activities with every state so interested without further ado, which was
presumed to apply by the reference to this concept.271
The concept is applied to the moon and other celestial bodies by virtue of
Article 11(1), but not as such elaborated much by the Moon Agreement
itself, other than by way of a heightened focus on environmental con-
cerns.272 The remainder of Article 11 itself only suggested such an elabor-
ation, but the Agreement also calls for review conferences, presumably to
shape such elaboration,273 whereas more specifically ‘States Parties to this
Agreement hereby undertake to establish an international regime, including

activities in outer space as at 1 January 2013, A/AC.105/C.2/2013/CRP.5, of 28

March 2013, p. 10. Cf. further e.g. Freeland, supra n. 266, 411–3.
270
Note already the dichotomy established by the Moon Agreement, supra
n. 46, stating that ‘[t]he exploration and use of the Moon shall be the province of
all mankind’ (Art. 4(1) (emphasis added)) whilst ‘[t]he Moon and its natural
resources are the common heritage of mankind, which finds its expression in the
provisions of this Agreement, in particular in paragraph 5 of this article’ (Art.
11(1) (emphasis added)) and the latter paragraph details that the international
regime to be established should ‘govern the exploitation of the natural resources
of the Moon’ (Art. 11(5) (emphasis added)). See for an extended analysis of the
issue of exploitation of celestial resources infra, Chapter 14.
271
Cf. Viikari, supra n. 47, esp. 68–72; 73–8, on the 1994 New York
Agreement (Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, New York,
done 28 July 1994, entered into force 28 July 1996; 1836 UNTS 3; 33 ILM 1309
(1994); UKTS 1999 No. 82; Cm. 2705; ATS 1994 No. 32), which salvaged the
Convention by fundamentally diluting those aspects unacceptable to many
developed states; further e.g. Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 173–5; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 2, 196.
272
See Art. 7, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46; further e.g. Freeland, supra
n. 266, 372–7.
273
Cf. Art. 18, Moon Agreement, supra n. 46; however, such a review
conference has never taken place. See further Freeland, supra n. 266, 415–6;
Cheng, supra n. 1, 373–4; also Christol, supra n. 34, 403–26, on the background.

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102 Handbook of space law

appropriate procedures, to govern the exploitation of the natural resources

of the Moon as such exploitation is about to become feasible’.274
These suggestions are phrased as ‘the main purposes of the inter-
national regime to be established’, which then

shall include:
(a) The orderly and safe development of the natural resources of the Moon;
(b) The rational management of those resources;
(c) The expansion of opportunities in the use of those resources;
(d) An equitable sharing by all States Parties in the benefits derived from
those resources, whereby the interests and needs of the developing
countries, as well as the efforts of those countries which have contributed
either directly or indirectly to the exploration of the Moon, shall be given
special consideration.275

Whilst the first three elements could be considered non-controversial, the

fourth one turned out to be prohibitive with respect to widespread
signature and ratification in particular by the major spacefaring states –
mainly because in the context of the law of the sea the very same
principle had indeed given rise to a rather detailed system calling for
mandatory benefit-sharing and mandatory transfer of technology also
with non-contributing states.276
Further confusion, however, is created by the clause of the Moon Agree-
ment stipulating that ‘[n]either the surface nor the subsurface of the Moon,
nor any part thereof or natural resources in place, shall become property of
any State, international intergovernmental or non-governmental organ-
ization, national organization or non-governmental entity or of any natural

274
Art. 11(5), Moon Agreement, supra n. 46, making furthermore specific
reference to Art. 18. Cf. R.S. Jakhu et al., The 1979 Agreement Governing the
Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, in Cologne
Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
Vol. II (2013), 396–7; Cheng, supra n. 1, 365–7; in extenso Christol, supra n. 31,
342–63, and at 364–434 even discussing in great detail what such a future regime
should look like.
275
Art. 11(7), Moon Agreement, supra n. 46; further e.g. Jakhu et al., supra
n. 274, 397–9.
276
See Arts. 133–191, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
supra n. 15; cf. e.g. Jasentuliyana, supra n. 1, 39; Christol, supra n. 34, 341–8.
Further von der Dunk, supra n. 47, 98–105; also Tronchetti, supra n. 47, 56–61,
esp. 116–23; Viikari, supra n. 47, 52 ff.; S. Hobe, supra n. 47, esp. 125; Christol,
supra n. 31, e.g. 315–24; Cheng, supra n. 1, 374–80; further infra, § 14.5.

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International space law 103

person’.277 A contrario, at least resources once extracted should be deemed

to be subject to (private or other) appropriation.278
The result of these various complicated, sometimes contradictory
provisions as well as the broad lack of success of the Moon Agreement
(as compared to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
which currently has 165 states parties, since the 1994 New York
Agreement including a number of developed states as well279) is a large
measure of uncertainty about the legal status of the moon and activities
envisaged there – which currently range from actual mining to Google-
prize-driven robotic activities. The temptation for individual states to act
unilaterally in the legal context, for example to license certain such
activities or to try and protect historical sites such as those of the manned
moon landings, is commensurately sizable, even as a lack of common
global understanding on the legal status of the moon, certain areas
thereof and minerals once extracted may give also bona fide entre-
preneurs second thoughts about investing.

2.3.6 The Work in COPUOS Beyond the Five Space Treaties

As discussed, the Moon Agreement heralded the end of an era of space

law-making where it was possible to arrive at treaties of more or less
global acceptance and application. The growing number and, more
importantly, diversity of member states of COPUOS, reflective of a
similar expansion of nations interested and active in space activities as
such, may have been largely responsible for this turn of events, in
combination also with the phasing out of the bipolar world of the Cold
War with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.
This did not mean that COPUOS lost its relevance as a breeding ground
for space law developments – rather, that henceforth these developments
took on the character of working with the existing legal regime to discuss
and, where possible, refine that regime on an ongoing basis.
This occurred largely by way of authoritative further UN resolutions.
The Resolutions mentioned earlier on direct broadcasting by satellite,
satellite remote sensing, the use of nuclear power sources, the Benefits
Declaration and the Resolution on space debris mitigation provide the

277
Art. 11(3), Moon Agreement, supra n. 46 (emphasis added).
278
See e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1, 369; Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati, supra n. 1,
226–7; more carefully Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 185.
279
See www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/chronological_lists_of_ratifications.
htm, last accessed 6 January 2014.

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104 Handbook of space law

most visible examples thereof.280 In particular the Resolutions meeting

with consensus, such as the one on remote sensing, offer a clear prospect
for their contents to become binding by way of customary international
law, for others that can only be hoped for.
Most interesting from this perspective is the 2007 Resolution endors-
ing the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the United Nations
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.281 What started out as a
space agency-level voluntary commitment between most of the major
governmental satellite operators was elevated to a higher political level
by their recognition through the UN Resolution, even as it remained
legally non-binding at that stage.282 As of today, increasingly major
spacefaring states are using those same, internationally-speaking still
voluntary guidelines as key elements of licensing schemes in a domestic
context, thereby transforming them to binding (‘hard’) law at a national
level.283 Soon, it will become difficult as a consequence at least for those

280
See supra, § 2.2.1.3. The substance of those regimes is dealt with in
greater detail infra in various chapters throughout the book: respectively in
Chapter 8 on satellite communications, in Chapter 9 on satellite remote sensing,
in Chapter 13 on environmental aspects, in Chapter 5 on international
cooperation at least in the context of intergovernmental organizations and again
in Chapter 13 on environmental aspects.
281
See also supra, nn. 56, 57. See for a lucid overview also Viikari, supra
n. 54, 93–102.
282
See specifically on the 2007 Resolution W. Balogh, The Role of Binding
and Non-Binding Norms in the Implementation of Small Satellite Programmes,
in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 325–42; more generally the
extended discussions on the issue of ‘soft law’ in the context of outer space and
space law in S. Aoki, The Function of ‘Soft Law’ in the Development of
International Space Law, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012),
57–85; M. Ferrazzani, Soft Law in Space Activities – An Updated View, in Soft
Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 99–117.
283
Cf. also Viikari, supra n. 54, 106–11 (esp. on licensing by the US FCC);
R. Tremayne-Smith, Environmental Protection and Space Debris Issues in the
Context of Authorisation, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von
der Dunk) (2011), 179–88 (esp. on licensing in the UK case); S. Mosteshar,
Regulation of Space Activities in the United Kingdom, in National Regulation of
Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 361 (also on the UK case); P. Achilleas,
Regulation of Space Activities in France, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 111 (on the case of France); more generally
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 301–11; Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati, supra n. 1,
218–21. Also infra, § 3.2.1.

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International space law 105

states to deny state practice and opinio juris having given rise to a
customary legal obligation to that extent.284
Other interesting recent resolutions drafted pertain to clarifying the
concept of the ‘launching State’ in order inter alia to promote the further
enunciation of national space laws and licensing regimes dealing with
private space activities,285 to establish the UN SPIDER programme,286 and
to generally improve effectiveness of the Registration Convention by
voluntarily providing more information for the purpose of the international
register with OOSA than is legally required under that Convention.287
Finally, COPUOS and its two subcommittees, notably from the present
perspective the Legal Sub-Committee, continue to provide an ongoing
platform for discussion and exchange of opinion as well as information –
for example concerning the growing needs for, and establishment of,
national regulation and legislation of private space activities.288 And even
if the aforementioned Russo-Chinese Draft PPWT Treaty stands little
chance of being broadly adopted, the discussions on the key issue of
maintaining outer space as much as possible as a realm remaining outside
of military conflict provide many less tangible results in terms of mutual
understanding and appreciation. Many of those results may not be
binding legally speaking, but nevertheless serve as important guides for
states and other actors on the appropriate manner of conducting activities
in outer space within the boundaries set by the outer space treaties.

284
Cf. infra, § 13.3.2.1, 2, also § 5.9.2.
285
This concerns Resolution A/RES/59/115, of 10 December 2004, Appli-
cation of the concept of the ‘launching State’. Cf. K.U. Schrogl, The Launching
State and the Registration Practice Resolutions as ‘Kick Off’ for a New Phase in
Space (Soft) Law Development, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe)
(2012), 195–203.
286
This concerns Resolution A/RES/61/110, of 14 December 2006, United
Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and
Emergency Response. Cf. e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 436.
287
This concerns Resolution A/RES/62/101, of 17 December 2007, Recom-
mendations on enhancing the practice of States and international inter-
governmental organizations in registering space objects. Cf. also Schrogl, supra
n. 285, 195–203.
288
See e.g. the work done on this issue by a working group of the COPUOS
Legal Sub-Committee, I. Marboe, National Space Legislation – The Work of the
Legal Subcommittee of UNCOPUOS 2008–2011, in Proceedings of the Inter-
national Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 101–6; cf. also e.g. Marboe &
Hafner, supra n. 210, 29–71; von der Dunk, Private Enterprise, supra n. 67,
1–163; further infra, Chapter 3.

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2.4 BEYOND THE CORE OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE

LAW

2.4.1 The Fourth Phase: Space Law Lato Sensu

The changing role of COPUOS over the last few decades in terms of
law-making and codification is closely related to the ‘fourth phase’ of space
law already alluded to – which essentially boils down to moving beyond the
core of the corpus discussed above, substantially changing its remit and
occasionally even threatening its relevance, both in legal theory and in
practice.
The fourth phase is, in short, where space activities started moving
away from their pure Cold War-era, government-focused, politico-
military and scientific origins – and took space law along with them. The
latter started to encompass, firstly, more focused regimes on specific
ventures or sectors, and, secondly, broadened even further as a conse-
quence of increasing practical applications of a terrestrial nature, where
space to a certain extent became a tangential yet still indispensable
element of a much longer chain.289
The result was an overall lessening of the coherence of all international
law relevant to space; and as a consequence, space law as of today should
for comprehensiveness’ sake not be taken to refer only to those global
treaties, resolutions and other legal, para-legal or soft-law developments
which principally originated from the bosom of COPUOS, or more
precisely from the cooperation between most, if not all, of the major
spacefaring states in that context.
As the first part of the process can be said to have started to some
extent already in the late 1960s, overlapping the second, ‘golden’ phase
of space law-making, the fourth phase could also be labelled a fourth
‘layer’, but it is especially in recent decades that it has been slowly yet
visibly outgrowing the processes and results of the third phase, at least in
terms of practical relevance – leading to increasing debates also about the
viability of COPUOS as the central platform for developing international
space law.290

289
An excellent illustration concerns satellite communications, where satel-
lites from a ‘bottom-up’, applications-oriented approach are but one potential
technical element in a network, if commercial business or other practical
interests so dictate, easily discarded in favour of terrestrial wireless, cable or
optical fibre networks – and satellite communications to that extent are regulated
as a subset of telecommunications at large.
290
Cf. e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 32, 409–14.

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The first three phases all had in common that states were the dominant,
often exclusive, actors in outer space, and that the space law regime
developed by those states all aimed – at least in principle – at establish-
ing globally applicable rules, whether legally binding as per treaties or by
way of UN Resolutions and other developments to the extent giving rise
to customary international law.291
By contrast the fourth phase was ushered in with the advent of a few
international organizations of an operational character, that is not only
pooling quasi-regulatory resources but especially financial and technical
resources, being established as of the early 1970s,292 and broadened with
the involvement of private entities interested in the potential commercial
benefits that space activities could bring to certain terrestrial appli-
cations293 – at first largely in the same area of telecommunications where
those first few international organizations had also made their entry.294
Space law lato sensu now gradually came to encompass a number of
other legal regimes, which may be summarily categorized, in more or
less descending order as regards visibility and direct impact on inter-
national space law, as (1) the constitutions of, and further regulation and
customary law developed within, international space organizations; (2)
the specific regimes developed for specific major space projects, on an
essentially ad hoc basis; (3) multilateral and bilateral agreements repre-
senting an effort to address a specific realm within space activities by a
number of more like-minded states; (4) a whole range of bilateral
agreements, ranging from ground station hosting arrangements to longer-
term cooperation; and (5) an even much larger number of regimes
developed completely outside of the space realm properly speaking, yet
now having a major impact on at least one area of space activities.295

291
See on this supra, § 2.2.1.
292
See for historical overviews F. Lyall, Law and Space Telecommunications
(1989), 74–130; Cheng, supra n. 1, 511–71; more succinctly Smith, supra
n. 121.
293
See e.g. in detail on these developments von der Dunk, supra n. 62,
498–515.
294
See further e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 378–9.
295
Focusing on treaty law and leaving the more complicated issue of
customary international law and soft law out of the picture as far as this overview
is concerned, such highly interesting developments as the Charter on Cooperation
to Achieve the Coordinated Use of Space Facilities in the Event of Natural or
Technological Disasters, established by the major operators of remote sensing
satellite systems, cannot be discussed in the present context; see however Ito,
supra n. 52, esp. 180 ff., text of the Charter at 317; also infra, § 9.4.3.4.

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108 Handbook of space law

Formally speaking a sixth category, that of national law and regulation,

could be added, which though of course by definition not international as
such, may have a bearing on, for example, the formation of customary
international law as representing state practice and/or opinio juris.296
Beyond that role, this theme will be separately addressed below.297
Whilst it is obviously beyond the scope of this chapter to address the
substance of all the elements of space law from such a broader
perspective – and the most important ones are in any event discussed
further below in separate chapters – it is appropriate to at least provide an
overview of those in order to shed light on their often complicated
relationship to the core corpus addressed above.

2.4.2 International Organizations’ Special Legal Regimes298

2.4.2.1 The international satellite operators

The first proper international operational space organizations
INTELSAT299 and INTERSPUTNIK300 were constituted in 1971,

296
See on the role of national law in the formation of customary inter-
national law e.g. Shaw, supra n. 1, 72 ff., esp. 82–3; Crawford, supra n. 2, 23–7;
Malanczuk, Akehurst, supra n. 1, 39–43.
297
See infra, Chapter 3.
298
The years mentioned hereunder refer to the year the first constitutive
treaty was opened for signature, not to the year of entry into force of such
documents. See further on international organizations and their contributions to
space law infra, Chapter 5, also Chapter 4 for the European organizations
specifically.
299
INTELSAT was established as per the Agreement Relating to the Inter-
national Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) (hereafter
INTELSAT Agreement), Washington, done 20 August 1971, entered into force
12 February 1973; 1220 UNTS 21; TIAS 7532; 23 UST 3813; UKTS 1973 No.
80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS 1973 No. 6; 10 ILM 909 (1971); and the Operating
Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organ-
ization (INTELSAT) (hereafter INTELSAT Operating Agreement), Washington,
done 20 August 1971, entered into force 12 February 1973; 1220 UNTS 149;
TIAS 7532; 23 UST 4091; UKTS 1973 No. 80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS 1973 No. 6;
10 ILM 946 (1971). Cf. on INTELSAT prior to privatization further infra,
§ 5.4.1; also esp. Lyall, supra n. 292, 74–208; briefly R.S. Jakhu, International
Regulation of Satellite Telecommunications, in Legal Aspects of Space
Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 92–4; Courteix, supra n. 50,
105–6; Cheng, supra n. 1, 545–8, 550–63.
300
INTERSPUTNIK was established as per the Agreement on the Establish-
ment of the ‘INTERSPUTNIK’ International System and Organization of Space
Communications (hereafter INTERSPUTNIK Agreement), Moscow, done 15
November 1971, entered into force 12 July 1972; 862 UNTS 3; TIAS 859 (1973)

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International space law 109

followed by ARABSAT301 and INMARSAT302 in 1976 and EUTELSAT303

in 1982.304 While differing in their focus as to, for example, the provision of
fixed satellite, mobile satellite or satellite broadcasting services, they all
combined member state resources to develop, launch or have launched, and
operate a satellite system (including ground stations) for telecommuni-
cation purposes, offering transponder capacity to the member states’
national telecom entities.
INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT from the beginning were
constituted as hybrid public consortia, with member states through a
convention or agreement setting out the general legal parameters for their
operation whilst an operation agreement between their respective tele-
communication entities took care of the more operationally oriented

No. 12343; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.VIII.1. Cf. further infra,
§ 5.7; also Lyall, supra n. 292, 296–303; Cheng, supra n. 1, 548–50.
301
ARABSAT was established as per the Agreement of the Arab Corporation
for Space Communications (ARABSAT) (hereafter ARABSAT Agreement),
Cairo, done 14 April 1976, entered into force 15 July 1976; Space Law – Basic
Legal Documents, C.VII.1; 44 Telecommunications Journal (IX/1977), 422. Cf.
further infra, § 5.8; also Lyall, supra n. 292, 303–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
375–7.
302
INMARSAT was established as per the Convention on the International
Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) (hereafter INMARSAT Conven-
tion), London, done 3 September 1976, entered into force 16 July 1979; 1143
UNTS 105; TIAS 9605; 31 UST 1; UKTS 1979 No. 94; Cmnd. 6822; ATS 1979
No. 10; 15 ILM 1052 (1976); and the Operating Agreement on the International
Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) (hereafter INMARSAT Operating
Agreement), London, done 3 September 1976, entered into force 16 July 1979;
1143 UNTS 213; TIAS 9605; 31 UST 1; UKTS 1979 No. 94; Cmnd. 6822; ATS
1979 No. 10; 15 ILM 233, 1075 (1976). Cf. on INMARSAT prior to privatization
further infra, § 5.5.1; also esp. Lyall, supra n. 292, 209–43; Jakhu, supra n. 299,
94–5.
303
EUTELSAT was established as per the Convention Establishing the
European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter
EUTELSAT Convention), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1
September 1985; UKTS 1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9069; Space Law – Basic
Legal Documents, C.II.1; and the Operating Agreement Relating to the European
Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT
Operating Agreement), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September
1985; UKTS 1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9154; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, C.II.2. Cf. on EUTELSAT prior to privatization further infra,
§§ 4.2.6.2, 5.6.1; also esp. Lyall, supra n. 292, 264–95; Jakhu, supra n. 299,
95–6; Courteix, supra n. 50, 106–7.
304
See for more details on these organizations, their roles and legal regimes
infra, Chapter 5; and for EUTELSAT also § 4.2.6.2.

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110 Handbook of space law

aspects of the organization. The three organizations were privatized in the

early 2000s, giving rise to private operators Intelsat, Inmarsat and
Eutelsat operating to a limited extent under the tutelage of the residual
intergovernmental oversight organizations the originally inter-
governmental operators had turned into: INTELSAT into the Inter-
national Telecommunications Satellite Organization ITSO,305
INMARSAT into the International Mobile Satellite Organization
IMSO,306 and EUTELSAT into EUTELSAT IGO.307
Meanwhile, INTERSPUTNIK – originally the communist counterpart
to INTELSAT – has also been partly hybridized along the model of the
original INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT;308 while ARABSAT
remains a truly classical intergovernmental organization in recognizing
only state governments as formal actors within the regime developed in
its context.309
The constitutive treaties of those organizations most importantly pro-
vided for the rights and obligations the member states took upon
themselves vis-à-vis the organization itself, its organs and other member
states by their very partisanship in that organization, and the governance
structure of the organization involving member states in key organs such
as General Assemblies and Councils.310

305
See in detail P.K. McCormick, Intelsat: Pre and Post-Private Equity
Ownership, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations
(Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 81–117; M.J. Mechanick, The
Role and Function of Residual International Intergovernmental Satellite Organ-
isations Following Privatisation, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental
Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013),
175–221; also e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 325–43; further infra, §§ 5.4.2,
5.10, more generally § 15.4.
306
See in detail D. Sagar & P.K. McCormick, Inmarsat: In the Forefront of
Mobile Satellite Communications, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental
Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013),
35–79; Mechanick, supra n. 305, 175–221; also e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2,
344–55; further infra, §§ 5.5.2, 5.10, more generally § 15.4.
307
See C. Roisse, The Evolution of EUTELSAT: A Challenge Successfully
Met, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds.
P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 119–73; Mechanick, supra n. 305,
175–221; also e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 356–64; further infra, §§ 5.6.2,
5.10, more generally § 15.4.
308
See e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 2, 364–75; further infra, § 5.7.
309
See ibid., 375–7; further infra, § 5.8.
310
Cf. e.g. Arts. VI(a), VII (‘Assembly of Parties’), IX (‘Board of Gover-
nors’), INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 299; Arts. 9, 10 (‘Assembly’), 13
(‘Council’), INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 302; Arts. VI(a), VII (‘Assembly

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On the other hand, the cooperative character, aim and spirit of the
organizations caused two-thirds majorities to be entitled to amend the
constitutive documents, with all member states, including any potentially
opposing ones, then being bound to those amended versions.311 This
constitutes a deviation from general public international law practice,
whereby (usually) amendments to treaties only enter into force for those
states parties to the treaties that have also ratified the amendments.
Whilst it would be improper to characterize these modi operandi
without further ado as constituting customary law to which other,
non-party states might also be held, those institutional regimes may be
viewed as comprising state practice with the attendant opinio juris for the
states concerned (which certainly in the cases of the three more or less
global organizations INTELSAT, INTERSPUTNIK and INMARSAT
comprise the major spacefaring nations), in particular where these
organizations operated in the same fashion.
Thus, by way of the above the international organizations provide for
an exemplary fashion to implement the fundamental principles of making
‘use of outer space … for the benefit and in the interest of all
countries’312 and ‘in the interest of maintaining international peace and
security and promoting international cooperation’.313 This would notably
include the compromise between state equality – reflected for example in
‘one state, one vote’ procedures in many more sovereignty-related aspects
– and commercial practice – whereby those who invest more, harvest
more, and those who use the system more, pay more; as reflected in the
investment share-system.314 INTELSAT set the standards in many

of Parties’), EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 303; Arts. 11(1), 12 (‘Board’),

INTERSPUTNIK Agreement, supra n. 300; Arts. 9, 10 (‘General Body’),
ARABSAT Agreement, supra n. 301. All organizations remained of an essen-
tially intergovernmental character, with competences of the organization and its
organs vis-à-vis member states described in quite some detail in the constitutive
treaties.
311
See Art. XVII, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 299 (complicated by
adding the requirement of approval covering two-thirds of the investment shares,
with an alternative being an 85% majority); Art. 34, INMARSAT Convention,
supra n. 302; Art. 24, INTERSPUTNIK Agreement, supra n. 300; Art. XIX,
EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 303; Art. 18, ARABSAT Agreement, supra
n. 301.
312
Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
313
Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1.
314
See for further details on those modi operandi of the international satellite
organizations infra, §§ 5.4.1, 5.5.2, 5.6.2. On the other hand, elements in those
modi operandi generally the same amongst these international satellite operators

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112 Handbook of space law

respects, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT followed suit, and later on even

the formerly communist INTERSPUTNIK adapted major elements of the
same approach.

2.4.2.2 Two non-satellite communication intergovernmental

organizations
Outside of the telecommunications world, only two other truly inter-
governmental organizations have been established in the space arena,
combining substantial financial and technical resources of the respective
sets of member states for the benefit of a continuing joint space
programme – both in Europe.315
One of those concerns the field of meteorology, where a host of
European countries in 1983 established the European Organization of
Meteorological Satellites EUMETSAT.316 EUMETSAT remained a ‘trad-
itional’ governmental operation: whilst national meteorological services
of the member states were the ultimate beneficiaries of the meteoro-
logical and climate change data generated by the system, they were not
formally represented within the EUMETSAT structure.317 An interesting
feature of EUMETSAT was the concept of ‘mandatory programmes’,
whereby member states were obliged to financially contribute to the
baseline space programmes agreed to within the context of the organ-
ization.318
Whilst all the above intergovernmental organizations focused on one
specific area of space activities only – satellite communications and
satellite remote sensing – the other European space organization of
importance here uniquely covers all substantive space activities, as long

also became increasingly subject to dispute as time and the global environment
for satellite communications started to change; cf. infra, § 15.4, also §§ 5.4.2,
5.5.2, 5.6.2.
315
See infra, Chapter 5, which further outlines also the unique role the
European Community/European Union, not mentioned here, plays in the legal
and technical/operational European ‘spacescape’.
316
EUMETSAT was established by way of the Convention for the Establish-
ment of a European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satel-
lites (EUMETSAT) (hereafter EUMETSAT Convention), Geneva, done 24 May
1983, entered into force 19 June 1986; as amended 14 July 1994, entered into
force 27 July 1994; UKTS 1999 No. 32; Cm. 1067; Cmnd. 9483; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, C.III.1; 44 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht 68
(1995). See further infra, § 4.2.6.3.
317
Cf. e.g. Arts. 1(2), (4), 4 (esp. (1)), 5, EUMETSAT Convention, supra
n. 316.
318
Cf. Arts. 2(7), 10(2), EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 316.

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International space law 113

as somehow related to research, development and exploration.319 This

concerns ESA, established in 1975 by formally combining two earlier
European space organizations for cooperation in the area of launcher
development (ELDO) and space research (ESRO).320
It was, for example, ESA from which EUMETSAT took its cue to
introduce (the distinction between) mandatory and optional programmes
in their space endeavours321 – perhaps the most interesting legal/
institutional feature of these European space organizations giving rise to
both legal discussions322 and continuing attention from other regions of
the world where regional integration of space efforts is being attempted.
Also, ESA and EUMETSAT – together with EUTELSAT – have so far
been the only organizations making use of the opportunities under the
Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention and the Registration Con-
vention to effectively become parties to those treaties.323

2.4.3 Special Legal Regimes Developed for Large-Scale Projects

In a general sense any international treaty comprising substantive rights

and obligations as between two or more states constitutes part of
international law, and if it concerns a treaty codifying a set of arrange-
ments relative to a space project, thereby part of international space law
lato sensu. Under the present heading, however, only a few international
treaties will be briefly assessed as outstanding examples for future
development of international space law, at some point extending beyond
the current – limited – group of states parties.

2.4.3.1 The Intergovernmental Agreement on the ISS

The most prominent example thereof at the global level is the Inter-
governmental Agreement concerning the development, construction,
launch and operation of the International Space Station. Originally
concluded in 1988 under the leadership of the United States and further
involving Japan, Canada and a number of European spacefaring nations

319
See Art. II, Convention for the Establishment of a European Space
Agency (hereafter ESA Convention), Paris, done 30 May 1975, entered into
force 30 October 1980; UKTS 1981 No. 30; Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975);
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.I.1.
320
See further infra, §§ 4.2.1, 4.2.2.
321
See Art. V(1), ESA Convention, supra n. 319.
322
See further the discussion on the compatibility of such programme
procurement regimes with the EU competition regime, § 4.4.5.
323
See supra, § 2.3.2.2, § 2.3.3.7 and § 2.3.4.3; further infra, § 4.2.5.1.

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114 Handbook of space law

members of ESA,324 it was renegotiated after the end of the Cold War
and political realities required partnering with Russia, with the 1998 (and
currently ruling) version being applicable to 15 major spacefaring
nations.325
The Intergovernmental Agreement, in particular in view of the import-
ance of its membership in terms of spacefaring nations,326 provides for a
few interesting and rather novel contributions to international space law
lato sensu already for that reason, and has sometimes been pointed out as
a potential point of reference for either future world space organizations
or for other long-term space projects of massive size and complexity.327
Firstly (as also occurred in the case of the ESA Convention), provi-
sional application was agreed upon, with regard to both iterations of the
Intergovernmental Agreement, in order not to wait for formal entry into
force before beginning the process of development and construction of
the ISS.328 Space cooperation is something requiring both long-term
agreement before any benefits might be reaped and a considerable
amount of mutual trust amongst the cooperating states – and both
conspire to arrive regularly at a level of willingness to start cooperation

324
Agreement Among the Government of the United States of America,
Governments of Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government
of Japan, and the Government of Canada on Cooperation in the Detailed Design,
Development, Operation, and Utilization of the Permanently Manned Civil Space
Station, Washington, done 29 September 1988, entered into force 30 January
1992; Cm. 705; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, D.II.4.2.
325
Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member
States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government
of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States of America
concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station (hereafter
Intergovernmental Agreement), Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered into
force 27 March 2001; TIAS No. 12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, D.II.4. See for an extended analysis of the ISS legal regime further
infra, §§ 11.3–11.5.
326
With Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy amongst the
European states parties next to the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada as
global partners, China, India and Brazil may be deemed the largest spacefaring
nations not party to the Agreement.
327
Cf. also further infra, §11.6.
328
The ‘rules of the game’ were laid down in a specific arrangement, the
Agreement concerning application of the Space Station Intergovernmental Agree-
ment pending its entry into force, Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered
into force 29 January 1998. See further e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Legal Aspects of
the International Space Station, in The Highways of Air and Outer Space Over
Asia (Eds. C.J. Cheng & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 113–4.

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International space law 115

without the legal certainty of a treaty formally in force, more so than in

most other potential areas for international cooperation.
Secondly, the Agreement ruled a set of Memoranda of Understanding
(MOUs) and lower-tier, strictly speaking non-legal documents on the
actual details of cooperation in the context of the ISS.329 For these
reasons they also comprised the heart of the interim arrangements, and
made for flexible instruments used on an almost daily basis.
Thirdly, the Agreement provided several examples of implementing
standard space law provisions in an international context, such as
applying the quasi-territoriality of jurisdiction over registered space
objects to the individual elements of the ISS (as opposed to legally
viewing the ISS as one space object)330 or conversely creating a separate
liability regime deviating from the (third-party) space law regime
(amounting to a very broad waiver of liability as opposed to the default
broad liability regime under the Liability Convention).331 Again, the latter
was evidence of the need to work together in such a highly innovative but
risky area as space station operations without a chance of lawsuits
spoiling the spirit of cooperation.
Fourthly, it recognized the unique situation where ESA acted as the
space agency on behalf of ultimately 11 of its current 20 member states.
The MOUs involved ESA at the highest level as a ‘Partner’,332 and the
Agreement itself allowed ESA to register the European ISS modules333 as
well as to internally handle the jurisdiction regarding intellectual property
rights it would seemingly be able to exercise (but then could not, since
ESA is not a state with governmental legislative authority).334

329
See further e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, The International Legal Framework
for European Activities on Board the ISS, in The International Space Station
(Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 20–5.
330
See Art. 5 in conjunction with Art. 6, Intergovernmental Agreement,
supra n. 325; this also gave rise to specific jurisdiction over patented inventions
as per Art. 21. Cf. further Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 1; Art. II,
Registration Convention, supra n. 41.
331
See Art. 16, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 325; where Art. 17
continued to recognize the validity of the Liability Convention outside of the ISS
cooperation framework. Cf. further Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 40.
332
Cf. also Arts. 3(b), 4, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 325.
333
See Art. 5(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 325, further to ESA
having submitted its Declaration of acceptance of rights and obligations in
conformity with Art. VII(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 41.
334
See Art. 21(2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 325, providing
that ‘for ESA registered elements any European Partner State may deem the
activity to have occurred within its territory’. See further infra, § 11.3.2.3.

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2.4.3.2 The COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement

The other international treaty which warrants being mentioned here con-
cerns the COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement of 1988, providing the institu-
tional arrangements and attendant legal regime for a satellite system used
for search and rescue.335 One interesting feature, stemming from the
recognition that the availability of satellite technology amongst countries
does not cover the potential need or desire for being part of such a search
and rescue system, is the layered system of partisanship to the treaty.
Four states (Canada, France, Russia and the United States) are parties at
the highest level, providing the satellites which form the heart of the
system.336 In addition, however, states can become parties as ground
segment providers contributing and operating elements of ground infra-
structure337 or user states essentially only following technical specifications
pertaining to emergency beacons entitling the use of the satellites.338
Thereby, the COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement provides another example of
a pragmatic approach in space law, deviating from the standard approach of
public international law that all states parties to a treaty are legally equal in
order to reflect the actual differences in financial and technical capability –
and in this case not in the least to the detriment of the states relegated to
legally speaking ‘lower ranks’, as they continue to enjoy the real-life
benefits this convention brings. In that sense, the Agreement embodies a
striking example of the lofty aims of Article I of the Outer Space Treaty to
use space ‘for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of
their degree of economic or scientific development’.

2.4.3.3 Three special bilateral agreements

Whilst the Intergovernmental Agreement on the ISS and the COSPAS-
SARSAT Agreement constitute the major examples of multilateral treat-
ies dealing with a complex space project in rather comprehensive fashion,
three bilateral arrangements may also be mentioned here as providing, by
way of example, interesting contributions to international space law.
The first one concerns the cooperation between China and Brazil in the
realm of remote sensing, referring to the China-Brazil Earth Resources

335
International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme Agreement (hereafter
COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement), Paris, done 1 July 1988, entered into force on 30
August 1988; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, D.II.6.
336
Cf. Arts. 1, 5, 20, COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement, supra n. 335 (referring
to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, whose legal place is now taken by the
Russian Federation).
337
Cf. Arts. 1, 11, COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement, supra n. 335.
338
Cf. Arts. 1, 12, COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement, supra n. 335.

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Satellite programme, which was started in 1988.339 The agreement inter

alia provided for an open access approach to the data generated by the
remote sensing system in Brazil, heralding a new approach in developing
countries to stimulate private enterprise to use those data and generate
new products, services and markets rather than keeping the information
exclusively in government hands.340
The second one concerns the long-term cooperation between Ukraine
and Brazil under an agreement initialled in 2003, whereby the rocket
technology of the former was combined with the launch site of the latter
at Alcantara, closest of all spaceports to the equator, to develop a feasible
launch service provision business.341 Most interestingly from a legal
perspective is the establishment of a properly bi-national company to
develop and run these operations, Alcantara Cyclone Space.342
The third one concerns the operation of the Baikonur Cosmodrome,
the former Soviet launch port for all manned and the most important
unmanned spacecraft which, after the demise of the Soviet Union,
happened to find itself in the country of Kazakhstan whereas the Russian
Federation was the one wishing to keep the base operating for its space
programme. Consequently, a bilateral Kazakh–Russian treaty had to be
concluded,343 inter alia to take care of the potential international liability

339
See J. Monserrat, Brazilian-Chinese Space Cooperation: An Analysis of
its Legal Performance, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on the
Law of Outer Space (1997), 164–75; Y. Zhao, Evaluation of Space Cooperation
between China and Brazil: An Excellent Example of South-South Co-operation,
in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(2005), 215–23; Y. Zhao, Space Commercialization and the Development of
Space Law from a Chinese Legal Perspective (2009), 178–87.
340
Cf. J. Monserrat, Regulation of Space Activities in Brazil, in National
Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 69; J. Monserrat,
Commentary Paper, in Proceedings of the ISRO-IISL Space Law Conference
2005 (2006), 5*35–6; Zhao, supra n. 339, 179.
341
The key document here was the Treaty between the Federative Republic
of Brazil and Ukraine on Long-Term Co-operation in Utilization of the
Cyclone-4 Launch Vehicle at the Alcantara Launch Center, Brasilia, done 21
October 2003, entered into force 2004.
342
See J. Monserrat, Brazil-Ukraine Partnership for the Use of the Alcantara
Launch Center, in Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (2003), 302–9; J. Monserrat, Brazilian-Ukrainian Agreement on Launching
Cyclone-4 from Alcantara: Impact on Brazilian Legislation, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2005), 37–46.
343
Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakh-
stan on Basic Principles and Terms of the Utilization of the Baikonur Cosmo-
drome, Moscow, done 28 March 1994, entered into force 10 December 1994; 30

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118 Handbook of space law

claims with respect to launches from Baikonur, qualifying both Kazakh-

stan (through the use of its territory) and Russia (as it continued to own,
control and operate the launch facilities there) as ‘launching States’ under
the Liability Convention.344
While these treaties all concern bilateral relationships, the states
involved all belong to the major spacefaring nations (Brazil, China,
Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine345) and refer to new and quite specific
forms of cooperation; hence they may well serve as blueprints for future
occasions where states want to combine their respective launcher tech-
nology and launch port operations or their launch operations and their
remote sensing technology.

2.4.4 Multilateral Agreements on Specific Realms of Space

Activities

Several multilateral international treaties have furthermore been con-

cluded between groups of usually like-minded, and therefore regionally
related, states on specific realms of space activities. They are fundamen-
tally different from the treaties mentioned earlier, in particular the five
UN treaties (or at least the first four) in that either their aim, if any, to
achieve global partisanship was never even remotely reached, or their
subject matter concerns only a very small and specific aspect of space
activities – or possibly even both.
For those reasons, they will not be addressed as such in any detail
here; where they provide a sizeable contribution to overall space law,
they will be discussed further in the relevant chapters below. From the
perspective of general international space law, their operation and appli-
cation should usually be caveated by their limited scope both ratione
materiae and ratione personae. Though lex specialis when compared to
the lex generalis of the corpus juris spatialis internationalis, it only

Journal of Space Law (2004), at 26; see also Agreement between the Russian
Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Cooperation in the Effective
Use of the Baikonur Facility, Astana, done 9 January 2004; 30 Journal of Space
Law (2004), at 32.
344
Cf. the definition of the ‘launching State’ in Art. I(c), Liability Conven-
tion, supra n. 40. More in general on the Kazakh–Russian relationship relative to
Baikonur, M. Hosková, The 1994 Baikonur Agreements in Operation, in Pro-
ceedings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000),
263–72.
345
Note furthermore that, with the exception of Russia, these states were not
parties to the ISS Intergovernmental Agreement, one of the other main ad hoc
regimes for international cooperation discussed before.

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overrides such lex generalis as far as the states parties to the lex specialis
are concerned – and then of course only as to the, usually, more detailed
and specific level of the subject matter of the latter.
This in itself provides a considerable incentive for the states parties to
those special treaties to remain in line with the global space treaties and
other globally applicable elements of space law in order not to be
confronted with two rather divergent, possibly conflicting legal regimes –
in the end, obligations under the lex generalis to all those not a party to
the specialized treaty remain unchallenged by the latter.
Some of the more well-known examples of space-oriented treaties
falling into this category are the so-called Brussels Convention of 1974
dealing with programme-carrying satellite signals,346 a Council of Europe
Convention of 1989 on trans-frontier television,347 and the so-called
Moscow Convention of 1978 on remote sensing data.348 A set of legal
arrangements in the context of ESA’s involvement with Arianespace
operations from French Guyana territory, furthermore, will be discussed
in some detail in the context of European space law.349

2.4.5 Bilateral (and Multilateral) Agreements on Space and

Space-Related Cooperation

Formally, bilateral agreements or multilateral agreements with a limited

number of states parties on space and space-related cooperation also form
part and parcel of international law – albeit binding only upon those
states respectively party thereto. Here, the focus is not so much on efforts

346
Convention relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals
Transmitted by Satellite, Brussels, done 21 May 1974, entered into force 25
August 1979; 1144 UNTS 3; TIAS 11078; ATS 1990 No. 30; 13 ILM 1444
(1974). It enjoyed the partisanship of 28 states as of November 2006; see Space
Law – Basic Legal Documents, B.I.2.2.
347
European Convention on Transfrontier Television, Strasbourg, done 5
May 1989; entered into force 1 May 1993; ETS No. 132; as amended by the
Protocol amending the Convention, Strasbourg, done 9 September 1998, entered
into force 1 March 2002; ETS No. 171; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
B.1.5.1. Its membership was restricted to Europe, read member states of the
Council of Europe; cf. Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, B.I.5.2.
348
Convention on the Transfer and Use of Data of Remote Sensing of the
Earth from Outer Space, Moscow, done 19 May 1978, entry into force 21 August
1979; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, B.II.1. Its membership remained
restricted to the Soviet Union and some of its then-communist allies.
349
See infra, § 4.2.6.1.

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120 Handbook of space law

to regulate a specific realm or category of space activities, but to provide

a legal framework for specific cooperation projects.
These may range from hosting ground stations for satellites350 to
hosting astronauts on board of a space station,351 from the launch of
specific rockets352 to providing launch services to foreign satellites,353
and from cooperation on specific satellite projects354 to cooperation on
the use of terminals to access specific satellite infrastructures.355
Often going into the intricate details, including technical ones, of
international space cooperation further to the general clarion call of
Articles I and III of the Outer Space Treaty to strive for such inter-
national cooperation, many of those treaties may provide helpful clues as
to how the technical, operational, political and financial issues particular
to space activities are translated into legal texts, rights and obligations,

350
Cf. e.g. the Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement between the
Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America
Relating to Space Vehicle Tracking and Communication, Canberra, done 26
February 1960, entered into force 26 February 1960; 354 UNTS 95; TIAS 4435;
ATS 1960 No. 2; renewed every ten years.
351
Cf. e.g. Implementing Arrangement Between the Government of the
United States of America and the Government of the Federative Republic of
Brazil for the Design, Development, Operation and Use of Flight Equipment and
Payloads for the International Space Station Program, Brasilia, done 14 October
1997, entered into force 14 October 1997, www.state.gov/documents/
organization/106612.pdf, last accessed 12 April 2014.
352
Cf. e.g. Agreement between the Government of the Commonwealth of
Australia and the European Space Research Organisation for the Provision and
Operation of Trials Facilities at Woomera for Launching of a SKYLARK Rocket
in January/February 1970, Paris, done 10 January 1970, entered into force 10
January 1970; ATS 1970, No. 1.
353
Cf. e.g. Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Govern-
ment of the United States of America concerning the furnishing of Launch and
Associated Services for Australia’s National Satellite System, Washington, done
7 March 1985, entered into force 7 March 1985; ATS 1985 No. 7.
354
Cf. e.g. Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement between the
Government of Australia and the Government of Japan concerning Co-operation
on the Project for the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-3 System, Canberra,
done 1 May 1985, entered into force 1 May 1985, ATS 1985 No. 14; Agreement
between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of
America concerning the Operation of Commercial Remote Sensing Satellite
Systems, Washington, done 16 June 2000, entered into force 16 June 2000; 2000
CTS No. 2000/14.
355
Cf. e.g. International Agreement on the Use of INMARSAT Ship Earth
Stations within the Territorial Sea and Ports, London, done 16 October 1985,
entered into force 12 September 1993; ATS 1993 No. 42.

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presumably promoting not only greater efficiency, but also greater net
benefit for mankind.
Subject to verification by further study, it might be expected that the
intrinsically international, highly technological and at the same time
fascinating ventures of mankind into outer space have given rise to a
perhaps relatively speaking extraordinary number of bilateral engage-
ments, of which good examples followed by others may ultimately rise to
the level of customary international law of a more global scope. One
specific and important, though by now historical, example thereof
concerns the set of bilateral arrangements in the 1990s trying to develop
a level playing field in the global launch services sector.356

2.4.6 Legal Regimes Stricto Sensu Not Developed for, yet Relevant
for Space Activities

The interest of mankind finally not only requires international law, or at

least international rules of the road, for the realm of outer space and
space activities, but also that these space activities bring some benefit
down to earth. Whilst international security and the advancement of
science, the two old strongholds of international space activity, are
certainly not without enormous benefit to mankind, these benefits are
usually difficult to quantify or even to specify otherwise. Not inciden-
tally, the Outer Space Treaty, often hailed – somewhat imprecisely – as
the ‘Magna Carta’ for outer space, has equally often been criticized for
its imprecision, vagueness and impracticable aspirations, as summarized
by its other nickname – the ‘Principles Treaty’.357
It is therefore, in particular, the advent of the possibilities to reap other,
more down-to-earth and directly quantifiable benefits from the space
adventure that has changed, and is still changing, the landscape of space
law in a fundamental way. ‘Space law’ can no longer be viewed as, at
heart, a somewhat isolated set of international space treaties and other
instruments, plus some domestic implementation – it can no longer be
circumscribed comprehensively as ‘all legal instruments exclusively
dedicated to outer space’. Its increasing down-to-earth importance – from
communications to meteorology, from navigation to, yes, tourism – calls
for space law to be now defined lato sensu, as the collection of

356
See further infra, § 7.5.4, also § 15.3.2.
357
Cf. also Hobe, supra n. 24, 12 ff.; S. Hobe & N. Hedman, Preamble, in
Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U.
Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 19–24.

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122 Handbook of space law

principles, norms and rules relevant for at least one particular branch of
space activity, regardless of which particular sources they stem from.358
All of those, by definition, did not first and foremost address the space
aspects, and many were even drafted, agreed upon and elaborated before
Sputnik-1 went up, or before anyone fathomed that this particular set of
rules might one day have a serious impact on at least one branch of space
activities. The most important of those, already comprising an imposing
array of treaties and other key international legal documents, will be
discussed as appropriate in many other chapters below, as indicated, so
that at this point a simple sample of those treaties should suffice.
Starting with the most extended range of application of space activities
in terms of practical and financial importance, the area of satellite
communications is not only ruled by the various treaties establishing
intergovernmental satellite operators as discussed above,359 or as far as
direct broadcasting is concerned, the relevant set of UN principles,360 but
most importantly by the regime developed under the auspices of the ITU,
established as far back as 1865.361 More recently, also the international
regime on trade liberalization, as originally developed from the 1947
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),362 has started to
address the cross-border provision specifically of satellite communication
services.363 Regionally, within Europe the European Community, then

358
For an extended version of this analysis, see again von der Dunk, supra n.
62, 505 ff.
359
See supra, § 2.4.2.1; also infra, §§ 5.4–5.8.
360
See supra, § 2.2.1.3; also infra, § 8.3.1.
361
The current regime for international satellite communications, as far as
the ITU is concerned, is based on the 1992 ITU Constitution (Constitution of the
International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, done 22 December 1992,
entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539;
ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference,
Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 1) and ITU Convention (Convention of the International
Telecommunication Union, Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered into force
1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28;
Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at
71), as revised in 1994 and 1998, as well as the Radio Regulations (as per Art. 4,
ITU Constitution); see further infra, § 8.2.
362
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Geneva, done 30 October 1947,
entered into force 1 January 1948; 55 UNTS 194; TIAS 1700; ATS 1948 No. 23.
363
The GATT was institutionalized with the establishment in 1994 of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), as per the Agreement Establishing the World
Trade Organization (WTO Agreement), Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered
into force 1 January 1995; 1867 UNTS; UKTS 1996 No. 57; ATS 1995 No. 8; 33
ILM 1125, 1144 (1994); and at the same time extended to services by way of the

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Union364 started to make inroads into satellite communications along the

same lines of trade liberalization, and around the same time, with the
1994 Satellite Directive.365
In the context of satellite remote sensing, the copyright concept of
intellectual property rights, developed centuries ago and first inter-
nationally harmonized with the 1886 Berne Convention,366 turned out to
be the starting point for drafting specific intellectual property rights to
protect investment in satellite data,367 just as the tool of patent law,
internationalized as early as the 1883 Paris Convention,368 turned out to
be used inter alia for inventions on board the ISS.369
Another satellite application making great progress in recent years
concerns the use of space infrastructure for satellite positioning, timing
and navigation services. As these services are increasingly being used by
various transport (aviation, maritime, rail and road) and non-transport
(banking and telecommunications) sectors, the providers of relevant
satellite services are increasingly being confronted with the consequence

GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services, Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994,

entered into force 1 January 1995; UKTS 1996 No. 58; Cm. 3276; ATS 1995 No.
8), which then presented the platform for addressing international trade in
satellite communication services; see further infra, § 15.4.
364
Currently, the legal framework of the European Union is fundamentally
based on the Treaty on European Union as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon
amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the
European Community, Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered into force 1
December 2009; OJ C 115/1 (2009), and the Treaty establishing the European
Community as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on
European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, Lisbon,
done 13 December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009; OJ C 115/47
(2009).
365
Commission Directive amending Directive 88/301/EEC and Directive
90/388/EEC in particular with regard to satellite communications, 94/46/EC, of
13 October 1994; OJ L 268/15 (1994). See further infra, § 4.3.2.2.
366
Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works, Berne,
done 9 September 1886, entered into force 5 December 1887; 828 UNTS 221;
331 UNTS 217; ATS 1901 No. 126.
367
See further infra, § 18.2.2.
368
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property as Modified by
Additional Act of 14 December 1900 and Final Protocol, Paris, done 20 March
1883, entered into force 6 July 1884; 828 UNTS 305; USTS 379; UKTS 1907
No. 21; ATS 1907 No. 6.
369
Cf. Art. 21, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 325, for the ISS
regime; see also infra, § 11.4.2, cf. also § 18.3.

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of the sector-specific regimes for those sectors.370 Liability, for example,

is handled quite differently in aviation as compared to maritime or rail
transport.371
The same goes for those space applications requiring asset-based
financing, where the private operators cannot use existing infrastructure
or non-space assets as collateral. It is for that reason that under the aegis
of UNIDROIT, the International Institute for the Unification of Private

370
See further infra, §§ 10.6–10.9.
371
For air law, third-party liability is handled by the – relatively marginally
ratified! – Rome Convention on Damage Caused by Foreign Aircraft to Third
Parties on the Surface (Rome Convention), Rome, done 7 October 1952, entered
into force 4 February 1958; 310 UNTS 181; ATS 1959 No. 1; ICAO Doc. 7364;
amended by the Protocol to Amend the Convention on Damage Caused by
Foreign Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface Signed at Rome on 7 October
1952 (Montreal Protocol), Montreal, done 23 September 1978, entered into force
25 July 2002; ICAO Doc. 9257; as the most recent international efforts in this
area have not yet achieved sufficient ratifications: the Convention on Compen-
sation for Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third Parties, Montreal, done 2 May
2009; not yet entered into force; ICAO Doc. 9919; and the Convention on
Compensation for Damage to Third Parties, Resulting from Acts of Unlawful
Interference Involving Aircraft, Montreal, done 2 May 2009; not yet entered into
force; ICAO Doc. 9920. Contractual liability in aviation is currently largely
regulated by the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International
Carriage by Air (Montreal Convention), Montreal, done 28 May 1999, entered
into force 4 November 2003; 2242 UNTS 350; ICAO Doc. 9740; 48 Zeitschrift
für Luft- und Weltraumrecht 326 (1999).
In maritime transport, by contrast, only contractual liability is regulated
internationally, by such treaties as the Athens Convention Relating to the
Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage by Sea, Athens, done 13 December
1974, entered into force 28 April 1987; UKTS 1987 No. 40; Cmnd. 6326;
International Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), I-229; and the United
Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, Hamburg, done 31 March
1978, entered into force 1 November 1992; International Transport Treaties,
Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), I-278.
Also railway transport knows international harmonization of liability rules
only in the context of contracts of carriage, as per the International Convention
concerning the International Transport by Rail, Berne, done 9 May 1980, entered
into force 1 May 1985; International Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986),
V-183.
See for a comparative analysis of those regimes and their relation to satellite
navigation activities, F.G. von der Dunk, The European Equation: GNSS =
Multimodality + Liability, in Air and Space Law in the 21st Century (2001), esp.
236–43.

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Law, a Protocol has been drafted complementing the Cape Town Conven-
tion to apply its general regime to the financing of space assets.372
With the Sea Launch venture seeking the high seas as an area for
launch, specific elements of the law of the sea became of importance for
this space venture;373 with the advent of commercial sub-orbital space-
flight, as discussed, elements of air law achieved the same attention by
space lawyers;374 and with the dual-use character of most space tech-
nology, international (the Missile Technology Control Regime375 and the
Wassenaar Arrangement376) and national (in particular the US Inter-
national Traffic in Arms Regulations377) arrangements regarding the
export of such technology became of key importance for the space
industry.378
And of course this list is only scratching the surface …

2.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

In sum, space has started to host all sorts of human activities, or better,
play a fundamental role in them: military, scientific, administrative, crime
fighting and anti-terrorism, commercial, and humanitarian – and thus in
regulating the behaviour of all sorts of humans to go with them. Tourists
have flown into outer space as well as cremated human remains; we may
soon see advertisers trying to hang giant billboards up there and miners
going for mineral resources, but also criminals and (some think) soon
even proper colonists. And wherever man goes, the taxman soon follows.

372
Respectively Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in
Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Space Assets, Berlin, done 9 March
2012, not yet entered into force; UNIDROIT Doc., DCME-SP–Doc. 43; and
Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, Cape Town, done 16
November 2001, entered into force 1 April 2004; ICAO Doc. 9793. See further
infra, § 16.4.
373
Cf. further infra, § 7.2.
374
See more in detail infra, § 12.3.2.
375
In its original version Agreement on Guidelines for the Transfer of
Equipment and Technology Related to Missiles, done 16 April 1987; 26 ILM 599
(1987).
376
Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, Wassenaar, done 19 December 1995, effect-
ive 12 July 1996, www.wassenaar.org/.
377
The ITARs are the implementing regulations under the Arms Export
Control Act of 1976, 22 U.S.C. 2751.
378
See further infra, § 6.6.

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Thus, space is now truly becoming the fourth realm for mankind to
venture into – and presumably the last, unless one considers ‘cyber’ to
constitute its own realm; after the landmasses, the oceans and the
airspaces of this world. Not accidentally, recently the US military has
started to seriously consider establishing a fourth branch of the armed
forces: next to the army, the navy and the air force, a space force would
thus be envisaged.
For a proper understanding of the way law and regulation – and this
then also includes national legislation, in the framework of international
space law – impact all space activities or at least a substantial element or
aspect thereof, analysis and proposals for further development should
never fail to take this effectively broad scope of space law lato sensu into
due consideration. Of the many overlaps, inconsistencies or gaps between
the myriad legal regimes interacting, the present chapter, and even the
present book, can only address a limited number of the most important
ones – but sufficient, it is submitted, to understand the basic mechanisms
in this respect.
Noting that most actors, certainly smaller countries and private entities
not employing large bureaucracies, would prefer to be faced with at least
a coherent set of rights and obligations, rather than with a simple list of
various regimes applicable to their particular field of activity without
even so much as a ‘do-it-yourself kit’ on making sense of how these
regimes interact and where one might take precedence over the other, it is
clear that a lot remains to be done in this fascinating area of public
international law.

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3. National space law

Irmgard Marboe

3.1 INTRODUCTION
National space legislation has recently attracted a lot of attention both in
theory and in practice. The need for national space laws or regulations
has arisen due to the increasing activities of private actors in the
exploration and use of outer space. Traditional law on outer space does
not cover private space activities but only addresses states and inter-
national organizations.1
This is understandable as, for a long time, those subjects of public
international law were the only actors in outer space. The technology
necessary to launch objects into outer space was almost entirely con-
trolled by states, originating from the military sector. Since the end of the
Cold War, however, the civilian and private uses of outer space have
increasingly played an important role. While the states continue to use
satellites for important public interest purposes, such as weather forecast-
ing, earth observation, communication, navigation, science and research,
private companies have discovered the potential of the use of outer space
for commercial purposes, in particular in the area of telecommunication
services. The increasing commercialization of space activities has also
led to the privatization of some space-related intergovernmental organ-
izations, such as INTELSAT, INMARSAT or EUTELSAT, which became
private operators that are not subjects of public international law anymore
but companies incorporated in one particular country, thus private legal
persons under national law.2 Furthermore, research institutions and
universities have started to develop space activities for their own pur-
poses which are less complex and more affordable. These include
small-sized satellites, such as the so-called ‘cube-sats’.
It follows from the above that many different kinds of non-
governmental entities are active in outer space today. They have one
thing in common: they are not directly bound by international treaties

1
See further on this supra, § 2.2.2.3.
2
See on these international satellite organizations and their privatization
further infra, §§ 5.4.2, 5.5.2, 5.6.2.

127

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128 Handbook of space law

and other norms of public international law. In order to preserve the aims
and principles established by the existing legal framework of public
international law, it is necessary to implement national law which is
applicable to space activities carried out by such non-governmental
actors. This serves the interest of both the actors themselves and that of
the general public because of the hazardous nature of space activities and
the high risks involved.
The advantage of national legal norms is that they are directly
applicable and enforceable, which is not necessarily the case with
obligations of a public international law nature. The disadvantage is that
they do not exist in all countries. Unfortunately, national space legislation
is available in only a few states. There are sufficient and forward-looking
legal regimes in some countries, but this is not the case in others. This is
an obstacle to the creation of a level playing field in the space sector. If
all the actors were bound by similar and fair rules in the carrying out of
space activities, this would be to the long-term benefit of all. By contrast,
in a situation of many diverse national legal frameworks, the phenomena
of ‘nationality planning’3 or the choice of ‘flags of convenience’,4 as
known from the law of the sea, are also potential problems relevant in the
law of outer space.
There have been several efforts in academia and practice to raise the
awareness for the need of national space legislation and to define the
most important elements which should be contained in such legislation. A
number of books have been published which put together examples of

3
See M. Feldman, Setting Limits on Corporate Nationality Planning in
Investment Treaty Arbitration, 27 ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law
Journal (2012), 281–302; E. Schlemmer, Investment, Investor, Nationality, and
Shareholders, in The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law (Eds. P.
Muchlinsky, F. Ortino & C. Schreuer) (2008), 49–88; C. Schreuer, Nationality of
Investors: Legitimate Restrictions vs. Business Interests, 24 ICSID Review –
Foreign Investment Law Journal (2009), 521–7.
4
See Y. Tanaka, The International Law of the Sea (2012), 157–9; D. König,
Flags of Convenience, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. Rüdiger
Wolfrum) Vol. IV (2012), 118–26; T. Treves, Flags of Convenience before the
Law of the Sea Tribunal, 6 San Diego International Law Journal (2004), 179–89;
H.E. Anderson, The Nationality of Ships and Flags of Convenience: Economics,
Politics, and Alternatives, 21 Tulane Maritime Law Journal (1996), 139–70;
OECD Study on Flags of Convenience, 4 Journal of Maritime Law and
Commerce (1973), 231–54.

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National space law 129

national space legislation and discuss pertinent issues.5 The German

‘Project 2001’ and ‘Project 2001 Plus’ have resulted in the definition of
five ‘building blocks’ which should be the basis of any space law.6 The
International Law Association (ILA) has also taken up the topic and
worked on a ‘Model Law on National Space Legislation’ which was
eventually adopted in 2012.7 The General Assembly of the United
Nations adopted a resolution on Recommendations on national legislation
relevant to the peaceful exploration and use of outer space in 2013, based
on a text prepared by the Legal Sub-Committee of the UN Committee on
the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS).8 All of these initia-
tives identify the need for national space legislation and try to provide
some practical guidelines for putting it into practice.
The present chapter will introduce some of the existing space laws and
categorize them in several groups in order to provide an overview over
the legal regimes of space activities in various countries. Furthermore,

5
Such as National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk)
(2011); National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010); Nation-
ales Weltraumrecht/National Space Law (Eds. C. Brünner & E. Walter) (2008);
Le Cadre Institutionnel des Activités Spatiales des États (Ed. S. Courteix)
(1997); J. Hermida, Legal Basis for a National Space Legislation (2004); cf. also
‘Project 2001 Plus’ – Global and European Challenges for Air and Space Law at
the Edge of the 21st Century (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
(2006), 65–92; M. Bourély, Quelques réflexions au sujet des legislations spa-
tiales nationales, 16 Annals of Air and Space Law (1991), 245 ff.; A. Kerrest de
Rozavel, The Need to Implement the Outer Space Treaty through National Law
in the Light of the Current and Foreseeable Space Activity, in Proceedings of the
International Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 551–9.
6
See further M. Gerhard & K.U. Schrogl, Report of the ‘Project 2001’
Working Group on National Space Legislation, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal
Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel)
(2002), 552–8; M. Gerhard & K. Moll, The Gradual Change from ‘Building
Blocks’ to a Common Shape of National Space Legislation in Europe –
Summary of Findings and Conclusions, in Project 2001 Plus – Towards a
Harmonised Approach for National Space Legislation in Europe (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2004), 48–9.
7
See Resolution No. 6/2012 adopting the ‘Sofia Guidelines for a Model
Law on National Space Legislation’, adopted at the ILA Conference in Sofia,
Bulgaria, September 2012, www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/29, last
accessed 12 January 2014.
8
See UNGA Resolution on ‘Recommendations on national legislation
relevant to the peaceful exploration and use of outer space’, UNGA Res 68/74 of
11 December 2013, UN Doc. A/68/74; see also the Report of the Working Group
on National Legislation Relevant to the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer
Space, UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/101, 3 April 2012.

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130 Handbook of space law

the work on national space legislation within the United Nations and the
ILA Model Law will be presented.

3.2 INTERNATIONAL LAW REQUIREMENTS

International law and, in particular, the five UN treaties on outer space,9
aim to regulate the conduct of subjects of public international law and
establish rights and obligations of states in the exploration and use of
outer space.10 These ‘legal principles’ should govern activities in outer

9
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967);
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return
of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement), London/
Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 December 1968;
672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56; Cmnd. 3786;
ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968); Convention on International Liability for
Damage Caused by Space Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/
Moscow/Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972;
961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068;
ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971); Convention on Registration of Objects
Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done
14 January 1975, entered into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS
8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM
43 (1975); Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979). See further on this international legal framework esp. supra, § 2.3.
10
Apart from the five UN space treaties there are also other sources of
public international law, such as treaties in other areas of international law, as
well as customary international law and general principles of law which have to
be respected in the exploration and use of outer space. See Art. III, Outer Space
Treaty, supra n. 9, and the ‘catalogue’ of sources of public international law in
Art. 38, Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, done 26 June
1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; 156 UNTS 77; USTS 993; 59 Stat.
1031; UKTS 1946 No. 67; ATS 1945 No. 1. On this subject, see e.g. the various
papers in the session on the International Legal Regulation of Outer Space within
the Scope of Public International Law’, Proceedings of the International Institute
of Space Law 2012 (2013), 299–423.

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space,11 for the benefit of a safe and sustainable use of outer space,
regardless of whether the nature of the actor is public or private.
Therefore, the states parties to the treaties agreed to be responsible for
making sure that not only governmental agencies but also non-
governmental entities comply with these obligations. This is formulated
in Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty in the following way:

States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national
activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies,
whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by
non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried
out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty.

The ‘responsibility’ of states for non-governmental activities was a

compromise between the Soviet Union and the United States during the
drafting process of the Outer Space Treaty. While the former wanted to
prohibit private activities in outer space altogether, the United States did
not want to rule out this possibility.12 The compromise was to allow
private activities in outer space but to keep the ultimate responsibility
with the states. The second sentence of Article VI regulates more
explicitly how this should be done: ‘The activities of non-governmental
entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies,
shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate
State Party to the Treaty.’
States are thus under an obligation of ‘authorization’ and ‘continuing
supervision’ of non-governmental space activities. ‘Responsibility’ in this
context has a slightly different meaning than under the general law of
state responsibility.13 It does not mean that all national space activities
are directly attributable to the state but that the state has an international

11
See the early UNGA Resolution entitled ‘Declaration of Legal Principles
Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space’,
UNGA Res. 1962(XVIII), of 13 December 1963; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1,
at 37.
12
See F.G. von der Dunk, The Origins of Authorisation: Article VI of the
Outer Space Treaty and International Space Law, in National Space Legislation
in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 3; M. Gerhard, Article VI, in Cologne
Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
Vol. I (2009), 105–6.
13
According to Art. 2, ILC Articles on the International Responsibility of
States for Internationally Wrongful Acts; UN Doc A/56/10(2001); a state is
responsible if, when conduct consisting of an action or omission: (a) is
attributable to the state under international law; and (b) constitutes a breach of an
international obligation of the state. See J. Crawford, The International Law

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132 Handbook of space law

obligation to ensure that those activities are conducted in compliance

with the obligations contained in the Outer Space Treaty.14 Article VI
does not necessarily demand the enactment of a specific national space
act15 but the state must have at its disposal legal mechanisms to authorize
and supervise non-governmental space activities.16
While Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty represents the most
important legal basis for national space legislation, there are also other
obligations which must be respected by the states and which usually
require implementation through national law.17 Furthermore, there are a
number of non-binding norms dealing with the conduct of outer space
activities.18 Such norms, often termed ‘soft law’, do not establish a legal

Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility: Introduction, Text and Commen-

taries (2002), 81.
14
This follows from a ‘contextual interpretation’ of Art VI, Outer Space
Treaty, supra n. 9, in accordance with Art. 31(1), Vienna Convention on the Law
of Treaties, Vienna, done 23 May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155
UNTS 331; UKTS 1980 No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679
(1969). Following this, a treaty ‘shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance
with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context
and in the light of its object and purpose’. The context here is Art. VI, second
sentence, which demands authorization and continuing supervision of space
activities carried out by non-governmental entities. To this extent, the ‘respons-
ibility’ of the state is defined and delimited.
15
Cf. Hermida, supra n. 5, 29–32; V. Kayser, Commercial Exploitation of
Space: Developing Domestic Regulation, 17-II Annals of Air and Space Law
(1992), 190; Bourély, supra n. 5, 247.
16
See F.G. von der Dunk, Private Enterprise and Public Interest in the
European ‘Spacescape’ (1998), 19; Gerhard, supra n. 12, 117.
17
For example, the obligation to register also requires some sort of national
legislation, in particular if private entities undertake to launch space objects. The
obligation of the ‘launching State’ to pay compensation for damage caused by
space objects is another incentive for enacting national space legislation.
18
See, e.g., the Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth
Satellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting, UNGA Res. 37/92, of
10 December 1982; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 39; Principles Relating to
Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space, UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3
December 1986; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43; 25 ILM 1334 (1986);
Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space, UNGA
Res. 47/68, of 14 December 1992; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 47; and
Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer
Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of all States, Taking into Particular
Account the Needs of Developing Countries, UNGA Res. 51/122, of 13
December 1996; UN Doc. A/RES/51/122; the UN Resolution on Application of
the concept of the ‘launching State’, UNGA Res. 59/115, of 10 December 2004;

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National space law 133

obligation of states but can be regarded as recommendations for the

responsible and diligent use of outer space.19 States might have an
interest that private entities act in conformity with such recommendations
for the benefit of the safe and sustainable use of outer space. They may
thus choose to transform such recommendations into binding obligations
under their national laws. In the following, some of the most important
issues in the process of transforming international legal obligations and
non-binding recommendations into national law will be discussed.

3.2.1 Authorization and Supervision by the ‘Appropriate State’

Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty requires ‘authorization’ and ‘con-

tinuing supervision’ by the ‘appropriate State’ party to the treaty. It is,
however, far from clear which state the ‘appropriate’ state is. Some
authors maintain that it should be the ‘launching State’ as it is the ‘liable
State’ when damage is caused by a space object in accordance with
Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty.20 Others refer to the ‘state of
registry’ because, according to Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, this
state retains ‘jurisdiction and control’ over the space object.21
However, the disadvantage of the ‘launching State’ concept is that it
cannot be discarded later on. There are no rules that would allow the
change of the status of the launching state in the UN treaties on outer
space. This leads to the conclusion that ‘once a launching State, always a
launching State’. This is particularly problematic when space objects are

UN Doc. A/RES/59/115; and the Recommendations on enhancing the practice of

States and international intergovernmental organizations in registering space
objects, UNGA Res. 62/101, of 17 December 2007; UN Doc. A/RES/62/101.
Furthermore, guidelines on the mitigation of space debris are important, such as
the 2002 IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines and the 2007 UN COPUOS
Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines.
19
See I. Marboe, The Importance of Guidelines and Codes of Conduct for
Liability of States and Private Actors, in Soft Law in Outer Space. The Function
of Non-Binding Norms under International Space Law (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012),
135.
20
Cf. e.g. H.L. van Traa-Engelman, Commercial Utilization of Outer Space
(1993), 62–3.
21
See e.g. G.C.M. Reijnen, The United Nations Space Treaties Analysed
(1992), 114.

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134 Handbook of space law

bought and sold in orbit on a regular basis, as is the case today.22 This
was not envisaged at the time of the formulation of the Outer Space
Treaty.
It follows that the rigid concept of the ‘launching State’ should not be
used to interpret the much more flexible concept of the ‘appropriate
State’. And, indeed, state practice is very diverse in its interpretation of
the concept of the ‘appropriate State’. The different approaches by states
become evident when we analyse the different scopes of application of
existing space laws.
As a matter of principle, the scope of application with respect to a
space activity hinges on the right and the possibility to exercise juris-
diction over it. Under general international law, there are two generally
accepted ways of exercising jurisdiction over an activity: territorial
jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction.23 This means that the activity can
be regulated by a state if it takes place on its territory or if it is carried
out by a person possessing its nationality. How the existing space laws
have applied the term ‘appropriate State’ will analysed further below.
The requirement of ‘authorization’ is the most important instrument of
states for the regulation of space activities. It not only allows or prohibits
a specific space activity and continuously supervises it, but it also serves
other purposes, such as ensuring that private space activities fulfil certain
safety standards and certain ‘soft law’ guidelines, for example, on space
debris mitigation.24 Furthermore, states can ensure that the respective
private space activities do not run against their national security and
foreign policy interests.25 The ‘conditions for authorization’ are thus of

22
For example, the company New Skies Satellites, which is incorporated in
the Netherlands, was bequeathed with a number of INTELSAT’s satellites, see
F.G. von der Dunk, Regulation of Space Activities in The Netherlands, in
National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 233 ff.; see on
transfer of ownership in general B. Schmidt-Tedd & M. Gerhard, Registration of
Space Objects: Which are the Advantages for States Resulting from Registration?
in Space Law: Current Problems and Perspectives for Future Regulation (Eds.
M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 121, 131–2; A. Ito, Legal Aspects of Satellite
Remote Sensing (2011), 72 ff.
23
See J. Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law
(2012), 456, 486; M.N. Shaw, International Law (6th edn., 2008), 645–96.
24
See supra, n. 10.
25
See Gerhard & Schrogl, supra n. 6, 530; S. Hobe, Harmonization of
National Laws as an Answer to the Phenomenon of Globalization, in ‘Project
2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H.
Böckstiegel) (2002), 639–40; K.U. Schrogl, Annex to the Working Group Report:

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utmost importance for the regulation of private space activities as will be

analysed in the example of existing national space laws further below.

3.2.2 Registration

Under international law, the registration of space objects is required both

on the national and on the international level.26 While the Outer Space
Treaty is not very explicit on the registration of space objects – it only
implies that space objects are, in fact, registered27 – the Registration
Convention of 1975 regulates in detail the establishment of an inter-
national register for space objects with the UN Secretary-General28 and
demands the establishment of a national register for space objects by the
respective states.29
The obligation to register is incumbent on the ‘launching State’.
According to the definition of the Registration Convention, this term
means ‘(i) a State which launches or procures the launching of a space
object; [or] (ii) a State from whose territory or facility a space object is
launched’.30 As the launch of a space object frequently involves more

Responsibility and Liability – Need for National Regulation (incl. Harmon-

isation), in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer
Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 109–12; A. Kerrest de Rozavel, Sharing the
Risk of Space Activities: Three Questions, Three Solutions, in ‘Project 2001’ –
Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel)
(2002), 135–9.
26
Even before the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 9, had been elaborated,
Resolution 1721(XVI) called upon states launching objects into orbit or beyond
to furnish information promptly for the registration of launchings; UNGA Res.
1721(XVI)B, of 20 December 1961; General Assembly – Sixteenth Session,
Resolutions adopted on reports of the First Committee, at 6.
27
See Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 9; B. Schmidt-Tedd & S.
Mick, Article VIII, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 147–8.
28
See Art. III(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 9. Today, the United
Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna keeps and administers the UN
registry on behalf of the UN Secretary-General. See www.oosa.unvienna.org/
oosa/en/SORegister/index.html, last accessed 12 January 2014. As many states
are still reluctant to ratify the Registration Convention, the office keeps two
registers: one for registrations on the basis of the Convention and one for
registrations on the basis of Resolution 1721(XVI)B. See Schmidt-Tedd & Mick,
supra n. 27, 150; Schmidt-Tedd & Gerhard, supra n. 22, 122–3.
29
See Art. II(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 9.
30
Art. I(a), Registration Convention, supra n. 9. The same definition of the
‘launching State’ is to be found in Art I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 9. See

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than one state, there are up to four different ways for states of potentially
qualifying as a ‘launching State’ for one launch.31 However, only one of
them shall register the space object because jurisdiction and control
should only be exercised by one state.32
The plurality of launching states has triggered discussions about the
most appropriate state to register. The UN General Assembly Resolution
on ‘Recommendations on enhancing the practice of States and inter-
national intergovernmental organisations in registering space objects’33
suggests a unification of jurisdiction and control over a space object with
the responsibility for it.34 The idea is to read Article VI and Article VIII
of the Outer Space Treaty in conjunction. This means that the most
appropriate state to register would be the state which is responsible for it.
The reason for this equation of the ‘launching State’ and the ‘responsible
State’ is that it seems to be unfair to ask for responsibility over a space
object if the state does not have the right or the possibility to exercise
jurisdiction over it. However, the equation of the ‘launching State’ with
the ‘responsible State’ is not generally accepted, in particular with regard
to launches procured by private entities. Some states do not see sufficient

further V. Kayser, Launching Space Objects: Issues of Liability and Future

Prospects (2001), 301; Schmidt-Tedd & Gerhard, supra n. 22, 124.
31
As for the concept of the ‘launching State’ see A. Kerrest de Rozavel,
Remarks on the notion of launching State, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000), 308; M. Gerhard, Nationale
Weltraumgesetzgebung. Völkerrechtliche Voraussetzungen und Handlung-
serfordernisse (2001), 125–6; Schmidt-Tedd & Mick, supra n. 27, 152; for
further information see M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl, The UN Committee on the
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space: Adoption of a Resolution on Application of the
Concept of the ‘Launching State’ and Other Recent Developments, 54 Zeitschrift
für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2005), 57–67; as for the distinction of the
‘launching States’ and the state which ‘procures’ the launch, see B. Schmidt-
Tedd & M. Gerhard, How to adapt the present regime for registration of space
objects to new developments in space applications?, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Eighth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2006), 359; Schmidt-Tedd
& Gerhard, supra n. 22, 132–3.
32
See Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 9, as already discussed above;
this makes it necessary to determine jointly which state shall register the object.
See further Art. II(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 9.
33
UN GA Res 62/101, of 17 December 2007, ‘Recommendations on
enhancing the practice of States and international intergovernmental organ-
isations in registering space objects’, UN Doc A/AC.105/RES/62/101.
34
See A. Kerrest de Rozavel & L.J. Smith, Article VII, in Cologne
Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
Vol. I (2009), 128 ff.

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National space law 137

connection with the space objects in such cases and deny that they have
‘procured’ their launch. This implies that they are ready to accept (an
overall) responsibility for the space activity, but not (potentially absolute)
liability for damage caused by the space object.
National space laws should regulate clearly in which cases the state
considers itself as the ‘launching State’ for the purpose of registration.
Then it can demand that private operators submit the necessary infor-
mation, which can then be forwarded to the UN registry.35 States usually
establish a certain procedure about how and when the operator of the
space object must provide this information.
Concerning the national registry, Article II(3) of the Registration
Convention provides that the contents of each registry and the conditions
under which it is maintained can be determined by the state concerned.
This is usually done in national space law, which sometimes also
demands information additional to that required for the international
register from the operator to be furnished for inclusion in the national
registry.

3.2.3 Liability

The liability of states for damage caused by space objects is one of the
most remarkable characteristics of international space law.36 According to
Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty, each state that launches or
procures the launching of an object into outer space, and each state from
whose territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally liable
for damage to another state or to its natural or juridical persons by such
object or its component parts.37 This concept of state liability that has no
ceiling and is not limited in time or territory38 represents an incentive for
states to take appropriate steps to minimize the risk of damage and to
avoid this liability from becoming engaged. The state has a vital interest
to ensure that the technology used is safe and that the operator is

35
Art. IV, Registration Convention, supra n. 9, establishes what kind of
information shall be included in the UN registry, namely (a) the name of the
‘launching State(s)’; (b) an appropriate designator of the space object or its
registration number; (c) date and territory or location of launch; (d) basic orbital
parameters, including (i) nodal period, (ii) inclination, (iii) apogee, (iv) perigee;
and, finally, (e) the general function of the space object.
36
See supra, esp. § 2.3.3.
37
See also Kerrest de Rozavel & Smith, supra n. 34, 135–6.
38
Cf. also Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 25, 135–9, esp. 136.

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138 Handbook of space law

competent and reliable. These can best be achieved through national

space legislation.
The Liability Convention elaborates the liability regime in more detail.
It provides for absolute liability of the ‘launching State’ for damage
caused by a space object on the surface of the earth or to aircraft in
flight,39 but fault liability in the event of damage being caused else-
where.40 This liability regime cannot be altered by national space laws.
However, states can establish procedures and verification processes to
minimize the risk of damage and their liability. Several states have also
established a right of recourse, if the state has paid compensation for
damage caused by a space object operated by a non-governmental
operator. Frequently, states demand that the operator takes out insurance
in order to guarantee that the amount is also recoverable in practice.41
As this brief overview of international law requirements has shown, the
enactment of national space legislation is necessary and at least advisable
for states which allow private enterprise to be involved in space activities.
This is so because international law requires their ‘authorization’ and
‘continuing supervision’. If there is no private sector involvement,
national space legislation is not an immediate need. Nevertheless, states
also tend to enact national space legislation, even if space activities there
are still predominantly governmental. It can provide a practical legal
framework and helps to formulate aims and priorities in the exploration
and use of outer space. Furthermore, these states are then prepared for
the day when private actors will also enter the scene. China, for instance,
prepares comprehensive national space legislation even though space
activities are still carried out only by state-owned entities.42 Australia, on

39
See Art. II, Liability Convention, supra n. 9; further V. Kayser, supra
n. 30, 50; A. Kerrest de Rozavel, Liability for Damage caused by Space
Activities, in Space Law: Current Problems and Perspectives for Future Regu-
lation (Eds. M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 96.
40
See Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 9. So far, no case of fault
liability has been the subject of a dispute. The reason is that ‘fault’ in the conduct
of space activities is difficult to establish. See the criticism by Kerrest de
Rozavel, supra n. 39, 102.
41
Cf. Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 39, 109; for further examples see
Gerhard, supra n. 31, 150 ff.
42
See Y. Zhao, Regulation of Space Activities in the People’s Republic of
China, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
247–65; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise (2009), 479–81.

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National space law 139

the other hand, worked on its space law specifically for preparing the
establishment of a significant commercial space launch industry.43

3.3 EXAMPLES OF NATIONAL SPACE LAWS

In the following, various types of national space law will be presented.
They include comprehensive space acts as well as rudimentary acts,
space laws of traditional spacefaring nations and laws enacted by small
or emerging countries. The presentation begins with the traditional
spacefaring nations, the United States and the Russian Federation, and
some other Soviet Union successor states. Then, the European scene will
be explored, which includes space laws pioneers as well as recent trends
to comprehensive space acts and some examples of rudimentary laws.
Outside Europe, there are also a few comprehensive space acts, but
predominantly rather basic laws, which contain either national space
policies and/or the establishment of national space agencies. An overview
of some of these laws is provided in a table in the Appendix to this
chapter.44

3.3.1 The Spacefaring Pioneers

3.3.1.1 The United States

Legal regulations relating to governmental and commercial space activ-
ities in the United States have developed over more than five decades.
They have generally followed the development of space technology and
geopolitical events.45 As a result, US national space law has been

43
This did, however not take place to the extent expected. The Act about
Space Activities, and for Related Purposes (hereafter Australian Space Activities
Act), No. 123 of 1998, passed on 21 December 1998; National Space Legislation
of the World, Vol. I (2001), 197 (as amended), see Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, E.VII.1; see also www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2010C00193, last
accessed 12 April 2014. See further N. Siemon & S.R. Freeland, Regulation of
Space Activities in Australia, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S.
Jakhu) (2010), 40.
44
The author wishes to thank Ms. Karin Traunmüller and Ms. Cordula
Steinkogler, research assistants at the University of Vienna, for their invaluable
help in putting together the table in the Appendix to this chapter.
45
Cf. J.I. Gabrynowicz, One Half Century and Counting: The Evolution of
U.S. National Space Law and Three Long-Term Emerging Issues, 4 Harvard
Law and Policy Review (2010), 405. See further e.g. I. Marboe & F. Hafner,
Brief Overview over National Authorization Mechanisms in Implementation of

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140 Handbook of space law

dispersed in a variety of different Acts, which has made the situation

rather difficult and complex. However, on 18 December 2010, by way of
Bill H.R.3237, a new title was inserted into the United States Code,
namely Title 51, National and Commercial Space Programs, which
brought a new structure into the existing laws and was intended to
remove ambiguities.46
The new title replaces, first, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of
1958, which created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) as the institution to execute the US civil space programme.47
The new Chapter 201, henceforth also to be cited as the ‘National
Aeronautics and Space Act’, contains a programmatic declaration of
policy48 and defines the functions and powers of NASA.49 In addition, it
includes general administrative provisions which regulate a number of
issues, such as insurance, indemnification, contracts and intellectual
property.50 Other chapters deal with budget and accounting, contracting
and procurement,51 management and review,52 international cooperation
and competition,53 and other issues.

the UN International Space Treaties, in National Space Legislation in Europe

(Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 40–2; P.G. Dembling, The National Aeronautics
and Space Act of 1958: Revisited, 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 203–20; S.
Gorove, The Growth of Domestic Space Law: a U.S. Example, 18 Journal of
Space Law (1990), 99 ff.; V. Kayser, An Achievement of Domestic Space Law:
US Legislation of Private Commercial Launch Services, 16 Annals of Air and
Space Law (1991), 341 ff.; M.J. Kleiman, J.K. Lamie & M.V. Carminati, The
Laws of Spaceflight (2012), 71 ff.; P.A. Salin, An Overview of US Commercial
Space Legislation and Policies – Present and Future, 27 Air and Space Law
(2002), 209–36; P.A. Salin, US Space-Related Rules Adopted in 2005–2006, 32
Air and Space Law (2007), 179–94; P.A. Salin, An Illustration of the Privat-
isation Process of Outer Space, 50 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht
(2001), 217–36; P.A. Salin, Impact of Recent US Legislation and Regulations on
International Satellite Communication Regulations, 48 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (1999), 52–5.
46
See J.I. Gabrynowicz, United States. Introduction, in Space Law – Basic
Legal Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl), E.III, 1.
47
National Aeronautics and Space Act, Public Law 85-568, 85th Congress,
H.R. 12575, 29 July 1958; as amended through 1983; 72 Stat. 426; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, E.III.1 (original instalment).
48
See Sec. 20102, 51 U.S.C.
49
See Secs. 20101–20117, 51 U.S.C.
50
See Secs. 20131–20147, 51 U.S.C.
51
See Ch. 310, 51 U.S.C.; Ch. 303, 51 U.S.C.
52
See Ch. 305, 51 U.S.C.
53
See Ch. 307, 51 U.S.C.

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National space law 141

Chapter 601 replaces the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act54 and
regulates the Landsat programme as well as the licensing of private
remote sensing space systems.55 It reflects the US policy that since, in
this sector, government funding continues to be necessary, commercial-
ization is unachievable within the foreseeable future.56 In compliance
with Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, the licensing regime makes it
unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction and control of the
United States to operate a private remote sensing space system without a
licence.57 At the same time it encourages accessibility of remote sensing
data as well as commercial and scientific cooperation.58
The new Title 51 of the United States Code on ‘National and
Commercial Space Programs’ by way of Chapter 509 now also includes
the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, as amended in 1988, 1998
and 2004.59 It is to encourage, facilitate and promote commercial space
launches by the private sector. It contains the licensing regime for private
space launches and deals with the issuance and transfer of launch and
re-entry licences. The issuance of the respective licences is a competence

54
Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, Public Law 102-555, 102nd Congress,
H.R. 6133, 28 October 1992; 15 U.S.C. 5601; 106 Stat. 4163.
55
Chapter 601 – Land Remote Sensing Policy. While the Landsat pro-
gramme, which deals with data generated by the US governmental remote
sensing satellite Landsat-7, is managed by the NASA Administrator together
with the Secretary of Defense, the licensing of a private remote sensing space
system falls under the responsibility of the Secretary of Commerce. See Sec.
60101(11), in conjunction with Sec. 60121, in contrast to Sec. 60111, 51 U.S.C.
56
Cf. Gabrynowicz, supra n. 45, 414.
57
See also Overview of U.S. Law Governing Space Activities, UN Doc.
A/AC.105/C.2/2008/CRP.9, 7.
58
See Overview of U.S. Law Governing Space Activities, supra n. 57; also
E. Sadeh, Politics and Regulation of Earth Observation Services in the United
States, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
452 ff.
59
Commercial Space Launch Act, Public Law 98-575, 98th Congress, H.R.
3942, 30 October 1984; 98 Stat. 3055; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.III.3; as amended in 1988 by the Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments,
Public Law 100-657, 100th Congress, H.R. 4399, 15 November 1988; 49 U.S.C.
App. 2615; 102 Stat. 3900; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.III.3, 13 ff.;
in 1998 by the Commercial Space Act, Public Law 105-303, 105th Congress,
H.R. 1702, 27 January 1998; 42 U.S.C. 14731; and in 2004 by the Commercial
Space Launch Amendments Act, Public Law 108-492, 108th Congress, H.R.
3752, 23 December 2004, 49 U.S.C.; 118 Stat. 3974. See Space Law – Basic
Legal Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl),
E.III.3.1-4. See also infra, § 12.3.4.2, 3.

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142 Handbook of space law

of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation of the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) of the US Department of Transportation.60
A licence is required for the launch of a launch vehicle or the
operation of a launch site or re-entry site, or the re-entry of a re-entry
vehicle, in the United States. For the same activities outside the United
States, citizens of the United States or corporations or other entities
organized or existing under the law of the United States also need a
licence. Outside the United States, corporations or other entities under
the controlling interest of US citizens or corporations are only covered by
the law if there is a pertinent agreement between the foreign government
and the United States.61
Licence applicants must obtain policy and safety approvals from the
FAA.62 In addition, they are required to take out insurance or otherwise
demonstrate their ability to compensate liability claims brought by third
parties or the US government for damage to government property
resulting from the licensed activity. The amount to be covered is the
‘maximum probable loss’, which is determined by the FAA. For third-
party claims, this amount should not exceed US$ 500 million or ‘the
maximum liability insurance available on the world market at a reason-
able cost’,63 while for governmental claims the limit is US$ 100 million
or the maximum insurance available at a reasonable cost.64 In the event a
third party succeeds in bringing a claim in excess of the licensee’s
insurance, the US government will cover the additional amount up to a
total claim of US$ 1.5 billion (as adjusted for inflation after 1 January
1989).65 This system of limited liability of the licensee, of insurance, of
the state warranty and the concept of a ‘maximum probable loss’
represents a model which has been followed by national legislation in
several other countries.
The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 added a
number of provisions which relate to recent developments in ‘space
tourism’.66 The Act requires commercial sub-orbital flight operators to

60
See Kayser, supra n. 30, 79–86, 94–6; P. Vorwig, Regulation of Private
Launch Service in the United States, in National Regulation of Space Activities
(Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 405.
61
See Sec. 50904(a) (4), 51 U.S.C.
62
See Vorwig, supra n. 60, 405, 409–10.
63
See 14 C.F.R. § 440.9(c).
64
See 14 C.F.R. § 440.9(e).
65
See 14 C.F.R. § 440.19(a).
66
See e.g. Gabrynowicz, supra n. 45, 418; T.R. Hughes & E. Rosenberg,
Space Travel Law (and Politics): The Evolution of the Commercial Space

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National space law 143

make several written informational disclosures in order to obtain the

‘informed consent’ of customers, the so-called ‘space flight partici-
pants’.67 This system establishes that the space flight participants, and not
the operator, bear the risk and that they are not entitled to the benefits of
the liability insurance coverage.68
As regards registration, each licensee is required to provide the Office
of Commercial Space Transportation with the information necessary to
enable the US government’s implementation of Article IV of the Regis-
tration Convention, unless the object is owned and registered by a foreign
entity.69
In addition to these Acts specifically addressed to space activities, a
number of existing laws from other areas were declared applicable to
space activities. One prominent example is the 1934 Communications
Act,70 which was declared to be applicable to private operators of space
communications activities in 1970.71 The Federal Communications Com-
mission (FCC) is responsible for regulating the use of radio spectrum in
the United States and for assigning licences for space stations and earth
stations.72 The FCC issues licences based upon a demonstration that the
proposed operations will serve the public interest, convenience and
necessity.73 The FCC may also adopt rules to carry out the Communica-
tions Act. It has done so, among other things, to address the problem of
space debris and now requires the submission of an orbital debris
mitigation plan.74

Launch Amendments Act of 2004, 31 Journal of Space Law (2005), 3 ff. See
also further infra, § 12.3.4.3.
67
See 14 C.F.R. § 460.45 (2009).
68
Cf. further in detail infra, §§ 12.3.4.3, 12.3.4.3.4.
69
See 14 C.F.R., § 417.19; see also Vorwig, supra n. 60, 413.
70
Communications Act, 19 June 1934; 47 U.S.C. 151 (1988); 48 Stat. 1064;
see also Federal Communications Commission (FCC), www.fcc.gov/Reports/
1934new.pdf, last accessed 12 April 2014. It is the purpose of the US Commu-
nications Act of 1934, among other things, to maintain the control of the United
States over all the channels of radio transmission. Up to now there have been
several amendments to this Act. Space activities in the field of radio communi-
cations are authorized by the FCC.
71
Communications Satellite Facilities, First Report and Order, 22 FCC 2d
86 (1970), Appendix C, p. 1; see further P. Meredith, Licensing of Private Space
Activities in the United States, 22 Annals of Air and Space Law (1997), 414.
72
See Sec. 151, 47 U.S.C.; also Vorwig, supra n. 60, 405, 421.
73
See Overview of U.S. Law Governing Space Activities, supra n. 57, 10.
74
See Overview of U.S. Law Governing Space Activities, supra n. 57, 10.

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144 Handbook of space law

As this brief overview shows, US national space law comprises a series

of laws and regulations applicable to space activities. The codification
and creation of the new Title 51 of the U.S.C. has improved this
situation, but the legal framework of space activities in the United States
remains complex.

3.3.1.2 The Russian Federation

Even though the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) was
one of the world’s two space pioneers and launched the first satellite in
1957, Sputnik-1, and the first man on board a spacecraft in 1961, it did
not have national laws regulating space activities. Space activities were
mainly regulated by special resolutions and decisions of state and
political bodies.75 Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 did
the process of establishing an appropriate legal framework for space
activities start.
The first step was the creation of the Russian Space Agency by a
presidential decree,76 later transformed into the Space Agency of the
Russian Federation (Roskosmos),77 which is responsible for the overall
conduct of space activities. On the one hand, its task is to draft and
implement the federal space policy, while on the other it is also
responsible for the organization, coordination and implementation of
commercial space projects. This includes the issuance of licences for
various types of space activities. Roscosmos is also the competent body
to ensure the safety of space activities and for equipment and technology
certification, as well as for many other tasks assigned to it by the
government.78
The core piece of Russian space legislation is the Federal Law on
Space Activities of 20 August 1993.79 It is a general framework which

75
See S.P. Malkov & C. Doldirina, Regulation of Space Activities in the
Russian Federation, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu)
(2010), 315.
76
Decree No. 185 on Space Activities Administration Structure in the
Russian Federation, of 25 February 1992. In 1999, it was transformed into the
Russian Aero-Space Agency by Decree No. 651 on Federal Executive Power
Bodies Structure.
77
As per Decree No. 314, of 9 March 2004.
78
The organization and the functions of Roscosmos are regulated in detail
in the Charter of the Federal Space Agency, Government Regulation No. 314 of
26 June 2004, as amended on 14 December 2006. See Malkov & Doldirina,
supra n. 75, 320.
79
Law of the Russian Federation on Space Activities (hereafter Russian
Law on Space Activities), No. 5663-1, 20 August 1993, effective 6 October

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National space law 145

does not contain exhaustive provisions on all aspects of space activities

but refers to other special laws and government regulations in many
aspects.80 The Law primarily regulates the Russian Federal Space Pro-
gramme, the long-term planning instrument and basis for the develop-
ment and use of outer space technology for scientific and socio-economic
purposes by the state.81
The definition of ‘space activities’ contained in the Law is rather
broad. It covers ‘any activity connected with direct operations to explore
and use outer space, including the Moon and celestial bodies’.82 The
main areas of space activities include scientific space research, use of
space technology for communications, television and radio broadcasting,
remote sensing of the earth from outer space, including environmental
monitoring and meteorology, use of navigation, topographical and geo-
desic satellite systems, manned space missions, use of space technology,
materials and techniques to ensure defence and security of the Russian
Federation, observation of objects in outer space conditions, manufactur-
ing of materials and other products in outer space and other types of
activity performed by means of space technology.83

1993; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 101; Space Law
– Basic Legal Documents, E.IV.1; see also www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/
SpaceLaw/national/russian_federation/decree_5663-1_E.html, last accessed 12
April 2014.
80
See D. Marenkov & B. Schmidt-Tedd, Russian Federation. Introduction,
in Space Law – Basic Legal Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö &
K.U. Schrogl), E.IV, 1. Further e.g. H.J. Heintze, Das russische Weltraumgesetz
vom 20. August 1993, 44 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1995), 35–7;
E. Kamenetskaya, V.S. Vereshchetin & E. Zhukova, Legal Regulation of Space
Activities in Russia, 9 Space Policy (1993), e.g. 121; Marboe & Hafner, supra n.
45, 42–3; A. Fassakhova, Russian Space Legislation, in Proceedings of the
United Nations/International Institute of Air and Space Law Workshop: Capacity
Building in Space Law (2003), 192 ff.; M. Gerhard & D. Marenkov, Zur
Lizenzierung von Weltraumaktivitäten in Russland, 56 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2007), 211–29; D. Marenkov, Zum Russischen Weltraumgesetz
in seiner aktualisierten Fassung vom 2. Februar 2006, 56 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2007), 58–86; F. Tesselkin & D. Marenkov, Änderungen im
Gesetz der Russischen Föderation über Weltraumaktivitäten vom 20. August
1993, 51 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2002), 25–47.
81
Cf. Art. 8(1), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79. The current
Federal Space Programme was adopted by Federal Government Resolution No.
635 of 22 October 2005 and covers the period from 2006 to 2015. See Malkov &
Doldirina, supra n. 75, 320.
82
Art. 2, Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
83
See Art. 2, Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.

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146 Handbook of space law

As regards the authorization procedure required by Article VI of the

Outer Space Treaty, the Russian Law on Space Activities determines that
space activities need a licence.84 As regards the scope of application of
such an obligation, the Law refers to organizations and citizens of the
Russian Federation or space activities of foreign organizations and
citizens under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.85
The licensing procedure is regulated in more detail in the Law on
Licensing of Certain Activities86 and in the Statute on Licensing of Space
Activities.87 The licensing requirements and conditions are elaborated in
detail in the Statute on Licensing of Space Activities. They include safety
standards and technical quality control, ownership or legal titles to use
premises, facilities and equipment, availability of qualified and profes-
sionally educated specialists and the observance of international obliga-
tions of the Russian Federation.88 As regards compliance with safety
standards, the Russian Law on Space Activities stipulates that space
activities shall be performed with due attention to the permissible level of
man-made contamination of the environment and near-earth space.89
Roscosmos and the Ministry of Defence are the main controlling bodies,
which must, amongst other things, inform relevant governing institutions
and citizens about any threats to security caused by space activities.90
Concerning registration, the Russian Law on Space Activities provides
that space objects of the Russian Federation shall be subject to registra-
tion and shall have marking certifying that they are owned by the Russian
Federation.91 With regard to space objects owned by private entities, the
Law is silent. If a space object is designed and manufactured by Russian
organizations and citizens jointly with foreign organizations and citizens
or international organizations, the issues of the registration of such

84
See Art. 9, Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
85
See Art. 9(2), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 179; also
Schematic Overview of National Regulatory Frameworks for Space Activities,
UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/2012/CRP.8, 36–7.
86
Law on Licensing of Certain Activities No. 128-FZ of 8 August 2001, as
amended. See Malkov & Doldirina, supra n. 75, 328.
87
Statute on Licensing of Space Activities of 30 June 2006, approved by the
Regulation of the Government of the Russian Federation Nr. 403 of 30 June 2006
(hereafter Russian Statute on Licensing), Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.IV.2.
88
See Art. 4, Russian Statute on Licensing, supra n. 87.
89
See Art. 22, Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
90
See Art. 22(1), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79; also
Malkov & Doldirina, supra n. 75, 327.
91
See Art. 17(1), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.

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object, the jurisdiction and control over it and the issues of the rights of
ownership thereof shall be decided on the basis of the appropriate
international treaties.92
With regard to liability, the Russian Law on Space Activities explicitly
states that the Russian Federation is liable for damage caused by its space
object within its territory or outside, with the exception of outer space,
irrespective of fault.93 This goes beyond Article VII of the Liability
Convention as it also covers damage caused within the Russian terri-
tory.94 The Law provides, however, for a right of recourse of the
government against organizations and citizens responsible for the space
object causing the damage. If the damage is caused in any place except
on the surface of the earth to another space object, compensation is due
according to the general rules established by the Civil Code of the
Russian Federation.95
Concerning insurance, the Russian Law on Space Activities establishes
a two-tier system of compulsory and voluntary insurance of space
activities.96 Insurance is compulsory with regard to the health and life of
cosmonauts, space infrastructure personnel and liability for damage
caused to the life, health or property of third parties. Compulsory
insurance premiums shall be transferred to the Russian Space Fund or
other insurance companies which have obtained a licence for the insur-
ance of a space activity, and shall be used to compensate for damage as a
result of accidents while carrying out a space activity on the basis of
contracts of insurance with organizations and citizens carrying out such
activity. Voluntary insurance may be taken out for space equipment and
the risk of loss or damage to it.97
Despite the fact that legislation adopted in the Russian Federation
developed relatively recently, the legal framework today is already very
complex. In addition to the Russian Law on Space Activities numerous
resolutions and decrees have been enacted which address various aspects
of the different types of space activity, including the Russian Federation’s
participation in the International Space Station.98 Under the existing laws

92
Cf. Art. 17(4), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
93
See Art. 30(1), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
94
Art. VII, Liability Convention, supra n. 9, excludes all claims by Russian
citizens or launch invitees on Russian territory from its scope.
95
Cf. Art. 30(2) Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
96
Cf. Art. 25, Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79; see also
Malkov & Doldirina, supra n. 75, 327.
97
Cf. Art. 25(2), Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 79.
98
On the International Space Station, see further infra, §§ 11.2–11.7.

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and regulations, private sector participation in space activities is possible

but not yet addressed in more detail. In particular, the regulation of
‘space tourists’ is still done on a case-by-case basis.99

3.3.1.3 Other Soviet Union successor states: Ukraine and

Kazakhstan
Ukraine has inherited a modern industrial base and sophisticated tech-
nologies from the former Soviet Union.100 After it became independent,
the first step in this area was the establishment of a Ukrainian National
Space Agency by presidential decree.101 The legislative act was then
enacted in 1996, as the Law of the Ukraine on Space Activities.102 The
main motive for that legislation was to establish a reliable regulatory
framework for the Ukrainian space industry.103 The Law contains the
competences of the National Space Agency and general rules applicable
to space activities.
A licence is required for space activities carried out in Ukraine or
under the jurisdiction of Ukraine outside its borders.104 This likely does
not comprise personal jurisdiction over space activities carried out by
Ukrainian citizens abroad.105 The definition of ‘space activity’ is rather
wide, referring to ‘scientific space research, the design and application of
space technology and the use of outer space’.106 It is the task of the
National Space Agency to issue the licence and to supervise the space
activities with regard to safety requirements and the protection of the

99
Cf. also further infra, § 11.4.3, incl. 1.
100
See A. Grigorow, Ukraine. Introduction, in Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl), E.VIII, 1.
101
Decree No. 117 of 29 February 1991 on the Creation of the Ukrainian
National Space Agency.
102
Law of the Ukraine on Space Activities (hereafter Ukrainian Law on
Space Activities), No. 502/96-VR, 15 November 1996; National Space Legisla-
tion of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 36; www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/
SpaceLaw/national/ukraine/ordinance_on_space_activity_1996E.html, last accessed
13 April 2014; see also Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.VIII.1. Cf.
further e.g. Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 43–4; F.G. von der Dunk & S.A.
Negoda, Ukrainian National Space Law from an International Perspective, 18
Space Policy (2002), 15–23.
103
See M. Gerhard, The Law of Ukraine on Space Activities, in 51
Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2002), 57.
104
See Art. 10, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.
105
Cf. Gerhard, supra n. 103, 58.
106
Art. 1, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.

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population and the environment.107 It is notable that the conditions for a

licence include a number of obligations explicitly contained in the UN
treaties on outer space, for example the prohibition of insertion in orbit
and placing in space by whatsoever means nuclear weapons or any other
types of weapon of mass destruction.108 With the exception of Australia
and South Africa, national space laws do not contain similarly explicit
provisions.109
The Ukrainian Law on Space Activities is very clear on the duty to
register and provides detailed provision on the State Register of Space
Facilities of Ukraine and how registration should be effected in accord-
ance with Regulations Governing the Registration of Space Facilities in
Ukraine.110 It also contains provisions on the removal of space facilities
from the State Register.111
Concerning liability, the Ukrainian Law on Space Activities does not
contain a specific regime but establishes that compensation for damage
shall be payable in conformity with Ukrainian legislation currently in
force.112 Similarly, the types of compulsory insurance to be taken out in
connection with the pursuit of space activity shall be established by the
Ukrainian legislation currently in force.113 The procedures for compul-
sory insurance shall be established by the Cabinet of Ministers.114 This
leaves some important questions open so that it is difficult to say whether
the legal situation in Ukraine is beneficial to private space activities or
not.115

107
See Arts. 20–25, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.
108
Cf. Art. 9, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102. On the issue
of weapons of mass destruction in the context of space law see also infra,
§ 6.3.1.
109
Cf. Arts. 26(3)(f) and 29(b), Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43,
referencing dual-purpose technologies and weapons of mass destruction in the
context of space and licensing policies respectively, Secs. 1, 6th & 29th bullet
and 2(1)(b), Space Affairs Act (hereafter South African Space Affairs Act), 6
September 1993, assented to on 23 June 1993, No. 84 of 1993; Statutes of the
Republic of South Africa – Trade and Industry, Issue No. 27, 21–44; National
Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 413; as amended 1995, see Basic
Legal Documents, E.V, see also www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/
national/south_africa/space_affairs_act_1993E.html, last accessed 13 April 2014.
110
See Art. 13, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.
111
Cf. Art. 14, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.
112
Cf. Art. 25, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.
113
Cf. Art. 24, Ukrainian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 102.
114
Ibid.
115
See also Gerhard, supra n. 103, 59.

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150 Handbook of space law

Kazakhstan has most recently enacted its national space law.116 The
former Soviet Union has had a vital role for important space missions, as
the Kazakh spaceport at Baikonur was one of the prime launching
facilities in Soviet times. It is from there that the first satellite and the
first person were sent to outer space. The new Kazakh Law on Space
Activities lays down a comprehensive legal framework governing space
activities under the jurisdiction of Kazakhstan. Prior to its adoption,
space activities were regulated by a number of separate legislative acts,
by-laws and bilateral and multilateral agreements.117 In particular, the
bilateral agreements between the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan on
the use of the Baikonur Cosmodrome have played a central role.118 It
follows that also the new law has a clear emphasis on the regulation of
launch services. It is notable that the law explicitly excludes the
possibility of privatization of the launching facility at Baikonur.119
The Kazakh Law on Space Activities establishes that space activities
carried out by natural or legal persons require a licence.120 The licence is
issued by the National Space Agency, which is responsible for the
implementation of the national space policy and for securing compliance

116
Law No. 528-IV on Space Activities of the Republic of Kazakhstan
(hereafter Kazakh Law on Space Activities), of 6 January 2012. For a brief
overview see B. Schmidt-Tedd & O. Stelmakh, Einführung in das Gesetz der
Republik Kasachstan über Weltraumaktivitäten, 61 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2012), 426–50; cf. also G. Omarova, Perspectives for National
Space Legislation in Kazakhstan, in ‘Project 2001 Plus’ – Global and European
Challenges for Air and Space Law at the Edge of the 21st Century (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2006), 93–8.
117
Cf. B. Schmidt-Tedd & O. Stelmakh, Capacity-Building of the National
Space Legislation in Post-Soviet Countries: The Recent Contribution of Kazakh-
stan, Abstract; www.iafastro.net/iac/archive/tree/IAC-12/E7/5/IAC-12,E7,5,4,x
13037.brief.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014.
118
See Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of
Kazakhstan on Basic Principles and Terms of the Utilization of the Baikonur
Cosmodrome, Moscow, done 28 March 1994, entered into force 10 December
1994; 30 Journal of Space Law (2004), 26; see also Agreement between the
Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Cooperation in the
Effective Use of the Baikonur Facility, Astana, done 9 January 2004; 30 Journal
of Space Law (2004), 32; also M. Bjornerud, Baikonur Continues: The New
Lease Agreement Between Russia and Kazakhstan, 30 Journal of Space Law
(2004), 18 (with agreements appended). Cf. further M. Hosková, The 1994
Baikonur Agreements in Operation, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second Collo-
quium on the Law of Outer Space (2000), 263–72.
119
See Art. 23, Kazakh Law on Space Activities, supra n. 116.
120
See Art. 13, Kazakh Law on Space Activities, supra n. 116.

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National space law 151

with technical safety standards and ensuring environmental protection.121

Concerning registration, the Law distinguishes between space objects of
natural and legal persons of the Republic of Kazakhstan and space
objects launched by foreign natural or legal persons.122 Concerning the
former, the Law provides a detailed list of information which has to be
provided and information on the procedure for registration. For registra-
tion of the latter, only basic information is required.123
The issues of liability for damage and insurance are only covered in a
relatively vague manner, basically referring to more technical legislative
acts.124 It is remarkable, however, that the Kazakh Law on Space
Activities provides that, in case of contradiction with an international
treaty ratified by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the latter shall prevail.125
In contrast to the space laws of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the
new Kazakh Law on Space Activities concentrates on one particular
space activity, namely the use and exploitation of the cosmodrome at
Baikonur. However, this is an important step to more legal certainty for
prospective customers, public or private, from abroad.

3.3.2 European Space Law Pioneers

The first state to enact a national space law in Europe was Norway,
which enacted a national law on space launches as early as 1969. Another
Scandinavian country, Sweden, came next with its Act on Space Activ-
ities of 1982. The last of the early birds was the United Kingdom with its
Outer Space Act of 1986.

3.3.2.1 Norway
The Act on launching objects from Norwegian territory into outer
space126 was enacted at a time when only the Outer Space Treaty had

121
Cf. Art. 9, Kazakh Law on Space Activities, supra n. 116.
122
Cf. Art. 11, Kazakh Law on Space Activities, supra n. 116.
123
See Schmidt-Tedd & Stelmakh, supra n. 117, n. 47 and accompanying
text.
124
Cf. Schmidt-Tedd & Stelmakh, supra n. 117, n. 52 and accompanying
text.
125
See Art. 2(2), Kazakh Law on Space Activities, supra n. 116.
126
Act on launching objects from Norwegian territory into outer space
(hereafter Norwegian Act on Launching), No. 38, 13 June 1969; National Space
Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 286; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, E.XVII; see also www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/
national/norway/act_38_1969E.html, last accessed 13 April 2014. Cf. further e.g.
Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 33–4; F.G von der Dunk & A. Nikolaisen,Vikings

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152 Handbook of space law

been concluded, but not any of the subsequent treaties. Norway even
published its national space law before it became a party to the Outer
Space Treaty on 1 July 1969.127
The Norwegian Act on Launching is very short and consists of only
three articles. It provides that, without permission from the Norwegian
ministry concerned, it is forbidden to launch any object into outer space
from Norwegian territory or Norwegian vessels, aircrafts and such like.
In this regard, the requirement of authorization pursuant to Article VI of
the Outer Space Treaty is met. Yet, Norway only applies territorial
jurisdiction, not personal jurisdiction. Furthermore, the scope of appli-
cation of the law is limited to ‘launches’, so that other space activities are
not covered. The Act does not specify the requirements or conditions for
obtaining permission so that the competent ministry, the Ministry of
Trade and Industry, enjoys large discretion.128 In addition, the Act does
not contain any provision on registration, liability or insurance.
It follows that the Norwegian Act only covers a very small segment of
space activities and related legal issues. However, so far, the Act seems to
respond to the actual needs of the state. The cases for application of the
law are the launches carried out from the Andøya rocket launch site.129

3.3.2.2 Sweden
Sweden was the next European state that enacted national space legisla-
tion. Both the Act on Space Activities130 and the Decree on Space

First in National Space Law: Other Europeans to Follow – The Continuing Story
of National Implementation of International Responsibility and Liability, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2002),
111–21.
127
Cf. F.G. von der Dunk, Current and Future Development of National
Space Law and Policy, in Disseminating and Developing International and
National Space Law: The Latin America and Caribbean Perspective (2005), 41.
128
See further von der Dunk, supra n. 127, 42.
129
Cf. F.G. von der Dunk, The Legal Basis for National Space Legislation –
With Special Reference to the Old/New Norwegian Act on Launching Objects
from Norwegian Territory into Outer Space, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Frame-
work for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002),
578.
130
Act on Space Activities (hereafter Swedish Act on Space Activities),
1982: 963, 18 November 1982; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I
(2001), 398; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.II.1; 36 Zeitschrift für Luft-
und Weltraumrecht (1987), 11; also www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/
national/sweden/act_on_space_activities_1982E.html, last accessed 13 April
2014.

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National space law 153

Activities131 were adopted in 1982. The Swedish Act on Space Activities

requires a licence for non-governmental space activities carried out from
Swedish territory or by a Swedish natural or juridical person.132 It thus
encompasses territorial and personal jurisdiction over space activities.
Space activities requiring a licence are the launching of objects into outer
space and all measures to manoeuvre or in any other way affect objects
launched into outer space. Explicitly excluded are the reception of signals
or information in some other form from objects in outer space and the
launching of sounding rockets.133
An application for a licence shall be submitted to the Swedish National
Space Board, which is a central governmental agency under the Ministry
of Industry, Employment and Communications134 and which exercises
control over the space activities of licensees.135 As the Swedish Act on
Space Activities does not provide details on the conditions for author-
ization, the Board enjoys wide discretion.
The national register for space objects required by the Registration
Convention is established in the Swedish Decree on Space Activities.136
The information to be submitted corresponds to the requirements of
Article IV of the Registration Convention.137 With regard to liability for
damage, the Swedish Act on Space Activities provides that, if the
Swedish state on the basis of international agreements has been liable for
damage caused by a space activity, the persons who have carried on the
space activity shall reimburse the state that which has been disbursed,

131
Decree on Space Activities (hereafter Swedish Decree on Space Activ-
ities), 1982: 1069; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), 399;
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.II.2; 36 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (1987), 11; also www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/
national/sweden/decree_on_space_activities_1982E.html, last accessed 13 April
2014.
132
See N. Hedman, Swedish Legislation on Space Activities, in Nationales
Weltraumrecht/National Space Law (Eds. C. Brünner & E. Walter) (2008), 74; N.
Hedman, Vertices of an Administrative Procedure/Costs: The Swedish Experi-
ence, in Project 2001 Plus – Towards a Harmonised Approach for National
Space Legislation in Europe (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
(2004), 75; Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 34.
133
See Sec. 1, Swedish Act on Space Activities, supra n. 130.
134
Cf. Hedman, Vertices, supra n. 132, 77.
135
See Sec. 3, Swedish Act on Space Activities, supra n. 130; Sec. 1,
Swedish Decree on Space Activities, supra n. 131.
136
See Sec. 4, Swedish Decree on Space Activities, supra n. 131.
137
Cf. supra, § 3.2.2, esp. n. 35.

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154 Handbook of space law

unless special reasons tell against this.138 Here, the divergence from the
language of the UN treaties, which establish liability for damage caused
by ‘space objects’ and not for ‘space activities’, is notable. This differ-
ence can be regarded as an extension of the duty to reimburse, not merely
in cases of liability under Article VII (and the respective provisions of the
Liability Convention) but also in cases of responsibility under Article VI
of the Outer Space Treaty, where the state has to pay compensation.
Finally, Swedish space legislation does not contain a provision on
insurance. An insurance requirement can, however, be included in the
conditions for authorization.

3.3.2.3 The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has enacted national space legislation as a response to
the activities of British companies engaging in procuring the launch of, and
subsequently operating, satellites.139 The Outer Space Act of 1986140 was
thus a consequence of the start of commercialization of space activities.
The United Kingdom was primarily concerned with compliance with
the obligations of the state deriving from international space law.141 The

138
See Sec. 6, Swedish Act on Space Activities, supra n. 130.
139
See R. Close, UK Outer Space Act 1986: Scope and Implementation, in
‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed.
K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 579; M. Sánchez Aranzamendi, Economic and Policy
Aspects of Space Regulations in Europe, ESPI Report (2009), 17. Cf. further e.g.
Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 35–6; T. Ballard, United Kingdom Outer Space
Act, in Proceedings of the United Nations/International Institute of Air and
Space Law Workshop: Capacity Building in Space Law (2003), 206 ff.
140
Outer Space Act (hereafter UK Outer Space Act), 18 July 1986, 1986
Chapter 38; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 293; Space
Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.I; 36 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht
(1987), 12; also www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/38/introduction, last
accessed 13 April 2014; as to the applicability of the Law to the Crown
dependencies and the British overseas territories see S. Mosteshar, Regulation of
Space Activities in the United Kingdom, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 359–60. See further on satellite communica-
tions in general e.g. P.J. Dann, Law and Regulation of Satellite Communications
in the United Kingdom, 20 Journal of Space Law (1992), 17–21; on space
debris-related regulation R. Tremayne-Smith, Environmental Protection and
Space Debris Issues in the Context of Authorisation, in National Space Legisla-
tion in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 185–7.
141
See R. Crowther & R. Tremayne-Smith, Safety Evaluation within the
United Kingdom’s Outer Space Act, in Project 2001 Plus – Towards a Harmon-
ised Approach for National Space Legislation in Europe (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2004), 79.

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National space law 155

UK Outer Space Act conferred licensing of space activities and other

powers to the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills,
who carried these powers out through the British National Space Centre
(BNSC).142 On 1 April 2010, following a public consultation on the
funding and management of UK civil space activities and recommenda-
tions in the Space Innovation and Growth Strategy report, the new UK
Space Agency was established to replace the BNSC with the objective of
unification of all UK civil space activities under one single manage-
ment.143
The core of the Act is the licensing regime which covers launching or
procuring the launch of a space object, the operation of a space object
and ‘any other activity in outer space’.144 Licences must be obtained for
activities carried out in the United Kingdom or elsewhere by UK
nationals and bodies incorporated under the law of any part of the United
Kingdom, as well as ‘Scottish firms’.145 The UK Outer Space Act
contains relatively detailed conditions for licences, but additional condi-
tions may be prescribed in the licence.146 These conditions address public
health and safety, contamination of outer space or adverse changes in the
environment of the earth, international obligations of the United King-
dom and national security concerns.
A national register of space objects shall be maintained by the
Secretary of State in which the particulars of the space objects should be
entered, as laid down by the Secretary of State to ensure compliance by
the United Kingdom with its international obligations.147 However, the
United Kingdom does not consider itself as a ‘launching State’ in the
case of space objects launched by private entities.148 This is a rather
limited interpretation of the expression ‘procurement’, which seems to
run counter to efforts at unifying jurisdiction and control over a space
object with responsibility over it.149

142
See Sec. 4, UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140; Mosteshar, supra n. 140,
360.
143
See S. Mosteshar, supra n. 140, 358.
144
See Sec. 1, UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140.
145
See Sec. 2, UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140. A ‘Scottish firm’ is a
specific type of company established under Scottish law.
146
See Secs. 4, 5, UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140.
147
See Sec. 7, UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140.
148
See R. Tremayne-Smith, UK Registration Policy and Practice, in Pro-
ceedings of the Project 2001 Plus Workshop: Current Issues in the Registration
of Space Objects (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 59.
149
Cf. Schmidt-Tedd & Mick, supra n. 27, 137; see also the discussion about
the most appropriate state to register, supra, § 3.2.2.

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156 Handbook of space law

A person to whom the UK Outer Space Act applies has an obligation

to indemnify the government against any successful claims in respect of
damage or loss arising out of activities carried on by him.150 Otherwise,
general tort and contract law applies to space activities. The licence may
contain an obligation to take out insurance against liability in respect of
damage or loss suffered by third parties.151
The UK Outer Space Act is a comprehensive act of national legisla-
tion, which responds to all requirements of international law mentioned
above and, in addition, ensures that space activities are in compliance
with the state’s other international obligations and national security
interest. It does not, however, contain provisions which are particularly
favourable for space operators and likely to foster the national space
industry. The most striking aspect in this regard is the lack of a ceiling
for the right of recourse of the government in case of the state’s liability;
as indicated, at present consultations regarding a cap of the indemnity at
an insurable level, possibly to be determined at €60 million, are still
continuing.

3.3.3 European Comprehensive Space Acts

In the first decade of the 21st century, a number of European states

started actively to debate the development of national space legislation.
This was primarily due to the increasing engagement of private and
commercial entities in space activities. They included both large commer-
cial companies and small research projects undertaken by universities and
research institutions. These recent European laws have in common that
they intend to provide a comprehensive legal framework for national
space activities and are intended to address specific private space
activities existing in the particular countries.

150
See Sec. 10(1), UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140.
151
See Sec. 5(2)(f), UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 140. The insurance
requirement was reduced from £100 million to €60 million on 4 July 2011.
Following up these changes, the government has started a consultation process
on proposed changes to the UK Outer Space Act as to whether a cap to the
unlimited liability requirement of €60 million should be introduced. See UK
Space Agency, Reform of the Outer Space Act 1986, Consultation Document, of
31 May 2012; www.bis.gov.uk/assets/ukspaceagency/docs/osa/consultation-
reform-of-the-outer-space-act.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014; also UK Space
Agency, Reform of the Outer Space Act 1986: Summary of responses and
Government response to consultation, UKSA/13/1326, of 6 December 2013,
www.bis.gov.uk/assets/ukspaceagency/docs-2013/gov-response-osa-consultation.
pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014.

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3.3.3.1 France
France is one of the most important spacefaring states in Europe, but
nevertheless has not enacted national space legislation for a long time.152
Until June 2008, the regulatory framework for space activities had been
determined by general civil, administrative and criminal law, and by
specific laws applicable to certain activities, such as telecommunication
and broadcasting, as well as by administrative practices.153 This situation
changed when the French Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux
opérations spatiales) of June 2008154 entered into force. Its main purpose
was to set up a national regime to authorize and control space operations
in conformity with the French government’s international commit-
ments.155 Several decrees followed, which contained detailed provisions
necessary for the implementation of the French Law on Space Operations
in practice.156
The 2008 Law applies to ‘space operations’, which comprise any
activity consisting in launching or attempting to launch an object into

152
See Sánchez Aranzamendi, supra n. 139, 20, who emphasizes the
significance of France as the third major spacefaring country in the world and the
main launching state in Europe.
153
See P. Achilleas, Regulation of Space Activities in France, in National
Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 111.
154
Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux opérations spatiales; hereafter
French Law on Space Operations); Loi n° 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008; Journal
Officiel de la République Française du 4 juni 2008; see also Légifrance, service
public de la diffusion du droit par l’internet, http://legifrance.gouv.fr/
affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000018931380, last accessed 13 April 2014;
unofficial English version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 453; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, E.XVI. See further e.g. Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45,
39–40; M. Couston, La loi française sur les opérations spatiales, 58 Zeitschrift
für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2009), 253–82; A. Kerrest de Rozavel, La respon-
sabilité des États du fait des activités spatiales nationales: Quel environnement
juridique pour les activités spatiales en France? (2003); L. Rapp, When France
Puts Its Own Stamp on the Space Law Landscape: Comments on Act no.
2008-518 of 3 June 2008 Relative to Space Operations, 34 Air and Space Law
(2009), 87–103.
155
See M. Couston, France. Introduction, in Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl), E.XVI, 1.
156
Décret no 2009-640 du 9 juin 2009 portant application des disposition
prévues au titre VII de la loi no 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008 relative aux opérations
spatiales; décret no 2009-643 du 9 juin 2009 relatif aux autorisations délivrées en
application de la loi no 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008 relative aux opérations
spatiales; décret no 2009-644 du 9 juin 2009 modifiant le décret no 84-510 du 28
juin 1984 relatif au Centre national d’études spatiales, Journal Officiel de la
République Française, of 10 June 2009.

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158 Handbook of space law

outer space, or of ensuring the commanding of a space object during its

journey into outer space and its return to earth.157 A licence for such
activities is required under the French Law on Space Operations by any
operator of any nationality who conducts space operations from French
territory or by means of installations located under French jurisdiction;
any French operator conducting space operations from foreign territories
or installations; and any physical person or any legal entity having its
seat in France, including non-operators who intend to procure a space
operation.158 It thus combines territorial and personal jurisdiction in a
broad sense.
Authorization is granted only after the competent state authority has
examined the moral, financial and professional qualifications of the
applicant and the compliance of the systems and procedures applied with
technical regulations relating to the safety of persons and property and
the protection of public health and the environment.159 Furthermore,
authorizations cannot be granted when the planned operations are likely
to compromise national security or France’s international obligations.160
The authorization can be made subjected to conditions, including the
above-mentioned concerns and the prevention of space debris.161
The French Law on Space Operations also contains provisions on
registration. It refers to Article II of the Registration Convention and
determines that, in the event that France has a registration obligation on
that basis or through other international agreements, the launched space
objects are registered in a registry which is kept by the Centre National
d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES).162 The respective conditions and procedures
shall be set out in the implementing decree.
Concerning liability, the French Law on Space Operations establishes
that the operator shall be absolutely liable for damage caused to third
parties on the surface of the earth or in airspace by a space operation.163
If the damage is caused elsewhere, it shall only be liable to the extent of
its fault.164 This liability may be reduced or set aside where fault of the

157
See Art. 1, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
158
See Art. 2, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
159
See Art. 4, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
160
Ibid.
161
See Art. 5, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
162
See Art. 12, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154. Art. II,
Registration Convention, supra n. 9, provides for the obligation to establish a
national register.
163
See Art. 13, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
164
Ibid.

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victim is proven. Even though this provision seems to be inspired by

Articles II and III respectively of the Liability Convention, it goes further
than that, as it establishes liability for space operations and not only for
damage caused by a space object.
A special feature of the French Law on Space Operations is the
possibility of a state guarantee for space operations licensed under it.
However, the operators must insure themselves to the amount for which
they are responsible, based on the authorization they have been
granted.165 The state takes upon itself the responsibility for damage
exceeding the amount in question.166 The amount beyond which the
claim for indemnification the governmental guarantee is granted is set out
in each individual authorization, that is on a case-by-case basis, and
depends primarily on the risks involved.167
This state guarantee (which has already been applied to Arianespace
since its establishment) should be applied equally to persons who are not
third parties pursuant to the French Law on Space Operations where the
damage occurs during the launching phase.168 The state guarantee might
be considered as a public subsidy contrary to European competition law,
but the European Commission communicated in a note addressed to the
drafters of the French Law that the Law was not regarded as being
incompatible as such with European Union law.169 When the French
government has paid compensation according to its international liability,
it has the right to make a claim for indemnification by the operator.170
However, this recourse is mitigated by the respective insurance coverage.

165
See Art. 6, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
166
The state guarantee currently amounts to €60 million. It might be
considered as a public subsidy contrary to competition law. However, in a note
addressed to the drafters of the French Law on Space Operations (supra n. 154),
the European Commission considered the Act not to be incompatible as such
with European Union law. See further Achilleas, supra n. 153, 111–2.
167
Cf. Art. 17, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
168
Cf. Couston, supra n. 155, 6; Art. 15, French Law on Space Operations,
supra n. 154. The guarantee is laid down in the Finance Act.
169
See Achilleas, supra n. 153, 111–2. The relevant provisions of EU
competition law are now provided by Arts. 107–109, Treaty establishing the
European Community as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty
on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009; OJ C
115/47 (2009), prohibiting ‘any aid granted by a Member State or through State
resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort com-
petition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods’.
170
See Art. 14, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.

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160 Handbook of space law

Insurance can, however, be avoided if the operator prefers and provides

another form of financial guarantee.171
The French Law on Space Operations represents a comprehensive legal
basis for the implementation both of the French aspirations in the space
sector, its national safety and security concerns and its international
obligations and foreign policy priorities. It has similarities with the US
Commercial Space Launch Act,172 but its scope of application is broader
than the US model and covers not only launches but also other kinds of
space activities, as well as registration. It may serve as an example for
future national space legislation of other European countries. Not all of
them, however, have the same supportive attitude as France. They are
generally more reluctant, for example, to grant a state guarantee. In
practice, this is likely to provide a competitive advantage for France in
the European space industry.

3.3.3.2 Belgium
Belgium has devoted particular attention to the legal aspects of space
activities in recent years, even if it is not a major spacefaring nation.
These efforts culminated in the enactment of the Belgian Law on the
Activities of Launching, Flight Operations or Guidance of Space Objects
of 28 June 2005.173 The main reason for a Belgian space law was to
provide a legal basis for space activities that Belgian citizens and
companies had started to undertake in Belgium. The purpose of the
Belgian Space Law was to ensure compliance with the obligations of the
Belgian state deriving from international law.174 Furthermore, as an ESA

171
See Art. 6, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 154.
172
See further supra, § 3.3.1.1.
173
Law on the Activities of Launching, Flight Operations or Guidance of
Space Objects (hereafter Belgian Space Law), 17 September 2005, adopted 28
June 2005; Nationales Weltraumrecht/National Space Law (Eds. C. Brünner & E.
Walter) (2008), 183; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.X.1; see also
www.belspo.be/belspo/space/doc/beLaw/Loi_en.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014.
174
See J.F. Mayence, Belgium. Introduction, in Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl), E.X, 1; J.F.
Mayence, Towards a Legal Framework for Space Activities and Applications:
Belgian, Comparative and European Perspectives, The Belgian Law on the
Activities of Launching, Operating and Monitoring of Space Objects,
www.belspo.be/belspo/eisc/pdf/docu1law/mayence.pdf, last accessed 13 April
2014; M. Gerhard, Samples of National (Draft) Legislation and Harmonisation –
Contributions by State Representatives, in Project 2001 Plus – Towards a
Harmonised Approach for National Space Legislation in Europe (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2004), 155; also J.F. Mayence, Implementing

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member state, Belgium considered itself as a (co-)‘launching State’ of

space objects launched by ESA.175
The Belgian Space Law contains a legal regime for authorization and
supervision of space activities performed under Belgian jurisdiction,176
the establishment of a national registry for space objects,177 and the
avoidance of liability which may arise according to Article VII of the
Outer Space Treaty.178 It has been supplemented by a Royal Decree
implementing certain provisions of the Law.179 The Law confers a
number of competences upon the Belgian King180 and to the Belgian
Minister responsible for space research and its applications in the
framework of international cooperation.181
In order to respond to recent developments in space research and appli-
cations, in particular with regard to small satellites such as cube-sats and to
sub-orbital flights, a process to amend the Belgian Space Law was started,
leading to several changes which entered into force on 15 January 2014.182

the United Nations Outer Space Treaties – The Belgian Space Act in the Making,
in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(2005), 134–8; Sánchez Aranzamendi, supra n. 139, 18; Marboe & Hafner, supra
n. 45, 36–7.
175
Cf. Mayence, Belgium, supra n. 174, 1. See for ESA further infra, § 4.2.
176
See Arts. 4–13, Belgian Space Law, supra n. 173.
177
See Art. 14, Belgian Space Law, supra n. 173.
178
See Arts. 15–17, Belgian Space Law, supra n. 173.
179
Royal Decree implementing certain provisions of the law of 17 Septem-
ber 2005 on the activities of launching, flight operations and guidance of space
objects of 19 March 2008 (English translation); see Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, E.X.2.
180
The King may, for example, determine the conditions for granting
authorizations, the conditions applying to the control and supervision and the
limitation of the operator’s liability. See Art. 5(1), (2); Art. 15(3), Belgian Space
Law, supra n. 173; see also J.F. Mayence, The Belgian Space Law, Presentation
at the 48th session of the Legal Sub-Committee of the Committee on the
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2009/
pres-08.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014.
181
The Minister may, among other things, attach to any authorization such
specific conditions that he deems useful, on a case-by-case basis, or may grant
the authorization for a specific period, having regard to the activities covered by
the authorization. See Art. 5(2)–(6), Belgian Space Law, supra n. 173.
182
See Projet de loi relative aux operations spatiales. Examen des articles,
of 10 November 2012, www.senat.fr/rap/l07-161/l07-1613.html, last accessed 13
April 2014. See also I. Marboe & K. Traunmüller, Small Satellites and Small
States: New Incentives for National Space Legislation, 38 Journal of Space Law
(2012), 289–320. The consolidated text of the Belgian Space Law as revised by
the Law of 1 December 2013 is published in the Belgian Official Journal of 15

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162 Handbook of space law

Following the amendments it is now clear that the operation of small

satellites that are not manoeuvrable is also covered by the Belgian Space
Law. By contrast, sub-orbital flights are to be excluded from its scope of
application because the new definition of the term ‘space object’ only
covers ‘any object launched or intended to be launched, on an orbital
trajectory around the Earth or to a destination beyond the earth orbit’ (as
well as its launching devices and component parts).183

3.3.3.3 The Netherlands

The Dutch Law Incorporating Rules Concerning Space Activities and the
Establishment of a Registry of Space Objects184 was adopted by the
Parliament on 25 January 2007 and entered into force on 1 January
2008.185 The need became apparent when Dutch companies started to
engage in space activities.186 The Law is only applicable to the European
part of the Netherlands, not to its overseas territories.187

January 2014; for the English translation see www.belspo.be/belspo/space/doc/

beLaw/Loi_en.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014.
183
Art. 3(1)(a), Belgian Space Law in its amended version of 1 December
2013, supra n. 182; see also §§ (1)(b), (c), (2) and (5). For further discussion of
what a ‘destination beyond earth orbit’ might refer to, cf. supra, § 2.3.1.3 and
infra, § 12.2.2.
184
Law Incorporating Rules Concerning Space Activities and the Establish-
ment of a Registry of Space Objects (hereafter Dutch Space Law), 24 January
2007; 80 Staatsblad (2007), at 1; Nationales Weltraumrecht/National Space Law
(Eds. C. Brünner & E. Walter) (2008), 201; Space Law – Basic Legal Docu-
ments, E.XIV; also www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/national/
netherlands/space_activities_actE.html, last accessed 13 April 2014.
185
See H. den Brabander-Ypes, The Netherlands. Introduction, in Space Law
– Basic Legal Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl),
E.XIV, 1; Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 37–8.
186
See F.G. von der Dunk, Implementing the United Nations Outer Space
Treaties – The Case of the Netherlands, in National Space Law (Eds. C. Brünner
& E. Walter) (2008), 81, 92; F.G. von der Dunk, Recent Developments and
Status of National Space Legislation, in Project 2001 Plus – Towards a
Harmonised Approach for National Space Legislation in Europe (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2004), 67–8; H. den Brabander-Ypes, The
Netherlands Space Law – An Introduction to Contents and Dilemmas, Presenta-
tion at the 47th Session of the Legal Sub-Committee of the Committee on the
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/lsc2008/pres-
02.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014; see also Sánchez Aranzamendi, supra
n. 139, 19; for an overview of Dutch space activities and participation in
international space law see von der Dunk, supra n. 22, 225–35.
187
The Kingdom of the Netherlands also includes six islands in the
Caribbean, the Netherlands Antilles. As of 10 October 2010, three of them –

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National space law 163

The Dutch Space Law regulates registration, authorization and super-

vision and gives the possibility of redress in cases of the state’s liability
for damage caused by space activities.188 The scope of application
comprises ‘the launch, the flight operation or the guidance of space
objects in outer space’.189 In practice, this provision has so far been
interpreted in a way that small satellites, such as cube-sats which are not
manoeuvrable, are not covered by the law because they are not ‘operated’
or ‘guided’ by the operator. Presently, this practice is about to be
changed, possibly by way of a regulatory amendment.190
Concerning registration, the Dutch Space Law provides for registration
procedures of space objects ‘in connection with space activities that are
performed under the responsibility of one or more of Our Ministers’.191
There has been concern that this formulation would not include space
objects whose launch outside the Netherlands had been procured not by
the state itself but by a private national of the Netherlands.192 However,
the state from whose territory or facility the space object is launched

Aruba (since 1985), Curacao and Sint Maarten – have a ‘status aparte’ as
autonomous territories within the Kingdom. Those territories eventually preferred
to retain their autonomy in respect of the regulation of space activities. Aruba
declared that it would ban all space activities and the Netherlands Antilles will
draft their own space legislation on the basis of the Dutch Space Law. See Den
Brabander-Ypes, supra n. 185, ‘Introduction’, 4. On the other hand, Bonaire,
Saba and Sint Eustatius have now become ‘special municipalities’ of the
Netherlands. See von der Dunk, supra n. 22, 237.
188
See von der Dunk, Implementing, supra n. 186, 99.
189
Sec. 1(b), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 184.
190
See N. Palkovitz & T.L. Masson-Zwaan, Orbiting under the Radar:
Nano-Satellites, International Obligations and National Space Laws, in Proceed-
ings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 566–78; see also
Marboe & Traunmüller, supra n. 182, 309.
191
Sec. 11, Dutch Space Law, supra n. 184.
192
Cf. e.g. D. Howard, A Comparative Look at National Space Laws and
Their International Implications. Report of the 6th Eileen Galloway Space
Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law, in Proceedings of the International
Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 525, 528; Palkovitz & Masson-Zwaan, supra
n. 190, 4; Schmidt-Tedd & Mick, supra n. 27, 153. This interpretation by the
Netherlands of the term ‘launching State’ for registration purposes already
existed before the entering into force of the Dutch Space Law, see O.M.
Ribbelink, The Registration Policy of the Netherlands, in Proceedings of the
Project 2001 Plus Workshop: Current Issues in the Registration of Space Objects
(Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd, K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 53, 56.

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164 Handbook of space law

usually does not register those objects, either. As a result, the danger
arises that no state registers such space objects.193
If the state is obliged to pay compensation under Article VII of the
Outer Space Treaty or the Liability Convention, it is entitled to recover
the sum, in full or in part, from the party whose space activity has caused
the damage.194 However, the Dutch Space Law introduces compulsory
insurance for space activities as a condition for obtaining a licence.195
The licence-holder is liable for damage caused by its space activities only
up to the value of the sum insured.196 The amount of the insurance shall
be determined by the Minister of Economic Affairs, who takes account of
the maximum possible cover for the liability arising from space activities
and of what can reasonably be covered by insurance.197

3.3.3.4 Austria
The most recent of the European comprehensive space laws is that of
Austria, which entered into force on 28 December 2011.198 In contrast to
the two previous national space laws, the new Austrian Law on Space
Activities clearly does cover small satellites. This is emphasized in the

193
Therefore, this approach is criticized by commentators, see e.g. Schmidt-
Tedd & Mick, supra n. 27, 153.
194
See Sec. 12(1), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 184.
195
See Sec. 3(4), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 184.
196
See Sec. 12(2), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 184.
197
See Sec. 3(4), of the Dutch Space Law, supra n. 184.
198
Bundesgesetz über die Genehmigung von Weltraumaktivitäten und die
Einrichtung eines Weltraumregisters (Austrian Federal Law on the Authorisation
of Space Activities and the Establishment of a National Space Registry; hereafter
Austrian Law on Space Activities) of 28 December 2011, Federal Law Gazette of
27 December 2011; published in English and German also in 61 Zeitschrift für
Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2012), 37–42, 56–61; see also www.oosa.unvienna.org/
pdf/spacelaw/national/austria/austrian-outer-space-actE.pdf, last accessed 13
April 2014. Cf. further E. Walter, The Constitutional Basis for an Austrian Space
Law, in Nationales Weltraumrecht/National Space Law (Eds. C. Brünner & E.
Walter) (2008), 157–65; I. Marboe, Culmination of Efforts in the Area of
National Space Legislation in 2012, in Proceedings of the International Institute
of Space Law 2012 (2013), 524–6; F.G. von der Dunk, Another Addition to
National Space Legislation: The Austrian Outer Space Act, Adopted 6 December
2011, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013),
643–54.

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Explanatory Report, which declares that the main reason for enacting the
law was the launch of two cube-sats developed by two Austrian univers-
ities.199
The Austrian Law on Space Activities provides for an authorization
regime for space activities carried out on Austrian territory, on board
vessels or aeroplanes registered in Austria, or by a natural person with
Austrian citizenship or juridical persons seated in Austria.200 The launch,
operation or control of a space object, as well as the operation of a
launch facility, require authorization by the Minister for Transport,
Innovation and Technology.201 The conditions for authorization refer to
the qualification of the operator, the safety of the operation, Austria’s
international and national interests, and protection of the environment,
and they emphasize compliance with internationally recognized guide-
lines for the mitigation of space debris.202
A national registry is established into which all space objects for which
Austria is considered to be the ‘launching State’ in accordance with the
Registration Convention shall be entered.203 This leaves some room for
interpretation if purely private space objects should be entered. However,
the Explanatory Report makes it clear that Austria takes up its respons-
ibility as a responsible state under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty
and is ready to register space objects which require a licence under the
Austrian Law on Space Activities.204
Where the Republic of Austria has compensated damage caused by a
space activity in accordance with international law, the federal govern-
ment has a right of recourse against the operator.205 In order to cover
liability for damage caused to persons and property, the operator is under
an obligation to take out insurance.206 However, if the space activity is in
the public interest, the Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology
may determine a lower sum or release the operator from the insurance

199
See Explanatory Report, 61 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht
(2012), 42.
200
Cf. Art. 1, Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198.
201
See Arts. 2, 3, Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198.
202
See Arts. 4, 5, Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198.
203
See Art. 9, Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198.
204
See Explanatory Report, supra n. 199, 51.
205
See Art. 11, Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198. As to the
complicated drafting process of the regime on liability and recourse see I.
Marboe, The New Austrian Outer Space Act, in 61 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2012), 26, 33–5.
206
See Art. 4(4), Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198. The
insurance must cover a minimum amount of €60 million.

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requirement, taking into account the risks connected to the activity and
the operator’s financial capacity.207 The possibility to waive the obliga-
tion of insurance provides the Minister for Transport, Innovation and
Technology with the necessary discretion and allows support for the
emerging space technology research and industry in Austria.

3.3.4 Comprehensive Space Acts Outside Europe

Outside Europe, only a few national space laws exist which regulate
space activities in a comprehensive fashion, thus including issues such as
authorization, registration, liability and insurance.
Perhaps the most prominent example is Australia which enacted its
national space law in 1998208 in view of ambitious plans for the
development of commercial launch services on Australian territory.209
The Australian Space Activities Act provides for a very detailed licensing
and safety regime in order to ensure that Australia’s international
obligations are respected and its national interests safeguarded. It is
supplemented by the Australian Space Activities Regulations 2001,210
which contain further details about the licensing of space activities.
The Australian Space Activities Act applies to space activities that take
place in Australia or are undertaken by Australian citizens outside
Australia.211 Only launch activities, including the operation of launch

207
Space activities are in the public interest if they serve science, research or
education. Taking out insurance is not necessary if the federal state itself is the
operator. See Art. 4(4), Austrian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 198, and the
Explanatory Report, 48–9 supra n. 199.
208
Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43. Cf. further e.g. Marboe &
Hafner, supra n. 45, 45–6.
209
Cf. also Siemon & Freeland, supra n. 43, 37; V. Nase, Australia.
Introduction, in Space Law – Basic Legal Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M.
Benkö & K.U. Schrogl), E.VII, 1; M.E. Davis, The Regulation of the Australian
Space Launch Industry, 49 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2000), 65–73;
S.R. Freeland, Difficulties of Implementing National Space Legislation Exempli-
fied by the Australian Approach, in ‘Project 2001 Plus’ – Global and European
Challenges for Air and Space Law at the Edge of the 21st Century (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2006), 65–92.
210
Space Activities Regulations (hereafter Australian Space Activities Regu-
lation), Statutory Rules 2001 No. 186, 28 June 2001; National Space Legislation
of the World, Vol. II (2002), at 307; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.VII.2; also http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2004C00906, last accessed 13
April 2014.
211
See Secs. 11 and 12, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.

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sites, and the return of space objects to earth, are covered by the Act.212
Such activities require a launch permit or an exemption certificate. The
Australian regulatory regime is characterized by the different types of
authorization. It distinguishes between (1) a space licence, which is
required for the operation of a launch facility in Australia, a particular
kind of launch vehicle and particular flight paths,213 (2) a launch permit,
which is required for the launch of a particular space object or a
particular series of launches of space objects or for the return to Australia
of an Australian-launched space object,214 and (3) an overseas launch
certificate required for launches from launch facilities outside Australia,
if the responsible person for the launch is an Australian national.215
Finally, the return of a space object launched outside Australia to
Australia requires an authorization.216
All types of authorization are issued under the authority of the Minister
for Industry, Finance and Resources upon the fulfilment of certain
criteria. Important criteria for the authorization include the technical and
financial capability of the applicant, the protection of public health, the
environment and national and international security interests as well as
the safety of people and property.217 It is required that the person seeking
a licence is a corporation to which paragraph 51 (XX) of the Constitution
applies.218 After the launch of a space object the holder of a launch
permit is required to submit information to the Minister, who maintains
the Register of Space Objects, having regard to the Registration Conven-
tion and other international agreements binding upon Australia.219 Part 4
of the Australian Space Activities Act covers liability issues and the
reimbursement of the Australian government by licensees of any inter-
national liability claims paid for by Australia.220 According to Section
7.02 of the Australian Space Activities Regulations, the holder of the
authorization is required to take out insurance to cover the maximum
probable loss against any liability incurred for third-party damage.

212
See further e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Launching from ‘Down Under’: The
New Australian Space Activities Act of 1998, in Proceedings of the Forty-Third
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2001), 135–6.
213
See Sec. 18, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.
214
See Sec. 26, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.
215
See Sec. 35, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.
216
See Sec. 14, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.
217
See Secs. 18, 26, 29 and 35, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.
218
Ibid.
219
See Sec. 76, Australian Space Activities Act, supra n. 43.
220
Cf. e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 212, 138.

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In order to administer the Australian Space Activities Act, the Space

Licensing and Safety Office (SLASO) has been established by the
government. Its main functions are to assess applications for approval
under the Act and to ensure that space activities do not jeopardize public
safety, property or the environment and Australia’s national security,
foreign policy or international obligations.221
The Republic of Korea has recently attracted attention by its successful
efforts with regard to the development of comprehensive national space
legislation. After the Korean Space Development Promotion Act of
2005,222 the Korean Space Liability Act of 2007 followed.223 These two
pieces of national space legislation set out a basic plan for the develop-
ment of space activities in the Republic of Korea, establish a national
space committee, allow for the registration of space objects, establish a
national authorization system and contain provisions about liability.224
The Korean Space Development Promotion Act consists of 29 articles
and covers a number of issues such as government responsibilities, the
establishment of a basic plan for promoting space development, the
designation of a space development institute for space exploration,
the domestic and international registration of space objects, licensing of
space launch vehicles and cancellation of licences, compensation for
damage as a result of space accidents and suchlike.225 The purpose of the

221
See e.g. M.E. Davis, Space Launch Safety in Australia, in Space Safety
Regulations and Standards (Eds. J.N. Pelton & R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 98–9;
Siemon & Freeland, supra n. 43, 52–3.
222
Space Development Promotion Act (hereafter Korean Space Development
Promotion Act), Law No. 7538, of 31 May 2005, entered into force 1 December
2005; unofficial translation 33 Journal of Space Law (2007), 175; see Committee
on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Exchange of Information on National
Legislation Relevant to the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space, UN
Document A/AC.105/C.2/2009/CRP.14, of 30 March 2009; see also
www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/national/republic_of_korea/space_
development_promotions_actE.html, last accessed 13 April 2014.
223
Space Liability Act (hereafter Korean Space Liability Act), Law No.
8852, of 21 December 2007; UNOOSA National Space Law Database, see
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Exchange of Information on
National Legislation Relevant to the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer
Space, UN Document A/AC.105/C.2/2009/CRP.14, of 30 March 2009; see also
www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosaddb/showDocument.do?documentUid=402&level2=
none&node=ROK1970&level1=countries&cmd=add, last accessed 13 April 2014.
224
See D.H. Kim, Korea’s Space Development Programme: Policy and Law,
in 22 Space Policy (2006), 110–7.
225
See D.H. Kim, The Main Contents, Comment and Future Task for the
Space Laws in Korea, 24 The Korean Journal of Air and Space Law (2009), 128;

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National space law 169

Korean Space Development Promotion Act is ‘to promote the peaceful

use and scientific exploration of outer space, to ensure national security,
to further develop the national economy, and to raise the national
standard of living through the systematic promotion of space develop-
ment and the effective use and management of space objects’.226
Persons who desire to launch a space object, must seek preliminary
registration, which shall be made to the Minister of Science and
Technology 180 days before the scheduled launch date.227 Persons who
have made such a preliminary registration have to formally register the
space objects with the Minister of Science and Technology 90 days after
the space object reaches its planned orbit if there is no agreement under
the Registration Convention providing for registration by another
‘launching State’.228
For launches undertaken from South Korean territory or its jurisdiction
as well as launches undertaken with Korean-owned launch vehicles
elsewhere, a licence has to be obtained.229 The authorization procedure is
set out in Article 11 of the Korean Space Development Promotion Act
and provides for obtaining a licence from the Minister of Science and
Technology. The Minister shall consider the use and purpose of the space
launch vehicle, the safety management of the space launch vehicle and
the financial capability of the applicant including liability insurance for
damage occurring from a space accident when granting the launch
permit.230 Furthermore, the Minister may make any further necessary
stipulations.231 In certain situations, the launch licence can be cancelled.
These are general causes such as if the licence has been obtained by false
means or a lack of compliance with imposed conditions. Also, the licence
can be revoked when the head of related administrative authorities

also Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 46; S.M. Rhee, Current Status and Recent
Developments in Korea’s National Space Laws, 35 Journal of Space Law (2009),
523–38.
226
Art. 1, Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
227
See as regards Korean citizens Art. 8(1), Korean Space Development
Promotion Act, supra n. 222; as regards foreigners Art. 8(2).
228
See Art. 8(5), Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
229
See Art. 11(1), Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
230
See Art. 11(3), Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
231
See Art. 11(4), Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
On the special national-security context of this provision see F.G. von der Dunk,
The Issue of National Security in the Context of National Space Legislation –
Comparing European and Non-European States, in National Space Legislation in
Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 256–7.

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170 Handbook of space law

demand the cancellation of the licence in anticipation of serious threats to

national security.232
The Korean Space Development Promotion Act provides for third-
party liability insurance. The liability shall be of an amount capable of
compensating for damage possibly occurring due to space accidents, the
minimum amount of which is set by ministerial decree of the Ministry of
Science and Technology with consideration of the domestic and foreign
insurance markets.233 Further provisions concerning third-party liability
can be found in the Korean Space Liability Act, which provides for a
limitation of the amount of compensation to be paid by the launching
party to 200 billion Won.234
The South African Space Affairs Act,235 was elaborated to accommo-
date the country’s growing interest in space.236 Enacted in 1993 and
amended in 1995, it regulates the conduct of space activities in an
all-embracing manner.237 Its purpose is to ‘provide for the establishment
of a Council to manage and control certain space affairs in the Republic;
to determine its objects and functions; to prescribe the manner in which it
is to be managed and controlled; and to provide for matters connected
therewith’.238
The South African Space Affairs Act focuses on the composition,
organization and tasks of the South African Council for Space Affairs, as
well as on the licensing of space activities. Section 11 of the Act requires
a licence for space activities, which is issued by the Council.239 Activities
requiring a licence are the launching from South African territory or by a
juridical person incorporated or registered in South Africa, the operation
of a launch facility, the participation of a legal person in certain space
activities as well as other space-related activities prescribed by the
Minister.240
When taking the decision to issue a licence, in particular minimum
safety standards, national interests and international obligations and

232
See Art. 13, Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
233
See Art. 15, Korean Space Development Promotion Act, supra n. 222.
234
See Art. 5, Korean Space Liability Act, supra n. 223.
235
South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109. Cf. further e.g. I. de
Villiers Lessing, South Africa: Recent Developments in Space Law, 1 Telecom-
munications & Space Journal (1994), 139–42; Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45,
44–5.
236
See von der Dunk, supra n. 231, 249–50.
237
See Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45, 44.
238
Preamble, South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
239
See Secs. 6 and 11, South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
240
See Sec. 11(1), South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.

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National space law 171

responsibilities of South Africa have to be taken into account by the

Council.241 The licence may further contain conditions concerning liabil-
ity for damage and security to be given for the case of such damage, and
may determine, limit or exclude the liability of the licensee concerned
regarding damage that may be caused.242 The conditions of a specific
licence may be amended when deemed necessary, and under certain
conditions, the licence may be suspended.243 Inspectors are appointed by
the Council to monitor compliance with the licence.244 If the licensee
performs activities without a licence or fails to comply with the condi-
tions contained therein, imprisonment or fines can be imposed.245

3.3.5 Laws Regulating Certain Aspects of Space Activities

A number of relevant spacefaring nations have not yet enacted a

comprehensive national space law, but have started to regulate certain
aspects of the conduct of space activities.
In Spain, a Royal Decree of 1995 established a national registry for
space objects which should be maintained by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.246 It provides that entries shall be made in the Spanish registry in
respect of space objects that have been launched or whose launching has
been procured by the Spanish state or that have been launched from
Spain or from a Spanish facility.247 It obliges enterprises and institutions
in possession of the relevant information to communicate it to the
Department of Industrial Technology of the Ministry of Industry and
Energy.248 Rather than providing for an authorization or any discretion to
refuse it, the purpose of the provision seems mainly to oblige industry to
furnish information so that the state knows what is going on.

241
See Sec. 11(2), South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
242
See Sec. 14, South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
243
See Sec. 13(1) and (2), South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
244
See Sec. 10(4), South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
245
See Sec. 23, South African Space Affairs Act, supra n. 109.
246
Royal Decree No. 278/1995 of 24 February 1995 on the establishment in
the Kingdom of Spain of the Registry of Objects Launched into Outer Space as
provided for in the Convention adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
on 2nd November 1974 (RCL 1979, 269 and ApNDL 8191). See www.oosa.
unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/national/spain/royal_decree_278_1995E.html,
last accessed 13 April 2014.
247
See Art. 5, Royal Decree No. 278/1995 supra n. 246.
248
See Art. 7, Royal Decree No. 278/1995 supra n. 246.

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172 Handbook of space law

Italy has enacted a law which regulates the implementation of the

Liability Convention.249 In essence, it establishes the right of Italian
citizens and legal persons to obtain compensation from the Italian state to
the extent that the latter has requested and obtained, in accordance with
Article VIII of the Liability Convention, compensation for damage
caused by space objects. In addition, the registration of space objects is
regulated by law.250 The Italian Space Agency is entrusted with the
institution and maintenance of the national registry and also collects the
information related to the implementation of the Registration Conven-
tion.251
Germany has been active in promoting the idea of a unified legal
framework for space activities for some time252 and considers it as a
priority in its current national space policy.253 However, until now, it has
had only rudimentary space law. In view of the launch of the German
high-resolution satellite, TerraSAR-X, the enactment of the German Act

249
Law No. 23 of 25 January 1983, Official Gazette No. 35 of 5 February
1983, for the implementation of the Liability Convention (supra n. 9). See
United Nations/Nigeria Workshop on Space Law: Meeting International
Responsibilities and Addressing Domestic Needs (21–24 November 2005), 140.
See also S. Marchisio, The 1983 Italian Law N. 23 on the Compensation for
Damage Caused by Space Objects, 54 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht
(2005), 261–70; cf. further on the legal situation in Italy G. Catalano Sgrosso,
Report on Changes in Space Law in Italy: Proposal of a Draft Legislation, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2005),
117–29; S. Marchisio, Italian Space Legislation Between International Obliga-
tions and EU Law, in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law
of Outer Space (2005), 106 ff.
250
Registration of objects launched into outer space, by Law No. 153 of 12
July 2005, Official Gazette No. 177 of 1 August 2005; see Schematic Overview
of National Regulatory Frameworks for Space Activities, UN Doc. A/AC.105/
C.2/CRP.8/Add.1, of 26 March 2012, 2.
251
See further supra, § 3.2.2, on the Registration Convention (supra n. 9).
252
See the remarkable initiatives of Project 2001 and Project 2001 Plus, see
‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed.
K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002) and Project 2001 Plus – Towards a Harmonised
Approach for National Space Legislation in Europe (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-
Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2004) respectively; cf. further e.g. H. Ersfeld, Elaboration
of a German National Space Law: Proposals on Behalf of the Space Industry, 59
Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2010), 241–52.
253
See Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology, Making Germany’s
Space Sector Fit for the Future. The Space Strategy of the German Federal
Government (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Berlin, 2010),
13–5.

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National space law 173

on Satellite Data Security254 became necessary. The Act is influenced by

national security concerns and aims at addressing Germany’s security-
related and foreign policy interests in the distribution of remote sensing
data.255
The material scope of application of the Act covers the operation of
high-grade earth remote sensing systems and handling of data generated
by such systems until the moment of their dissemination. Activities in
this field require a licence or permit and are subject to supervision, when
they are conducted by German nationals, legal persons or associations
under German law, or by foreign legal persons or foreign associations of
persons with their head office within the territory of Germany.256 Thus,
compared with other Acts, the application of the German Act is limited to
certain kinds of space activity only.
The operation of a high-grade earth remote sensing system requires an
operator licence.257 In order to obtain this licence for the operation of a
high-grade earth remote sensing system, the operator has to fulfil several
conditions, such as possession of a requisite degree of reliability, certain
sequences of instructions concerning control and command and the
provision of technical and organizational measures preventing unauthor-
ized persons from gaining access to the command installations.258 The
operator is obliged to record certain sequences and to hold the records
available for inspection by the relevant authority.259

254
Satellitendatensicherheitsgesetz (Act Protecting Against the Endanger-
ment of German Security Through the Proliferation of High Resolution Aerial
Imagery of the Earth; hereafter German Act on Satellite Data Security), of 23
November 2007, effective 1 December 2007; Federal Gazette (BGBl.) Year 2007
Part I No. 58, of 28 November 2007. See further on this § 9.4.2.5; cf. also M.
Gerhard, M. Kroymann & B. Schmidt-Tedd, Ein Gesetz für die Raumfahrt: Das
neue Satellitendatensicherheitsgesetz, 57 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht
(2008), 40–54; E. Wins-Seemann, Das Satellitendatensicherheitsgesetz aus indus-
trieller Sicht – Angemessener Rahmen für die kommerzielle Nutzung von
weltraumgestützten Fernerkundungssystemen?, 57 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2008), 55–66.
255
See S. Hobe & J. Neumann, Regulation of Space Activities in Germany,
in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 144.
256
See Sec. 1, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 254; also
Schematic Overview of National Regulatory Frameworks for Space Activities,
UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/CRP.8, of 16 March 2012, 5.
257
See Sec. 3, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 254.
258
See Sec. 4, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 254.
259
See Sec. 5, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 254.

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174 Handbook of space law

In order to obtain a licence for the dissemination of data, the operator

must, in particular, ensure that the transmission of the data between
various locations of the ground segment of the data provider and the
transmission of the data to a different data provider are protected from
becoming known to unauthorized third parties, and that the ‘dissemin-
ation of the data generated by a high-grade earth remote sensing system
is guaranteed to be secure according to the state of the art’.260 Besides the
German Act on Satellite Data Security, the German Aviation Code also
partly applies to spacecraft and rockets, as it provides that ‘spacecraft,
rockets and related flying objects are deemed to be aircraft as long as
they are within the airspace’ and therefore are subject to the rules
concerning the licensing of aircraft.261
Canada’s national legislation on outer space is scattered through a few
statutes enacted by the Canadian Parliament, as well as a number of
regulations.262 The Canadian Aeronautics Act governs civil aviation,263
while the respective Canadian Aviation Regulations also contain certain
provisions which are applicable to the launching of rockets.264 The
Canadian Space Agency Act265 provides the legal framework for the
activities of the Canadian Space Agency, which has the task of promot-
ing, coordinating and implementing the space programmes and policies
of the government of Canada. The Canadian Remote Sensing Space

260
Sec. 12, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 254.
261
Sec. 1(2), Luftverkehrsgesetz (hereafter German Aviation Code); see
further Hobe & Neumann, supra n. 255, 130. On the discussion regarding the
definition of ‘aircraft’, esp. in relation to that of ‘space object’, cf. further supra,
§§ 12.3.2.2 juncto 12.3.3.2.
262
Cf. M. Bourbonnière & B. Legendre, Canada. Introduction, in Space Law
– Basic Legal Documents (Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl),
E.XIII., 1. See for a comprehensive overview over the legal situation in Canada,
R.S. Jakhu, Regulation of Space Activities in Canada, in National Regulation of
Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 81–107; cf. also R.S. Jakhu, Regulation
of Space Activities in Canada, in Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (2006), 267–81; B. Mann, Current Status and Recent
Developments in Canada’s National Space Law and its Relevance to Pacific Rim
Space Law and Activities, in 35 Journal of Space Law (2009), 511–22.
263
Aeronautics Act of 1954, Revised Statutes of Canada (R.S.C.) 1985,
c. A-2.
264
See Regulation No. 602.43 and Regulation No. 602.44 of the Canadian
Aviation Regulations, SOR/96-433, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/
SOR-96-433/page-180.html#docCont, last accessed 13 April 2014.
265
Canadian Space Agency Act, S.C. 1990, c.3; http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/
acts/C-23.2/, last accessed 13 April 2014.

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Systems Act266 regulates the operation of remote sensing systems from

Canada. Such activities need authorization by a licence which is issued
by the competent Minister.267 The Canadian Remote Sensing Space
Systems Regulations268 set out in more detail the conditions for the
licence and the transformation of raw data.
In China a number of different laws and regulations govern the
increasing range of space activities.269 There is also a plurality of entities
responsible for different aspects of space activities, such as the State
Administration for Science, Technology and Industry, for National
Defence, as well as the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry
(COSTIND).270 China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) is an
internal organ of the latter and is responsible for the signing of
governmental agreements in the space area, intergovernmental scientific
and technical exchanges, the implementation of national space policies
and the managing of national space science, technology and industry.271
Important issues, such as the licensing of launches, the registration of
space objects and the mitigation of space debris, are currently regulated

266
Remote Sensing Space Systems Act (hereafter Canadian Remote Sensing
Space Systems Act), assented to 25 November 2005; S.C. 2005, c. 45; Space
Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.XIII.1; also http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/
acts/R-5.4/, last accessed 13 April 2014. See further also infra, § 9.4.2.4.
267
Cf. Secs. 5–9, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra,
n. 266.
268
Remote Sensing Space Systems Regulations (hereafter Canadian Remote
Sensing Space Systems Regulations), 29 March 2007; SOR/2007-66; Canada
Gazette Vol. 141, No. 8; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.XIII.2; also
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2007-66/index.html, last ac-
cessed 13 April 2014.
269
See for a comprehensive overview: Y. Zhao, Regulation of Space Activ-
ities in the People’s Republic of China, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 247–65. Cf. further J. Li, Progressing Towards
New National Space Law: Current Status and Recent Developments in Chinese
Space Law and its Relevance to Pacific Rim Space Law and Activities, 35
Journal of Space Law (2009), 439–70; S. Li, The Role of International Law in
Chinese Space Law and Its Relevance to Pacific Rim Space Law and Activ-
ities, 35 Journal of Space Law (2009), 539–58; Y. Qi, A Study of Aerospace
Legislation of China, 33 Journal of Space Law (2007), 405 ff.; H. Zhao, The
Status Quo and the Future of Chinese Space Legislation, 58 Zeitschrift für Luft-
und Weltraumrecht (2009), 94–122.
270
Cf. Schematic Overview of National Regulatory Frameworks for Space
Activities, UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/CRP.8, of 16 March 2012, 4.
271
Cf. Y. Zhao, supra n. 269, 250.

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by administrative measures but will be combined in a unified comprehen-

sive space act in the near future.272
India has become another important emerging spacefaring nation, in
particular because of the launching services it provides. The Indian
launch facilities are owned by the government, and launch services are
offered to national and foreign entities exclusively by the Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO).273 However, since 2000, the government
has permitted commercial satellite and operations facility ownership to
national companies. Consequently, licensing mechanisms had to be
introduced to control and supervise private space activities. India has,
however, not yet enacted a specific law in this respect.274 On the other
hand, a number of laws, regulations and guidelines stemming from other
fields are applicable to space activities in India, such as on satellite
communications, satellite broadcasting, remote sensing and India’s
participation in global navigation satellite systems.

3.3.6 National Space Agencies and Basic Space Laws

Several more states have started to work on the formulation of national

space laws in the past years. These efforts usually start with the
formulation of a national space policy which sets out the aims and
principles of the respective state in the area of space and usually also
points to some concrete steps, including legislation.
The first legislative act is usually the establishment of a national space
agency to be entrusted with the implementation of the national space
policy. As those national space agencies carry out their activities in a
determined regulatory framework, these legal or regulatory frameworks
also constitute national space legislation.

272
See Y. Zhao, supra n. 269, 248–9.
273
Cf. R. Kaul & R.S. Jakhu, Regulation of Space Activities in India, in
National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 164–5.
274
See Kaul & Jakhu, supra n. 273, 165; C. Jayaraj, India’s Space Policy
and Institutions, in Proceedings of the United Nations/Republic of Korea
Workshop on Space Law: United Nations Treaties on Outer Space: Actions at the
National Level (2004), 17–24; V.S. Mani, Space Policy and Law in India and its
Relevance to the Pacific Rim, 35 Journal of Space Law (2009), 615–34; S.
Narang, Commercialization and Privatization of Indian Space Activities: Need
for a Regulatory Framework, 1 The Gujarat National Law University Law
Review (2009), 82–100.

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National space law 177

One example of such a legal framework for space activities is Brazil

where the establishment of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB)275 marked
the beginning of an intensification of space activity, primarily through
launching from Brazilian territory, which also triggered the enactment of
important administrative regulations.276 Similarly, in Chile277 and in
Colombia278 the first step to regulate space activities was the establish-
ment of a national space agency.
A further step into the direction of a more comprehensive legal
framework is the formulation of ‘basic space laws’. Their aim is to define
the basic principles and priorities and to provide the basis for the
development of further, more detailed national space legislation. The
Basic Space Law of Japan279 is a good example of this approach. Based
on the formulation of the most important principles that should guide the
exploration and use of outer space by Japan,280 the government is

275
See Law Establishing the Brazilian Space Agency, No. 8.854, of 10
February 1994, www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/L8854.htm, last accessed 13
April 2014. Further e.g. J. Monserrat, The New Brazilian Space Agency: A
Political and Legal Analysis, 11 Space Policy (1995), 121–30.
276
Most importantly, Administrative Edict No. 27, 20 June 2001; National
Space Legislation of the World, Vol. II (2002), at 377. See for a comprehensive
overview of the Brazilian regulatory framework for space activities J. Monserrat,
Regulation of Space Activities in Brazil, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 61–80; cf. also O. de O. Bittencourt Neto,
Private Launch Activities on Brazilian Territory: Current Legal Framework, in 58
Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2009), 429–49; J. Monserrat, Brazilian
Launch Licensing and Authorizing Regimes, in Proceedings of the United
Nations/International Institute of Air and Space Law Workshop: Capacity
Building in Space Law (2003), 158.
277
See Supreme Decree No. 338 of 17 July 2011 on the Establishment of a
Presidential Advisory Committee known as the Chilean Space Agency,
www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/national/chile/supreme_decree_338_
2001E.html, last accessed 13 April 2014.
278
See Decree 2442 of July 2006 on the creation of the Colombian
Commission of Space (CEE); further Schematic Overview of National Regula-
tory Frameworks for Space Activities; UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/CRP.8, of 16
March 2012, 4.
279
Basic Space Law, Act No. 43/2008, see Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, E.V.1.
280
See S. Aoki, Japan. Introduction, in Space Law – Basic Legal Documents
(Eds. K.H. Böckstiegel, M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl), E.VI, 3; S. Aoki, Introduc-
tion to the Japanese Basic Space Law of 2008, 57 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2008), 585–90; cf. further also S. Aoki, Current Status and
Recent Developments in Japan’s National Space Law and Its Relevance to
Pacific Rim Space Law and Activities, 35 Journal of Space Law (2009),

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178 Handbook of space law

currently in the process of formulating a more detailed legal framework

covering a large variety of different legal aspects relating to Japanese
space activities.281
Finally, a special case is presented by Hong Kong, which, as a
consequence of the transition of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to
the People’s Republic of China in 1997, was no longer governed by the
UK Outer Space Act.282 As China, however, was interested in continuing
to allow private space activities to be undertaken by Hong Kong entities
but had no national space law in place to ensure appropriate implementa-
tion of the international obligations now resting upon China in that
respect, a special ordinance was drafted to take care of the new
situation.283 Though strictly speaking, the Outer Space Ordinance for the
Hong Kong region does not constitute national space legislation, it
performs the same functions of implementing international responsibil-
ities and liabilities following from the UN space treaties.284
Whilst such a sub-national approach to implementation of the UN
space treaties is not wide-spread, also in the case of Curacao, as an
outlying part of the Netherlands, the plans to conduct commercial space
transportation have given rise to a process to establish sub-national
regulation for Curacao alone, as the Dutch Space Law in itself does not
apply to that island.285

363–438; H. Nobuaki, Briefing Memo: Establishment of the Basic Space Law –

Japan’s Space Security Policy (2008); M. Sawako, Transformation of Japanese
Space Policy: From the ‘Peaceful Use of Space’ to ‘the Basic Law on Space’,
44-1-09 The Asia-Pacific Journal (2 November 2009).
281
Cf. S. Aoki, Regulation of Space Activities in Japan, in National
Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 199.
282
See supra, § 3.3.2.3.
283
The Outer Space Ordinance, An Ordinance to confer licensing and other
powers on the Chief Executive to secure compliance with the international
obligations of the People’s Republic of China with respect to the launching and
operation of space objects and the carrying on of other activities in outer space,
13 June 1997, as amended 1999, Chapter 523; 51 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2002), at 50.
284
See further e.g. S.U. Reif, Space Law in the People’s Republic of China –
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government: Outer Space
Ordinance (last amended 55 of 1999 s. 3), 51 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2002), 47–56; Y. Zhao, Satellite Application and Development of
Space Law in Hong Kong, in 2004 Space Law Conference Assembled Papers
(2004), 107–17.
285
See supra, § 3.3.3.3, esp. n. 187.

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National space law 179

3.4 INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES

3.4.1 The UNGA Resolution on national space legislation

In 2007, the Legal Sub-Committee of UN COPUOS introduced a new

agenda item under a work plan entitled ‘General exchange of information
on national legislation relevant for the peaceful exploration and use of
outer space’.286 It established a working group under the chairmanship of
the present author, which started its work according to a work plan.287 In
March 2012, at its final session, the working group concluded its final
report.288
The working group agreed that the ‘Conclusions’ (part III) of the final
report should provide the basis for ‘Recommendations on national
legislation relevant to the peaceful exploration and use of outer space’,
which should be presented to the UN COPUOS session in June 2012 as
the basis for a draft General Assembly resolution.289 Another proposal
was to attach the text of the ‘Recommendations’ as an annex to the draft
resolution on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer
space, for adoption by the UN General Assembly.290 The working group
reached a consensus on the text of these Recommendations and included
them as an Appendix to the report of the Chair of the Working Group in
2012.291 The discussion on some formulations and on the form of the text
to be submitted to the General Assembly took another year, but in 2013
consensus could be reached to submit the text on ‘Recommendations on

286
See Report of the Legal Sub-Committee on its forty-sixth session, Vienna,
26 March–5 April 2007, UN Doc. A/AC./105/891, para 136.
287
For a detailed report of the work of the Legal Sub-Committee on national
space legislation between 2008 and 2011 see I. Marboe, National Space
Legislation – the Work of the Legal Subcommittee of UN COPUOS 2008–2011,
in Proceedings of International Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 101–6.
288
See Report of the Working Group on National Legislation Relevant to the
Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space, UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/101, 3
April 2012.
289
See Report of the Working Group on National Legislation Relevant to the
Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space, supra n. 288, para. 6.
290
See ibid.
291
See Report of the Chair of the Working Group on National Legislation
Relevant to the Peaceful Exploration and Use of Outer Space, UN Doc.
A/AC.105/1003, of 10 April 2012, Annex III, Appendix.

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180 Handbook of space law

national legislations relevant to the peaceful exploration and use of outer

space’ to the General Assembly for adoption in a separate resolution.292
The ‘Recommendations’ so adopted consist of a preamble and an
operative paragraph, which contains ‘elements for consideration’ for
states when enacting regulatory frameworks for national space activities.
There are eight ‘elements’ that states could consider when enacting
regulatory frameworks for national space activities, in accordance with
their national law, taking into account their specific needs: (1) the scope
of application (definition of space activities targeted by national regula-
tory frameworks); (2) the definition of national jurisdiction over space
activities (territorial, quasi-territorial – which includes space activities
from/at vessels/aircraft registered in the state or other stations under its
jurisdiction – and/or personal jurisdiction over space activities); (3) the
authorization procedure; (4) conditions for authorization; (5) ways and
means of supervision of space activities; (6) establishment of a national
register of objects launched into outer space; (7) possible recourse
mechanisms and insurance requirements; and (8) transfer of ownership or
control of a space object in orbit.293
These elements are currently present in existing national space legisla-
tion, albeit not in all of it and to a different extent. On the basis of the
texts presented by UN COPUOS member states in the working group, the
UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA) prepared a ‘Schematic
overview of national regulatory frameworks for space activities’.294 It
shows, in a table, how these elements are already integrated and
formulated in practice.295

292
See Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 11 December 2013,
UN Doc. A/RES/68/74.
293
The eight elements reflect the results of the discussion in the Working
Group as summarized, particularly, in the ‘Conclusions’ of the Report of the
Working Group on National Legislation Relevant to the Peaceful Exploration and
Use of Outer Space, supra n. 288, para. 35. Furthermore, the ‘Summary of the
work conducted by the Working Group under its multi-year workplan’ and the
‘Findings of the Working Group’ provide additional background information; see
ibid., paras. 1–28.
294
See Schematic overview of national regulatory frameworks for space
activities, UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/2013/CRP 7, of 9 April 2013.
295
See also the table in the Appendix to this chapter and the tables in
Marboe & Hafner, supra n. 45‚ 29, 63, as well as Sánchez-Aranzamendi, supra
n. 139, 11–5.

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National space law 181

In 2012, the Legal Sub-Committee introduced a new ‘regular item’ on

its agenda entitled ‘National legislation relevant to the peaceful explor-
ation and use of outer space’.296 This enables it to continue its work on
the important issue of national space legislation, to update the schematic
overview of national space legislation, and to make use of the recom-
mendations contained in the General Assembly Resolution in its discus-
sion on the practice of states regarding the national regulation of space
activities.

3.4.2 The ILA Committee on Space Law

The Committee on Space Law of the ILA has been dealing with the
commercialization of outer space and its legal aspects since the 2004
Conference in Berlin.297 At the 2008 Conference, the Committee noticed
a growing willingness of states to enter into a more concrete discussion
and started to consider the elaboration of a model law.298 Such a model
law should be based on the so-called ‘building blocks’ which had already
been recommended by the Committee in 2004.299 The ‘building blocks’
resulted from Project 2001 and Project 2001 Plus, which considered them
to be essential cornerstones of future space legislation in view of the
international law obligations of states stemming from the Outer Space
Treaty and the Liability Convention.
In 2010, at the Conference in The Hague, a first draft of the Model
Law was presented. The rapporteur opened the discussion with the aim of
deciding whether some kind of model law could be adopted.300 In the
view of the rapporteur, there was a core of clauses indispensable for any
future legislation: the duty and details of authorization procedures and
licensing, and respective requirements; the duty of supervision; and the
necessary insurance for private space actors.301 The so-called ‘building

296
See Report of the Legal Sub-Committee on its fifty-first session, Vienna,
19–30 March 2012, UN Doc. A/AC./105/1003, para. 177.
297
See Report of the Space Law Committee, Part II, National Space
Legislation – A Draft Model Law, in Report of the Seventy-Fourth Conference –
The Hague (2010), 274.
298
See Report of the Space Law Committee, Part II, National Space
Legislation – A Draft Model Law, supra n. 297, 650.
299
See Report of the Space Law Committee, Part II, National Space
Legislation, in Report of the Seventy-First Conference – Berlin (2004), 759.
300
See Report of the Space Law Committee, Part II, National Space
Legislation – A Draft Model Law, supra n. 297, 275.
301
See ibid.

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182 Handbook of space law

blocks’ encompassed: (1) authorization of space activities; (2) super-

vision of space activities; (3) registration of space objects; (4) indemni-
fication regulation; and (5) additional regulation.302
These elements have already been addressed by the national space laws
discussed above, as summarized in Table 3.1.303
The proposed Model Law consisted of nine articles, which largely
correspond to the above-mentioned building blocks. Consultations were
continued until the 2012 Sofia Conference, where a revised draft was
presented by the rapporteur under the title of ‘Draft Guidelines for a
Model Law on National Space Legislation’. The new draft consisted of
14 articles and reflected the intensive exchange of views and proposals
between members of the Committee in the inter-sessional period. It was
accompanied by an article-by-article commentary by the rapporteur.
Article 2 of the revised Model Law contains a list of definitions of
terms, among them ‘space activity’ and ‘space object’. The term ‘space
activity’ is defined as including ‘launch, operation, guidance, and re-entry
of space objects into, in and from outer space and other activities
essential for the launch, operation, guidance and re-entry of space objects
into, in and from outer space’. Authorization and the conditions for
authorization are contained in Articles 3 and 4. Article 5 deals with
supervision, which provides (differently from the previous draft) that
space activities ‘shall be subject to continuing supervision by the
ministerial authority under conditions to be laid down in an implement-
ing decree or regulation’. A new article on sanctions, Article 14,
complements and confirms the obligation of the state to ensure that the
obligations of space operators are complied with.
The article on insurance, Article 12, introduces a completely new
element, namely the possibility that the licensing authority may waive the
obligation to insure. This may be the case when (1) the operator has
sufficient equity capital to cover the amount of his/her liability or (2) the
space activity is not a commercial space activity and is in the public
interest. The details of the content and conditions shall be laid down in
an implementing decree/regulation. This possibility of waiver reflects
concerns of private industry and universities, which feared that an
insurance obligation could turn out to be prohibitive.

302
See ibid., 276.
303
The author wishes to thank Ms. Karin Traunmüller and Ms. Cordula
Steinkogler, research assistants at the University of Vienna, for their help in
putting together this table.

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 Table 3.1 Conditions for authorization in selected national space legislation

Columns Design XML Ltd

/
Authorization Supervision Registration Indemnification Additional regulation
United States X X X X X
Russian Federation X X X X X
Ukraine X X X X X
Kazakhstan X X X X
Norway X X
Sweden X X X X
United Kingdom X X X X X
France X X X X X
Belgium X X X X X
The Netherlands X X X X X
Austria X X X X X

183
Australia X X X X X
South Korea X X X X X
Spain X

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Italy X X

/
Germany X X
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 57 SESS: 11 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Canada X X
China X X X
India
South Africa X X X X
Brazil X X X
Chile X

Division: 04_Chapter3
Colombia
Japan X X X

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184 Handbook of space law

Protection of the environment is an important concern reflected in the

Model Law, which keeps the requirement of an environmental impact
assessment following Article 7. Furthermore, mitigation of space debris
is identified in Article 8 as an important concern and specifies the
condition for authorization as per Article 4(d) in more detail.
Article 13 on procedure refers to the possibility of resorting to
arbitration and to the new Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Rules
on Outer Space Disputes of 2011.304 However, generally the disputes in
question are disputes between ‘national’ space operators and administra-
tive authorities because only they are subjects targeted by the law. The
respective authority usually could not or would not accept arbitration in
such cases but would refer to the various stages of appeal available
against administrative decisions. If, however, the applicant is a foreigner,
international arbitration rules could become relevant.
At its working session at the ILA Sofia Conference, the Committee on
Space Law adopted the draft which henceforth should be known as
the ‘Sofia Guidelines for a Model Law on National Space Legislation’.
The Committee has dedicated a lot of work to the elaboration of the
Guidelines, and their formulation is a great accomplishment. They
contribute a lot to the clarification of many questions with regard to
implementation of international space law at the national level. However,
due to the diversity of legal systems, the different nature of space
activities in various countries and the different priorities and policies of
states in the area of outer space, it remains to be seen to what extent
states will resort to these Guidelines when considering enacting national
space legislation in the future.305

3.5 CONCLUSION
The overview of existing national space laws has shown that there exists
a remarkable diversity in the way in which states regulate national space
activities. The reason for this diversity is that states have enacted national
legal frameworks in respect of their specific needs and practical consider-
ations and often closely corresponding to the type of space activities
conducted. Furthermore, the degree of commercialization and privat-
ization of the space sector in the respective country plays an important

304
See further on this infra, § 19.3.
305
For a first analysis of the new ILA Model Law see I. Marboe, Culmina-
tion of Efforts in the Area of National Space Legislation in 2012, in Proceedings
of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 521–4.

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National space law 185

role. The national regulatory frameworks for space activities represent

different systems, some possessing comprehensive dedicated space laws
(such as in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Australia), others a combination of national legal instruments, ranging
from administrative regulations to decrees and laws (such as in the
United States, the Russian Federation, China, India).
The increasing exchange of information on the issue of national space
legislation and the different initiatives at national and international levels
towards a more harmonized approach seem, however, already to have led
to a more coherent approach to national space legislation. For example,
the recent space laws in Europe (France, Belgium, the Netherlands and
Austria) cover a range of issues in a rather similar way. They all aim at
regulating space activities in a comprehensive manner. They do not limit
themselves to only certain aspects as was the case earlier, when Norway
limited the application of the law to launches from its territory, or Spain
to the duty to register.
On the contrary, the new laws establish general systems of author-
ization for all space activities and define ‘space activities’ in a rather
broad manner. The right to authorize space activities – and to refuse such
authorization – provides the states with the possibility to ask for the
fulfilment of specific conditions. These conditions are formulated in a
rather similar manner and address safety, public order, protection of the
environment, international obligations and policy interests of the respect-
ive states. Registration is also an issue that is addressed in all recent
space laws.
In addition, the new laws make sure that the states have a right of
recourse against private space actors when they have paid compensation
for damage pursuant to their liability under international law. In addition,
the states apparently agree that insurance is an appropriate means of
providing for the recoverability of the compensation paid – at least up to
the amount which is insurable on the market. Compliance with national
space laws is monitored by state organs, and violations are sanctioned by
monetary fines – not any more by imprisonment as was the case in earlier
laws (such as Sweden).
Furthermore, the ‘elements for consideration’ proposed by the UNGA
Resolution on national space legislation are very closely related and quite
similar to the different elements contained in the ILA Model Law on
national space legislation. There is, however, still a difference as regards
the level of detail in the proposals for the different elements in national
space legislation. The UN ‘elements’ are more descriptive of the situation
that currently exists and less ambitious as regards the achievement of an
‘ideal’. They are rather a summary presentation of current state practice

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186 Handbook of space law

than a ‘progressive development’ of the law – making reference to Article

13 of the UN Charter.306 The text used in the ‘elements’ avoids language
that would indicate a preference for one particular solution over another.
It is a reflection of the consensus principle that characterizes the work in
UN COPUOS and its two subcommittees. It shows the attitude of most
UN COPUOS members – that is, sovereign states – not to be ready to
accept formulations which would restrict their freedom to draft their
national space law in a way that fits their specific needs and interests and
their particular national legal systems.
The ILA Committee on Space Law, by contrast, did not need to deal
with such sensitivities in its work. Its membership is composed of
independent experts who argue and formulate, ideally on the basis of
objective and legal reasoning rather than of political and economic
considerations. They have an international law perspective and not a
national perspective upon the aim to be achieved. The ILA Committee
could therefore take a position in favour of specific solutions and use a
clearer language. This becomes particularly evident in the provisions on
the protection of the environment and on the avoidance of space debris.
Also the idea that international arbitration might be resorted to in cases
of disputes does not appear in the UNGA Resolution.307
Both international initiatives are more than academic or abstract
diplomatic endeavours. States are increasingly active in the drafting of
national space law and it can be observed that they are in search of
guidance or support in this matter. It seems logical and natural that states
will consult the two documents and try to implement them as widely as
possible. The cooperation between academia and practice is further
reinforced by the continuous exchange of views in sessions and confer-
ences of UN COPUOS and the ILA. It has become general practice that
experts of international law and legal advisers of foreign ministries – who

306
Art. 13(1), Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, done 26 June
1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993; 24 UST 2225; 59 Stat.
1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666 & 6711; CTS 1945 No.
7; ATS 1945 No. 1, reads: ‘The General Assembly shall initiate studies and make
recommendations for the purpose of: a. promoting international co-operation in
the political field and encouraging the progressive development of international
law and its codification’.
307
This is not necessarily due to the traditional scepticism of states about
international dispute settlement by judicial means but perhaps simply to the fact
that the new rules for arbitration of disputes relating to outer space activities of
the PCA were only finalized and published in 2012; see further infra, § 19.3. The
UN COPUOS members might not have felt ready to include them in their debate,
which had already started years before.

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National space law 187

are often members of the ILA – are part of the delegation of UN

COPUOS member states in the sessions of the Legal Sub-Committee.
This is another indication that the endeavours of UN COPUOS and the
ILA on the implementation of international space law via national laws
will play a significant role in the future processes of law-making relating
to activities in outer space.
It seems, therefore, that, even though there is no deliberate plan to
harmonize national space laws, either through the European Union or
through a UN treaty, the contents of the existing space laws have a
chance of becoming increasingly similar to each other. This would be a
positive development for the increasingly international nature of space
activities. The creation of a coherent legal framework, rather than too
much diversity, would in the long run be beneficial to all.
Despite the divergence of national space laws, the risks of ‘flags of
convenience’ in outer space is less apparent than in the law of the sea.
The most important reason is that the UN space treaties provide for a
specific regime of liability not existing in other areas of law.308 There is,
in principle, always a state who is responsible and liable. However, the
fact that the ‘launching State’ (and not only the state of registry) is liable
for damage caused by space objects does not help preventing damage
caused by space objects that were not put in earth orbit in adequate
technical conditions. In outer space, prevention is vital. Financial repar-
ation can hardly compensate all the damage potentially caused by
accidents or collissions. It is therefore in the interest of all space actors –
governmental or private – to continue to strive for a responsible use of
outer space in the future by all the actors involved. This is particularly
important in view of the increasing problem of space debris. States
without systems of authorization, reimbursement and insurance might be
confronted with huge compensation claims and have problems getting
their money back. National legislation will therefore keep and increase its
significant role in shaping the future of a responsible and lasting use of
outer space.

308
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Towards ‘Flags of Convenience’ in Space?, in
Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 811–30.

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APPENDIX

Table 3A.1 Elements of regulation in national space legislation

Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of

‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control
United States Different Depending on Different Different Different Office of In the case of In case of
Title 51 of the activities are type of activity: authorities conditions authorities for Commercial commercial transmission of
United States regulated in commercial depending on depending on different types Space space launch energy or
Code (U.S.C.), different acts, space launch type of activity type of activity, of activity: Transportation activities communications
National and including: activities (51 U.S.C. including: Secretary of receives operators shall to or from the
Commercial construction, carried out by §§ 50905, safety of people Transportation, information have in effect US, licenses can
Space development, citizens of the 50906, 50908 and property, Secretary of according to liability only be
Programs launch and US, entities and protection of Commerce, Art. IV of the insurance or transferred
Title 47 of the operation of organized under 60121-60123; public health Federal Registration demonstrate upon finding by
satellites, the laws of the and Communications Convention financial the Federal

188
United States 14 C.F.R.
Code (U.S.C.), satellite US, or entities Chapter III, environment, Commission (14 C.F.R. responsibility to Communications
Telecom- communications, organized under space debris within their compensate for Commission

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Subchapter C; § 417.19)
munications remote sensing the laws of a 47 C.F.R. mitigation, respective field the maximum that doing so

/
(51 U.S.C. foreign country §§ 5.51-5.95, economic and of competence probable loss would serve the
Title 14 Code if the strategic (determined for public interest
§§ 20103, 25.102, Different
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 62 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

of Federal controlling interests, each licence up or necessity

Regulations 50902, 50904, 25.110-25.165 sanctions
60101 and interest is held and 97.207; 47 national depending on to a maximum (47 U.S.C. 310,
(C.F.R.), by a US citizen security, of $ 500
Aeronautics 60121; 47 U.S.C. type of activity (d))
U.S.C. or legal entity; §§ 307-309) international and million)
and Space operation of obligations resulting from
§§ 301-309 and infringement,
Title 47 Code 702; 47 C.F.R. private remote (51 U.S.C. including the an activity
of Federal §§ 25.102-25.162 sensing systems §§ 50905, revocation of under the
Regulations etc.) by persons 50906, 60121 licence and civil licence;
(C.F.R.), subject to US US carries

Division: 04_Chapter3
and 60122; 14 penalties
Telecom- jurisdiction or C.F.R. Chapter burden of
munication control; (51 U.S.C. compensation
III, Subchapter Chapter 509
and others operation of an C; 47 C.F.R. for damage
apparatus for and exceeding these

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the §§ 5.51-5.95, §§ 60121-60123; amounts, up to
transmission of 25.102 and 14 C.F.R. the statutory

/
energy or 25.110-25.165; § 405.1; 47 maximum of
communications 47 U.S.C. C.F.R. app. 2,7 billion
to or from the §§ 307-309) §§ 25.160- (in 2011
US, or by a 25.162 and dollars)
mobile station 25.283) (51 U.S.C.
under US §§ 50914 and
jurisdiction 50915; 14
(51 U.S.C. C.F.R. part 440)
§§ 50902,
50904, 60121
and 60122; 47
U.S.C.
§§ 301-309; 47
C.F.R.
§§ 25.102-25.162)

Russian Activities Activities Russian Space Safety of people Russian Space Space objects of Right of

189
Federation directly undertaken by Agency and property, Agency the Russian recourse of the
Law on Space connected with foreign (ROSCOSMOS) national (ROSCOSMOS) Federation are government
Activity, exploration and organizations (Art. 6, para. 2 security, various subject to towards

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Federal Law use of outer and citizens and Art. 9 Law economic and possibilities registration organizations
No. 5663-1 space, e.g. under the strategic and citizens

/
on Space stipulated by (Art. 17, para. 1
(1993) scientific space jurisdiction of Activity; interest, law such as Law on Space responsible
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 63 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

as amended research, the Russian Statute on protection of verification Activity) for the space
Statute on remote sensing, Federation; Licensing environment monitoring, object causing
Licensing use of activities Space (Art. 5 et seq. shut down of the damage
Space navigation undertaken by Operations) Statute on operations and compulsory
Operations, satellite organizations Licensing suspension or insurance
Federal systems, piloted and citizens of Space annulment of coverage for life
Government space missions, the Russian Operations) licenses and health of
Decree No. manufacturing Federation personnel of
of materials and (Art. 24 and 25
104 (1996) (Art. 9 Law on space

Division: 04_Chapter3
products in Statute on
Space Activity) Licensing infrastructure
outer space and liability for

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Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

(Art. 2 Law on Space damage caused

Space Activity) Operations) to third parties
(Art. 25 and 30
Law on Space
Activity)
Ukraine Scientific space Any space National Space Safety of people National Space Space facilities Compulsory Removal from
Law on Space research, design activity in Agency and property, Agency, are subject to insurance, State Register,
Activity No. and application Ukraine or (Art. 6 and 10 public health, Ministry of mandatory amount to be if space facility
503/96-VR of space under the Law on Space national Defence and registration in determined by is transferred to
(1996) technology and jurisdiction of Activity) security, other executive the State the government; another State or
use of outer Ukraine outside economic authorities Register of procedures for to an

190
space its borders interest, offences are Space Facilities compulsory international or
(Art. 1 Law on (Art. 10 Law on protection of punishable by of Ukraine, insurance to be foreign

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Space Activity) Space Activity) environment disciplinary, subject to established by enterprise,
approval by the the Cabinet of institution or

/
(Art. 9 and 10 civil-law or
Law on Space criminal Cabinet of Ministers of organization
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 64 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Activity) penalties under Ministers of Ukraine (Art. 14 Law on

general law Ukraine (Art. 24 and 25 Space Activity)
(Art. 20 and 29 (Art. 13 Law on Law on Space
Law on Space Space Activity) Activity)
Activity)

Division: 04_Chapter3
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/
Kazakhstan Activities Space objects Authorized Obligatory By authorized Space objects Indemnification Lend-lease of a
Law on Space aimed at the launched from body in the field industrial body in the field are subject to for harm to the space sector
Activities exploration and the territory of of space expertise, of space registration by health of object to
No.528-IV use of outer K., as well as activities sectoral activities in the an authorized individuals or international or
(2012) space for outside the (Art. 12 and 13 expertise, form of body in the field damage to the foreign
scientific, territory in case Law on Space safety of space verification in of space environment or participant of
economic, of their Activities) activities, accordance with activities, if the property of space activities
environmental, implementation people’s health, the law “On the they belong to: individuals, is governed by
defence, by the environmental state control - individuals or legal entities or the legislation
informational Kazakhstan’s protection, and supervision to legal entities the state, which of K., unless
and commercial participants of security of in the Republic of K. or have arisen otherwise
purposes space activities; property of of Kazakhstan” - to foreign from the provided by
(Art. 1, para. 7 creation and individuals and (Art. 12 Law on individuals or implementation international
Law on Space operation of legal entities; Space legal entities of the space treaties ratified
Activities) space systems prohibition of Activities) and are activities, is by K.
in the territory the deployment launched from made (Art. 26 Law on
of K., as well as of weapons of the territory of voluntarily or Space
in outer space; mass K. under the court Activities)
creation and destruction in (Art. 11 Law on decision

191
operation of outer space Space according to the
space rocket (Art. 10, 27 and Activities) laws of K.
systems on the

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
30 Law on (Art. 27 Law on
territory of K. Space Space

/
(Art. 8 Law on Activities) Activities)
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 65 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Space
Activities)
Norway Launch of Launches from Ministry of Ministry of
Act on objects into Norwegian Trade and Trade and
launching outer space territory, Industry Industry can
objects from (Art. 1 Act on including (Art. 1 Act on issue
Norwegian launching Svalbard, Jan launching regulations on
territory into objects from Mayen and the objects from the control of
outer space external the launch of

Division: 04_Chapter3
Norwegian Norwegian
No. 38 (1969) territory into territories; territory into objects falling
outer space) launches outer space) within the law’s
from scope of
Norwegian application

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/
Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

vessels and (Art. 2 Act on

aircrafts; launching
launches by a objects from
Norwegian Norwegian
citizen or territory into
person with outer space)
habitual
residence in
Norway in areas
not subject to
the sovereignty
of any State
(Art. 1 Act on
launching
objects from

192
Norwegian
territory into

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
outer space)

/
Sweden Activities Activities from National Board National Board National Board If the Swedish
Act on Space carried on Swedish for Space for Space for Space State has been
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 66 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Activities entirely in outer territory and Activities Activities Activities internationally

(1982) space, activities (Sec. 3 and 4 withdrawal of (Sec. 4 Decree liable for
Decree on launching of carried out by Act on Space licence, fine or on Space damage which
Space objects into Swedish natural Activities; Sec. imprisonment Activities) was caused by a
Activities outer space, or juridical 1, para. 1 up to 1 year space activity
(1982) measures to persons Decree on carried out by a
manoeuvre (Sec. 4 and 5 person other
(Sec. 2 Act on Space Act on Space
objects Space Activities) than the
launched Activities; Sec. Swedish State,

Division: 04_Chapter3
Activities) 2 Decree on
(excluded: that person shall
reception of Space reimburse the
signals or Activities) State, unless
information and there are

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launching of reasons
sounding speaking

/
rockets) against it
(Sec. 1 Act on (Sec. 6 Act on
Space Space
Activities) Activities)
United Launching or Activities Secretary of Safety of people Secretary of Register Licensee is Transfer of
Kingdom procuring the carried on by State, exercised and property, State maintained by required to licence possible
Outer Space launch of a UK nationals on his behalf by public health, person’s the Secretary of insure himself with the written
Act (1986) space object, (including the British international liability on State; against liability consent of the
operating a citizens of National Space obligations, conviction on particulars of incurred in Secretary of
space object British Centre (BNSC) national indictment to space objects respect of State
and any other dependent (Sec. 4, para. 1 security, fines and on shall be entered damage or loss (Sec. 6, para. 1
activity in outer territories, Outer Space protection of summary as the Secretary suffered by Outer Space
space British overseas Act) the environment conviction to a of State third Act)
(Sec. 1 Outer citizens and (Sec. 4, para. 2 fine not considers parties
Space Act) British and Sec. 5, para. exceeding the appropriate to right of
nationals 2 Outer Space statutory comply with recourse of the
located international

193
Act) maximum State without
overseas), obligations of limitation
Scottish firms (Sec. 5, para. 2 the UK
and bodies and Sec. 12 (Sec. 5, para. 2
Outer Space (Sec. 7 Outer and Sec. 10

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
incorporated Space Act)
under the law of Act) Outer Space

/
any part of the Act)
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 67 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

UK
(Sec. 2 Outer
Space Act)
France Any activity Launches or Administrative Moral, financial Agents from Registry held by Compulsory Subject to prior
French Space consisting in returns from or authority and several public the Centre insurance; authorization
Operations Act launching, to French (Art. 2 and 4 professional authorities National amount to be from the
No 2008-518 attempting to territory or Space guarantees of Fine of up to d’Etudes determined by administrative
(2008) launch or facilities falling Operations Act) the applicant; €200 000 for Spatiales decree authority
intending to under French compliance (CNES) on

Division: 04_Chapter3
and others various Right of the (Art. 3 Space
procure the jurisdiction; with technical breaches by the behalf of the government to Operations Act)
launch of an launches, regulations, operator State make a claim

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Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

object into outer returns or national (Art. 7 and 11 (Art. 12 Space for
space or in command of defence Space Operations Act) indemnification
ensuring the space objects by interests and Operations Act) against the
commanding of French international operator, if it
a space object operators; commitments; has paid
during its procurement of authorization compensation
journey launches by may include according to its
(Art. 1, No. 3 natural persons requirements on international
Space having French safety of liability;
Operations Act) nationality or persons and this recourse is
juridical property, mitigated by the
persons whose protection of respective
headquarters public health insurance
are located in and the coverage
France environment (Art. 6 and 14

194
(Art. 2 Space (Art. 4 and 5 Space
Operations Act) Space Operations Act)

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Operations Act)
Belgium Activities of Space activities Minister with Safety of people Minister; Kept by the Facultative Requires

/
Law on the launching, in zones placed responsibility and property, conditions Minister; insurance; Minister’s prior
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 68 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

activities of flight under the for space protection of determined by conditions amount subject authorization
launching, operations and jurisdiction or research and its the the King determined by to case-by-case (Art. 13 Law on
flight guidance of control of the applications environment, Fines between € the King evaluation; the activities of
operations or space objects Belgian State or (Art. 3, 6° and optimal use of 25 and € 25 000 (Art. 14 Law on Minister may launching,
guidance of (Art. 2, § 1 Law using Art. 4 Law on air space and or the activities of create an flight
space objects on the activities installations, the activities of outer space, imprisonment launching, obligation for operations or
(2005) of launching, personal or real launching, economic and of between flight insurance as guidance of
Royal Decree flight property, owned flight strategic eight days and operations or condition for space objects)
implementing operations or by the Belgian operations or interests, one year guidance of authorization

Division: 04_Chapter3
certain guidance of State or which guidance of international space objects) Right of direct
are under its obligations (Art. 6, Art. 10,
provisions of space objects) space objects) § 1 and Art. 19, recourse against
the Law of 17 jurisdiction or (Art. 5, § 1 Law the operator in
control; space §§ 1 and 2 Law
September on the activities the case

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2005 on the activities of launching, on the activities Belgium had to
activities of carried out by flight of launching, pay

/
launching, natural or legal operations or flight compensation
flight persons of guidance of operations or (Art. 5, §2 and
operations and Belgian space objects) guidance of Art. 15 Law on
guidance of nationality, if space objects; the activities of
space objects provided for Art. 2 Royal launching,
(2008) under Decree flight
international implementing operations or
agreements certain guidance of
(Art. 2 Law on provisions of space objects)
the activities of the Law of 17
launching, September
flight 2005)
operations or
guidance of
space objects)

The Launch, flight Space activities Minister of Safety of people Officials Minister of Compulsory Licence not

195
Netherlands operation and in or from the Economic and property, designated by Economic insurance; set transferable;
Rules guidance of Netherlands or Affairs protection of order of Affairs by the Minister transfer of
Concerning space objects from a Dutch (Sec. 1, (a) and the Minister of (Sec. 11 Space at the highest ownership to be

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Space (Sec. 1, (b) ship or aircraft; Sec. 3, para. 1 environment, Economic Activities Act) coverage reported to the
Activities and by Order in public order, Affairs available at the Minister

/
Space Activities Space Activities
the Act) Council: Act) strategic Administrative market (Sec. 8 Space
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 69 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Establishment – space interest, orders and Right of redress Activities Act;

of a Registry of activities financial administrative against the Art. 5, (1) of
Space Objects carried out by security, penalties up to € licence-holder Space Objects
– Space Dutch natural or international 450 000 or € up to the value Registry
Activities Act juridical obligations 100 000, of the sum Decree)
(2007) persons on or (Sec. 3, para. 3 depending on insured, if State
Decree from the Space Activities seriousness and has paid
containing territory of a Act) duration of the compensation
rules with State that is not infringement under Article

Division: 04_Chapter3
party to the

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/
Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

regard to a Outer Space and extent of VII of the Outer

registry of Treaty perpetrator’s Space Treaty or
information – the fault the Liability
concerning organization of (Sec. 13 and 15 Convention
space objects – space activities Space Activities (Sec. 3, para. 4
Space Objects by a natural or Act) and Sec. 12
Registry juridical person Space Activities
Decree (2007) from within the Act)
Netherlands
(Sec. 2, para. 1
Space Activities
Act)
Austria Launch, Space activities Minister for Public order, Minister Established at Insurance Needs
Outer Space operation or carried out on Transport, safety of Fines up to € the Ministry for coverage (up to authorization
Act (2011) control of a Austrian Innovation and persons and 100 000, Transport,

196
€ 60 million) is (§ 8 Outer
space object; territory, on Technology property, public minimum fine Innovation and a condition for Space Act)
operation of a board of vessels (§ 3 Outer health, national of € 20 000 for Technology authorization, if

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
launching site or airplanes Space Act) security, carrying out a (§ 9 Outer not waived for

/
(§ 2, (1) Outer registered in international space activity Space Act) ‘public
Space Act) Austria, by obligations, without a purpose’
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 70 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

natural persons Austrian licence activities

with Austrian foreign policy (§§ 13 and 14 Right of
citizenship or interests, Outer Space recourse against
by legal persons mitigation of Act) the operator in
seated in space debris, the case that
Austria protection of Austria has
(§ 1, subpara. 1 the environment compensated
Outer Space (§ 4, subpara. 1 damage caused
Act) by a space

Division: 04_Chapter3
and § 5 Outer
Space Act) activity
(§ 4, subpara. 4
and § 11 Outer
Space Act)

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Australia Launching and Space activities Minister Safety of people Launch Safety Minister Insurance Transfer

/
Space return of space carried out from responsible for and property, Officer (Sec. 76 Space against any possible
Activities Act objects; Australia or by space activities protection of appointed by Activities Act) liability; (Sec. 22-24,
No. 123 (1998) operation of a Australian (Sec. 18, 26 and the Minister for insurance for 31-33 and
as amended launching or nationals 35 Space environment, each licensed benefit of 38-40 Space
Space return site outside Activities Act) national launch facility Australia Activities Act)
Activities (Part 3 Space Australia security, public Civil penalty in minimum
Regulations Activities Act) (Sec. 3 Space health, public case of insurance:
(2001) as Activities Act) safety, foreign operation of a maximum
amended policy, launch facility probable loss –
international without amount set out
obligations authorization in regulations
(Sec. 18, 26, 29 Unauthorized In the event that
and 35 Space launch or return Australia has to
Activities Act) of a space compensate a
object is an foreign State
offence under
punishable by a international
fine not law, the

197
exceeding 100 responsible
000 penalty party for the
units and/or by relevant launch

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
imprisonment or return is
liable to pay

/
not exceeding
10 years either the
amount of that
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 71 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

(Sec. 11-14, compensation

50-51 and or the insured
80-82 Space amount for the
Activities Act) permit or
certificate
(Sec. 48 and 74
Space Activities
Act)

Division: 04_Chapter3
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/
Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

Republic of Development, Launches Minister of Use and National Space Minister of Obligatory In general,
Korea launch and carried out by Science and purpose of the Committee Science and insurance changes have to
Space operation of legal or natural Technology space launch (established Technology against liability be permitted by
Development space objects Korean citizens; (Art. 11 Space vehicle, safety under the (Art. 8 and 10 for damage Minister of
Promotion Act (Art. 2 Space launches from Development management of control of the Space possibly Science and
(2005) Development Korean territory Promotion Act) the space President) Development occurring; Technology
Space Liability Promotion Act) or territory launch vehicle, deliberates Promotion Act) minimum (Art. 11, (1)
Act (2007) under its financial provisions amount of Space
jurisdiction; capability of the regarding space third-party Development
launches applicant development liability Promotion Act)
utilizing a space (Art. 11, (3) Minister of insurance set by
launch vehicle Space Science and Ministerial
owned by the Development Technology decree of the
Korean Promotion Act) may revoke a Ministry of
government or launch permit Science and

198
Korean citizens and may form Technology
(Art. 8 Space an Inquiry (Art. 15 Space

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Development Committee in Development

/
Promotion Act) case of Promotion Act)
accidents
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 72 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Imprisonment
for up to five
years or fines
not exceeding
fifty million
Won for
unauthorized
launches

Division: 04_Chapter3
(Art. 6, 13, 16
and 27 Space
Development
Promotion Act)

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Spain Launching of a Launches Ministry of

/
Royal Decree space object carried out or Foreign Affairs
establishing in (Art. 5 Royal procured by the (Art. 2 Royal
the Kingdom of Decree) Spanish State; Decree)
Spain the launches from
Registry Spain or a
(1995) Spanish facility
(Art. 5 Royal
Decree)

Italy Italian Space Entitlement of

Law on the Agency (ASI) natural and
Implementation (Art. 3, (2) Law legal persons to
for the on registration receive
Convention on of objects compensation
International launched into from the State
Liability for outer space) for damages
Damage caused by space
caused by objects

199
Space Objects (Art. 2 and 3
(1983) Law on the
Law on Implementation

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
registration of of the

/
objects Convention on
launched into International
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 73 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

outer space Liability)

(2005)

Germany Operation of Activities Different Reliability of Federal Office

Act to give high-grade carried out by responsible the applicant; of Economics
Protection earth remote German authorities sequences of and Export
against the sensing nationals, by depending on instructions for Control
Security Risk systems; legal persons type of control and Fines up to

Division: 04_Chapter3
to the Federal handling of data under German procedure e.g.: command; € 500 000 or
Republic of generated by law or by Federal technical and imprisonment
Germany by such systems foreign legal Ministry of organizational

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Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

the until the persons with Economics and measures for up to five
Dissemination moment of their their head office Technology, preventing years
of High-Grade dissemination in Germany; Federal Office unauthorized (Sec. 5- 9,
Earth Remote (Sec. 1, (1) transmission of of Economics persons to get 13-16, 28 and
Sensing Data SatDSiG) command and Export involved, 29 SatDSiG)
(Satellite Data instruction Control, national
Security Act – sequences from Federal Office security and
SatDSiG) German for Information foreign policy
(2007) territory; Security interests,
dissemination (Sec. 3, 4, 11, peaceful
of data from 12, 17, 19, 24 co-existence of
German and 25 nations
territory SatDSiG) (Sec. 4, 12 and
(Sec. 1 19 SatDSiG)
SatDSiG)

200
Canada Different Activities Minister of National Ministry of

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Canadian activities are carried out by Industry for security, Industry for

/
Space Agency regulated in Canadian telecom- international telecommunications
Act (1990) as different acts, citizens, munications relations and satellites
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 74 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

amended including space permanent satellites obligations, (Art. 2 and 5

Remote research and residents, (Art. 2 and 5 protection of Radiocommunications
Sensing Space development, corporations Radiocom- the Act)
Systems Act construction, under Canadian munications environment, Minister of
(2005) as management law and Act) public health, Foreign Affairs
amended and operation of persons, having Minister of safety of for remote
space vehicles, a substantial Transport for persons and sensing
Radio facilities and connection to property
communications launches from activities
systems Canada related

Division: 04_Chapter3
Act (1985) as Canadian (Art. 9 Remote (Art. 10-14, 17
(Art. 5 to remote territory Sensing Space and 18 Remote
amended sensing space
Canadian Space (Sec. 101.01, Systems Act; Sensing Space
Canadian Agency Act) systems; 602.43 and Sec. 601.04 Systems Act )
Aviation activities

/Pg. Position: 13 /
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Regulations carried out in 602.44 Canadian Canadian Space

/
(1996) as Canada, on Canadian Aviation Agency
amended board of a ship, Aviation Regulations) (Art. 5
and others vessel or Regulations) Canadian Space
aircraft Minister of Agency Act)
registered in Foreign Affairs
Canada or Monetary
for remote penalty, fines
under Canadian sensing
direction or and
activities imprisonment
control, a (Art. 2 and 5-8
spacecraft depending on
Remote Sensing type of offence
under the Space Systems
direction or (Art. 9-13
Act ) Radiocommunications
control of
Canada, as well Canadian Space Act; Art. 23
as on a Agency Remote Sensing
platform, rig, (Art. 5 Space Systems
structure or Canadian Space Act )
formation that Agency Act)

201
is affixed or
attached to land
situated in the
continental

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
shelf of Canada

/
(Art. 6 Remote
Sensing Space
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 75 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Systems Act;
Art. 3
Radiocom-
munications
Act)
China Development Space objects Commission of COSTIND COSTIND According to Licence not
Measures for and operation of launched in the Science, Administrative (Art. 4, 7, 8 and Article 19 of the transferable
the spacecraft and territory of Technology and Interim

Division: 04_Chapter3
penalties, 11 Measures of (Art. 12
Administration launching China or Industry for criminal 2001) Measures on the Measures of
of Registration vehicles launched National responsibility, Administration 2002)
of Objects abroad by Defence of Permits for

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Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control

Launched into (Art. 3 China and other (COSTIND) cessation of Civil Space
Outer Space Measures of States responsible for activities Launch Projects
(2001) 2001) (Art. 3 examining and (Art. 4, 24, 25 released by
Interim Measures of approving all and 26 COSTIND in
Measures on 2001) civil space Measures of 2002, the permit
the launch projects 2002) holder must
Administration (Art. 5 purchase
of Permits for Measures of third-party
Civil Space 2001; Art. 3 liability
Launch Measures of insurance for
Projects 2002) launching a
(2002) space object to
be purchased by
Interim permit holder
measures on
Administration

202
of Mitigation
of and

Job: von_der_Dunk_Handbook_of_Space_Law
Protection

/
against Space
Debris
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 76 SESS: 9 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

South Africa Launching, Launches from South African Minimum Inspectors Insurance may
Space Affairs operation of a South African Council for safety appointed by be a condition
Act (1993) launch facility, territory; Space Affairs standards, South African for
Space Affairs participation in launches from (Sec. 11 and national, Council for authorization,
Amendment space activities the territory of Sec. 5, para. 3, economic and Space Affairs amount subject
Act (1995) (Sec. 11, para. 1 another state by lit. (d) Space strategic Fines or to case-by-case
Space Affairs or on behalf of Affairs Act) interests, imprisonment evaluation

Division: 04_Chapter3
South African juristic persons international
National Act) (Sec. 10, para. (Sec. 14 Space
incorporated or obligations 4, Sec. 12, 13 Affairs Act)
Space Act registered in
(2008) (Sec. 11, para. 2 and 23 Space
South Africa; and Sec. 14 Affairs Act)

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juristic persons Act)
incorporated or
registered in
South Africa in
space activities
entailing
obligations to
the State in
terms of
international
conventions,
treaties or
agreements or
affecting
national
interests
(Sec. 11, para. 1
Space Affairs

203
Act)

Brazil Space launches Launching Brazilian Space Technical, Brazilian Space Brazilian Space Compulsory

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the Brazilian Edict n. 27) territory Administrative qualifications of authorization registry for third party
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Space Agency (Art. 1 Edict n. 5; Art. 1 applicant enrolment of liability in value

(1994) (Art. 1 and 12 space objects established by
Administrative and 2 (Art. 6 Administrative
Administrative Edict n. 27) Administrative Administrative launched from AEB
Edict n. 5; Art. Brazilian
Edict n. 27 Edict n. 27; Art. Edict n. 27) 1, 3, 4 and 20 (Art. 4
(2001) 3 Law territory Administrative
Administrative
Administrative Establishing the Edict n. 27; Art. (Art. 19 Edict n. 5; Art.
Edict n. 5 Brazilian Space 3 Law Administrative 9, (III)
(2002) Agency) Establishing the Edict n. 5) Administrative
Edict n. 27)

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Definition of Definition of Authorization Conditions for Supervision of National Indemnification Transfer of
‘space ‘national’ procedure authorization space activities register and insurance ownership or
activities’ activities & sanctions control
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Law (2008) and technology; (Art. 26 Law in accordance Imprisonment special liability
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concerning launch, tracking Japan established by exceeding one (Art. 21 and 22
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Agency (2002) relating thereto competent depending on Exploration
Ministers

204
(Art. 4 and Art. type of Agency)
18, para. 1 Law (Art. 18, para. 2 violation

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Exploration
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4. European space law

Frans von der Dunk

4.1 INTRODUCTION
If the self-imposed isolation of both the United States and the Soviet
Union following the First World War – though for entirely different
reasons – still allowed Europe to harbour some illusions, the Second
World War made it clear for all to see: the leading role of Europe in
global politics had come to an end. The World Wars and the economic
depression in between had ravaged the continent, given rise to untold
atrocities and hardships, and morally questioned such concepts as nation-
alism, military power and colonialism – it was time to start anew and,
hopefully, build a better Europe, from different moral, social, political
and economic foundations, with international cooperation and funda-
mental attention to human rights replacing nationalistic and antagonistic
scrambles for resources and political and economic power.1
Thus, the post-Second World War era in Europe saw a fundamental
move towards integration of the nation-states on many levels. Only the
United Kingdom, as a co-victor of both wars with its globe-spanning
colonial empire seemingly still intact and for the remainder trusting in its
‘special relationship’ with the Anglo-Saxon amongst the two new super-
powers, for a number of decades remained rather aloof from such
developments. In particular France, however, energetically pursued vari-
ous integration venues in efforts to combine the preservation of whatever
was left of its great power status with conciliation with its long-standing
archenemy Germany and somewhat less-longstanding enemy Italy, creat-
ing the foundations for rapid economic restoration of the continent and a
healthy economic future.

1
See e.g. C.W.A. Timmermans, The Genesis and Development of the
European Communities and the European Union, in The Law of the European
Union and the European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn,
2008), 2 ff.; J.H.H. Weiler, European Integration, in Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. III (2012), 934–44; A. Arnull et al.,
Wyatt & Dashwood’s European Union Law (5th edn, 2006), 3–4; R.H. Folsom,
Principles of European Union Law (2nd edn, 2009), 3.

205

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206 Handbook of space law

Such integration efforts, which from one angle could be seen as efforts
also to keep up with the global superpowers that the United States and
the Soviet Union had become in creating a third economic and political
power ‘Europe’, indeed took on many shapes and met with different
levels of success; from the perspective of outer space and space law,
however, essentially two strands are important and will therefore be
addressed in the present chapter.
On the one hand, there was the ‘operational’ integration of European
knowledge, resources and needs in the space arena through several
international intergovernmental organizations,2 of which the European
Space Agency (ESA) for all intents and purposes turned out to be the
pivotal one – and as of today plays a very visible and distinct role, not
only in outer space activities, but also in the context of space law.
On the other hand, the much more fundamental, ‘legislative’ integra-
tion through the establishment of firstly the European Economic Com-
munity (EEC), then the European Community (EC) and finally the
European Union (EU), while for many years not touching upon outer
space and space activities at all, has for a few decades now also impacted
the space domain in Europe – and to a considerable extent even globally.3

2
See for a broader analysis of the phenomenon of operational organ-
izations on a global scale infra, §§ 5.3–5.10.
3
For completeness’ sake, in this context reference should also be made to
two other intergovernmental European organizations with some impact on legal
and regulatory aspects of space activities:
+ The Council of Europe, established by way of the European Convention on
Human Rights (Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms, Rome, done 4 November 1950, entered into force
3 September 1953; ETS No. 005), mainly active in the field of human
rights and, from a space law perspective, in such issues as e.g. privacy and
the right to information; cf. e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, The European
Convention on Human Rights and EU Law – Two European Legal
Approaches to Privacy, as Relevant to High-Resolution Imaging, in Current
Legal Issues for Satellite Earth Observation (2010), ESPI Report 25,
55–60.
+ The Western European Union (WEU), originally established by way of the
WEU Treaty (Paris Agreements amending the Brussels Treaty, Paris, done
23 October 1954, entered into force 5 May 1955; 211 UNTS 342; UKTS
39 (1955) Cmd. 9498), mainly active in the field of defence and security
and hence, from a space law perspective, also in space defence and security
issues, meanwhile, however, being subsumed by the EU institutional
structure; cf. however F.G. von der Dunk, Europe and Security Issues in
Space: The Institutional Setting, 4 Space and Defense (2010), 84–5.

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European space law 207

As from a global perspective the Western part of Europe through this

multiplicity of integration efforts has seen an unrivalled measure of
peaceful and voluntary dilution of national sovereignty in practice and in
theory, not least in the context of outer space and space activities, the
subject of regional European space law and its various contributions ipso
facto to space law in the broadest sense of the word should be of broader
interest than for those only interested in Europe as such.
And indeed, in more recent years efforts at international integration of
groups of sovereign states in other parts of the world are increasingly
looking to such European examples of international, sometimes almost
supranational, cooperation in space activities, trying to take home the
successful elements thereof whilst avoiding the pitfalls. This takes place
on the one hand in a context of – so far abortive and rather academic –
efforts to establish regional space organizations, such as an Asian space
agency,4 an ASEAN space organization,5 a Latin American space agency6
or an African space agency.7 Only the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation
Organization (APSCO) and the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency
Forum (APRSAF) have at least to some extent materialized as such.8
On the other hand, with the increasing commercialization of certain
space sectors, general regional economic integration organizations – in
North America NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement),9 in
Latin-America the Mercosur/Mercosul,10 in Asia amongst others the

4
See e.g. D.H. Kim, The Possibility of Establishing an Asian Space
Development Agency, 2 Japanese Journal for the Social System (2001), 45–56.
5
See e.g. C. Noichim, The Asean Space Organization (2008).
6
See e.g. R. Gonzalez, 10 Journal of Space Law (1982), 218–9.
7
See e.g. P. Martinez, Is There a Need for an African Space Agency? 28
Space Policy (2012), 142–5.
8
See e.g. F. Tronchetti, Fundamentals of Space Law and Policy (2013), 43;
E. Sadeh, Space Strategy in the 21st Century: Theory and Policy (2013), 288–91;
J.C. Moltz, Asia’s Space Race: National Motivations, Regional Rivalries, and
International Risks (2013), 184–5.
9
North American Free Trade Agreement, San Antonio, done 17 December
1992, entered into force 1 January 1994; 32 ILM 289 (1993); see further
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement; last ac-
cessed 19 November 2013.
10
Treaty Establishing a Common Market between the Argentine Republic,
the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Paraguay and the Eastern
Republic of Uruguay, Asunción, done 26 March 1991, entered into force 29
November 1991; 30 ILM 1042 (1991); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Mercosur; last accessed 19 November 2013.

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208 Handbook of space law

ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA),11 in Africa the COMESA (Common

Market for Eastern and Central Southern Africa)12 and the SADC
(Southern African Development Community),13 and in the Middle East
the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)14 – have also become interested in
potentially extending the scope of their activities into the space realm.

4.2 OPERATIONAL INTEGRATION OF SPACE

ACTIVITIES: THE EUROPEAN SPACE
ORGANIZATIONS
4.2.1 The Beginnings: ESRO, ELDO and the European Space
Conference

Following some initial attempts of in particular the United Kingdom (in

cooperation with the United States) and France to undertake national
space activities within a few years after Sputnik-1’s flight, it soon
became clear that Europe’s leading nations, still recovering from the
Second World War at that, were essentially a size too small to develop a
comprehensive and successful space program on their own.15

11
Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the
ASEAN Free Trade Area, Singapore, done 28 January 1992, entered into force
28 January 1992; 31 ILM 506 (1992); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
ASEAN_Free_Trade_Area; last accessed 19 November 2013.
12
Agreement Establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa (COMESA), Kampala, done 5 November 1993, entered into force 8
December 1994; 33 ILM 1067 (1994); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Common_Market_for_Eastern_and_Southern_Africa; last accessed 19 November
2013.
13
Treaty of the Southern African Development Community, Windhoek,
done 17 August 1992, entered into force 30 September 1993; 32 ILM 116
(1993); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_African_Development_
Community; last accessed 19 November 2013.
14
Charter establishing the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the
Gulf, Abu Dhabi, done 25 May 1981, entered into force 11 November 1981; 26
ILM 1131 (1987); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperation_Council_
for_the_Arab_States_of_the_Gulf; last accessed 19 November 2013.
15
See e.g. F. Lyall, Law and Space Telecommunications (1989), 245 ff.; K.
Madders, A New Force at a New Frontier (2000), 3–37; G. Lafferranderie,
European Space Agency (2005), 17–22; cf. also P. Malanczuk, Actors: States,
International Organisations, Private Entities, in Outlook on Space Law over the
Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D. Crowther) (1997), 24 ff.; J.L. van de
Wouwer & F. Lambert, European trajectories in space law (2008), 47–9.

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European space law 209

Thus, in 1962 two separate organizations were established to develop

what were considered to be the two main areas of space activities where
Europe should develop some level of know-how and technological
expertise, at least partially independently from the United States: the
European Space Research Organisation (ESRO)16 for space research and
the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO)17 for the
development of European launch capabilities.
The establishment of these two organizations immediately resulted in a
first novel contribution to international space law or even international
law as such: the provisional implementation of an international agree-
ment providing for major joint operations prior to its formal entry into
force.18 The latter was to take some two more years in both cases, as was
fairly normal with complex international treaties, yet the member states
did not want to wait until such formal entry into force of all relevant
rules, rights and obligations before they would actually start undertaking
space activities. In the spirit of cooperation in this challenging and novel
area of outer space activities, in both cases the member states agreed to
act, from the signature of the treaties onwards, as if they were formally
applicable in all respects – essentially banking on the assumption that no
major legal disputes would arise, the solution of which would have been
considerably complicated with the relevant treaty not being in force.
As for ESRO, its original member states were ten in number: Belgium,
Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the

16
Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Research Organ-
isation (hereafter ESRO Convention), Paris, done 14 June 1962, entered into
force 20 March 1964, expired 30 October 1980; 158 UNTS 35: UKTS 1964 No.
56; Cmnd. 2489.
17
Convention for the Establishment of a European Organisation for the
Development and Construction of Space Vehicle Launchers (hereafter ELDO
Convention), London, done 29 March 1962, entered into force 29 February 1964,
expired 30 October 1980; 507 UNTS 177; UKTS 1964 No. 30; Cmnd. 2391;
ATS 1964 No. 6.
18
See on this phenomenon in general e.g. R. Lefeber, Treaties, Provisional
Application, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol.
X (2012), 1–5; R.E. Dalton, Provisional Application of Treaties, in The Oxford
Guide to Treaties (Ed. D.B. Hollis) (2012), 220–47; also Art. 25, Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, done 23 May 1969, entered into
force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS 331; UKTS 1980 No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS
1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969); with respect to ELDO and ESRO specifically
Madders, supra n. 15, 41–3. The example would be followed later e.g. by
INTELSAT and INMARSAT (see on those organizations further infra, §§ 5.4.1,
5.5.1), and the ISS arrangements (see further infra, § 11.2).

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210 Handbook of space law

United Kingdom and West Germany.19 It should be immediately clear

that there was no formal relation with the then-existing EEC20 – of those
ten member states, only Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and
West Germany at the time were members of the EEC whereas Luxem-
bourg, the sixth then-EEC member state, was not a member of ESRO.
Vice versa, of course Switzerland even today is not an EU member.
ESRO’s mission was to develop a scientific space research programme
financed by member states on the basis of respective Gross National
Product (GNP). The ESRO Convention actually introduced a further legal
innovation which would be more formally institutionalized in the later
ESA legal framework: the separation of mandatory programmes where
such financing was indeed on a GNP basis and optional programmes
which allowed for à la carte contributions from the member states.21
As the hoped-for development of fully-fledged European launch
capabilities did not take place soon enough, ESRO concluded Memo-
randa of Understanding with the US space agency NASA on the launch
of ESRO satellites, the first of which took place in 1967.22 As NASA
occasionally had to serve other priorities, notably of the US government,
resulting in delays for ESRO,23 this dependence on the United States for
its actual space research activities became an increasing nuisance, and a
major factor in moving the European institutional space structure beyond
ESRO and ELDO.24
ELDO started out on the basis of a UK proposal to use its Blue Streak
rocket as the first stage for a European launch vehicle, with the French

19
See further on ESRO, Madders, supra n. 15, e.g. 55–61, 66–75; Laffer-
randerie, supra n. 15, 18; Lyall, supra n. 15, 246–8; J. Krige & A. Russo, A
History of the European Space Agency 1958–1987, Vol. I, The Story of ESRO and
ELDO 1958–1973 (2000), SP-1235, 42 ff., 122 ff.
20
The gradual realization of informal, then more formal, relations between
the European space organizations and what was ultimately to become the
European Union only took off decades later – and has still not resulted in an
institutional integration: contrary to what especially outside Europe is often
perceived to be the case, ESA and the European Union are essentially still two
distinct – and hugely different – entities, formally independent of each other.
21
Cf. e.g. Lyall, supra n. 15, 248; Madders, supra n. 15, 56, 189–91; Krige
& Russo, supra n. 19, 312, 320–30. See further on this infra, §§ 4.2.3.1 and
4.2.3.2, on mandatory and optional programmes.
22
See Madders, supra n. 15, 70; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 18.
23
See e.g. Krige & Russo, supra n. 19, 75–9; E. Sadeh, Space Politics and
Policy: An Evolutionary Perspective (2002), 290 ff.
24
See on this Sadeh, supra n. 23, 290 ff.; cf. also Madders, supra n. 15,
140–6.

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European space law 211

Coralie missile mounted on top as the second stage. Apart from those two
European space powers, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and West
Germany were members of ELDO (so several other ESRO members did
not choose to become a member state of this other space organization),
plus the non-European nation of Australia, which was to contribute its
launch base at Woomera for ELDO launches.25
Because of the resulting divided responsibilities, lack of coordination
and even expertise as such, however, most launches ended in failure,26
and in 1972 the European Space Conference was organized to remedy the
various shortcomings in the European space effort.27 It was agreed to
merge the two European space organizations into one, as further spurred
on by a US offer to cooperate on Spacelab, and include the options of
mandatory and optional programmes, with a preference for using the
European launchers to be developed as much as reasonably possible.28
Consequently, in 1973, by way of an interim arrangement, ELDO was
formally integrated into ESRO, and two years later the establishment of
the European Space Agency, succeeding the two other organizations, was
a fact.

4.2.2 ESA: The 1975 ESA Convention and the General Legal
Framework

After the conclusion of the ESA Convention29 in 1975 it would take

another five years for it to formally enter into force, as a consequence of

25
See further on ELDO e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, e.g. 43–55, 60–1, 75 ff.;
Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 19; Lyall, supra n. 15, 249–50; Krige & Russo,
supra n. 19, 81 ff.; International Business Publications, European Space Policy
and Programs Handbook (2010), 62–9.
26
Cf. Lyall, supra n. 15, 249; Madders, supra n. 15, 163–4, e.g. also noting
the distinct difference in origins: ELDO as primarily politician driven, ESRO as
primarily scientist driven (at 55) and programmatic delays and cost overruns (at
114–6).
27
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 124–54; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 21–4;
Lyall, supra n. 15, 251–2; N.M. Matte, Outer Space and International Organ-
izations, in A Handbook on International Organizations (Ed. R.J. Dupuy) (2nd
edn, 1998), 769–70; B. Harvey, Europe’s Space Programme: To Ariane and
Beyond (2003), 49–50.
28
See Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 22–3; cf. also infra, § 7.5.3.2.
29
Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Agency (hereafter
ESA Convention), Paris, done 30 May 1975, entered into force 30 October 1980;
UKTS 1981 No. 30; Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975); Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, C.I.1.

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212 Handbook of space law

the various complicated national ratification procedures, but following

the precedent set by ESRO and ELDO also the ESA Convention was
provisionally applied as of 1975.30
After starting out with ten member states, as of this writing, ESA has
grown to encompass 20 member states.31 As proof that ESA still is not
formally part of the institutional structure of the European Union, two of
those member states – Norway and Switzerland – are not EU members.
Another often-heard misconception, that Canada would be an ESA
member state, should be rectified here as well: Canada is designated
‘Cooperating Partner’.32 Other special partnerships currently exist with
Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia under the Plan for European Cooperating
States (PECS).33

30
Cf. e.g. G. Lafferranderie, The European Space Agency (ESA) and
International Space Law, in International Organisations and Space Law, ESA
SP-442 (Ed. R.A. Harris) (1999), 20; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 25–9, also 265,
reprinting Resolution ESA/C/XLIII/Res.6(final), of 23 October 1980, addressing
the de jure entry into force of the Convention in the light of its prior de facto
application; Madders, supra n. 15, 212–3; Lyall, supra n. 15, 268–9; further
supra, text at n. 18.
31
See e.g. www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/What_is_ESA,
www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/History_of_Europe_in_
space, last accessed 19 January 2014; these are Austria, Belgium, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxem-
bourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
32
Though formally under Art. XXII(1), ESA Convention, supra n. 29, ‘any
state’ may accede, further to the references in Art. II to ‘European States’,
‘European space policy’ and ‘European space programme’, and more generally
to Europe and the European Space Conference (cf. Preamble & Arts. I, XX), only
European states qualify for formal membership of ESA; see Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 30–2; Matte, supra n. 27, 770. Canada entered into a 1978 standing
cooperation agreement with ESA in conformity with Art. XIV(2), ESA Conven-
tion, following earlier more ad hoc cooperation arrangements; see Madders,
supra n. 15, 420; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 30.
33
See further www.esa.int/About_Us/Plan_for_European_Cooperating_
States, last accessed 19 January 2014; these partnerships are essentially to
prepare those new EU member states to also become fully fledged ESA
members, by stimulating relations with interested European states, expanding the
overall European scientific and industrial base, and enriching ESA as a research
and development organization. Cf. also S. Hobe, M. Hofmannová & J. Wouters,
A Coherent European Procurement Law and Policy for the Space Sector (2011),
180.

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European space law 213

Within the legal structure obviously the Convention is the highest

document hierarchically speaking, with five Annexes integrally part of
the Convention.34 The Convention also provides for the two main organs,
the Council of member states35 and (formally) the Director General, who
is, however, assisted by staff.36 ESA as an organization consists of five
main establishments,37 with the launch site in Kourou, French Guyana,

34
These concern Annex I: Privileges and immunities, Annex II: Financial
provisions (dealing with the general budget), Annex III on optional programmes
and dealing with budgeting issues, in particular with cost overruns (see further
infra, § 4.2.3.2), Annex IV: Internationalisation of national programmes, and
Annex V: Industrial policy (see further infra, § 4.2.4).
35
See Art. XI, ESA Convention, supra n. 29, for establishment, functions,
modus operandi and competences of the Council. Its main competences are to
decide on and accept programmes proposed to it, to determine the financial
structure of the programmes, to monitor progress of the various programmes, to
adopt the annual general budget, to authorize transfer outside the territories of
member states of ESA-originating technology and products, and to establish
subordinate bodies such as the Scientific Programme Committee; cf. Art. XI(5),
(8). Further e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 57–61; Madders, supra n. 15,
196–9; International Business Publications, supra n. 25, 36.
36
See Art. XII, ESA Convention, supra n. 29, for establishment, functions,
modus operandi and competences of the ESA staff under the supervision of the
Director General. See further e.g. the organogram in ESA Annual Report 2005
(2006), 10, www.esa.int/esapub/annuals/annual05/ar5_organigramme.pdf, for the
current organizational structure of the Agency. The main competencies of the
Director General are to manage the Agency, to monitor actual execution of ESA
programmes and ESA policy, to supervise the ESA establishments, to recom-
mend senior management staff to be appointed and dismissed by the Council, to
propose activities and programmes to the Council and to propose other measures
considered necessary and adequate to fulfil ESA’s aims; cf. Art. XII(1.b). Further
e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 64–70; Madders, supra n. 15, 203–5; Inter-
national Business Publications, supra n. 25, 129; Sadeh, supra n. 23, 392.
37
To wit: the ESA Headquarters in Paris (where general policy-making
takes place, including international relations, international negotiations and
international law issues), ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands (the European
Space Research and Technology Centre, with the largest portion of ESA staff
building and testing the space instruments), ESOC in Darmstadt (the European
Space Operations Centre where ground control of all ESA activities is concen-
trated), ESRIN in Frascati, Italy (the European Space Research Institute, which
started out as the ESA database centre but now also has become the centre for
ESA’s earth observation activities), and the EAC in Cologne (the European
Astronaut Centre where the training of ESA crews is conducted). Further e.g.
Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 47–8; Madders, supra n. 15, 352–67.

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214 Handbook of space law

operated in close cooperation with the French space agency CNES,38

effectively counting as the sixth major ESA establishment.39
The aims of ESA are ‘to provide for and to promote, for exclusively
peaceful purposes, cooperation among European States in space research
and technology and their space applications, with a view to their being
used for scientific purposes and for operational space applications
systems’.40 The Agency therefore effectively has a threefold mission:
(1) to stimulate the development of material and technical resources of
the member states through a distinct and innovative framework for
international cooperation amongst them; (2) to integrate national space
programmes as much as possible at a European level, establishing greater
economies of scope and scale and allowing for a certain level of
specialization; and (3) to strengthen European space efforts for exclu-
sively peaceful purposes at a global level, aiming for international
cooperation with the other space powers whilst establishing and main-
taining Europe’s own position within the global space arena.

4.2.3 ESA in Operation: The Space Programmes

The main thrust of ESA is the pooling of resources (technological as well

as financial, and also political) of the member states in the area of outer
space and space activities for the benefit of those member states, as well
as the world at large. This thrust is given shape mainly through the actual
ESA programmes.
In general, either individual member states ‘offer’ programmes to ESA
for ‘Europeanization’ thereof, meaning they invite other ESA members
through the ESA mechanisms to join such a programme, or the Director

38
See on Kourou operations in general e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15,
53–5; Madders, supra n. 15, 367–71.
39
In the pre-ESA days, ESRO also used the ESRANGE sounding rocket
launch site in Kiruna, Sweden, but that facility has long since been transferred to
the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC); see e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 67, 74–5.
40
Art. II, ESA Convention, supra n. 29. See further in detail Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 39–46; Madders, supra n. 15, 180 ff.; Matte, supra n. 27, 770.
Consequently, ESA is not an international organization endowed with ‘supra-
national’ regulatory competences other than the ones narrowly specified by the
Convention and other internal legal documents; cf. Madders, supra n. 15, 392–3;
more in general e.g. H.G. Schermers, The Legal Basis of International Organ-
ization Action, in A Handbook on International Organizations (Ed. R.J. Dupuy)
(2nd edn, 1998), 404–11.

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European space law 215

General as supported by his staff can propose programmes to be adopted

as such by the Council.41 Such programmes can be of three generic
types.

4.2.3.1 Mandatory activities

Following the approach already adopted in the pre-ESA phase of
European space integration, the first major category of ESA programmes
concerns the ‘mandatory activities’.42 Mandatory activities are generally
those of a scientific or R&D nature, such as desktop and laboratory
studies of future projects, technological research work, and the elabor-
ation and execution of scientific programmes, undertaken by satellites
and other space systems.
The ESA Council may approve programmes by simple majority (each
state having one vote,43 regardless of size or input into a particular
programme), then determines with unanimity the total level of resources
to be made available for that programme.44 Once these decisions have
been made, all member states will contribute their share as per a pre-set
scale, based on a rolling average of the last three years’ GNP.45
Notable examples of mandatory activities undertaken by ESA are the
Smart mission to the moon, Mars Express, the Huygens module, which is
travelling to Titan on board NASA’s Cassini-spacecraft, the XMM-
Newton spacecraft targeted to detect X-ray sources in outer space, the
ISO (Infrared Space Observatory) researching the ‘dusty’ areas of the
universe, the Integral mission to study explosions, radiation and black
holes (launched on a Russian Soyuz vehicle) and the SOHO mission to
the sun (launched on the private US launcher Atlas).46

41
As per Annexes IV, and III respectively, ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
See further e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 191–2; on the former also Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 93 ff.
42
See Art. V(1.a), ESA Convention, supra n. 29. Further e.g. Lyall, supra
n. 15, 255; Madders, supra n. 15, 189; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 74–8;
International Business Publications, supra n. 25, 35; National Research Council
and European Science Foundation, U.S.–European Collaboration in Space Sci-
ence (1998), 35; Sadeh, supra n. 23, 325.
43
Cf. Art. XI(6.a), ESA Convention, supra n. 29; also Lafferranderie, supra
n. 15, 70–2; Madders, supra n. 15, 198.
44
See Art. XI(5.a), ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
45
See Art. XIII(1), ESA Convention, supra n. 29. Cf. also e.g. Lafferrand-
erie, supra n. 15, 95–6.
46
See further e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 74–6; Madders, supra n. 15,
223–33.

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216 Handbook of space law

4.2.3.2 Optional activities

The logical opposite to ‘mandatory activities’ are the ‘optional activities’,
a mechanism also adopted from its predecessors (notably ESRO), then
elaborated, by ESA.47 Optional activities are generally of a much more
practical/operational nature than mandatory ones: they concern the actual
design, development, construction, launching and placing into orbit of
spacecraft, as well as further operations of the satellites and other space
systems thus launched. Here, a major portion of the actual work (in
particular for the earth-based design, development and construction
stages) is contracted out to the industries of (mainly) the member states.48
Moreover, the focus of most optional programmes is on space activities
with non-scientific experimental applications, beyond science and R&D
strictly speaking. Because of the huge costs of actually going into outer
space, optional programmes over the years average over 80 per cent of
ESA’s total budget.49
Once again, the ESA Council may accept programmes by simple
majority.50 This time, however, firstly there is an opportunity for member
states to opt out altogether,51 secondly the level of contributions of the
individual member states that did not choose to opt out in the last resort
is determined by each state for itself, and hence subject to individual
states’ interests in that particular programme.52
Though phrased the other way around – unless a state declares it does
not wish to join, it is in, and unless states decide otherwise (which is
what in fact happens normally), the standard proportional distribution of
financial commitments is applied – this amounts to a system of à la carte
participation. It indeed allows states to pursue, within the overall ESA
framework, their particular interests in certain areas of space activities.
For example, manned spaceflight has always been staunchly promoted by

47
See Art. V(1.b), ESA Convention, supra n. 29. Further e.g. Lyall, supra
n. 15, 255–7; Madders, supra n. 15, 189–95; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 78–89;
Sadeh, supra n. 23, 325.
48
See further infra, § 4.2.4, on the discussion on industrial policy and ‘fair
return’.
49
Cf. e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 189, in 1997 estimating the share at over
85 per cent; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 80, in 2005 arriving at ‘some 80 per
cent’.
50
See Art. XI(5.c), ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
51
Cf. Art. V(1), ESA Convention, supra n. 29; also Lafferranderie, supra
n. 15, 79; S.C. Wang, Transatlantic Space Politics: Competition and Cooperation
Above the Clouds (2013), 51.
52
Cf. Art. XIII(2), ESA Convention, supra n. 29; also e.g. Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 79.

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European space law 217

France, whereas the United Kingdom, by contrast, was rather lukewarm

for comparative cost reasons – whilst for instance Germany likewise
could pursue its particular interests in earth observation applications.53
The usual deviation from the standard GNP-based distribution of costs
and the individual discretion of member states to propose any level of
contribution they individually feel appropriate obviously raises some
profound management issues. To handle those as effectively and trans-
parently as possible, once a programme has been initially agreed upon
the activities are structured, with various milestones giving rise to
potential re-evaluation of earlier decisions and the possibility of restruc-
turing the programme to accommodate new developments.
Programmes are thus at the outset subdivided into phases (0: identifi-
cation programme; 1: establishment programme; 2: establishment legal
framework), with an ‘Enabling Resolution’ and Declaration then setting
out the financial framework following relevant discussions in Council as
well as detailing the operational phase (usually subdivided into A through
E).54
The financial framework declaration sets out the key financial param-
eters, notably also including the individual commitments of member
states to contribute funds to the programme. The default scenario is that
once the total amount of committed member state contributions reaches
80 per cent of the total programme costs, the programme activities are
allowed to take off.55 The assumption is that, seeing the programme
become a reality, other states may then join the fray after all; as a
fall-back, the member states already committed would have to share any
unaccounted parts of the budget in proportion to their originally commit-
ted share.56 Participating states also accept up front that cost overruns up

53
Thus, France promised in 1987 a contribution to the Hermes programme,
developing a European space shuttle, of 43.5 per cent of the total estimated
budget plus 13.8 per cent for the Columbus module for the ISS, whereas the
United Kingdom was to contribute 5.5 per cent to Columbus only and nothing to
Hermes at all. Germany was the largest contributor to Columbus with 38 per
cent, as a platform intended for major space research and science. Germany was
also, for example, the largest contributor to the major phase of the European
Earth Remote Sensing Programme when established in 1984, with 27.29 per
cent. See Madders, supra n. 15, 308, and 288 at n. 151. Generally, the footnotes
to Madders’ chs. 12 and 13 with the accompanying text provide much infor-
mation on promised contributions to various programmes. Cf. further Lafferran-
derie, supra n. 15, 97–8, on the financing of optional programmes.
54
See Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 80–1; also Madders, supra n. 15, 192–3.
55
See Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 82–3; Madders, supra n. 15, 193.
56
Cf. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 82–3; Madders, supra n. 15, 193.

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218 Handbook of space law

to 20 per cent would be likewise shared between them; only once cost
overruns start to exceed 20 per cent would states be allowed to withdraw
from the programme altogether.57 There are, however, possibilities to
deviate from this default process, in recognition of the special character-
istics which individual programmes may turn out to have.58
Major examples of optional programmes concern the development of
the Ariane launch vehicle,59 the cooperation on Spacelab with the United
States, the experimental telecommunication satellites OTS (for land-
based communications) and MARECS (for maritime communications),60
meteorology satellites Meteosat-1 and Metop,61 the unsuccessful and
half-way aborted effort to develop a European space shuttle Hermes,62
the Olympus satellite dedicated to distance learning,63 Envisat for envir-
onmental monitoring64 and the two European flagship projects Galileo
and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)/
Copernicus, as far as ESA participation in those projects was con-
cerned.65
The combination of mandatory and optional programmes within one
international intergovernmental institution makes for a uniquely flexible

57
This is called the ‘120 per cent rule’; see Lafferranderie, supra n. 15,
83–5; Madders, supra n. 15, 193.
58
Cf. e.g. the cases of Spacelab and Envisat as addressed by Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 84–5; Madders, supra n. 15, 194, mentions ‘variations on the 120
per cent clause (e.g. negating it)’ as an option to be agreed upon by the Council
through the Implementing Regulations.
59
See further on Ariane and Arianespace infra, § 4.2.6.1 and § 7.2.1.2. Also
V. Kayser, Launching Space Objects: Issues of Liability and Future Prospects
(2001), 135–7; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 155 ff.; Madders, supra n. 15,
235–41.
60
See further e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 252–6; Lyall, supra n. 15, 269–70.
Cf. also infra, § 4.2.6.2 and § 5.6 on EUTELSAT.
61
See further e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 266–70. Also infra, § 4.2.6.3.
62
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 294–342.
63
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 256–8.
64
See e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 87.
65
See further infra, § 4.4.4. Cf. also Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 149–51, on
Galileo; 152–3, on GMES; S. Hobe et al., Ten Years of Cooperation between
ESA and EU: Current Issues, 58 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2009),
49–73; G. Brachet, From Initial Ideas to a European Plan: GMES as an Exemplar
of European Space Strategy, 20 Space Policy (2004), 7–15.

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European space law 219

framework accommodating the interests of individual states while main-

taining a coherent and efficient manageable programme, in short balanc-
ing the sovereign discretion of member states to spend resources on space
programmes and the fundamental need to cooperate in that respect.66

4.2.3.3 Operational activities

In addition, a third generic type of space activities undertaken by ESA
concerns the ‘operational activities’.67 Under this heading, ESA provides
operational services on behalf of others (notably placing ESA facilities at
the disposal of a ‘customer’, ensuring the launch, placing in orbit and/or
control of operational satellites on its behalf, or carrying out any other
activities requested by it), at cost price.68
Notable examples of operational activities concern the ongoing Telem-
etry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) support for EUMETSAT satellites
by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt,69
ongoing TT&C support for Arianespace from Kourou and ESOC,70
consultancy on the Second Spacelab with NASA,71 and consulting
activities for the European Commission and playing the role of ‘procure-
ment agency’ on behalf of the EU for the later stages of the Galileo
programme.72

4.2.4 ESA and Industrial (Space) Policy

4.2.4.1 General aspects of ESA industrial policy

As one of the main rationales and justifications for ESA and its
framework of mandatory and optional programmes is to serve the

66
It may be reiterated, that certainly for the early decades of space
activities, the costs and risks associated therewith were generally considered too
substantial for most states to handle on their own, meaning that without
international cooperation, such as given shape by ESA, many states would be
unable to directly benefit from space activities at all.
67
See Art. V(2), ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
68
Cf. Art. V(2), ESA Convention, supra n. 29. Further e.g. Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 90; Madders, supra n. 15, 183; G. Lafferranderie, La notion
d’activités opérationnelles dans la Convention de l’Agence, 37 ESA Bulletin
(1984), 68.
69
See further on EUMETSAT infra, § 4.2.6.3. Cf. also Lafferranderie, supra
n. 15, 47, 91; Madders, supra n. 15, 359–64, 516–20.
70
See further on Arianespace infra, § 4.2.6.1, § 7.2.1.2. Cf. also Lafferran-
derie, supra n. 15, 91; Madders, supra n. 15, 520–6.
71
Cf. Madders, supra n. 15, 454.
72
See further infra, § 4.4.4.1.

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220 Handbook of space law

scientific, technological and economic interests of its member states, the

industrial policy behind these programmes – that is, how to organize the
involvement of the space industries of the various member states in a fair,
effective, coherent and comprehensive manner in these programmes – is
a key feature also of the legal framework established through ESA. The
general principles of ESA’s industrial policy73 are listed as being

designed in particular to
(a) meet the requirements of the European space programme and the
coordinated national space programmes in a cost-effective manner;
(b) improve the world-wide competitiveness of European industry by main-
taining and developing space technology and by encouraging the ration-
alisation and development of an industrial structure appropriate to market
requirements, making use in the first place of the existing industrial
potential of all Member States;
(c) ensure that all Member States participate in an equitable manner, having
regard to their financial contribution, in implementing the European
space programme and in the associated development of space tech-
nology; in particular the Agency shall, for the execution of its pro-
grammes, grant preference to the fullest extent possible to industry in all
Member States, which shall be given the maximum opportunity to
participate in the work of technological interest undertaken for the
Agency;
(d) exploit the advantages of free competitive bidding in all cases, except
where this would be incompatible with other defined objectives of
industrial policy.74

As is likely to happen with general principles, their actual application

may lead to conflicting approaches. Whilst, for example, principles (b)
and (d) might call for stimulating and promoting competition within
Europe amongst the space industry to steel European companies for
global competition with their US, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and other

73
For precision’s sake it should be noted that ‘ESA industrial policy’ is
actually shorthand for the combination of its member states’ interests in pursuing
certain industrial space policies and the result of those interests being discussed
and negotiated in the framework of ESA, notably the ESA Council, where
applicable then giving rise to particular ESA space programmes or less concrete
ESA actions such as Resolutions – as opposed to national space programmes and
policy actions, where member states were either not interested in having other
ESA members join or failed to generate sufficient interest amongst them to join
such programmes. See also further infra, §§ 4.4.2, 4.4.3, on EU involvement in
this context.
74
Art. VII(1), ESA Convention, supra n. 29, further to Art. II(d). The
Council may unanimously add other objectives to the list.

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European space law 221

counterparts, principle (c) (as well as the reference to ‘existing industrial

potential’) might call for the opposite – not inciting competition for ESA
contracts, but designating contractual partners through different mechan-
isms. The key clause in this respect is the last sentence quoted, where the
most pro-competition-oriented principle is caveated as being in the end
subordinate to the others.
This is then also the general approach taken, both in the further
elaboration of ESA industrial policy in Annex V to the ESA Convention
and in practice when it comes to relevant decisions in the Council.75

4.2.4.2 Preference for European industry

Firstly, ‘[i]n the placing of all contracts, the Agency shall give preference
to industry and organisations of the Member States. However, within
each optional programme covered by Article V.1(b) of the Convention,
particular preference shall be given to industry and organisations in the
participating States.’76 Only the Council can decide whether and to what
extent ESA can deviate from this preference – a ‘buy European’ policy
which strictly speaking is not legally binding upon ESA, but in practice
plays a considerable role in ensuring ESA will comply in particular with
the last sentence of principle (b) of Article VII of the ESA Convention as
quoted above.77
Technically, the ‘allocation’ of particular companies to a member state
for this purpose takes place ‘in the light of the following criteria: location
of the enterprise’s registered office, decision-making centres and research
centres, and territory on which the work is to be carried out’,78 which

75
See further e.g. Hobe, Hofmannová & Wouters, supra n. 33, 52–63;
Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 107 ff.; Madders, supra n. 15, 383–98; R. Hansen &
J. Wouters, Towards an EU Industrial Policy for the Space Sector – Lessons from
Galileo, 28 Space Policy (2012), 94–101; K. Suzuki, Policy Logics and Insti-
tutions of European Space Collaboration (2003), 87–93.
76
Art. II(1), Annex V, ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
77
See Art. II(2), Annex V, ESA Convention, supra n. 29. See further G.V.
D’Angelo, Aerospace Business Law (1994), 37–41; cf. also Lafferranderie, supra
n. 15, 155 ff.; Madders, supra n. 15, 526; not even the recent European
Guaranteed Access to Space (EGAS) policy developed in conjunction with the
European Commission results in a fully fledged obligation to buy European; cf.
Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 172–3; also infra, § 7.5.3.2.
78
Art. II(3), Annex V, ESA Convention, supra n. 29; especially the first
criterion reflects the general public international law approach of determining the
nationality of a legal person with reference to its headquarters and legal
registration; see J. Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law
(8th edn, 2012), 527–30; P. Okowa, Issues of Admissibility and the Law on

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222 Handbook of space law

would allow, for example, a US company carrying out work in Germany

to qualify as a ‘German’ enterprise for the purposes of the ‘buy
European’ policy determination.

4.2.4.3 ‘Geographical distribution’ and ‘fair return’

Secondly, and even more importantly, in the distribution of contracts for
ESA programmes amongst the companies of the various member states,
respectively the various member states participating in that programme,
the concepts of ‘geographical distribution’ and ‘fair return’ are applied.79
Under these principles, ideally any ESA member state should see 100
per cent of its committed financial contribution to an ESA programme
returned to its industry in the form of contracts.80 While some ‘weighing’
of specific contributions is possible, allowing for some flexibility and
discretion on the ESA side to accommodate the interests of the pro-
gramme as such, also a ‘minimum acceptable’ return coefficient was
agreed upon, of (originally) 0.8.81
Post-1975 (as this scheme was immediately adopted), for the first two
decades or so the system of ‘fair return’ was regularly tightened,
following the general growth of financial activities which had caused the
original 20 per cent ‘maximum loss’ to become ever larger in absolute
terms, whilst also several member states turned out to be chronically
‘underserved’ in terms of ESA contracts.82 The minimum acceptable
return coefficient was raised to 0.9 in 1985, to 0.95 in 1987, to 0.96 in
1992 and to 0.98 in 1997; moreover, as of 1987 the concept was applied
not just across the board as far as the totality of ESA programmes was
concerned, but within each programme.83 Then, however, partly due to

International Responsibility, in International Law (Ed. M.D. Evans) (2003),

483–5; incl. Case Concerning the Barcelona Traction Light and Power Company,
Limited (Second Phase) (Belgium v. Spain), International Court of Justice, 5
February 1970, I.C.J. Rep. 1970, 4, para. 44. Further Madders, supra n. 15,
388–9.
79
See in general e.g. Hobe, Hofmannová & Wouters, supra n. 33, 70–8; B.
Schmidt-Tedd, The Geographical Return Principle and its Future within the
European Space Policy, in Contracting for Space (Eds. L.J. Smith & I. Baumann)
(2011), 87–9; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 108–15; Madders, supra n. 15, 384–8.
80
Cf. Art. IV(1), (3), Annex V, ESA Convention, supra n. 29; see also
further infra, § 4.4.5.
81
See Art. IV(2), (6), Annex V, ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
82
See on this Madders, supra n. 15, 297, cf. also 384–5; Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 108.
83
See e.g. Hobe, Hofmannová & Wouters, supra n. 33, 73, incl. at n. 379;
Madders, supra n. 15, 384–5; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 108–10.

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European space law 223

the increasing involvement of the European Community, then European

Union, in the field,84 in 1997 a new system was introduced and the strict
and rigorous application of ‘fair return’ was considerably diluted,
although it continues to play a key role in allocating ESA contracts.85

4.2.5 ESA and Space Law

As per the above survey, ESA presents a rather unique and interesting
case of integration of national space activities and policies of individual
states into a larger, international framework even as the individual
sovereignty of member states to conduct their own space programmes
remains. Not only can they participate à la carte in optional programmes,
but they maintain their freedom to continue or establish new national
space programmes and also to conclude international cooperation agree-
ments, even with other ESA member states, yet disregarding the ESA
framework.86
With a view to ESA’s role specifically in the context of space law
beyond the institutional structures and mechanisms surveyed above, the
baseline is that ESA has no legislative authority as such – its impact on
space law and the development thereof consequently largely runs along a
few more indirect lines.

4.2.5.1 Partisanship to the UN space treaties

Firstly, as one of the few – and arguably the most important amongst
them – international organizations, ESA has made use of the possibilities

84
See further on this e.g. infra, § 4.4.5.
85
Cf. e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 393–8; further Hobe, Hofmannová &
Wouters, supra n. 33, 76–9; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 109; Contracting for
Space (Eds. L.J. Smith & I. Baumann) (2013), 31–2.
86
Examples of the latter concern the French SPOT programme, where
France accepted (limited) participation at various times by Belgium, Italy and
Sweden outside the ESA framework; see F.G. von der Dunk, Private Enterprise
and Public Interest in the European ‘Spacescape’ (1998), 215–7; A. Kerrest de
Rozavel & F.G. von der Dunk, Liability and Insurance in the Context of National
Authorisation, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk)
(2011), 153; and the French-Italian Helios satellite; see Madders, supra n. 15,
485, 497. Cf. also more in general Madders, supra n. 15, 180–4; Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 93, i.a. mentioning single-state space projects that were not
‘Europeanized’.

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under the Rescue Agreement,87 the Liability Convention88 and the

Registration Convention89 to become a ‘party’ for all practical purposes
to those treaties, and therefore qualifies as ‘launching authority’ and
‘launching State’ respectively in their contexts. As only three ESA
member states (Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands) are parties to the
Moon Agreement, by contrast ESA could not fulfil one of the precondi-
tions of becoming such a ‘party’ to that treaty, had it been interested in
doing so.90 In this regard, therefore, ESA certainly plays a rather
exemplary role in promoting the adherence to these UN space treaties,
albeit by definition limited in its possibilities to do so by the sovereign

87
As per Art. 6, Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of
Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter
Rescue Agreement), London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered
into force 3 December 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS
1969 No. 56; Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968); and Declaration
of 31 December 1975; International Organisations and Space Law (1999), 25.
Cf. further Lafferranderie, supra n. 30, 20–3; also supra, § 2.3.2.2.
88
As per Art. XXII, Convention on International Liability for Damage
Caused by Space Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/
Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961
UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS
1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971); and Declaration of 23 September 1976;
International Organisations and Space Law (1999), 33; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, A.III.2, at 1. Cf. further Lafferranderie, supra n. 30, 20–2; Madders,
supra n. 15, 424–7; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 135; also supra, § 2.3.3.8. The
Resolution on the Agency’s Legal Liability, ESA/C/XXII/Res. 3, adopted Paris,
13 December 1977; International Organisations and Space Law (1999), at 35,
spelled out in further detail how international liability claims against ESA would
then be handled within the Agency, notably by proportional sharing as between
the member states.
89
As per Art. VII, Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into
Outer Space (hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January
1975, entered into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28
UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975);
and Declaration of 2 January 1979; International Organisations and Space Law
(1999), 27. Cf. further Lafferranderie, supra n. 30, 20–3; Madders, supra n. 15,
424–5; also supra, § 2.3.4.3.
90
Cf. Art. 16, Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon
and Other Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18
December 1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No.
14; 18 ILM 1434 (1979); requiring i.a. a majority of member states to be parties
to the Moon Agreement.

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member states ultimately in control of the extent to which such adher-

ence is even possible – in accordance with the treaties themselves, of
course.

4.2.5.2 Role in the formation of customary international law

Secondly, as ESA includes several major space powers – France,
Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain – in a number of respects
its decisions, policies and internal rule-making could reflect an important
‘conglomerate’ opinio juris of those member states regarding certain
international space law developments.91 Interesting examples are its
interpretation of the ‘peaceful purposes’ provisions in space law,92 its
leading role in developing tentative customary law on debris mitigation
through its co-initiation of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Consultative
Committee (IADC),93 the application of the ‘fair return’ concept in

91
See on the key issues and role in international law of opinio juris
generally e.g. B.D. Lepard, Customary International Law: A New Theory with
Practical Applications (2010); specifically on the role of intergovernmental
organizations in this context, S.R. Freeland, The Role of ‘Soft Law’ in Public
International Law and its Relevance to the International Regulation of Outer
Space, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 10–1; F.G. von der
Dunk, International Organisations as Creators of Space Law – A Few General
Remarks, in International Organisations and Space Law ESA SP-442 (Ed. R.A.
Harris) (1999), 335–43; on the role of customary law in space law e.g. B.D.
Lepard, The Legal Status of the 1996 Declaration on Space Benefits: Are Its
Norms Now Part of Customary International Law?, in Soft Law in Outer Space
(Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), esp. 291–4; I. Marboe, The Importance of Guidelines
and Codes of Conduct for Liability of States and Private Actors, in Soft Law in
Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 137–43; V.S. Vereshchetin & G.M.
Danilenko, Custom as a Source of International Law of Outer Space, 13 Journal
of Space Law (1985), 22–35.
92
Cf. e.g. Arts. III, IV, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of
States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington,
done 27 January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205;
TIAS 6347; 18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24;
6 ILM 386 (1967); also infra, §§ 6.3, 5.9.2.3. It may be noted that ESA is by its
Convention required to undertake its activities for ‘exclusively peaceful pur-
poses’; Art. II, ESA Convention, supra n. 29. For many years this has meant
ESA had to stay away from any potentially military space activities in Europe,
although this strictness is increasingly being mitigated in the post-Cold War era.
Cf. further e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 184–7; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 44–5;
more broadly also von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 75–8, 90–2, 98–9.
93
See further infra, § 13.3.2.2, also § 13.3.2.1. Cf. further e.g. K.U. Schrogl,
Space and its Sustainable Uses, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds.

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226 Handbook of space law

cooperative space projects engaging private industry94 and its role in, and
handling of, jurisdictional issues on the International Space Station
(ISS).95

4.2.5.3 A particular IPR regime

Thirdly, noting the involvement of private industry in many major ESA
projects and the interests of the former in intellectual property rights
(IPR) as a means to protect investments and generate revenue, the ESA
regime on handling such IPR has evolved into an interesting legal
framework as well.96 The baseline provisions of the ESA Convention
require that member states and ESA itself should facilitate the exchange
of scientific and technical information except when security-sensitive or
in conflict with international obligations, should aim at a wide dissemin-
ation of scientific results of ESA projects whilst relevant data would
remain the property of ESA, allow ESA to secure those rights necessary
for protecting its interests, those of the member states and those of their
entities in terms of access and disclosure rights, and in the end should
make ESA intellectual property freely available to the member states –
whose taxpayers after all ultimately funded those ESA projects.97

C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 605–7; F. Tronchetti, Soft Law, in Outer Space
in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 629–32; C.
Wiedemann, Space Debris Mitigation, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I.
Marboe) (2012), 317 ff.; F.G. von der Dunk, Contradictio in terminis or
Realpolitik?, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 54–5.
94
See discussion supra, § 4.2.4.3; also infra, § 4.4.5.
95
Cf. Arts. 3(b), 4, 5(1), 6(2); on intellectual property, Art. 21; on criminal
liability, Art. 22, Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of
Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the
Government of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States
of America concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station,
Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered into force 27 March 2001; TIAS No.
12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, D.II.4; cf. further infra,
§ 11.3.2. Also e.g. A. Farand, Jurisdiction and Liability Issues in Carrying out
Commercial Activities in the International Space Station (ISS) Programme, in
The International Space Station (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus)
(2006), 87–95; Madders, supra n. 15, 455–69; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15,
127–31.
96
See A.M. Balsano & J. Wheeler, The IGA and ESA: Protecting Intellec-
tual Property Rights in the Context of ISS Activities, in The International Space
Station (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 67 ff.; Lafferrand-
erie, supra n. 15, 183–92; Madders, supra n. 15, 407–15; in general on IPR infra,
Chapter 18.
97
See Art. III, ESA Convention, supra n. 29.

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These provisions were first worked out in the 1989 Rules concerning
Information and Data,98 which, however, only referred to patent protec-
tion and with their clear focus on public interests and wide dissemination
of ESA-funded information and data, including free access for member
states and their nationals, did not do much for the interests and
competitiveness of the European industry.99 Consequently, the 2001
Rules on Information, Data and Intellectual Property100 broadened the
ESA policy to all IPR, and created a required balance between the need
of commercialization for a certain measure of non-disclosure and data
protection and the need of effective R&D for information sharing and
wide dissemination. Now, the ownership of raw and calibrated data and
exclusivity of access, use and/or right to disseminate such data may
remain with the industry if deemed necessary by ESA, whilst ad hoc
agreements remain possible for specific cases.101

4.2.5.4 Creating daughter entities for practical space applications

A final set of important contributions made by or through the ESA
framework to international space law concerns the practice of disengag-
ing in certain space activities when they can no longer be considered
R&D even from a broad perspective, and are being carefully handed off
to other entities – sometimes newly created, alternatively making use of
the EU’s institutional structure allowing for specific new bodies to be
established – whilst maintaining mutually beneficial relationships
through its entitlement to undertake operational activities.
As to the first option, of creating new entities, ESA has so far spawned
three ‘daughter’ entities in the realms where its activities were no longer

98
Rules concerning Information and Data, ESA/C(89)95, rev. 1, of 14
December 1989; see Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 183 ff.; Madders, supra n. 15,
408–10.
99
Cf. e.g. Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 96, 76 ff.; also Madders, supra
n. 15, 414–5; L.B. Malagar & M.A. Magdoza-Malagar, International Law of
Outer Space and the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, 17 Boston
University International Law Journal (1999), 311–66.
100
Rules on Information, Data and Intellectual Property, ESA/C(2002)3, of
19 December 2001.
101
See Art. 8(1), ESA Implementing Rules for the ISS Exploitation Pro-
grammes, ESA/C(2002)175; see Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 96, 78; also
Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 187.

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228 Handbook of space law

considered to be R&D or experimental, and could actually be immedi-

ately or soon properly commercialized: launching, satellite communica-
tions and satellite remote sensing for meteorological purposes.102 Later
on, the same transformation from experimental space activities to
application-oriented structural operations took place in two further areas,
namely satellite navigation and satellite remote sensing for security and
environmental purposes, but as these developments fundamentally
involved the European Union, they will be addressed further below.103

4.2.6 The ‘Daughters’ of ESA

4.2.6.1 Launching and Arianespace

France, in particular, had always been keen on developing an autonomous
European launch capability, and even during the formal demise of ELDO
initiated within the soon-to-be-created ESA structure the optional Ariane
programme in 1973.104 With the resulting Ariane-1 vehicle launched
successfully for the first time in 1979, it was quickly decided to spin off
future routine, even commercial, operations to a prospective new private
company Arianespace, which took effect in 1980.105
Arianespace, due to the leading role of France and the CNES, was
established as a French company, headquartered in Evry and operating
from Kourou in French Guyana, but with shareholders coming from all
other ESA member states that had chosen to participate in the Ariane
programme.106 Its main mission was to take the blueprint of the tested
Ariane-1 vehicle, build more of those, and market launching services

102
Cf. Art. II, ESA Convention, supra n. 29; another major element in such
considerations concerned the inappropriateness for ESA to run ‘routine’ opera-
tions possibly in competition with member state and/or private entities, which, in
particular in satellite communications, would have become almost inevitable.
103
See infra, § 4.4.4.
104
See on ESA optional programmes supra, § 4.2.3.2. Further on the Ariane
programme e.g. M.G. Bourély, La Production du Lanceur Ariane, 6 Annals of Air
and Space Law (1981), 280 ff.; R. Oosterlinck, Private Law Concepts in Space
Law, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992),
45; Madders, supra n. 15, 235–41; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 155 ff.
105
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 520–6; A.J. Butrica, Single Stage to Orbit:
Politics, Space Technology, and the Quest for Reusable Rocketry (2004), 1985–6;
Kayser, supra n. 59, 137–47.
106
Statuts de la Société Arianespace, of 26 March 1980. Arianespace
currently has 24 shareholders from 10 (European) states, including as its largest
shareholder the French space agency CNES, as well as all main companies

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using them, and then to develop as appropriate further launch vehicles

and services.107
Following its first commercial launches in 1984, Arianespace quickly
became a success and captured a large share of the global open
commercial market for launch services.108 In 1996 it teamed up with
Aerospatiale, the Russian Space Agency and the Samara Space Centre
(also in Russia) in the Starsem joint venture to broaden its portfolio with
Soyuz-plus-Ikar and Fregat launches from Plesetsk and Bajkonur.109 With
the registration and headquarters also in France, Starsem is a French
company; France and Russia have concluded an agreement which inter
alia provides for derogation of international third-party liability claims
by Russia to France.110 Following the first Starsem flight in 1999, so far
more than 20 successful flights have taken place. Later still, Arianespace
added another, smaller launcher (similar to the Ariane family developed
by ESA) to its portfolio,111 as well as starting to launch Soyuz vehicles
from Kourou. ESA, in alignment with the European Commission, pro-
vides further support for Arianespace through its EGAS (European
Guaranteed Access to Space) programme.112
Because of the intricate involvement of ESA as a research and
development organization, France as the host country and country of

involved in producing the Ariane-5 launch vehicle; see http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Arianespace, last accessed 18 January 2014; further e.g. Kayser, supra
n. 59, 137.
107
Cf. also Madders, supra n. 15, 521–4. For later Ariane vehicles a similar
approach was adhered to; cf. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 167–71.
108
See further K. Iserland, Ten years of Arianespace, 6 Space Policy (1990),
341–3; Madders, supra n. 15, 520–4; H.P. van Fenema, The International Trade
in Launch Services (1999), 8, 20, 353–7; also infra, § 7.2.1.2.
109
EADS meanwhile having inherited the 35% share of Aerospatiale,
Rosaviacosmos and the Samara Space Centre each hold 25% with Arianespace
itself holding the remaining 15%; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starsem, last
accessed 18 January 2014. Further also e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 179–81;
B. Harvey, The Rebirth of the Russian Space Program: 50 Years After Sputnik,
New Frontiers (2007), 15–6; Harvey, supra n. 27, 83.
110
See e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 180.
111
The Vega launcher; see e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 168.
112
See Council Resolution on a European space strategy, of 16 November
2000; OJ C 371/2 (2000); this meant that essentially the EGAS programme was
sanctioned by the European Union. The aim was to ensure independent access to
space for Europe by guaranteeing the competitiveness of the Ariane launcher,
notably by providing Arianespace with a guarantee of at least six launches per
year; see e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 172–3; Space 2030: Exploring the
Future of Space Applications (2004), OECD, 51.

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nationality of the company and its (main) launch base, and the other
European member states of ESA as having committed major resources to
the Ariane programme as well, France, ESA and the participating ESA
member states could all be held internationally responsible and/or liable
for Arianespace’s operations.113 Consequently, a complex legal construc-
tion ruled the operations of Arianespace until the 2008 French Law on
Space Operations114 provided the French authorities with a licensing
regime to apply to the company.115 That legal construction, in the
European context now largely a matter of history but possibly still of
interest to other regions, depended upon a triad of documents.
Firstly, the Arianespace Declaration, adopted in its original version in
1980,116 and renewed every ten years, is underwritten by the ESA
member states involved in Arianespace directly or indirectly (that is
through national industry) as shareholders. The Declaration provided for
a principled commitment of support for Arianespace by those member
states, meaning preferential treatment of Arianespace in case of national
launches as well as international programmes in which such member
states were participating.117 ESA was, at least in principle, obliged to use
the services of Arianespace for its launches.118 Such services were to be
offered only in conformity with the ESA Convention and the Outer Space

113
Cf. Arts. VI, VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 92; see supra, § 2.3.1.1.
While the French space agency CNES would actually take care of the registra-
tion of Ariane launches, ESA, having also complied with the requirements of Art.
VII, Registration Convention, supra n. 89 for becoming a ‘party’ to that
Convention, could also perform that task.
114
Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux opérations spatiales; hereafter
French Law on Space Operations); Loi n° 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008; unofficial
English version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 453.
115
See further supra, § 3.3.3.1.
116
Declaration by Certain European Governments Relating to the Ariane
Launcher Production Phase (hereafter Arianespace Declaration), entered into
force 14 April 1980; 6 Annals of Air and Space Law (1981), at 723;
www.jaxa.jp/library/space_law/chapter_3/3-2-2-3/index_e.html, last accessed 13
April 2014. See further e.g. Oosterlinck, supra n. 104, 45–6; Kerrest de Rozavel
& von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 151–2; von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 155 ff.; Kayser,
supra n. 59, 137, Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 155.
117
See Art. 1(4)(b) & (c), Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 116.
118
Cf. Art. 1(4)(a), Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 116. For the member
states and their private space operators, however, this was already at best a
politically binding preference; see Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 155–65; see
further infra, § 7.5.3.2.

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Treaty; in particular the provision from the former that space activities
could only be conducted for peaceful purposes was reiterated.119
As for the international third-party liability possibly resulting from
Ariane launches by the company, France would answer such claims, as
necessary reimbursing ESA and/or any of its member states if those were
obliged under the Liability Convention to pay such claims.120 Ariane-
space in turn was required to reimburse France for up to originally FF400
million per launch, which was later converted into €60 million, and to be
insured up to that level.121
Also, the Arianespace Declaration included a provision ascertaining
that IPR issues would not get in the way of developing Ariane launchers
and their operations: ‘Participants undertake to make available to Ariane-
space, when required for the purposes of the production or launch of
Ariane … free of charge, the intellectual property rights belonging to
them and deriving from the development and promotion phases of the
Ariane programme’ and likewise ‘Participants invite the Agency to make
available to Arianespace, to the extent necessary for the production or
launch of Ariane … free of charge, the intellectual property rights
deriving from the development and promotion phases of the Ariane
programme’.122
Secondly, an Arianespace Convention was signed in 1992 between
ESA and Arianespace to give effect to the provisions of the Arianespace
Declaration as between ESA and the company – in the event of a conflict
between the two, the latter takes precedence.123 Most notably, the
Convention effectively imposed liability on Arianespace for damage to

119
See Arts. 1(2)(a), 3(1), Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 116. Cf. also
Art. II, ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
120
See Art. 4(1), Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 116. On the Liability
Convention, supra n. 88, see further supra, § 2.3.2.
121
Cf. Art. 3(8), Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 116. As under Art. XII,
Liability Convention, supra n. 88, international third-party liability was in
principle without limit, this meant any claim going over the amount indicated
would have to be borne by France. See further e.g. Kayser, supra n. 59, 142;
Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 152–3, 160.
122
Arts. 1(7) & 2(2), Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 116.
123
See Art. 1. Convention between the European Space Agency and Ariane-
space on the Ariane Launcher Production Phase (hereafter Arianespace Conven-
tion), signed 24 September 1992; excerpts at www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/
SpaceLaw/multi_bi/esa_ariane_001.html. See further e.g. Oosterlinck, supra
n. 104, 45–6; Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 152; von der
Dunk, supra n. 86, 156 ff.; Kayser, supra n. 59, 139; Madders, supra n. 15,
522–3.

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232 Handbook of space law

property to the agency or the participant states, whilst itself waiving any
liability claims against ESA.124
Thirdly, there was the CSG Agreement, effectively a series of protocols
concluded between France and ESA concerning the use of the Centre
Spatial Guyanais (CSG), the space centre at Kourou.125 Under the CSG
Agreement France reiterates its undertaking to carry any international
third-party liability claims resulting from Arianespace launches, repre-
senting a reversal of the arrangements regarding the Ariane development
programme when this was undertaken by ESA.126 In turn, ESA waives all
claims for inter-party liability against France for operations at the CSG,
except in cases of gross negligence, wilful acts or deliberate omissions.127
The net effect of these documents, focusing on the activities which
Arianespace was allowed to undertake, the level of support and control
on the public side (in this case not only France as its state of nationality
but also ESA as a consequence of its involvement through the Ariane
programme) and key liability issues, was fulfilling a role that national
space laws and licensing regimes would normally fulfil in a single-state
context.128 Only the establishment of the French Law on Space Opera-
tions could take over the role of these documents (at least in a number of
respects), although at the same time elements pertaining to the roles,
rights and responsibilities of ESA and its participating member states
other than France would continue to be governed by these documents.129

4.2.6.2 Satellite communications and EUTELSAT

Following the general success of the Orbital Test Satellite OTS-2 in
1978, a follow-on more extended optional programme ECS (European
Communication Satellite) kicked off in 1979, giving rise to the launches
of ECS-1 (1983), ECS-2 (1984), ECS-3 (an abortive launch in 1985),
ECS-4 (1987) and ECS-5 (1988).130 At the same time, preparing for the
follow-on activities of operating these satellites for practical telecom

124
Cf. Art. 22, Arianespace Convention, supra n. 123.
125
Cf. e.g. Agreement between the French government and the European
Space Agency with respect to the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) (hereafter CSG
Agreement), of 1993; excerpts of French version at 80 ESA Bulletin (Nov. 1994),
at 67. Further Kayser, supra n. 59, 141; Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk,
supra n. 86, 152–3; von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 156 ff.
126
See Art. 11(3) & (1), CSG Agreement, supra n. 125.
127
Cf. Art. 13(1), (2), CSG Agreement, supra n. 125.
128
See further on this von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 155–61.
129
See e.g. Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 150 ff.; also
Kayser, supra n. 59, 134–5.
130
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 253–5; further Lyall, supra n. 15, 269–70.

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applications on a daily and quasi-commercial basis, in 1977 Interim

EUTELSAT was created to ensure the establishment, operation and
maintenance of the space segment of a European satellite communication
system, and to conclude the necessary agreements, including with
ESA.131
Interim EUTELSAT evolved into the European Telecommunication
Satellite Organization EUTELSAT,132 an intergovernmental organization
headquartered in Paris with an interesting hybrid character as a public
consortium much akin to INTELSAT and INMARSAT,133 in 1982 (with
formal effect as of 1985, following the now common practice of
temporary application as per the Interim Arrangements prior to such
formal effect134).
Due to the burgeoning satellite communications environment, EUTEL-
SAT soon was able to stand on its own feet, no longer requiring ESA to
develop new satellites for it, and the organization grew until at present it

131
Agreement on the Constitution of a Provisional European Telecommuni-
cations Satellite Organization ‘INTERIM EUTELSAT’, Paris, done 13 May
1977, entered into force 30 June 1977; ESA, Basic Texts, Vol. III, Doc. K6. See
further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 15, 269–73; Madders, supra n. 15, 504–14; C. Roisse,
The Evolution of EUTELSAT: A Challenge Successfully Met, in The Transform-
ation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J.
Mechanick) (2013), 120–2; Matte, supra n. 27, 772; S. White, S. Bate & T.
Johnson, Satellite Communications in Europe: Law and Regulation (2nd edn,
1996), 105 ff.
132
EUTELSAT was established by means of the Convention Establishing the
European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter
EUTELSAT Convention), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1
September 1985; UKTS 1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9069; Space Law – Basic
Legal Documents, C.II.1; and the Operating Agreement Relating to the European
Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT
Operating Agreement), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September
1985; UKTS 1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9154; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, C.II.2. Following a major restructuring, in the early 2000s the
intergovernmental organization was essentially privatized; see further infra,
§ 5.6.2.
133
Like INTELSAT and INMARSAT, EUTELSAT was a two-tier organ-
ization, with member states represented in the highest bodies but the actual
telecom operators together running the satellite system; see further infra, § 5.6.1.
Cf. also on the structure and organs of EUTELSAT Arts. VI–XIII, EUTELSAT
Convention, supra n. 132; further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 15, 280–6.
134
Cf. Lyall, supra n. 15, 275; Madders, supra n. 15, 504–5; Matte, supra
n. 27, 772.

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234 Handbook of space law

encompasses 49 member states,135 that is almost all European countries –

and considerably more states than either ESA or the European Union.
EUTELSAT’s main objectives were the design, development, construc-
tion, establishment, operation and maintenance of a space segment and
ground control segment for European satellite communication operations,
where the transmitting and receiving ground stations and the communi-
cation services themselves offered by way of those were the responsibil-
ity of the individual member states and their telecommunication
operators (essentially public agencies at the time).136
The operation of EUTELSAT’s space infrastructure was to take place
on a sound economic and financial basis and under accepted commercial
principles.137 This inter alia resulted in a financial structure whereby the
contributions of the individual signatories to the organization’s activities
were matched with the actual usage and, if applicable, the revenues
generated in that context.138 In general, the order of priority of usage of
the EUTELSAT system was (1) international public telecommunication
activities; (2) domestic public telecommunication activities of the mem-
ber states; and (3) specialized telecommunications.139
EUTELSAT’s main focus was on the provision of one-way point-to-
multipoint telecommunications; overall some 75 per cent of its activities
concerned direct broadcasting by satellite.140 This turned out to be
important also in the legal realm. As all states establishing EUTELSAT
were also member states of INTELSAT, its establishment had to comply
with the requirement in the latter context that no satellite system could be
established by its member states if that would give rise to ‘significant

135
See www.eutelsatigo.int/en/eutelsat.php?menu=3, last accessed 7 Septem-
ber 2013.
136
See Art. III, EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 132; cf. e.g. Roisse, supra
n. 131, 124–6; Lyall, supra n. 15, 277–8; Matte, supra n. 27, 773.
137
See Art. V, EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 132.
138
Cf. Arts. 8–10, EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 132. See
further e.g. Roisse, supra n. 131, 125; Madders, supra n. 15, 506–7; Lyall, supra
n. 15, 287–9.
139
See Art. III, EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 132; also Lyall, supra
n. 15, 278–80, 287–9.
140
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 509–14; S. Courteix, EUTELSAT:
Europe’s Satellite Telecommunications, 5 Michigan Yearbook of International
Legal Studies (1984), 85–102; C. Morrow, Developments in European Telecom-
munications Law and Policy, 24 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law
(1985–1986), 165–70; cf. also Roisse, supra n. 131, 127–8.

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European space law 235

economic harm’ to – read seriously compete with – INTELSAT opera-

tions.141 As INTELSAT, by contrast, was largely focused on two-way
point-to-point non-broadcast telecommunications, that risk was deemed
insignificant enough to allow the establishment of EUTELSAT to go
ahead.
On intellectual property rights, EUTELSAT was to acquire only the
rights necessary for it to operate properly; the contractor developing any
relevant IPR got to retain it.142 EUTELSAT, however, reserved its right to
royalty-free use of such IPR, which also included EUTELSAT member
states and signatories, including as necessary earth stations.143
On contractual liability, a general cross-waiver was applied:

Neither EUTELSAT, nor any Signatory … shall be liable to any Party or to

any Signatory or to EUTELSAT, because of any interruption, delay or
malfunctioning of telecommunications services provided or to be provided
under the Convention or the Operating Agreement, nor shall any actions for
damages be brought against them because of such interruption, delay or
malfunctioning.144

As for third-party liability, in case of international liability claims for

example under the Liability Convention:

No Party shall be individually liable for the acts and obligations of EUTEL-
SAT, except where such liability results from a treaty to which that Party and
a State claiming compensation are parties. In that case, EUTELSAT shall
indemnify the Party concerned in respect of any such liability, unless the latter
has expressly undertaken to assume exclusively such liability.145

141
Cf. Art. XIV(d), Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunica-
tions Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), Washington, done 20 August 1971,
entered into force 12 February 1973; 1220 UNTS 21; TIAS 7532; 23 UST 3813;
UKTS 1973 No. 80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS 1973 No. 6; 10 ILM 909 (1971); also
Lyall, supra n. 15, 277–8; 289–90; Roisse, supra n. 131, 125; further infra,
§ 5.4.1.
142
See Art. 18(b), EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 132.
143
Cf. Art. 18(c), EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 132.
144
Art. 19(a), EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 132; see further
e.g. Roisse, supra n. 131, 126.
145
Art. XXIV, EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 132.

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236 Handbook of space law

It should be noted that EUTELSAT had indeed deposited a declaration of

acceptance of rights and obligations of the Liability Convention in
conformity with the latter’s provisions.146
Essentially, the above construction and legal role, position and com-
petencies of EUTELSAT were fundamentally changed by a series of
developments in the 1990s ultimately giving rise to its privatization, as
further discussed below.147

4.2.6.3 Satellite remote sensing for meteorological purposes and

EUMETSAT
ESA started to engage itself in satellite remote sensing for meteorological
purposes with the optional programme Meteosat in 1975, giving rise to
the launch of the Meteosat-1 satellite in 1977.148 Following the success
of its operations, in 1983 EUMETSAT was formed.149
Henceforth, EUMETSAT provides an international infrastructure of
satellite remote sensing satellites and attendant services for meteorology
for Europe, by developing, procuring, launching and operating satellites
generating relevant weather data.150 In this case, the national meteoro-
logical services of the member states are the users.151

146
As per 30 November 1987. See United Nations treaties and principles on
outer space and related General Assembly resolutions, Addendum, Status of
international agreements relating to activities in outer space as at 1 January 2009;
ST/SPACE/11/Rev.2/Add.2, at 16; also e.g. N. Jasentuliyana, The Future of
International Telecommunications Law, in Legal Visions of the 21st Century
(Eds. A. Anghie & G. Sturgess) (1998), 399 at n. 26. See further Art. XXII(1),
Liability Convention, supra n. 88.
147
See infra, § 5.6.1.
148
See e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 266–70, 516–20.
149
As per the Convention for the Establishment of a European Organization
for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) (hereafter
EUMETSAT Convention), Geneva, done 24 May 1983, entered into force 19
June 1986; as amended 14 July 1994, entered into force 27 July 1994; UKTS
1999 No. 32; Cm. 1067; Cmnd. 9483; 44 ZLW 68 (1995).
150
Cf. Art. 2(1), EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 149; also e.g. Madders,
supra n. 15, 516–7. More in general on EUMETSAT see further F.G. von der
Dunk, European Satellite Earth Observation: Law, Regulations, Policies, Pro-
jects, and Programmes, 42 Creighton Law Review (2009), 403–6; M.G. Bourély,
EUMETSAT – A New European Space Organization for Cooperation in the Field
of Meteorology, in Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (1984), 195 ff.; W. Balogh & P. Valabrega, EUMETSAT Inter-
national Cooperation Activities, in Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (2007), 189 ff.
151
See Art. 8(2), EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 149.

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EUMETSAT from the start, contrary to EUTELSAT, was a ‘trad-

itional’ intergovernmental organization; thus, the national meteorological
services were not independently represented within its institutional
structure.152 Currently, the organization counts 29 member states, with
two more states as ‘cooperating states’ paying 50 per cent of full
membership fees.153 The organization is headquartered in Darmstadt,
Germany – next door to the ESOC run by ESA.
EUMETSAT continued the Meteosat programme, taking over relevant
direct responsibilities from ESA, and also was made responsible for
developing new programmes and next-generation satellite systems as
appropriate.154 Part of that responsibility also concerned the generation of
valuable weather data, to be protected through copyright or related IPR
tools such as the later Database Directive adopted by the European
Union.155
The organization accepted liability for damage caused by its satellites,
in line with the Liability Convention and if necessary reimbursing
member states, but not for damage resulting from use of meteorological
data.156 As between EUMETSAT itself and its member states, a cross-
waiver of liability was established.157

152
The Council of Member States is the supreme organ of the organization
making all the highest-level decisions on the status, role, competences and
operations of EUMETSAT; see Arts. 4, 5, EUMETSAT Convention, supra
n. 149. The Director-General and his staff are responsible for the implementation
and execution of EUMETSAT programmes; see Art. 6. Cf. however Art. 4(1),
requiring that these services should be represented on the member states’
delegations to the EUMETSAT Council. See further e.g. Hobe, Hofmannová &
Wouters, supra n. 33, 233.
153
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EUMETSAT, last accessed 14 April
2014; the full member states include all 20 ESA member states (see supra, at
n. 31), non-ESA EU members Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Slovakia and Slovenia, plus Iceland and Turkey. The two cooperating states are
Bulgaria and Serbia. Cf. also Art. 5(2)(a) sub (vii), EUMETSAT Convention,
supra n. 149, on the legal basis for such cooperation.
154
Cf. e.g. Art. 2(1), (2), (6), (7), EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 149.
155
See e.g. P. Hulsroj, Space Community, Space Law, Law, in International
Organisations and Space Law (Ed. R.A. Harris) (1999), 72–3; for the Database
Directive, infra n. 210, see further infra, § 4.3.2.3.
156
Cf. Art. 9(3) and (1) respectively, EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 149.
EUMETSAT declared its acceptance of the rights and obligations under the
Liability Convention, supra n. 88, in July 2005; see UN COPUOS/LEGAL/
T.734, of 4 April 2006, 13.
157
See Art. 9(2), EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 149.

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238 Handbook of space law

Further to growing activities of the organization, such as the start of

the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) programme in 1994 and the
taking over of operational responsibilities for the Meteosat satellite from
ESOC in 1995,158 EUMETSAT amended its Convention in 2000.159
Henceforth, the material scope of EUMETSAT activities would formally
extend to operational monitoring of the climate and detection of global
climate changes.160 More strictly legally speaking, the organization
introduced the concept of ‘optional programmes’. The (now) mandatory
programmes, including Meteosat and other basic satellite programmes
continued to be financed (like the general budget) in accordance with
GNP ratios.161 Optional programmes would concern all other pro-
grammes within the objectives of the organization, where the respective
contributions were now to be determined per programme, as is the case
with ESA optional programmes.162
In terms of its procurement policy, however, EUMETSAT only par-
tially followed the ESA example: while both open competition and
existing European expertise were leading principles to determine the
granting of contracts, formally there was no geographical distribution or
application of a ‘fair return’ principle: contracts were to be awarded
essentially on a ‘best value for money’ basis.163

158
Cf. V. Thiem, Recent Developments in Eumetsat, in Proceedings of the
Thirty-Eighth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1996), 175–8; also e.g.
already Madders, supra n. 15, 518–20.
159
Convention for the Establishment of a European Organization for the
Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites ‘EUMETSAT’ as amended (hereafter
EUMETSAT Convention as amended); Paris, done 24 May 1983, entered into
force 19 June 1986, amended version entered into force 19 November 2000;
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.III.1.
160
See Art. 2(1), 2nd sent., EUMETSAT Convention as amended, supra
n. 159; further R. Harris & R. Browning, Global Monitoring: The Challenges of
Access to Data (2013), 130–1; A. Woods, Medium-Range Weather Prediction:
The European Approach (2006), 159–60.
161
See Arts. 2(7), 3, 5(2)(c), 10(3), EUMETSAT Convention as amended,
supra n. 159.
162
See Arts. 2(8), 3, 5(2)(d) & (3), 10(4), EUMETSAT Convention as
amended, supra n. 159; further supra, § 4.2.3.2.
163
Cf. Art. 2(3), EUMETSAT Convention, supra n. 149. To the extent,
however, that ESA was involved in financing satellites, the ‘fair return’ principle
was applied; cf. Hobe, Hofmannová & Wouters, supra n. 33, 235.

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European space law 239

4.3 REGULATORY INTEGRATION OF SPACE

ACTIVITIES: THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY/
UNION

4.3.1 The Legal Foundations for European Community/Union

Involvement in Space

4.3.1.1 The founding treaties and the establishment of a European

legal order
The involvement in space and space policy issues of the European Union,
as the successor at a political, if not completely at the legal level, of the
European Community, stems from a completely different background
compared with that of ESA. The Community, then Union, became
involved in European space activities and related policy issues primarily
as a regulator, and has only recently become a player in its own right,
even a policy-maker – but this remains a secondary role.164
Following the original establishment of three different European Com-
munities in the 1950s165 and a number of later treaties fundamentally
amending these founding treaties,166 a distinct and partly supranational

164
Cf. e.g. L. Mantl, The European Union, in Outer Space in Society, Politics
and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 406 ff.; Madders, supra n. 15,
566–86; also Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 139–48; more in general as part of the
Community’s R&D regime R. Barents & P.J. Slot, Sectoral Policies, in The Law
of the European Union and the European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et
al.) (4th edn, 2008), 1259–64.
165
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), as per the Treaty
establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (hereafter ECSC Treaty),
Paris, done 18 April 1951, entered into force 23 July 1952, expired 23 July 2002;
126 UNTS 140; the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom),
as per the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (here-
after EAEC Treaty), Rome, done 25 March 1957, entered into force 1 January
1958; 298 UNTS 167; and the European Economic Community, the most
important one, as per the Treaty of Rome, or Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community (hereafter EEC Treaty), Rome, done 25 March 1957,
entered into force 1 January 1958; 298 UNTS 11. See also e.g. Timmermans,
supra n. 1, 6–16; Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 4–10; Folsom, supra n. 1, 4–10, 3–8.
166
The most important of these concerned the Treaty Establishing a Single
Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, done
8 April 1965, entered into force 1 July 1967; OJ L 152/2 (1967), effectively
merging the three Communities; the Single European Act, Luxembourg/The
Hague, done 17/28 February 1986, entered into force 1 July 1987; UKTS 1988
No. 31; Cm. 372; OJ L 169/1 (1987); 25 ILM 506 (1986), which triggered the

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240 Handbook of space law

legal order has by now emerged amongst the (at present) 28 member
states.167 This means that in many instances the Union can in law
override the interests, policies and even legislation of individual member
states – although in the last resort such competences are still based on
these treaties between sovereign member states.
Together these treaties form a body of primary EU law, inter alia
creating the main Union organs, officially referred to as: the Council (of
Ministers),168 the European Commission,169 the European Parliament,170
and the Court of Justice of the EU;171 since 1992 formally augmented by
a European Council comprised of heads of state and government entitled
to develop policies – but based on consensus, and without being formally
entitled to guide follow-on legislative measures.172 The treaties also

Community’s involvement in outer space; the Treaty on European Union,

Maastricht, done 7 February 1992, entered into force 1 November 1993; 31 ILM
247 (1992); OJ C 191/1 (1992), which established the European Union; and the
Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty
establishing the European Community, Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered
into force 1 December 2009; OJ C 306/1 (2007), which offered the Union its first
comprehensive measure of ‘space competence’ (see further infra, § 4.4.3). See
also e.g. Timmermans, supra n. 1, 28–44; Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 10–1, 16–24;
Folsom, supra n. 1, 8, 19–29.
167
These are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Repub-
lic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
168
See Arts. 227–243, Treaty establishing the European Community as
amended by the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and
the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereafter Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union), Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered
into force 1 December 2009; OJ C 115/47 (2009). Further e.g. R.H. Lauwaars,
Institutional Structure, in The Law of the European Union and the European
Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn, 2008), 180–8; Arnull et al.,
supra n. 1, 32–7; Folsom, supra n. 1, 41 ff.
169
See Arts. 244–250, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
supra n. 168. Further e.g. Lauwaars, supra n. 168, 188–99; Arnull et al., supra
n. 1, 37–44; Folsom, supra n. 1, 54–8.
170
See Arts. 223–234, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
supra n. 168. Further e.g. Lauwaars, supra n. 168, 199–215; Arnull et al., supra
n. 1, 44–51; Folsom, supra n. 1, 35–9.
171
See Arts. 251–281, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
supra n. 168. Further e.g. Lauwaars, supra n. 168, 213–52; Arnull et al., supra
n. 1, 387 ff.; Folsom, supra n. 1, 75 ff.
172
Cf. Arts. 235–236, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
supra n. 168; also Arts. 13(1), 15, Treaty on European Union as amended by the

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provided these organs with extensive legal competences, which they then
used to jointly expand the scope of European law immensely – by
drafting and enunciating what is called ‘secondary EU law’. Secondary
EU law is composed of Regulations, Directives, and Decisions.173

4.3.1.2 The relationship between the European legal order and

national member state law
The essential elements of the European legal order thus summarized
present today’s European Union with its own set of competences and a
distinct measure of autonomous jurisdiction.174 Depending upon certain
circumstances and legal preconditions, these can be directly applied not
only to the member states themselves, but also to private persons and
entities (otherwise directly) resorting under the domestic jurisdictions of
these member states.175 In addition, in a number of cases the rights and
obligations directly applicable to individual citizens and legal entities can

Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty
establishing the European Community (hereafter Consolidated version of the
Treaty on European Union), Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered into force
1 December 2009; OJ C 115/1 (2009). Further e.g. Lauwaars, supra n. 168,
176–80; Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 30–2; Folsom, supra n. 1, 42.
173
See Art. 288, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra
n. 168. Regulations are essentially laws on a European level: they are phrased in
general terms and apply comprehensively, at least as far as indicated or expressly
provided for by the Regulations themselves. The same qualification as law
applies to Directives to some extent, namely as far as the required end result is
concerned: each state is free, however, to reach that end result in whatever way it
sees fit, prior to a given deadline. Finally, Decisions also provide binding law, but
only upon those entities to which they are explicitly or implicitly directed. In
each case, they would override, wherever applicable, national law or regulation
to the contrary. Further e.g. B. de Witte, A. Geelhoed & J. Inghelram, Legal
Instruments, Decision-Making and EU Finances, in The Law of the European
Union and the European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn,
2008), 280–8; Folsom, supra n. 1, 33–4.
174
Cf. also e.g. Mantl, supra n. 164, 406–9; also Madders, supra n. 15,
566–7; Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 81 ff.
175
Most importantly for outer space and space activities, this concerns the
competition (‘anti-trust’) regime of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, supra n. 168; see also further infra, §§ 4.3.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.5. See
in great detail e.g. Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 965–1191; Folsom, supra n. 1,
292–370; R. Barents, The Competition Policy of the EC, in The Law of the
European Union and the European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th
edn, 2008), 785–879.

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also be claimed directly by those entities. Bypassing domestic juris-

dictions of member states, the Court of Justice can be called upon in a
number of instances by those concerned to judge upon the legality of EU
as well as national actions.176 The existence of this body central to the
EU legal order represents an essential measure of supranational adjudi-
cation.
However, at the same time this does not automatically allow the Union
and its legal framework to affect outer space and space activities. In this
respect, the underlying sovereignty of its member states still remains the
most fundamental legal basis for that EU-law framework: the afore-
mentioned competences and jurisdictions are applied to concrete issues
only if explicitly made to do so by primary EU law or (much more
commonly) secondary EU law, or if from existing EU law no other
conclusion can be drawn other than that such applicability was
implied.177
Primary EU law, obviously, is to be directly established by the EU
member states agreeing to a new EU treaty or an amendment to an
existing one. Also on secondary law, however, the competences of the
organs applicable there cannot be exercised without regard for existing
legal bases in the current treaty framework, and can only be extended in
compliance with the fundamental principles of ‘conferral’, ‘subsidiarity’
and ‘proportionality’.178 Taken together, these principles mean that unless
the competence to legislate on a certain issue has unequivocally, even if

176
Cf. Arts. 258–260, 263–267, 269–272, Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, supra n. 168.
177
See e.g. for application of the doctrine of ‘implied powers’ in the EU
context, Art. 352, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra
n. 168.
178
Cf. Arts. 5, 12, Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union,
supra n. 172; Arts. 7, 352(2), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
supra n. 168; Protocol (No 2) on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity
and Proportionality. ‘Conferral’ is defined as meaning that ‘the Union shall act
only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member
States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein’, thus ‘[c]ompetences
not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States’
(Art. 5(2), Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union). ‘Subsidiarity’
is defined as requiring that ‘in areas which do not fall within its exclusive
competence, the Union shall act only if and in so far as the objectives of the
proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, either at
central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale
or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level’ (Art. 5(3),
Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union). ‘Proportionality’ is
defined as ensuring that ‘the content and form of Union action shall not exceed

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European space law 243

only implicitly, been transferred to the Union’s organs the relevant power
should still be deemed to rest with the national governmental authorities.
If doubt arises whether an issue could be regulated more effectively and
logically at the European level or at the national level, the presumption
under these principles is that the national level should prevail.
As for a possible role of the European Community/Union in outer
space, as a consequence of this complex relationship between EU organs’
legislative powers and sovereign member state discretion any competence
to legislate can be exercised by EU organs only to the extent that
space(-related) activities are covered more or less unequivocally and in
accordance with subsidiarity and proportionality by provisions in primary
or secondary EU law. This then brings analysis to the substantive focus
of the European legal order, and how it would relate or could relate to
outer space and space activities.

4.3.1.3 The substantive focus of the European legal order and outer
space
In terms of substance, EC law originally addressed almost exclusively
issues of cross-border trade and free and fair competition among the
member states, more particularly their industries and enterprises, so as to
create a ‘Common Market’.179 Import and export tariffs and quotas and
other obstructions to such a common market were to be phased out as
much as possible as regards goods, services and capital, backed up by an
anti-trust regime and limitations to state aid and the free movement of
persons for, essentially, economic reasons.180 Special regimes were
developed at the same time for agriculture and – at least potentially
relevant for the space sector – transport.181

what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties’ (Art. 5(4), Consoli-
dated version of the Treaty on European Union). See further e.g. C.W.A.
Timmermans, The Basic Principles, in The Law of the European Union and the
European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn, 2008), 138–47; also
Folsom, supra n. 1, 30–3; Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 97–112.
179
Not accidentally, the European Economic Community itself was often
labelled the ‘Common Market’; the EEC Treaty was by far the most important
among the three founding treaties, with the ECSC and EAEC Treaties essentially
addressing two special, narrow but highly-strategic economic sectors.
180
Cf. currently, Arts. 28–37, 56–62, 63–66, 101–106, 107–109 & 45–55
respectively, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168;
also Arts. 26–27.
181
Cf. currently Arts. 38–44 and 90–100 respectively, Treaty on the Func-
tioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.

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244 Handbook of space law

Over time, the competences of the European organs were gradually

extended to include the broader economic law environment (involving,
for instance, taxation, harmonization of national economic legislation and
a common customs tariff182), then the comprehensive economic environ-
ment (from economic policies to a common currency183), and finally the
even broader societal environment (from environmental pollution, educa-
tion and culture to social issues such as public health, employment and
support for poor regions, and even tentatively to foreign policy and
security-related issues184).
Nevertheless, the original core of private sector economics summarized
above continues to remain at the heart of the EU legal order. This meant
essentially that, as long as space activities, at least within Europe, were
almost exclusively undertaken by states and public intergovernmental
organizations,185 there was neither rationale nor interest for the member
states to consider, let alone allow, substantial involvement of the EU
organs in space issues, and the latter also would not consider such
involvement to be high on the European list of priorities.186 If there is no
private involvement in space activities other than a limited industrial
sector being engaged for scientific and strategic reasons by government
establishments in the context of a rather idiosyncratic, non-economic
framework, application, for example, of competition and free market
principles basically remains a non-issue.

4.3.2 The Involvement of the European Community/Union in Space

Activities

4.3.2.1 The 1986 Single European Act and space research and
development
Following the above, virtually until 1985 the only European inter-state
fora where legal aspects of space activities and applications were

182
Cf. currently, Arts. 110–113, 114–118 & 31 respectively, Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.
183
Cf. currently Arts. 119–133 & 136–138 respectively, Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.
184
Cf. currently, Arts. 191–193, 165–166, 167, 168, 151–161 & 300 respec-
tively (as well as individual clauses spread throughout the Treaty), Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168; Arts. 21–46 respectively,
Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union, supra n. 172.
185
Cf. on this also supra, §§ 2.1, 2.2.2.3.
186
Cf. also Madders, supra n. 15, 566–8; G. Delanty & C. Rumford,
Rethinking Europe: Social Theory and the Implications of Europeanization
(2013), 120–2; M. Sheehan, The International Politics of Space (2007), 87–8.

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discussed were ESA and its intergovernmental daughter entities

EUTELSAT and EUMETSAT. Legally relevant references to ‘outer
space’, ‘space activities’ or ‘space applications’ could be found nowhere
in primary or secondary EC law.187
Only with the adoption of the Single European Act in 1986188 giving
the EC organs a first level of competence in the space realm did that
change; tellingly, however, that competence was part of the broader
competences now provided to the Commission to take as necessary
auxiliary legislative initiatives in the general realm of science and
technological development. ‘Outer space’ was considered part of a realm
where important science was being conducted, also requiring immense
high research and development budgets, which most private enterprises
could not, or could hardly be expected, to provide.
Thus, the Single European Act provided for a set of clauses189 whereby
the EC organs were charged with building and financing R&D frame-
work programmes endowed with large funds, and developing other,
partly legislative instruments to enhance research and development.
References to research and development were widely accepted to include
space as a relevant area, showing great potential for more down-to-earth
technological, then also economic and societal spin-offs.
Concurrently with the adoption of the Single European Act and
following inter alia a report from a European Parliamentary working
group chaired by Mr. Toksvig for the first time addressing the potential
relevance of space for the broader issues of European integration,190 the
Community also started building relationships with ESA, clearly still
considered by all as the leading European organization involved in space
research and related activities and also recognized as such by the
Community’s organs.191

187
Cf. also Madders, supra n. 15, 569, recounting the European Commis-
sion’s observer role at the 1970 European Space Conference as the formal
starting point for European Community involvement with the space sector;
however, not until the Single European Act were actual regulatory competences
obtained by the Community’s organs; further e.g. Mantl, supra n. 164, 410.
188
Single European Act, supra n. 166; also e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 568;
Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 140.
189
Art. 24, Single European Act, supra n. 166, effectively added Arts.
130f–130q to the then-EEC Treaty, supra n. 165.
190
Toksvig Report on European space activities, Doc. B 2 565/86, of 6 July
1986; see e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 570; Van de Wouwer & Lambert, supra
n. 15, 104–6.
191
Cf. Madders, supra n 14, 570–7; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 140; Van de
Wouwer & Lambert, supra n. 15, 107–9.

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246 Handbook of space law

4.3.2.2 Satellite communications: Two Green Papers, the Satellite

Directive and beyond
More fundamentally, the increasing commercialization and correlated
privatization of international telecommunications including satellite com-
munications in the late 1980s192 opened the door for the European
Commission to address this sector from a Community perspective, first
as a matter of policy, then in more properly legal terms.
A 1987 Green Paper on liberalization and privatization also within
Europe in the general telecom sector,193 a high-level policy document
setting the scene for proper EC legislation, constituted the starting point.
Though the Green Paper included satellite communications within the
scope of its overall assessment of the telecommunications landscape
within Europe, it also recognized that as a special sub-sector requiring
special attention (among other things in view of the existence of three
international satellite organizations with major EU member state partici-
pation) the proper way of handling liberalization and privatization in that
context would require specific further attention.194

192
See for a rather comprehensive analysis of that changing environment e.g.
P.K. McCormick, Neo-Liberalism: A Contextual Framework for Assessing the
Privatisation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations, in The Transformation
of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J.
Mechanick) (2013), 1–34; specifically on the European environment e.g. Roisse,
supra n. 131, 128–32.
193
Towards a Dynamic European Economy – Green Paper on the Develop-
ment of the Common Market for Telecommunications Services and Equipment,
Communication from the Commission (hereafter 1987 Green Paper), COM(87)
290 final, of 30 June 1987; OJ C 257/1 (1987); as per Council Resolution on the
development of the common market for telecommunications services and equip-
ment up to 1992, of 30 June 1988, OJ C 257/1 (1988). A ‘Green Paper’ in the
context of the European Community/Union constitutes an overarching policy
analysis coming up with more or less general proposals for both policy and, as
appropriate, attendant legal measures, to be then realized to the extent generally
found acceptable by the EU member states and (to the extent applicable) other
stakeholders.
194
See 1987 Green Paper, supra n. 193, esp. pp. 37–9, 83–7, 172–3, 175,
178–9, 190–1. Cf. further in general on the 1987 Green Paper S. Mosteshar,
European Community Telecommunications Regulation (1993), esp. 4–5, 50 ff.;
C.D. Ehlermann, The Contribution of EC Competition Policy to the Single
Market, 29 Common Market Law Review (1992), 258–60; A. Metraux, European
Telecommunications Policy and the Regional Bell Operating Companies (1991),
38–40; White, Bate & Johnson, supra n. 131, 161–4; F.G. von der Dunk,
Satellite Communications in the European Community: The Tide is Changing

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The 1987 Green Paper rapidly resulted in three key Directives imple-
menting its general principles, largely leaving satellite communications
outside of their scope: a Directive liberalizing the telecommunication
equipment market,195 a Directive liberalizing the telecommunication
service market to the extent of establishing open network access196
(effectively also relevant for satellite communications to the extent these
would ultimately connect to open networks), and a Directive applying the
Community’s competition regime to telecommunication services.197
After a 1990 Green Paper198 as a follow-up to the 1987 Green Paper
slightly adapting the latter’s main principles applied them to the satellite
communication sector, in 1994 the first piece of EU law resulted: the
Satellite Directive.199 The Satellite Directive provided the framework for

Wave by Wave, in Issues in International Air and Space Law, and in Commercial
Law (1994), 335–7.
195
Commission Directive on competition in the markets in telecommunica-
tions terminal equipment (hereafter Directive on Terminal Equipment), 88/301/
EEC, of 16 May 1988; OJ L 131/73 (1988). The Directive did include
receive-only satellite stations not reconnected to the public networks, but no
other satellite-related terminal equipment; see Art. 1. See further e.g. White, Bate
& Johnson, supra n. 131, 164–5; Folsom, supra n. 1, 220–1.
196
Council Directive on the establishment of the internal market for telecom-
munications services through the implementation of Open Network Provision
(hereafter Directive on Open Network Provision), 90/387/EEC, of 28 June 1990;
OJ L 192/1 (1990). See further e.g. White, Bate & Johnson, supra n. 131, 173–6;
Folsom, supra n. 1, 219–20.
197
Commission Directive on the competition in the markets of telecommu-
nications services (hereafter Directive on Competition in Telecommunications
Services), 90/388/EEC, of 28 June 1990; OJ L 192/10 (1990). This Directive
expressly excluded satellite communications from its scope; cf. Art. 1(2); see
further e.g. White, Bate & Johnson, supra n. 131, 165–73; Folsom, supra n. 1,
217–19.
198
Towards Europe-wide systems and services – Green Paper on a common
approach in the field of satellite communications in the European Community,
Communication from the Commission, COM(90) 490 final, of 20 November
1990. See for general comments Mosteshar, supra n. 194, 14–8, 51–6, 65–6;
White, Bate & Johnson, supra n. 131, 180–2; Roisse, supra n. 131, 129–31; von
der Dunk, Satellite Communications in the European Community, supra n. 194,
337–42.
199
Commission Directive amending Directive 88/301/EEC and Directive
90/388/EEC in particular with regard to satellite communications (hereafter
Satellite Directive), 94/46/EC, of 13 October 1994; OJ L 268/15 (1994). See
further e.g. S. LeGoueff, Satellite Services: The European Regulatory Frame-
work, 2–5 Computer & Telecommunications Law Review (Oct. 1996), 186–8;

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248 Handbook of space law

implementation of internal market principles into the satellite communi-

cations sector throughout the Union, by applying the Directive on
Terminal Equipment and the Directive on Competition in Telecommuni-
cations Services to the satellite sector, thus for example imposing such
principles as separation of regulatory and operational functions, the
prohibition of concerted anti-competitive practices and the prohibition of
abuse of dominant and monopoly positions in that market.200
Many Directives and Regulations followed elaborating that regime, for
example addressing specific areas such as personal mobile communica-
tions, including satellite communications, or the licensing of service
providers across the Union.201 In addition, the Commission asserted
through various Decisions on perceived market-distorting practices by
satellite communication service providers that these laws were also
complied with.202 Also, the privatization of the three major international

White, Bate & Johnson, supra n. 131, 166; von der Dunk, supra n. 86, 268 ff.;
C.D. Long, Telecommunications Law and Practice (2nd edn, 1995), 223 ff., esp.
253–4.
200
See Arts. 1–3, Satellite Directive, supra n. 199; for greater detail e.g.
Long, supra n. 199, 224 ff.; also F. Cugia di Sant’Orsola, European Union
Regulatory Policies on Satellite Communications, in International Organisations
and Space Law (Ed. R.A. Harris) (1999), 420–2; M. Thatcher, The Politics of
Telecommunications: National Institutions, Convergence, and Change in Britain
and France (1999), 83–4; C. Koenig & A. Bartosch, EC Competition and
Telecommunications Law (2009), 81–2.
201
Cf. e.g. Commission Directive amending Directive 90/387/EEC with
regard to personal and mobile communications, 96/2/EC, of 16 January 1996; OJ
L 20/59 (1996); Commission Directive amending Directive 90/388/EEC with
regard to the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets,
96/19/EC, of 13 March 1996; OJ L 74/13 (1996); and Decision of the European
Parliament and of the Council on a coordinated authorization approach in the
field of satellite personal communications systems in the Community, No.
710/97/EC, of 24 March 1997; OJ L 105/4 (1997).
202
Some early examples of decisions enforcing competition policy in the
area of satellite communications are: Commission Decision declaring a concen-
tration to be incompatible with the common market and the functioning of the
EEA Agreement (IV/M.490 – Nordic Satellite Distribution), No. 96/177/EC, of
19 July 1995; OJ L 53/20 (1996); Commission Decision relating to a proceeding
under Article 85 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement
(IV/35.518 – Iridium), No. 97/39/EC, of 18 December 1996; OJ L 16/87 (1997);
and Commission Decision declaring a concentration to be compatible with the
common market and the EEA Agreement (COMP/M.4403 – Thales/
Finmeccanica/Alcatel Alenia Space & Telespazio), of 4 April 2007; OJ C 034/5
(2009).

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satellite operators INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT was par-

tially the result of these legislative developments.203
Whilst in many respects the internal market for satellite communica-
tions has yet to be finalized, through such an adoption of Directives,
Regulations and Decisions the EU institutions have exercised a large
measure of jurisdictional competence in this major area of the human
space endeavour.204 Not technically speaking in space perhaps, but
certainly with respect to, and having a great impact upon, relevant
activities in outer space.

4.3.2.3 Satellite remote sensing: The Database Directive

A third legal realm relevant to space activities which the Community
moved into concerned satellite remote sensing. After initial consider-
ations were given to development of a fully fledged EC satellite system
for environmental purposes (‘Green Eye in the Sky’),205 the Community
settled for an instrument on a SPOT-4 satellite,206 and thus started out as
a customer of data – not in any legislative or regulatory role.
When, however, in the 1990s satellite remote sensing seemed to be on
the verge of allowing for commercial applications and operations, the
legal instrument of copyrights to protect the investments in remote
sensing systems by protecting the data generated, prima facie a useful
tool, was found wanting. In particular in jurisdictions where entitlement
to copyright protection required some level of creativity or originality, the
use of often fully automated satellite remote sensing equipment and the
electronic and/or digital environment in which data generation, enhance-
ment and distribution occurred caused problems with using copyright for
such purposes.207

203
Art. 3, Satellite Directive, supra n. 199, in conjunction with the other
articles of the Directive and the 1990 Green Paper effectively called for
abolishment of the various anti-competitive elements in the legal structures of
these three organizations; see further on the latter e.g. infra, §§ 5.4.2, 5.5.2 and
5.6.2.
204
See e.g. Van de Wouwer & Lambert, supra n. 15, 205–7.
205
Following the Rovsing Report, PE 146, 210 Corr., of 15 October 1991;
see furthermore S. Cheli & P.H. Tuinder, European Space Policy, Institutional
Developments, 21 Air & Space Law (1996), 55.
206
See Cheli & Tuinder, supra n. 205, 57; P.H. Tuinder, Issues of Protection
of Remote Sensing Data – EC Developments, in Recent Developments in the
Field of Protection and Distribution of Remote Sensing Data (Eds. F.G. von der
Dunk & V. Kayser) (1994), 23; also Mantl, supra n. 164, 413; von der Dunk,
supra n. 150, 428–9.
207
See further in general also infra, § 18.2.

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250 Handbook of space law

Following an ESA initiative to address this issue208 the Commission

then led an effort to develop such a legal tool, making certain that
space-derived data would explicitly be encompassed in, and appropriately
dealt with in the context of, the broader concept of databases.209
These developments gave rise to the adoption of Directive 96/9,210 also
known as the Database Directive. The Directive addressed electronic
databases including specifically those containing remote sensing data,
and provided them with sui generis protection wherever copyright would
not suffice for such purposes.211 Following the Directive, those rights
essentially applied to both nationals of EU member states and databases
generated on EU member states’ territories.212 Individual accessibility to
data and substantial investment were required for applicability of the sui
generis right,213 but once it applied the database creator alternatively
owner could exclusively decide on whom to allow the rights of extraction
and re-utilization of such data respectively, the two key rights offered by
the Directive.214
Once again this very targeted legislative effort by the Union perhaps
did not amount to jurisdiction in or over outer space, but it certainly
amounted to a competence to co-determine the potential for satellite
remote sensing activities in outer space to be successfully undertaken by
commercial private operators.

208
Following its central role in remote sensing to start with (cf. also Art.
III(3), ESA Convention, supra n. 29, on the baseline policy of ESA on IPR), a
study was undertaken in 1990–1, drawing the interest of the Commission before
it was effectively concluded; see e.g. Tuinder, supra n. 206, 28–9.
209
This study, giving rise to the so-called Gaudrat Report presented April
1993, concluded that the best way to effectuate protection of remote sensing data
would be to bring them under the heading of databases, rather than for instance
copyright; see Tuinder, supra n. 206, 29–35; A.M. Balsano, Intellectual Property
Rights: Practical Experience and Importance of the Legal Environment – The
Experience of the European Space Agency, in Intellectual Property Rights and
Space Activities, ESA SP-378 (Ed. G. Lafferranderie) (1995), 118–9; von der
Dunk, supra n. 150, 429–30.
210
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal
protection of databases, 96/9/EC (hereafter Database Directive), of 11 March
1996; OJ L 77/20 (1996); see further infra, § 18.2.1. Also R. Bond, Database
Law and the Information Society, 4 Telecommunications & Space Journal
(1997), esp. 183–4; Tuinder, supra n. 206, 31–5; von der Dunk, supra n. 150,
430–2.
211
Cf. Art. 3(2), Database Directive, supra n. 210.
212
Art. 11(1), (2), Database Directive, supra n. 210.
213
See Art. 1(2), Database Directive, supra n. 210.
214
See Art. 7, Database Directive, supra n. 210.

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European space law 251

4.4 THE CONVERGENCE OF THE EUROPEAN SPACE

AGENCY AND EUROPEAN UNION

4.4.1 Increasing Cooperation of the European Community/Union

with ESA

Whilst the Community, then Union, had thus by the time the new
millennium started entered the area of law and regulation of space-related
activities in at least three particular realms – and had even more
prominently itself become active in leading two European flagship
projects in outer space, with equally profound legal repercussions215 – at
the same time that entry was piecemeal and almost ad hoc.
This was very much reflected in the fact that the Commission had no
single division or unit dealing with space or space policy: for example,
launch activities fell within the competence of the Directorate-General on
External Affairs, now the Directorate-General on Trade; satellite commu-
nications within that of the Directorate-General ‘Information Society and
Media’; satellite earth observation within the Directorate-General
‘Research and Innovation’; and satellite navigation within the
Directorate-General on Mobility and Transport.216
As outer space and space activities also in the European context
increasingly became a key area for technological development and
research and development, as well as for strategic geopolitical position-
ing, the European Union became more and more concerned that clear
space policies and a clear overarching legal framework for all space
activities were necessary, and should be realized at least partially at a
European, read EU level.
The increasing cooperation and coordination between the Commission
and ESA was not considered sufficient from this perspective. Since 1993
a Space Advisory Group had operated to institutionalize such cooperation
and coordination between ESA and the Commission in matters of outer

215
This concerned Galileo and GMES/Copernicus; see further infra,
§§ 4.4.4.1 and 4.4.4.2 respectively.
216
See G. Sabathil, K. Joos & B. Kessler, The European Commission: An
Essential Guide to the Institution, the Procedures and the Policies (2008), 44–5;
A. Staab, The European Union Explained, Second Edition: Institutions, Actors,
Global Impact (2011), 47–53; also H.S. Harris, Competition Laws Outside the
United States (2001), 178; H. Wallace, M.A. Pollack & A.R. Young, Policy-
Making in the European Union (2010), 390; cf. also Folsom, supra n. 1, 56–7.

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252 Handbook of space law

space.217 This cooperation gave rise to a 2000 European Space Strategy,

as part of a first joint meeting of the ESA Council and the EU Council of
Ministers (the two highest organs of the respective organizations218),
which spelled out the perceived respective roles of the two – with the
Union leading all efforts which should allow Europe to reap the benefits
from space activities for society and markets, as opposed to scientific and
research and development-oriented policies programmes, and projects.219
By 2003, the Commission had produced – on its own – its White Paper
‘Space: a new European frontier for an expanding Union – An action
plan for implementing the European Space Policy’.220 The call was
expressly made for, inter alia, space infrastructures and applications to
serve the needs of EU political objectives and to update the institutional
structure to provide the Union with new powers to drive, fund and
coordinate activities within this European Space Policy.221

217
Cf. e.g. Preamble, § (5), Council Resolution on the involvement of Europe
in a new generation of satellite navigation services – Galileo-Definition phase, of
19 July 1999; OJ C 221/01 (1999).
218
Cf. Art. XI, ESA Convention, supra n. 29, and Art. 16, Consolidated
version of the Treaty on European Union, supra n. 171 respectively; also
Madders, supra n. 15, 576; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 140.
219
See Council Resolution on developing a coherent European space strat-
egy, of 2 December 1999; OJ C 375/1 (1999); and Council Resolution on a
European space strategy, of 16 November 2000; OJ C 371/2 (2000). Under a
‘division of labour’, or responsibilities, ESA would be the primary agent of
Europe in strengthening the foundations of space activities, notably including
launch capabilities, and enhancing scientific knowledge such as through the ISS,
whereas the Commission was to take the lead in ensuring society and markets in
Europe would reap the benefits of space activities, for example through such
flagship projects as Galileo and GMES/Copernicus (see further infra, § 4.4.4).
See e.g. Sadeh, supra n. 8, 10; Suzuki, supra n. 75, 197–9; also Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 141–2; Van de Wouwer & Lambert, supra n. 15, 108.
220
White Paper – Space: a new European frontier for an expanding Union –
An action plan for implementing the European Space policy, COM(2003) 673
final, of 11 November 2003. See e.g. Sánchez Aranzamendi, ‘Towards a Space
Strategy for the EU that Benefits Its Citizens’: The EU’s Declaration of Intents
for Space, in Yearbook on Space Policy 2010/2011 (Eds. P. Hulsroj, S. Pagkratis
& B. Baranes) (2013), 142–4; I. Marboe, National Space Legislation: The
European Perspective, in Nationales Weltraumrecht – National Space Law (Eds.
C. Brünner & E. Walter) (2008), 34–6; also Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 143–4;
Van de Wouwer & Lambert, supra n. 15, 117–23.
221
See esp. §§ 2, 3, White Paper – Space: a new European frontier for an
expanding Union, supra n. 220. The roles of the Union and ESA were to

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4.4.2 The EU-ESA Framework Agreement of 2003

Even the Framework Agreement which the two international organ-

izations concluded in 2003222 however did not provide the Union with
the level of control and leadership over Europe’s destiny in outer space
aspired to, as it essentially allowed the two parties to continue promoting
Europe’s interests as they each saw fit.
The Framework Agreement provided for an à la carte list of
cooperation options as between the Commission and ESA, without in any
way prejudicing the right of either to apply the one or the other.223
Cooperation efforts could address any field of space activities – science,
technology, earth observation, navigation, satellite communications,
human space flight and micro-gravity, launchers and spectrum policy
issues related to space – and joint initiatives could be structured in
various manners – ESA managing a project for the Union, the Union
participating in ESA optional programmes, by way of jointly coordinated
and funded activities or even by the creation of joint subsidiary bodies.224
For each cooperative initiative thus ad hoc arrangements were
required.225
A Space Council was furthermore formally established to coordinate
and facilitate such cooperative activities.226 The Space Council, with both
the Commission and ESA on board, adopted a – new – European Space

‘federate demand for space activities’ and ‘federate the supply thereof’ respec-
tively; cf. also § 5.1, White Paper. See further e.g. Hobe, Hofmannová &
Wouters, supra n. 33, 19–21; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 144.
222
Framework Agreement Between the European Community and the Euro-
pean Space Agency (hereafter Framework Agreement), Brussels, done 25
November 2003, entered into force 28 May 2004; OJ L 261/64 (2004); 53 ZLW
89 (2004). See in general Mantl, supra n. 164, 417–8; Hobe, Hofmannová &
Wouters, supra n. 33, 21–7; B. Schmidt-Tedd, The Relationship between the EU
and ESA within the Framework of European Space Policy and its Consequences
for Space Industry Contracts, in Contracting for Space (Eds. L.J. Smith & I.
Baumann) (2011), 26; Lafferranderie, supra n. 15, 144–5; Van de Wouwer &
Lambert, supra n. 15, 110–1.
223
Cf. Arts. 2, 4, 5(3), Framework Agreement, supra n. 222.
224
See Arts. 3 & 5(1) respectively, Framework Agreement, supra n. 222. An
example of creation of a joint subsidiary body was the Galileo Joint Undertaking
for the European satellite navigation programme; whereas at the current stage of
the Galileo project the first option, of ESA managing the project on behalf of the
Union, has now been applied; see further infra, § 4.4.4.1.
225
See Art. 5(2), Framework Agreement, supra n. 222.
226
See Art. 8(1), Framework Agreement, supra n. 222; also e.g. Lafferrand-
erie, supra n. 15, 145.

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254 Handbook of space law

Policy in 2007, whereby the cooperation was extended to security- and

defence-related areas, the realm of Space Situational Awareness, indus-
trial policy and international relations, the preferred model being that
ESA acts as technical expert, manager of EU space activities and
procurement agency for the Union applying EU law principles – but once
again, the self-financed ESA programmes were not touched upon.227
Thus, when in the same timeframe that the Framework Agreement was
set into operation the ambitious exercise to draft a Constitutional Treaty
for Europe kicked off, the latter presented a vehicle for those contemplat-
ing true integration of the European space efforts – beyond and above,
and ultimately controlling, the more practical and project-oriented
approach ESA had represented ever since the 1970s.228
Since within the ESA framework the Director General could also
himself propose European space programmes,229 ESA had often been
seen as not merely a platform for member states to integrate their
national space policies, but also as itself developing a European space
policy – even though, with regard to any such proposals, it was still the
member states which had to agree by two-thirds majority before they
would be implemented.230
To the extent that the totality of ESA’s programmes thus agreed upon
and executed could be deemed to constitute a proper ‘space policy’,
however, it certainly was not one that the proponents of EU competence
in space considered particularly coherent, logical and/or helpful. The
ingrained inability of ESA to overcome key individual member state
policy divergences, the ‘geographical distribution’ principle as the main
focus of the ‘industrial policy’ ‘of’ ESA,231 and the principled absence of
competence for ESA to regulate any activities within the European
‘spacescape’ in any legal sense of the word all conspired to point at the

227
See European Space Policy, Communication from the Commission to the
Council and the European Parliament, COM(2007) 212 final, of 26 April 2007;
Resolution on the European Space Policy, ESA BR 269, of 22 May 2007;
Council of the European Union, Doc. 10037/07, of 25 May 2007.
228
Cf. early on Madders, supra n. 15, 570 ff.; further also e.g. Lafferranderie,
supra n. 15, 148. See in general on the Constitutional Treaty e.g. Timmermans,
supra n. 1, 39–42; Folsom, supra n. 1, 26–8; also Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 23–4.
229
See Art. XII(1)(b), ESA Convention, supra n. 29; also supra, § 4.2.3.
230
Cf. Art. XI(5)(a) & (c), ESA Convention, supra n. 29.
231
See Art. VII & (in particular) Arts. II, IV, V, Annex V, ESA Convention,
supra n. 29; also supra, § 4.2.4.3.

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apparent timeliness of handing over the lead in the European space effort
to the Union.232

4.4.3 From Constitutional Treaty to Treaty of Lisbon

4.4.3.1 The EU ‘space competence’

The aforementioned effort to arrive at a Constitutional Treaty, which tried
to move the process of European integration forward considerably in
many fields and on many issues, now seemed the perfect carrier for fully
taking over the reins on the European space effort. Indeed, the Constitu-
tional Treaty provided for the clauses which, once the Treaty itself came
to fail and a much dressed-down follow-on drafting exercise resulted in
the Treaty of Lisbon, survived that failure and were included in the
latter.233
There was one major exception however. The Treaty of Lisbon
ultimately provided:

1. To promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness,

and the implementation of its policies, the Union shall draw up a
European space policy. To this end, it may promote joint initiatives,
support research and technological development, and coordinate the
efforts needed for the exploration and exploitation of space.
2. To contribute to attaining the objectives referred to in paragraph 1, the
European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the
ordinary legislative procedure, shall establish the necessary measures,
which may take the form of a European space programme, excluding any
harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.
3. The Union shall establish any appropriate relations with the European
Space Agency.
4. This Article shall be without prejudice to the other provisions of this
Title.234

232
Cf. further e.g. Madders, supra n. 15, 570–84.
233
See on the Treaty of Lisbon in general e.g. C. Tomuschat, Lisbon Treaty,
in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VI (2012),
889–94; Timmermans, supra n. 1, 42–4; extensively J.C. Piris, The Lisbon
Treaty: A Legal and Political Analysis (2010); M. Trybus & L. Rubini, The
Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy (2012); D.
Phinnemore, The Treaty of Lisbon: Origins and Negotiation (2013).
234
Art. 189, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.
The ‘ordinary legislative procedure’ was spelled out in Art. 289(1) as consisting
‘in the joint adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of a
regulation, directive or decision on a proposal from the Commission’.

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256 Handbook of space law

Whilst Article 189(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European

Union had essentially copied Article III-254 of the draft Constitutional
Treaty with respect to the EU competence henceforth to ‘establish the
necessary measures, which may take the form of a European space
programme’, the Treaty of Lisbon had crucially added the phrase
‘excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member
States’.235
Various estimations of the importance of this new clause exist, but it
should be recognized that the references to ‘space policy’ and ‘space
programme’ are more policy- than legally-oriented novelties, whereas the
exclusion of harmonization of national laws and regulations leaves the
discretion with the individual member states to, inter alia, continue to opt
for national as well as ESA-focused space policies and space pro-
grammes, including the use of the legal ESA mechanisms to do so.236

4.4.3.2 The ‘space competence’ put in perspective

In the context of the Union, in a sense legal competences had constituted
its core business ever since its beginnings. Such competences, originally
all operating on a national level, could become ‘elevated’ to a European
level by the inherently still-sovereign member states, and would normally
be so ‘elevated’ in accordance with the principles of ‘conferral’, ‘subsidi-
arity’ and ‘proportionality’.237 Further to this approach, basically three
scenarios are possible with respect to any particular subject matter: one
of exclusive competence at the EU level to be created in accordance with
conferral, subsidiarity and proportionality, one of shared competence at
the EU level to be equally so created – or one of no competence at the
EU level at all.

235
See further e.g. Mantl, supra n. 164, 415–6; Schmidt-Tedd, supra n. 222,
28–30; S. Hobe et al., A New Chapter for Europe in Space, 54 Zeitschrift für
Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2005), 336–56; I. Marboe & F. Hafner, Latest Trends in
the National Authorisation and Regulation of Space Activities in Europe, in
Yearbook on Space Policy 2008/2009 (Eds. K.U. Schrogl et al.) (2010), 246–7;
Schmidt-Tedd, supra n. 222, 29–30.
236
See for a more detailed assessment and argumentation F.G. von der Dunk,
The EU Space Competence as per the Treaty of Lisbon: Sea Change or Empty
Shell?, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012),
382–92; also e.g. M. Sánchez Aranzamendi, Space and Lisbon. A New Type of
Competence to Shape the Regulatory Framework for Commercial Space Activ-
ities, in New Perspectives on Space Law (Eds. M.J. Sundahl & V.
Gopalakrishnan) (2011), 154–9.
237
See supra, § 4.3.1.2.

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Under the first scenario, ‘only the Union may legislate and adopt
legally binding acts, the Member States being able to do so themselves
only if so empowered by the Union or for the implementation of Union
acts’.238 Under the second scenario, ‘the Union and the Member States
may legislate and adopt legally binding acts in that area. The Member
States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not
exercised its competence. The Member States shall again exercise their
competence to the extent that the Union has decided to cease exercising
its competence.’239 In that case, following ‘subsidiarity’ and ‘proportion-
ality’ again, the Union is to act only if action at EU level is required to
achieve the objective at issue.
Following the Treaty of Lisbon, the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union included ‘space’ in the shared competence, where ‘the
Union shall have competence to carry out activities, in particular to
define and implement programmes’, yet it also added that ‘the exercise of
that competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from
exercising theirs’.240 This led some observers to conclude that this was
not so much a shared competence but a ‘parallel competence’ – indi-
vidual member states would retain sovereign discretion as such to draft
and implement their own national policies and legislation in this area.241
So the main contribution of this new clause on the space competence is
perhaps that, henceforth, the competence that the EU institutions could
exercise with respect to space would no longer be completely dependent
on sector-specific characteristics related to commercial markets and
requiring application of the free market and competition principles
relatively narrowly focused on a free and level playing field for commer-
cial enterprise throughout the Union – as had happened, most elaborately,
in the satellite communications sector.242
Under the Constitutional Treaty’s provisions the Commission for the
first time would have had the competence to address ‘space’ and ‘space
activities’ in their full measure, not only as commercial activities but also
as a new area where scientific, commercial, societal and strategic
interests would all have to be accommodated by more fundamental
legislation and regulation. However, the final phrase of Article 189(2) of
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union then by and large

238
Art. 2(1), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra
n. 168.
239
Art. 2(2), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.
240
Art. 4(3), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.
241
So e.g. Hobe et al., supra n. 235, 346–7.
242
See supra, § 4.3.2.2.

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258 Handbook of space law

limits such competence in legal terms to the adoption of secondary EU

law establishing space projects or space programmes and taking care of
their financing through EU budgets and applying the freedom of move-
ment and the competition regimes to the space sector (as remaining key
aspects of the internal market not covered by the post-Lisbon version of
the clause). This competence is then further limited to the extent EU
member states have not already established and are interested in estab-
lishing national space law dealing with these aspects of space sector
activities.243

4.4.4 The collaborative European space flagship projects

The regulatory approach of the European Union vis-à-vis outer space and
space activities, amounting to efforts to bring the space sector and ESA’s
role in that context into the broader legal environment of EU law and
competences as prominently reflected by the Framework Agreement and
the efforts to establish an EU space competence through Constitutional
Treaty and Treaty of Lisbon, met with considerable resistance from
various quarters – and sometimes gave rise to downright political friction.
All in all, ESA would retain its own status as an intergovernmental
organization formally independent from the Union as per the Framework
Agreement, whereas the individual member states ultimately ensured
their primacy in space policy matters by way of the adapted version of
the clause on the space competence.
At the same time and in the same vein, the story of convergence of
ESA’s and the Union’s roles in the European ‘spacescape’ was not only a
matter of opposition, friction and fights for competences – recognizing
the special role and value of ESA, the Union also engaged in increasing
practical and operational cooperation. Most notably, this took the form of
two European ‘flagship projects’,244 which so far are on the way to
realization, as well as more pragmatic general accommodation of ESA
and EU institutional/regulatory structures in the context of space and
industrial policies.

4.4.4.1 Flagship No. 1: EGNOS and Galileo

The area where EU involvement in space activities, in close conjunction
with ESA, was first achieved on a comprehensive scale, not just
comprising policy and legal activities, but also the proper development of

243
See for an analysis in greater detail von der Dunk, supra n. 236, 386–9.
244
As explicitly so labelled in European Space Policy, supra n. 227, 3.

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a major space infrastructure and assorted ground infrastructure, con-

cerned satellite navigation. After initial ideas to arrive at a global
‘GNSS-2’ system somehow embracing the existing US-operated GPS and
Russian-operated GLONASS systems had failed,245 the Commission took
the lead in developing an autonomous European satellite navigation
system, as the first European flagship programme in outer space.
The first step was the establishment of EGNOS, the European Geo-
stationary Navigation Overlay System, designed to augment (in particu-
lar) the GPS signals to make them useful for (especially) aviation in
Europe.246 In line with this approach, the development of the system was
undertaken under the aegis of the European Tripartite Group (ETG),
comprising apart from the European Union (as political driving force and
competent on developing an appropriate legal environment for the system
and its usage within Europe) and ESA (as the technical and operational
entity responsible for realizing the system itself), Eurocontrol, the
organization created to enhance technical and operational safety in
European aviation.247
The Tripartite Agreement248 underlying this cooperation between three
European international organizations effectively represents the first prop-
erly legislative document concerning the European satellite navigation

245
Cf. Council Resolution on the European Contribution to the Development
of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), of 19 December 1994; OJ C
379/2 (1994).
246
See further infra, § 10.2.6.2; on GNSS usage in the air transport sector in
particular § 10.6. Cf. also e.g. Mantl, supra n. 164, 419–20; E.M.O. Abu-Taieh,
A. El Sheikh & M. Jafari, Technology Engineering and Management in Aviation:
Advancements and Discoveries (2011), 290–3; also H.J. Kramer, Observation of
the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors (2002), 766.
247
Eurocontrol was established by way of the Convention Relating to
Co-operation for the Safety of Air Navigation, Brussels, done 13 December
1960, entered into force 1 March 1963; 523 UNTS 117; UKTS 1963 No. 39;
Cmnd. 2114; substantially amended by a Protocol Amending the Eurocontrol
International Convention Relating to Co-operation for the Safety of Air Naviga-
tion of 13 December 1960, Brussels, done 12 February 1981, entered into force
1 January 1986; 430 UNTS 279; Cmnd. 8662; and a Protocol consolidating the
Eurocontrol International Convention Relating to Co-operation for the Safety of
Air Navigation of 13 December 1960, as variously amended, Brussels, done 27
June 1997, not yet entered into force (but applied on a provisional basis);
Eurocontrol Revised Convention, Sept. 1997 edition at Eurocontrol.
248
Agreement between the European Community, the European Space
Agency and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation on a
European Contribution to the development of a global navigation satellite system

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260 Handbook of space law

flagship cooperation. EGNOS was duly developed with the Union

gradually taking over control of its governance structure, the system now
being operated by a multinational European Satellite Services Provider
(ESSP).249
However, EGNOS crucially depends on input from GPS,250 and by
2002 the Union was ready to take the next step, the establishment of a
Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) as the new agency to guide the process
of developing a fully fledged autonomous second-generation (as com-
pared to GPS and GLONASS) European satellite navigation system.251
Part of the approach was not to focus on aviation applications only, but
to make Galileo offer timing, positioning and navigation signals and
services to all transport and several non-transport sectors.252 Galileo
should thus provide, apart from an Open Service similar to GPS and
GLONASS Open Services, three types of enhanced service for which
users one way or another would have to pay, the Public Regulated
Service (PRS), the Commercial Service (CS) and the Safety-of-Life
Service (SOL),253 plus search and rescue services additional to the
existing COSPAS-SARSAT Programme.254
Throughout the process of realizing Galileo several major changes
occurred, necessitating new legal documents. A 2004 Regulation
strengthened the institutional control of the Commission over the process
by replacing the GJU with a European GNSS Supervisory Authority
(GSA).255

(GNSS) (hereafter Tripartite Agreement), Luxembourg, done 18 June 1998,

entered into force 18 June 1998; OJ L 194/16 (1998).
249
See further www.essp-sas.eu, last accessed 29 December 2013.
250
Cf. further infra, §§ 10.2.6.2 juncto 10.2.2.1.
251
See Council Regulation setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking, No.
876/2002/EC, of 21 May 2002; OJ L 138/1 (2002). See further e.g. Van de
Wouwer & Lambert, supra n. 15, 141–4.
252
This meant i.a. that Eurocontrol was no longer principally involved; the
‘Joint’ Undertaking was of the Commission with ESA only, as per Art. 187,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168.
253
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Liability for Global Navigation Satellite
Services: A Comparative Analysis of GPS and Galileo, 30 Journal of Space Law
(2004), 148–52; also infra, § 10.2.2.3.
254
See International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme Agreement, Paris, done
1 July 1988, entered into force 30 August 1988; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, D.II.6.
255
See Council Regulation on the establishment of structures for the
management of the European satellite radio-navigation programmes, No. 1321/
2004/EC, of 12 July 2004; further e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Towards Monitoring

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More importantly, the originally envisaged Public–Private Partnership

(PPP) approach to financing, building, and operating the system had to be
reconstructed, ultimately discarded, as the EU Council of Ministers by
means of a Resolution of 8 June 2007 had unequivocally concluded in
this regard ‘that the current concession negotiations have failed and
should be ended’.256 To replace the private investments, which now were
no longer expected in the short run, with public investments the transfer-
ral of unused Common Agricultural Funds was agreed upon.257 This new
approach was formalized by a 2008 Regulation on the further
implementation of EGNOS and Galileo, itself amended two years
later.258
Most recently, the security issues involved in Galileo, specifically with
respect to the PRS, noting international cooperation agreements on
Galileo inter alia with China,259 necessitated further refinement and
definition of the rules of access to that particular service, which was
achieved by way of a 2011 Decision.260

Galileo: the European GNSS Supervisory Authority in statu nascendi, 55

Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2006), 100–17; Van de Wouwer &
Lambert, supra n. 15, 145–8.
256
Item 2, Council Resolution on GALILEO, 2805th Transport, Telecommu-
nications, and Energy Council Meeting, Luxembourg, 6–8 June 2007.
257
Items 4–7, Council Resolution on GALILEO, supra n. 256; respectively
Council of the European Union, 2828th Council Meeting, Economic, and
Financial Affairs, Brussels, 13 November 2007, 14534/07 (Presse 251), at 18.
258
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the further
implementation of the European satellite navigation programmes (EGNOS and
Galileo), No. 683/2008/EC, of 9 July 2008; OJ L 196/1 (2008); and Regulation
of the European Parliament and of the Council setting up the European GNSS
Agency, repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 on the establishment
of structures for the management of the European satellite radio navigation
programmes and amending Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European
Parliament and of the Council, No. 912/2010/EU, of 22 September 2010; OJ L
276/11 (2010) respectively.
259
Cf. Cooperation Agreement on a Civil Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS) – Galileo between the European Community and its Member States and
the People’s Republic of China, of 30 October 2003; Council of the European
Union, Doc. 13324/03.
260
Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the rules for
access to the public regulated service provided by the global navigation satellite
system established under the Galileo programme, No. 1104/2011/EU, of
25 October 2011; OJ L 287/1 (2011). See further more generally for the
security-related dimensions e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 3, esp. 89–92; J.

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262 Handbook of space law

The most important strictly legal issue beyond the above-mentioned

institutional ones concerns that of liability, where on the one hand the
Liability Convention is generally perceived to apply only to direct
damage caused by navigation satellites261 whilst on the other hand
Galileo as a commercial second-generation GNSS may accept third-party
liability also for damage caused by absent or erroneous GNSS signals.262
At the point of writing the first Galileo satellites have been launched
and declared operational; the first services are expected to start being
offered as of 2015 with completion of the full 30-satellite system aimed
for by 2019.263 This likely means that only by the latter date will the
comprehensive legal framework for Galileo activities, taking care inter
alia of the proper handling of security and liability issues and (perhaps)
again drawing private interests into the operational and governance
structure, have been established.

4.4.4.2 Flagship No. 2: GMES/Copernicus

As the European Commission and ESA were making progress with
Galileo, especially the former started also pushing for a GMES project,
which should ultimately result in a Copernicus satellite system providing
Europe with its independent comprehensive and permanent earth obser-
vation capacity, realizing integrated use of terrestrial, airborne and space
data notably combining existent satellite earth observation systems such

Lembke, Competition for Technological Leadership: EU Policy for High Tech-

nology (2002), 119–28; P. Finocchio, R. Prasad & M. Ruggieri, Aerospace
Technologies and Applications for Dual Use (2008), 238–41.
261
Cf. supra § 2.3.3.2, as well as Art. I(a), Liability Convention, supra n. 88,
on the definition of damage, usually seen as excluding damage caused by absent
or erroneous GNSS signals, but see contra B.D.K. Henaku, The Law on Global
Air Navigation by Satellite: An Analysis of Legal Aspects of the ICAO CNS/ATM
System 1998), 221. Further on liability cf. e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 253,
129–68; P. Manzini & A. Masutti, International Civil Liability Regime for the
Galileo Services: A Proposal, 33 Air and Space Law (2008), 114–31; D.
Bensoussan, GNSS and GALILEO Liability Aspects (2003).
262
Cf. e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 253, 129–67; F.G. von der Dunk, Hosting
Galileo Ground Stations – Liability and Responsibility Issues under Space Law,
in Proceedings of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2008),
358–68; also further infra §§ 10.4, 10.5.
263
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(satellite_navigation), last ac-
cessed 21 January 2014.

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as those of ESA and EUMETSAT with, where appropriate, new instru-

ments and satellite systems to fill any gaps detected.264 GMES/
Copernicus would also allow Europe to contribute to the Global Earth
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).265
Beyond that, while the contours of GMES/Copernicus may be gradu-
ally emerging, many key aspects of the institutional and operational
structure are not yet defined.266 A Council Resolution of November 2001
merely provided for the underlying general policy as the point of
departure for all further action.267 GMES/Copernicus is tasked to support
a range of EU policies, and the 2005 Communication refers to specific,
concrete examples like the Union’s involvement in agriculture, environ-
mental and fisheries monitoring, external relations such as disaster and
emergency response action, and development policies.268 The 2005

264
See e.g. Marboe, supra n. 220, 39–40; M. Ferrazzani, The Status of
Satellite Remote Sensing in International Treaties, in Project 2001 – Legal
Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel)
(2002), 196–7.
265
See on this further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Earth_
Observation_System_of_Systems, last accessed 13 April 2014.
266
See for an early appraisal e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 150, 438–40; also
– on the security aspects in particular – von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 92; F.G. von
der Dunk, The ‘S’ of ‘Security’: Europe on the Road to GMES, 4–2 Soochow
Law Journal (2007), 1–27; more in general on GMES/Copernicus legal aspects
e.g. L. Mantl, The Commission Proposal for a Regulation on the European Earth
Observation Programme (GMES) and its Initial Operations (2011–2013), 58
Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2009), 404–22; briefly G. Cho, Privacy
and EO: An Overview of Legal Issues, in Evidence from Earth Observation
Satellites (Eds. R. Purdy & D. Leung) (2012), 291–2.
267
Council Resolution on the launch of the initial period of global mon-
itoring for environment and security (GMES), of 13 November 2001; OJ C 350/4
(2001). Further Communications essentially developed that policy further, but
did not constitute legislative or regulatory measures either; cf. Communication
from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council – Global
Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES): Establishing a GMES
capacity by 2008, COM(2004) 65 final, of 3 February 2004; Communication
from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament – Global
Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES): From Concept to Reality,
COM(2005) 565 final, of 10 November 2005.
268
See Communication from the Commission to the Council and the
European Parliament – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
(GMES): From Concept to Reality, supra n. 267, 6–7.

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264 Handbook of space law

Communication further paves the way forward by defining the concepts

of pilot operational services and fast-track introduction.269
Only in 2010 did the first formal EU-level legislation on GMES
emerge.270 In legal terms progress has been obstructed for several years
as a consequence of major problems encountered by the Commission
regarding its original plans to fund major parts of GMES/Copernicus
through the Union budgets, although these now seem to have been
solved.271 Consequently, a second piece of EU law was recently enunci-
ated addressing, in particular, the desired ‘full and open access to
information produced by the GMES services and of data collected
through the GMES dedicated infrastructure’, and provided further details
on conditions for various aspects of such open use, including specifically
the absence of ‘any express or implied warranty, including as regards
quality and suitability for any purpose’.272
As of this writing, the first geospatial information services of Coper-
nicus under the land, ocean and emergency response themes and two
additional ones addressing the atmosphere and security themes are to be
fully operational in 2014, with atmosphere, security and climate change
services to follow in the next few years. That same year is to see the first
actual satellite contributions to these services, by way of the first Sentinel
missions.273
Obviously, only once those satellites go up will the more properly
space-oriented laws (international, European and national) and regu-
lations become applicable; also, considerable work remains to be done at

269
See Communication from the Commission to the Council and the
European Parliament – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
(GMES): From Concept to Reality, supra n. 267, 7–8.
270
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) and its initial operations (2011
to 2013), No. 911/2010/EU, of 22 September 2010; OJ L 276/1 (2010).
271
Cf. e.g. EU Parliament Supports GMES within Financial Framework, 17
February 2012, www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/
EU_Parliament_supports_GMES_within_financial_framework, last accessed 13
April 2014.
272
Arts. 1(a) & 9 respectively, Commission Delegated Regulation supple-
menting Regulation (EU) No 911/2010 of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) by establishing
registration and licensing conditions for GMES users and defining criteria for
restricting access to GMES dedicated data and GMES service information,
No. 1159/2013/EU, of 12 July 2013; OJ L 309/1 (2013).
273
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus_Programme, last accessed 21
January 2014.

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European space law 265

this stage on the governance – and hence the responsibility and liability
issues, the latter at least as far as beyond the ‘standard’ applicability of
the Liability Convention.274

4.4.5 Solving the ‘Fair Return’ Conundrum

Strictly legally speaking, the thorniest issue in the EU–ESA relationship

concerned the principle of ‘fair return’ as the most specific elaboration of
‘geographical return’.275 Indeed, following ESA’s overarching aims it
provided a strong rationale for an individual member state to commit
financial resources to a particular programme, especially if it had national
industries that could contribute to that programme, and thus stimulated
specialization within the various space industries as well as allowing
smaller ESA member states and their industries to also benefit from huge
and complex space programmes.
However, the result in practice could well be that a particular contrac-
tor was not chosen for offering the best value for money but because of
his nationality and the need to comply with the ‘fair return’ principle
vis-à-vis ‘his’ member state. In other words, the principle of fair
competition would be sacrificed to that extent.
Once the Community, then Union, became fundamentally involved in
the regulatory side of space activities, this could, at least in principle,
trigger the application of the EU competition regime.276 Strictly speak-
ing, this would not apply directly to ESA itself, as an intergovernmental
organization with not even congruent membership as compared to the
Union not subject to the latter’s legal order and jurisdiction.277 However,

274
Note again that under the prevailing interpretation of the Liability
Convention, supra n. 88, ‘damage’ does not include any indirect and/or down-
stream damage caused by absent or erroneous data.
275
See for the basic analysis of these principles supra, § 4.2.4.3.
276
See for the EU competition regime in general supra, (text at) n. 180; also
again Arnull et al., supra n. 1, 965–1191; Folsom, supra n. 1, 292–370; Barents,
supra n. 175.
277
Though technically speaking ESA could be viewed as an ‘undertaking’
subject to the prohibition of the competition regime on abuse of a dominant
position applicable to such undertakings for not applying ‘normal’ commercial
principles in contracting out (cf. Art. 102, Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, supra n. 168), alternatively as a ‘cartel’ of undertakings
distorting normal operation of the market (cf. Art. 103, Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union), its composition of sovereign member states – including
non-EU members Norway and Switzerland – principally excluded EU juris-
diction over such practices at that level.

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266 Handbook of space law

the ‘fair return’ rule could be viewed as an indirect form of ‘state aid’ by
individual member states of both the Union and ESA, in that the
proposed contributions by such states to particular ESA programmes
were directly related to the expected and likely contracting for such
amounts to their national industry, and would thus distort an otherwise
fair competition for specific contracts and subcontracts.278
Whilst the application of ‘fair return’ did therefore give rise to some
discussion, the Commission soon realized that there were sound justifi-
cations in play for applying such a potentially or even inherently
anti-competitive mechanism. There could be little doubt about the special
character of the space industry: highly technical, highly risky, highly
cost-intensive and very much of a long-term and strategic nature. As a
consequence, in many respects, there might be no real competition
possible within Europe anyway; in which case enforcing it would often
be rather artificial – and worse, could result in weakening the European
space industry vis-à-vis major US and Japanese consortia and the new
Russian, Ukrainian and Chinese industrial complexes by precluding
concentration and the realization of economies of scale. As a conse-
quence, the continued application of ‘fair return’ in the ESA context has
so far been de facto justified by overriding European interests, and was
accepted by the European authorities for the time being.
What is more, even the EU competition regime itself acknowledges the
possibility for exceptions to and exemptions from otherwise applicable
competition principles and rules for such reasons. For example the
provisions of the so-called ‘anti-cartel’ provisions of the EU regime could
be ‘declared inapplicable’ if the activities or practices concerned contrib-
uted ‘to promoting technical or economic progress’.279 The European
space industry in particular within the ESA context was clearly designed
to promote technical progress due to its focus on research and develop-
ment, and once it became evident that in order to compete globally
European companies should be supported rather than played off against

278
See for the principled prohibition of state aid under EU law Art. 107(1),
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 168. Cf. further e.g.
F.G. von der Dunk, ESA and EC: Two Captains on One Spaceship?, in
Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1990),
427–9; F.G. von der Dunk, Perspectives for a Harmonised Industrial Policy of
ESA and the European Union, in ‘Project 2001 Plus’ – Global and European
Challenges for Air and Space Law at the Edge of the 21st Century (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2006), 181–6.
279
Art. 101(3), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra
n. 168.

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European space law 267

each other by artificial application of competition principles, economic

progress in Europe also came to be seen as (partially) dependent upon the
ESA system. Similar options offered themselves in the case of the
so-called ‘anti-monopoly’ clauses of the EU regime.280
In line with these provisions targeted at individual companies, more-
over, and more directly applicable, as regards state aid:

The following may be considered to be compatible with the internal market:

…
(b) aid to promote the execution of an important project of common
European interest or to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a
Member State;
(c) aid to facilitate the development of certain economic activities or of
certain economic areas, where such aid does not adversely affect trading
conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest;
…
(e) such other categories of aid as may be specified by decision of the
Council on a proposal from the Commission.281

Clearly, the major space projects, or even the space sector as a whole in
view of its technological, economic and strategic importance, qualify as
‘important projects of common European interest’ and ‘facilitate the
development of certain economic activities’ of common European inter-
est, and in case of doubt the possibilities exist also to specifically carve
out (certain) space projects or sectors by way of future legislation.

4.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS

The European legal ‘spacescape’ presents a rather complex and con-
stantly evolving picture, but at this point ESA and the European Union
are still to be seen – and will likely for the foreseeable future continue to
be seen – as the two primary flag-bearers of Europe in outer space. As
their relationship, overlaying in many respects that of their member states
who are to a large extent – but not completely – identical, continues to
evolve, a body of law has resulted and will continue to evolve trying to

280
Further to Arts. 102 & 103, Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, supra n. 168, this notably concerned Regulation (EEC) 17/62, of 6
February 1962, OJ 13/204 (1962), as regularly updated and amended later on.
281
Art. 107(3), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra
n. 168 (emphasis added).

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268 Handbook of space law

match the individual interests of still-sovereign states with the higher-

level common interests of these same states on the global scene.
The latest development is a(nother) report from the European Commis-
sion trying to gradually further align the respective roles of the European
Union and ESA beyond the à la carte approach of the Framework Agree-
ment.282 The report briefly analyses four principled options for further
collaboration of the two bodies, ranging from ‘no change’ to ESA becoming
an EU agency while preserving some of its intergovernmental features.283
As of now, however, the two ‘middle’ options are the most likely ones to be
further investigated, and possibly be chosen from: improved cooperation
under the status quo (meaning ESA will remain formally independent from
the European Union, yet increasingly be tasked by the latter, effectively to
that extent taking over from the combined member states as it were) or
creating an ‘EU pillar’ within ESA exclusively working for the Union,
under its guidance and in accordance with its legal principles such as fair
competition.284 Whichever option is finally chosen, another chapter in
European space legal development will almost certainly result.
Particularly interesting features of European space law as it has come
into being so far, for other regions of the world seeking more intra-
regional cooperation and integration in the space realm and a stronger
voice in global space policy and economics, are the two joint flagship
projects of Galileo and Copernicus; but also earlier institutional develop-
ments such as the creation of Arianespace, EUTELSAT and EUMETSAT
and legislative developments such as the creation of an EU internal
market for satellite communications and a specific Database Directive
may present interesting examples of legal/institutional integration.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly from the present perspective,
these developments have shown that such intra-regional integration need
not be at the expense of global space law and mankind’s space endeav-
our, but may in many respects actually contribute to and enhance the
application and effectiveness of that body of (public) international law,
such as for instance by ESA’s official partisanship to three UN space
treaties.

282
Progress report on establishing appropriate relations between the Euro-
pean Union and the European Space Agency, Report from the Commission, of 6
February 2014, COM(2014) 56 final.
283
See Progress report on establishing appropriate relations between the
European Union and the European Space Agency, supra n. 282, 5–6.
284
Cf. Progress report on establishing appropriate relations between the
European Union and the European Space Agency, supra n. 282, 6–9.

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5. International organizations in space law

Frans von der Dunk

5.1 INTRODUCTION: INTERGOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATIONS AND OUTER SPACE
Since the Second World War the global community has seen an enormous
rise in international intergovernmental organizations in virtually all areas
of international cooperation, trade and other interaction.1 ‘Inter-
governmental organizations’ (IGOs) should be distinguished from other,
essentially ‘non-governmental’ organizations (NGOs), even if these in
many cases also operate internationally; the former fundamentally con-
cern organizations comprised of sovereign member states and hence are,
in and of themselves, of a public legal character.2
As a consequence of such membership and the essentially public
character of their tasks, responsibilities and activities, IGOs have consti-
tutive documents providing inter alia for an institutionalized system for
participation of member state representatives,3 may be granted

1
See e.g. J. Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law
(8th edn., 2012), 166 ff.; R.L. Bindschedler, International Organizations, General
Aspects, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. II
(1995), 1292–3; P. Malanczuk, Akehurst’s Modern Introduction to International
Law (7th edn., 1997), 30–1; A. Cassese, International Law (2001), 35 ff., also
72; R.M.M. Wallace, International Law (3rd edn., 1997), 68.
2
See e.g. I. Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law (7th edn.,
2008), 675–99, esp. 687–9; Malanczuk, supra n. 1, 92–3; Cassese, supra n. 1,
69–71; Wallace, supra n. 1, 68–9; U.M. Bohlmann & G. Süss, The Status of
International Intergovernmental Organisations under the UN Outer Space Treaty
System, 10-1 Space Law – Newsletter of the International Bar Association Legal
Practice Division (Oct. 2009), 8.
3
Usually such member state participation is enshrined by means of their
representation in key organs of the organization labelled ‘General Assembly’,
‘Assembly of Parties’, ‘Plenary Meeting’, ‘Council’ and such like. See further
e.g. I. Seidl-Hohenveldern, Les organes des organisations internationales, in A
Handbook on International Organizations (Ed. R.J. Dupuy) (2nd edn., 1998),
89–109; H.G. Schermers, International Organizations, Membership, in Encyclo-
pedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. II (1995), 1320 ff.;

269

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270 Handbook of space law

secondary competences to conclude international agreements of a treaty-

like nature,4 and enjoy certain functional immunities and privileges
loosely based on those of sovereign states and their diplomatic represen-
tations.5 In all cases, those constitutive documents provide for the
fundamentals of the legal relationship between the organizations, their
competences, tasks and responsibilities, and those of the totality of
member states.
This, of course, is no different for IGOs involved in outer space and
space activities, which may raise the issue of whether such general ‘IGO
law’ should indeed be included within the broad concept of space law.
Nevertheless, in at least one major respect outer space does present a
very special case from the perspective of IGOs and international law.
Almost all intergovernmental organizations operating in the other
realms subject to (general) public international law essentially qualify as
‘regulatory’ organizations; they represent efforts of the respective collec-
tivities of member states to establish international fora for discussion of
and cooperation on international political and legal issues, common
representation of interests vis-à-vis non-member states, and to that end
draft guidelines, rules of the road, recommendations and binding regu-
lations at least for internal purposes, within the competences allotted to
the organizations by their member states through the constitutive docu-
ments. In this respect, outer space and space law are not unique, although

P.C. Szasz, International Organizations, Privileges and Immunities, in Encyclo-

pedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. II (1995), esp. 1329;
Crawford, supra n. 1, esp. 178–9, 188–91; Malanczuk, supra n. 1, 95–6.
4
Cf. also the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties between states and
international organizations or between international organizations, Vienna, done
21 March 1986, not yet entered into force; Cm. 244; 25 ILM 543 (1986). Further
e.g. K. Zemanek, International Organizations, Treaty-Making Power, in Encyclo-
pedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. II (1995), 1343–6;
Crawford, supra n. 1, 191–5.
5
See e.g. R. Zacklin & C.F. Amerasinghe, The Ways and Means of
International Organizations, in A Handbook on International Organizations (Ed.
R.J. Dupuy) (2nd edn., 1998), 293–313, 349–65; Crawford, supra n. 1, 171–6;
Szasz, supra n. 3, 1328–31. Cf. e.g. the so-called Headquarters Agreements
between IGOs and their host states, spelling out such immunities and privileges
in detail (for the United Nations, e.g. the Agreement between the United Nations
and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United
Nations, Lake Success, done 26 June 1947, entered into force 21 November
1947; 11 UNTS 11; 554 UNTS 308 (1966); 687 UNTS 408 (1969); and the
general Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,
London, done 13 February 1946, entered into force 17 September 1946; 1 UNTS
15; UKTS 10 (1950) Cmd. 7891; ATS 1949 No. 3).

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International organizations in space law 271

their specific characteristics may occasionally also determine the precise

roles and competences of such IGOs.
However, in addition, space law knows of a number of inter-
governmental organizations not so much pooling regulatory or less
formal cooperative yet still ‘paper-based’ resources, but pooling financial,
technical and scientific resources to actually undertake activities in the
extremely alien, risky and costly realm of outer space and space
activities. Whilst at the heart being construed similar to regulatory IGOs,
these operational IGOs also have to properly accommodate, by way of
their internal governance structures, the extent of, for instance, joint
finances and joint operations involved – and, even more interestingly
from the perspective of public international law, by their activities may
come to constitute a special kind of state practice contributing to the
development of customary international law.

5.2 REGULATORY INTERGOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATIONS AND OUTER SPACE: A SURVEY
5.2.1 Regulatory IGOs and International Space Law

Regulatory IGOs play a major role also in the establishment and further
development of international space law, even if those organizations
almost without exception were already existing prior to mankind’s entry
into outer space in 1957, and merely at some point extended the scope of
their activities to outer space and space activities – sometimes expressly
so, sometimes less expressly so.
To the extent such organizations play an important role in the
development of space law, they and their respective substantive impact
and role are almost automatically addressed in respective chapters
elsewhere in this book, so rather than reiterating the various analyses
undertaken in these, more focused, chapters and paragraphs, at this point
a succinct survey of the most important of these regulatory IGOs and
their role in the broader context of space law should suffice.
Intergovernmental organizations are not mentioned in the classical
summary enumeration of sources of public international law as per the
Statute of the International Court of Justice,6 although later analyses

6
Art. 38(1), Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco,
done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; 156 UNTS 77; USTS
993; 59 Stat. 1031; UKTS 1946 No. 67; ATS 1945 No. 1 lists those sources as,
at the primary level, comprising ‘a. international conventions, whether general or

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272 Handbook of space law

often include them – or more precisely legislative developments within

their context – among such sources.7 At the abstract level, their contribu-
tions would thus by and large fall into one of four categories.
Firstly, IGOs present an often-used platform for the member states to
conclude further substantive treaties on the subject matter the IGO is
established for, which then of course as treaty law squarely form part of
public international law. This may and indeed does also happen in the
context of outer space and space law.8 A special subcategory here
concerns treaties to which IGOs effectively become parties.9
Secondly, whilst competences to impose binding law regarding sub-
stantive issues on member states against their individual opposition are
usually absent with IGOs,10 most of them have extended competences to
adopt guidelines, recommendations, rules of the road and other non-
formally binding texts. Many of those documents after their adoption turn
out to gradually transform into customary international law, as the

particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states;

b. international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law; [and]
c. the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations’. See supra,
§ 2.1.1, esp. at n. 2; further on the role of this clause in providing the sources of
public international law, in particular in the context of space law e.g. S.R.
Freeland, The Role of ‘Soft Law’ in Public International Law and its Relevance
to the International Regulation of Outer Space, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed.
I. Marboe) (2012), 12–9; also e.g. P. Malanczuk, Actors: States, International
Organisations, Private Entities, in Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years
(Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D. Crowther) (1997), 27, 30–1; Cassese, supra n. 1,
117–62; Wallace, supra n. 1, 7–34.
7
See further on the role of IGOs in the formation of international law e.g.
Crawford, supra n. 1, 179 ff., esp. 192–6; J. Verhoeven & C. Dominicé, Les
activités normatives et quasi normatives des organisations internationales, A
Handbook on International Organizations (Ed. R.J. Dupuy) (2nd edn., 1998),
413–61; Wallace, supra n. 1, 28–31; Cassese, supra n. 1, 153–5; Malanczuk,
supra n. 1, 52–4.
8
Prominent examples are the five space treaties developed in UN
COPUOS (see supra, § 2.3) or the GATS agreement on liberalizing trade in
satellite communication services (see infra, §§ 15.4.2–15.4.4).
9
A few examples notably exist in the European context, with the European
Union adhering to i.a. the WTO Agreement and the GATS (see infra,
§§ 15.2.1.2, 15.2.2.4) and concluding international treaty-like agreements with
ESA on satellite navigation (see supra, § 4.4.4.1).
10
The single exception here is the European Union – which therefore merits
special treatment in this context, as per Chapter 4 supra.

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International organizations in space law 273

member states start to appreciate their legal relevance and authority more
and more, specifically in the context of IGO-based cooperation.11
Thirdly, whilst internal binding regulations adopted within a particular
IGO usually remain confined to procedural and organizational rather than
substantive matters, the boundaries between the two cannot always be
easily drawn and such regulations may sometimes develop their own
momentum and impact, which may occasionally have an effect upon the
creation of binding international law (whether treaty or customary) even
beyond the member states themselves.12
Finally, most of the major regulatory IGOs possess some dispute
settlement system comprising mixed forms of judicial and non-judicial
mechanisms, often prominently involving arbitration. Those dispute set-
tlement mechanisms may not only use general public international law in
the context of solution of particular disputes but in doing so may also
contribute to further interpretation and understanding of these rules.13

5.2.2 The United Nations (UN)

The primary pre-existing IGO relevant for space activities and space law
is of course the United Nations.14 Established in 1945 to try and maintain
or restore international peace and security, that focus gradually widened
to encompass such areas as decolonization, global economics and their
consequences and a whole range of social, medical, ecological and other
important societal issues of global scope.15
When in 1957 Sputnik-1 for the first time raised the spectre of
concrete active military use of space, it was only logical for the United
Nations to be accosted by the two then-superpowers to present the
primary forum for ensuring the worst would not come about in that

11
A prime example concerns the UN Remote Sensing Principles (see infra,
§ 9.4.1.2).
12
Examples are the role of the European Union in liberalizing and privatiz-
ing the satellite communication sector, where the EU-internal regulation of the
sector, together with national US policies and legislation, presented the major
driving factor behind the regulatory developments in the WTO/GATS context
(see infra, § 15.4).
13
Beyond the obvious leading instance of the International Court of Justice
major examples include the ITU and WTO/GATS dispute settlement systems; see
infra, § 19.2.2 and § 15.2.1.3 respectively; also in general further Chapter 19.
14
See more in detail supra, §§ 1.1–1.3, 2.1.3, 2.2, 2.3.
15
See e.g. Cassese, supra n. 1, 35–45, esp. 275 ff.; J.A. Frowein, United
Nations, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. IV
(2000), 1029 ff.; Malanczuk, supra n. 1, 26–30, cf. also 385 ff.

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274 Handbook of space law

context. The UN General Assembly quickly established a Committee on

the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) serving as the main source
for resolutions and treaties on outer space and space activities – although
in later years its importance was rather hampered, then diminished, by
the need for consensus between the sovereign member states.16 Neverthe-
less, an embryonic legal framework for all human activity in outer space
has arisen within the context of COPUOS, which to this day presents the
core of all space law.
The other main (quasi-)legislative organ of the United Nations is the
Security Council. Whilst COPUOS was a subsidiary body of the General
Assembly, which by definition is unable to enunciate binding inter-
national law, the Security Council does have the competence to issue
legally binding decisions, albeit limited to the area of maintaining
international peace and security in a rather narrowly circumscribed
sense.17
This competence in principle would certainly also extend to outer
space – witness the Outer Space Treaty’s clause stating:

States Parties to the Treaty shall carry on activities in the exploration and use
of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, in accordance
with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in the
interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting inter-
national cooperation and understanding.18

So far, these Security Council competences have never been called upon
in the context of outer space – which not only obviously is a good thing,
but may also testify to both the commitment of the space powers to keep
outer space outside of the Cold War as much as possible, and the validity
and viability of the Outer Space Treaty in keeping the peace – but
unfortunately, there is no inherent reason why this could not change at
some future date.

16
See further supra, § 2.2.1; also more broadly §§ 1.1, 1.2.
17
Cf. Arts. 39–42, Charter of the United Nations (hereafter UN Charter),
San Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS
993; 24 UST 2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd.
6666 & 6711; CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1.
18
Art. III, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27
January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347;
18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386
(1967).

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The third major UN organ, the International Court of Justice, so far has
never been seized of a case concerning space activities, and the possibil-
ity under the Statute, for example, to establish a special chamber for such
disputes so far has never been actively pursued, let alone implemented.19

5.2.3 The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

As analysed in greater detail below,20 once Sputnik-1 demonstrated at

least the theoretical possibility to use space infrastructure as part of
telecommunication networks, the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), which had already taken care of the international aspects of
terrestrial telecommunications since the late nineteenth century, also
included the frequency coordination of (international) space frequencies
and their usage within its main tasks. The ITU thereby, next to the United
Nations, became an organization fundamental to almost all space activ-
ities.
The most interesting example of the inherently natural impact of the
ITU’s regime on space activities concerns the system for allocation,
allotment and assignment of frequency resources. The ITU notably now
shall ‘effect allocation of bands of the radio-frequency spectrum, the
allotment of radio frequencies and the registration of radio-frequency
assignments and, for space services, of any associated orbital position in
the geostationary-satellite orbit or of any associated characteristics of
satellites in other orbits’.21
This almost amounts to a ‘competence creep’. Outer space is not
subject to national appropriation,22 and originally the international com-
munity of states through the ITU Constitution as quoted had strictly
speaking charged the ITU with allocating, allotting and registering
frequencies only, but due to the inevitable relationship between orbital
positions and the risk of interference tied to certain frequencies, this
effectively meant those orbital positions also came to be allocated,
allotted and assigned through the same mechanism. This ‘competence

19
See further infra, §§ 19.1.1, 19.1.3.
20
See infra, §§ 8.2.1, 8.2.4.1.
21
Art. 1(2)(a), Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union
(hereafter ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered into
force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No.
28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992
(1993), at 1 (emphasis added). Cf. also Art. 44(2).
22
Cf. Art. II, Outer Space Treaty (supra n. 18), further supra, § 2.3.1.2.

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276 Handbook of space law

creep’ having taken place more or less unchallenged, it can now be said
to have become public international law per se.

5.2.4 The World Trade Organization (WTO)

As analysed in much greater detail further below,23 the actual or expected

liberalization and privatization of various space sectors since the 1980s
has given rise to increasing involvement of the WTO in the satellite
communications sector.
The resulting application of the GATS to this sector has caused
classical international trade concepts such as National Treatment and
Most-Favoured Nation to become relevant for satellite communications
law. While so far the various individual schedules of commitment show a
considerable variation of the measure of trade liberalization actually
realized with respect to various countries, and a large variety of instru-
ments to maintain some form of national control over the sector, the
process undeniably has a converging effect – and most of the limitations
in the mid-1990s introduced in these schedules are of a temporary
nature.24 Once, moreover, the WTO dispute settlement system – as
appropriately, perhaps, backed up by or alternating with the new PCA
Rules on Outer Space Disputes25 – is increasingly called upon to solve
disputes, almost inevitably also in this multi-billion dollar commercial
context the proper interpretation and application of such key concepts
might cause them to become part and parcel of international space law
more broadly.

5.2.5 The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

A further IGO of interest from the perspective of space activities is the

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), established to work
towards harmonization of national intellectual property rights regimes
and mutual recognition of nationally granted intellectual property
rights.26 Such an approach had already been developed from the second

23
See infra, §§ 15.3–15.5.
24
Cf. infra, § 15.4.3.
25
See further infra, § 19.3.
26
See Arts. 3, 4, Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) (WIPO Convention), Stockholm, done 14 July 1967,
entered into force 26 April 1970; 828 UNTS 3; TIAS 6932; 21 UST 1749; UKTS
1970 No. 52; Cmnd. 3422; ATS 1972 No. 15; 6 ILM 782 (1967). See further
infra, Chapter 18.

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half of the nineteenth century onwards by way of, originally largely

unrelated, international treaties,27 but with the establishment of WIPO the
development of an international regime on IPR gained considerable
momentum – inter alia by enunciating more treaties still.
It was basically those treaties which started to be discussed also in the
context of space, in particular patent law, to protect inventions specific-
ally developed in outer space (the International Space Station28) and
space-related manufacturing, and copyright, for example when it came to
space-based remote sensing data.29 This was especially relevant in view
of the increasing commercialization and privatization of space activities,
which called for precise legal instruments to protect the huge investments
made in space further to general (possible or actual) applicability of
patents, copyrights and other IPR regimes. In the context of the European
Union, this also gave rise to such finely tuned legal instruments as the
Database Directive inter alia protecting remote sensing databases.30

5.2.6 Transport-Specific IGOs: ICAO and the IMO

One of the terrestrial realms most amenable to and interested in down-

stream satellite applications concerns transport, where in particular
satellite navigation31 and mobile satellite communications32 could pro-
vide huge benefits. As a consequence, existing regimes in the transport
sector – national as well as international – became of importance as well
for relevant categories of space activities, as part of the legal environment
ultimately co-defining the sector and, in a commercial context, the
marketplace.

27
Most famous among those were the Convention for the Protection of
Industrial Property as Modified by Additional Act of 14 December 1900 and
Final Protocol (Paris Convention), Paris, done 20 March 1883, entered into force
6 July 1884; 828 UNTS 305; USTS 379; UKTS 1907 No. 21; ATS 1907 No. 6;
on patents; and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works (Berne Convention), Berne, done 9 September 1886, entered into force 5
December 1887; 828 UNTS 221; 331 UNTS 217; ATS 1901 No. 126; on
copyrights.
28
See further infra, §§ 11.3.2.15, 18.3.4.
29
See further infra, § 18.2.2.
30
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal
protection of databases (Database Directive), 96/9/EC, of 11 March 1996; OJ L
77/20 (1996). See further infra, § 18.2.1, also supra, § 4.3.2.3.
31
See further infra, Chapter 10.
32
Cf. also infra, Chapter 8.

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278 Handbook of space law

Although this could apply to all transport sectors, aviation and

maritime transport, because of their inherent overriding international
character and well-developed international legal regimes, stand out as the
two transport sectors most relevant from this perspective for space law33
since in both cases, major intergovernmental organizations of global
scope and membership have existed for many decades, which have been
tasked to represent and further the interests of the sectors by way of
international regulation – ICAO and the IMO respectively.

5.2.6.1 The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was established in
1944 by way of the Chicago Convention34 in order to, most notably,
‘[i]nsure the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation
throughout the world’.35 ICAO’s competences to that extent included
issues related to air navigation, which in the 1980s would come to
encompass satellite navigation as well,36 and aeronautical communica-
tions making use of satellites.37 More recently, ICAO also became

33
For an example of legal aspects of the involvement of GNSS also in other
transport modes see e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, The European Equation: GNSS =
Multimodality + Liability, in Air and Space Law in the 21st Century, Liber
Amicorum Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel (2001), 231–46.
34
Convention on International Civil Aviation (hereafter Chicago Conven-
tion), Chicago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force 4 April 1947; 15
UNTS 295; TIAS 1591; 61 Stat. 1180; Cmd. 6614; UKTS 1953 No. 8; ATS 1957
No. 5; ICAO Doc. 7300; see esp. Pt. II, Arts. 43–66.
35
Art. 44(a), Chicago Convention, supra n. 34.
36
Cf. e.g. Arts. 11, 12, 28, 37(a) and (c), 56–57, Chicago Convention, supra
n. 34, and Annexes 2, Rules of the Air; 6, Operation of Aircraft; 10, Aeronautical
Telecommunications; and 11, Air Traffic Services; also e.g. B.D.K. Henaku, The
Law on Global Air Navigation by Satellite (1998); F.G. von der Dunk, Navigat-
ing Safely through the 21st Century: ICAO and the Use of GNSS in Civil
Aviation, 47 Indian Journal of International Law (2007), 1–29; P.A. Salin,
Regulatory Aspects of Future Satellite Air Navigation Systems (FANS) on
ICAO’s 50th Birthday, 44 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1995), 173–5;
J.M. Epstein, Global Positioning System (GPS): Defining the Legal Issues of its
Expanding Civil Use, 61 Journal of Air Law and Commerce (1995), 248–51.
37
Cf. e.g. Arts. 30, 37(a), Chicago Convention, supra n. 34, and Annexes
10, Aeronautical Telecommunications and 15, Aeronautical Information Services;
also e.g. T.C. Brisibe, Aeronautical Public Correspondence by Satellite (2006),
5 ff.; P.L. Meredith & G.S. Robinson, Space Law: A Case Study for the
Practitioner (1992), 107–8; K. Heilbronner, International Civil Aviation Organ-
ization, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Bernhardt) Vol. II
(1995), 1072; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 353.

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International organizations in space law 279

engaged in the development of an international regime for securities with

respect to both aircraft and space assets (as for space culminating in the
UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol)38 and discussions on the appropriate
international legal framework for sub-orbital spaceflight.39
Such discussions in an ICAO context, of aviation applications making
use of space infrastructures and assessing whether an essentially hybrid
activity should be regulated as part of air law respectively, highlight the
complexity of interaction of non-space law with space law stricto sensu,
in particular when in the former context an effective and well-established
organizational structure exists to help further refine and implement such
law. This situation often tends to lead to approaches for solving issues
ignoring the broader aspects of the involvement of outer space and space
activities in the particular area at hand.40

5.2.6.2 The International Maritime Organization (IMO)

Although the maritime sector, principally due to the far lesser speeds of
the transport vehicles involved, knows a considerably lesser degree of
international oversight compared to international aviation, the Inter-
national Maritime Organization (IMO) has played a central role in that
respect for many years.41
Thus, the IMO has played a major role in integrating satellite appli-
cations into the maritime domain for the benefit of its stakeholders, and
thereby, at least at a political level, influenced the regime applicable to
such satellite applications and the satellite operations feeding them.
Primary examples concern the use of satellite navigation in the maritime
context42 and the development of the INMARSAT satellite system for the

38
See further infra, § 16.4.
39
See further infra, § 12.3.
40
Cf. also e.g. the discussion on GNSS liability in the context of UNI-
DROIT, infra, §§ 5.2.7, 10.10.
41
Originally established as the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative
Organization IMCO by the Convention on the Intergovernmental Maritime
Consultative Organization IMCO (hereafter IMCO Convention), Geneva, done 6
March 1948, entered into force 17 March 1958; 289 UNTS 48; TIAS 4044;
UKTS 1958 No. 54; Cmnd. 589; Cmd. 7412; ATS 1958 No. 5; the title of the
Convention was amended to ‘Convention on the International Maritime Organ-
ization’ in 1975 with effect from 22 May 1982.
42
Thus, IMO has e.g. by way of IMO Resolution A.195(22) on Revised
Maritime Policy and Requirements for a Global Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS), of 29 November 2011, substantially influenced the development of
GNSS operations and services in the maritime domain.

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280 Handbook of space law

purpose of, first and foremost, enhancing the existing search-and-rescue

opportunities available for addressing distress, incidents and accidents at
sea.43

5.2.7 The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law

(UNIDROIT)

The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law

(UNIDROIT) presents a more particular example of a regulatory IGO,
having recently become involved in space activities and space law.44
Particular especially in that UNIDROIT is an organization focused on
private international law, and as considered necessary and appropriate,
undertakes efforts to harmonize and/or streamline national legal regimes
directly addressing private actors. Thus, its involvement in the space
sector also constitutes another illustration of the growing measure of
privatization and commercialization of that sector – even as UNIDROIT’s
activities have so far remained confined to the special realm of space
project financing.
The inevitable coherence of private space activities and the particular
legal regimes applicable to them and international public international
space law has not only given rise to concerns in the latter context that the
Space Assets Protocol might somehow negatively interfere with the UN
space treaties,45 but also to efforts in the former context to address the
rather complex issue of liability for GNSS signals and services.46
These efforts are somewhat misguided and in the end perhaps doomed
to fail precisely because UNIDROIT is an organization working on
private international law issues, where the liabilities for GNSS, to the

43
This, further to the establishment of the International Convention for
Safety of Life at Sea (hereafter SOLAS Convention), London, done 1 November
1974, entered into force 25 May 1980; 1184 UNTS 278, 1300 UNTS 391, 1408
UNTS 339, 1484 UNTS 442 & 1593 UNTS 417; TIAS 9700 & 10626; UKTS
1980 No. 46 & UKTS 1983 No. 42; ATS 1983 No. 22); see further infra, § 5.5.1.
44
See infra, § 16.4.
45
See infra, esp. § 16.4.7. This concerned i.a. definitional issues of ‘space
assets’ vis-à-vis ‘space objects’ or the potential interference of rights of holders
of security interests in satellites with the liability regime of the Convention on
International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (hereafter Liability
Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered into
force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974
No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971).
46
See also infra, § 10.10.

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International organizations in space law 281

extent they could be established, would emanate in the first instance from
the public international realm, with such key players as sovereign nations
(the United States, Russia and soon China) and the European Union, and
in view of the global scope of GNSS activities and the manifold public
aspects of its usage – for safety, security and general economic pur-
poses.47
Yet, they testify to the apparently natural tendency of new IGO
entrants into the field of space law to extend their prospective regulatory
and legislative activities beyond the original point of departure in order to
preserve the effectiveness of their original contributions stemming from
their inherent institutionalized focus.

5.2.8 The European Community/Union

Finally, the European Union presents a rather special case in the context
of regulatory IGOs – to the extent even that the applicability of the
epithet ‘intergovernmental’ is becoming increasingly doubtful. The many
semi-supranational competences assembled over the last half century at
the Community, then Union, level have resulted in a special legal order
somewhere between classic public international law and classic domestic
law – which meanwhile has also become relevant for space activities,
justifying also a special treatment of this European legal order in a
separate chapter.48
At this point, therefore, suffice it to note that the impact of EU
legislative and regulatory developments is indeed profoundly affecting
many space sectors, and hence many areas of space law. This ranges
from the liberalization of satellite communication services49 to intricate
institutional and substantive cooperation with the European Space
Agency,50 comprises EU-wide legal regimes applicable to satellite earth
observation databases51 or the international trade in dual-use security-
sensitive goods,52 and has given rise to the establishment under its

47
See further infra, § 10.10; cf. also in great detail F.G. von der Dunk,
Liability for Global Navigation Satellite Services: A Comparative Analysis of
GPS and Galileo, 30 Journal of Space Law (2004), 129–67.
48
See supra, Chapter 4, esp. §§ 4.3, 4.4.
49
See further supra, § 4.3.2.2.
50
See further supra, § 4.4.
51
See further supra, § 4.3.2.3.
52
See further infra, § 6.6.4, § 7.5.1.3.

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282 Handbook of space law

leadership of the European flagship space projects Galileo and

Copernicus/GMES.53

5.3 OPERATIONAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL

ORGANIZATIONS AND OUTER SPACE: AN
INTRODUCTION
As arguably outer space constitutes the most alien, risky and costly arena
for mankind to undertake activities in, yet those activities at least
potentially have a crucial impact on terrestrial security, economics and
societies, groups of sovereign states have regularly bundled their scien-
tific, technical, operational and financial resources through the establish-
ment of permanent joint institutional structures charged with conducting
space activities on behalf of the collective group of member states – the
operational organizations. In doing so, those states handed over distinct
sets of sovereign competences in the narrow field of those operations and
how they should be conducted to the IGO and its organs itself, even if
those and the competences they could assert ultimately also depended on
constitutive documents and member state participation in the main
organ(s) of the IGO.54
One further categorization distinguishes organizations with, in prin-
ciple, global membership from those with a distinct regional character;
another distinguishes organizations principally undertaking the complete
range of space activities from those focusing on one type of space
activities only.
Starting with the latter sub-categorization, only the European Space
Agency (ESA) can currently be deemed to constitute an IGO principally
addressing more or less the comprehensive range of mankind’s potential
activities in outer space, from science to applications. At the same time
being the prime regional European organization operating in the compli-
cated European spacescape, however, in particular since over two decades
involving the European Union, ESA, its activities, roles and competences
have been dealt with above.55
Since another regional European organization EUMETSAT, the only
operational IGO in the realm of remote sensing (and then for meteoro-
logical purposes only) has effectively sprung from ESA and operates as a

53
See further supra, § 4.4.4, also infra §§ 10.2.1.3, 10.4.1 and § 9.4.3.3
respectively.
54
See also supra, § 5.1.
55
See supra, Chapter 4, esp. § 4.2.

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International organizations in space law 283

classical intergovernmental entity in that same European spacescape, also

this IGO has been addressed further above.56 Whilst the same holds true
also for the regional European organization undertaking satellite commu-
nications, EUTELSAT,57 to the extent that EUTELSAT as an IGO was
rather similar to INTELSAT and INMARSAT and has meanwhile been
transformed into a private operator, it will be dealt with in this chapter.
The other operational IGOs in the space sector are all once more
focused on satellite communications: INTELSAT and INMARSAT on a
global level, and INTERSPUTNIK58 and ARABSAT on a regional level
(the latter two not having been privatized so far). It is these IGOs that
will be dealt with in greater detail presently, whereas the additional focus
will be on INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT for reasons of their
transition to private operators with ‘Residual International Inter-
governmental Satellite Organizations’, RIISOs, as supervisors.59

5.4 INTELSAT

5.4.1 INTELSAT Prior to Privatization

The story of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization

INTELSAT started with the establishment in 1962 of a US corporate
entity by law bestowed with a monopoly on federal and (as far as the
United States was concerned) international satellite communications: the
Comsat Corporation.60 Within a year, it had an experimental satellite

56
See supra, § 4.2.6.3.
57
See supra, § 4.2.6.2.
58
Whilst labelling INTERSPUTNIK as a ‘regional’ IGO is strictly speaking
incorrect, as the organization is fundamentally open to membership from states
around the world, its heritage as a Soviet Union-led organization of communist
states has so far limited membership to former constituent states of the Soviet
Union, former ‘satellite’ states in Eastern Europe and a handful of other
(formerly) communist allies elsewhere; only Germany (following up on former
East Germany’s membership, hence also a special case) and India clearly do not
fall in any of those categories.
59
For a comprehensive analysis of such RIISOs see esp. M.J. Mechanick,
The Role and Function of Residual International Intergovernmental Satellite
Organisations Following Privatisation, in The Transformation of Inter-
governmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick)
(2013), 175–221; further infra, §§ 5.4.2, 5.5.2, 5.6.2.
60
Comsat was established by way of the Communications Satellite Act,
Public Law 87–624, 87th Congress, H.R. 11040, 31 August 1962; 76 Stat. 419;

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Syncom-1 up and running,61 and within another year the fundamental

decision had been made to use Comsat as the core of an international
organization offering a satellite system to its member states for telecom-
munications purposes.
Thus, in 1964 Interim INTELSAT was established,62 with 11 member
states (including of course the United States) and its first satellite Early
Bird operating as of 1965, courtesy of Comsat.63 By 1969 a first
full-fledged global satellite communication system consisting of seven
satellites in the geostationary orbit had arisen. Quickly, this interim
organization evolved into the more independent INTELSAT, established
in 1971.64 The organization was to grow from 80 member states in 1973,

as amended 1978; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.III.2. It was a private,
publicly tradable company headquartered in Washington, yet protected against
competition, the Communications Satellite Act effectively functioning as a
monopolistic licence; cf. Secs. 102 (esp. (c)), 103(8) and Title III. See further e.g.
F. Lyall, Law and Space Telecommunications (1989), 30–73; P.K. McCormick,
Intelsat: Pre and Post-Private Equity Ownership, in The Transformation of
Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J.
Mechanick) (2013), 83–5; H.M. White, Space Communications Law and the
Geostationary Orbit, in 3 American Enterprise, the Law and the Commercial Use
of Space (1987), 77–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 323–5.
61
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncom, last accessed 25 February 2014;
also Lyall, supra n. 60, 34.
62
By way of Agreement Establishing Interim Arrangements for a Global
Commercial Communications Satellite System, and Relative Special Agreement
(Interim INTELSAT Agreement), Washington, done 20 August 1964, entered into
force 20 August 1964; 514 UNTS 25; 15 UST 1705; TIAS 5646; 1966 UKTS
12; 3 ILM 805 (1964); see also Lyall, supra n. 60, 74–85; B. Cheng, Studies in
International Space Law (1997), 545–8; McCormick, supra n. 60, 84–5; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 37, 325–9.
63
See Cheng, supra n. 62, 545; Lyall, supra n. 60, 15.
64
By way of the Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunica-
tions Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) (hereafter INTELSAT Agreement),
Washington, done 20 August 1971, entered into force 12 February 1973; 1220
UNTS 21; TIAS 7532; 23 UST 3813; UKTS 1973 No. 80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS
1973 No. 6; 10 ILM 909 (1971); and the Operating Agreement Relating to the
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) (hereafter
INTELSAT Operating Agreement), Washington, done 20 August 1971, entered
into force 12 February 1973; 1220 UNTS 149; TIAS 7532; 23 UST 4091; UKTS
1973 No. 80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS 1973 No. 6; 10 ILM 946 (1971). See on
INTELSAT in general Lyall, supra n. 60, 74–208; R.S. Jakhu, International
Regulation of Satellite Telecommunications, in Legal Aspects of Space
Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 92–4; S. Courteix, International
Legal Aspects of Television Broadcasting, in Legal Aspects of Space

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when the constitutive treaties entered into force, to 143 in 2000, when the
privatization process started kicking in.65 Overall, more than 200 states
and autonomous territories made use of its satellite infrastructure, which
by then comprised 17 satellites in the geostationary orbit used especially
for fixed satellite services (FSS; constituting some 85 per cent of its
turnover) and some direct broadcasting services.66
INTELSAT was headquartered in Washington; hence the United States
acted as the main sponsoring state and ‘Notifying Administration’
responsible for requests for allotment and assignment on behalf of the
organization in the context of the ITU.67 Like any more classical IGO,
INTELSAT also had a Headquarters Agreement with its host state, the
United States, in place as well as related Protocols on privileges and
immunities.68
At the same time, the organizational structure of INTELSAT was
unique in creating a hybrid, public international corporation developing
and operating an infrastructure of satellites in space at the disposal of
member states in an economically sound manner.69 It comprised both a
treaty between member states parties acting as legal guardians and policy

Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 105–6; Cheng, supra n. 62,

545–8, 550–63; McCormick, supra n. 60, 85–94; M.L. Smith, International
Regulation of Satellite Communication (1990), 29–30; Meredith & Robinson,
supra n. 37, 213 ff.; P.A. Salin, Satellite Communications Regulations in the
Early 21st Century (2000), 102–20.
65
Cf. further e.g. Salin, supra n. 64, 102 ff.; also further infra, § 5.4.2.
66
Cf. e.g. Courteix, supra n. 64, 105–6; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37,
219; Salin, supra n. 64, 103 ff.; Smith, supra n. 64, 29–30.
67
Cf. www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/space/pubChangeADM/USAIT_G_USA_2450.
pdf, last accessed 24 February 2014; in general on the concept of the Notifying
Administration, Arts. 8(4), 11, Radio Regulations Articles, Edition of 2012
(hereafter Radio Regulations), www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2012, last accessed
13 April 2014. See also e.g. Mechanick, supra n. 59, 197–9; further infra,
§§ 8.2.3, 8.2.4.
68
See, further to Art. XV, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64, Headquarters
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the
International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation, Washington, done
22–24 November 1976, entered into force 24 November 1976; TIAS 8542; 28
UST 2248; resp. Protocol on INTELSAT Privileges, Exemptions and Immunities,
Washington, done 19 May 1978, entered into force 9 October 1980; 1981 UKTS
2, Cmnd. 8103.
69
Cf. also Art. III, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64; also Art. V; Arts.
4(c), 8, INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 64. Art. V(a), INTELSAT
Agreement, determined that the IGO was the owner of the space segment, which
comprised apart from the satellites themselves, TT&C, monitoring and other

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makers and being internationally responsible and liable for its activities,
the INTELSAT Agreement, and an Operating Agreement between the
respective Public Telecom Operators (PTOs) acting as signatories.70
As to liability, the INTELSAT Agreement provided for a cross-waiver
of liability between IGO and signatories concerning ‘loss or damage
sustained by reason of any unavailability, delay or faultiness of telecom-
munications services’.71 Beyond that, claims not satisfied through other
indemnification mechanisms or insurance – which included international
third-party claims under the Liability Convention72 – had to be taken care
of jointly by the signatories ‘in proportion to their respective investment
shares as of the date the payment by INTELSAT of such claim is due’.73
The PTOs, one per member state, constituted the actual users of the
satellite infrastructure to which they would connect with their own terres-
trial infrastructures, and hence were responsible for all lower-level deci-
sions concerning such terrestrial operations, including up- and downlinking
to the satellites as necessary.74 Their investment shares in the IGO’s
operations, including new satellites as decided upon, were directly linked to
the respective usage these PTOs made of the satellite infrastructure for their
communication purposes through an intricate system of a priori estimation
and a posteriori recalculation and reallocation of resources.75
The hybrid character of INTELSAT as a semi-commercial public inter-
governmental corporation also became apparent in the voting structure.
Whilst along classical IGO lines parties and signatories each had one vote in
the Assembly of Parties and Meeting of Signatories respectively,76 in the
Board of Governors, which was responsible for the day-to-day running of
the IGO, a complex system ensured that representation and voting were

ground facilities and equipment necessary to support the operation of the

satellites; Art. I(h), INTELSAT Agreement.
70
Cf. Art. I(f), (g), INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64; Art. 2, INTELSAT
Operating Agreement, supra n. 64.
71
Art. 18(a), INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 64.
72
Supra n. 45; see further supra, § 2.3.3.
73
Art. 18(b), INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 64.
74
Cf. Art. II(b), INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64; also Meredith &
Robinson, supra n. 37, 218–22; Lyall, supra n. 60, 93, 123 ff.; Salin, supra n. 64,
104–5; Cheng, supra n. 62, 556–8.
75
Cf. Art. V, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64; Arts. 3(c), 4, 6–8,
INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 64. Further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 60,
114–9; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, esp. 215–8.
76
See Arts. VII(f), VIII(e), INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64.

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somehow related to investment shares.77 The 13 states with the highest

investment shares automatically held a seat on the Board, and every
combination of other states together meeting an investment share threshold
could also claim such a seat. Finally, any group of five states, no matter what
their investment share, could equally claim a seat on the Board – to partially
counterbalance the power of the economically strong states for the sake of
global coherence and solidarity.
A last important aspect of the intergovernmental structure of INTEL-
SAT as an IGO harked back to the economic rationale for pooling
sovereign member state resources in such an expensive and risky
undertaking as satellite communications presented certainly early on:
those expenses and risks would be best justified if the threat of
competing systems breaking down the economies of scale and scope
could be averted. To this end, a clause was inserted into the INTELSAT
Agreement requiring any party or signatory intending to establish,
acquire or utilize a space segment separate from INTELSAT for inter-
national public telecommunication purposes to furnish all relevant infor-
mation to the Assembly of Parties to ensure technical compatibility and,
more notably, to ‘avoid significant economic harm to the global system of
INTELSAT’, based upon which information the Assembly should then
recommend whether the party or signatory at issue had better desist from
those intentions – a recommendation not carrying legally binding weight
strictly speaking, but certainly a lot of political weight.78

5.4.2 The Privatization of INTELSAT

As a consequence of developments in the global telecommunication,

including satellite communication, sector in the course of the 1980s and
1990s, pressure mounted on INTELSAT (among other satellite IGOs) to
adapt to this changing environment.79 These pressures were translated in

77
See Art. IX, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64. See further e.g.
McCormick, supra n. 60, 87–8; Jakhu, supra n. 64, 92–3; Cheng, supra n. 62,
558–9; Lyall, supra n. 60, 97–104, 114–7; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37,
214–5.
78
Art. XIV(d), INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64 (emphasis added). See
Lyall, supra n. 60, 154–78; further e.g. Salin, supra n. 64, 107–13; McCormick,
supra n. 60, 89–92; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, 230 ff., esp. 234–44;
Jakhu, supra n. 64, 93–4.
79
Cf. in general e.g. P.K. McCormick, Neo-Liberalism: A Contextual
Framework for Assessing the Privatisation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organ-
isations, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations

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288 Handbook of space law

the legal realm into the WTO/GATS inclusion of satellite communica-

tions in its trade liberalization as of 1997,80 the European Union’s 1994
Satellite Directive heralding the establishment of an embryonic Internal
Market for such services within Europe81 and, most importantly for
INTELSAT with a view to its nexus with the United States, the 2000
ORBIT Act calling without much hesitation for privatization of the main
satellite IGOs.82
After an initial decision to spin off the more commercial, high-end
satellites services to a newly created private company New Skies
Satellites in 1998, endowed with five in-orbit satellites as a birth gift
from INTELSAT,83 the ‘remainder’ of INTELSAT was forced to privatize
– the ultimate threat being that market access (‘landing rights’) for
INTELSAT services in the United States, the largest single telecommu-
nications market, could be at stake.84

(Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 1–34; specifically on INTEL-
SAT e.g. F. Lyall, On the Privatization of INTELSAT, 28 Journal of Space Law
(2000), 101–19; L. Millstein, INTELSAT Restructuring, 2–2 Outer Space Z
News (1999), 2–3; McCormick, supra n. 60, 94 ff.; S. Ospina, International
Satellite Organizations: Their Evolution from ‘ISOs’ to ‘GCSs’, in Proceedings
of the International Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 338–44; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 37, 337 ff.; Salin, supra n. 64, 468–72.
80
As per the Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Trade and
Services of 15 April 1994, Geneva, done 15 April 1997, entered into force 5
February 1998; WTO Doc. S/L/20 of 30 April 1996 (96-1750); 2061 UNTS 209;
ATS 1998 No. 9; 33 ILM 1167 (1994); 36 ILM 354 (1997); in particular. See
further infra, § 15.4.2.
81
Cf. Commission Directive amending Directive 88/301/EEC and Directive
90/388/EEC in particular with regard to satellite communications (hereafter
Satellite Directive), 94/46/EC, of 13 October 1994; OJ L 268/15 (1994). See
further supra, § 4.3.2.2; also H. Ungerer, Transformation of ISOs: European
Perspective, 2-2 Outer Space Z News (1999), 13–6; extensively Salin, supra
n. 64, 310–82.
82
Cf. Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International
Telecommunications Act (hereafter ORBIT Act), Public Law 106-180, 106th
Congress, 17 March 2000. The ORBIT Act was partly the result of lobbying of
existing fully private competitors of INTELSAT, lamenting the absence of a level
playing field in competing with the IGO; cf. Sec. 2; see further McCormick,
supra n. 60, 99–103; Salin, supra n. 64, 487–91; Mechanick supra n. 59, 177.
83
See McCormick, supra n. 60, 97; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 337; Salin,
supra n. 64, 469–70. New Skies Satellites was originally incorporated in the
Netherlands, but after several commercial transformations is now part of SES
World Skies, with headquarters in both the United States and the Netherlands.
84
Cf. esp. Sec. 3, ORBIT Act, supra n. 82, allowing the FCC to grant
licences for satellite operators in the United States only if competition in the US

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The main opposition to such privatization came from a majority of

INTELSAT member states, fearful that commercialized operations of a
private successor to INTELSAT would mean that (potentially) unprofit-
able services to lesser developed states and markets could be victimized –
and precisely those states generally depended more than others upon
INTELSAT to provide satellite infrastructure for their international
communications. More than 60 states thus claimed the IGO provided
‘lifeline international connectivity’ to them.85
When following several years of negotiating and restructuring in 2001
a new institutional structure arose, it reflected these political stances and
interests. As per an amended INTELSAT Agreement now labelled ITSO
Agreement,86 the ownership of the space segment and full accountability
(and liability) for its operations was handed over to a newly created
private entity Intelsat, which remained located in Washington.87
At the same time, to assuage the aforementioned fears of being left out
of future benefits resulting from access to an international satellite
infrastructure, the private operator by way of the ITSO Agreement and an
accompanying Public Services Agreement faced a Lifeline Connectivity
Obligation (LCO) for at least 12 years as of 2001, to provide relevant
access with the same quality and financial parameters as before.88

markets would not be distorted as per a ‘Competition Test’ specifically referenc-

ing INTELSAT (as well as INMARSAT; see further infra, § 5.5.2).
85
See Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 339–40; Salin supra n. 64, 471–2;
McCormick, supra n. 60, 107–10.
86
Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunications Satellite
Organization (ITSO) (hereafter ITSO Agreement), Washington, done 20 August
1971, entered into force 12 February 1973, as amended 13 November 2000,
amended version entered into force 30 November 2004; Cm. 5092; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, C.V.1. See further e.g. McCormick, supra n. 60,
81–117; Mechanick, supra n. 59, 175–221; also e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37,
325–43.
87
See further McCormick, supra n. 60, 103 ff. As a consequence, Intelsat
no longer enjoys functional IGO immunities, notably vis-à-vis its host state, and
other benefits accruing from an intergovernmental status; it also became subject
to US tax and anti-trust law.
88
See Mechanick, supra n. 59, 187–8, 191–3, esp. 199–203. Termination of
the LCO in principle is possible after 2013 at the discretion of Intelsat as it is
now basically provided by way of bilateral LCO contracts between the company
and any state so interested; cf. Art. I(h), ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86. The LCO
i.a. included protection against price increases above the 2000 level, protection
of the satellite capacity used for LCO against possible alternate uses, and the
right to benefit from price reductions in certain circumstances; but raised issues
beyond 2013 and the duration of individual LCO contracts versus unilateral

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290 Handbook of space law

In order to provide some oversight in particular over compliance with

this obligation, the old IGO INTELSAT was transformed into a new IGO,
ITSO.89 The private operator had to pay for its own watchdog; ITSO was
funded for basic expenses to the tune of US$ 1.2 million annually,
adjustable for inflation up to 3 per cent, and Intelsat was also to provide
for a contingency fund for disputes with its own supervisor of US$ 0.5
million a year.90

5.5 INMARSAT
5.5.1 INMARSAT Prior to Privatization

The success of INTELSAT in the 1970s also prompted IMO91 to consider

the use of satellites, then the establishment of an independent satellite
system, for the purpose of maritime communications, in particular in the
context of safety at sea.92 This led to the establishment of the International
Maritime Satellite Organization INMARSAT in 1976.93

hesitation to prolong them on the part of the company; cf. e.g. Report on Status
of Lifeline Connectivity Program, IAC-12-8E W/03/10, of 25 March 2010,
www.itsointernational.org/dmdocuments/IAC-12-8E_LCO_document_w_attach.
pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014. Currently, the Intelsat website does not provide
any reference to a Lifeline Connectivity Obligation; cf. www.intelsat. com/
?s=Lifeline+Connectivity+Obligation, last accessed 25 February 2014.
89
See e.g. McCormick, supra n. 60, 107–10; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37,
338–43; also Mechanick, supra n. 59, 185 ff. ITSO could only be terminated
after 2013 by a 2/3 majority decision of ITSO member states, currently
numbering 149; see Art. XXI, ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86. In 2006 there was
a claim that Intelsat did not meet with its obligations under the LCO; cf.
McCormick, supra n. 60, 108. See for a proposal to somehow maintain the LCO
also beyond 2013, McCormick, ibid.
90
See Mechanick, supra n. 59, 195–9; cf. also Art. VII, ITSO Agreement,
supra n. 86.
91
IMO was established by way of the IMCO Convention, supra n. 41.
92
Cf. further e.g. D. Sagar & P.K. McCormick, Inmarsat: In the Forefront of
Mobile Satellite Communications, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental
Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 35–8;
Lyall, supra n. 60, 209–12; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 344–5; Salin, supra
n. 64, 121.
93
By way of the Convention on the International Maritime Satellite
Organization (INMARSAT) (hereafter INMARSAT Convention), London, done 3
September 1976, entered into force 16 July 1979; 1143 UNTS 105; TIAS 9605;
31 UST 1; UKTS 1979 No. 94; Cmnd. 6822; ATS 1979 No. 10; 15 ILM 1052

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As INMARSAT’s prospective membership from the start would over-

lap to a considerable extent with the membership of INTELSAT, the
establishment of the former had to comply with the ‘no significant
economic harm’ clause applicable in the context of the latter.94 As
INMARSAT was, contrary to INTELSAT, exclusively focusing on
mobile satellite services (MSS), at the time limited moreover to a
maritime context, the risk of such significant economic harm being done
to INTELSAT was found to be negligible, and the establishment of
INMARSAT could proceed as planned.95
Also INMARSAT quickly became a success, growing until it num-
bered 87 member states in 2000, with some 90 more non-member states
also regularly using its satellite infrastructure. By then, INMARSAT,
headquartered in London hence dependent upon the United Kingdom, for
instance for its frequency assignments in the ITU context, had ten
satellites in orbit.96 Compared to INTELSAT, inter alia because of the
safety focus of INMARSAT’s operations through the provision of search-
and-rescue communication devices and services, INMARSAT included
both the United States and the Soviet Union but far fewer developing
states than the other IGO.97
The governance structure of INMARSAT at the highest level, however,
was remarkably similar to that of INTELSAT. INMARSAT was also
ruled by a Convention under which the states parties were responsible for

(1976); and the Operating Agreement on the International Maritime Satellite

Organization (INMARSAT) (hereafter INMARSAT Operating Agreement), Lon-
don, done 3 September 1976, entered into force 16 July 1979; 1143 UNTS 213;
TIAS 9605; 31 UST 1; UKTS 1979 No. 94; Cmnd. 6822; ATS 1979 No. 10; 15
ILM 233, 1075 (1976). See on INMARSAT in general Sagar & McCormick,
supra n. 92, 35 ff.; Lyall, supra n. 60, 209–43; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37,
344–50; Jakhu, supra n. 64, 94–5; Smith, supra n. 64, 31–2; Salin, supra n. 64,
120–6; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, 213 ff.
94
See supra, § 5.4.1.
95
Cf. e.g. Lyall, supra n. 60, 213–7; Jakhu, supra n. 64, 95.
96
Cf. e.g. in general Salin, supra n. 64, 121–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37,
348–51; Mechanick, supra n. 59, 197. INMARSAT also had the typical
IGO–host state arrangements in place vis-à-vis the United Kingdom: see the
Headquarters Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the International Maritime Satellite
Organisation, London, done 25 February 1980, entered into force 25 February
1980; 1203 UNTS 131; 1980 UKTS 44, Cmnd. 7917; and Protocol on the
Privileges and Immunities of the International Maritime Satellite Organisation
(INMARSAT), London, done 1 December 1981, entered into force 30 July 1983;
1328 UNTS 149; 1982 BPP Misc 6, Cmnd. 8497 respectively.
97
See e.g. Mechanick, supra n. 59, 178.

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292 Handbook of space law

the overarching policies and legal aspects98 and an Operating Agreement

one level down with the PTOs of the member states (who were also
acting as PTOs in the context of INTELSAT as applicable) as signator-
ies,99 responsible for the terrestrial infrastructure and usage of the
satellite capacity through such infrastructure.100
Liability of INMARSAT member states in the context of INMARSAT
activities is expressly limited to damage ‘in relation to non-Parties or
natural or juridical persons they might represent in so far as such liability
may follow from treaties in force between the Party and the non-Party
concerned’101 – an obvious reference to the Liability Convention.102
Otherwise, essentially the same cross-waiver and hold-harmless arrange-
ments between IGO and signatories applied as in the INTELSAT case.103
Again, the hybrid character of the IGO as a public consortium
operating in accordance with economic principles was reflected in both
financing and decision-making procedures. The investment shares and
other capital contributions were once more linked to actual usage by way
of an intricate financing system.104 Though voting in the Assembly, the
supreme organ of the IGO, followed the classical ‘one state one vote’
principle,105 the Council as the day-to-day managing body operated on a
different premise: consisting of the largest investors, it decided by
weighted voting.106

98
Cf. Arts. 11, 12, INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93.
99
Again only one signatory per member state was admitted; see Arts. 2(33),
4, INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93.
100
Operational arrangements were codified by means of Land Earth Station
Operator Agreements, which could also encompass non-member states; see Art.
XIV(2), INMARSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 93. Cf. further e.g. Sagar &
McCormick, supra n. 92, 52; also Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 348.
101
Art. 22, INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93. See also Sagar &
McCormick, supra n. 92, 38.
102
Supra n. 45; see further supra, § 2.3.3.
103
See Art. XI, INMARSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 93; cf. supra,
§ 5.4.1.
104
See Arts. 5(1), (2), 19, INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93; (esp.) Arts.
III, V, VI(1), INMARSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 93; Annex to the
INMARSAT Operating Agreement. See further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 60, 231–4;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 346–8; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, 215–8;
Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 38.
105
See Art. 11(1), INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93.
106
Cf. Arts. 13(1), 14(2) and (3), INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93; see
also Art. 15. See further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 60, 224–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 37, 347; Salin, supra n. 64, 123; Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 39; Jakhu,
supra n. 64, 95.

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Finally, INMARSAT also had a ‘no significant economic harm’ clause,

phrased in this context with specific reference to ‘separate space segment
facilities to meet any or all of the maritime purposes of the INMARSAT
space segment’,107 in which case both Council and Assembly could –
strongly – recommend desisting from establishment of such a competing
space segment.108

5.5.2 The Privatization of INMARSAT

By and large the developments forcing INTELSAT to privatize also

asserted their impact on INMARSAT – and, partly because of tech-
nological developments in the mobile (satellite) communications sub-
sector going faster than those in the fixed satellite subsector, partly
because of the relatively larger partisanship of developed countries,
INMARSAT’s privatization process actually kicked off slightly ahead of
INTELSAT’s.109
These technological developments especially concerned the shrinking
of technology so that mobile satellite communication devices became
options also outside of the specific shipping-safety context – and already
in 1994 the name of the IGO was changed to International Mobile
Satellite Organization to reflect this, even if the acronym INMARSAT
remained.110 Competition threatened in particular in these mobile hand-
held markets by looming new LEO constellations such as Iridium,
Globalstar and Teledesic, and the 1996 rejection by the signatories of
establishment of a new INMARSAT International Navigation Satellite

107
Art. 8(1), INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93.
108
Cf. Art. 8(2), (3), INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93. See further e.g.
Lyall, supra n. 60, 236; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, 230 ff., esp. 244–5;
Salin, supra n. 64, 123–4; Jakhu, supra n. 64, 95.
109
Cf. in general e.g. McCormick, supra n. 79, 1–34; specifically on
INMARSAT e.g. D. Sagar, INMARSAT: A New Beginning, 2-2 Outer Space Z
News (1999), 6–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 344–55; Sagar & McCormick,
supra n. 92, 41 ff.; Mechanick, supra n. 59, 177–81; also e.g. U.M. Bohlmann,
K.U. Schrogl & I. Zilioli, Report of the ‘Project 2001’ Working Group on
Telecommunication, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial
Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 219–20; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 37, 350 ff.; Salin, supra n. 64, 472–4; Ospina, supra n. 79, 345, at n. 7.
110
Cf. e.g. Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 37; Salin, supra n. 64, 121;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 344.

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Service to many was proof that the IGO was not the right vehicle for
competing in such a market environment.111
The first major step was branching off the high-end MSS applications
to a newly established private company ICO Global Communications in
1995, which also became headquartered in London and quickly devel-
oped plans for a satellite system in MEO for future hand-held satellite
communication services consisting of ten satellites.112 Though ICO’s
corporate life was to follow a rocky road, the company is still active
today.113
This step, however, could not ultimately avert the need to privatize the
remainder of INMARSAT as well, and following a complex privatization
process in 1998 a new construct was created – at least on paper, as fully-
fledged implementation would take a few more years.114
Under this new construct, a private operator Inmarsat (which remained
headquartered in London) took charge of all the satellite operations,
service provision and attendant market operations,115 whilst the IGO
INMARSAT transformed into a much smaller IGO under a new acronym
IMSO with the sole task of ensuring that the private operator would
continue to comply with certain public service obligations as enshrined in
the Public Services Agreement (PSA).116
The most important of those public service obligations concerned the
Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), a search-and-
rescue satellite service at the heart of the original IGO operations.

111
See e.g. Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 45–6; Salin, supra n. 64,
211–23; further Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 379 ff.
112
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendrell_Corporation, last accessed 25
February 2014; cf. further Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 45–6l; Salin, supra
n. 64, 121–2.
113
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendrell_Corporation, last accessed 25
February 2014.
114
Cf. Convention on the International Mobile Satellite Organization (here-
after IMSO Convention), London, done 3 September 1976, entered into force 16
July 1979, as amended 1998, amended version entered into force 31 July 2001;
ATS 2001 No. 11.
115
See Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 47 ff., esp. 58–61; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 37, 351–4; Salin, supra n. 64, 472–4.
116
The original version of the PSA reflected a later abandoned construction
of two private companies, but the contents presumably have remained the same;
cf. Public Services Agreement Between the International Mobile Satellite Organ-
ization And Inmarsat One Limited And Inmarsat Two Company (hereafter PSA),
London, done April 1999. Also in this case, the private operator basically paid
for its own watchdog; see Art. 10(1), IMSO Convention, supra n. 114; Art. 15,
PSA.

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Established as such by the IMO, under a 1988 amendment to the SOLAS

Convention the provision of GMDSS was to be provided by INMARSAT
as of 1992.117 As per the PSA, GMDSS services should henceforth be
maintained by the private operator, even if unprofitable, at the same
levels of quality and user cost.118 Inmarsat can only become discharged
from those GMDSS obligations in case of formal agreement thereto by
IMSO – for example if an alternative service provider could be found to
provide GMDSS within the same parameters.119

5.6 EUTELSAT

5.6.1 EUTELSAT Prior to Privatization

The origins of the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization

EUTELSAT120 as evolving from a set of ESA optional programmes on

117
See e.g.www.imso.org/GMDSS.asp, last accessed 31 December 2013;
with reference to the original 1974 SOLAS Convention, supra n. 43. See further
Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 37, 48–50, 62–3; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37,
344–5.
118
See Arts. 3(a), 8(b), IMSO Convention, supra n. 114; Art. 2.1, PSA,
supra n. 116.
119
Cf. Art. 18, PSA, supra n. 116. When the IMSO Convention, supra n.
114, was amended again in 2008, IMO took over the oversight function with
respect to GMDSS to the extent other service providers might offer this service;
cf. Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 64.
120
Established as per the Convention Establishing the European Telecommu-
nications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT Conven-
tion), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September 1985; UKTS
1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9069; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
C.II.1; and the Operating Agreement Relating to the European Telecommunica-
tions Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT Operating
Agreement), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September 1985;
UKTS 1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9154; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, C.II.2. See on EUTELSAT in general also C. Roisse, The Evolution
of EUTELSAT: A Challenge Successfully Met, in The Transformation of
Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J.
Mechanick) (2013), 120–8; K. Madders, A New Force at a New Frontier (2000),
506–7; Lyall, supra n. 60, 264–95; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 356–60; Jakhu,
supra n. 64, 95–6; Courteix, supra n. 64, 106–7; Smith, supra n. 64, 32;
Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, 213 ff.; Salin, supra n. 64, 365–72.

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satellite communications into a separate ‘daughter’ entity have already

been addressed.121
At this point, therefore, it suffices to reiterate that EUTELSAT was
established on the same footing as INTELSAT and INMARSAT, with a
two-level construction at the heart: EUTELSAT member states were
parties to the EUTELSAT Convention, the PTOs – again, one per
member state122 – signatories to the EUTELSAT Operating Agreement
and hence in primary control of, as well as directly benefiting from, the
actual provision of telecommunication services through the organization
and its satellite system.123 This two-level construction also included a
system for aligning ex post facto levels of usage to the investments
committed a priori.124
Headquartered in Paris, France, EUTELSAT had 18 satellites in
geostationary orbit by the time the same pressures that caused INTEL-
SAT and INMARSAT to privatize started to affect also the European
organization.125 The similarities in this respect between the three organ-
izations and the situations they found themselves in were considerably
heightened – and the resulting anti-competitive character of satellite
communications aggravated – by the fact that the same national entities
held the status of PTO under all three organizations, to the extent, of
course, that their states were members of the respective organizations.126

121
See supra, § 4.2.6.2.
122
See Arts. I(f), II(b), EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 120; also Pre-
amble, EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 120.
123
Cf. Arts. VI–XIII, EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 120; Arts. 2–9,
EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 120. See further e.g. Roisse, supra
n. 120, 123–7; Lyall, supra n. 60, 284–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 358–9.
124
Cf. esp. Arts. 8–10, EUTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 120; also
e.g. Roisse, supra n. 120, 125; Madders, supra n. 120, 506–7; Lyall, supra n. 60,
287–9.
125
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutelsat, last accessed 4 March 2014.
EUTELSAT as an IGO also had concluded the necessary agreements with its
host state France to guarantee its functional immunities and privileges as an IGO;
see Headquarters Agreement between the European Telecommunications Satellite
Organisation (EUTELSAT) and the Government of the French Republic, Paris,
done 15 May 2001, www.eutelsatigo.int/en/docs/HQ_agreement.pdf, last
accessed 13 April 2014; and Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the
European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT), Paris, done
13 February 1987, entered into force 17 August 1988; 1990 UKTS 4, Cm. 1106;
UK Misc. 3, Cmnd. 305 respectively.
126
Cf. Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37, 213 ff., esp. 217–8; F.G. von der
Dunk, Private Enterprise and Public Interest in the European ‘Spacescape’

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5.6.2 The Privatization of EUTELSAT

Apart from the general global pressures on telecommunications, includ-

ing satellite communications, becoming more responsive to market
demands and less to governmental and/or public legal interests putting
pressure on INTELSAT and INMARSAT, as evidenced in the legal
context by the developments in the context of the WTO and GATS,127
EUTELSAT felt such pressures also in a specific European context –
including a legal one.128
In this case, these pressures in a sense were partly – inadvertently –
triggered by EUTELSAT itself. Like INTELSAT and INMARSAT,
EUTELSAT had a requirement that member states would not allow for
satellite systems to arise within their jurisdiction if these could cause
‘any significant economic harm’ to EUTELSAT’s operations, read poten-
tially compete with it.129 Different from the two global organizations,
however, EUTELSAT in a landmark ‘case’ did make use of its com-
petence to issue guidelines to limit potential competition.
In 1985 SES (Société Européenne des Satellites) had been established
in Luxembourg,130 a member state of EUTELSAT, whereas British
Telecom, the UK PTO at the time, was a major investor in SES – and
also the United Kingdom was a EUTELSAT member state. Whilst

(1998), 189–90, esp. at n. 112; The Reform of International Satellite Organ-

isations 1995, 1996, Policy Roundtables, OCDE/GD(96)123, www.oecd.org/
regreform/sectors/1920271.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014.
127
See supra, §§ 5.4.2, 5.4.3; on the role of the WTO and GATS in satellite
communications in more detail infra, § 15.4. Also McCormick, supra n. 79,
1–34; Salin, supra n. 64, 69–85.
128
Cf. e.g. Roisse, supra n. 120, 127–32; C. Roisse, EUTELSAT Privat-
isation, 2–2 Outer Space Z News (1999), 4–5; Ungerer, supra n. 81, 13–6; more
in general McCormick, supra n. 60, 1–34.
129
Art. XVI(a), EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 120. In deference to the
earlier organizations INTELSAT and INMARSAT, additions to their space
segments were excluded from the requirements to consult with and accept any
‘guidelines’ provided by the EUTELSAT organs; whereas in deference to
national sovereignty and the requirement of EUTELSAT to not become involved
in military satellite communications (cf. Art. III(e), (f)) the same applied to space
segment equipment ‘solely for national security purposes’; Art. XVI(c). See
further e.g. Madders, supra n. 120, 512–3; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 37,
230 ff., esp. 246–7; Courteix, supra n. 64, 106; Jakhu, supra n. 64, 96; Lyall,
supra n. 60, 289–90.
130
See e.g. www.ses.com/4337028/history, last accessed 19 February 2014;
also e.g. Madders, supra n. 120, 528–32; cf. also 509; further Salin, supra n. 64,
374–5; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 378–9.

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starting up its business, including the preparation for its first Astra
satellite’s operations, in 1987 the EUTELSAT Assembly of Parties and
Board of Governors in the first instance concluded that SES indeed
presented ‘considerable economic prejudice’ to EUTELSAT operations,
as both the IGO and SES were focusing on the European broadcasting
markets.131
Consequently, the EUTELSAT Assembly ‘imposed’ a code of good
behaviour, applicable until 1998, under which essentially no more than
four EUTELSAT customers could be lured away by SES.132 As it was
only the rapidly expanding number of TV channels which allowed SES
to survive and thrive, this did provide a clear example of ‘anti-
competitive’ behaviour in an environment becoming increasingly more
commercialized and privatized. Thus, it provided a major push also for
the European Community to start asserting jurisdiction in this field,
where so far there had been none.133
The main result of that push was the 1994 Satellite Directive,134 which
inter alia required

Member States which are party to the international conventions setting up the
international organizations Intelsat, Inmarsat, Eutelsat and Intersputnik for the
purposes of satellite operations [to] communicate to the Commission, at its
request, the information they possess on any measure that could prejudice
compliance with the competition rules of the EC Treaty or affect the aims of
this Directive or of the Council Directives on telecommunications.135

Under the EU competition rules, EUTELSAT, even though an independ-

ent IGO, qualified as an ‘undertaking’ for the purpose of competition law,
and its actions vis-à-vis SES could thus be seen as ‘abuse of a dominant
position’.136 Also, the imposition of national monopolies of PTOs within

131
See Courteix, supra n. 64, 106; cf. also Salin, supra n. 64, 368, also 537;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 319.
132
Cf. Madders, supra n. 120, 529–30; Courteix, supra n. 64, 106.
133
See further supra, § 4.3.2.2.
134
Supra, n. 81.
135
Art. 3, Satellite Directive, supra n. 81. The mention of INTERSPUTNIK
referred to the fact that since reunification the reunited Germany had succeeded
to the membership of the former German Democratic Republic to the organ-
ization, which had originally been established as the communist counterpart to
INTELSAT; see further infra, § 5.7.1; also Ungerer, supra n. 81, 14–6; Madders,
supra n. 120, 512–4.
136
Cf. the current version of Art. 102, Treaty establishing the European
Community as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on
European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community (hereafter

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respective member states could be viewed as either such an abuse of a

dominant position by EUTELSAT, or more directly as market-sharing
arrangements amounting to ‘collusive conduct’ (cartelization) by the
relevant group of PTOs.137 Combined with the fundamental requirement
for EU member states to comply with the competition rules referenced
and the Satellite Directive as such, that Directive would ultimately leave
no other way for the EU member states among the EUTELSAT member
states to ensure proper privatization of the latter organization – or leave it
altogether.138
The result of the global and European pressures combined was that
EUTELSAT was also gradually privatized, more or less within the same
timeframe as INTELSAT and INMARSAT. First, the organization
announced that it would henceforth no longer apply the ‘considerable
economic prejudice’ clause.139 Second, EUTELSAT would allow for
‘multiple signatories’ per member state, so as to phase out the existing
national monopolies.140
In 1999 the most fundamental step of proper and formal privatization
was decided upon.141 As of the formal entry into force in 2002 of the

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), Lisbon, done 13 December

2007, entered into force 1 December 2009; OJ C 115/47 (2009); also e.g. R.
Barents, The Competition Policy of the EC, in The Law of the European Union
and the European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn., 2008),
810–16; A. Dashwood et al., Wyatt and Dashwood’s European Union Law (6th
edn., 2011), 765 ff.; L. Woods & P. Watson, Steiner & Woods EU Law (11th edn.,
2012), 661–78.
137
Cf. on ‘collusive conduct’ the current version of Art. 101, Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 136; also e.g. Barents, supra
n. 136, 795–810; Dashwood, supra n. 136, 729 ff.; Woods & Watson, supra
n. 136, 641–61.
138
It may be noted here that the (at the time) fifteen member states of the
European Union provided about 88% of the total investment by member state
PTOs in EUTELSAT, and thus had at least the politico-economic power to
actually ensure privatization – and could be held accountable consequently if
such privatization would not come about. By contrast, with regard to INTELSAT
and INMARSAT those percentages were 28 respectively 34; see Towards
Europe-wide systems and services – Green Paper on a common approach in the
field of satellite communications in the European Community, Communication
from the Commission, COM(90) 490 final, of 20 November 1990, 12–4, 138–9.
Cf. further e.g. (on EUTELSAT) Madders, supra n. 120, 512.
139
See e.g. Roisse, supra n. 120, 132–4; Madders, supra n. 120, 513.
140
See e.g. Roisse, supra n. 120, 133–4; Madders, supra n. 120, 514.
141
See Convention Establishing the European Telecommunications Satellite
Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT Convention as amended),

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300 Handbook of space law

amended EUTELSAT Convention, the satellite operations and related

business activities would all be conducted by a private operator, Eutelsat
S.A.142 A residual intergovernmental organization, EUTELSAT IGO, like
the private operator remaining established in Paris, would ensure over-
sight over the private operator in order ‘to ensure that the Basic
Principles set forth in this Article are observed by the Company Eutelsat
S.A.’.143
Due to the different constituency of the old EUTELSAT those Basic
Principles were not of the same level of political urgency as the LCO or
GMDSS in the context of respectively INTELSAT and INMARSAT, but
embodied the fears that a new private operator might still unduly benefit
from its pedigree as an IGO: EUTELSAT IGO was to ensure, as
appropriate, the maintenance by Eutelsat of public service and universal
service obligations, pan-European coverage by the satellite system,
non-discrimination and compliance with fair competition.144 EUTELSAT
IGO ‘shall also have the purpose of ensuring continuity regarding rights
and obligations under international law, in particular under the Radio
Regulations for the use of frequencies deriving from the operation of the
EUTELSAT space segment transferred to the Company Eutelsat S.A.’145
Heralding in the new age of privatized operations, November 2001
would see the first sale by an incumbent ex-PTO, now shareholder, of its
shares to a non-ex-PTO – Telecom Italia sold its 21 per cent to Lehman

Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September 1985, as amended 20
May 1999, amended version entered into force 28 November 2002; Cm. 4572;
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.II.1. Further on the privatization of
EUTELSAT e.g. Roisse, supra n. 128, Roisse, supra n. 120, 119–73; Mechanick,
supra n. 59, 175–221; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 356–64; Madders, supra
n. 120, 514.
142
Cf. Art. II(b), EUTELSAT Convention as amended, supra n. 141. See
further e.g. Roisse, supra n. 120, 146–61; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 360–4.
143
Art. III(a), EUTELSAT Convention as amended, supra n. 141. It should
be noted that EUTELSAT formally continued to be referred to as ‘EUTELSAT’
also after all its operational tasks had been privatized and transferred to Eutelsat;
however, to allow for easy distinction between the ‘old’ EUTELSAT prior to
privatization and the ‘new’ EUTELSAT post-privatization, in this book in the
case of the latter reference will be made henceforth to ‘EUTELSAT IGO’ as this
moniker is also used informally in many everyday transactions. See further
Roisse, supra n. 120, 162–72; also e.g. Roisse, supra n. 128, 4–5; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 37, 361–4; Ospina, supra n. 79, at n. 7.
144
See Art. III(a), (i)–(iv) respectively, EUTELSAT Convention as amended,
supra n. 141.
145
Art. III(b), EUTELSAT Convention as amended, supra n. 141.

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Brothers.146 Ultimately by 2005, with the first Initial Public Offering

requiring a minimum of 30 per cent of the new shares to be made
available to ‘newcomers’, the process of privatization may be said to
have been rounded off for all practical purposes.147
As proof of its commercial success, Eutelsat has since then branched
out, both in terms of product and service markets – tackling multi-media
and Internet as well as the terminals markets – and in terms of
geographical markets – in particular in Africa, partly because of the easy
access to that continent from the geostationary slots already occupied by
Eutelsat satellites.148 As of this moment, Eutelsat has 34 satellites in the
geostationary orbit, making it one of the world’s largest satellite opera-
tors.149

5.7 INTERSPUTNIK
5.7.1 The Evolution of the INTERSPUTNIK System

The International System and Organization of Space Communications

INTERSPUTNIK was established in 1971150 essentially as ‘the commu-
nist INTELSAT’ – the Soviet Union had viewed INTELSAT as too much
US-dominated to consider acceptance of the invitation to become a
member (which view and non-consideration then de facto were also
extended to its communist allies at the time).151 As a consequence,

146
See www.efinancialnews.com/story/2003-03-31/eutelsat-leaves-field-
open-for-buy-out-firms?ea9c8a2de0ee111045601ab04d673622, last accessed 4
March 2014.
147
See Roisse, supra n. 120, 150–1; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 360–1.
148
Cf. e.g. Roisse, supra n. 120, 158–61.
149
See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutelsat, last accessed 19 February
2014.
150
As per the Agreement on the Establishment of the ‘INTERSPUTNIK’
International System and Organization of Space Communications (hereafter
INTERSPUTNIK Agreement), Moscow, done 15 November 1971, entered into
force 12 July 1972; 862 UNTS 3; TIAS 859 (1973) No, 12343; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, C.VIII.1. On INTERSPUTNIK in general see e.g. Lyall,
supra n. 60, 296–303; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 364–8; Cheng, supra n. 62,
548–50; V.S. Veshchunov & V.D. Stovboun, Intersputnik International Organ-
ization of Space Communications: An Overview, 29 Journal of Space Law
(2003), 121–30; V.S. Veshchunov, Reorganization of INTERSPUTNIK, 2-2
Outer Space Z News (1999), 9–10; Smith, supra n. 64, 30–1.
151
See e.g. Lyall, supra n. 60, 296–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 364–6;
Smith, supra n. 64, 30.

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INTERSPUTNIK did not have a two-level structure like INTELSAT,

INMARSAT and EUTELSAT,152 although its system of financing did
refer to the more ‘free-market’-oriented system of aligning investment to
usage.153 INTERSPUTNIK was headquartered in Moscow, hence the
then-Soviet Union acted, for example, as its sponsoring state in the
context of the ITU regime.154 The organization largely focused on
satellite broadcasting, TV programming comprising some 80 per cent of
its activities, plus some FSS.155
As the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991, the global pressures
towards commercialization, privatization and market liberalization also
started to exert themselves to some extent vis-à-vis INTERSPUTNIK.
Thus, in the mid-1990s amendments to the INTERSPUTNIK Agreement
resulted in the realization of the INTERSPUTNIK Operating Agreement,
partisanship to which however – in contrast with the three other IGOs
discussed above – remained optional.156 Interestingly, from the start it
offered the possibility to designate more than one signatory per member
state.157 Currently, 19 out of the 25 member states have actually approved
the Operating Agreement.158

152
For its main structural aspects, see Arts. 2, 4, 6, 8–13, INTERSPUTNIK
Agreement, supra n. 150. For the liability arrangement, see Art. 10. See also
Lyall, supra n. 60, 302.
153
See Art. 15(1), INTERSPUTNIK Agreement, supra n. 150; the provision,
however, does not go into any detail as to how this should work in practice.
154
See on the ITU regime further infra, § 8.2.
155
See e.g. www.intersputnik.com/services/, last accessed 4 March 2014;
also slides 32, 33, www.intersputnik.com/userfiles/files/intersputnik_
presentation_2012.pdf, last accessed 13 April 2014; Courteix, supra n. 120, 104.
156
See Operating Agreement of the INTERSPUTNIK International Organ-
ization of Space Communications (hereafter INTERSPUTNIK Operating Agree-
ment), done 4 November 2002, entered into force 4 February 2003, as most
recently amended 15 November 2011; INTERSPUTNIK D.B./D.C./XXXIX/13-
OC/7-2011-1; 31 Journal of Space Law (2003), 162, www.intersputnik.com/
userfiles/files/protocol_annex_7_operating_agreement.pdf, last accessed 19
February 2014; also e.g. Veshchunov & Stovboun, supra n. 150, 121 ff.; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 37, 364–75.
157
See Art. 2(2), Protocol on the Amendments to the Agreement on the
Establishment of the ‘INTERSPUTNIK’ International System and Organization
of Space Communications (hereafter INTERSPUTNIK Protocol), done Novem-
ber 1996, entered into force 4 November 2002; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, C.VIII.2.1; 29 Journal of Space Law (2003), 131.
158
See www.intersputnik.com/about_organization/documents/, last accessed
19 February 2014. Apart from former republics of the Soviet Union and formerly
communist countries in Middle and Eastern Europe, membership comprised

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Following these amendments to the legal framework, a new Operations

Committee consisting of signatories is charged with major decision-making
on such issues as construction, procurement, lease and operation of space-
craft; further development of the satellite system; access by non-signatories
to the satellite system; and determination of the size of the share capital.159
That share capital is now more precisely determined to come from signator-
ies’ contributions, such capital to be used for R&D related to space segment
and terrestrial control systems including their design, construction, procure-
ment or leasing.160 Such contributions finally are provided for under a
complicated system of mandatory contributions, additional contributions
and voluntary contributions, with additional clauses regulating the other
financial aspects of the organization’s operations.161
The INTERSPUTNIK satellite system by now has been used by over
100 states and private telecommunication operators, and in 1997 even
formed a joint venture with Lockheed Martin (Lockheed Martin Inter-
sputnik, LMI), to combine the manufacturing and marketing capabilities
of the latter with the operating system involving a number of important
states and markets.162 As of today, it has 12 satellites with 41 trans-
ponders in operation.163

5.7.2 The Dispute on the Notifying Administration

Probably the most interesting international legal dispute regarding an

intergovernmental organization involved in satellite communications con-
cerned the dispute over the ‘Notifying Administration’ of INTERSPUT-
NIK. Shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union, in 1993 Belarus had

Afghanistan, Cuba, Germany (as successor state to the former German Democratic
Republic), India, Laos, Mongolia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, Vietnam and
Yemen.
159
Cf. Arts. 8, 10, INTERSPUTNIK Protocol, supra n. 157, amending Arts.
11, 12, INTERSPUTNIK Agreement, supra n. 150.
160
Cf. Art. 13, INTERSPUTNIK Protocol, supra n. 157, amending Art. 15,
INTERSPUTNIK Agreement, supra n. 150.
161
Cf. Arts. 4, 5, also Arts. 6, 7, INTERSPUTNIK Operating Agreement,
supra n. 156. Art. 9 now provides the main liability clause, e.g. limiting
signatories’ liabilities to their shares in the share capital except if third-party
liability claims are at issue; Art. 9(3) & (4).
162
Cf. further e.g. www.un.org/events/unispace3/speeches/20sput.htm, last
accessed 26 February 2014; Veshchunov & Stovboun, supra n. 150, 128;
Veshchunov, supra n. 150, 10; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 375.
163
See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersputnik, last accessed 19 Febru-
ary 2014.

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304 Handbook of space law

taken over from Russia this role as Notifying Administration responsible

in particular for requesting coordination of orbital slots and frequencies
on behalf of the organization within the ITU context.164
Presumably in that capacity, Belarus had requested allotment and
assignment of three satellite frequencies and the complementary positions
at 75° E. While Belarus claimed that the allotment achieved under the
ITU regime was a national allotment, and hence allowed the state to treat
this as a national assignment, INTERSPUTNIK organs by contrast
contended that the requests for coordination had been made on behalf of
the organization.165
As the INTERSPUTNIK governing bodies consequently tried to undo
the Notifying Administration status of Belarus to solve the quagmire, in
2009 Belarus informed the Radiocommunication Bureau of the ITU that
it would (only) continue acting as Notifying Administration for those
three satellites, whilst Russia informed the same bureau that it would take
over that role for all satellites and that all other INTERSPUTNIK
member states also viewed the actions of Belarus as inappropriate and
not in accordance with its role as Notifying Administration for the
IGO.166
Unfortunately, under ITU practice honouring the sovereignty of its
member states as well as the principle of non-interference with entities
established by those, a Notifying Administration can only be replaced by
simultaneous notification of both the old and the new Notifying Admin-
istration.167 However, the Radiocommunication Bureau received only the
relevant Russian request; Belarus still claimed it enjoyed Notifying
Administration status for the three satellites at issue and requested
recognition of an exclusive national right to one, with suspension of the
use of the assignments of the other two until the dispute was solved.168
Trying to solve the regulatory vacuum, ITU authorities started looking
into a 2006 precedent, where Venezuela as the Notifying Administration

164
See V.S. Veshchunov & E. Zaytseva, New Legal Dimensions of the
Orbital Frequency Management: Conflict of Interests Between a Group of
Administrations and Its Notifying Administration, in Proceedings of the Inter-
national Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 404–8. For the ITU regime, see
further infra, § 8.2.
165
See Veshchunov & Zaytseva, supra n. 164, 405.
166
Ibid., 405–6.
167
Ibid., 406.
168
Ibid., 405.

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on behalf of ASETA169 was to be replaced by Colombia.170 Originally, no

formal confirmation had been received by the ITU from Venezuela, but
that omission was corrected soon, so that the precedent did not provide
any proper guidance on how to handle the INTERSPUTNIK case.
In 2011 finally, the ITU Radio Regulations Board, concluding that
under the present Rules of Procedure the refusal of a Notifying Admin-
istration to relinquish its status was an internal affair, requested amend-
ment of those Rules. As a result, a new rule was instituted, which
provided that where an intergovernmental satellite communication organ-
ization wishes to designate a new Notifying Administration vis-à-vis the
ITU for its satellite networks, the Radiocommunication Bureau shall
effect corresponding modifications upon receipt of due written notifica-
tion to that effect by a legal representative of the IGO under its own
constitutive act, such notification to include evidence of agreement from
a newly named Administration to act as Notifying Administration on
behalf of the IGO.171
Following these amendments, in July 2011 Belarus was formally
replaced by Russia as Notifying Administration for all INTERSPUTNIK
allotments, thereby solving this particular issue. In the process, however,
it had become clear that it could under certain circumstances become not
only necessary but also legally justified for one intergovernmental
organization (the ITU) to de facto interfere with the internal affairs of
another (INTERSPUTNIK) to the extent the respective sovereign mem-
ber states of the latter found themselves deadlocked within their own
IGO-internal dispute.

5.8 ARABSAT
The last intergovernmental organization offering satellite communica-
tions capacity to its member states is the Arab Corporation for Space
Communications ARABSAT, established in 1976 by the Arab League.172

169
Asociación de Empresas de Telecomunicaciones de la Comunidad Andina
(ASETA); see www.aseta.org, last accessed 19 February 2014.
170
See Veshchunov & Zaytseva, supra n. 164, 406–7.
171
Ibid., 407–8.
172
As per the Agreement of the Arab Corporation for Space Communica-
tions (ARABSAT) (hereafter ARABSAT Agreement), Cairo, done 14 April 1976,
entered into force 15 July 1976; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.VII.1;
44 Telecommunications Journal (IX/1977), 422. On ARABSAT in general see
e.g. Lyall, supra n. 60, 303–8; A. Ziadat, Arabsat: Regional Development in

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306 Handbook of space law

Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia acts as Notifying Administration

in the context of the ITU.173
ARABSAT consists of three organs: the General Body or Assembly,
including the five largest shareholders as permanent members plus
another four on a rotational basis, the Board of Directors as main
executive organ and a General Manager ensuring actual implementation
of the Board’s decisions.174
The ARABSAT Agreement does not refer to liability issues, which
presumably means that as for liability disputes between member states
and/or the organization, the general dispute settlement clause175 would be
seized upon using legal principles generally applicable in the region,
whereas third states suffering damage compensable under the Liability
Convention might address any particular ARABSAT member state
as having at least (co-)procured the launch of a relevant satellite.176
ARABSAT launched its first satellite in 1985, and presently has five
operational satellites.177 Its largest contributors currently are Saudi Arabia
with 36.7 per cent, Kuwait with 14.6 per cent, Libya with 11.3 per cent,
Qatar with 9.8 per cent and the United Arab Emirates with 4.7 per cent of
the share capital.178

Satellite Communications: Lessons from the Arabsat Venture, 37 Zeitschrift für

Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1988), 35–45; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 375–7;
Lyall, supra n. 60, 303–9; Smith, supra n. 64, 32–3; also http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Arab_Satellite_Communications_Organization, last accessed 24 February
2014.
173
See www.itu.int/online/mm/scripts/org_br_admin.list?_ctryid=18&_sortby
=2&_languageid=1, last accessed 24 February 2014.
174
See Arts. 9–15, ARABSAT Agreement, supra n. 172; also Ziadat, supra
n. 172, 38–9; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 376–7; Lyall, supra n. 60, 305–7.
175
This concerns Art. 19, ARABSAT Agreement, supra n. 172. Also Art. 17
on withdrawal only refers in general terms to responsibility of the withdrawing
member state for ‘all of the obligations which were contracted before the
discontinuance of … membership’.
176
Cf. Art. I(c)(i), Liability Convention, supra n. 45. It may be noted that at
least some of the major shareholding countries of ARABSAT are parties to the
Convention, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Moreover, as there is no launch facility in the Arab world as of yet, launches
would take place from elsewhere, qualifying other states as relevant ‘launching
States’ at the very least on account of their territory being so used.
177
See www.itu.int/online/mm/scripts/org_br_admin.list?_ctryid=18&_sortby
=2&_languageid=1, last accessed 24 February 2014.
178
See www.itu.int/online/mm/scripts/org_br_admin.list?_ctryid=18&_sortby
=2&_languageid=1, last accessed 24 February 2014; cf. Arts. 5–8, ARABSAT
Agreement, supra n. 172, on the financial structure of the organization.

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Whilst its 21 member states all come from the Arab world broadly
speaking – North Africa from Morocco to Somalia and the Comoros, as
well as the Arab sub-continent including Palestine – four states have
since obtained the status of observers: Brazil, Eritrea, India and Ven-
ezuela, whereas in total over 100 states are covered by the broadcasts that
form ARABSAT’s main type of satellite activities.

5.9 IGO INVOLVEMENT IN SPACE LAW: A LEGAL

ASSESSMENT

5.9.1 IGO Law and the Sources of International (Space) Law

Revisited

International space law being generally perceived as a specific branch of

public international law,179 as discussed, the famous clause of the Statute
of the International Court of Justice does not specifically refer to
intergovernmental organizations or law developed in their context.180
Among the sources that are referenced, treaty law and customary law are
the two primary sources most relevant here.
Regulations and decisions of all sorts enunciated within the framework
of IGOs could be, and indeed often are, considered part of treaty law as
being based on the constitutive treaties establishing the IGOs and their
competences, but their effects largely remain within their limited realm of
application, usually confined to the internal operation of the IGO
itself.181 More importantly, therefore, the question now arises to what
extent the roles and activities of these IGOs have, or may have, a special
impact on customary international space law, in view of the special role
of the operational intergovernmental organizations in outer space and
space activities.182 Customary international law is generally perceived to

179
See further supra, § 2.1.1.
180
Art. 38(1)(b), Statute of the International Court of Justice, supra n. 6;
further supra, § 5.2.1.
181
See again supra, § 5.2.1.
182
International cooperation more generally is of course a principal aim of
space activities and space law; cf. Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18;
whereas Arts. VI and XIII, Outer Space Treaty, already point to a major role of
such cooperation institutionalized by way of IGOs; see further also supra,
§ 2.3.1.1.

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308 Handbook of space law

be constituted of a usus, a general ‘state practice’, plus the attendant

opinio juris sive necessitatis, meaning that practice is being accepted as
law.183
Customary international law by that token, however, turns out to be a
very complex phenomenon. State practice and opinio juris often repre-
sent two sides of the same coin, giving rise to considerable discussion on
the proper distinction between the two.184 This is particularly true in the
realm of outer space, where (because of cost, risk and the necessary
technological know-how) ‘physical’ activities are relatively rare, inher-
ently giving rise to heightened importance of ‘paper’ activities in
determining ‘state practice’ such as national law or other documents –
which inherently at the same time also convey the requisite opinio juris.
Moreover, an inherent paradox arises: ‘States must act in a certain way
… because they believe they are legally obligated to do so [without a
treaty formally and clearly providing evidence thereof]. However, before
a legal norm comes into existence already, such a belief would be
mistaken.’185 Furthermore, since no practice or belief is normally labelled
as such in any formal sense by these states, it is interpretation in
hindsight of that practice-plus-belief – by academic experts or (in specific
dispute contexts) state advocates, arbitrators or judges including those of
the ICJ – as, somehow, rising to the level of a rule of customary
international law.186
Finally, customary international law represents a process of moving
along a gliding scale from a clear and undisputed absence of any state
practice and/or opinio juris to a presumably undisputed full-fledged

183
See e.g. the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (Federal Republic of
Germany v. Denmark, and Federal Republic of Germany v. Netherlands),
International Court of Justice, 20 February 1969, I.C.J. Rep. 1969, at para. 77;
also H. Thirlway, The Sources of International Law, in International Law (Ed.
M.D. Evans) (2003), 125; Crawford, supra n. 1, 23; M.N. Shaw, International
Law (4th edn., 1997), 59.
184
See e.g. Thirlway, supra n. 183, 125–6; Shaw, supra n. 183, esp. 59; cf.
also Crawford, supra n. 1, 23.
185
B.D. Lepard, The Legal Status of the 1996 Declaration on Space Benefits:
Are Its Norms Now Part of Customary International Law? in Soft Law in Outer
Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 292, as argued in more detail in B.D. Lepard,
Customary International Law: A New Theory with Practical Applications (2010),
esp. 22–3.
186
Cf. also Crawford, supra n. 1, 23, referring to ‘the conclusion drawn by
someone (a legal adviser, a court, a government, a commentator)’.

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presence of relevant state practice and/or opinio juris.187 It has thus been
appropriately likened

to the gradual formation of a road across vacant land. After an initial

uncertainty as to direction, the majority of users begin to follow the same line
which becomes a single path. Not long elapses before that path is transformed
into a road accepted as the only regular way, even though it is not possible to
state at which precise moment this latter change occurs.188

In short, customary international law, in contrast to treaty law, most

fundamentally remains a fluid, imprecise and uncertain phenomenon: it
cannot be literally seen or touched, and it does not enjoy a binary
character of being law in clearly delineated contexts whilst not being law
in others – by contrast, which states are subject to a treaty and the
beginning and end of treaty obligations are usually determined quite
precisely at least at a primary level.189
It is in this light that the question whether the unprecedented role of
intergovernmental organizations in outer space in this context would or
could translate an IGO’s practice somehow into ‘joint state practice’ of its
member states possibly giving rise to customary international law has to
be answered.

5.9.2 Space IGOs and Customary International Space Law

The point of departure for properly assessing the possible special role of
space IGOs in the formation of customary international space law is that
these organizations are ultimately still controlled by the totality of their
member state constituencies by way of the respective constitutive docu-
ments. Role and competences of the major organs of the organizations to
take action are thus defined in deference to the sovereign member states;
ultimately little IGO activity of external legal relevance can be deployed

187
See further on this argument F.G. von der Dunk, Contradictio in terminis
or Realpolitik?, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 52–3.
188
C. de Visscher, Theory and Reality in Public International Law (3rd edn.,
1960), 149, as quoted in Shaw, supra n. 183, 62.
189
See on this in general the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
Vienna, done 23 May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS
331; UKTS 1980 No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969);
spelling out the precise rules on application of treaty law in these and many other
such contexts.

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310 Handbook of space law

without their consent. From that perspective, it could easily be under-

stood how an IGO’s practices could come to be viewed as ‘joint state
practice’ of its member states.
Whilst it is not possible to provide within the present context an
exhaustive analysis of the extent to which IGO practice might thus result
in something akin to ‘joint state practice’ for the purpose of formation of
rules of customary international law, a few leading examples will be
discussed which should allow at least for a preliminary assessment of
such possible scenarios.

5.9.2.1 The European Space Agency as possible ‘generator’ of ‘joint

state practice’?
As regards ESA, the main operational space IGO in Europe, the Council
is its highest organ, comprised of all member states’ representatives and
tasked inter alia with approving programmes, activities, budgets and
policies, by simple majority unless otherwise indicated.190 Does this
mean that all decisions of the Council and the activities following from it
could be regarded as ‘joint state practice’ and/or expressions of a ‘joint
opinio juris’ of the member states? Or only those where unanimity was
required?191 Whilst there could be arguments made both ways, the
detailed nature of those decisions and activities makes it unlikely that
they could be seen as true potential candidates for a rule of customary
law: they would normally be much too idiosyncratic, dealing with
specific and unique circumstances each and every time, to give rise to
any consistent ‘state practice’ with a commensurate consistent belief of
the practice being required ipso facto by law.
The same applies to the unique but intricate system whereby ESA
combines mandatory and optional programmes within one international
intergovernmental institution, the former being focused on science and
requiring all states by definition to contribute according to a pre-set scale,
the latter being focused on more operational and application-oriented
space activities allowing for an à la carte-approach for member states
both in terms of participation per se and level of financial contribution

190
See Art. XI(5), (6) (esp. sub (d)), Convention for the Establishment of a
European Space Agency (hereafter ESA Convention), Paris, done 30 May 1975,
entered into force 30 October 1980; UKTS 1981 No. 30; Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM
864 (1975); Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.I.1; see further supra,
§§ 4.2.2, 4.2.3. See further on ESA esp. supra, §§ 4.2.2–4.2.5.
191
See e.g. on this issue T. Treves, Customary International Law, in The Max
Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. II
(2012), 946–8.

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once having decided to participate.192 Whilst the result is a uniquely

flexible framework, has worked well, and has meanwhile been copied by
EUMETSAT193 – and for such reasons is viewed as possibly the most
likely trait of the Agency which prospective international space
cooperation organizations in other parts of the world would like to copy,
it still would not mean that this dual system of mandatory and optional
activities can be deemed customary international law.
The member states of ESA comply with it because of the ESA
Convention, the detailed mechanisms provided by it and the competences
for ESA organs to develop programmes as spelled out by it – not because
of some inherent belief that every scientific activity in outer space should
be conducted by or through the IGO, and should be financed by all its
member states according to a pre-determined scale of contributions. If in
Africa, Latin America or Southeast Asia international operational space
organizations were indeed to arise, nothing would keep them from
ultimately deciding upon a rather different system of organizing such
organizations’ activities, much as they may currently admire ESA’s
example.
Only if in some further future those other areas of the world were to
start to ‘copy’ this ESA approach semi-automatically, assuming ‘science’
to constitute as a matter of law a public activity requiring standard
defrayal of costs whereas application programmes should be treated on a
more commercial, ‘pay-as-you-think-you’ll-benefit’ basis, would this
conclusion change. It still would be a stretch even then, however, to argue
that this approach would also be binding upon a particular region bent
upon following a different approach.

5.9.2.2 The satellite communication IGOs as possible ‘generators’

of ‘joint state practice’?
The same analysis essentially holds true for the generally identical
constructions applicable to INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT in
their pre-privatized stages, where the financial contributions by the
respective member states to the costs of building, maintaining and

192
Cf. Arts. V(1)(a) & (b), XI(5)(a), (b) & (c), XIII, ESA Convention, supra
n. 190; further supra, § 4.2.3.
193
Cf. e.g. Madders, supra n. 120, 189–95; G. Lafferranderie, European
Space Agency (2005), 74–89. On EUMETSAT see further e.g. F.G. von der
Dunk, European Satellite Earth Observation: Law, Regulations, Policies, Pro-
jects, and Programmes, 42 Creighton Law Review (2009), 403–6.

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312 Handbook of space law

operating a satellite infrastructure through their PTOs would be de facto

adjusted for their actual proportion of use made of the infrastructure.194
This approach was considered hugely successful in many respects and
a noteworthy example, INMARSAT following it because of INTELSAT’s
success and then EUTELSAT following upon both in turn. It was later
on by and large also adopted by INTERSPUTNIK195 as well as
ARABSAT196 – but meanwhile of course that financial approach was
discarded as part of the privatization processes for the other three
organizations. More than presenting a possible candidate for a rule of
customary international law, matching a priori investment a posteriori
with actual usage was simply a matter of common (business) sense.
Also, in the aforementioned context of ESA, not a satellite IGO yet
also investing billions in operational space activities annually, another,
even more complicated financial approach was developed: that of geo-
graphical distribution or ‘fair return’. Basically, under this approach
member states were supposed to by and large see their contributions to
specific ESA programmes ‘returned’ to their domestic space industry in
the form of ESA contracts.197 Though for some time legally under
challenge, in particular from the perspective of the European Union
where this system could be viewed as anti-competitive and therefore
(possibly) in violation of the EU’s competition regime,198 it persists until
today as a major element of the ESA structure.199

194
See respectively Art. V, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 64; Arts. 3(c),
4, 6–8, INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 64; Arts. 5(1), (2), 19,
INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93; (esp.) Arts. III, V, VI(1), INMARSAT
Operating Agreement, supra n. 93; Annex to the INMARSAT Operating Agree-
ment; Art. V, EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 120; Arts. 4, 6, 7, EUTELSAT
Operating Agreement, supra n. 120. Further supra, respectively §§ 5.4.1, 5.5.1
and 5.6.1.
195
Cf. Art. 15(1), INTERSPUTNIK Agreement, supra n. 150; also supra,
§ 5.7.1.
196
Cf. Art. 6(2), ARABSAT Agreement, supra n. 172; also supra, § 5.8.
197
See supra, § 4.2.4; also in general e.g. S. Hobe, M. Hofmannová & J.
Wouters (Eds.), A Coherent European Procurement Law and Policy for the Space
Sector (2011), 70–8; B. Schmidt-Tedd, The Geographical Return Principle and
its Future within the European Space Policy, in Contracting for Space (Eds. L.J.
Smith & I. Baumann) (2011), 87–9; Lafferranderie, supra n. 193, 108–15;
Madders, supra n. 120, 384–8.
198
It would principally fall within the remit of the prohibition on state aid;
see Art. 107(1), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 136.
Cf. further e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, ESA and EC: Two Captains on One
Spaceship?, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (1990), 427–9; F.G. von der Dunk, Perspectives for a Harmonised
Industrial Policy of ESA and the European Union, in ‘Project 2001 Plus’ –

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Ultimately, therefore, also these financing issues, problems and

approaches are too idiosyncratic and need to be far too detailed in order
to be acceptable and workable to even come near to a consistent (joint)
state practice and attendant opinio juris. Neither the ‘investment-equals-
usage-level’ approach of the satellite IGOs nor the ‘investment-equals-
contract-volume’ approach of ESA can probably be deemed to oblige the
respective member states beyond the very specific and detailed regu-
lations of the constitutive documents and other internal regulations – let
alone have any customary international legal effect outside of these
respective member state constituencies.

5.9.2.3 The exception: The case of ‘exclusively peaceful purposes’

The main exception to the general conclusion that IGO practice can only
seldom be seen as ‘joint state practice cum opinio juris’ of the IGO’s
member states to such an extent as to give rise to a rule of customary
international space law applicable also outside of the IGO’s context may
well lie in further clarifying general concepts of law found in relevant
treaties, of which the term ‘peaceful purposes’ in turn may well represent
the main successful example.200
As regards space law, this term was most forcefully introduced by the
Outer Space Treaty, which provides: ‘The Moon and other celestial
bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for
peaceful purposes.’201 The meaning of ‘exclusively for peaceful pur-
poses’ is not further spelled out, other than that:

The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing

of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial
bodies shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel for scientific research
or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any

Global and European Challenges for Air and Space Law at the Edge of the 21st
Century (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2006), 181–6. Cf.
also supra, § 4.4.5.
199
Actually, EU law itself also allowed for exceptions to application of the
competition regime, as long as agreed to at the EU level itself; cf. esp. Art.
107(3), Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n. 136.
200
By contrast, e.g. when it comes to the term ‘national activities in outer
space’ of Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18, as requiring authorization and
continuing supervision, no consistency in the state practice of the 15 or so states
currently having established national space laws can be discerned; see on this
e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Towards ‘Flags of Convenience’ in Space?, in Proceed-
ings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 822–6.
201
Art. IV, 2nd para., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18 (emphasis added).

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314 Handbook of space law

equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and

other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.202

Originally, the intentional vagueness of the clause allowed both the

United States (‘military use, as long as defensive in nature, is serving
peaceful purposes, hence allowed’) and the Soviet Union (‘any military
use is by definition not peaceful, so not allowed with the exception of the
few specific cases mentioned in the clause itself’) to uphold their
respective interpretation – and hence to ratify the treaty in the first
place.203 For that very reason, any effort – either in hard-letter law or by
way of customary acquiescence – at further specification of this state-
ment would have been doomed to fail.
The phrase, however, in various versions, then found its way into a
host of other space-related treaties. The Outer Space Treaty as the
starting point had already added that states were to conduct space
activities ‘in the interest of maintaining international peace and secur-
ity’,204 which echoed the UN Charter’s basis purpose to ‘maintain
international peace and security’.205 The other UN space treaties in turn
echoed these sentiments, ‘[b]elieving’ for example that the establishment
of an international liability regime ‘will contribute to the strengthening of
international cooperation in the field of the exploration and use of outer
space for peaceful purposes’.206
So far, however, these clauses did not add the adverb ‘exclusively’.
Most notably, then, an almost similar clause, ‘for exclusively peaceful
purposes’, was inserted in the ESA Convention, in order to principally
exclude any potential involvement of ESA in security-related space
activities, apparently closer to the Soviet than to the US point of view,
although it did exclude military activities not so much from European
states’ roster of space activities as from ESA’s roster.207
As time wore on, however, it became clear that the legal attitude to
permissible military use of outer space was shifting. In spite of its
seeming assertion to the contrary, the Soviet Union also used space
infrastructure for military purposes such as reconnaissance and satellite
navigation – in 1996 its successor-state Russia would offer open access
to certain positioning, timing and navigation signals of its GLONASS

202
Art. IV, 2nd para., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18.
203
Cf. further also infra, § 6.3.1, also supra, § 1.4.
204
Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18.
205
Art. 1(1), UN Charter, supra n. 17.
206
Preamble, 5th para., Liability Convention, supra n. 45 (emphasis added).
207
Art. II, ESA Convention, supra n. 190.

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International organizations in space law 315

satellite navigation system, like GPS in the United States owned,

operated and controlled by the military.208
Also, the general international legal attitude to the use of force was
changing. The UN Charter had principally recognized only two cat-
egories where the use of armed force was allowed, that of self-defence (if
applicable, including collective self-defence)209 and that of mandated use
of force against states officially labelled aggressors by the UN Security
Council.210 Outside of the UN Charter, a broader customary right of
self-defence or a more general right to use force as a proportional reprisal
had often been claimed – but equally often been disputed or at least been
eyed suspiciously as giving rise too easily to abuse.211
ESA provided one particular regional example thereof, as it gradually
became involved in GMES/Copernicus, which was originally billed as
‘Global Monitoring for Environmental Security’ but then surreptitiously
came to stand for ‘Global Monitoring for Environment and Security’,
broadening the concept of security to civil and even, arguably – and
notably without major resistance from the individual member states –
military security issues.212
Such changes in attitude, however, were reflected most visibly and
uniquely in the worldwide INMARSAT and Inmarsat context.213 The
former, at the time still operating as a public international consortium of
member states, had gained worldwide exposure when in situ reporters on
the Gulf War in early 1991 used INMARSAT satellite connections. More
to the point, pictures appeared in the press showing US forces using
INMARSAT terminals during military operations. INMARSAT’s Direc-
tor General raised concerns with the US government about this, and
called attention to the opinion by the organization’s legal adviser that had
been released four years earlier.

208
See e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 389 ff.; also N. Frischauf, Satellite
Navigation, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A.
Soucek) (2011), 124–9. Also further infra, esp. § 10.2.2..2.
209
See Art. 51, UN Charter, supra n. 17.
210
See Arts. 42 ff., UN Charter, supra n. 17.
211
See e.g. Cassese, supra n. 1, 305–13; Crawford, supra n. 1, 747–57,
768–74; Wallace, supra n. 1, 252–4; Malanczuk, supra n. 1, 311–8.
212
See on this in more detail F.G. von der Dunk, Europe and Security Issues
in Space: The Institutional Setting, 4 Space and Defense (2010), 75–8, 89 ff.,
esp. 92.
213
See in general Sagar & McCormick, supra n. 92, 37, 64–6; W. von
Noorden, Inmarsat Use by Armed Forces: a Question of Treaty Interpretation, 23
Journal of Space Law (1995), 1–17.

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316 Handbook of space law

That opinion had been drafted in response to concerns that were

privately raised by some members of the organization regarding extensive
use of INMARSAT shipboard terminals by the United Kingdom during
the Falklands War of 1982, addressing the relevant Article 3 (the
‘Purpose’) of the INMARSAT Convention:

(1) The purpose of the Organization is to make provision for the space
segment necessary for improving maritime communications and, as prac-
ticable, aeronautical communications, thereby assisting in improving commu-
nications for distress and safety of life, communications for air traffic
services, the efficiency and management of ships and aircraft, maritime and
aeronautical public correspondence services and radio determination capabil-
ities; …

(3) The Organization shall act exclusively for peaceful purposes.214

Interpreting the clause in a strict sense, the conclusion of the opinion had
been that use of INMARSAT shipboard terminals on ships engaged in
armed conflict, even in situations where they would be acting in
self-defence, would not be considered a use for peaceful purposes and
hence in violation of the INMARSAT Convention.
When INMARSAT was privatized,215 Article 3 of the INMARSAT
Convention was not changed in substance, only it was this time up to
IMSO to ensure that the company Inmarsat would be ‘acting exclusively
for peaceful purposes’.216 Also the private operator then became involved
in a discussion on the proper meaning and effect of this phrase. Although
the question of the legality of the use of Inmarsat’s capabilities was
indeed raised during the US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq,
it seems to have bothered Inmarsat’s management less than it did in
previous years. For example, Inmarsat openly announced:

Global security events in recent years have had a positive effect on the
group’s revenues, particularly in the land sector. In 2003, despite decreased
demand for our services from Afghanistan and neighbouring countries,
revenues were higher than in the previous year because of demand fed by the
conflict in Iraq.217

214
Art. 3, INMARSAT Convention, supra n. 93 (emphasis added).
215
See further esp. supra, § 5.5.2.
216
Art. 3(c), IMSO Convention, supra n. 114.
217
Inmarsat Group Limited, Annual Review 2003, 17, www.inmarsat.com/
wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Inmarsat_Annual_Review_2003.pdf, last accessed 7
February 2014.

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International organizations in space law 317

This happened, moreover, alongside plans being announced by Inmarsat

to construct a Ka-band broadband system that will be substantially faster
than its Broadband Global Area Network service in response primarily to
the requirements of the US government – to meet military needs such as
unmanned aerial vehicle downloads.218 All this took place without any
visible corrective action on the part of IMSO officials: clearly, then, these
developments corroborated and indeed enhanced the increasing global
acceptance of a broader interpretation of which space activities would be
permissible under the concept of ‘(exclusively for) peaceful purposes’.219
In other words: in the context of the gradually broadening acceptance of
peaceful purposes as encompassing anything except aggressive military
uses, IGOs like ESA and in particular INMARSAT/IMSO played a
commensurate catalysing role in shaping such an arising customary
international law interpretation.

5.10 SATELLITE COMMUNICATION IGO

PRIVATIZATION: A LEGAL ASSESSMENT
The privatization of three of the major space IGOs, INTELSAT,
INMARSAT and EUTELSAT, represented a major milestone in the
development of international space activities and hence also space law,
even if its direct effect on treaty and customary law was seen to remain
of a rather circumscribed character. It may be noted that in the early era
of space activities and space law the Soviet Union’s focus on a rather
absolute theory of state sovereignty was based on a suspicion that both
IGOs and private companies were but barely veiled vehicles to further
politico-economic interests of the capitalist world, notably led by the
United States.220 A final aspect of these privatizations warranting atten-
tion, therefore, concerns the legal consequences of moving from an IGO
status to that of a private operator.

218
See Defense Systems, 20 August 2010, www.defensesystems.com/
Articles/2010/08/20/Inmarsat-addresses-growing-military-broadband-needs.aspx,
last accessed 7 February 2014.
219
Another interesting example would concern the role of the European
Union with respect to security-related (space) activity; see on this e.g. von der
Dunk, supra n. 212, 78 ff.
220
See also supra, §§ 1.1, 2.2.2.3.

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318 Handbook of space law

5.10.1 The Original Satellite Communication IGOs and Their

International Space Law Status

As addressed before, by way of Articles VI and XIII, the Outer Space

Treaty contains two relevant clauses specifying that its regime applies to
international intergovernmental organizations, meaning that international
NGOs are not covered by those clauses.221 Also the other main space
treaties contain clauses specifically offering IGOs an independent, albeit
effectively secondary, legal status where they qualify as ‘launching
authorities’222 or ‘launching States’223 of space objects, or would become
active on the moon or other celestial bodies.224 All such space treaty
clauses deal with specific consequences following from the fact that
relevant activities are carried out with the crucial involvement of IGOs,
which are, however, viewed as mere platforms for individual states to
cooperate, rather than as separate entities.225
This conforms, of course, to the general public international law
concept of an IGO.226 Thus, in spite of their hybrid character (PTOs and

221
See e.g. Bohlmann & Süss, supra n. 2, 8.
222
See Art. 6, Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of
Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter
Rescue Agreement), London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered
into force 3 December 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS
1969 No. 56; Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968); also supra,
§ 2.3.2.2.
223
See respectively Arts. XXII in conjunction with I(c), Liability Conven-
tion, supra n. 45; Arts. VII in conjunction with I(a), Convention on Registration
of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Registration Convention), New
York, done 14 January 1975, entered into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS
15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5;
14 ILM 43 (1975); also supra, §§ 2.3.3.8, 2.3.4.3.
224
See Art. 16, Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon
and Other Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18
December 1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No.
14; 18 ILM 1434 (1979); also supra, § 2.3.5.1.
225
Cf. the phrasing of Arts. VI and XIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18;
also M. Gerhard, Article VI, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S.
Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 122–3; U.M. Bohlmann
& G. Süss, Article XIII, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe,
B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 216–20.
226
See e.g. Brownlie, supra n. 2, 675–99, esp. 687–9; Malanczuk, supra
n. 1, 92–3; Cassese, supra n. 1, 69–71; Wallace, supra n. 1, 68–9; Bohlmann &
Süss, supra n. 2, 8; further supra, § 5.1.

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private operators, such as Comsat or KDD, as signatories to the under-

lying operating agreements being in charge of the day-to-day running of
the telecommunication operations as well as providing for the financing
and the revenue-sharing mechanism), prior to their privatization INTEL-
SAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT were undoubtedly IGOs in the sense
of the aforementioned Articles VI and XIII of the Outer Space Treaty.
These satellite IGOs were all composed of member states which were
represented in the ultimate ruling body, and under whose control also the
members of the chief governing body, consisting of representatives of the
‘signatories’, were designated.227

5.10.2 The Transition from Operational IGOs to Supervisory IGOs

and Space Law

Whilst the privatization processes did fundamentally transfer all the

satellite and attendant ground infrastructure and market operations to the
newly created Intelsat, Inmarsat and Eutelsat companies, they did not
result in the complete elimination of IGO structures. INTELSAT as an
IGO was replaced by the International Telecommunication Satellite
Organization or ITSO,228 INMARSAT by the International Mobile Satel-
lite Organization or IMSO,229 and EUTELSAT by EUTELSAT IGO.230
ITSO, IMSO and EUTELSAT IGO are still composed of member
states as the ultimate bearers of competence to determine the legal
structure, role and personality of the organizations;231 and as such still
undoubtedly qualify as IGOs. These three residual organizations continue

227
For INTELSAT, cf. Arts. I(a), (b), (f), (g), II, VI, VII (of which § (a)
provides: ‘The Assembly of Parties shall be composed of all the Parties and shall
be the principal organ of INTELSAT.’), IX & X, INTELSAT Agreement, supra
n. 64. For INMARSAT, cf. Arts. 1(a), (b), (c), 2, 4, 9–15, INMARSAT
Convention, supra n. 93. For EUTELSAT, cf. Arts. I(a), (b), (e), (f), II, VII–XII,
EUTELSAT Convention, supra n. 120. Also see generally supra, §§ 5.4.1, 5.5.1
and 5.6.1.
228
See supra, § 5.4.2.
229
See supra, § 5.5.2.
230
See supra, § 5.6.2.
231
Cf. e.g. Arts. I(a) & (p), II, IX, XI, XIV–XVIII, ITSO Agreement, supra
n. 86; Arts. 1(a) & (c), 6(1), 8, 12, 14, 16–18, IMSO Convention, supra n. 114;
and Arts. I(a) & (d), II(a), IV, VII, XI, XIII–XIV, XVI–XVIII, EUTELSAT
Convention as amended, supra n. 141; respectively. Further e.g. Mechanick,
supra n. 59, 185–204; Ospina, supra n. 79, 338–9.

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320 Handbook of space law

to enjoy functional privileges and immunities, especially in their respect-

ive host states the United States, the United Kingdom and France.232
Thus, it is essentially the scope of tasks and competencies of these
IGOs which has now been greatly reduced when compared to their
predecessors. With a view to the application of the space treaties,
however, this does raise the question of whether these new IGOs are still
materially and directly impacted. For example, the Outer Space Treaty is
concerned with ‘activities in outer space’ and ‘activities in the use or
exploration of outer space’,233 and the Rescue Agreement and Liability
and Registration Conventions focus on entities actively involved in
launching space objects.234
From that perspective, ITSO’s main purpose is now simply ‘to
ensure, through the Public Services Agreement, that the Company
provides, on a commercial basis, international public telecommunications
services, in order to ensure performance of the Core Principles’.235
Article V of the ITSO Agreement further defines that purpose as
‘supervision’, imposing a general obligation that ‘ITSO shall take all
appropriate actions’ to that end. Similarly, IMSO is ‘to ensure that the
basic principles set forth in this Article shall be observed by the
Company’,236 and as for EUTELSAT IGO, ‘the primary purpose of

232
See Art. XIII(b) & (c), ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86; Art. 9(5) & (6),
IMSO Convention, supra n. 114; and Art. XII(b) & (c), EUTELSAT Convention
as amended, supra n. 141; respectively; also Headquarters Agreement between
the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT) and the
Government of the French Republic, supra n. 125; see Lyall & Larsen, supra n.
37, 362 incl. n. 157.
233
See e.g. Arts. VI, XIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18.
234
Cf. the concepts of ‘launching authority’ and ‘launching State’ found
throughout these treaties; further e.g. supra, §§ 2.3.2, 2.3.3.1 and 2.3.4.
235
Art. III(a), ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86 (emphasis added). These Core
Principles are further spelled out in Art. III(b). In addition, the functions of
ITSO’s main organ, the Assembly of Parties, in Art. IX(c) & (d), are essentially
focused on that supervisory role. So also e.g. Mechanick, supra n. 59, 185 ff.,
esp. 199–203; Ospina, supra n. 79, 338–42; further F. Lyall, The Protection of
the Public Interest in the Light of the Commercialisation and Privatisation of the
Providers of International Satellite Telecommunications, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2005), 442–4.
236
Art. 3, IMSO Convention, supra n. 114 (emphasis added). The phrase
‘the Company’ refers to Inmarsat. The remainder of Art. 3 on the substance of
these ‘basic principles’ as well as Art. 8 on the functions of the General
Assembly of IMSO, further spell out the key elements of such supervisory
function. See further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 235, 444–5; Mechanick, supra n. 59,
185–6.

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EUTELSAT is to ensure that the Basic Principles set forth in this Article
are observed by the Company Eutelsat S.A.’.237 These are all, clearly, not
‘activities in outer space’ in the sense of Article VI of the Outer Space
Treaty or ‘launching’ activities from the perspective of the Rescue
Agreement, Liability Convention and Moon Agreement.
By contrast, and as a consequence, in the case of ITSO ‘the
international telecommunications satellite organization’s space system is
transferred’ to Intelsat,238 in the case of IMSO it is Inmarsat which
will henceforth operate the satellite system,239 whereas in the case of
EUTELSAT IGO, ‘Eutelsat S.A. will be established to operate a satellite
system and to provide satellite services and for this purpose,
EUTELSAT’s assets and operational activities will be transferred to the
Company Eutelsat S.A.’.240

5.10.3 The Net Results of IGO Privatization in Terms of

International Space Law

With the privatization of the operations of the satellite IGOs remaining

under some form of supervision by residual IGOs the last question to be
addressed here then concerns the extent to which these transformations
have resulted in major changes to the application and applicability of
international space law, notably the four UN space treaties widely ratified
and the ITU regime, as another overarching regime continuing to be of
key relevance for the newly privatized operators and their inter-
governmental watchdogs.

237
Art. III(a), EUTELSAT Convention as amended, supra n. 141 (emphasis
added). The remainder of Art. III(a) spells out the details of those Basic
Principles. See further Art. IX for the functions of the Assembly of Parties in this
regard.
238
Art. I(d), ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86 (emphasis added). See further
Preamble, in particular its 5th para. Cf. also e.g. Ospina, supra n. 79, 339.
239
See Art. 1(b), IMSO Convention, supra n. 114. See further Preamble, in
particular its 6th para.; also e.g. Bohlmann, Schrogl and Zilioli, supra n. 109,
219; D. Sagar, Inmarsat Since Privatization, in Proceedings of the Project 2001
Workshop on Telecommunication (2000), 166.
240
Art. II(b)(i), EUTELSAT Convention as amended, supra n. 141 (emphasis
added). See further Preamble, in particular its 5th para. stating ‘the will to
transfer the operational activities and associated assets of EUTELSAT to a
limited liability company to be established under a national jurisdiction, such
company to operate on a sound economic and financial basis having regard to
accepted commercial principles’ as a major reason for privatization.

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5.10.3.1 The Outer Space Treaty

As regards the Outer Space Treaty, the essential boundary between its
application to satellite IGOs and to private companies respectively lies
with the requirements of authorization and continuing supervision under
Article VI and of consultation in cases of potentially hazardous activities
under Article IX as far as the latter is concerned, although this may be
more of a formal distinction.241
Presently, single-state responsibility of the state whose ‘national
activities in outer space’ are at issue242 applies to the privatized satellite
operators – in the case of Intelsat, the United States; Inmarsat, the United
Kingdom; and Eutelsat, France. This single-state responsibility arises
notwithstanding the continuing existence of ITSO, IMSO and
EUTELSAT IGO respectively and their exercise of legally entrenched
control and supervision activities over the three now private companies,
as such control and supervision remain limited to a few explicitly
delineated public-interest aspects.243 Thus, it may be concluded that in
each case crossing the Rubicon towards privatization has resulted in the
new operators now being subjected to formalized and explicit require-
ments as to their key international public duties, accompanied by
substantial legal and jurisdictional tools for the revamped IGOs to ensure
conformity with those requirements.
The explicit character of those public duties and the need to preserve
them in a privatized environment may well turn out to be an interesting
development not only in the specific context of those respective IGOs
and former IGOs, but also for the broader development of international

241
Note that ISOs de facto will also operate under some system of
authorization and possibly also supervision by their member states – only, in this
case, through their governing multilateral treaties and statutes instead of through
a single-state licensing process. Similarly, Arts. VI and XIII, Outer Space Treaty,
supra n. 18, jointly make clear that states are also required to consult in
appropriate cases targeted by Art. IX since ISOs are principally viewed as
‘frameworks’ for state activities, not as independent actors whose responsibilities
are separate or to be separated from those of their member states.
242
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18; see further supra, § 2.3.1.1.
243
Cf. respectively Arts. I(j), III(b), V, VII(a), ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86;
Arts. 3, 4, 8(b), 10(1), IMSO Convention, supra n. 114; also Arts. 2, 15, PSA,
supra n. 116; Arts. I(l), II(d), III, V(b), IX(a), (b) & (d), EUTELSAT Convention
as amended, supra n. 141. See also for more details F.G. von der Dunk, Crossing
a Rubycon? The International Legal Framework for ISOs – Before and After
Privatisation, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations
(Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 224 ff., esp. 238–42; further
Ospina, supra n. 79, 340–4.

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space law, if only because the conflicts between commercial interests and
general public interests are now more likely to lead to proper legal
disputes requiring legal solutions, as opposed to being dealt with at an
international political (member state) level. All the same, the United
States, the United Kingdom and France remain the primary addressees of
any question of legality of the operations of Intelsat, Inmarsat and
Eutelsat respectively, and will be held accountable by third states.

5.10.3.2 The Rescue Agreement

As regards the Rescue Agreement, the main result of the privatization
process is that the actual operators of the three satellite systems since
being privatized can no longer claim rights of recovery and return
directly, even in theory, as dependent upon a relevant declaration under
Article 6, but now in every case would require their respective launching
authority (or launching authorities) to do so.244 In addition, they would
not be held directly responsible under international space law for any
possible violations of the relevant obligations, in this case referring to
issues of rescue, recovery and return. However, as discussed, when it
comes to possible violations of any rules of space law, as per the Outer
Space Treaty in the case of a satellite IGO, there would always be a
residual responsibility for those states members of the IGO, so that the
difference in that respect would not be very substantial.245

5.10.3.3 The Liability Convention

EUTELSAT is the only one among the three original satellite IGOs at
issue to have actually declared its acceptance of rights and obligations
under the Liability Convention by means of a relevant declaration.246
While that declaration may persist also with respect to the EUTELSAT
IGO which took the place of the old EUTELSAT,247 it remains to be seen
what this means in light of the fact that any space operations of note –

244
Cf. also supra, § 2.3.2.2. None of the three ISOs had been able to comply
with all relevant requirements under Art. 6, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 222.
245
See further in general von der Dunk, supra n. 243, 242 ff., esp. 246–7.
246
As per 30 November 1987. See United Nations treaties and principles on
outer space and related General Assembly resolutions, Addendum, Status of
international agreements relating to activities in outer space as at 1 January 2009;
ST/SPACE/11/Rev.2/Add.2, at 16; also e.g. N. Jasentuliyana, The Future of
International Telecommunications Law, in Legal Visions of the 21st Century:
Essays in Honour of Judge Christopher Weeramantry (Eds A. Anghie & G.
Sturgess) (1998), 399 at n. 26.
247
Nothing can be found in the EUTELSAT Convention as amended, supra
n. 141, to suggest that, in transferring all operational activities and related assets

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the kind of activities potentially triggering application of the Liability

Convention – have been transferred to Eutelsat in the course of the
privatization process.
On the ‘defendant side’, with a view to the definition of the
‘launching State’, applicability of the Convention could only become an
issue to the extent that EUTELSAT IGO would itself ‘procure’ the launch
of another satellite on behalf of Eutelsat.248 Such a situation, however,
would now be highly unlikely, as the main legislative efforts driving
privatization of the satellite IGOs called for operational independence of
the private operator from the supervising public entity. For Europe, the
1994 EU Satellite Directive required full-fledged privatization of the
satellite IGOs inter alia through deletion of any special or exclusive
rights, state aid of any sorts as well as other benefits IGOs could derive
from such a status.249 Likewise, for the United States the 2000 ORBIT
Act250 required privatization to be comprehensive in order to allow fair
competition of the privatized former IGOs with private operators that did
not evolve from IGOs, such as PanAmSat, which had lobbied the US
government vehemently to get it to ensure a level playing field in those
respects.251

from EUTELSAT to Eutelsat, the remaining EUTELSAT IGO has taken or

would take steps to disavow the declaration made by EUTELSAT in 1987.
248
Note that the definition of ‘procurement’ is also far from universally
agreed upon; cf. M. Gerhard, The State of the Art and Recent Trends in the
Development of National Space Law, in Nationales Weltraumrecht/National
Space Law (Eds. C. Brünner & E. Walter) (2008), 67–8; M. Chatzipanagiotis,
Registration of Space Objects and Transfer of Ownership in Orbit, 56 Zeitschrift
für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2007), 235. See also supra, § 2.3.3 esp. § 2.3.3 1.
249
See Arts. 2, 3, Satellite Directive, supra n. 81, applying Commission
Directive on the competition in the markets of telecommunications services,
90/388/EEC, June 28, 1990, OJ L 192/10 (1990), to the satellite sector. See
further e.g. S. Ospina, International Satellite Service Providers, in Proceedings of
the Project 2001 Workshop on Telecommunication (2000), 155–6; Ungerer, supra
n. 81, 13–6.
250
See Secs. 2, 601–602, also Secs. 622–625, 641–643, 661, ORBIT Act,
supra n. 82. See further e.g. McCormick, supra n. 60, 99 ff.; Salin, supra n. 64,
esp. 509–10; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 37, 341–2, 351, 383–5.
251
See P.A. Salin, An Illustration of the Privatization Process of Outer Space,
50 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2001), 217–36; further Bohlmann,
Schrogl and Zilioli, supra n. 109, 218–9; P.A. Salin, Impact of Recent US
Legislation and Regulations on International Satellite Communication Regu-
lations, 48 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1999), 52–5; Salin, supra
n. 64, 202 ff., 487–9.

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On the ‘claimant side’, EUTELSAT IGO by its declaration would

still qualify as an IGO entitled under Article XXII of the Convention to
the rights and duties of states under the Convention, but, as discussed, for
assertion of a claim for compensation of damage suffered, it would
depend upon a member state. The sole difference being that, were
EUTELSAT IGO to be treated as the entity itself suffering damage
(namely ‘through’ the private operator it is monitoring following the
privatization of the operations, as if by proxy), any EUTELSAT IGO
member state could be called upon to assert a claim on behalf of Eutelsat.
However, if such damage could not be legally constructed so as to give
rise to implementation of the EUTELSAT declaration, only France (as
the state of nationality of Eutelsat) would be entitled to put forward such
a claim.252
Thus, if Eutelsat satellites were to cause damage under the Liability
Convention, Eutelsat would be faced with liability reimbursement
arrangements as part of its licence, as a consequence of the reference of
the French Law on Space Operations to compensation possibly due under
the Outer Space Treaty in conjunction with its reference to licensing
obligations for any operations in space and (limits to) indemnification
under such a licence also for damage caused after the launch phase has
ended.253
Crossing the threshold from IGOs to private companies for Inmarsat
likewise means that it henceforth requires a licence from the UK
authorities which, inter alia, deals with the potential for the United
Kingdom to be held liable as a consequence of Inmarsat’s procurement of
launches, and generally speaking ensure control of the respective author-
ities over the technical, operational, economic, social and ecological
quality of the activities.254
Only in the case of Intelsat, would the imposition of international
third-party liability arrangements through the licence (which licence itself
was suggested by Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty and obligatory

252
See further e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 243, 251–61.
253
See esp. Arts. 14 and 17, Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux
opérations spatiales; hereafter French Law on Space Operations); Loi n° 2008-
518 du 3 juin 2008; unofficial English version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008),
453; further supra, § 3.3.3.1.
254
See esp. Secs. 3–6, Outer Space Act (hereafter UK Outer Space Act), 18
July 1986, 1986 Chapter 38; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I
(2001), at 293; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.I; 36 Zeitschrift für Luft-
und Weltraumrecht (1987), 12; further supra, § 3.3.2.3.

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326 Handbook of space law

under the Commercial Space Launch Act) be unlikely.255 Apparently, the

US authorities do not consider mere operations of Intelsat involving its
satellites and causing damage to possibly give rise to claims for compen-
sation under the Liability Convention or even as part of reparation for
internationally wrongful acts involving such damage under Article VI of
the Outer Space Treaty.256
Crossing the threshold from IGO to private operator finally also
meant that, henceforth, all three operators would depend upon their
respective states of nationality only, in the event that they suffered
damage and would like to use the Liability Convention to get such
damage compensated. If, for whatever reason, the United States, the
United Kingdom or France would not consider taking up a case under the
Liability Convention on behalf of Intelsat, Inmarsat or Eutelsat for
damage caused to their respective satellites, the only option left to those
private operators might well be to sue in a private capacity in the courts
of (presumably) the (or a) ‘launching State’.257

5.10.3.4 The Registration Convention

Article VII(1) of the Registration Convention allows an IGO to become a
de facto party to its regime under the same basic regime as the Liability
Convention.258 However, this did not apply to INTELSAT, INMARSAT
or EUTELSAT, and currently does not apply to ITSO, IMSO or
EUTELSAT IGO.
Thus, the transition from IGO to private operator has had varying
consequences as far as the Registration Convention is concerned. In the

255
See von der Dunk, supra n. 243, 254–5; cf. also e.g. P. Vorwig,
Regulation of Satellite Communications in the United States, in National
Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 422–3.
256
Cf. on this issue in general e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Liability Versus
Responsibility in Space Law: Misconception or Misconstruction?, in Proceedings
of the Thirty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1992), 363–71.
257
For Intelsat, in theory also Luxembourg (Intelsat’s corporate headquarters
being registered there) might try to assert a claim on the international level; in
that case, however, the absence of a genuine link of Intelsat’s operations with
Luxembourg and the absence of any relevant licensing requirement imposed by
Luxembourg may minimise the chance of Luxembourg successfully doing so.
258
Thus, Art. VII(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 223, only refers to
substantive rights and obligations under the Convention as opposed to procedural
ones such as signature (cf. Art. VIII(1)), ratification (cf. Art. VIII(2)), and
amendment (cf. Art. IX); and requires the same threefold conditions to be
fulfilled before an IGO would become such a de facto party. See further supra,
§ 2.3.4.3.

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IGO context registration of satellites was rather straightforward, any

member state being able to register on behalf of the IGO as being a state
‘procuring’ the launch of that satellite through the ‘vehicle’ of the IGO.259
Following the transition, however, for Inmarsat and Eutelsat the situation
became even more straightforward, with the United Kingdom considering
itself to be a ‘launching State’ for any satellite the launch of which was
procured by Inmarsat,260 and hence tasked to ensure proper registration,
and the same applying mutatis mutandis to France and Eutelsat;261
whereas in the case of Intelsat the state or states entitled and obliged to
realize registration might more readily differ from case to case and might
not even necessarily include the United States.262

5.10.3.5 The ITU regime

In the context of the ITU regime, more particularly its procedures for
coordination of radio frequency usage and the occupation of attendant
orbits or orbital slots,263 the rights to such usage and orbits/slots are
allotted to ‘administrations’.264 However, this term refers exclusively to
relevant state organs: an administration is defined as ‘any governmental
department or service responsible for discharging the obligations under-
taken in the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union,
in the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union and in
the Administrative Regulations’.265
As IGOs thus do not have any formal independent say in this ITU
process, or can even request for allotment at the ITU level, they require
one state or another firstly to go through the allotment process, and,
where necessary prior to that, the allocation process, and secondly to then
assign the frequencies ultimately so allotted to them in order to be able to
use them under the ITU system.
Mirrorwise, ITU member states are explicitly held internationally
responsible for telecommunication activities by entities ‘authorized by
them to establish and operate telecommunications and which engage in
international services or which operate stations capable of causing

259
As indicated, normally of course for practical reasons this would actually
be done by the host state of the IGO at issue.
260
See Sec. 1(a), UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 254.
261
See Art. 2(3), French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 253.
262
Cf. argument supra, § 5.10.3.3.
263
See further infra, §§ 8.2.3, 8.2.4.
264
Cf. Sec. 1.17, Radio Regulations, supra n. 67.
265
Sec. 1.2, Radio Regulations, supra n. 67 (emphasis added). See also no.
1002, Annex, ITU Constitution, supra n. 21.

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328 Handbook of space law

harmful interference to the radio services of other countries’.266 This

provision literally refers to ‘operating agencies’. An ‘operating agency’ is
defined in the Annex to the ITU Constitution as ‘[a]ny individual,
company, corporation or governmental agency’, and should be read as
including an ‘international (multi) government agency’.267
Thus, the only distinction between satellite IGOs and private satel-
lite operators in terms of obtaining a nominal guarantee of interference-
free usage of usable frequencies from the ITU lies in the fact that, for
IGOs, at least in law any member state of that IGO could propose
allocation of frequency bands if needed and request allotment of specific
frequencies effectively on behalf of that IGO. For a private operator there
could usually only be one administration undertaking those efforts: that
of the state of nationality (that is, incorporation and headquarters) of the
company concerned.268
In practice, not even that distinction may have mattered much. In the
cases of the old INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT, for obvious
reasons of efficiency and coherence, the task of taking up the interests of
these IGOs in the ITU context was delegated to the host state of the
organization – the United States, the United Kingdom and France
respectively, precisely the states that post-privatization would continue to
do the same on behalf of respectively Intelsat, Inmarsat and Eutelsat.269
Even the inherent support including, where necessary, votes in favour
from the other member states of INTELSAT, INMARSAT and
EUTELSAT in the ITU decision-making processes, for respective US,
UK or French efforts would normally not be lacking in the case of the
private operators due to the existence of ITSO, IMSO and EUTELSAT
IGO respectively, whose member states should still be generally inter-
ested in seeing the private operators succeed.

266
Art. 6(2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 21 (emphasis added). Cf. also Art.
VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 18, essentially providing for a similar level of
international responsibility.
267
No. 1007, Annex, ITU Constitution, supra n. 21.
268
It may be reiterated here that allocations are generally handled at the bi-
or triennial ITU World Radio Conferences, that is essentially by all ITU member
states collectively, whereas requests for allotment concern activities of individual
states addressed on an ongoing basis to the Radio Regulations Board. See further
infra, § 8.2.3.
269
Cf. also e.g. Art. XII, ITSO Agreement, supra n. 86.

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International organizations in space law 329

5.10.3.6 Assessing the consequences under international space law

of IGO privatization
In sum, a major result of the privatization of the satellite IGOs was a
fragmentation and diversification of the legal framework(s) within which
they had to operate. In the international arena, the private operators will
have to count on their host states to a much greater extent than the
satellite IGOs used to do, for even if they still could avail themselves of
support from ITSO, IMSO or EUTELSAT IGO, these IGOs obviously
have only a specific and limited interest in the operators’ activities,
resulting in limited responsibilities and even more limited liabilities.
After all, the whole idea behind the privatization process was that, apart
from some public duties which should remain guaranteed, the operators
should act under as much commercial freedom as possible, meaning that
the new IGOs might be less broadly and actively interested in the success
of the particular operator they were supervising.
Consequently, private operators have to look to their national
authorities for issues of recovery of damages under the Liability Conven-
tion or for satellites to be recovered under the Rescue Agreement, which
thereby become a matter of national law. This opens the door to
diversification of applicable regimes, except to the extent that the
inherent global character of the satellite communications market would
serve as a force promoting international harmonization.
In the last resort, therefore, the Rubicon crossed by the privatization
of the IGOs was more of a practical, economic and political character
than of a strictly speaking legal character, although the legal framework
did – apart from reflecting the relevant practical, economic and political
paradigm changes – result in a juridification of the regimes and in
considerably more precision regarding the allocation of responsibilities
and liabilities. Also, as a consequence of the fact that the Rubicon so to
speak was crossed at different fords by INTELSAT, INMARSAT and
EUTELSAT, the general legal framework was seen to diversify and
fragment considerably. From that perspective there is no doubt that also
legally speaking the world of international satellite communications has
changed profoundly following the privatization of these three IGOs.

5.11 CONCLUDING REMARKS

By and large, intergovernmental organizations play a more substantial
and fundamental role in the development of the specific area of inter-
national space law than in general public international law. The increased
need for international cooperation both in a regulatory context – due to

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330 Handbook of space law

the inherent international character of space activities and the ‘global

commons’ status of the area – and, even more, in an operational one –
due to the exceptional costs, risks and technologies involved in space
activities – has caused a number of intergovernmental organizations to be
established which have played central roles in the development of space
activities, and thereby – albeit largely – indirectly of space law as well.
Especially the operational organizations, some global in scope but
focused on one particularly relevant satellite application, some regional
and of varied focus, present a complex picture from the perspective of
international space law. They are both major players that have to operate
within the same general space law parameters as individual states (though
often through them, rather than directly) and private enterprise, and major
platforms for the formation of international space law, from the prelimin-
ary phase of developing soft law through contributing to customary law
to treaty law.
At the same time, the fact that three of those IGOs have meanwhile
gone through a rigorous privatization process, even though some level of
direct intergovernmental oversight could not be done without, would then
be testimony that the establishment of IGOs can often be of an
intermediary nature in bringing the benefits of space activities to large
parts of the world’s population: in between the impossibility for most
states (true space powers excepted) to undertake such activities and the
interest of the private sector to undertake such activities for commercial
purposes.
So far these developments have remained confined to satellite
communications, the most important terrestrial application of space
technology and infrastructure, but it might be expected that similar
developments mutatis mutandis might also arise in due course in other
space sectors, once sufficiently mature to give rise to a more commer-
cialized and privatized environment.

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6. Legal aspects of the military uses of outer

space
Fabio Tronchetti

6.1 INTRODUCTION
Military use has been a key feature of space activities since the dawn of
the space era.1 The appearance of the first satellites coincided with their
application for the purpose of military intelligence. Nowadays, the
utilization of satellites in the military field has widely proliferated among
space-faring states. Satellites not only play a crucial role in the context of
military operations but also are crucial components of the national
security strategies of the most technologically advanced states.2
The use of outer space for military purposes has been the object of
heated diplomatic and academic discussions, mostly focused on the
legality of and limits to military activities in space.3 The controversy over
military uses of outer space has been largely related to four factors:
(1) the use of outer space for military reasons is a highly sensitive issue
and states are often reluctant to accept legal restrictions or prohibitions to
such a use; (2) a unitary legal framework governing military operations in
space is missing – instead, the applicable rules are distributed among
various sources of law, including general public international law, inter-
national humanitarian law and international space law; (3) these rules
fail, at times, to provide a clear understanding of key terms and concepts;

1
See K.U. Schrogl & J. Neumann, Article IV, Cologne Commentary on
Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 71.
2
Cf. E.S. Waldrop, Integration of Military and Civilian Space Assets: Legal
and National Security Implications, 55 Air Force Law Review (2004), 157–231;
W. Rathgeber & N.L. Remuss, Space Security: A Formative Role and a
Principled Identity for Europe, ESPI Report, January 2009.
3
See generally on this point F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A
Treatise (2009), 499–532; Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 71–2; Peaceful and
Military Uses of Outer Space: Law and Policy (2005), www.e-parl.net/pages/
space_hearing_images/BackgroundPaper%20McGill%20Outer%20Space%20Uses.
pdf, last accessed 5 November 2013.

331

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332 Handbook of space law

and (4) space technologies (especially as for launch vehicles) and space
objects (notably satellites) are usually of a dual-use character, as they
have the potential to be used for civil and military applications.
The basic provisions governing military activities in outer space are to
be found in the United Nations-sponsored space treaties, particularly the
1967 Outer Space Treaty4 and the 1979 Moon Agreement.5 These two
treaties establish some broad, albeit rather vague, clauses limiting the use
of space for military purposes. However, the space treaties fall short of
setting forth a comprehensive legal structure regulating all military uses
of space; thus, they need to be complemented with other relevant clauses
and principles of international law, notably the principles laid down in
the UN Charter,6 the provisions of a few general disarmament and arms
control treaties which, although not specifically dealing with outer space,
include space-related issues,7 and the provisions of a number of inter-
national and national regimes regulating the international trade in mili-
tary or dual-use goods.8
In short, a coherent and comprehensive legal framework governing
military activities in outer space is currently missing. While certain
specific military uses of outer space are adequately regulated, others
remain substantially unaddressed and of controversial implementation. In
the light of the above, the purpose of this chapter is to provide a
wide-ranging analysis of the legal framework regulating military uses of
outer space and to shed light on its most debated issues.

4
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).
See further in general supra, § 2.3.1.
5
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979). See further in general supra, § 2.3.5.
6
Charter of the United Nations (hereafter UN Charter), San Francisco,
done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993; 24 UST
2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666 and 6711;
CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1. See further infra, §§ 6.4, 6.5.1, 6.5.2.
7
See further infra, § 6.4.
8
See further infra, § 6.6, also §§ 7.5.1, 7.5.2.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 333

6.2 MILITARIZATION VERSUS WEAPONIZATION OF

OUTER SPACE
Before analysing the legal framework regulating military uses of outer
space it is essential to understand what military activities in outer space
actually comprise, and to draw a distinction between the concepts of
militarization and weaponization of outer space respectively. Indeed, the
latter concepts should not be confused or used as equivalents.
The term ‘military activities’ (at least in the context of outer space)
refers to the use of space capabilities to support military operations
occurring on earth. Currently, space-based systems have become crucial
to warfare, as they enable precise navigation, furnish real-time weather
data, allow instantaneous global communications, warn of possible
missile threats, collect intelligence and carry out surveillance and recon-
naissance.9 The aforementioned use of space systems in the context of
terrestrial military operations is generally referred to as ‘militarization of
outer space’.10 Although a minority of legal scholars deem such a
militarization of outer space to be in violation of space law rules, the
overwhelming majority of experts consider it to be consistent with the
legal regime governing activities in outer space.11 State practice also
confirms the legality of this type of military use of outer space.
Instead, the term ‘weaponization’ is used with reference to the deploy-
ment of weapons of offensive nature in space or on the ground with their

9
The importance of satellites for modern warfare was clearly demonstrated
during ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’. For example, all secure communication
among coalition forces were transmitted through space, space systems detected
26 rocket launches from Iraq, and the Predator UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)
used space platforms for data transmission. See in this respect M.N. Schmitt,
International Law and Military Operations in Space, 10 Max Planck Yearbook of
United Nations Law (2006), 90–1; M. Bourbonnière & R.J. Lee, Legality of the
Deployment of Convention on Weapons in Earth Orbit: Balancing Space Law
and the Law of Armed Conflict, 18 European Journal of International Law
(2007), 873–901.
10
On the distinction between militarization and weaponization of outer
space see C.M. Petras, The Debate Over the Weaponization of Space – A
Military-Legal Conspectus, 28 Annals of Air and Space Law (2003), 171; A.G.
Quinn, The New Age of Space Law: The Outer Space Treaty and the Weapon-
ization of Space, 17 Minnesota Journal of International Law (2008), 475; J. Su,
The Peaceful Purposes Principle in Outer Space and the Russia-China PPWT
Proposal, 26 Space Policy (2010), 81.
11
See further infra, § 6.3.1.

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334 Handbook of space law

intended target located in space.12 The legality of these types of opera-

tions is rejected by the majority of states and legal scholars,13 due to their
inconsistency with basic principles of public international law and space
law. Although outer space is currently not being ‘weaponized’, fear that
this may happen in the not-too-distant future is spread across a vast
number of states as well as within the diplomatic and legal community.
Such fear is the result of the growing dependence of modern societies on
space systems for both military and civil purposes and of the consequent
need to protect and ensure the security of these systems. In recent years,
initiatives aimed at preventing a similar deleterious development have
been launched.14

6.3 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGULATING

MILITARY USES OF OUTER SPACE: THE UN
SPACE TREATIES
The five UN-sponsored outer space treaties provide the legal foundation
regulating human activities in outer space.15 Among these treaties, the

12
See e.g. J. Monserrat, Acts of Aggression in Outer Space, Proceedings of
the Forty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2002), 365–75; M.C.
Mineiro, The United States and the Legality of Outer Space Weaponization: A
Proposal for Greater Transparency and a Dispute Resolution Mechanism, 32
Annals of Air and Space Law (2008), 441.
13
For example, UNGA Res. 65/44 of 8 December 2010 on the Prevention
of an arms race in outer space was adopted during the 65th Session of the
General Assembly with 179 positive votes, 0 negative votes and 2 abstentions,
https://gafc-vote.un.org/UNODA/vote.nsf/91a5e1195dc97a630525656f005b8adf/
b99a05476cf36ca1852577f2007991e9?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=3#_
Section3, last accessed 14 April 2014.
14
See further infra, § 6.7.
15
In addition to the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 4, and the Moon
Agreement, supra n. 5, these are the 1968 Rescue Agreement (Agreement on the
Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects
Launched into Outer Space, London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968,
entered into force 3 December 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570;
UKTS 1969 No. 56; Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968)); the 1972
Liability Convention (Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused
by Space Objects, London/Moscow/Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered
into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS
1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971)); and the 1975
Registration Convention (Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into
Outer Space, New York, done 14 January 1975, entered into force 15 September

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 335

Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Agreement are the only two instru-
ments containing specific provisions limiting the use of outer space for
military purposes. The remaining three space treaties include clauses
which have only an indirect impact on such use.

6.3.1 The Outer Space Treaty

Article IV is usually viewed as the crucial part of the Outer Space Treaty
dealing with the military uses of outer space. Indeed, this Article includes
provisions on arms control and sets forth certain boundaries to the
possibility to undertake military activities in outer space.16
Article IV reads as follows:

States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth
any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass
destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons
in outer space in any other manner.
The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the
Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases,
installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the
conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The
use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful
purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility
necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and other celestial bodies
shall also not be prohibited.

Thus, the first paragraph prohibits the placement of objects carrying

nuclear weapons or any other kind of weapons of mass destruction in
orbit around the earth. Before ascertaining the extent of such prohibition,
one should understand the meaning of the terms used. As this paragraph
does not define either ‘nuclear weapons’ or ‘weapons of mass destruc-
tion’, the proper interpretation of these concepts is to be determined in
accordance with Articles 31 to 33 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the
Law of Treaties,17 which reflect customary international law18 and apply
to the Outer Space Treaty as a treaty of international law. Accordingly,
the basic criterion for treaty interpretation is the ordinary meaning of the

1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd.
6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975)).
16
See further Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 71 ff.
17
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, done 23 May 1969,
entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS 331; UKTS 1980 No. 58;
Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969).

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336 Handbook of space law

term, to be considered in its context and in the light of its object and
purpose.19 The ordinary meaning of the word ‘weapon’ is ‘[a]n instru-
ment of attack or defense used in combat’.20
Article IV(1) expressly forbids only two types of weapons, namely
nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Some authors
have argued that only nuclear weapons which indeed cause ‘mass
destruction’ could not be placed in earth’s orbit, while those not having
such an effect could be stationed.21 Pursuant to this approach, the
stationing of mini-nuclear space mines or nuclear-powered weapons in
outer space should not be prohibited, as long as their use does not lead to
mass destruction.
However, such interpretation appears to be inconsistent with the
historical background and purpose of Article IV(1),22 which is to ban the
placement and use of any kind of nuclear weapons in space. This is also
supported by the terms of the Partial Test Ban Treaty which prohibits any
nuclear explosion in space.23 Importantly, not all forms of nuclear
reactions in space are prohibited. For example, recourse to small atomic
bombs for propulsion of a spacecraft is allowed, as such a spacecraft
does not qualify as a nuclear weapon and its main goal is to carry
passengers and materials in space. Yet, the clause should be deemed to
include all types of nuclear weapons as the plain text would indicate that
all nuclear weapons by definition are weapons of mass destruction.
The ordinary meaning of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ is more
complicated to assess. Generally speaking, this term refers to weapons
aimed at causing widespread devastation and loss of life, particularly
chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.24 With specific reference to
outer space the term ‘weapons of mass destruction’ refers both to
weapons which, if used in space, would generate mass destruction on

18
For a comprehensive analysis of the Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties, see Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary (Eds. O.
Dörr & K. Schmalenbach) (2011).
19
See Art. 31(1), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 17.
20
See The Free Dictionary; www.thefreedictionary.com/weapon, last
accessed 16 March 2014.
21
See B. Cheng, Studies in International Space Law (1997), 530.
22
Cf. Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 72.
23
Art. I, Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer
Space and Under Water (hereafter Partial Test Ban Treaty), Moscow, done 5
August 1963, entered into force 10 October 1963; 480 UNTS 43; TIAS No.
5433; 14 UST 1313; UKTS 1964 No. 3; ATS 1963 No. 26.
24
Cf. The Free Dictionary, www.thefreedictionary.com/nuclear+weapon,
last accessed 16 March 2014; cf. also Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 78.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 337

earth, and to weapons which, if detonated on earth, result in mass

destruction on earth.25 By making express reference to nuclear weapons
and weapons of mass destruction, it is evident that the present prohibition
does not cover conventional weapons, such as anti-satellite weapons
(ASATs), and military satellites. Therefore, they can be lawfully placed
in an orbit around the earth.
Article IV(1) then prohibits the placing of nuclear weapons and
weapons of mass destruction in orbit around the earth and the installation
of such weapons on celestial bodies, or the stationing of such weapons in
outer space in any other manner.
Firstly, the expression ‘placing in orbit around the earth’ must be
interpreted in a broad sense, so as to prohibit the placing of such
weapons in various earth orbits, including low earth orbits (LEO) and
other orbits such as the geostationary orbit (GEO). Nevertheless, the
mere transit of weapons of mass destruction through outer space, for
example by means of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), does
not fall under the prohibition of this Article. ICBMs are in outer space
only for a limited time and cannot be considered as being ‘placed’ in
space.26 Similarly, the Outer Space Treaty does not explicitly ban the
actual use of such weapons – merely their placement in outer space.27
Thus, as far as Article IV(1) is concerned outer space may be employed
as a transit area for weapons aimed at and used on earth.
Secondly, the Article forbids the installation of nuclear weapons and
weapons of mass destruction on celestial bodies. Thus, states are not
allowed to place such weapons on the surface, or even in the sub-surface,
of any celestial body in the solar system. It has been argued that the
expression ‘installing a weapon’ in the context of this clause should be
taken to mean ‘placing of weapons on celestial bodies for use’.28
However, a similar interpretation infers that, if a state places a weapon on
a celestial body and claims that it has no intention to use it, such a
placing would be allowed. As such a statement would hardly be accepted,
or even believed, by other states, this interpretation is largely question-
able.
Furthermore, the first paragraph prohibits the stationing of nuclear
weapons and weapons of mass destruction either in outer space or in any

25
See Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 77.
26
See Petras, supra n. 10, 184; S. Gorove, Arms Control Provisions in the
Outer Space Treaty: A Scrutinizing Reappraisal, 3 Georgia Journal of Inter-
national and Comparative Law (1973), 115.
27
Cf. Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 79.
28
Cf. Gorove, supra n. 26, 117; Schrogl & Neumann, supra n. 1, 80.

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338 Handbook of space law

other manner. The term ‘stationing’ seems, thus, to be used in a broader

sense than ‘installing in orbit around the earth’ as the prohibition refers to
the stationing of these weapons in outer space, including on celestial
bodies. It has to be pointed out that, although not expressly mentioned,
the moon is covered in the scope of Article IV(1). The ordinary meaning
of the term ‘celestial bodies’ already indicates that the moon qualifies as
such.29 Two types of weapons stationed in space can be envisioned:
weapons that can be aimed at targets on earth and weapons that can
target other space objects, such as anti-satellite weapons and killer
satellites. As long as such weapons are not nuclear weapons or weapons
of mass destruction, their use is not prohibited by Article IV.
In short: Article IV(1) of the Outer Space Treaty only provides for a
partial prohibition of arms in outer space. States remain free to deploy in
outer space any type of military satellites, be they for reconnaissance,
communications, navigations, meteorological and other purposes, to
transit ICBMs through space or to test and theoretically use conventional
weapons in outer space. However, it has to be kept in mind that these
provisions must be read in the light of the generally recognized principles
of international law and, in particular, those included in the UN Charter.30
Article IV(2), by contrast, deals with the use of the moon and other
celestial bodies, reserving them ‘exclusively for peaceful purposes’ – and
thus, omitting any reference to ‘outer space’, does not address the empty
space between the celestial bodies.31 An analysis of the traveaux pré-
paratoires of this clause demonstrates that this omission was intentional,
as states wanted to remain at liberty to carry out certain space activities
for military purposes, such as reconnaissance.32
Article IV(2) establishes that the moon and other celestial bodies shall
be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. Although the Outer Space
Treaty makes several references to the use of outer space for ‘peaceful
purposes’, it fails to provide a definition of that term.33 Consequently, the
interpretation of this term has generated much debate. Two different

29
See P.G. Dembling & D.M. Arons, The Evolution of the Outer Space
Treaty, 33 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (1967), 419; C.Q. Christol, The 1979
Moon Agreement: Where Is It Today?, 27 Journal of Space Law (1999), 1.
30
See further infra, § 6.5.
31
See Cheng, supra n. 21, 257.
32
See Petras, supra n. 10; C.Q. Christol, The Modern International Law of
Outer Space (1982), 24 ff.
33
Cf. e.g. Preamble, 2nd, 4th, 8th paras.; Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra
n. 4.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 339

interpretations of this term, the first as ‘non-military’,34 the second as

‘non-aggressive’35 have been proposed.
The ‘non-military’ approach holds the prohibition of non-peaceful
purposes to prohibit the use of outer space for any military purpose. The
supporters of this approach often make reference to the 1959 Antarctic
Treaty, where ‘peaceful purposes’ is indeed intended to mean ‘non-
military’.36 Despite being popular in legal doctrine, however, the ‘non-
military’ interpretation appears to be contradicted by states’ practices.37
As discussed, the analysis of the preparatory works of the Outer Space
Treaty does not provide elements to support its validity either.38
The ‘non-aggressive’ approach argues that, as long as military activ-
ities in space are carried out in accordance with Article 2(4) of the UN
Charter, which prohibits the threat and use of force, they are consistent
with international law.39 This approach, advanced in particular by the

34
This view is supported by authors such as M.G. Markoff, Disarmament
and Peaceful Purposes Provisions in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, 4 Journal of
Space Law (1976), 3; I.A. Vlasic, Disarmament Decade, Outer Space and
International Law, 6 Annals of Air and Space Law (1981), 26; C.Q. Christol, The
Common Interest in the Exploration, Use and Exploitation of Outer Space for
Peaceful Purposes: The Soviet-American Dilemma, 18 Akron Law Review
(1984), 193.
35
The non-aggressive view is supported e.g. by Dembling & Arons, supra
n. 29, 434; A. Meyer, Interpretation of the Term Peaceful in the Light of the
Space Treaty, 18 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1969), 28, 34.
36
Cf. Preamble, Arts. I, IV, Antarctic Treaty, Washington, done 1 December
1959, entered into force 23 June 1961; 402 UNTS 71; TIAS 4780; 12 UST 794;
UKTS 1961 No. 97; Cmnd. 913; ATS 1961 No. 12.
37
Military uses of outer space basically coincided with the beginning of the
space era. In this regard, the United States, while supporting the ‘non-military’
approach in the late 1950s, soon turned to the ‘non-aggressive’ approach. See US
Senate Comm. on aeronautical & space sciences, Documents on international
aspects of the exploration and use of outer space, 1954–62, 88th Cong., 1st Sess.
Also the Soviet Union, while being officially in favour of the ‘non-military’
doctrine, used satellites to carry out military activities in the guise of scientific
research. See also supra, §§ 1.1–1.4.
38
During the negotiation of the treaty India proposed to extend the
application of ‘exclusively for peaceful purposes’ of Art. IV(2), Outer Space
Treaty, supra n. 4, to all areas of outer space. This proposal was rejected because
neither the United States nor the Soviet Union wanted a final definition of
‘peaceful purposes’ in the light of the expected limitations which this would have
put on both states’ future uses of space; see U.N. Doc. A/AC.105/PV.3, of 20
March 1962, 63.
39
Art. 2(4), UN Charter, supra n. 6, provides: ‘All Members shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial

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340 Handbook of space law

United States, has progressively gained support. In this regard, states

have shown acceptance of certain passive military uses of outer space,
such as reconnaissance and surveillance, thus legalizing this type of
military activity. One should also keep in mind that the UN Charter
specifically foresees two exceptions to the prohibition on use of force:
self-defence and interventions authorized by the UN Security Council
under Chapter VII of the Charter. The use of force in outer space
triggered by any of these two exceptions should be viewed as legal.40
Significantly, the European approach to military uses of outer space
was for many years also rather restrictive. For example, following the
ESA (European Space Agency) Convention the aim and purposes of ESA
were ‘to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes,
cooperation among European States in space research and technology
and their space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific
purposes and for operational space applications systems’.41 This use of
the expression ‘exclusively peaceful purposes’ was meant to point out the
peaceful nature of ESA’s activities and its legal inability to get involved
in military and security-related space projects. However, more recently,
ESA has adopted a more liberal approach and can now be involved to a
certain extent in military and defence-related security activities.42
Regardless of the interpretation given to the term ‘peaceful’ by other
parties of the Outer Space Treaty, the fact that Article IV(2) combines it
with the word ‘exclusively’ and that these two words are taken together is
significant. Indeed, the provision speaks of the moon and other celestial
bodies ‘to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes only’ and not ‘for
exclusively peaceful purposes’. By crafting the wording in this manner, it
is made clear that an activity is legal as long as it is peaceful; once
non-peaceful elements are introduced, its legality is lost. In short, the
moon and other celestial bodies shall be free from military uses of any
type.

integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner

inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations’.
40
See further infra, § 6.5.1.
41
Art. II, Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Agency
(hereafter ESA Convention), Paris, done 30 May 1975, entered into force 30
October 1980; UKTS 1981 No. 30; Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975); Space Law
– Basic Legal Documents, C.I.1.
42
For details on the involvement of ESA in security-related issues see F.G.
von der Dunk, Europe and Security Issues in Space: The Institutional Setting, 4
Space and Defense (2010), 71–99.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 341

In this respect the second sentence of Article IV(2) specifies that no

bases, installations or fortifications can be established on celestial bodies.
Furthermore, the testing of all types of weapons and the conduct of
military manoeuvres on celestial bodies is forbidden. This encompassing
prohibition of military activities included in the first two sentences of the
Article has an exception in the last sentence thereof. Indeed, that last
sentence explicitly permits the use of military personnel for scientific
research and for any other peaceful purposes on the moon and other
celestial bodies. The exact nature of the permitted actions is not
explained in this sentence and thus depends on the interpretation of the
term ‘peaceful purposes’. Furthermore, states may ‘[u]se any equipment
or facility necessary for peaceful exploration’.43
Summing up, Article IV(2) fully demilitarizes the moon and other
celestial bodies, as the placement and testing of any type of weapons, the
establishment of military installations and facilities, and any kind of
military manoeuvres are banned. Nevertheless, the use of military person-
nel and facilities in the context of scientific and peaceful activities is
permitted.
Alongside the provisions of Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty those
included in Article IX are of specific relevance for our analysis, as they
provide for some ‘indirect’ limitations to military activities in outer
space. Indeed, the obligation for states parties to undertake consultations
where they believe that an activity or experiment would cause harmful
interference with the activities of other states parties in the peaceful
exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial
bodies, may clearly have implications for their military uses of outer
space.44 Allegedly, this obligation was the only one violated by China
when carrying out the anti-satellite test in 2007.45
In conclusion, Article IV fails to provide a comprehensive regime to
govern all aspects of the military uses of outer space and the interpret-
ation and practical application of its provisions remains somewhat
controversial.

43
Art. IV(2), 4th sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 4.
44
See Art. IX, 3rd sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 4.
45
For the 2007 Chinese ASAT test see further infra, n. 186. For an analysis
of the relation between the Chinese ASAT test and Article IX see e.g. F.G. von
der Dunk, Target Practising in a Global Commons: The Chinese ASAT Test and
Outer Space Law, 10 The Korean Journal of Air and Space Law (2007), 181–99;
M.C. Mineiro, FY-1C and USA-193 ASAT Intercepts: An Assessment of Legal
Obligations under Article 9 of the Outer Space Treaty, 34 Journal of Space Law
(2008), 321.

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342 Handbook of space law

6.3.2 The Moon Agreement and Relevant Provisions of the

Remaining Space Treaties

Apart from the Outer Space Treaty, as regards the impact on military uses
of outer space, the most significant clauses are contained in the 1979
Moon Agreement. Article 3(2) of the Agreement supplements and
expands the prohibition included in Article IV(2) of the Outer Space
Treaty, in the sense that it prohibits any threat or use of force or any
hostile act or threat of hostile act on the moon.46 Article 3(3) also goes
beyond what was previously set forth in Article IV of the Outer Space
Treaty as it bans the placement of objects carrying nuclear weapons or
any kind of weapons of mass destruction not only on the moon, but also
in orbits around, or other trajectory to or around, the moon. It has to be
emphasized that when referring to the moon, the Moon Agreement also
includes celestial bodies.47
The 1968 Rescue Agreement does not contain a specific provision
referring to military personnel. The 1975 Registration Convention
requires the launching state to register with the United Nations any space
object launched into earth orbit and to provide details about the space
object, inter alia regarding its general function.48 While, in theory,
military uses could be indicated as the ‘general function’ of a space
object, no requirement to provide such specific information exists.

6.4 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGULATING

MILITARY USES OF OUTER SPACE: OTHER
RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL REGIMES
As previously described, the UN space treaties and in particular the Outer
Space Treaty, while setting forth some limitations on the use of outer
space for military purposes, leave other important aspects thereof mostly
unaddressed. Consequently, in order to partially fill the gaps arising from
the interpretation and application of the space treaties, one should
consider the provisions of additional international legal instruments. It is
important to point out that these instruments, despite not specifically

46
On this see V.S. Vereshchetin, Limiting and Banning Military Uses of
Outer Space: Issues of International Law, in Essays in International Law in
Honour of Judge Manfred Lachs (Ed. J. Makarczyk) (1984), 671–84.
47
See Art. 1(1), Moon Agreement, supra n. 5.
48
See Art. II and Art. IV(1) respectively, Registration Convention, supra
n. 15.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 343

focusing on space law-related matters, have a direct impact on space

activities. This is particularly true for those treaties and agreements
which deal with disarmament and arms control, negotiated both at
multilateral and bilateral level.
The 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty49 is chronologically speaking the first
international treaty on arms limitation in outer space, as it makes a clear
distinction between allowed terrestrial military activities and those pro-
hibited in the atmosphere and in outer space. In this sense, the Treaty
represents an exception as it was never meant to supplement the
provisions of the space treaties – which were after all negotiated after the
entry into force of the Partial Test Ban Treaty – but rather to initiate
the legal regulation of military uses of outer space.
According to Article I of the Partial Test Ban Treaty, nuclear tests and
nuclear explosions of any kind are prohibited in the atmosphere and
beyond, including outer space. States parties shall also refrain from
causing, encouraging or being involved in any way in nuclear tests and
explosions in any of these environments.50 The Treaty does not ban
underground testing so long it does not affect the territory of other
states.51 Clearly, Article I of the Partial Test Ban Treaty was a source of
inspiration for Article IV(1) of the Outer Space Treaty.
Despite its relevance, the Partial Test Ban Treaty presents some
shortcomings. Firstly, the Treaty does not prohibit the placing or use of
nuclear weapons in outer space per se but refers to the testing of these
types of weapons in selected physical environments. Secondly, the Treaty
lacks any procedure to verify compliance with the obligations included,
leading to the legal status of the Treaty as a whole being generally
viewed as weak. Thirdly, Article IV of the Treaty enables states to
withdraw from the Treaty with a period of notice of three months in case
of ‘extra-ordinary events’. As any definition of the term ‘extra-ordinary
event’ is missing, the state withdrawing from the Treaty itself remains the
sole judge.52
Subsequent to the Partial Test Ban Treaty, both the United States and
the Soviet Union announced their decision to refrain from stationing any
objects carrying nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction

49
The Partial Test Ban Treaty, supra n. 23, is also often referred to as the
Limited Test Ban Treaty.
50
See Art. 1(2), Partial Test Ban Treaty, supra n. 23.
51
Cf. US Department of State, Narrative of the Partial Test Ban Treaty,
www.state.gov/t/isn/4797.htm, last accessed 17 March 2014.
52
See P.G. Alves, Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space: A Guide to
the Discussions in the Conference on Disarmament (1991), 56–7.

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in outer space. This decision was later inserted into Resolution

1884(XVIII) of 17 October 1963.53
The Convention on the Prohibition of Military and Other Hostile Use
of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD Convention) was
signed in 1977 and entered into force in 1980.54 It now has 76 parties,
including space powers such as the United States, Russia and China. The
ENMOD Convention deals with the deliberate manipulation of the
natural process for military or hostile purposes.55 The Convention has a
more encompassing scope than, for example, the Partial Test Ban Treaty,
as it prohibits states parties from engaging in military or any other hostile
use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-
lasting or severe effects in specified areas including outer space.56 Article
II of the Convention stipulates that ‘“environmental modification tech-
niques” refers to any technique for changing – through the deliberate
manipulation of natural processes – the dynamics, composition or
structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and
atmosphere, or of outer space’. However, the ENMOD Convention
expressly authorizes the use of environmental modification techniques for
peaceful purposes.57
The ENMOD Convention assumes particular relevance at the present
time because it may create restrictions on the use of a specific weapon in
space, namely anti-satellite weapons (ASATs). The use of destructive,
hit-to-kill ASATs, indeed, has a deleterious effect on the space environ-
ment, because, as demonstrated in the case of the 2007 Chinese ASAT
test, satellite destruction results in the creation of huge amounts of space
debris. Once generated, such space debris may remain in orbit for an
indefinite number of years, putting at risk the safety of space objects.58
The use of ASAT weapons may have widespread, long-lasting and severe

53
Question of general and complete disarmament, UNGA Res.
1884(XVIII), of 17 October 1963; UN Doc. A/RES/18/1884.
54
Convention on the Prohibition of Military and Other Hostile Use of
Environmental Modification Techniques (hereafter ENMOD Convention),
Geneva, done 18 May 1977, entered into force 5 October 1978; 1108 UNTS 151;
TIAS No. 9614; 31 UST 333; 31 UST 333; UKTS 1979 No. 24; Cmnd. 6985;
ATS 1984, No. 22; 16 ILM 88 (1977).
55
See generally M. Benkö, The Problem of Space Debris: A Valid Case
Against the Use of Aggressive Military Systems in Outer Space?, in Space Law:
Current Problems and Perspectives for Future Regulation (Eds. M. Benkö &
K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 167 ff.
56
See Art. I, ENMOD Convention, supra n. 54.
57
Cf. Art. III, ENMOD Convention, supra n. 54.
58
See further infra, esp. § 13.2.1.

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effects on the space environment, thus falling within the scope of Article
II of the Convention.
Nevertheless, the ability of the ENMOD Convention to create legal
barriers to the deployment of ASAT weapons, or at least specific usage of
these weapons, is undermined by the wording of the Convention itself. In
order for the Convention to be applicable there must be a case of states
making use of military or hostile use of other environmental modification
techniques, in other words against other states – it is difficult to see how
this prohibition could apply to China’s destruction of its own satellite.
The Chinese ASAT test was, indeed, not performed in the course of a
military confrontation and was not intended to have a hostile effect on
any specific state. Therefore, while putting some limits to the use of
weapons in space causing long-lasting environmental detrimental effects,
the ENMOD Convention does not seem to be able to halt one of the
highly perceived threats to the safety of space objects, namely the testing
of hit-to-kill ASAT weapons.
Though not a treaty, Resolution 2625(XV), the so-called Friendly
Relations Declaration of 24 October 1970,59 is relevant for the purpose of
our analysis. The Declaration reiterates the basic principles laid down in
the UN Charter by establishing that states ‘shall refrain from any action,
which may aggravate the situation so as to endanger the maintenance of
international peace and security, and shall act in accordance with the
purposes and principles of the United Nations’.60 Consequently, states
shall avoid any military use of or activity in outer space which may result
in a threat to international peace and security.
The 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty61 goes beyond the
1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty as it bans nuclear explosions in all
environments either for military or civilian purposes. Under the Treaty,
states parties shall refrain from carrying out or encouraging in any way
nuclear weapons test explosions or any other nuclear explosion and shall
prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion in any place under their
jurisdiction.62

59
United Nations Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning
Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the
Charter of the United Nations, UNGA Res. 2625(XXV), of 24 October 1970;
UN Doc. A/8028.
60
Princ. 2(4), UNGA Resolution 2625(XXV), supra n. 59.
61
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, New York, done 24 September
1996, not yet entered into force; Cm. 3665; 35 ILM 1439 (1996); S. Treaty Doc.
No. 105-28 (1997).
62
See Art. I, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, supra n. 61.

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Significantly, the Treaty foresees a system to verify compliance with

its provisions. This system shall operate in the least intrusive manner and
be based on objective information provided by the states parties. The
Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996; as of March
2014, 162 states have ratified the Treaty and another 21 have merely
signed it.63 Three nuclear weapon states, notably India, North Korea and
Pakistan, have not signed the Treaty. Among others, China, Iran, Israel
and the United States64 have signed the Treaty but not yet ratified it.
Another important legal instrument related to military uses of outer
space is the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile
Proliferation (ICOC).65 Its importance stems not only from the fact that
ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads traverse outer space, but also
because these types of missiles can be modified to serve as launch
vehicles66 as well as workable ASATs. The purpose of the ICOC is to
stop ballistic missile proliferation. Subscribing states commit not to
support ballistic missile programmes in countries suspected of developing
nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.67 Additionally, they are asked to
ensure ‘the necessary vigilance’ in assisting other countries’ space launch
programmes, which could be used to disguise ballistic missile pro-
grammes.68 The ICOC establishes transparency and confidence-building
measures by asking subscribing states to submit an annual declaration
providing an outline of their ballistic missile policies and to exchange
pre-launch notifications on ballistic missile and space launch vehicle
launches.69

63
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Nuclear-Test-Ban_Treaty,
last accessed 14 April 2014; for information and updates on the Treaty, see
www.ctbto.org, last accessed 14 April 2014.
64
The US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty in 1999; see www.
armscontrol.org/act/1999_09-10/ctbso99, last accessed 14 April 2014.
65
For the text of the ICOC see www.armscontrol.org/documents/icoc, last
accessed 14 April 2014. For an analysis of the ICOC, see L. Marta, The Hague
Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation: ‘Lessons Learned’ for
the European Union Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, 34 ESPI
Perspectives (June 2010).
66
For example, the Soviet Proton rocket originally designed to carry nuclear
warheads is now used for heavy lift services into orbit.
67
See Art. 3(5), ICOC, supra n. 65.
68
Art. 3(4), ICOC, supra n. 65.
69
See Art. 4(1), ICOC, supra n. 65. Further cf. J. Robinson, The Role of
Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures in Advancing Space Security,
28 ESPI Report (September 2010), 21–2.

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The ICOC is not a treaty; it is a typical example of a so-called ‘soft

law’ instrument, an instrument which does not have binding character and
is therefore voluntary in nature. Despite lacking such obligatory value, its
provisions are not to be entirely neglected, as they carry considerable
political authority. Significantly, the Code has 133 subscribing states,
including the United States and Russia. However, several key countries
that are active in the field of ballistic missiles, such as North Korea, Iran
and China, as well as others such as Brazil, Mexico and Saudi Arabia,
have not subscribed to the Code. It appears, thus, that most of the
countries located in the area from North Africa to East Asia do not
participate in the Code. This seriously undermines its credibility as a
universal security tool.
There are also a number of bilateral agreements that stipulate arms
limitation or disarmament measures and by that token have an impact on
the military uses of outer space. It has been observed that while being
bilateral in character, these agreements had the potential to become
multilateral or become customary in space law within the international
community as a whole due to the fact that they were negotiated between
the two most relevant space powers at that time, the United States and the
Soviet Union.70 In this respect, the most significant bilateral agreement
was the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty71 because it repre-
sented the first concrete legal step to reinforce the partial demilitarization
of outer space since the time of the Outer Space Treaty. The ABM Treaty
banned the testing and deployment of space-based, sea-based, and
air-based ABM systems and components.
Article V of the Treaty thus provided: ‘Each Party undertakes not to
develop, test, or deploy ABM systems or components which are sea-
based, air-based, space-based, or mobile land-based.’ It also imposed a
ban on ASATs by stating that ‘[e]ach Party undertakes not to interfere
with the national technical means of verification of the other Party
operating in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article’.72 Furthermore,
it established that ‘[e]ach Party undertakes not to use deliberate conceal-
ment measures which impede verification by national technical means of

70
Cf. Rathgeber & Remuss, supra n. 2, 16.
71
Agreement Between the United States of America and the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems
(hereafter ABM Treaty), Moscow, done 26 May 1972, entered into force 3
October 1972, no longer in effect 13 June 2002; 944 UNTS 13; TIAS No. 7503;
23 UST 3435.
72
Art. XII(2), ABM Treaty, supra n. 71.

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348 Handbook of space law

compliance with the provisions of this Treaty’.73 Following the with-

drawal of the United States in 2002, the Treaty is officially void. This
fact has a serious negative effect on the security of space objects and
outer space as a whole because it can be said that there is no longer a
treaty prohibition against testing or deploying weapons in space other
than weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons.74
Chronologically, the ABM Treaty was followed by seven-year long
negotiations, concluded in Vienna in 1979 with the signing of the
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II).75 This Treaty limited the
number of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles (ICBMs, SLBMs and heavy
bombers), MIRV systems and strategic offensive arms. It likewise
imposed a ban on construction of new land-based ICBM launchers and
incorporated verification provisions.
Due mainly to a number of unresolved issues, the SALT II Treaty
never entered into force. In July 1991 instead the bilateral Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START) was announced.76 It called for specific limits
on launchers and the first physical reduction in US and Soviet strategic
nuclear weapons ever agreed too. A new Strategic Arms Limitation
Agreement was signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitri Med-
vedev in April 2010, replacing the expired 1991 START Treaty.77 The
2010 agreement reduced the number of deployed nuclear warheads to
1,550 and the number of delivery vehicles (ICBMs, submarines and
bombers) to 800 (down from 1,600 under the START agreement).78
These developments have an impact on space activities because delivery

73
Art. XII(3), ABM Treaty, supra n. 71.
74
See J. Dean, Future Security in Space: Treaty Issues, INESAP Information
Bulletin 20 (2002), 21 July 2002; www.inesap.org/sites/default/files/inesap_old/
bulletin20/bul20art03.htm, last accessed 14 April 2014; T. Hitchens, Future
Security in Space – Charting a Cooperative Course, Center for Defense
Information (2004), 83.
75
Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (hereafter
SALT II Treaty), Vienna, signed 18 June 1979, not entered into force; UST
LEXIS 220; 18 ILM 1112 (1979); S. Exec. Doc. Y, 96-1.
76
Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms
(hereafter START I Treaty), Moscow, done 31 July 1991, not entered into force;
S. Treaty Doc. No. 102-20.
77
See http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/world/strategic-arms-reduction-
treaty.htm, last accessed 14 April 2014.
78
See Art. 2(b), (c), Treaty between the United States of America and the
Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of
Strategic Offensive Arms, Prague, done 8 April 2010, entered into force 5

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 349

vehicles capable of carrying intercontinental warheads can be modified to

serve as launchers of payloads in outer space. From this perspective, an
important legal question is whether such a modification could constitute
one of the reductions required under the above treaties.
Finally, an additional treaty framework, not belonging to the area of
arms limitation strictly speaking, is still worth mentioning here as its
provisions are also relevant to the military uses of outer space, in
particular the use of military satellites: the 1992 Constitution and
Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).79 These
two documents establish the framework for the use of the radio-
frequency spectrum of geostationary and other satellite orbits by member
states.80 With specific regard to the use of military radio installations,81
Article 48(1) of the ITU Constitution provides: ‘Member States retain
their entire freedom with regard to military radio installations.’ Such a
provision must be read in connection with that contained in the second
paragraph of the same Article, which specifies: ‘Nevertheless, these
[military radio] installations must, so far as possible, observe statutory
provisions relative to giving assistance in case of distress and to the
measures to be taken to prevent harmful interference.’ This restriction is
in line with a broader obligation falling upon ITU member states, namely
to avoid harmful interference to the radio services or communications of
other member states, as per Article 45 of the Constitution.82

February 2011; Treaty Doc. 111-5, www.state.gov/documents/organization/

140035.pdf, last accessed 14 April 2014.
79
ITU Constitution (Constitution of the International Telecommunication
Union (hereafter ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered
into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994
No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992
(1993), at 1), resp. ITU Convention (Convention of the International Tele-
communication Union (hereafter ITU Convention), Geneva, done 22 December
1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm.
2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference,
Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 71). Since their adoption in 1992, the ITU Constitution
and Convention have been amended by Plenipotentiary Conferences (Kyoto,
1994; Minneapolis, 1998 and Marrakesh, 2002). Those amendments entered into
force on 1 January 1996, 1 January 2000 and 1 January 2004. See further
www.itu.int/net/about/basic-texts/index.aspx, last accessed 17 March 2014.
80
For an analysis of the ITU system see further infra, § 8.2.
81
See also Schmitt, supra n. 9, 89–125.
82
Art. 45(1), ITU Constitution, supra n. 79, reads: ‘All stations, whatever
their purpose, must be established and operated in such a manner as not to cause
harmful interference to the radio services or communications of other Member
States or of recognized operating agencies, or of other duly authorized operating

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350 Handbook of space law

6.5 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGULATING

MILITARY USES OF OUTER SPACE: GENERAL
PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW
6.5.1 Exceptions to the Prohibition on the Use of Force in the UN
Charter

Outer space activities must be carried out in compliance with the

fundamental rules of public international law, in particular those included
in the UN Charter. Such applicability of public international law to outer
space is formally codified by Article III of the Outer Space Treaty, which
states that space activities are to be conducted ‘in accordance with
international law including the Charter of the United Nations, in the
interest of maintaining international peace and security’.83 Consequently,
the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty dealing with the military uses of
outer space, specifically those of Article IV as discussed above, must be
interpreted in the light of the UN Charter which, a fortiori, is designed to
have supremacy over subsequent treaties like the Outer Space Treaty.84
One of the primary goals of the United Nations is to maintain
international peace and security.85 In order to achieve this goal, the UN
member states agree to take collective measure to prevent and remove
threats to peace and to suppress acts of aggression. The UN system is
based on the provisions of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter which prohibit
the threat or use of force in interstate relations.86 These provisions, which
are generally viewed as having the value of peremptory norms of
international law,87 give direction and guidance to the remaining prin-
ciples of the UN Charter. As a corollary to Article 2(4) states are required

agencies which carry on a radio service, and which operate in accordance with
the provisions of the Radio Regulations.’
83
Similar provisions referring to the applicability of public international law
to space activities are included in Art. 2, Moon Agreement, supra n. 5.
84
See Art. 103, UN Charter, supra n. 6. For an extensive analysis of the UN
Charter, including its supremacy over other international treaties, see B. Simma
et al., The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary (3rd edn., 2000). Cf.
further supra, e.g. § 2.1.1.
85
See Art. 1(1), UN Charter, supra n. 6.
86
See C. Gray, International Law and the Use of Force (2nd edn., 2004); A.
Belatchev, Prohibition of Force Under the UN Charter, A Study of Art. 2(4)
(1991).
87
Cf. Art. 53, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 17. For a
description of the characteristics of ‘peremptory norms’ see A. Cassese, Inter-
national Law (2005), 168.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 351

to settle their disputes likely to endanger international peace and security

by peaceful means in accordance with the provisions of Articles 2(3) and
33 of the Charter.88
The UN Charter foresees two main exceptions to the prohibition on the
use of force in international relations: the use of force by states
authorized by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter and
the individual or collective right of self-defence pursuant to Article 51 of
the Charter. The provisions of Chapter VII and Article 51 of the Charter
constitute the foundation of the so-called jus ad bellum, namely the
circumstances under which it is lawful to have recourse to military
force.89
As to the first exception, the Security Council plays a key role within
the centralized system of collective security established by the UN
Charter.90 Firstly, the Security Council has the power to determine the
existence of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of
aggression and, consequently, the authority to make recommendations (as
per Article 39) and to decide what enforcement measures shall be taken
according to Articles 41 (referring to measures not involving force) and
42 (referring to military actions). Among the measures not involving the
use of force figures the ‘interruption of … radio, and other means of
communication’, which may include space assets.91

88
Art. 33, UN Charter, supra n. 6, reads as follows: ‘1. The parties to any
dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of
international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation,
enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional
agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice. 2. The
Security Council shall, when it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle
their dispute by such means.’
89
See R.J. Lee, The jus ad bellum in spatialis: The Exact Content and
Practical Implications of the Law on the Use of Force in Outer Space, 29 Journal
of Space Law (2003), 93; S. Mosteshar, Militarization of Outer Space: Legality
and Implications for the Future of Space Law, in Proceedings of the Forty-
Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2005), 473 ff.; N.O. Ruiz & E.
Salamanca-Aguado, Exploring the Limits of International Law Relating to the
Use of Force in Self-defence, 16 European Journal of International Law (2005),
499; N. Deller, Jus ad Bellum: Law Regulating Resort to Force, 30 Human
Rights (2003), 8; Y. Dinstein War, Aggression and Self-Defence (3rd edn., 2001).
90
See D. Schweigman, The Authority of the Security Council Under
Chapter VII of the UN Charter: Legal Limits and the Role of the International
Court of Justice (2001).
91
Art. 41, UN Charter, supra n. 6.

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352 Handbook of space law

Military actions are the ultima ratio and shall be considered only if the
Security Council deems measures not involving force not adequate.92
Only in that case may the Security Council take measures to maintain
and restore peace: to this end it shall have military forces at its disposal.93
According to Article 43 of the UN Charter, states shall make available
forces to the Security Council in accordance with special agreement or
agreements. However, these agreements have never been concluded, with
the result that the Security Council in reality has remained without tools
to implement its collective security tasks. Because of this situation, the
Security Council has progressively developed the practice of authorizing
individual states to use force. Generally, states inform the Security
Council about their intention or willingness to use force to restore
international peace and security and request from the Council author-
ization to do so.94
With regard to the second exception to the prohibition on the use of
force, Article 51 of the UN Charter recognizes that UN member states
have the ‘inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an
armed attack occurs’. The interpretation and application of the right of
self-defence have generated much debate; in particular, the main point of
controversy has been the identification of the moment from which this
right can be exercised. The traditional and most accepted interpretation
suggests a restrictive understanding of the provisions of Article 51.95
From this perspective, a state can act in self-defence only after an armed
attack has occurred. This view has also been held by the International
Court of Justice in the Nicaragua Case.96
However, an alternative interpretation claiming the existence of a
pre-emptive right of self-defence, namely the right to act in self-defence
before an attack has taken place, has also been put forward by some

92
See Art. 42, UN Charter, supra n. 6.
93
Cf. esp. Arts. 43–46, UN Charter, supra n. 6.
94
See N. Blokker, Is the Authorization Authorized? Powers and Practice of
the UN Security Council to Authorize the Use of Force by Coalitions of the Able
and Willing, 11 European Journal of International Law (2000), 541; R.A. Falk,
What future for the UN Charter System of War Prevention?, 97 American
Journal of International Law (2003), 590; M. Reisman, Criteria for the Lawful
Use of Force in International Law, 10 Yale Journal of International Law (1985),
279.
95
See Dinstein, supra n. 89, 182 ff.; J. O’Brien, International Law (2002),
682.
96
Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against
Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America), Merits, June 26, ICJ Reports
1986, pp. 14–150, para. 195.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 353

authors.97 The supporters of this view claim that a customary inter-

national law right of pre-emptive self-defence existed in the period
preceding the UN Charter, and that the Charter has not modified or
amended such a right. According to the famous formulation of US
Secretary of State Daniel Webster, adopted by the seminal Caroline Case,
the legitimate exercise of this right requires ‘a necessity of self-defense,
instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for
deliberation’.98 In addition, the action taken must be proportionate.99 In
short, this right of pre-emptive self-defence could be exercised only upon
compliance with strict criteria, such as the presence of a proven immedi-
ate threat against a state’s territory or forces and the absence of a
practicable alternative to an action of military self-defence.
Regardless of the interpretation given to Article 51, any self-defence
action must comply with the principles of necessity and proportional-
ity.100 ‘Necessity’ means that forceful action is necessary to defend
against an attack.101 As correctly described: ‘Its application … calls for
assessments of intentions and conditions bearing upon the likelihood of
attack (in the case of anticipatory self-defence) or, if an attack has
already taken place, of the likelihood that peaceful means may not be
effective to restore peace and remove the attackers.’102 Recourse to force
is therefore legally available only after peaceful means to settle the
dispute have failed.103 Clearly, if an attack has already taken place, the
requirement of necessity is automatically complied with and the state
being attacked can undoubtedly exercise its right to act in self-defence.
‘Proportionality’ is linked to the ultimate goal of self-defence, which is
not punishment or reprisal, but rather to respond or to prevent an armed

97
See Simma et al., supra n. 84, p. 678; I. Brownlie, International Law and
the Use of Force by States (1963), 275.
98
Note of Daniel Webster of 24 April 1841, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_
century/br-1842d.asp#web2, last accessed 14 April 2014. For a summary of the
Caroline Case see M.N. Shaw, International Law (6th edn., 2008), 1131.
99
For a comprehensive analysis of the right of self-defence see D.
Kretzmer, The Inherent Right to Self-Defence and Proportionality in Jus Ad
Bellum, 24 European Journal of International Law (2013), 235.
100
This concept has been affirmed i.a. by the International Court of Justice
in the Nicaragua Case, see Military and Paramilitary Activities (Nicaragua v.
US), 1986 I.C.J. 14, at 103.
101
Cf. A.C. Arend & R.J. Beck, International Law and The Use of Force
(1993), 72.
102
O. Schachter, The Right of States to Use Armed Force, 82 Michigan Law
Review (1984), 1635.
103
Ibid., 1635.

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354 Handbook of space law

attack or an imminent threat. Any self-defence action must not exceed in

its aim or manner the events which provoke it and must be, thus,
proportionate to the attack.

6.5.2 Applicability of the Two Exceptions to the Prohibition on the

Use of Force to Outer Space

As discussed, the Charter of the United Nations establishes two excep-

tions to the prohibition on the use of force: military intervention
authorized by the UN Security Council and the right to act in self-
defence. As per Article III of the Outer Space Treaty, international law
and, in particular, the UN Charter, is relevant to outer space activities,
and the applicability also of these two exceptions extends to the realm of
outer space. So, while being generally prohibited from using force in
outer space, states might be legally entitled to do so if authorized by the
UN Security Council or if the right of self-defence is triggered.104
The Security Council has never discussed authorizing states to use
force in outer space so far; however, this possibility cannot be excluded,
especially taking into account the growing importance of space assets.
This potential authorization does not seem to raise any specific legal
issues, as it might be considered to fall within the scope of Chapter VII
of the UN Charter and to be activated under the same prerequisites that
normally trigger the application of Chapter VII. The only issues might be
those related to the chronic decision-making difficulties the Security
Council encounters because of the veto power of the five permanent
Security Council members.105 These difficulties raise questions about the
Council’s ability to effectively maintain and restore international peace
and security in the event of a crisis connected to events occurring in outer
space.
As far as the right to act in self-defence is concerned, while some
authors question its applicability to outer space,106 the dominant view is
that states may exercise this right to protect their space assets.107 In
literature there is no agreement as to which interpretation of self-defence

104
On this point see generally Lee, supra n. 89, 93.
105
See Arts. 23(1), 27(3), UN Charter, supra n. 6.
106
Cf. I. Vlasic, Space Law and the Military Applications of Space Tech-
nology, in Perspectives on International Law (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1995), 394;
A. Hurwitz, The Legality of Space Militarization (1986), 72.
107
See C.M. Petras, The Use of Force in Response to Cyber Attack on
Commercial Space Systems – Reexamining ‘Self-Defense’ in Outer Space in The
Light of the Convergence of US Military and Commercial Space Systems, 67

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 355

should be applied to outer space, whether a restrictive or broader one,

although there is a general tendency to prefer the former. Regardless of
the interpretation chosen, the application of the right of self-defence in
outer space appears rather problematic.108 In this respect, the most
debated points concern the nature of the events which might trigger the
right of self-defence in space and the nature of the self-defence actions
which states might undertake.
As to the first point, certainly the intentional destruction of a satellite,
for example by means of a kinetic weapon, would authorize a state to act
in self-defence in outer space under a restrictive interpretation of Article
51 of the UN Charter, as it would meet the requirement of an ‘armed
attack’. Furthermore, it is arguable that an attack against a space object
registered by a state could constitute an attack against that state’s
‘territory’.109 This hypothesis is in line with existing international law
principles, particularly those belonging to the international law of the sea,
according to which attacks against a vessel carrying the flag of a state in
international waters amounts to an attack against the ‘territory’ of the
state of flag.
However, it could hardly be claimed that the mere placement in space
of weapons not forbidden by Article IV of the Outer Space Treaty would
constitute an ‘armed attack against the territory of another state’ – it is
more similar to the movement of troops on the ground. A bit more
difficult to ascertain would be the status of ‘attacks’ against a satellite
that do not cause its destruction, such as a cyber attack. Certainly, such
an act authorizes a state to react but the scale of this reaction is to be
determined based on factors like the purpose of the cyber attack, its
measure of repetitiveness, and its connection with other military activities
on the ground.110
As to the second point, due to the delicate nature of outer space, states
should refrain from military actions which may put at risk the safety of
other states’ space objects as well as result in the contamination of outer
space. Outer space is a very peculiar environment in which one’s action

Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2002), 1213; G. Zhukov, International Space
Law (1976), 89; J.E.S. Fawcett, International Law and The Use of Outer Space
(1968), 39.
108
See D. Goedhuis, Legal Implications of the Present and Projected
Military Uses of Outer Space, in Maintaining Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes
(Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1984), 253, 260–4; Schmitt, supra n. 9, 89.
109
Note that Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 4, effectively provides a
state with quasi-territorial jurisdiction over a space object once registered.
110
Cf. e.g. Petras, supra n. 107, 1220.

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may have negative consequences on all the other subjects involved.

Indeed, unlike on earth, where the effects and the damage of a military
strike can be limited to the enemy’s facility or territory, in space this does
not happen. For example, if a satellite is destroyed by means of a kinetic
weapon, the pieces of space debris released upon the impact will threaten
satellites for an extensive period of time.111
Currently, there are no express legal limits on how far states can go
when acting in self-defence in outer space. Arguably, Article IX of the
Outer Space Treaty, which would in principle impose restrictions by
requiring a state not to cause harmful interference to the space activities
of other states or to the space environment, is not applicable in times of
war.112 So, if a restrictive approach to self-defence is adopted, the most
stringent barriers can come from the application of the principle of
proportionality. Thus, in the case of an attack on the ground, a state
should refrain from retaliating by striking another state’s satellite, as the
consequence of such an action could be disproportionate and negatively
affect third parties. Additionally, in the event of the use of force against
one of its space objects, a state should preferably counter-attack by
targeting ground stations of the attacker, even if striking against an
enemy’s satellite is not expressly prohibited.
The relevance of the principle of proportionality would be even greater
if a broad interpretation of the right of self-defence were used. Indeed, a
preventive strike against another state’s satellite would have conse-
quences disproportionate to the primary goal of affecting that state, as not
only would the space environment be contaminated, but third parties’
space activities would be endangered. From this perspective, there is
room to argue that states should refrain, to the greatest possible extent,
from using destructive weapons in space, such as those resulting in a
cloud of debris, and should opt for alternative approaches, such as using
laser, radio jamming or cyber attack.

111
For example, on 22 January 2013 a small Russian satellite called Ball
Lens in the Space (BLITS) was hit by debris from the 2007 Chinese Anti-
Satellite test; see www.space.com/20138-russian-satellite-chinese-space-
junk.html, last visited 18 March 2014.
112
See L.T. Tate, The Status of the Outer Space Treaty at International Law
During ‘War’ and ‘Those Measures Short of War’, 32 Journal of Space Law
(2006), 177; M. Bourbonnière, Jus in Bello Spatialis, Space Studies Institute
Paper Series (1999), 143.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 357

6.5.3 International Humanitarian Law and Outer Space

Additionally, when dealing with the use of force in outer space the
applicability and relevance of another set of rules must be taken into
account, namely the jus in bello or international humanitarian law
rules.113 The term ‘international humanitarian law’ refers to the law
regulating how war is to be conducted. The humanitarian law is mainly
composed of two systems: the Geneva system114 and the Hague

113
This section provides only a general overview of the applicability of
international humanitarian rules to outer space. A deeper analysis of this issue
goes beyond the restricted scope of this chapter.
114
The Geneva system consists of the so-called four Geneva Conventions
(Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and
Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (First Geneva Convention), Geneva, done 12
August 1949, entered into force 21 October 1950; 75 UNTS 31; TIAS No. 3362;
6 UST 3114; ATS 1958 No. 21; Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at
Sea (Second Geneva Convention), Geneva, done 12 August 1949, entered into
force 21 October 1950; 75 UNTS 85; TIAS No. 3363; 6 UST 3217; ATS 1958
No. 21; Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Third
Geneva Convention), Geneva, done 12 August 1949, entered into force 21
October 1950; 75 UNTS 135; TIAS No. 3364; 6 UST 3316; ATS 1958 No. 21;
and Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War (Fourth Geneva Convention), Geneva, done 12 August 1949, entered into
force 21 October 1950; 75 UNTS 287; TIAS No. 3365; 6 UST 3516; ATS 1958
No. 21) and three Additional Protocols (Protocol Additional to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts (hereafter Geneva Protocol I), Geneva, done 8
June 1977, entered into force 7 December 1978; 1125 UNTS 3; UKTS 1999 No.
29; Cm. 4338; ATS 1991 No. 29; 16 ILM 1391 (1977); 72 AJIL 457 (1978);
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating
to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (hereafter
Geneva Protocol II), Geneva, done 8 June 1977, entered into force 7 December
1978; UKTS 1999 No. 30; Cm. 4339; ATS 1991 No. 30; 16 ILM 1442 (1977);
72 AJIL 502 (1978); and Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949, and relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem
(hereafter Geneva Protocol III), Geneva, done 8 December 2005, entered into
force 14 January 2007; Cm. 6917; S. Treaty Doc. No. 109-10 (2006); 2005 WL
4701955). The Conventions were developed at different stages between 1864 and
1949 and focused on the protection of civilians and those who can no longer
fight in armed conflict. The three Protocols, which amended certain aspects of
the Conventions, were developed in 1977 (Geneva Protocols I and II) and in
2005 (Geneva Protocol III). The texts of the Conventions and of the first two
Protocols are also available in Documents on the Laws of War (Eds. A. Roberts &
R. Guelff) (2000).

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358 Handbook of space law

system.115 The Geneva system is primarily concerned with maintaining

human security and dignity during armed conflicts. The Hague system is
focused on the legitimacy of the means and methods of conducting
hostilities. Among the fundamental principles of humanitarian law are
proportionality, humanity, discrimination and military necessity.
Fortunately, hostilities have not so far arisen in space; however, it
cannot be excluded that one day outer space will become a battlefield.
Although the international humanitarian law rules were not specifically
developed to govern the use of force in outer space, their applicability to
the realm of outer space should not be questioned. Nevertheless, this does
not mean that these rules can be applied in toto to outer space conflicts or
that they may be suited to properly regulate all possible uses of force in
space in their current formulation. The most significant issue related to
the use of force to, from and within outer space is that, according to
international humanitarian law rules, such force can only be exercised
against legitimate military objectives.116 Due to the fact that the majority
of commercial satellites have dual-use capacity and often have military
clients, the determination of a legitimate military target in space is highly
complicated.117 In principle, certain dual-use satellites, such as communi-
cation, remote sensing and navigation satellites, if used in the context of
military operations, would constitute legitimate targets. Instead, it would
be illegal to attack a civilian object merely because of its potential value
to the enemy.
After having determined that, upon certain conditions, dual-use satel-
lites might be targeted, there are two important questions to be addressed:
how these satellites could be attacked, and how collateral damage could
be limited. As to the first question, an attack could be undertaken by
means of a kinetic destructive hit-to-kill weapon, such as an anti-satellite
missile, which causes the destruction of the targeted object, or by means

115
The Hague system includes two international Conventions negotiated at
international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: the First Hague
Conference in 1899, leading to the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of
International Disputes, The Hague, done 29 July 1899, entered into force 4
September 1900; ATS 1901 No. 130; and the Second Hague Conference in 1907,
leading to the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes,
The Hague, done 18 October 1907, entered into force 26 January 1910; ATS
1997 No. 6. The text of the Conventions is also available in Documents on the
Laws of War, supra n. 114.
116
See M. Bourbonnière, National Security Law in Outer Space: The
Interface of Exploration and Security, 70 Journal of Air Law & Commerce
(2005), 3.
117
Ibid., 49.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 359

of non-kinetic techniques, such as jamming, distorting, use of laser waves

and suchlike. As a criterion to select the means of attack, one could
consider the collateral damage that could result upon recourse to such
means. As previously described, outer space is a special environment,
where a hit-to-kill strike against a satellite would not only endanger the
operation and life of third states’ satellites, but would also negatively
affect ‘users’ on the ground (apart from obviously causing losses to the
‘owner’ of the targeted satellite). Consequently, states should opt for the
use of non-kinetic weapons, or concentrate their attacks on ground
stations; in any case, states should adopt an approach aimed at minimiz-
ing collateral damage or incidental injuries to civilians caused during
space-related combat operations, in particular by selecting progressive
negating options, with the destruction of a satellite constituting the ultima
ratio.
The above are, however, mere suggestions, as currently there are no
internationally agreed rules regulating warfare in space. Because of this
situation, it has been suggested that a jus in bello spatialis should be
developed, namely a dedicated set of rules governing armed conflicts in
outer space and, thus, imposing limits in the way military force is used in
space.118 In the view of the proposers of this idea, existing international
humanitarian rules and, in particular, those included in Geneva Protocol I
should be duly amended to make them applicable to the space realm in a
clear and unquestionable manner.

6.6 OTHER LEGAL REGIMES AFFECTING MILITARY

ACTIVITIES IN OUTER SPACE
Space activities are also influenced by a series of specific regimes, both
international and national, dealing, for example, with the non-
proliferation of nuclear weapons as well as the regulation of the market
of commodities and technologies necessary to launch, carry and use such
weapons.

118
See M. Bourbonnière, Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) and the Neutral-
isation of Satellites or Ius in Bello Satellitis, 9 Journal of Conflict and Security
Law (2004), 43; F. Tronchetti, The Applicability of Rules of International
Humanitarian Law to Military Conflicts in Outer Space: Legal Certainty or Time
for a Change, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012
(2013), 357; S.R. Freeland, The Applicability of the Jus in Bello Rules of
International Humanitarian Law to The Use of Outer Space, in Proceedings of
the Forty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2007), 338.

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360 Handbook of space law

While, at first glance, attempts by some nations to stem the prolifer-

ation of nuclear weapons and related technologies may appear unrelated
to space activities, the connection is to be found in the dual-use nature of
these technologies. Often, the technologies used to build and carry
sophisticated weapons (for example ballistic missiles) are similar if not
identical to the technologies required for civilian space programmes, such
as for launching satellites into earth orbit. Due to the fact that these
specific regimes prohibit or impose restrictions on the international
transfer of these technologies and commodities, growing tensions
between states wishing to develop their civilian space programmes, on
one side, and states willing to prevent the traffic of dangerous military
items, on the other side, have developed. In this respect, developing states
have long voiced their disappointment by arguing that export control
restrictions prevent them from having access to, and using, outer space.
From the other end the most technologically advanced states claim that
trade restrictions on dangerous military items are justified for national
security and foreign policy reasons.

6.6.1 The Missile Technology Control Regime

In 1987 the governments of the leading industrial nations adopted the

Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)119 in order to coordinate
their export controls so as to control nuclear proliferation.120 Responding
to the apparent inadequacy of the earlier non-proliferation regime based
on the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,121 the seven initial MTCR
adherents122 informally agreed in an exchange of letters to deal with the
problem of global nuclear proliferation through export controls on

119
Agreement on Guidelines for the Transfer of Equipment and Technology
Related to Missiles (hereafter MTCR Agreement), done 16 April 1987; 26 ILM
599 (1987). For more information on the MTCR see also www.mtcr.info/english/
index.html, last accessed 5 November 2013. See also further on the MTCR, esp.
in the context of launching activities, infra, § 7.5.1.1.
120
See M. Fitzpatrick, Note, Arms Control: Export Controls on Missile
Technology, 29 Harvard International Law Journal (1988), 145–6.
121
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Non-Proliferation
Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 1 July 1968, entered into force 5
March 1970; 729 UNTS 161; TIAS 6839; 21 UST 483; UKTS 1970 No. 88;
Cmnd. 3683; ATS 1973 No. 3; 7 ILM 809 (1968).
122
The original members of the MTCR were the ‘G-7’ countries, i.e. Canada,
Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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weapons delivery systems, rather than on nuclear materials and tech-

nology in order to control transfers that could make a contribution to
nuclear weapons delivery systems other than manned aircraft.123
It is important to point out that the MTCR Agreement is not a treaty
but rather a set of voluntary arrangements among concerned states.
MTCR states apply a common export control policy (as per the MTCR
Guidelines for Sensitive Missile-Relevant Transfers) on an agreed list
(the MTCR Equipment, Software and Technology Annex).124
The MTCR put under strict controls the export of space launch
vehicles, components and the production technologies used in civilian
space programmes. Under the MTCR Agreement, all ‘missile-related’
technologies are divided into two categories, which separate the most
strictly controlled articles from less-restricted ones.
Category I, the most restricted group, contains ‘[c]omplete rocket
systems (including ballistic missile systems, space launch vehicles, and
sounding rockets) and unmanned air vehicle systems … [of a certain
range] as well as the specially designed production facilities for these
systems’.125 Category I technology transfers, and thus all proposed
transfers of space launch vehicles, components and production facilities,
are strictly controlled under the MTCR. The regime imposes a ‘strong
presumption to deny’ export applications for the listed Category I items.
This presumption may be rebutted only when the recipient state provides
binding assurances that ‘[t]he items will be used only for the purpose
stated’ and that the item will not be retransferred without permission.126
Importantly, there is no bright line between military ‘missiles’ and
civilian ‘space launch vehicles’. In fact, early civilian space projects
simply adopted military technologies.
Category II comprises an extensive list of dual-use technologies which
may have potential uses in MTCR-controlled projects, such as propulsion

123
See Canada-France-Federal Republic of Germany-Italy-Japan-United
Kingdom-United States: Agreement on Guidelines for the Transfer of Equipment
and Technology Related to Missiles, Exchange of letters, announced 16 April
1987; 26 ILM 599 (1987).
124
See MTCR Equipment, Software and Technology Annex (hereinafter
MTCR Annex), 23 October 2012, www.mtcr.info/english/annex.html, last
accessed 17 March 2014.
125
Introduction, Definitions, Terminology, Sec. 2, Definitions, MTCR
Annex, supra n. 124.
126
Sec. 2, MTCR Guidelines for Sensitive Missile-Relevant Transfers (here-
after MTCR Guidelines), www.mtcr.info/english/guidetext.htm, last accessed 5
November 2013.

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362 Handbook of space law

components, propellants, structural materials, communications equip-

ment, avionics equipment and certain computers.127 These transfers are
presumptively permitted, provided they do not contribute to a ‘project of
concern’.128 Projects of concern are identified case by case, by evaluating
the risks of nuclear proliferation, the status of the recipient state’s missile
and space programmes, whether the transfer will contribute to the
development of a delivery system, the proposed end-use of the item, and
any other ‘relevant multilateral agreements’.129
Each MTCR member is supposed to establish national export control
policies for ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles,
space launch vehicles, drones, remotely piloted vehicles, sounding rock-
ets, and underlying components and technologies that appear on the
MTCR Annex.130 As the MTCR is an informal non-treaty association of
governments sharing common interests, no formal mechanism to enforce
its provisions is in place. Thus, the controls foreseen by the MTCR
Guidelines and Annex are implemented by each state in accordance with
its laws and regulations.
Although the MTCR Guidelines ‘are not designed to impede national
space programs or international cooperation in such programs [which]
could not contribute to nuclear weapons delivery systems’,131 nothing in
them expressly excludes purely civilian or non-aggressive military space
projects from export controls. The MTCR’s stringent Category I controls
have been strictly applied, in particular by the United States, with respect
to space launch vehicle projects.132 Significantly, in the United States, the
Missile Technology Export Control Group, which is a governmental
inter-agency group, reviews licence applications administered by the
Department of Commerce (on dual-use goods) and the Directorate of
Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) (on munitions). The recommendations
of the Group are rarely overruled. In terms of non-proliferation, since
September 1993 under the National Non-Proliferation Policy133 the
United States does not support the development or acquisition of MTCR

127
See Catgeory II, MTCR Annex, supra n. 124.
128
See R.H. Speier, The Missile Technology Control Regime, in Chemical
Weapons & Missile Proliferation (Ed. T. Findlay) (1991), 120.
129
Sec. 3, MTCR Guidelines supra n. 126.
130
See www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/mtcr, last accessed 17 March 2014.
131
MTCR Guidelines, supra n. 126, 600.
132
See for the US ITARs further infra, § 6.6.3, § 7.5.1.4; also § 7.5.2.3.
133
President Clinton Fact Sheet on Nonproliferation And Export Control
Policy, 27 September 1993, www.rertr.anl.gov/REFDOCS/PRES93NP.html, last
accessed 14 April 2014.

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Category I systems, including space launch vehicles, in non-MTCR

countries and does not encourage new (not supported pre-1987) space
launch vehicle programmes in MTCR countries. The 2010 National
Space Policy of the United States points out that ‘[US] departments and
agencies should seek to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. space
industrial base while also addressing national security needs’.134 The
United States government will consider the issuance of licences for
space-related exports on a case-by-case basis, pursuant to, and in
accordance with, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the
Export Administration Regulations and other applicable laws, treaties and
regulations.135
Currently, the number of MTCR partners is 34, whilst several countries
have pledged to abide by the MTCR without joining it: Israel, Romania
and Slovakia have all committed to maintaining export controls consist-
ent with the regime. Other key states in the field of missile technology
and use, such as India and China, however, are outside of the MTCR
framework. After several years of US pressure on these countries to join
the MTCR and curtail their sales of missiles and missile technologies,
China announced in November 2000 that it would not help other states
build ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Though
declining to become an MTCR member, China has defined a ‘nuclear-
capable missile’ in the same manner as the MTCR.136

6.6.2 The Wassenaar Arrangement

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms

and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is a multilateral export control
regime which includes 41 participating states.137 The Arrangement’s
purpose is to contribute to regional and international security and stability

134
Intersector Guidelines, Effective Export Policies, 2010 National Space
Policy of the United States of America, 28 June 2010.
135
See Intersector Guidelines, Effective Export Policies, 2010 National
Space Policy of the United States of America, 28 June 2010.
136
See http://nuclearforces.org/country-profiles/china, last accessed 14 April
2014.
137
Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (hereafter Wassenaar Arrangement),
Wassenaar, done 19 December 1995, effective 12 July 1996; www.wassenaar.org,
last accessed 17 March 2014; also www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/mtcr, last
accessed 14 April 2014 and www.wassenaar.org/introduction/index.html, last
accessed 14 April 2014. See also further on the Wassenaar Arrangement infra,
§§ 7.5.1.2, 7.5.2.1.

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364 Handbook of space law

by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of

conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies to prevent
destabilizing accumulations of those items. The Wassenaar Arrangement
is the successor of the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Strategic
Export Controls (COCOM). During the Cold War, Western governments
implemented controls derived from the Coordinating Committee on
Multilateral Strategic Export Controls. When this arrangement became
obsolete due to the end of the Cold War, it was realized that there was
still a need for an international organization to coordinate national
controls on transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and
technologies, and that such organization had to have a broader scope than
the COCOM. The members of COCOM therefore initiated negotiations,
involving also the former Warsaw Pact countries, to develop a new
construction, the Wassenaar Arrangement. The Arrangement became
operational in 1996.
The Wassenaar Arrangement establishes lists of items for which
participating countries are to apply export controls. Member governments
through national policies implement these controls to ensure that trans-
fers of the controlled items do not contribute to the development or
enhancement of military capabilities that undermine the goals of the
Arrangement, and are not diverted to support such capabilities. The
decision to transfer or deny transfer of any item is the sole responsibility
of each participating state.138
Every six months participating states exchange information on deliver-
ies of conventional arms to non-Wassenaar members currently covering
seven categories, inter alia concerning missiles and missile systems.139
Practical implementation of the Wassenaar Arrangement varies from state
to state in accordance with national procedures. The United States
remains the state with the most stringent implementation of export
controls, but other participating states also exercise a rather accurate
measure of control over the export of conventional arms and dual-use
goods under the Arrangement.
In recent years, participating states have agreed to make further use of
the Regional Views exercise, implementing a rotating focus on geo-
graphic regions, and have continued to work actively to make the existing
control lists more readily understood and user friendly for licensing
authorities and exporters, and to ensure the detection and denial of

138
See Sec. II(3), Wassenaar Arrangement, supra n. 137.
139
See Secs. IV(2), V, Wassenaar Arrangement, supra n. 137.

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undesirable exports.140 Export controls were strengthened in a number of

areas, including spacecraft and passive counter-surveillance equipment of
mobile telecommunications. Participating states conducted a comprehen-
sive and systematic review of the Wassenaar Lists, which led to the
adoption of the revised Lists in December 2012.141
The Wassenaar Arrangement is meant to complement and reinforce,
without duplication, the existing control regimes for weapons of mass
destruction and their delivery systems, as well as other internationally
recognized measures designed to promote transparency and reduction of
the threats to international and regional peace and security which may
arise from transfers of armaments and sensitive dual-use goods and
technologies where the risks are judged greatest.142 Nevertheless, there
might be problems in the relationship between the Wassenaar Arrange-
ment and other non-proliferation regimes, such as the one provided for in
the MTCR. Indeed, although the MTCR was developed primarily with a
focus on arms and munitions (in space terms: missiles/launch vehicles),
whereas the Wassenaar Arrangement tried to capture the more compre-
hensive spectrum of dual-use goods, services and technologies (in space
terms: including notably, satellites), complications might arise as to
where a particular item would best be dealt with. This is also related
to the fact that the Wassenaar Arrangement had a List of Munitions to
control. In any case, the voluntary character of the two international
regimes and the remaining sovereign discretion of the individual states
parties thereto to establish and maintain their own export control regimes
as appropriate, caused such conflicts in this context to be absent, at least
from public view.143

140
See Public Statement of the 2012 Plenary Meeting of the Wassenaar
Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods
and Technology, www.wassenaar.org/publicdocuments/2012/WA%20Plenary%20
Public%20Statement%202012.pdf, last accessed 4 November 2013.
141
The revised control list is available at www.wassenaar.org/public
documents/index_PS_PC.html, last accessed 4 November 2013.
142
See Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms
and Dual Use Goods and Technology, Basic Documents, compiled by the
Wassenaar Arrangement Secretariat, January 2013, 9, www.wassenaar.org/public
documents/2013/Basic%20Documents%202013.pdf, last accessed 17 March
2014.
143
Cf. F.G. von der Dunk, A European Equivalent to United States Export
Controls: European Control of International Trade in Dual-Use Space Tech-
nologies, 7 Astropolitics (2009), 107.

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In conclusion, although the Wassenaar Arrangement is not directed

against any state or group of states and does not impede bona fide civil
transactions, due to the fact that it imposes restrictions on the market of
rocket and ballistic missiles it may have the effect of impeding the
development of space programmes and space activities in particular in
certain developing countries.

6.6.3 The US International Traffic in Arms Regulations

The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITARs) comprise a set of

US government regulations that control the export and import of defence-
related articles and services which are included on the United States
Munitions List (USML).144 ITARs are interpreted and enforced by the
Department of State’s DDTC.145
All US manufacturers, exporters and brokers of defence articles,
defence services or related technical data, as defined by the USML, must
register with the US Department of State for the purpose of ITARs.
Registration is the primary means used by the US government to obtain
information on who is involved in certain manufacturing and exporting
activities. Registration does not confer any export rights or privileges, but
is a precondition for the issuance of any licence or other approval for
export.
ITARs provide that information and material concerning defence- and
military-related technologies (that is, for those items listed on the USML)
can only be shared with and sold to US persons, unless authorization
from the Department of State is received or a special exemption is
used.146 Under ITARs, a ‘US person’147 who wants to export USML

144
United States Munitions List (USML), International Traffic in Arms
Regulations, Part 121, last revised 26 August 2013. The USML is a list of
articles, services and related technology designated as ‘defense- and space-
related’ by the US federal government. This designation is pursuant to Secs. 38
and 47(7), Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (22 U.S.C. 2778 and 2794(7)).
These articles, services and technologies fall under the export and temporary
import jurisdiction of the Department of State. For the updated USML see
http://pmddtc.state.gov/regulations_laws/documents/official_itar/2013/ITAR_Part_
121.pdf, last accessed 17 March 2014.
145
See International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Part 120, Purpose and
Definitions, § 120.1.a, General authorities and eligibility.
146
See US Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Control,
http://pmddtc.state.gov/licensing/index.html, last accessed 17 March 2014.

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items to a ‘foreign person’ must obtain authorization from the US

Department of State before the export can take place.148
The export authorization may take the form of:

+ a Foreign Military Sales (FMS): in this case the US government

sells the USML items directly to a foreign government;149
+ an export licence, which allows the temporary or permanent export
of defence articles and/or technical data to a foreign person (but not
technical assistance or defence services);150
+ a Warehouse and Distribution Agreement (WDA), which is an
agreement establishing a warehouse or distribution point abroad for
defence articles to be exported from the United States for subse-
quent distribution to entities in an approved sales territory;151
+ a Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA), which authorizes a US
manufacturer/service provider to supply defence services to a
foreign person;152 or
+ a Manufacturing License Agreement (MLA), which enables a US
manufacturer to provide manufacturing know-how related to
defence articles to a foreign person.153

ITARs also include clauses on retransfer of USML items by foreign

persons. Accordingly, the ‘retransfer’ (also called ‘re-export’) of items on
the USML by foreign persons is prohibited unless such retransfer is
specifically authorized under the relevant export authorization. US per-
sons (including organizations) can face heavy fines if they have, without

147
See International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Part 120, Purpose and
Definitions, § 120.1.c, General authorities and eligibility, which indicates that ‘A
U.S. person may receive a license or other approval pursuant to this subchapter’.
148
See International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Part 120, Purpose and
Definitions, Sec. 120.1.c(iii), Part 122, Registration of Manufacturers and
Exporters, Part 123, Licenses for the Export of Defense Articles, Part 125,
Licenses for the Export of Technical Data and Classified Defense Articles, Part
129, Registration and Licensing of Brokers.
149
See International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Part 126, General Policies
and Provisions, § 126.6, Foreign owned military aircraft and naval vessels, and
the Foreign Military Sales Program.
150
See International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Part 123, Licenses for the
Export of Defense Articles.
151
Ibid.
152
See ibid., §123.22, Filing, retention, and return of export licenses and
filing of export information.
153
Ibid.

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368 Handbook of space law

authorization or appropriate exemption, provided foreign persons with

access to ITAR-protected defence articles, services or technical data.
Significantly, the US government has substantially increased the number
of actions taken against organizations and individuals responsible for
breaches of ITARs since 1999.154 The most notable enforcement action
was the US$ 100 million penalty imposed upon ITT Corporation as a
result of the unauthorized retransfer of night vision technology to China
in 2007.155
ITARs have a huge impact on US space activities and specifically on
the international trade in space technologies and commodities, because
since 1999 all satellites, launch vehicles and related items have been
transferred to the USML.156 This transfer means that all commercial
communication satellites are now subject to ITARs, which has been
severely criticized by the US satellite industry and judged as detrimental
to its commercial interests.157
Significantly, the US Administration appears to have understood the
negative implications of this situation and taken steps to modify it.
Indeed, in January 2013 President Obama signed the 2013 National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),158 which included a provision to

154
See http://military.wikia.com/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_
Regulations, last accessed 5 November 2013.
155
Ibid.
156
This decision was the consequence of three launch failures in which the
Chinese Long March launch vehicles failed to properly deliver US communi-
cation satellite payloads Intelsat-708, Optus-B and Apstar-2. A Congressional
Select Committee, chaired by Representative Christopher Cox (R-CA), was
established in June 1998 to investigate the matter. This investigation found that
US satellite manufacturers violated US export control regulations regarding the
transfer of technology (in the form of technical assistance and/or data) to
Chinese nationals during subsequent launch failure investigations. Furthermore,
it was argued that US satellite manufacturers may have assisted Chinese launch
vehicle engineers in resolving technical anomalies associated with the respective
launch vehicle failures. The Committee found that such assistance would not
only have helped the Chinese in improving the commercial launch vehicles, but
would also have assisted them in improving their nuclear ballistic missiles – in
particular the fairings on submarine-based ballistic missiles. Following the
conclusion of this investigation, all satellites and related technologies returned
under the control of the Department of State.
157
For the impact of ITARs on the US satellite industry, see infra, esp.
§ 7.5.2.3.
158
H.R. 4310 (112th); National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2013, 112th Congress, 2011–2013. Text as of 28 December 2012, www.
govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr4310/text, last accessed 18 March 2014.

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return authority to the President to determine proper export control of

commercial satellites and their parts and components. In short, this
means that the US Administration, subject to Congressional oversight, is
entitled to transition commercial satellites from the USML to the more
flexible Commerce Control List (CCL). At the time of this writing such a
transition has not yet taken place.
This has not excluded other developments significant for space,
however. On 22 April 2009 Bigelow Aerospace revealed that the US
DDTC had accepted Bigelow’s so-called ‘commodity jurisdiction’
request to remove the regulation of the presence of foreign nationals on
its space stations from the jurisdiction of the Department of State under
the ITARs.159
Before this decision by the DDTC, the presence of foreign nationals on
a Bigelow space station would have been a ‘deemed export’ of space
technology under ITARs, thus necessitating a licence from the DDTC (as
well as creating other regulatory burdens). In a similar scenario Bigelow
would have faced extraordinary obstacles due to the expensive and
time-consuming process of acquiring a separate licence from the DDTC
for each foreign national on board a Bigelow space station. Notably,
Bigelow’s successful commodity jurisdiction request has removed this
obstacle and has created a great deal of buzz in the private spaceflight
industry. Indeed, the DDTC’s decision is likely to extend to the partici-
pation of foreign nationals in any private spaceflight – by opening, thus,
the window for the easing of the regulatory burden on the operation of
these flights. From a broader perspective, Bigelow’s successful commod-
ity jurisdiction request indicates a further indication of a shift in the
application of ITARs to space-related technology.

6.6.4 The EU Export Controls Regime

For quite an extensive period of time a European approach to export

control of conventional weapons and dual-use goods was absent and all
decisions related to these issues rested in the hands of the member states
of the European Union. This approach was consistent with the idea that
the Community/Union was supposed to limit its involvement in defence

159
See M.J. Sundahl, Bigelow Aerospace’s Commodity Jurisdiction Request
under ITAR and its Impact on the Future of Private Spaceflight, in Proceedings
of the International Institute of Space Law 2009 (2010), 462 ff.

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370 Handbook of space law

and security activities. Similarly, ESA was banned from participating in

space activities of a military and defence nature.160
In the mid-1990s, as a consequence of the general expansion of
competences attributed to the European Union by various treaties and
consistent with the goal of progressively achieving European harmon-
ization of defence and security issues, the Union gradually became
involved in the regulation of the control of the export of weapons and
dual-use goods. From a legislative point of view the first significant step
was the adoption of the 1998 European Code of Conduct on Arms
Exports.161 Two years later Council Regulation 1334/2000 setting up a
Community regime for the control of exports of dual-use items and
technology was adopted.162 After numerous updates, Regulation 1334/
2000 has been amended and substituted by Regulation 428/2009163 and
most recently by Regulation 388/2012,164 which now regulate dual-use
items export control in the EU.
Although these documents provide the legal foundation for the EU
export control regime, they are not directly connected and constitute
different tracks along which the EU addresses the overarching issue.
Based on these documents, the European policy on export control
subdivides export items in conventional armaments (such as munitions)
and dual-use goods. While the export of the former under the Code of
Conduct falls outside of the EU competence and EU member states may
exempt the manufacturing and trade of arms from the rules of the

160
See more generally on the European Community/Union and ESA supra,
Chapter 4; also von der Dunk, supra n. 42.
161
EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, agreed by European Union (EU)
Foreign Ministers on 25 May 1998; formally adopted at the EU Council of
Ministers, 8–9 June 1998; see www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/
08675r2en8.pdf, last accessed 17 March 2014. The full text of the Code of
Conduct on Arms Exports and its Operative Provisions is available at http://
ec.europa.eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/codeofconduct.pdf, last accessed 5
November 2013.
162
Council Regulation setting up a Community regime for the control of
exports of dual-use items and technology, No. 1334/2000/EC, of 22 June 2000;
OJ L 159/1 (2000).
163
Council Regulation setting up a Community regime for the control of
exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items, No. 428/2009/EC, of
5 May 2009; OJ L 134/1 (2009).
164
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending
Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 setting up a Community regime for the
control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items, No. 388/
2012/EU, of 19 April 2012; OJ L 129/12 (2012).

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common market,165 trade of the latter, with the exclusion of the most
sensitive items, which remain under national control, falls within EU
competence and the Union is empowered to oblige all member states to
request licences ‘to export the items on the list and to have appropriate
penalties for violations as well as effective systems for enforcing the
relevant legislation’.166
Firstly, the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, which was adopted
on 8 June 1998 during the Presidency of the United Kingdom, encom-
passes a Common List of Military Equipment, which was agreed upon in
2000 and, since then, is regularly updated.167 In general, arms embargoes,
unless specific guidance is otherwise provided, cover at least all the items
included in the Common List. The EU Code of Conduct establishes eight
criteria to be applied by EU members on the export of conventional arms,
including software and technology, when reviewing licence requests and
making decisions whether or not to make an arms export, as follows:

1. consistency of export with the exporter’s international commitments

arising from UN, EU, or OSCE168 arms embargoes;169
2. risk that export would be used for internal repression or that the
recipient country has engaged in serious violations of human
rights;170
3. risk that export would provoke or prolong armed conflicts;171

165
See Art. 346, Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (Treaty on European Union as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon
amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the
European Community, Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered into force 1
December 2009; OJ C 115/1 (2009)).
166
A. Wetter, Enforcing European Union Law on Exports of Dual-Use
Goods (2009), 49.
167
List included in the Council Declaration of 13 June 2000. It was issued
on the occasion of the adoption of the common list of military equipment
covered by the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports (supra n. 161); 2000 OJ C
191.
168
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) traces
its existence back to the Final Act of the Conference on Security and
Co-Operation in Europe, Helsinki, done 1 August 1975; Cmnd. 6198,
www.osce.org/mc/39501?download=true, last accessed 17 March 2014.
169
See EU Code of Conduct on Arms Export, supra n. 161, Criterion One.
170
See ibid., Criterion Two.
171
See ibid., Criterion Three.

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372 Handbook of space law

4. risk of recipient using export to undermine regional peace and

security;172
5. effect of export on defence and national security interests of friends
and allies;173
6. commitment of purchaser to fight terrorism and uphold inter-
national law;174
7. risk of diversion to third parties or to a terrorist organization;175 and
8. risk that export would undermine the sustainable development of
the recipient country.176

The Code also establishes a denial notification procedure obliging EU

member states to consult on arms sales that one EU state might allow
whilst at the same time possibly undercutting another EU state’s policy
that has chosen not to allow a comparable arms export. Under this
procedure, member states shall transmit through diplomatic channels
information on licences refused and reasons for the denial, and before
granting a licence where one has been refused by another member state
for the same transaction, consult the latter as it has rejected the licence in
the first place.
It is important to emphasize that these eight criteria, and the EU Code
on Arms Exports in its entirety, are political documents of the European
Union not legally binding upon the member states; the Code is supposed
to represent a moral imperative that EU member states are expected to
uphold and enforce.
The 1998 Code of Conduct has certainly had a positive impact on
creating an order and predictability in the field of arms export, as pointed
out by the European Council: ‘The code has increased mutual under-
standing of member state policies on conventional arms both directly
through the circulation of denial notifications and consultations, and
indirectly through contributing to a culture of greater transparency and
openness.’177 Yet, several shortcomings of the Code can be pointed out.

172
See ibid., Criterion Four.
173
See ibid., Criterion Five.
174
See ibid., Criterion Six.
175
See ibid., Criterion Seven.
176
See ibid., Criterion Eight.
177
First Annual Report according to Operative Provision 8 of the European
Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, OJ C 315, 3 November 1999.

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First, there is a lack of provisions for verifying the end-user of the

exported weapons.178 It therefore offers no means for monitoring, nor
preventing, the re-export of weapons to recipients for whom export
licences would otherwise not have been granted.179
Secondly, while each EU member state is supposed to decide upon the
granting of export licences in the light of the eight specific criteria in the
EU Code, the Code expressly states that ‘[t]he decision to transfer or
deny the transfer of any item of military equipment will remain at the
national discretion of each Member State’.180 Thus, each member state is
free to allow an arms sale based on its own determination regarding
whether it is appropriate or not under the Code.
Thirdly, Operative Provision 8 requires that a confidential annual
report is to be circulated by each member state to the other EU states
dealing with its defence exports and its own implementation of the
Code.181 These reports are to be discussed at an annual meeting of the
member states where the operation of the EU Code is reviewed, and any
‘improvements’ to it can be recommended to the EU Council. Subse-
quently, a public report is produced based on the submissions of
individual states. This public document does not set out the complete
details of actual arms exports allowed by EU member states, although
the published annual reports made pursuant to Operative Provision 8 of
the Code do provide values of arms export licences issued, and values of
deliveries made, if available, by the exporting country. Furthermore,
individual states are free to provide as much or as little detail in their
national reports as they choose.

178
Criterion Seven, EU Code of Conduct on Arms Export, supra n. 161,
which deals with the risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer
country or re-exported under undesirable conditions, only contains provisions
covering the period prior to the sale of the equipment and does not include any
provision to verify the identity and nature of the end-user.
179
See Criterion Seven, EU Code of Conduct on Arms Export, supra n. 161.
180
Operative Provision 3, EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, supra
n. 161.
181
Cf. Criterion Eight, Operative Provision 8, EU Code of Conduct on Arms
Exports, supra n. 161, which provides: ‘Each EU Member State will circulate to
other EU Partners in confidence an annual report on its defence exports and on
its implementation of the Code. These reports will be discussed at an annual
meeting held within the framework of the CFSP. The meeting will also review
the operation of the Code, identify any improvements which need to be made and
submit to the Council a consolidated report, based on contributions from
Member States.’ See http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/cfsp/sanctions/codeof
conduct.pdf, last accessed 5 November 2013.

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Finally, the Code remains a non-binding legal instrument. Despite

efforts to modify its legal status, all initiatives undertaken in this respect
so far have failed.182
As to dual-use export controls in the European Union, Regulation
428/2009183 provides the main legal basis for the regulation thereof.
Regulation 428/2009, which is often referred to as the ‘Dual-Use
Regulation’, entered into force on 27 August 2009 and replaced Regu-
lation 1334/2000 in setting up a regime within the Union for the control
of exports of dual-use items and technology. Regulation 428/2009
presents a more fundamental overhaul of the regime than providing just
an update of the Lists, as it also considerably expands its scope.
Such significant changes include the introduction of controls on
brokering184 services and transit with regard to dual-use items. The
Regulation also updates the list of items controlled prior to export and
includes a summary (of a non-legal nature) of these changes to Annex I.
The new Regulation 428/2009 includes a correlation table between the
new articles and those which formed part of the repealed Regulation
1334/2000. As mentioned, the list of dual-use items referred to in Annex
I of Regulation 428/2009 has recently been amended by means of
Regulation 388/2012.185
The main principle established by Regulation 428/2009 is that con-
trolled items cannot leave the EU customs territory without receiving an
export authorization. The list of controlled items is set out in Annex I of
the Regulation and is divided into ten categories, for example, Category 9
is for propulsion systems, space vehicles and related equipment. Each
category is further divided into five subsets: A (equipment); B (test and
inspection equipment); C (materials); D (software) and E (technologies).
The list of controlled items is based on control lists adopted by

182
European Parliament Resolution of 13 March 2008 on the EU Code of
Conduct on Arms Exports – Failure of the Council to adopt the Common
Position and transform the Code into a legally binding instrument, http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:066E:0048:0049:EN:
PDF, last accessed 17 March 2014.
183
Supra, n. 163.
184
A ‘brokering activity’ is defined by Art. 2(5), Regulation 428/2009, supra,
n. 163, as ‘the negotiation or arrangement of transactions for the purchase, sale
or supply of dual-use items from a third country to any other third country, or the
selling or buying of dual-use items that are located in third countries for their
transfer to another third country’.
185
Supra, n. 164.

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international export control regimes – the Australia Group, the Nuclear

Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the MTCR.
There are four types of export authorization referred to in the Regu-
lation: first, the Community General Export Authorisation (CGEA)
covers most of the exports of controlled items to seven countries (United
States of America, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland
and Norway); second, national general export authorizations can be
issued by individual member states under the conditions set out in Article
9 of the Regulation; third, global authorizations can be granted to one
exporter and cover several items to several states/end-users; and fourth,
individual licences, generally for one exporter and covering exports to
one end-user can be granted.
Pursuant to Article 9 and Annex II of Regulation 428/2009, dual-use
items listed in Annex I require a CGEA. For all other exports for which
an authorization is required under the Regulation, such authorization is to
be granted by the competent authorities of the member state where the
exporter is established on an individual, general or global basis.186
Importantly, the scope of the CGEA does not extend to Part 2 of Annex
II, which contains items included in Annex IV and other sensitive items.
In this respect, Annex IV lists items that are deemed to be so sensitive
that they need authorization even before they are transferred from one
EU state to another.187
Communication satellites and their associated components are categor-
ized as dual-use items under Annex I.188 Consequently, export author-
ization is required for the export of communication satellites from the
European Union.189 Authorization is given by the competent authorities
of the member state where the exporter is located.190 Exporters are
requested to provide the competent authorities with all relevant infor-
mation needed for their applications for individual and global export
authorization. In particular, such information deals with the end-user, the
country of destination and the end-use of the item exported.191 The

186
See Art. 9, Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 163.
187
Cf. Wetter, supra n. 166, 54.
188
See Regulation 388/2012, supra n. 164, Annex I, List of Dual-Use Items,
Spacecraft, Definitions, Category 5, Telecommunications and Information Secur-
ity.
189
See Art. 3, Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 163.
190
See Art. 9(2), Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 163.
191
See Art. 9(2) and Annex III, Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 163.

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authorization may be subject, if appropriate, to an end-use statement or

other export verification mechanism.192
EU member states, when deciding on the grant of an export author-
ization, shall take into account several factors including the obligations
arising from relevant international non-proliferation regimes and export
control arrangements, and considerations of national foreign and security
policy,193 including those covered by Council Common Position 2008/
944/CFSP of 8 December 2008 defining common rules governing control
of exports of military technology and equipment.194 Furthermore,
national authorization shall not be in conflict with existing CGEAs.
In practice, EU member states implement export authorization under
national legislation and regulation in compliance with EU policy and
regulation. They control satellites and other space-related goods as either
munitions or dual-use goods. The ultimate decision on item categoriza-
tion for items not listed in Council Regulation 428/2009 is at the
discretion of the state.
Before concluding this section it is important to dedicate a few
paragraphs to the involvement of ESA in security-related activities and
the carve-outs that have been put in place in the EU regime to enable
such an involvement. Traditionally, pursuant to the provisions of its
Convention, ESA was banned from taking part in space activities of a
military or defence nature.195 Furthermore, ESA was not meant to
interfere in any way with national security concerns of its member
states.196
Recently, however, ESA’s restrictions have been undergoing a gradual
erosion. This process of a more clear involvement in military and defence

192
See ibid.
193
See Art. 12(1.a), Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 163.
194
Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP, of 8 December 2008, defining
common rules governing control of exports of military technology and equip-
ment; OJ L 335/99 (2008); see Art. 12, Regulation 428/2009/EC, supra n. 163.
195
ESA, following Art. II, ESA Convention, supra n. 41, is supposed to
‘provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation
among European States in space research and technology and their space
applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes and for
operational space applications systems’.
196
In the context of ESA programmes, per Art. III(1), ESA Convention,
supra n. 41, ‘a Member State shall not be required to communicate any
information obtained outside the Agency if it considers that such communication
would be inconsistent with the interests of its own security or its own agreements
with third parties, or the conditions under which such information has been
obtained’.

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activities has occurred in a rather indirect manner, mostly through

political and legislative initiatives of the European Commission. In
particular, ESA has been entrusted with the technical and operational
setting-up of two space systems, Galileo and Global Monitoring for
Environment and Security (GMES).
The Galileo project deals with the development of a satellite timing,
positioning and navigation system under exclusively European control.197
With the acceptance by EU and ESA member states of the full spectrum
of services envisaged to be delivered by Galileo, the interpretation of
‘exclusively peaceful purposes’ in the context of the ESA Convention has
shifted.198 Under the current, broader interpretation, involvement in
security issues, at least as long as of a purely defensive nature or
alternatively being sanctioned at the UN level, is now considered
possible.199
The second major European space project is GMES, now renamed
Copernicus.200 This initiative is intended to provide a pan-European
contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems
(GEOSS), representing a global effort to enhance environmental protec-
tion with the help of satellite technology. GMES activities are not meant
to deal solely with the protection of the environment but also to address
security issues. In this context, the concept of ‘security’ is interpreted in
a wide sense, beyond the more politically safe concept of ‘civil security’,
to include the more traditional military and defence elements involved in
security.201

6.7 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

In recent years within diplomatic and academic fora a great deal of
attention has been dedicated to the issue of the weaponization of outer
space. Clearly, the placement and eventual use of weapons of defensive
and offensive nature in outer space might have destabilizing effects. For
example, the 2007 Chinese ASAT test202 not only fuelled fears about the

197
See further e.g. supra, § 4.4.4.1; infra, §§ 10.2.2.3 ff.
198
See also supra, § 6.3.1.
199
Cf. von der Dunk, supra n. 143, 110; also von der Dunk, supra n. 42, 76.
200
See further e.g. supra, § 4.4.4.2; infra, § 9.4.3.3.
201
See von der Dunk, supra n. 143, 110.
202
In January 2007, China destroyed its aging Fengyun-1C weather satellite
by means of a kinetic kill vehicle launched by a medium-range ballistic missile.
This test resulted in the creation of a large ‘debris cloud’ in low earth orbits,

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nature and goals of the Chinese space programme, but also endangered
the safety of space objects.203 Luckily enough, the vast majority of states
seem to be aware of the risks that the progressive weaponization of outer
space brings; consequently, initiatives aimed at establishing legal barriers
to such undertakings have been put in place.
Significantly, the issue of the prevention of weaponization of outer
space has been discussed within the United Nations for over 30 years,
Indeed, since 1981 the UN General Assembly has been adopting on a
yearly basis Resolutions in which states are urged to contribute actively
to the goal of preventing an arms race in space and to refrain from any
action contrary to that goal.204 Like General Assembly Resolutions in
general, these Resolutions have no legally binding force, but rather carry
(merely) considerable political and moral weight.
Progressively, within the discussions taking place in the UN Confer-
ence on Disarmament and the UN General Assembly, two main theoret-
ical approaches to address the issue of military uses of outer space have
emerged: a hard law approach and a soft law one.205
The former approach is based on the assumption that the only effective
way to halt the weaponization of outer space is the adoption of a legally
binding instrument, a treaty banning the placement and use of weapons
in outer space. The supporters of this approach argue that the mandatory
character of such a treaty would present the best guarantee to preserve
the peaceful nature of outer space. The most elaborated proposal for a
hard law instrument has been put forward by China and Russia which, in
February 2008, jointly submitted a Draft Treaty on the Prevention of the
Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force
against Outer Space Objects (Draft PPWT Treaty)206 to the Conference

www.space.com/3415-china-anti-satellite-test-worrisome-debris-cloud-circles-
earth.html, last accessed 5 November 2013.
203
On 22 January 2013 Russia’s BLITS satellite was struck by debris from
China’s 2007 ASAT test; see www.space.com/20145-russian-satellite-chinese-
debris-crash-infographic.html, last accessed 5 November 2013.
204
Part C, Prevention of an arms race in space, UNGA Res. 36/97, of 9
December 1981; UN Doc. A/36/97.
205
For an analysis of the hard law and soft law approaches to the issue of
weaponization of outer space see F. Tronchetti: A Soft Law Approach to Prevent
the Weaponization of Outer Space, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe)
(2012), 361–86; see also T. Hitchens, Saving Space: Threat Proliferation and
Mitigation (2009), www.icnnd.org/research/Hitchens_Saving_Space.pdf, last
accessed 5 November 2013.
206
Draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer
Space, the Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects (hereafter Draft

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 379

on Disarmament. The Draft PPWT Treaty aims at preventing the

weaponization of outer space mostly by requiring its states members

not to place in orbit around the Earth any object carrying any kinds of
weapons, not to install such weapons on celestial bodies and not to place such
weapons in outer space in any other manner; not to resort to the threat or use
of force against outer space objects; and not to assist or induce other States,
groups of States or international organizations to participate in activities
prohibited by this Treaty.207

The Draft PPWT Treaty has received mixed reviews and has not been
accepted, signed or ratified by any state, and has been criticized for
various reasons, such as for including a vague definition of weapons208
and for the fact that it focuses on weapons based in space and fails to bar
development, testing and deployment of ground-based ASATs (such as
the 2007 Chinese ASAT test).209 Currently, progress on the Draft PPWT
Treaty seems to have reached an impasse, as China and Russia have not
produced any fundamentally adopted follow-up to the original draft or
otherwise addressed the concerns raised by other states.
The soft law approach, by contrast, is based on the idea that, due to the
difficulties and length of time connected with the negotiation and entry
into force of a treaty, the optimal solution is the adoption of a soft law
instrument, essentially a non-legally binding document. The promoters of
this approach point out that soft law has become the most commonly
used instrument for the development of space law and that the adoption
of a non-binding document can lead to and facilitate the adoption of a
binding one at a later stage. The most significant soft law proposal is the
Draft International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, an
initiative led by the European Union.210 The Draft Code, which was

PPWT Treaty); presented 12 February 2008 to the Conference on Disarmament,

www.cfr.org/space/treaty-prevention-placement-weapons-outer-space-threat-use-
force-against-outer-space-objects-ppwt/p26678, last accessed 18 March 2014.
207
Art. II, Draft PPWT Treaty, supra n. 206.
208
Art. I(c), Draft PPWT Treaty, supra n. 206, defines a ‘weapon’ as
follows: ‘The term “weapon in outer space” means any device placed in outer
space, based on any physical principle, which has been specially produced or
converted to destroy, damage or disrupt the normal functioning of objects in
outer space, on the Earth or in the Earth’s atmosphere, or to eliminate a
population or components of the biosphere which are important to human
existence or inflict damage on them.’
209
See Hitchens, supra n. 205, 15.
210
International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities available at
http://www.eeas.europa.eu/non-proliferation-and-disarmament/pdf/space_code_

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380 Handbook of space law

originally released in December 2008, has undergone several revisions.

Its most recent version has been published on 31 March 2014.
The Code is characterized by its encompassing scope, as it applies to
military as well as civil operations in outer space. Considering the
hazardous nature of space activities and the usefulness of taking preven-
tive measures, the Code demands that states implement policies and
procedures to minimize the possibility of accidents in space, collisions
between space objects or any form of harmful interference and, when
executing manoeuvres of space objects in outer space, take all reasonable
measures to minimize the risks of collision.211 Furthermore, states shall
also refrain from intentional destruction of space objects and any activity
which may generate long-lived space debris.212
With regard to the issue of space security, the Code obliges states to
refrain from ‘any intentional action which will or might bring about,
directly or indirectly, the damage or destruction of outer space objects
unless such an action is conducted to reduce the creation of outer space
debris and/or justified by imperative safety considerations’.213 While the
Code represents a significant step towards enhancing the safety and
security of space activities, some negative aspects may be identified.214
For example, the Code does not contain ‘definitions’ of key terms; this
generates uncertainty in the interpretation and application of its pro-
visions. Moreover, while Article 4(2) lays down specific debris mitigation
guidelines, Article 4(3) softens them by allowing manoeuvres as long as
there are measures to minimize the risk of collision. In addition, the
national security prerogative is not an expressly authorized reason for the
production of space debris; this is a factor that may be considered an
unacceptable restriction by certain states.
Moreover, one of the goals of the European Union when formulating
the International Draft Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities was to
achieve its universality, or, at least, the broadest possible application
beyond the borders of the Union. However, this ambition faced a major

conduct_draft_vers_31-march-2014_en.pdf, last accessed 14 October 2014. See

further W. Rathgeber, N.L. Remuss & K.U. Schrogl, Space Security and the
European Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, 4 Disarmament Forum
(2009), 34–41.
211
See Art. 4(1), (3), Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, supra
n. 210.
212
See Art. 4(2), Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, supra n. 210.
213
Art. 4(2), Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, supra n. 210.
214
See Rathgeber & Remuss, supra n. 2, 64.

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Legal aspects of the military uses of outer space 381

stumbling block when the US Administration refused to join it215 and

expressed the intention to draft its own Code of Conduct for Outer Space
Activities. In conclusion, even if, at the moment, there is significant
awareness of the risk of a possible weaponization of outer space, a legal
and diplomatic solution acceptable to the major space powers still seems
a long way from being achieved.

6.8 CONCLUSION
Military activities in outer space represent one of the most significant as
well as controversial issues of space law. Since the beginning of the
space age states have realized the advantages that the uses of outer space
could provide from a military perspective. Through the years, thanks to
technological developments, military uses of outer space have signifi-
cantly broadened. Nowadays, space assets are used to support military
operations on the ground and have become an integral component of the
national security strategies of the majority of states.
The legal regime regulating human activities in outer space and, in
particular, activities of a military nature, has succeeded in keeping outer
space free from military confrontations so far. Nevertheless, due to some
crucial shortcomings, such as the lack of clarity concerning the legality
of the deployment and testing of conventional weapons in space and the
modalities of acts of self-defence in outer space, such a regime might not
be able to achieve the same goal in the next decades. Indeed, as a
consequence of the growing dependence of modern societies on space
applications, states might be tempted to have recourse to military force to
protect their valuable space objects.
Therefore, the time may have come to complement the existing legal
framework regulating military uses of outer space with provisions aimed
at ensuring a higher degree of security for space objects and the
maintenance of the peaceful nature of the space environment. Inter-
national negotiations so far have stalled, and it remains to be seen
whether a solution commonly agreed to by the major space powers can
be achieved. Nevertheless, efforts should continue to prevent an arms
race in outer space and to avoid the military use of the moon and other
celestial bodies.

215
See www.thespacereview.com/article/2018/1, last accessed 18 March
2014.

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7. Legal aspects of launch services and space

transportation
Peter van Fenema

7.1 INTRODUCTION
Launching into outer space, or space transportation, is an indispensable
precursor to all modern satellite-based activities in the field of commu-
nications, navigation, remote sensing and science. In fact, it enables the
industries concerned, which also include satellite and ground equipment
manufacturing. Put differently, these industries and the markets in which
their products are being sold would simply not have existed without
(commercial) space transportation.1
Where originally only two states, the United States and the Soviet
Union, performed launches for civil and military purposes, since the
early 1980s other spacefaring nations have joined, while at the same time
also private launch service providers made their entry into this field.
Putting satellites into orbit today is an industry in which (companies
from) primarily the United States, Russia, Europe, China, and to a lesser
extent India and Japan, offer their services worldwide in a competitive
environment.2 But it is not a free market in which these – potential –

1
In a report of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of
Commercial Space Transportation (now FAA/AST), the following figures were
provided to show the importance of this enabling function: during the year 2009,
the US launch vehicle manufacturing and services industry generated a total of
US$ 828 million in economic activity in the United States. In the same year, this
launch(-related) industry and the enabled (such as satellite) industries together
generated a total of US$ 208.3 billion; see The Economic Impact of Commercial
Space Transportation on the U.S. Economy in 2009, Report, FAA Office of
Commercial Space Transportation, September 2010, at 2 and 6 (Figure 1,
‘Commercial space transportation and enabled industries’).
2
See also in general M. Harr & R. Kohli, Commercial Utilization of Space
(1990), 33–4, 65; P.L. Meredith & G.S. Robinson, Space Law: A Case Study for
the Practitioner (1992), 307–14; H.P. van Fenema, Cooperation and Competition
in Space Transportation, 19 Air & Space Law (1994), 81–6; J.M. Lightfoot,
Competitive Pricing for Multiple Payload Launch Services: The Road to Com-
mercial Space, 10 Space Policy (1994), 121 ff.; H.P. van Fenema, Cooperation

382

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 383

competitors operate, as governments have the tendency to favour their

national launch providers and there are other impediments to the func-
tioning of this market.
It is important to note that this is a ‘high tech’ activity: few states had
– and have – the scientific and technical expertise to develop launch
vehicles from scratch. The post-war development of intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBMs) gave the United States and the Soviet Union
the necessary know-how.3 It took those who followed many years to
catch up, and this considerably slowed down the growth into maturity of
the international launch industry.
Launching a rocket, with or without payload, is not a reliable routine
activity as yet. It is the most vulnerable stage of any space endeavour: in
the year 2011, of the 84 launches performed worldwide, six (that is 7 per
cent) resulted in failure. The year 2012 saw 78 launches of which four
failed (plus one partial failure in which the payload eventually did reach
the intended orbit). On average, over the past 16 years, 5 per cent of all

and Competition in Space Transportation, in The Highways of Air and Outer

Space over Asia (Eds. C.J. Cheng & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 288,
293–4; H. Huikang, Space Law and Expanding Role of Private Enterprises, with
Particular Attention to Launching Activities, 5 Singapore Journal of Inter-
national & Comparative Law (2001), 55–62.
3
US President Eisenhower’s military experience in the Second World War
and his perception of the intentions of the Soviet Union in the post-war period
made him a firm supporter of the development of ICBMs, which could act as a
deterrent to nuclear attack through their promise to deliver warheads to targets
thousands of miles away. Thus, in the years after his inauguration in 1952 the US
Air Force (USAF) developed the first ICBM, the Atlas (test-fired in 1955 and
operational in 1959). The Titan and medium-range Thor missiles followed in the
years thereafter. And USAF was allowed to develop the Minuteman, a light,
solid-fuelled ICBM. The US Army, thanks to a team of mostly German engineers
led by Wernher von Braun, developed its own missile, the Jupiter, based on
Second World War V-2 technology. Finally, the US Navy, in 1956, developed the
Polaris, a solid-fuelled Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) for its
submarines.
In the meantime, the Soviets, with the assistance of their ‘own’ German V-2
engineers, had also embarked on the development of missiles, determined right
from the start to beat their American competitors, both in the power and range of
their ICBMs, a feat they did accomplish. The launch of Sputnik-1 in 1957
indirectly also showed their superiority in the field of missiles, see H.P. van
Fenema, The International Trade in Launch Services (1999), 35–6 (referring to
R.D. Launius, NASA: A History of the U.S. Civil Space Program (1994), Chapter
1 passim).

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384 Handbook of space law

launches resulted in failure.4 This ‘(ultra-) hazardous’ character of space

flight dominated, right from the start, the discussions in the UN Commit-
tee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space5 and its Legal Subcommittee,
and resulted in rules that address such matters as state responsibility for
these activities and state liability in case of damage resulting therefrom.6
But first, who are the parties in this ‘business’? Generally speaking,
there are three categories: (1) the launch service provider; (2) the launch
customer; and (3) the launch facility or spaceport. The identification of
the nationality and category (government agency or private entity) of the
above parties is relevant for determining which national and international
laws and regulations may apply. In that connection it is important to note
that space law primarily addresses the rights and obligations of states,
and that the advent of private space actors has complicated, at least to
some extent, the interpretation and application of the respective rules.7

7.2 THE MAIN CATEGORIES OF ACTORS AND THEIR

RELEVANCE FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

7.2.1 Launch Service Providers

In the early days of spaceflight, the space transport or launch provider

was a governmental agency. Both in the Soviet Union and in the United
States the combination of, on the one hand, the military/strategic and
geopolitical importance of the exploration and use of outer space and, on
the other hand, the military (ICBM) origin of the technology and of the
actual ‘rocket’ used, made a state monopoly of this activity almost
unavoidable.

4
See infra, Appendix, Launch Record 1997–2012.
5
UN COPUOS was established first as an ad hoc committee, then as a
permanent committee of the UN General Assembly to address scientific, tech-
nical and legal aspects of international space activities; see Question of the
peaceful use of outer space, UNGA Res. 1348(XIII), of 13 December 1958;
Resolutions adopted on the reports of the First Committee, General Assembly –
Thirteenth Session, at 5; International co-operation in the peaceful uses of outer
space, UNGA Res. 1472(XIV)A, of 12 December 1959; Resolutions adopted on
the reports of the First Committee, General Assembly – Fourteenth Session, at 5.
6
Cf. further supra, §§ 2.3.1.1, 2.3.3.
7
Cf. further supra, § 2.3.2.3.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 385

7.2.1.1 The United States

In the United States traditionally two government entities took care of
launching: the Department of Defense (DOD), in fact mainly the US Air
Force, for military and national security-related launches, and NASA for
all civil (non-)governmental launch needs.8 The government agencies did
not build the launch vehicles themselves but procured these from US
private launcher manufacturing companies, such as General Dynamics,
Martin Marietta and McDonnell Douglas. In other words, the industry
delivered the hardware and the US government, often with assistance
from the industry, provided the actual launch service from government-
owned launch facilities and primarily for its own needs.
In 1972 President Nixon announced his decision to develop the Space
Shuttle, planned and designed to take care of all US public and private
launch needs.9 Soon after its first flight in 1981 it was realized that there
were good strategic and commercial reasons for a separate role for
commercial expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) to fulfil US launch needs
(and compete with Europe’s Arianespace). This led to the establishment,
within the Department of Transportation (DOT), of the Office of Com-
mercial Space Transportation (OCST) as lead agency for all regulatory,
including licensing, aspects of the domestic private launch industry.10

8
Cf. National Aeronautics and Space Act, Public Law 85-568, 85th
Congress, H.R. 12575, 29 July 1958, as amended regularly; esp. Secs. 102(b),
203.
9
‘The United States should proceed at once with the development of an
entirely new type of space transportation designed to help transform the space
frontier of the 1970s into familiar territory, easily accessible for human endeavor
in the 1980s and 90s … It will revolutionize transportation into near space, by
routinizing it’; see the White House, Statement by the President, 5 January 1972,
reprinted in Launius, supra n. 3, at 232.
10
See Commercial expendable launch vehicle activities, Executive Order
12,465 of 24 Feb. 1984, 49 FR 721. The US Congress, which had shown a keen
interest in an orderly commercialization of ELVs, introduced legislation that
provided DOT and its new Office with clear responsibilities in this field, the
Commercial Space Launch Act, Public Law 98-575, 98th Congress, H.R. 3942,
30 October 1984; 98 Stat. 3055; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.III.3;
later codified as Commercial Space Launch Activities, 51 U.S.C., Subtitle IX,
Chapter 509. After internal reorganization within DOT, the Office, originally
attached to the Office of the DOT Secretary, now comes under the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) and is referred to as the FAA Office of
Commercial Space Transportation or FAA/AST. It licenses and regulates all US
commercial space launch and re-entry activity, as well as the operation of
non-federal launch and re-entry sites; see further supra, § 3.3.1.1, and infra,
§§ 12.3.4.2 and 12.3.4.3.

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386 Handbook of space law

But, notwithstanding governmental policy under the Reagan Administra-

tion supporting and promoting the industry as an important alternative to
the Shuttle, the latter remained the preferred tool for access to outer
space, and continued to compete directly with the space launch com-
panies for domestic and foreign customers.
It took the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of January 1986 to
radically change this awkward policy: the US government was suddenly
confronted with a lengthy and dire shortage of launch capacity, also
caused by a DOD Atlas failure (and by problems with the Ariane launch
vehicle), and realized its vulnerability in this respect. As a result, in 1988,
a Presidential Directive on National Space Policy was adopted, which
removed the Space Shuttle from the international commercial launch
market, to the benefit of the US private launch industry.11 With the Space
Shuttle restricted to – primarily – human space flight and other Shuttle-
unique missions, the US launch industry could now fully focus on
competing with Arianespace in offering services to satellite operators in
the international commercial launch market.
Recent annual reports published by the FAA Office of Commercial
Space Transportation (FAA/AST)12 list US-based launch service provid-
ers falling under the regulatory oversight of the Office. The companies,
which include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Sea Launch, Orbital Sciences
and SpaceX, are all in private hands.13

11
The President’s space policy and commercial space initiative to begin the
next century, Fact sheet, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, of 11
February 1988, announcing and explaining the National Security Decision
Directive, signed by the President on 5 January 1988.
12
Commercial Space Transportation: 2010 Year in Review, Federal Aviation
Administration, Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST), January
2011; Commercial Space Transportation: 2011 Year in Review, Federal Aviation
Administration, Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST), January
2012, Commercial Space Transportation: 2012 Year in Review, Federal Aviation
Administration, Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST), January
2013, at www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/, last accessed 14
January 2014. Of the 74 launches performed worldwide in 2010, 15 (4
commercial, 11 non-commercial) were US launches (performed both by the
government and by private industry). Figures for 2011 were: a total of 84
launches, of which 18, all non-commercial, were US launches. Figures for 2012:
total 78, of which 13 (2 commercial, 11 non-commercial) were US launches.
13
US launch companies, with the launch vehicles they operate:
+ Boeing Launch Services – using Delta launchers;
+ Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services (LMCLS) – using Atlas
launchers;

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 387

In accordance with Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty,14 the FAA

Office of Commercial Space Transportation regulates US private space
launch activities. The Commercial Space Launch Act and the implement-
ing regulations concerned15 forbid such activities to take place without a
proper licence, and apply to launches by any person from US territory
and, unless an agreement with a relevant foreign country provides
otherwise, launches by US citizens outside the United States.16 The

+ United Launch Alliance (Boeing + LMCLS) – using Delta and Atlas

launchers (for the US government only);
+ United Space Alliance (Boeing + LMCLS) – using the Space Shuttle (for
the US government only) until its retirement in July 2011;
+ Sea Launch (since 2011 Swiss-based, Russian (95% majority)-owned joint
venture with inter alia Boeing) – using Ukrainian Zenith 3SL launchers
(launched from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean); Boeing and
Norwegian Kvaerner originally held 40% and 20% of the shares respec-
tively, but in 2011 these share holdings were reduced to a total of 5%
(Boeing + Norwegian Aker ASA, which owns 24% of Kvaerner); the FAA
now licenses Energia Logistics Ltd, a Delaware, United States, registered
company and daughter of Russian owner Energia, as the launch operator
conducting the launch;
+ Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) – using the (air-launched) Pegasus,
Taurus-XL and Minotaur vehicles; and
+ Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) – using the Falcon; in
May and October 2012 it successfully launched its first cargo flights, using
the Dragon capsule, to the International Space Station (ISS). With the
Space Shuttle definitively retired, it competed with OSC for contracts of
NASA under the latter’s so-called COTS and CRS programs for routine
operations to the ISS and for other government-procured launch contracts,
and succeeded in getting the contract – it is the first private US company
operating unmanned reusable vehicles to and from the ISS; see FAA/AST
2012 Year in Review Report, January 2013, 13.
14
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).
15
See Sec. 50901-23, Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 10; and 14
C.F.R. Chapter III (FAA/AST Regulations).
16
Sec. 50904 (Restrictions on launches, operations and re-entries), Com-
mercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 10, provides: ‘(a) Requirement. – A license
issued or transferred under this chapter, or a permit, is required for the following:
(1) for a person to launch a launch vehicle or to operate a launch site or reentry
site, or to reenter a reentry vehicle, in the United States. (2) for a citizen of the
United States (as defined in section 50902(1) (A) or (B) of this title) to launch a

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388 Handbook of space law

FAA/AST distinguishes between licences (for expendable or reusable

launch vehicles and for launch sites), experimental permits (for reusable
sub-orbital rockets) and safety approvals (for commercial launch opera-
tions).17
From a space law point of view, three of the above-mentioned
operators and operations deserve some additional attention: the (former)
Space Shuttle, ‘multinational’ company Sea Launch and OSC Pegasus.
The NASA-developed Space Shuttle was the first space vehicle that
gave rise to debate among space lawyers and air lawyers about its legal
status because of its modus operandi. This had to do with a combination
of the absence of a clear definition of ‘space object’ in the respective
space treaties and the definition of aircraft as used in air law: ‘any
machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of
the air’.18 As the Space Shuttle, in its landing phase, used its wings to
glide back to earth, it could, at least during that phase, be considered an

launch vehicle or to operate a launch site or reentry site, or to reenter a reentry

vehicle, outside the United States. (3) for a citizen of the United States (as
defined in section 50902(1) (C) of this title) to launch a launch vehicle or to
operate a launch site or reentry site, or to reenter a reentry vehicle, outside the
United States and outside the territory of a foreign country unless there is an
agreement between the United States Government and the government of the
foreign country providing that the government of the foreign country has
jurisdiction over the launch or operation or reentry. (4) for a citizen of the United
States (as defined in section 50902(1) (C) of this title) to launch a launch vehicle
or to operate a launch site or reentry site, or to reenter a reentry vehicle, in the
territory of a foreign country if there is an agreement between the United States
Government and the government of the foreign country providing that the United
States Government has jurisdiction over the launch or operation or reentry.’
17
See www.faa.gov/about/offic_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/,
last accessed 23 January 2013. A further distinction is made between a
‘launch-or reentry-specific licence’ and an ‘operator licence’: the former licenses
only a specific launch or re-entry activity whereas the latter will allow an
operator to perform multiple launches or re-entries of the same or similar type.
Launch or re-entry vehicles are also referred to as ‘Expendable’ and ‘Reusable’
vehicles. The steps in the licensing application process are for all categories:
pre-application consultation, policy review and approval, safety review and
approval, payload review and determination, financial responsibility determin-
ation, environmental review and compliance monitoring post-issuance of licence.
18
See Convention on International Civil Aviation (hereafter Chicago Con-
vention), Chicago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force 4 April 1947; 15
UNTS 295; TIAS 1591; 61 Stat. 1180; Cmd. 6614; UKTS 1953 No. 8; ATS 1957
No. 5; ICAO Doc. 7300; Annex 2, Rules of the Air, Chapter 1 Definitions. The
definition continues with ‘other than the reactions of the air against the earth’s
surface’ to exclude hovercraft from its scope.

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aircraft, thus in principle falling under national and international rules of

air law, for example in the field of liability. Since the United States
treated the Shuttle for regulatory purposes as a governmental sui generis
space object and no case arose which could have challenged that
position, it remained a theoretical discussion. But it highlighted the
possibility of gaps in, or conflicts between, air and space law, caused
inter alia by a lack of legal clarity in space law about the objects it
regulates. As such, the Space Shuttle discussion was a precursor of the
debate on the legal status of, and the law to be applied to, ‘aerospace
objects’,19 including, at a later stage, sub-orbital vehicles such as Virgin
Galactic’s SpaceShipOne.20 The latter’s flight characteristics and
intended temporary destination – slightly above 100 km – resulted both
in a renewed interest in the question of definition/delimitation of outer
space and in issues of air and space traffic management.21
As for Sea Launch, from a US licensing point of view22 it is interesting
to note that originally the company was incorporated in the Cayman
Islands, making in principle the United Kingdom responsible for its
behaviour by virtue of Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty. However, in
view of the important Boeing interest – both in shares (40 per cent) and
in launch-related work – in the company, the United States, after
consultation with the United Kingdom, decided that it would be in its
national interest to apply its own laws and policies to the company and
that applicable US regulations allowed for this national oversight.23 Sea

19
In UN COPUOS, the discussion on aerospace objects and the national
views thereon, collected through a Questionnaire, is closely linked to the
question of definition and delimitation of outer space; see e.g. UN Doc.
A/AC.105/865 and Add.11, and A/AC.105/889/Add.10 as referred to in Report of
the Legal Sub-Committee on its fifty-first Session, Vienna, 19–30 March 2012,
UN Doc. A.AC.105/1003 of 10 April 2012, at 12–15.
20
Cf. e.g. further infra, §§ 12.3.2, 12.3.3.
21
See further infra, § 7.4.
22
See further infra, § 7.2.3, for the legal challenges posed by the launches
from a platform on the high seas by Sea Launch and by the air launch of
OSC/Pegasus, in view of the applicability of the Liability Convention (Conven-
tion on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, London/
Moscow/Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972;
961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068;
ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971)) depending i.a. on a national sovereign
territory or facility being used for launch.
23
See i.a. DOT FAA docket No. 29208 Proposed Finding of No Significant
Impact (re Environmental assessment of Sea Launch): ‘The FAA determined that
[Sea Launch] is a foreign entity controlled by a U.S. Citizen … Because it

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390 Handbook of space law

Launch later transferred its incorporation to the United States, but after
Chapter 11-reorganization in 2010, the company became a majority (95
per cent) Russian owned company incorporated in Berne, Switzerland.
Although, by virtue of Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, Switzerland
could in principle (also) claim ‘responsibility’ or be held responsible for
this national space activity, in fact the FAA continues to license Sea
Launch operations, arguing that US company Energia Logistics Ltd., a
subsidiary of the Russian owner, is the launch operator receiving the
licence.
Though Sea Launch, after its resurrection, is again an attractive
alternative for satellite owners in search of a launch provider, the
company is out of bounds for launches for the US government because of
its non-US ownership and incorporation and the use of the Ukrainian
launch vehicle: US space laws and policies forbid launches of govern-
mental payloads by foreign launch companies or on foreign launch
vehicles.24

7.2.1.2 Europe
In Europe, for its own space endeavours in the early 1960s basically
dependent on launch contracts with NASA, separate efforts of the United
Kingdom and France to develop their own national launch vehicles
(based on ballistic missile technology) soon gave way to a multinational
initiative, the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO),25
an intergovernmental organization that would later ‘merge’ with its space

proposes to launch in international waters, outside the territory of the [United

States] or a foreign country, [Sea Launch] must obtain an FAA license to
launch’, see F.R. Vol. 63, No. 78 (20240–20243), April 23, 1998. See also the
licence requirements as per Sec. 50904(a), Commercial Space Launch Act, as
quoted supra n. 10, sub (3) which refer to the definition of ‘citizen of the United
States’ in Sec. 50902(1): ‘(A) an individual who is a citizen of the United States;
(B) an entity organized or existing under the laws of the United States or a State;
or (C) an entity organized or existing under the laws of a foreign country if the
controlling interest (as defined by the Secretary of Transportation) is held by an
individual or entity described in (A) or (B)’ (emphasis added).
24
See infra, § 7.5.3.1.
25
Established by way of the Convention for the Establishment of a
European Organisation for the Development and Construction of Space Vehicle
Launchers (ELDO Convention), London, done 29 March 1962, entered into force
29 February 1964, expired 30 October 1980; 507 UNTS 177; UKTS 1964 No.
30; Cmnd. 2391; ATS 1964 No. 6. See further supra, § 4.2.1.

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research sister, the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO)26 into

what is now the intergovernmental European Space Agency (ESA).27
In 1973 ESA member states decided to ‘go it alone’, that is secure
independent access to space, and develop the Ariane launch vehicle for
that purpose. The first launch of this new launch vehicle took place in
1979. In 1980 the company Arianespace was formed to provide ESA and
the individual member states with a European launcher and to acquire
launch contracts on the international satellite launch market.28
A number of agreements and contracts address the sharing of tasks and
responsibilities among the parties concerned with respect to all aspects of
the exploitation of the Ariane, Vega (the ‘ESA-developed’ launchers) and
Soyuz launchers operated from the French-European Guiana Space
Centre, that is ESA, Arianespace, the French government and Russia; this
includes matters of liability – and payment of compensation – for
damage caused by a launch.29
In 1985, Ariane launch operations, in competition with the US Space
Shuttle and private operators, already represented 50 per cent of the

26
Established by way of the Convention for the Establishment of a
European Space Research Organisation (ESRO Convention), Paris, done 14 June
1962, entered into force 20 March 1964, expired 30 October 1980; 158 UNTS
35: UKTS 1964 No. 56; Cmnd. 2489. See further supra, § 4.2.1.
27
The European Space Agency is established on the basis of the Convention
for the Establishment of a European Space Agency (ESA Convention), Paris,
done 30 May 1975, entered into force 30 October 1980; UKTS 1981 No. 30;
Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975); Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.I.1.
See further supra, §§ 4.2.2–4.2.5.
28
Cf. Declaration by Certain European Governments Relating to the Ariane
Launcher Production Phase (hereafter Arianespace Declaration), done 14 January
1980, entered into force 15 October 1981; 6 Annals of Air and Space Law
(1981), 723. Renewal done 4 October 1990, entered into force 21 May 1992.
Arianespace shareholders include the French space agency CNES, Astrium and
all European space companies, representing ten European states; see www.ari-
anespace.com, last accessed 14 January 2014. See further e.g. K. Iserland, Ten
Years of Arianespace, 6 Space Policy (1990), 341–3; V. Kayser, Launching Space
Objects: Issues of Liability and Future Prospects (2001), 134 ff.
29
See e.g. Arianespace Declaration, supra n. 28, and its successor since
2009, Declaration by certain European Governments on the Launchers Exploit-
ation Phase of Ariane, Vega, and Soyuz from the Guiana Space Centre (hereafter
Launchers Exploitation Declaration), with Final Document, Paris, 30 March
2007, § I.8; see www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm80/8049/8049.pdf,
last accessed 26 June 2013; for further details on the various arrangements, see
supra, § 4.2.6.1 and § 3.3.3.1; see also infra, § 7.2.3, on spaceports.

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392 Handbook of space law

international communications satellite launch market. Arianespace, incor-

porated in France, has until today remained the only major European
launch company offering services into Geostationary Transfer Orbit
(GTO) and lower orbits with a launcher family composed of the
heavy-lift Ariane-5, the medium-lift Russian-built Soyuz and the light-lift
Vega.30

7.2.1.3 The Russian Federation

In the former Soviet Union, all aspects of the launch, from R&D to
manufacturing and to launching were in government(-controlled) hands.
In today’s Russia, of the two largest launch vehicle and rocket engine
manufacturers Khrunichev and Energia, the former is 100 per cent state
owned, whereas Energia is a limited liability company, with 38.2 per cent
of the shares in the hands of the Russian Federation.31 These and other
Russian companies provide launch services to their own government and
to foreign launch clients with a wide variety of light to heavy-lift launch
vehicles.32

30
According to Arianespace, Ariane-5 is capable of putting 10 metric tons
into GTO and up to 20 tons into LEO; the Russian Soyuz, operated from the
French-European Guiana launch site since 2011, carries up to 3,150 kg to GTO
and 4,900 kg to SSO, whereas Vega is able to put 1,500 kg into a 700 km
circular polar orbit. Other European companies selling launch services (on
foreign-built vehicles): Eurockot of Bremen, Germany, co-owned by EADS
Astrium (51%) and Russian Khrunichev Space Center (49%), which uses the
small Russian Rockot vehicle (derived from the Russian SS-19 ICBM) for
launches of up to 2-ton payloads from the Northern Russian Plesetsk Cosmo-
drome into LEO; and Arianespace subsidiary Starsem (France), in joint venture
partnership with Astrium, Roscosmos and Samara Space Center, offering Soyuz
launches from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome. Of the 74 launches performed
worldwide in 2010, 6 (all commercial) were European Ariane 5 launches. The
figures for 2011 were: 84 in total, of which 7 (4 commercial, 3 non-commercial)
European launches from French Guyana: 5 Ariane launches and 2 Soyuz; the
figures for 2012 were: 78 launches, of which 10 European: 7 Ariane, 2 Soyuz
and 1 Vega launch, see FAA/AST Year in Review documents, supra n. 12.
31
For info on S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Public Corporation Energia,
or, for short, RSC Energia, date of incorporation 6 June 1994, see its Annual
Report for the year 2011, at www.energia.ru, last accessed 14 January 2014.
Today’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center or, for short,
the Khrunichev Space Center, with a history going back to 1916, was turned into
a Federal State Unitary Enterprise by Federal Decree of 1993.
32
The following main Russian launch companies and launch vehicles can
be distinguished:

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Where, traditionally, Russian launch activities were for government use

only, in 1993, following the conclusion of a ‘launch trade agreement’
with the United States, the above Russian launch operators entered the
international commercial launch market.33 This entry was facilitated by a
joint venture with Lockheed, with the resulting US-based company
Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International (LKEI) selling the Russian
Proton launch vehicle to international customers, thus setting a trend of
international cooperation in the marketing and sales of Russian launch
products.34

+ International Space Company (ISC) Kosmotras, a joint stock company

established in 1997 to commercialize the SS-18 ICBM-based Dnepr, a
light launch vehicle. The company is 50% owned by 7 Russian companies
and 50% by 2 Ukrainian firms, see www.kosmotras.ru/en/, last accessed 28
May 2013.
+ International Launch Services (ILS), formerly Lockheed Khrunichev Ener-
gia International (LKEI), selling the heavy-lift Proton launcher, subse-
quently, after the 1995 merger of Lockheed with Martin Marietta (MM),
renamed ILS, marketing both the Proton and the MM Atlas rocket. In 2006
MM sold its interest in ILS to Space Transport Inc. and in May 2008
Khrunichev became the majority shareholder of ILS, headquartered in
Reston, Virginia, United States; see www.ilslaunch.com, last accessed 28
May 2013; www.khrunichev.ru, last accessed 28 May 2013.
+ State Research and Production Space Rocket Center (TsSKB-Progres) of
Samara, Russia, a 100% state-owned Federal State Unitary Enterprise,
produces the versatile Soyuz launch vehicle, see www.samspace.ru, last
accessed 28 May 2013. The Soyuz rocket is sold outside the Russian
Federation to foreign users through Arianespace and its subsidiary Starsem,
see also supra, n. 30.
+ The Rockot vehicle is marketed by Bremen, Germany-based Eurockot
Launch Services GmbH, a joint venture of EADS Astrium (51%) and
Khrunichev Space Center (49%); its maiden launch took place in 2000; see
also supra, n. 30. Up to May 2013 it had performed 16 launches, 14 of
which were successful, see www.eurockot.com, last accessed 23 May
2013; see also supra, (text at) n. 30.
Of the 74 launches performed worldwide in 2010, 31 (13 commercial, 18
non-commercial) were performed by Russia. In 2011, of the 84 launches
performed, 31 (10 commercial, 21 non-commercial) were Russian launches;
the figures for 2012 were: a total of 78 launches worldwide, of which 24
Russian (12 Soyuz, of which 8 dedicated ISS missions, 11 Proton and 1
Rockot launch), see FAA/AST Year in Review documents, supra n. 12.
33
See also further infra, § 7.5.4.2.
34
For more details on this cooperation and the related US-Russian politico-
strategic framework, see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, 240–51.

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394 Handbook of space law

With the Russian Law on Space Activities of 1993 the Russian

Federation implements its obligations under Article VI of the Space
Treaty.35 That law requires a licence for a broad range of space activities,
including launching, performed by organizations and citizens of the
Russian Federation or space activities of foreign organizations and
citizens under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

7.2.1.4 China
China’s first ‘official’ launch took place in 1970.36 The government
firmly controlled all space-related activities. This is still the situation
today. China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), the official state
company, offers the Long March rocket for national and foreign satellite
launches. Where, traditionally, Chinese launch activities were for domes-
tic government use only, post-Challenger disaster pressure from US
satellite manufacturers, desperate for launch capacity, lead to the conclu-
sion of a US–Chinese launch trade agreement of 1989 which opened up,
albeit temporarily and with a number of strings attached, the international
commercial launch market of US satellites and satellite components to
China.37
There exists a wide variety of Long March launch vehicles for
operations from three different launch sites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
or GTO.38 CGWIC is eager to sell its launch services to foreign clients,

35
Law of the Russian Federation on Space Activities (hereafter Russian
Law on Space Activities), No. 5663-1, 20 August 1993, effective 6 October
1993; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 101; see further
supra, § 3.3.1.2. Detailed licensing requirements will be found in the Statute on
Licensing of Space Activities of 2006; Statute on Licensing Space Operations, 2
February 1996. It is noted that private sector participation in Russian space
activities is possible but not yet addressed in more detail.
36
See www.cgwic.com/LaunchServices/LaunchRecord/LongMarch.html,
last accessed June 2013.
37
See further infra, § 7.5.4.1 (on the launch trade agreement) and § 7.5.2.3
(on US satellite export controls).
38
Long March 2D, 3A, 3B, 3C, 4B, 4C, with the 3B as the heavy-lift
champion. Of the 74 launches performed worldwide in 2010, 15, all non-
commercial, were launched by China. In 2011, the respective figures were: out of
a worldwide total of 84, China performed 19 launches (17 non-commercial, 2
commercial); figures for 2012 were: total launches 78, Chinese share 19 (17
non-commercial, 2 commercial), using 8 different types of Long March rockets,
ranging from the light Long March 2C (3,200 kg to LEO/1000 kg to GTO) to the
3B (13,562 kg to LEO/4,491 kg to GTO); see FAA/AST Year in Review
documents, supra n. 12; also www.cgwic.com/LaunchServices/LaunchRecord/
LongMarch.html, last accessed June 2013.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 395

but China’s complicated relations with the United States have, for many
years, limited the marketing and commercial use of its launch services to
those clients whose satellites were not US built and did not contain any
components which are subject to US export laws and policies.39
A number of laws and regulations apply to Chinese space activities;
licensing of launches, the registration of space objects and other import-
ant matters have so far been dealt with by administrative measures, but
may be regulated by a comprehensive space act in the near future.40

7.2.1.5 Japan
As a country with precious little post-Second World War missile exper-
tise, its decision, in the early 1980s, to stop relying on imported US Delta
launcher hardware and technology and build its own vehicle, meant for
Japan the start of ten years of ‘gruelling efforts’, culminating, in 1994, in
the first launch of the indigenously built H-2 launch vehicle.41 Since
then, it has continued to further develop this and other launch vehicles,
mostly used for its domestic satellite launch needs, but also for transport
of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). In the international
launch market its success has so far been limited by the competitive offer
– both in frequency, reliability and prices – of its main foreign competi-
tors. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the ‘independ-
ent administrative institution’ in charge of all Japanese space missions.42
The Basic Space Law of Japan lays down the guiding principles
applicable to Japanese space activities, but detailed licensing regulations
applicable to (private) launches have not yet been formulated; this is
work in progress.43

39
The effects of these and other national and international export controls
on the international trade in launch services will be discussed infra, §§ 7.5.1 and
7.5.2.
40
Cf. further supra, § 3.3.5.
41
See Van Fenema, supra n. 3, 29. The Japanese launch record shows the
following recent figures: 2010: 2 H-IIA non-commercial launches (of a global
total of 74); 2011: 2 H-IIA and 1 H-IIB non-commercial launches (of a global
total of 84); the figures for 2012 were: global total 78, Japanese share: 2
launches (1 H-IIA (capacity 11,730 kg to LEO/5,800 kg to GTO) and 1 H-IIB
(capacity 19,000 kg to LEO/8,000 kg to GTO)), see FAA/AST Year in Review
documents, supra n. 12.
42
See www.jaxa.jp, last accessed 29 May 2013; the Epsilon-1 launch
vehicle is the newest addition to the Japanese launch vehicle family.
43
Cf. also supra, § 3.3.6.

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7.2.1.6 India
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), a government agency,
is in charge of the Indian space launch activities, performed primarily for
domestic use but also marketed internationally. India performed its first
successful launch in 1980 and with that became the seventh member of
the exclusive club of space launch nations.44 India operates two launch
vehicles, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geo-
stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).45
Though a number of space activities have been regulated, also to take
care of private Indian satellite operations and ownership, there is no
comprehensive space act and no regulation on the licensing of (private)
launch services.46

7.2.1.7 Other states

Apart from the above ‘launch nations’, a number of other countries have
been able to perform one or more successful launches, such as Israel,
Iran, South Korea and North Korea.47 Brazil attempted to introduce its
veículo lançador de satélites, but a number of launch failures reduced
their prospects to join the club. Brazil now offers its launch facilities at
Alcantara to foreign launch providers.48
It is important to note already at this stage that the launch or space
transport industry – unlike other modes of transport such as the inter-
national air transport industry and international civil aviation – does not
speak with one voice internationally, either on an industry level in the
form of a trade organization or through an intergovernmental organ-
ization. This is partly due to the limited number of players/countries
operating in the international market (primarily the United States, Europe
and Russia), partly because the activity does not involve the – horizontal
– crossing of national borders, and partly a consequence of the sensitive

44
See http://isro.org, last accessed June 2013.
45
The ISRO performed 3 non-commercial launches in 2010 (of a global
total of 74), two with the GSLV (both launches failed), and one with the PSLV.
In 2011 three non-commercial PSLV launches (of a global total of 84) were
performed; the figures for 2012 were: 2 PSLV non-commercial launches (of a
worldwide total of 78), putting 2 remote sensing satellites into SSO; the capacity
of the PSLV CA is 2,100 kg into LEO, the PSLV XL carries 1,800 kg into LEO
and 1,140 kg into GTO, see FAA/AST Year in Review documents, supra n. 12.
46
Cf. further supra, § 3.3.5.
47
For recent launch activities of these countries, see FAA/AST Year in
Review documents, supra n. 12; see also infra Appendix.
48
See infra (text at) n. 67; for the national regulation of space launches in
Brazil further supra, § 3.3.6.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 397

nature of the (missile) technology used.49 Without an international forum

or agreed common goals, for example in the field of safety management
or licensing criteria, the ‘players’ concerned largely follow their own
rules.

7.2.2 Launch Customers

A wide variety of customers made use of the services of the above launch
providers. Two categories should be distinguished: governmental (read
states), since the advent of space launches the most stable customer base,
and private clients.50
This distinction is relevant for the application of, in particular, two of
the five space treaties, namely the Liability Convention51 and the
Registration Convention.52 Both treaties apply to ‘launching States’,
defined as the state which launches a space object, the state which
procures the launching of a space object and the state from whose
territory or facility a space object is launched.53 The ‘launching State’ has
to register its space object in a national registry and report thereon to the
UN Secretary-General for international registration purposes,54 and the
‘launching State’ may be held liable if the space object concerned causes
damage.55 The system is based on states being the prime actors in space.
A state (organ) that concludes a launch contract with a foreign
governmental launch provider procures the launch and thus becomes a
‘launching State’ (next to the state that actually performed the launch).56
Discussion on the term ‘procurement’ concerns both the literal or most
appropriate meaning of the word in different languages and the conse-
quences of the selected meaning for the interpretation of the concept of
the ‘launching State’, in particular when private companies ‘procure’ the

49
See for a discussion of the latter aspects further infra, §§ 7.5.1, 7.5.2.
50
For lists of public and private customers, including international organ-
izations, see FAA/AST Year in Review documents, supra n. 12; also infra
Appendix.
51
Liability Convention, supra n. 22.
52
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January 1975, entered
into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS
1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975).
53
See, respectively, Art. I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 22; Art. I(a),
Registration Convention, supra n. 52.
54
Cf. Arts. II–IV, Registration Convention, supra n. 52.
55
See Arts. II–V, Liability Convention, supra n. 22.
56
Cf. esp. Art. I(c), sub (i), Liability Convention, supra n. 22.

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launch. Procuring in English/American legal language means ‘acquiring/

purchasing goods and services’, in other words ‘buying’ a launch service.
In French ‘procures the launch’ is translated with ‘fait procéder au
lancement’ (roughly: ‘has the launching performed or makes the launch-
ing happen’), in Dutch with ‘doen lanceren’ (with a meaning very similar
to the French clause), in German with ‘veranlasst’ (roughly: ‘initiates’),
in Russian with ‘organizuyet’ (roughly: ‘organizes’, ‘arranges for’), in
Spanish with ‘promueva el lanzamiento’ (roughly: ‘promotes the launch-
ing’), in Chinese with ‘cù shî’ (roughly: ‘promotes’ or ‘prompts’). The
authentic languages of the Liability Convention are Chinese, English,
French, Russian and Spanish, and these should therefore be the primary
sources for understanding and interpreting the meaning of the term, but
that does not conclusively settle the matter.
A private satellite operator like SES Astra concluding such a contract
cannot be regarded as a state procuring the launch. Can it give the state
where it is incorporated, further to Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty,57
that is Luxembourg, the status of launch-procuring state? The two earlier
mentioned Conventions do not provide a convincing basis for that
interpretation. And a state party to these Conventions which is not also a
party to the Outer Space Treaty may have an extra reason for not
accepting the automatism ‘Luxemburg licensed SES Astra, therefore the
state Luxemburg “procured the launch” of the SES Astra satellite’. In the
space law community there is no consensus on this interpretation.58 And
what if SES Astra concludes a launch contract with private company Sea
Launch, performing its launches from the Pacific Ocean? On the face of
it, none of the three categories of launching State would come into play.59

57
Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 14.
58
Cf. e.g. A. Kerrest de Rozavel, Launching Spacecraft from the Sea and
the Outer Space Treaty: the Sea Launch Project, 23 Air & Space Law (1998), 18:
‘in accordance with OST Articles VII and VI, activities carried out by private
entities are deemed to be carried out by the liable [sic] State. This State is not
only responsible, i.e. obliged to authorise and control any space activity
conducted by a non-governmental entity having its nationality, but also the
launching State is, as such directly liable for any damage caused by the space
object as if it were launching it itself … From the rule mentioned before, the
nationality of the juridical person (in this situation the Sea Launch Co.), renders
the State of such nationality the “launching State”.’
59
Cf. e.g. Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 58, 19, stating ‘taking into account
the commercial purpose of Sea Launch, the entity procuring the launch may be
either a State or a private company qualifying its national State as a launching
State’. These two, somewhat confusing, texts quoted supra in n. 58 and supra
together indicate that Kerrest de Rozavel expands the definition of ‘launching

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A partial way out of this problem, perceived as a lacuna in the liability

regime created by the Liability Convention’s formal terminology, is the
policy of some states to voluntarily adopt the position of ‘launching
State’ in relation to any company which, by virtue of national legislation
based on Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, received that state’s
licence to engage in space activities and procured a launch that resulted
in damage to third parties. The United Kingdom, for instance, appears to
take that position.60

State’ in the Liability Convention, supra n. 22, with two additional categories of
states, the state of the company for which it is responsible under Art. VI, Outer
Space Treaty, supra n. 14, in case that company (1) launches or (2) procures the
launch of a space object. Another author appears to read the latter interpretation
directly in the text of the Convention: ‘The convention defines “launching State”
to mean either the State from whose territory the object was launched or the
State which procured its launch (or whose nationals did)’; R.J. Tremayne-Smith,
U.K. Registration Policy & Practices, in Proceedings of the Project 2001 Plus
Workshop: Current Issues in the Registration of Space Objects (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 59 (emphasis added). The Netherlands’
position appears to be that procurement of the launch by a national company
does not turn the Netherlands into a ‘launching State’; see Dutch Space Activities
Act 2008, Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill, Parliamentary Papers II
2005/06, 30609, no. 3, 5–7 (explanation of the term ‘launching State’: ‘The
Netherlands could be qualified as launching State, if the Netherlands itself takes
care of the launch or commissions (procures) the launch.’); see also the
Netherlands’ registration practice and accompanying statements, e.g. UN Doc.
A/AC.105/963, of 21 April 2010, and A.AC.105/1002, of 22 November 2010 (re.
Technical University Delft’s Delfi C3 satellite launched by India).
60
An – indirect – indication of the UK position may be found in its
registration policies and practices: in a Note Verbale dated 16 March 2001 the
United Kingdom furnished information to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations in conformity with the Registration Convention, supra n. 52. In view of
the fact that, by virtue of that Convention, only a ‘launching State’ may become
‘State of registry’ of a specific satellite, the UK government clarified the
registration information on a satellite owned/operated by a Gibraltar company,
which it had previously ‘accepted on the [U.K.] Register of Space Objects’ as
follows: ‘The Gibraltar incorporated company … did not procure the launch of
the space object and thus the United Kingdom is not the “State of registry.”’
Conversely, if that company had procured the launch the United Kingdom would
have accepted the status of ‘launching State’ (necessary to become ‘State of
registry’): it licensed, and therefore, in its view, ‘procured’ the launch, see UN
Doc. ST/SG/SER.E/389, of 28 March 2001, referring to ST/SG/SER.E/378. Note
that Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory (a status disputed by Spain). See
also supra, nn. 58 and 59. The United Kingdom does not consider itself the
‘launching State’ with respect to satellites in orbit, the launch of which has been
procured by a private operator prior to that company becoming a UK company,

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400 Handbook of space law

The launch customer, so far mainly a state or private company

‘procuring’ the launch of its satellite, may in the foreseeable future also
be a passenger who pays for his own ride: as in air or sea transport, the
payload may then consist of passengers and/or cargo. The individuals
who, on board the Russian Soyuz, travelled to the International Space
Station (and back) were de facto paying passengers, and the launch
would also have taken place without their booking. But the situation may
be different in cases where paying passengers are the raison d’être of the
flight: the passengers, without whom the launch of, say, a Virgin Galactic
flight would not take place, may be seen as procuring the flight,
alternatively their ‘tour operator’, that is the company that booked the
flight to sell seats thereon to individual passengers, may be seen as such.
In this connection the distinction made in aviation between scheduled
and non-scheduled (or charter) services61 may be illustrative: passengers
buying a ticket for a seat on a scheduled service/flight conclude a
contract of carriage with the airline, but neither the individual passenger
nor the totality of all passengers on that specific flight could be seen as
‘procuring’ the flight as the essential feature of a scheduled service is the
fact that, in principle, the flight is operated irrespective of individual
bookings. A non-scheduled operation, often taking the form of a tour

and the Netherlands takes the same position; see, respectively, UK registration
information provided to the UN Secretary-General, UN Doc. ST/SG/SER.E/417/
Rev. 1, of 3 December 2001, re Inmarsat satellites; and Netherlands’ Note
Verbale to the UN Secretary-General, UN Doc. A/AC.105/824, of 16 March
2004, re NSS/Intelsat-513. The United Kingdom has routinely provided infor-
mation on Inmarsat satellites as ‘State of registry’ ever since Inmarsat became a
UK-incorporated company, procuring launches, subject to UK licensing; see e.g.
UK registration information provided to the UN Secretary-General, UN Doc.
ST/SG/SER.E/555.
61
The Chicago Convention, supra n. 18, distinguishes between ‘scheduled
air services’ (Art. 6) and ‘right of non-scheduled flight’ (Art. 5). The Convention
itself does not provide a definition of scheduled air service, but through a series
of General Assembly Resolutions on the matter (and through practice) the
following description has developed: ‘an air service open to use by the general
public and operated according to a published timetable or with such a regular
frequency that it constitutes an easily recognizable systematic series of flights’.
Conversely, any air service that is performed other than as a scheduled air service
is regarded as a non-scheduled operation, including but not limited to charter
operations. Note that ‘non-scheduled’ is a public law term, whereas ‘charter’ is a
private law term pertaining to the contract between an air carrier and a charterer,
e.g. a tour operator; however, the terms have now come to be used interchange-
ably; see Manual on the Regulation of International Air Transport, ICAO Doc.
9626, 2nd edn. (2004), Chapter 5.3 Air Services.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 401

operator buying – the total capacity of – an aircraft for a specific flight to

be sold to a group of individuals (mostly in combination with hotel
accommodation), could be seen as the ‘procurement’ of a flight because
the latter would simply not take place without the charter contract
between the tour operator and the airline concerned, and with a sufficient
number of individual customers actually buying the tour from the tour
operator: the latter will, if unsuccessful in selling his product to the
individual customers, simply cancel the tour and ‘return’ the unused
flight to the airline, which will, as a consequence thereof, not be operated
at all.

7.2.3 Launch Facilities and Spaceports

The above two Conventions’ definition of the ‘launching State’ includes

the state ‘from whose territory or facility’ the object was launched.62 This
was basically a satisfactory and undisputed ‘catch-all’ provision
(launches traditionally always taking place from a national territory) until
the advent of sea- and air-based launches. Two prominent examples of
the latter are Sea Launch and US Pegasus launches.
The refurbished Norwegian oilrig, which became the Odyssey launch
platform, located in the Pacific Ocean, from which private company Sea
Launch operates, is neither the territory nor the facility of a state. It is,
like the assembly and mobile launch control ship Sea Launch Com-
mander, private property registered in Liberia, a non-party to both
Conventions.63
US company OSC developed the air-launched Pegasus launch vehicle.
Attached to an aircraft in flight until it takes off using its own rocket
engine, Pegasus’ ‘state territory’ would only be known if the launcher
aircraft at the moment of launch flew in sovereign airspace of a specific
state. If that is not the case, one could think of the aircraft as being a
launch facility, though it is highly debatable whether a privately owned
aircraft registered in the United States may be called a US state facility.
The distinction, made in the United States, between federal launch sites
and state and/or private launch sites or spaceports has no relevance in this

62
Art. I(c), sub (ii), Liability Convention, supra n. 22.
63
See www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php (Odyssey-IMO 8753196),
last accessed 14 April 2014; and www.fleetmon.com/en/vessels/Sea_Launch
_Commander_55110, last accessed 14 April 2014; also Los Angeles Times, 2
June 1999 (Dispute over ship registry targets satellite firm); for parties to the UN
space treaties, see UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/2013/CRP.5, Status of International
Agreements relating to activities in outer space as at 1 January 2013, 8.

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402 Handbook of space law

discussion, as US ‘territory’ is the common denominator determining the

legal consequences under space law, not the status of the launch site
within that territory.
Russia makes use mainly of two launch complexes, Plesetsk, in Russia,
and Baikonur, the launch facility situated in Kazakhstan. The use of
Baikonur by Russia, on the basis of a Kazakh–Russian lease agreement,
would qualify the respective launches as both Russian (‘facility’) and
Kazakh (‘territory’) for the purpose of the application of the two
Conventions.
The Guiana Space Centre, the French-European spaceport in Kourou,
French Guyana, from which Arianespace operates, is located in French
territory: it is an ‘overseas department’ or ‘overseas region’ of France.64
Given ESA’s sizable support of and (financial) contribution to this
spaceport, one could qualify it as an ESA facility. This is relevant for the
potential application of the Liability Convention, since ESA, through a
declaration, became subject to the provisions of that Convention.65
A separate Soyuz launch complex, built by Russia at Kourou, is used
both by Arianespace for commercial Soyuz launches and by the Russian
Soyuz operator for ‘national’ launches. It may also be regarded as a
Russian launch facility for the purpose of the application of the Conven-
tions.66
Brazil developed the Alcantara launch base, like Kourou conveniently
close to the equator, and offers these launch facilities to foreign launch
vehicle operators. So far, actual foreign launches have not materialized,
at least partly because of US interference – based on missile proliferation
concerns – with Brazil’s international marketing efforts.67

64
See http://europa.eu/abc/maps/regions/france/mer_en.htm, last accessed 7
June 2013.
65
Declaration of 23 September 1976; International Organisations and
Space Law (1999), 33; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, A.III.2, at 1; further
supra, § 2.3.3.8.
66
For an overview of national spaceports and launch facilities of all (other)
spacefaring nations, including the United States, Japan, China, India, Israel and
Brazil, see FAA/AST Year in Review documents, supra n. 12.
67
A 2000 Brazil–US Technology Safeguard Agreement permitted, subject to
strict conditions, US launches and launches of US satellites from Alcantara.
Because of the severity of the clauses, the Brazilian National Congress refused to
approve the agreement, thereby effectively ruling out any US participation in the
use of the spaceport; see J. Monserrat & V. Leister, Brazil–USA Agreement on
Alcantara Launching Center, in Proceedings of the Forty-Third Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (2001), 328 ff.; J. Monserrat & V. Leister, The
Discussion in the Brazilian National Congress of the Brazil–USA Agreement on

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 403

7.3 THE EXISTING REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

In the above, attention has already been paid to some of the treaties that
apply to (some aspects of) space launches. As in other chapters these
space treaties have been dealt with in extenso, including analyses of
provisions on space activities, launching and space transportation, for
purposes of avoiding duplication relevant provisions thereof as they
would specifically deal with the launch and transportation aspects will
not be discussed here.68 Suffice to state here that the historical reality of
state/government space activities is reflected in the space norms and
treaties developed in the period of the late 1950s until the end of the
1970s. As a result, most provisions dealing with space (launch) activities
deal with state rights and state obligations.69
A crucial – and therefore hotly debated – provision is Article VI of the
Outer Space Treaty confirming state responsibility for national space
activities and creating the necessity of national rules to regulate these
activities: a national launch or the foreign launch of a national satellite
has to be dealt with through national legislation.70 Launching is a
dangerous activity: the concept of ‘launching State’ described in Article
VII (on liability) of the Outer Space Treaty and defined in both the
Liability Convention and the Registration Convention,71 firmly and
without exception links all launches to a state and forces all such states to

Technology Safeguards Relating to the Use of Alcantara Spaceport, Proceedings

of the Forty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2002), 377 ff.
68
See e.g. for the five UN space treaties in general supra, § 2.3.
69
E.g., Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 14, obliging states, when
engaging in space activities, to act in conformity with international law,
including the UN Charter (Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, done 26
June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993; 24 UST 2225; 59
Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666 and 6711; CTS
1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1); Art. IV, Outer Space Treaty, forbidding states to
orbit weapons of mass destruction in outer space or ‘militarize’ the moon; Art. V,
Outer Space Treaty, obliging states to render assistance to astronauts in case of
accidents; Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, making states responsible for private
national space activities; Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, creating liability for
damage caused by launching states; Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, creating the
obligation to register; and the cooperation and consultation duties ex Arts. VIII
and IX, Outer Space Treaty.
70
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 14, specifically calls for ‘author-
ization and continuing supervision’ of ‘activities of non-governmental entities in
outer space’.
71
See again Art. I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 22 and Art. I(a),
Registration Convention, supra n. 52 respectively.

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404 Handbook of space law

accept liability and assume full responsibility for taking the necessary
national regulatory (licensing) measures.
None of the relevant states had either theoretical or practical problems
with this approach until the advent of non-governmental launch com-
panies, as pioneered in the United States, and private satellite operators.
This brought discussions on treaty interpretation and the necessity to
regulate on a national level those matters that needed clarification. Which
national space laws – separately – deal with launches and how they do so
is dealt with elsewhere.72 Suffice to say that, based on, for instance,
Articles VI, VII, VIII and IX of the Outer Space Treaty, and the
respective other Conventions, launch aspects dealt with in national space
legislation cover such issues as:

+ operational and safety requirements (usually handled through

licences);73
+ market access and competition issues, including export control
(handled through a variety of legal instruments);74
+ liability and insurance (also usually handled primarily through
licences), as based on Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty and the
Liability Convention;75
+ debris mitigation (increasingly handled through licences), as based
on the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines;76 and
+ registration in a national register, as based on Article VIII of the
Outer Space Treaty and the Registration Convention.77

Still, a number of relationships in the field of manufacturing and

launching of satellites are mainly governed by contract:

+ sale of a satellite (involving satellite manufacturer and buyer/

operator);
+ launch of a satellite (involving satellite owner/operator and launch
company);
+ sale of satellite plus launch, also known as ‘on-orbit delivery’
(involving satellite manufacturer and buyer/operator plus satellite
manufacturer and launch company);

72
See in particular supra, § 3.3.
73
See further infra, § 7.4; cf. also supra, § 3.2.1.
74
See further infra, § 7.5.
75
See on these issues further infra, §§ 2.3.1.1, 2.3.3, 3.2.3 and 3.3.
76
See further infra, §§ 13.3.2.1, 13.3.2.2.
77
See on these issues further infra, §§ 2.3.1.1 and 2, 2.3.4, 3.2.2 and 3.3.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 405

+ insurance of launch and of in-orbit operations (involving insurance

company and (some of) the above parties);
+ use of a satellite (involving satellite owner/operator and user); and
+ financing of satellites (involving satellite buyer/operator and
manufacturer/bank).

In general, in the above contractual relationships, the parties concerned

are only in some cases/on some issues dependent on provisions of space
law, and then only indirectly, that is through the licence requirements and
conditions of the states authorizing the activity.

7.4 LEGAL ASPECTS OF LAUNCH SAFETY AND

SPACE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
Launch-related issues that have become increasingly important in the past
years but are not dealt with in the present body of positive space law and
are thus left to either separate international arrangements or to national
laws and policies, are launch safety and space traffic management.
The absence of international space traffic management rules can at
least partially be explained by the fact that there is neither an inter-
governmental organization or specialized agency, nor a trade association
that feels responsible for the creation of international ‘rules of the road’.
And because ‘national’ space launches usually do not involve entry into
foreign airspace, spacefaring nations take care of their own national
safety, including navigation standards, and apply these to their own –
governmental and/or private – launch activities. The need for inter-
national coordination, let alone harmonization, of these national rules and
policies was not felt until quite recently.
Thanks to a number of high-profile incidents, including the Chinese
ASAT test78 and (near) accidents, including the Cosmos–Iridium colli-
sion79 and debris-originating threats to the ISS, states and space agencies

78
On 11 January 2007, the People’s Liberation Army of China conducted its
first anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test, destroying, with a ballistic missile, one
of its own weather satellites in space, at about 530 miles in LEO. The explosion
created a debris cloud of thousands of metal particles creating collision risks for
some 700 spacecraft orbiting in LEO; see China’s Anti-Satellite Weapon Test,
CRS Report for Congress, RS 22652, of 23 April 2007.
79
On 10 February 2009, an inactive Russian communications satellite,
Cosmos-2251, collided with an active commercial communications satellite,
Iridium-33, operated by US-based Iridium Satellite LLC. at about 500 miles

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406 Handbook of space law

now pay increasing attention to space situational awareness, mitigation of

space debris and the question of whether national measures are sufficient
to cope with the increasing risks of collisions, interference and other
threats to the safe and sustained use of orbits.
A distinction should be made here between space transportation, that
is the launching/delivery in orbit of satellites on the one hand and the
(orbital) operation of the satellites concerned on the other hand.80 This
distinction is important partly as it is also reflected in the type and cost of
insurances given by the insurance companies, as dealt with further in the
chapter on insurance.81 Normally one insurance covers the launch phase,
while another, when issued, deals with liability during the operation of
the satellite.
Rules of the road have to address the different dangers/risks involved
in both stages of the space activity concerned. It has to be realized that
often different entities are involved (for example the owner/operator of
the satellite does not perform the launch), and that responsibility for (the
safety/performance of) each stage may therefore be in different hands.
This may require different regimes, depending on the stage/moment of
operation.
The parties concerned always treat the launch phase as the most risky
part of the space activity.

7.4.1 The Outer Space Treaty and Safe and Responsible Behaviour
in Launching

The Outer Space Treaty contains a number of articles that may be relied
on to demand safe and responsible behaviour on the part of the

altitude in LEO; the collision also resulted in a sizeable increase in debris

orbiting the earth, at least some 2,000 trackable pieces of debris (10 cm or
larger); see Secure World Foundation report Space Sustainability – a practical
guide (2012), 8, http://swfound.org/media/100822/SWF_Space_Sustainability_
booklet_updated_2012_web.pdf, last accessed June 2013.
80
Note that the responsibilities of DOT’s Office of Commercial Space
Transportation are limited to regulating the launch and return of the vehicle and
do not encompass the operational phase of the payload (satellite) that was carried
into space. ‘Space traffic management’ has been defined as ‘the set of technical
and regulatory provisions for promoting safe access into outer space, operations
in outer space and return from outer space to earth free from physical or
radio-frequency interference’; see Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management,
International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) (2006), 10.
81
On the space insurers’ point of view, see e.g. Swiss Re, Space Debris: On
Collision Course for Insurers? (2011); see further infra, Chapter 17.

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spacefaring states. Relevant principles are those that reflect the freedom
of exploration and use, that forbid national appropriation and require due
regard to the corresponding interests of all parties and consultations in
case of planned space activities that may cause potentially harmful
interference with the activities of other states.82 And Article VI requires
states to make sure that private companies, which fall under their
responsibility, behave accordingly. The freedom of one state to engage in
exploration and use of outer space is limited by the freedom of other
states to do likewise.
If the launch of an object into outer space causes damage to others,
compensation is called for in accordance with the rules of the Liability
Convention.83 That ‘launching States’ have to pay when things have gone
wrong is both an added incentive for the state concerned to take proper
precautions and a comforting idea for the (potential) victims, but the real
issue is to obtain such safe and responsible behaviour of all stakeholders
that the chances of things going wrong are minimized. The space treaties
do not give any specific rules in this regard. An IAA study of 2006 lists
the gaps in the space treaties, most of which concern the lack of rules
pertaining to in-orbit behaviour.84

82
Cf. Arts. I, II, IX, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 14.
83
Liability Convention, supra n. 22; see further supra, § 2.3.3.2.
84
The absence of harmonized licensing requirements, pre- and post-launch
information exchange, measures to prevent collisions between satellites (though
the ITU has rules to prevent radio frequency interference), binding space debris
prevention and mitigation rules, identification/separation of areas subject to air
traffic and/or space traffic control, etc.; see Cosmic Study on Space Traffic
Management, supra n. 80, passim. Note that the Liability Convention, supra
n. 22, in recital 3 of the Preamble, observes ‘that notwithstanding the precaution-
ary measures to be taken by States and international intergovernmental organ-
izations involved in the launching of space objects, damage may on occasion be
caused by such objects’; but the Convention does not prescribe any such
measures. The Registration Convention, supra n. 52, partly created to assist
states that are the victim of space-originating damage to identify the ‘launching
State’, does not require states to provide pre-launch information. The Hague
Code of Conduct, see infra, § 7.5.1.6, could in principle, at least to some extent,
fill that gap, but does not have binding force. Moreover, the states concerned see
part of this information as national-security relevant and are therefore hesitant to
share or distribute the data freely. Neither the international launch industry nor
the satellite operators have come to an effective data exchange arrangement so
far.

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7.4.2 Traffic Management in the Launch Phase

It is necessary at this stage to make a clear distinction (again) between

the operations of satellites in orbit and beyond and, on the other hand, the
transportation of these satellites (or other payload) into orbit/space and
the possible return of the space vehicle concerned. The latter two pose
different challenges from a traffic management point of view: where
in-orbit operations may harmfully interfere with other such space activ-
ities, the launch and return phases of such activities bring about the use
of airspace, possible interference with aircraft in flight, whose operations
are regulated under international and national air law, and/or possible
involvement of national air traffic management agencies, an international
specialized agency ICAO85 or, in Europe, EASA (for aviation safety)86
and Eurocontrol (for air navigation).87
Before addressing the legalities of spacecraft–aircraft interference it is
useful to question the urgency of the matter. Whereas there is clear
evidence of orbital operations being increasingly threatened by space

85
ICAO was established by the Chicago Convention, supra n. 18, notably
Part II, Arts. 43–66, The International Civil Aviation Organization. See esp.
Annexes 17, Security: Safeguarding International Civil Aviation Against Acts of
Unlawful Interference; Annex 9, Facilitation; Annex 11, Air Traffic Services.
86
EASA was established by Regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a
European Aviation Safety Agency, No. 1592/2002/EC, of 15 July 2002; OJ L
240/1 (2002); later superseded by Regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a
European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC,
Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC, No. 216/2008/EC, of
20 February 2008; OJ L 79/1 (2008). See further e.g. J.B. Marciacq et al.,
Accommodating Sub-Orbital Flights into the EASA Regulatory System, in Space
Safety Regulations and Standards (Eds. J.N. Pelton & R.S. Jakhu) (2011), 188,
209.
87
Eurocontrol was established by the Convention Relating to Co-operation
for the Safety of Air Navigation (hereafter Eurocontrol Convention), Brussels,
done 13 December 1960, entered into force 1 March 1963; 523 UNTS 117;
UKTS 1963 No. 39; Cmnd. 2114; later amended inter alia by the Protocol
Amending the Eurocontrol International Convention Relating to Co-operation for
the Safety of Air Navigation of 13 December 1960, Brussels, done 12 February
1981, entered into force 1 January 1986; 430 UNTS 279; Cmnd. 8662; and the
Protocol consolidating the Eurocontrol International Convention Relating to
Co-operation for the Safety of Air Navigation of 13 December 1960, as variously
amended, Brussels, done 27 June 1997, not yet entered into force; Eurocontrol
Revised Convention, Sept. 1997 edition at Eurocontrol. See further e.g. I.H.P.
Diederiks-Verschoor, An Introduction to Air Law (8th edn., 2006), 57 ff.

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debris, and debris mitigation is therefore rightfully considered a ‘hot

topic’, there are no known cases of incidents involving launch vehicles or
returning space vehicles and aircraft in flight. One should distinguish,
moreover, controlled returns from space debris surviving atmospheric
drag and crashing on earth.
Another reason to be hesitant about discussing possible international
approaches to the issue is the fact that launches primarily take place from
launch sites based on national territory, involving the use of national
airspace and creating the need for national coordination between the
aviation and space authorities of the state concerned. In the United
States, NASA and the private launch companies interact with the FAA88
whenever a launch takes place and, depending on the location of the
launch site, air traffic will be forewarned and safeguarded.
The number of states that actually engage in – or license private
companies to perform – launches (from their territory) is still very
limited: taking Europe for calculation purposes as one launching ‘State’
and assigning the multinational company Sea Launch to the United States
and its subsidiary Land Launch to Russia, one arrives at a total of 12
launching states. Together, in the past 16 years, they have created
hundreds of thousands of pieces of dangerous space debris in orbits
around the earth. To produce that abysmal result, they needed only a total
of 1,146 launches creating, in the launch phase, an annual average of, in
theory, 72 potential interferences with aircraft (the total figure of 1,146
includes the 33 launches performed by Sea Launch from its floating
launch platform in the Pacific Ocean, at a comfortable distance from the
nearest airports or aircraft movements).

7.4.3 Launches Subject to Air Traffic Management?

Aircraft operated in national airspace by an individual, or by a national or

foreign airline, have to abide by strict and detailed rules. All operators
know these rules; they are, at least in principle, identical in all 191
member states of ICAO. This has been accomplished through the
adoption of so-called ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices
(SARPs), laid down in Annexes to the Chicago Convention, to which all
member states have to adhere to the greatest extent possible and which
they apply to all flights in their air space and to their own aircraft through

88
See for the role of the FAA in regulating US commercial space launches
further supra, § 3.3.1.1; cf. also infra, § 12.3.4.2.

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national implementing legislation.89 Military aircraft are not automatic-

ally subject to this regime of international civil aviation,90 but in practice,
through close coordination between military and civil air traffic control
agencies, they abide by the same ‘safety first’ standards. The result is that
international civil aviation has an outstanding safety record.91
The launch vehicle, a relatively dangerous newcomer in airspace, may
threaten this safety record if left unregulated: neither aircraft command-
ers nor air traffic management are accustomed to or have procedures in
place to address – possible – interference with aircraft operations by
space objects manoeuvring in airspace. States bear responsibility for
keeping their airspace safe for the use of aircraft.92 However, the aviation
rules do not automatically apply to space vehicles: they apply to aircraft,
defined as ‘any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from
the reactions of the air’.93 Launch vehicles use rocket propulsion, do not
derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air and are
therefore not regarded as aircraft; this results in two – legally – different
machines using the same air space.
One can think of two ways to address this issue, a practical and a legal
one. The practical approach focuses on (continued) coordination between
the two national authorities concerned, whereas the legal one would work

89
Cf. Art. 12, Chicago Convention, supra n. 18 (‘Rules of the air’): ‘Each
contracting State undertakes to adopt measures to insure that every aircraft flying
over or maneuvering within its territory and every aircraft carrying its nationality
mark, wherever such aircraft may be, shall comply with the rules and regulations
relating to the flight and maneuver of aircraft there in force. Each contracting
State undertakes to keep its own regulations in these respects uniform, to the
greatest possible extent, with those established from time to time under this
Convention. Over the high seas, the rules in force shall be those established
under this Convention. Each contracting State undertakes to insure the prosecu-
tion of all persons violating the regulations applicable.’ The air traffic rules
(SARPs) concerned are detailed in Annex 2, Rules of the air, and Annex 11, Air
Traffic Services. On SARPs in general see also Arts. 37–38, Chicago Conven-
tion.
90
Cf. Art. 3(a), (b), Chicago Convention, supra n. 18.
91
In 2011 one accident (of Western-built aircraft) occurred per 2.7 million
flights, in 2012 this figure has gone down to one accident per 5 million flights;
see Tony Tyler’s State of the Industry Speech, 3 June 2013, fn. 2, at
www.iata.org/pressroom/speeches/Pages/2013-06-03-02.aspx, last accessed 28
June 2013.
92
Cf. also Art. 28, Chicago Convention, supra n. 18.
93
For the complete definition, to be found in a number of Annexes (e.g. 2
and 8, in the Definitions section) to the Chicago Convention, supra n. 18, see
ibid.

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towards amendment of the definition of aircraft to include the launch

vehicle or expand the responsibilities of the aviation authorities to
include launch vehicle operations. As long as the number of spacefaring
nations and actual launches grows at the present modest pace, the
practical approach is probably the best one for years to come. The legal
solution comes into the picture when the growth of air and space traffic
has made the coordination model less effective and/or when problems of
governance in the coordination process (‘who is the boss?’) threaten the
safety of air space for national and foreign users.
On the international intergovernmental (ICAO) level one should not
expect much support for the legal approach, in view of the vast
consequences of such an important change, the very few potential
beneficiaries of this measure, and the ensuing lack of urgency on the part
of the member states. In 2005 the ICAO Council discussed, on the basis
of a working paper prepared for that occasion, the potential involvement
of the organization in the regulation of sub-orbital flights, but no
follow-up actions were taken.94 When asked by the Legal Subcommittee
of UN COPUOS, in the framework of the Subcommittee’s discussion on
the definition and delimitation of outer space, to make a ‘comprehensive
presentation on current and foreseeable civil aviation operations, with
particular emphasis on the upper limit of those operations’ for consider-
ation at its 2010 session, the ICAO Secretariat limited itself to referring
to the above working paper.95
On a national level it is, in principle, much easier to expand the
competence of the civil aviation authorities to include launch vehicle
operations. And, with the prospect of increasing – private, commercial –
space flight, it is also eminently logical. The German Aviation Code
formally adopts that approach. It provides simply: ‘Space vehicles,

94
The ICAO Secretariat study, prepared for the Council’s 175th session,
entitled ‘Concept of sub-orbital flights’, concluded i.a.: ‘6.3 The Chicago
Convention applies to international air navigation but current commercial activ-
ities envisage sub-orbital flights departing from and landing at the same place,
which may not entail the crossing of foreign air spaces. Should however foreign
air space(s) be traversed, and should it be eventually determined that sub-orbital
flights would be subject to international air law, pertinent Annexes to the
Chicago Convention would in principle be amenable to their regulation’; ICAO
Working Paper C-WP/12436 of 30/05/05, reprinted in H.P. van Fenema, Subor-
bital Flights and ICAO, 30 Air & Space Law (2005) 404–11. See also R.
Abeyratne, ‘ICAO’s Involvement in Outer Space Affairs – A Need for Closer
Scrutiny’, 30 Journal of Space Law (2004), 185–202.
95
See UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/2010/CRP.9, of 19 March 2010.

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412 Handbook of space law

rockets and similar flight objects are treated as aircraft as long as they are
in air space.’96
A 2001 Study prepared by the FAA Office of Commercial Space
Transportation translates this into an integration model: ‘From a
[National Airspace System] service provider perspective, space and
aviation operations must be seamlessly integrated in order to continue to
provide efficient service to all NAS users.’97 The concept document
provides the following rationale for this approach:

Historically, commercial launch operations have occurred at coastal federal

ranges utilizing only ELVs. As a result, these space operations have had
minimal impact on NAS operations due to their infrequent occurrence and
offshore trajectories. However, the expected increase in frequency of commer-
cial launches and reentries, from a broad range of locations, in the U.S., will
contribute substantially to competition for airspace amongst NAS users.
Therefore, the FAA must now consider a ‘Space and Air Traffic Management
System’ (SATMS) that equitably supports both the evolving commercial space
transportation industry and the mature and continuously growing aviation
industry in a systematic, integrated manner.98

If the national authorities of the other spacefaring nations concerned act

in a similar way, there appears to be little need, for some time to come,
for amended international air law or new space law to address questions
of safety in air space created by the joint use thereof by launch vehicles
and aircraft. That will probably only change when space operations
involving the planned and actual crossing of national airspace borders
(promise to) become routine.

7.4.4 From Air Traffic Management to Space Traffic Management

While thus having made an effort to put the threats to aviation posed by
launch vehicles – and therefore the urgency of addressing those threats
through international regulation – in perspective, it is nevertheless useful

96
I.e. ‘Raumfahrzeuge, Raketen und ähnliche Flugkörper gelten als Luft-
fahrzeuge, solange sie sich im Luftraum befinden’: German Aviation Code
(Luftverkehrsgesetz), Chapter 1, Subch. VI, Arten von Luftfahrzeugen (‘types of
aircraft’), www.gesetze-im-internet.de/luftvg/index.html, last accessed 14 April
2014.
97
Concept of Operations for commercial space transportation in the
National Airspace System, Version 2.0, of 11 May 2001, FAA – Office of the
Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, at 1.0 (Introduc-
tion).
98
Ibid., 1.

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to briefly consider the regulatory aspects thereof in relation to space

traffic management of orbital activities.
Air traffic management can play a role in the safety of aviation and
space flight, but, literally, ‘up to a point’. That point could, and probably
would, have been the exact border between airspace and outer space.
Unfortunately, no such border legally exists.99 This is a problem of space
law and space lawyers, dominated by considerations of national security
and defence. It is not an issue that concerned air lawyers when in 1944 at
the Chicago Conference allied states got together to create rules for
post-war international civil aviation. The concept of sovereignty over
national airspace was unanimously endorsed to make sure that states
would remain masters in and over their own airspace, for defence, safety
and economic/commercial reasons.100 It enabled them to say ‘no trespass-
ing’ to any foreign aircraft that for whatever reason and irrespective of
altitude planned to cross the vertical border that extends upward from the
national territory including the territorial sea. Within those borders they
maintain order and safety in airspace for the benefit of all aircraft
operators permitted to use it.

7.4.4.1 Launches through national airspace

Following this rationale, the potential interest of states to supervise the
behaviour of launch vehicles in their own national airspace progressively
diminishes with every mile that the vehicle puts between itself and the
cruising altitude of the aircraft operating in the vicinity. And its ability to
do so will also diminish. Put differently, where aircraft cannot fly and
chances of interference have thus become remote, responsibility for the
management of the space vehicle can be transferred from national air
traffic management to national space traffic management authorities. The
altitude at which this switch takes place may be substantially lower than
the tentative border of 100 or 110 km that is suggested in space law
literature to define/delimit outer space.101

99
Cf. also supra, § 2.3.1.3.
100
See Art. 1, Chicago Convention, supra n. 18, which repeated (and
replaced) Art. 1, Convention Relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation
(Paris Convention), Paris, done 13 October 1919, entered into force 11 July
1922; 11 LNTS 173; UKTS 1922 No. 2; ATS 1922 No. 6.
101
See in general supra, § 2.3.1.3; also discussion in F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen,
Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 163–72, referring to the USSR proposal (on 110
km) and the Belgian proposal (on 100 km) made in the UN COPUOS Legal
Sub-Committee of 1979 and 1976 respectively. See e.g. UN Doc. A/AC.105/889/
Add.10 (‘Questions on the definition and delimitation of outer space: replies

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414 Handbook of space law

For example, the US NAS has an upper limit of 60,000 feet or 18.3
kilometres (the maximum cruising altitude of today’s passenger aircraft is
around 37,000 feet or 11.3 kilometres).102 Or, when returning from space,
a US space vehicle enters supervised and controlled US air space at an
altitude of approximately 18 kilometres. But in order to be able to give
timely instructions to aircraft operating in the vicinity the appropriate
traffic management centre needs speed and trajectory data of the return-
ing space vehicle at a much earlier stage of descent. This information has
to be provided by a space traffic manager and the space vehicle operator.
Characteristics of the space vehicle affecting its manoeuvrability, both
at the launch and at the re-entry phase, determine whether and to what
extent its operation can be managed: in other words whether it will be
able to comply with air traffic control (ATC) clearance instructions. The

from member States’, at 5 (Russian Federation)). See also Australian Space

Activities Act (An act about space activities, and for related purposes, No. 123 of
1998, assented to 21 December 1998; National Space Legislation of the World,
Vol. I (2001), at 197) of 1998 as amended in 2002, which applies only to space
activities that occur or are intended to occur above 100 km in altitude (Australia
emphasized, however, that identifying the 100 km altitude in the Act was not an
attempt on Australia’s part to define or limit ‘outer space’); see UN Doc.
A/AC.105/865/Add.1, of 20 March 2006 (‘National legislation and practice
relating to definition and delimitation of outer space – replies received from
member States’, at 2–4 (Australia)). See, for more analyses and national views,
‘Documents relating to the work of the Working Group on the Definition and
Delimitation of Outer Space of the [UN COPUOS Legal Sub-Committee]’,
at www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/Legal/wg-ddos/index.html, last
accessed 13 June 2013. It is interesting to note that the multilateral Wassenaar
Arrangement, infra n. 119, on export controls for conventional arms and dual-use
goods and technologies, contains the following definition of products or items
that are ‘space-qualified’: ‘Products designed, manufactured and tested to meet
the special electrical, mechanical or environmental requirements for use in the
launch and deployment of satellites or high altitude flight systems operating at
altitudes of 100 km or higher’; see infra, § 7.5.2.1. The EU Regulation
implementing the Wassenaar Arrangement, Council Regulation setting up a
Community regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of
dual-use items, No. 428/2009/EC, of 5 May 2009; OJ L 134/1 (2009), contains
identical language, binding the EU member states; see infra, § 7.5.2.2.
102
The U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft ‘Dragon Lady’, operated by
the US Air Force, reaches an altitude of 70,000 ft or 21.3 km. For comparison’s
sake: the lowest satellite perigee was/is around 100 miles or 160 km, compared
with 1957’s Sputnik 1 at 140 miles or 224 km and the International Space
Station at 205 miles or 330 km. Sounding rockets go to an altitude as low as 30
miles or 48 km or as high as 800 miles or 1,280 km or more (all approximates).
See however further supra, § 2.3.1.3.

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FAA 2001 document makes a distinction between launch and transition

to space, where a horizontal (aircraft-type) take-off provides time and
opportunity for ATC clearance, and a vertical launch does not; and
re-entry and return to a landing site, where only a powered flight
provides sufficient time and opportunity for ATC clearance, and an
unpowered flight or ballistic return does not.103
Where ATC instructions cannot be followed by the space vehicle
concerned, the only way to keep it at a safe distance from aircraft is to
create a reserved airspace or ‘no fly zone’.104 However, this may cause a
serious disruption of air traffic at busy airports nearby.
In the Space Shuttle era, calculation of the effects of pre-emptive
airspace closure along a re-entry airspace corridor showed that a signifi-
cant amount of traffic would be affected. Accordingly, the FAA deter-
mined that the airspace below a re-entering Shuttle should remain open
for normal air traffic operations, provided that an operational plan was in
place to notify airspace users in advance and provide air traffic control-
lers with the necessary information to appropriately address a potential
accident.105 To that end, the FAA chose to issue Notices to Airmen
(NOTAMs), which, on the basis of trajectory data provided by NASA,
would notify airspace users which part of airspace 25 nautical miles to
either side of the nominal re-entry trajectory would be vulnerable to
Shuttle debris in case of an accident. A similar approach can be taken
vis-à-vis commercial space operations irrespective of the spaceports/
landing sites used.

7.4.4.2 Launches through international airspace

So far the focus has been on the management of air traffic and space
traffic in and above national airspace; yet international airspace, that is
mostly airspace above the high seas, is also extensively used by airlines
operating international flights. Launch vehicles operating from national
territory may leave national airspace and transit international airspace

103
See Concept of Operations for commercial space transportation in the
National Airspace System, supra n. 97, 10 (Fig. 3).
104
According to Art. 9, Chicago Convention, supra n. 18, ‘[e]ach contracting
State reserves also the right, in exceptional circumstances or during a period of
emergency, or in the interest of public safety, and with immediate effect,
temporarily to restrict or prohibit flying over the whole or any part of its
territory, on condition that such restriction or prohibition shall be applicable
without distinction of nationality to aircraft of all other States.’
105
See D.P. Murray & M. Mitchell, Lessons Learned in Operational Space
and Air Traffic Management, FAA, AIAA 2010-1349, 4.

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before entering outer space. Launches may also use international air
space only, for example in the case of Sea Launch operations from its
launch platform on the high seas or launches from an aircraft flying in
the skies above, like the aircraft-launched Pegasus.
International air space is a res communis omnium like outer space, and
territorial jurisdiction is absent. But air traffic management rules do apply
and states have to ensure that ‘every aircraft carrying its nationality mark,
wherever such aircraft may be, shall comply with the rules and regu-
lations relating to the flight and manoeuver of aircraft there in force’.106
Thus, a uniform set of rules on matters like flight plans, cruising levels,
right of way, position reports, communications and other collision-
avoidance measures applies to, and is adhered to by, all aircraft operating
above the high seas. Also here the launch vehicle may be seen as an
intruder, potentially disturbing a safe aviation environment – albeit, so far
and for the time being, on an extremely limited scale.
In the absence of territorial jurisdiction a state’s personal jurisdiction
by virtue of Articles VI and VIII of the Outer Space Treaty107 may be
invoked vis-à-vis the state concerned to ensure that the launch activity
does not interfere with international aviation. In other words, the licens-
ing state’s space agency has the duty to warn, through its national civil
aviation/air traffic management authorities, all users of this part of
international air space about the danger for aircraft to operate in or near
the launch area at the time of the launch. But the creation, for the above
aviation safety purposes, of ‘no fly zones’ in international air space
above the launch area would create a conflict with the principle of
‘freedom of overflight’ over the high seas prevalent in the law of the
sea,108 a matter that would therefore have to be dealt with primarily by
ICAO.

106
Art. 12, Chicago Convention, supra n. 18 (emphasis added). The clause
further states: ‘Over the high seas, the rules in force shall be those established
under this Convention’. The ICAO Council has determined on a number of
occasions that the ‘Rules of the air’ of Annex 2 are standards, i.e. they apply
without exception to the airspace above the high seas, and it is the responsibility
of the 191 ICAO member states that the aircraft commanders piloting the aircraft
of their national airlines adhere strictly to these rules. See more extensively on
these aspects chs. 2.2.5 (‘provisions of air law’) and 2.3.1 (‘air traffic’), IAA,
Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management (2006).
107
See supra, § 2.3.1.1, also § 2.3.4.
108
Cf. Art. 87(1), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
Montego Bay, done 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November 1994;
1833 UNTS 3 and 1835 UNTS 261; UKTS 1999 No. 81; Cmnd. 8941; ATS 1994
No. 31; 21 ILM 1261 (1982); S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-39: ‘Freedom of the high

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 417

Another way of creating a legal basis for national air traffic manage-
ment controls in international air space for the purpose of regulating its
joint use by aircraft and spacecraft alike, would be the establishment of a
so-called ‘regional air navigation agreement’. On the basis thereof, a state
will accept responsibility for providing national air traffic services in
specific portions of airspace over the high seas. The Council of ICAO is
the body that has to approve this type of arrangement.109

7.5 LEGAL ASPECTS OF MARKET ACCESS AND

COMPETITION ISSUES
The other major area of launching and space transportation dealt with by
a specifically developed body of law and policy concerns market access
and competition issues, which in turn include export controls, govern-
ment procurement, and other trade- and competition-related aspects.
International space law does not provide rules on doing business or
market access matters. There do exist provisions in the Outer Space
Treaty on cooperation between the spacefaring states.110 In fact,
cooperation is seen as one of the guiding principles underlying the free
use of outer space. Cooperative space projects such as the historical
US–Soviet Apollo-Soyuz link-up in July 1975, joint scientific missions
and, more recently, the ISS show that space nations, for ideological/
political, scientific and financial reasons, have found ways to join forces
in the exploration and use of outer space.
However, cooperation in the field of the development or operation of
launch vehicles is much more complicated because of the sensitive
military technology involved. In fact, international non-proliferation
guidelines and (inter-)national export control regulations de facto dis-
courage such cooperation for fear that the technology thus shared will be
used for the development of missiles capable of carrying weapons of
mass destruction. Other unintended consequences of this concern are, for
example, that (the results of) post-accident investigations will thus remain
in national hands and foreign space insurance companies face difficulties
in independently establishing the cause of a malfunction that resulted in
damage covered (or not) by the insurance policy. And rocket engineers

seas … comprises, inter alia … (b) freedom of overflight’. For ‘no fly zones’ in
national air space, see supra text at n. 104.
109
See further Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management, supra n. 106.
110
Examples are Arts. I, III, IX, X, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 14.

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may face serious legal problems if they engage in shoptalk with their
foreign colleagues, either bilaterally or in a conference setting.
Competition between launch companies operating in the inter-
national launch market is also hampered by these same guidelines and by
national legislation and policy that employs both national security,
foreign policy and economic-commercial language to justify limitations
to free competition in this field.

7.5.1 Export Controls: Missile Export Controls Affecting the Sale

of Launch Vehicles and the Relevant Technologies

7.5.1.1 The Missile Technology Control Regime

The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is an informal and
voluntary association of countries which share the goals of non-
proliferation of unmanned delivery systems (other than manned aircraft)
capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.111 The members or
partners seek to coordinate national export licensing efforts aimed at
preventing missiles and missile technology being acquired by aspiring
countries and, after the 9/11 attacks, terrorist groups/individuals. The
regime was formed in 1987 by the G-7 industrialized countries (Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United
States), and has grown since to a group of 34 members/partners.112 The
trade in rockets among the partners falls in principle under the same
export restrictions.113 The Regime established a common export policy in

111
See Agreement on Guidelines for the Transfer of Equipment and Tech-
nology Related to Missiles (hereafter MTCR Agreement), done 16 April 1987;
26 ILM 599 (1987); as amended by the Agreement on Guidelines for the
Transfer of Equipment and Technology Related to Missiles as Amended,
effective 7 January 1993; 32 ILM 1298 (1993).
112
These comprise Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria,
Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States; see
The Missile Technology Control Regime, Frequently asked questions (FAQs),
www.mtcr.info/english/FAQ-E.html, last accessed 20 June 2012.
113
See Guidelines for Sensitive Missile-Related Transfers, para. 1,
www.mtcr.info/english/guidetext.htm, last accessed 15 January 2014: ‘These
Guidelines, including the attached Annex, form the basis for controlling transfers
to any destination beyond the Government’s jurisdiction or control [of the
controlled items]’ (emphasis added); also MTCR FAQs, Question 14 ‘Are exports
to Partners treated differently than exports to non Partners?’ Answer: ‘The

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the form of the so-called MTCR Guidelines which are applied to a list of
controlled items, the MTCR equipment, software and technology Annex.
The Annex is divided in two parts, containing Category I and Category II
items.
Category I items include

complete rocket and unmanned aerial vehicle systems (including ballistic

missiles, space launch vehicles, sounding rockets, cruise missiles, target
drones, and reconnaissance drones), capable of delivering a payload of at least
500 kg to a range of at least 300 km, their major complete subsystems (such
as rocket stages, engines, guidance sets, and re-entry vehicles) and related
software and technology, as well as specially designed production facilities
for these items.114

Pursuant to the MTCR Guidelines, exports of these items are subject to

an unconditional strong presumption of denial regardless of the purpose
of the export and are licensed for export only on rare occasions.
Additionally, exports of production facilities for the manufacture of these
items are prohibited absolutely.115
Category II items include other less-sensitive and dual-use missile-
related components: ‘[t]he Guidelines are not designed to impede
national space programs or international cooperation in such programs as
long as such programs could not contribute to delivery systems for
weapons of mass destruction.’116 These words would seem to make a
distinction between international cooperation in the field of missiles and
missile R&D (strongly discouraged) and cooperation in the field of
civil-governmental or commercial ELVs (permitted cooperation in the
peaceful uses of outer space). But the reality is that the technology
employed in both cases makes it virtually impossible to guarantee that
‘such cooperation could not contribute to’ weapons of mass destruction-
delivery systems. The MTCR and the national export controls based

MTCR Guidelines do not distinguish between exports to Partners and exports to

non-Partners. Moreover, the MTCR Partners have explicitly affirmed that mem-
bership in the Regime provides no entitlement to obtain technology from another
Partner and no obligation to supply it’; see The Missile Technology Control
Regime, Frequently asked questions (FAQs), supra n. 112.
114
Emphasis added; see MTCR Guidelines and the Equipment, Software and
Technology Annex, www.mtcr.info/english/guidelines.html, last accessed 13 June
2013.
115
See The Missile Technology Control Regime, Frequently asked questions
(FAQs), supra n. 112.
116
See Guidelines for Sensitive Missile-Relevant Transfers, supra n. 113,
para. 1.

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thereon have therefore been credited not only with the slowing down or
reduction of international missile proliferation but also of the spread of
launch vehicle hardware and know-how.117 From an international security
point of view this should be applauded. But when looking at the effect on
the number and quality of launch service providers worldwide and the
current price of space transportation, one could argue that space transpor-
tation and hence space exploration and use have not been helped by this
regime.118

7.5.1.2 The Wassenaar Arrangement

The Wassenaar Arrangement on export controls for conventional arms
and dual-use goods and technologies of 1995,119 a non-binding multi-
lateral export control regime, aims at enhancing cooperation among the
adhering states to prevent the acquisition of armaments and sensitive
dual-use items for military end-uses, if the situation in a region or the
behaviour of a state is, or becomes, a cause for serious concern to the

117
See, for examples, B.G. Chow, Emerging National Space Launch Pro-
grams – Economics and Safeguards, National Defense Research Institute,
RAND, USA (1993), mentioning e.g. South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and India,
as referred to in Van Fenema, supra n. 3, ch. 2, n. 273; for discussion of the
effects of MTCR controls on launch vehicle/missile development aspirations of
other countries, see 147–58.
118
A 2005 article written for the Arms Control Association listed the
following shortcomings of the Regime: (1) it lacks the right members (‘it
preaches to the choir; others try to ignore it’): e.g. China, North Korea, Iran and
Pakistan have so far stayed outside; (2) the MTCR targeted the key advanced
technologies of the time; by 1989 that job was largely completed, but the
technologies available today (at the low end, ‘ubiquitous’ Scud technology, at the
high end solid fuel technology and modern rocket guidance systems) are much
more difficult to restrain; and (3) members try to protect their own preferred
export activities (France, United Kingdom: cruise missiles, United States:
transfer of ballistic missile defence capabilities to allies); this weakens the
credibility of the Regime; see A. Karp, Going Ballistic? Reversing Missile
Proliferation, Arms Control Association, www.armscontrol.org/act/2005_06/
Karp, last accessed 22 June 2012.
119
Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, Wassenaar, done 19 December 1995, effect-
ive 12 July 1996, www.wassenaar.org/, last accessed 15 January 2014. The
Wassenaar Arrangement is the successor of the 1950 Coordinating Committee for
multilateral export controls (COCOM), a Cold War cooperative arrangement to
prevent the socialist/communist states from obtaining Western-manufactured
sensitive and military-relevant goods and technologies. When it came to specific
national exports, each of the COCOM members had veto power. It ceased to
exist in 1994.

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participating states. Through the exchange of information on national

exports the Wassenaar Arrangement aims at (more) responsible behaviour
among its members when exporting weapons or dual-use goods and
technologies to ‘states of concern’.
The Wassenaar Arrangement works with two lists of controlled
items, one on conventional arms, the Munitions List and one on dual-use
goods and technologies, the Dual-Use List; the latter has nine categories
of controlled goods and technologies on, for instance, computers, elec-
tronics, sensors and lasers, including Category 9 entitled ‘Aerospace and
propulsion’, and two annexes containing a ‘sensitive list’ and a ‘very
sensitive list’, with concomitant obligations imposed on the participating
states as to the level of vigilance applied to their exports. Category 9
contains the sub-category ‘space launch vehicles and spacecraft’, listing
various rocket propulsion systems and components as controlled items.120
In principle, the Wassenaar Arrangement should not control items
for export purposes that are already controlled by, for example, MTCR,
but there are exceptions to that rule.121 It may be noted furthermore in
this respect that there is a large, but not complete, overlap between states
members of the Wassenaar Arrangement122 and states members of the
MTCR regime.

7.5.1.3 The European Union

In the European Union a distinction should be made between national
security and defence matters, which remain firmly in the hands of the

120
See Dual-Use List – Category 9 – aerospace and propulsion, sub-
categories 9.A.4–9.A.10, Wassenaar Arrangement, supra n. 119, WA-LIST (12) 1
of 12-12-2012, see www.wassenaar.org/controllists/, last accessed 14 April 2014.
121
See ‘Criteria for the selection of dual-use items’, n. 3: ‘An item which is
controlled by another regime should not normally qualify to be controlled by the
Wassenaar Arrangement unless additional coverage proves to be necessary
according to the purposes of the Wassenaar Arrangement, or when concerns and
objectives are not identical’; see www.wassenaar.org/controllists/2005/Criteria_
as_updated_at_the_December_2005_PLM.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
122
Currently, the following states are members of the Wassenaar Arrange-
ment: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ire-
land, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian
Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tur-
key, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States; see www.wassenaar.org/, last
accessed 15 January 2014. For states members to the MTCR Agreement see
supra, n. 112.

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individual member states, and trade matters which fall within the
competence of the Union. As far as export controls are concerned, this
distinction is reflected in two different regimes: a Code of Conduct on
Arms Exports of 1998 updated in 2008123 and a Council Regulation of
2009,124 which is basically an update of Regulation 1334/2000125 which
presented the first thorough European effort at handling the export of
dual-use technology.
Under the Code of Conduct and its successor of 2008 the baseline
agreement is reflected by Criterion I: ‘An export licence should be
refused if approval would be inconsistent with, inter alia: … their
commitments in the frameworks of … the [MTCR] and the Wassenaar
Arrangement.’126 The Code of Conduct reminds the member states of the
European Union of their commitments under the various multilateral
regimes and arrangements, but cannot be regarded as hard law: the export
of arms including missiles remains, therefore, a matter for the national
governments’ interpretation of their commitments under the above
regimes. The European Union as a body does not deal with these matters.
Items that, for export purposes, the member states do not regard as
arms, may be treated as dual-use goods and technologies under Council
Regulation 428/2009/EC ‘setting up a Community regime for the control
of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of dual-use items’.127 The
principle of the Regulation is that items listed cannot leave the EU

123
European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, EU Council 8675/2/
98, Brussels, 5 June 1998 (OR.en); see http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/
cfsp/sanctions/codeofconduct.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014. This Code of
Conduct was updated and upgraded by Council Common Position 2008/944/
CFSP of 8 December 2008 defining common rules governing control of exports
of military technology and equipment, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/
EN/TXT/?qid=1414437765226&uri=CELEX:32008E0944.
124
Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 101.
125
Council Regulation setting up a Community regime for the control of
exports of dual-use items and technology, No. 1334/2000/EC, of 22 June 2000;
OJ L 159/1 (2000). See infra, n. 127, for later versions.
126
MTCR Agreement, supra, n. 112, and Wassenaar Arrangement, supra
n. 119.
127
Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 101; the list of controlled items has been
updated most recently by Regulation of the European Parliament and of the
Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009 setting up a Com-
munity regime for the control of exports, transfer, brokering and transit of
dual-use items, No. 388/2012/EU, of 19 April 2012, OJ L 129/12 (2012). Art.
2(1), Regulation 428/2009, defines dual-use items as ‘items, including software
and technology, which can be used for both civil and military purposes, and shall

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custom territory without an export authorization granted by the com-

petent authorities of the member states:

Annex I of the above Regulation 428/2009 establishes the common list of

dual-use items referred to in article 3 of that Regulation, which implements
internationally agreed dual-use controls. These controls were undertaken
within the context of participation in the Australia Group, the [MTCR], the
Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Chemical
Weapons Convention.128

The list of Annex I is divided into ten categories of items controlled.

Category 9 labelled ‘aerospace and propulsion’ lists space launch vehi-
cles and spacecraft, various rocket propulsion systems and engines,
sounding rockets ‘capable of a range of at least 300 km’, re-entry
vehicles, launch support equipment, and components and technology.129
The list has to be updated regularly to take account of changes agreed
within the above groups/regimes to which the member states have
committed themselves.
Within the European Union there are in principle no trade barriers
preventing (companies of) member states from selling/buying among
themselves dual-use goods. An exception is made for a list of highly
sensitive items (in Annex IV), which cannot be transferred to other

include all goods which can be used for both non-explosive uses and assisting in
any way in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive
devices’.
128
This concerns i.a. the Australia Group, an informal forum of countries,
which has sought, since 1985, to ensure that exports do not contribute to the
development of chemical or biological weapons; coordination and harmonization
of national export control measures assist the 41 participants, including the
European Commission, to fulfil their obligations under the Chemical Weapons
Convention (Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production,
Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, New York,
done 3 September 1992, entered into force 29 April 1997; 1974 UNTS 45; S.
Treaty Doc. No. 103-21) and the Biological Weapons Convention (Convention on
the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacterio-
logical (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, London/
Moscow/Washington, done 10 April 1972, entered into force 26 March 1975; 26
UST 583; 11 UKTS, Cmd. 6397), see www.australiagroup.net/en/index.html, last
accessed 4 June 2013; and the Nuclear Suppliers Group of 1975 (47 participating
countries), which contributes to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through
the implementation of two sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-
related exports, see www.nuclearsuppliersgroup.org/, last accessed 4 June 2013.
129
See Regulation 388/2012, supra n. 127, Annex I, Category 9, sub-
categories 9A004–9A120.

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424 Handbook of space law

member states without authorization: these include in particular MTCR

items taken from the above Category 9 list (launch vehicles, sounding
rockets and such like, including components and technology).130
This Council Regulation is ‘hard law’, applicable in and between all
member states and enforced by the European Commission. In other
words, through the respective Annexes of the Regulation, it implements
the export controls on dual-use items of the above international regimes,
and turns those non-binding arrangements into binding law applicable in
the 28 EU member states. The combination of the Code of Conduct on
Arms Exports and the Regulation in its latest manifestation create a
strong bias against the export of missiles, propulsion systems, space
launch vehicles and the relevant technology.

7.5.1.4 The United States

Under the US Arms Export Control Act131 and its International Traffic in
Arms Regulations (ITARs) the State Department controls the export of
arms, that is defence articles and defence services. ITARs include the
so-called United States Munitions List (USML)132 which, in its Category
IV, lists ‘launch vehicles and rockets’ as being subject to strict export

130
According to Art. 22(1), Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 101, ‘[a]n
authorization shall be required for intra-Community transfers of dual-use items
listed in Annex IV’. Annex IV, Part I, uses distance/weight criteria to identify
those Category 9 MTCR sub-categories that need export controls for transfers
within the European Union, e.g. ‘[s]pace launch vehicles, capable of delivering at
least a 500 kg payload to a range of at least 300 km’ (9A004) and ‘[s]ounding
rockets, capable of delivering at least a 500 kg payload to a range of at least 300
km’ (9A104). Transfers between ESA and member states’ space agencies and
amongst those space agencies are exempted from the above Annex IV controls,
see Annex IV, Part I, ‘Exemptions’.
131
See Arms Export Control Act of 1976, 22 U.S.C. 2751. On the military
aspects of export controls, see also supra, § 6.6; more in general P. Vorwig,
Regulation of Private Launch Services in the United States, in National Regu-
lation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 416–9; M.J. Kleiman, J.K.
Lamie & M.V. Carminati, The Laws of Spaceflight (2012), 141 ff.
132
For the ITARs, see www.pmddtc.state.gov/regulations_laws/documents/
official_itar/2013/ITAR_Part_120.pdf, last accessed 14 April 2014; United States
Munitions List (USML), 22 C.F.R. 121, last revised 1 April 2008.

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controls.133 ‘Export’ includes the disclosing or transferring of technical

data to a foreign person.134
Under the US Export Administration Act135 and its Export Administra-
tive Regulations (EARs), the Department of Commerce controls the
export of ‘dual-use’ items. EARs include the so-called Commerce
Control List136 which, in its Category 9, lists propulsion (including
components) as being subject to export controls.137

7.5.1.5 Other states

The MTCR Guidelines and control lists are enforced, through national
export controls, by all 34 MTCR partners. MTCR members claim that,
increasingly, also non-members adhere to this international export control
standard and adopt corresponding legislation or policy.138 Together, all
these national acts and implementing regulations and policies create a
strong bias against the export of launch vehicles and relevant tech-
nologies and know-how.

7.5.1.6 The Hague Code of Conduct

The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation
(HCOC)139 is meant to supplement the export control regime of the

133
See USML, supra n. 132, at 121.1, ‘General. The United States Muni-
tions List, Category IV – Launch vehicles, guided missiles, ballistic missiles,
rockets, torpedoes, bombs and mines’.
134
‘Export means: … (4) disclosing (including oral or visual disclosure) or
transferring of technical data to a foreign person, whether in the United States or
abroad’; see ITARs, supra n. 132, at 120.17, ‘Export’.
135
See Export Administration Act of 1979; Public Law 96-72, 96th Con-
gress; 50 U.S.C. 2401; 93 Stat. 503.
136
Commerce Control List (CCL), 15 C.F.R. 774, last revised 1 January
2008.
137
Category 9 ‘Aerospace and propulsion’; for the subcategories space
launch vehicles and ‘spacecraft’ in 9A004 and sounding rockets in 9A104, the
CCL refers to State Department controls under ITAR/USML; some components
and other items falling under this category are controlled by the Department of
Commerce; see CCL, supra n. 136, Cat. 9.
138
See Plenary meeting of the MTCR, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 13–15 April
2011, press release of 20 April 2011; www.mtcr.info/english/Press%20
Release%20April%202011.html, last accessed 14 April 2014. E.g. China is not a
member of MTCR but has MTCR-inspired national export controls on missiles
through its Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Export Control of
Missiles and Missile-related Items and Technologies of 2002.
139
Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation; for text
and general information, see www.hcoc.at, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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426 Handbook of space law

MTCR by having the ‘subscribing states’ commit themselves to max-

imum restraint in the developing, testing and deployment of ballistic
missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. Rather than
discouraging export of missiles, it establishes moral norms or behavioural
standards for all states on how to deal with, or rather combat, the spread
of ballistic missiles. It does not forbid countries to possess these missiles
but establishes rules of the road, inter alia to build mutual trust through
transparency and confidence building measures.
One of the ways in which the Code attempts to accomplish this is by
making a clear distinction between missiles and launch vehicles and by
asking the states concerned to be transparent as to which is which, as
discussed further below. The thinking behind the measures states will
implement in this regard is laid down in a number of Principles:

(e) Confirmation of their commitment to the [UN Space Benefits Declaration

of December 1996140];
…
(f) Recognition that states should not be excluded from utilizing the benefits
of space for peaceful purposes, but that, in reaping such benefits and
conducting related cooperation, they must not contribute to the prolifer-
ation of Ballistic Missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass
destruction;
(g) Recognition that Space Launch Vehicle programmes should not be used
to conceal Ballistic Missile programmes; [and]
(h) Recognition of the necessity of appropriate transparency measures on
Ballistic Missile programmes and Space Launch Vehicle programmes in
order to increase confidence and to promote non-proliferation of Ballistic
Missiles and Ballistic Missile technology.141

The – now 135 – subscribing states142 are required to curb and prevent
the proliferation of ballistic missiles, ‘exercise maximum possible
restraint in the development, testing and deployment of ballistic missiles’
and ‘exercise the necessary vigilance in the consideration of assistance to
Space Launch Vehicle programmes in any other country so as to prevent

140
Reference is made to Declaration on International Cooperation in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of all
States, Taking into Particular Account the Needs of Developing Countries,
UNGA Res. 51/122, of 13 December 1996; UN Doc. A/RES/51/122.
141
Hague Code of Conduct, supra n. 139, para. 2.
142
See www.hcoc.at, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 427

contributing to delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction, consid-

ering that such programmes may be used to conceal Ballistic Missile
programmes’.143
They also agree to implement two sets of ‘transparency measures’: to
make annual declarations about their ballistic missile and space launch
vehicle programmes, including information on the launches of missiles
and launch vehicles actually launched; and to exchange pre-launch
notifications (PLNs) on their ballistic missile and space launch vehicle
launches and test flights.144
The MTCR and the HCOC are non-binding arrangements. National
implementing legislation and policy measures may differ both in scope
and effectiveness. And political priorities in bilateral relations may differ
or change. The extent to which the countries concerned actually abide by
the respective guidelines and norms in the light of their strategic and
economic relations with recipient states is therefore a matter of debate.145
In this connection, the Code’s PLN requirement deserves special
attention. PLN may be seen as a valuable transparency measure. But it
may also be regarded as a useful complement to the registration
obligations as laid down in the Registration Convention. As is well
known, that Convention obliges the launching State ‘when a space object
is launched’ to register that object in its national registry and to furnish
information to the UN Secretary-General on such registered space objects
‘as soon as practicable’.146
In practice, this requirement has resulted in ex post facto reporting,
sometimes months after the event,147 rendering it, from a space traffic
management point of view, a tool unfit for identifying risks during or
shortly after launch. PLN promised to remedy this situation if the
launch-capable subscribers to the Code all faithfully adhered to their
notification commitments. But this has not been the case. In fact, right

143
Hague Code of Conduct, supra n. 139, para. 3(c) & (d) respectively.
144
See ibid., para. 4(a).
145
D. Gormley, Making the Hague Code of Conduct Relevant, www.nti.org/
analysis/articles/making-code-conduct-relevant/, last accessed 21 June 2012,
mentions three problems undermining the effectiveness of the Code: the absence
of North Korea, Iran, India and Pakistan from its signatories; the fact that the
United States and Russia have not implemented the reporting requirements
(annual declarations and pre-launch notifications), thus setting a bad example for
the other signatories, and the absence of cruise missiles from the Code’s remit.
Cf. however infra, n. 149, on the new US policy announced in 2010.
146
Arts. II(1), & IV(1) respectively, Registration Convention, supra n. 52.
147
Cf. e.g. Y. Lee, Registration of Space Objects: ESA Member States’
Practice, 22 Space Policy (2006), 42–51.

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428 Handbook of space law

from the start of the HCOC in 2002, the United States never supplied
PLN through the Code, but chose instead to exchange such information
only with the Russian Federation under a separate bilateral arrangement.
Russia, inter alia for that reason, halted its own notifications in 2008.148
France, Japan, Norway, Ukraine and the United Kingdom did make
notifications, but the failure of the two main missile and launch vehicle
operators to comply with the Code has seriously undermined general
discipline (and the effectiveness) of its transparency and identification
goals.149
It is not the aim of this review to draw conclusions as to the
effectiveness of these two instruments in curbing missile proliferation,
but the wariness that underlies both MTCR and HCOC and which stems
from the fact that the technologies of missiles and launch vehicles are
interchangeable, has created a climate in which the exchange of know-
how, let alone international cooperation in the field of development
and/or operation of launch services, meets serious hurdles. And it also
limits increase of competition among present and future launch service
providers.

7.5.2 Export Controls: Satellite (Technology) Export Controls

The export control regimes discussed above not only address launch
vehicles because of the sensitive, military-relevant nature of the tech-
nology used, but also satellites, as the latter, even if used for civil
purposes, may also have military applications. Export of, for example,
commercial communications satellites and related technology is therefore
also subject to national restrictions largely based on the above inter-
national regimes.

148
See W. Boese, Russia Halts Missile Launch Notices, Arms Control
Association, March 2008, www.armscontrol.org/print/2773, last accessed 25 June
2012.
149
In the June 2010 issue of its News Briefs, the Arms Control Association
reported that the US State Department in a May 28 interview had reviewed its
policy on PLN and had decided to issue such notifications of commercial and
NASA space launches, as well as ‘the majority’ of its intercontinental and
submarine-launched ballistic missile launches using the HCOC process. ‘On rare
occasions’ the United States would withhold launch information on certain
ballistic missiles or space launch vehicles. As the HCOC meetings are confiden-
tial it is not clear whether the United States has given practical follow-up to this
announcement and/or whether the Russian Federation has followed suit.

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7.5.2.1 The Wassenaar Arrangement

As discussed above, the Wassenaar Arrangement150 works with two lists
of controlled items, one of conventional arms, the Munitions List, and
one of dual-use items and technologies, the Dual-Use List.151 ‘Space-
craft’, defined as ‘active and passive satellites and space probes’ (and
thus in principle including all commercial communications satellites),
come under the Dual-Use List,152 and participating countries are there-
fore discouraged from exporting these satellites to ‘countries of concern’.
However there is no consensus among the Wassenaar Arrangement’s
member states on which countries fall under that category.

7.5.2.2 The European Union

The Wassenaar Arrangement’s Dual-Use List is being enforced within the
European Union through Council Regulation 428/2009 as regularly
amended,153 which requires the member states to control the export to
countries outside the European Union of all items specified therein,
taking into account the Wassenaar Arrangement, the MTCR and other
applicable international regimes. Compliance with the Regulation rests
with the individual member states concerned, but the European Commis-
sion is in charge of enforcement of the Regulation and may investigate
suspected infringements thereof. The Regulation uses identical termin-
ology and definitions as the above Wassenaar Arrangement’s Dual-Use
List, resulting in legally binding controls on the export of satellites and
satellite components by EU member states.154

7.5.2.3 The United States

Until the late 1980s, US export regulations distinguished between com-
munications satellites built for military, defence and national security
purposes and satellites destined for civil and/or commercial use, with
concomitant strict national security (ITAR) or more industry-oriented
(EAR) dual-use export controls. Under which category – and export

150
See supra, § 7.5.1.2.
151
See further also supra, § 6.6.2.
152
Category 9.A.4. ‘Space launch vehicles and “spacecraft”’; the definition
of spacecraft will be found under ‘Definitions of terms used in these lists’ at the
end of the Dual-Use List of the Wassenaar Arrangement, supra n. 119.
153
Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 101; Regulation 388/2012, supra n. 127;
further supra, § 7.5.1.3.
154
The control lists in Annexes to the EU Regulation refer to categories of
controlled goods; Category 9A004 refers to ‘Space launch vehicles and “space-
craft”’; see Regulation 428/2009, supra n. 101.

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regime – a specific type of satellite would fall was a matter for the
executive branch of the US government to decide upon.
Tensions in US relations with China changed that situation. In 1989 the
United States and China concluded a launch trade agreement, which
allowed China to launch a limited number of US-built satellites under
strict conditions and subject to US export controls.155 Later in the same
year, the Tiananmen ‘incident’ led to an immediate suspension of three
licences for the export of US satellites to China for their planned Long
March launch, and, more significantly, to the adoption by Congress of
trade sanctions against China. These took the form of a ban on all exports
to China of defence articles (‘arms’) and services as listed in the ITARs
and of a measure specifically banning Chinese launches of US-
manufactured commercial communications satellites (unless exempted by
the US President).156 Exemptions were routinely granted in the years
thereafter because of ‘national interest’ (read: interest of the US satellite
manufacturers who demanded (cheap) Chinese launch options for their
clients).157
This changed in 1998 when a Chinese launch of a US-built communi-
cations satellite failed and post-accident contacts between US manufac-
turer Loral and the Long March operators had purportedly led to transfer
of sensitive US satellite–launch vehicle interface technology to the
Chinese counterparts, thus contributing to increased missile-relevant
knowledge of the People’s Liberation Army.158 A Congressional Report

155
On this United States–China launch trade agreement, see infra § 7.5.4.1.
156
Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 1990; Public Law No. 101-162, 610;
103 Stat. 988, 1038; of 21 November 1989: ‘No moneys, appropriated by this
Act may be used to reinstate, or approve any export license applications for the
launch of United States-built satellites on Soviet – or Chinese – built launch
vehicles unless the President makes a report under subsection (b) or (c) of this
section [610].’ Subsection (b) required a report i.a. on the lifting of martial law,
the halting of executions and release of political prisoners by the Chinese;
subsection (c) asked the President to declare that ‘it is in the national interest of
the United States’. The prohibition was reintroduced in 1990 through the Foreign
Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991; 22 U.S.C. 2151; Public
Law 101-246 para. 902; of 16 February 1990; and again in years thereafter.
157
Thus, in December 1989 the President reported that approval of an export
licence for three US-built satellites for launch by the Chinese was in the national
interest of the United States; see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, ch. 3, n. 80.
158
On 7 June 1998 the Washington Post reported that already in March 1997
the USAF’s National Air Intelligence Center (NAIC) had concluded in a
classified report that Loral and Hughes provided expertise that helped China to

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(the ‘Cox Report’), rightly or wrongly,159 supported this allegation and

Congress swiftly adopted draconic legislation which attached so many
conditions to exports of US satellites to China that these became virtually
impossible. This Strom Thurmond Act160 added an extra layer of restric-
tions on communications satellite exports to China, in two forms.
Firstly, the Act did so by considering that

due to the military sensitivity of the technologies involved, it is in the national

security interest of the United States that United States satellites and related
items be subject to the same export controls that apply under United States
law and practices to munitions … all satellites and related items that are on
the Commerce Control List of dual-use items in the Export Administration
Regulations (15 CFR part 730 et seq.) on the date of the enactment of this Act
shall be transferred to the United States Munitions List and controlled under
section 38 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778).161

All communications satellites without exception thus became munitions

or arms for export purposes, automatically falling under State
Department-enforced export controls based on the ITARs and also falling
under any ban(s) on export of defence articles and services such as the
above Tiananmen-related sanction imposed on China in 1989 and still in
force ten years later.
The letter and spirit of the Strom Thurmond Act not only affected
export of satellites to China, but to any other country as well. The
‘national security controls on satellite export licensing’162 of the Act
involved technology control transfer plans approved by the Secretary of

improve the guidance systems on its ballistic missiles and that US national
security was damaged; see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, para. 4.1.2.4, at n. 41.
159
For a Stanford University Report challenging the findings of the Congres-
sional Cox Commission Report, see M.C. Mineiro, An Inconvenient Regulatory
Truth: Divergence in US and EU Satellite Export Control Policies on China,
online 3 November 2011, (text to) n. 13.
160
See Secs. 1511–1516, Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 1999; 22 U.S.C. 2778; Public Law 105-261 (1998). The Act
reversed a measure, prepared, after intense lobbying on the part of the US
satellite manufacturing industry, by the Bush Administration but formally taken
by Clinton in November 2006, to transfer the licensing of commercial commu-
nications satellites from the State Department to the Department of Commerce.
The ‘China Affair’ led in fact to a highly partisan debate with a Democratic
President being accused by Republican opponents of squandering US national
security interests in return for – dubious – short-term economic gains.
161
Secs. 1511 & 1513 respectively, Strom Thurmond Act, supra n. 160
(emphasis added).
162
Sec. 1514, Strom Thurmond Act, supra n. 161.

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432 Handbook of space law

Defense, mandatory monitoring by the same Department in case of a

foreign launch, covering inter alia technical discussions, satellite pro-
cessing, launch preparation, testing, activities relating to launch failure or
delay and post-launch failure investigations, and mandatory State Depart-
ment licences for launch failure investigations. Though NATO member
states and major non-NATO allies of the United States were exempted
from the above controls of Section 1514, also these countries in practice
were confronted with the extreme caution with which the US satellite
industry proceeded when facing foreign clients. And even today that
industry feels the competitive effects of foreign clients’ concerns about
the cost and time involved in all ITAR-related aspects of deals or even
talks with US satellite manufacturers.
Secondly, under the heading ‘Report on export of satellites for
launch by People’s Republic of China’,163 the Act added a large number
of conditions to a possible waiver of the Tiananmen restrictions on
satellite exports to China. These additional conditions, to be addressed in
detail in Reports to Congress, not only deal with US national security
concerns (‘Why is the proposed satellite launch by China in the national
security interest of the United States?’), but also with such matters as:

+ the impact of the proposed export on employment in the United

States;
+ the number of existing US jobs that would be lost if the export
licence is not granted;
+ the impact of the proposed export on the balance of trade between
the United States and the People’s Republic of China and on
reducing the current US trade deficit with the People’s Republic of
China; and
+ the impact of the proposed export on the transition of the People’s
Republic of China from a non-market economy to a market
economy and the long-term economic benefit to the United States,
and on the willingness of the People’s Republic of China to reduce
formal and informal trade barriers.164

These additional requirements made any re-entry of the Chinese launch

industry into the international launch market illusory, albeit only to the
extent that US satellites, satellite components and/or satellite technology
are involved.

163
See Sec. 1515, Strom Thurmond Act, supra n. 161.
164
See Sec. 1515(a), Strom Thurmond Act, supra n. 161.

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The latter aspect deserves some further consideration. Even in the

late 1990s, the United States was by far the biggest exporter of
communications satellites, and European- and Asian-built satellites rou-
tinely contained vital US-manufactured satellite components that brought
the satellite in toto under US export controls. For almost ten years this
effectively excluded the Chinese Long March Company from obtaining
launch contracts in the international commercial launch market. The last
such launch took place in 1999 and it was only in 2009 that China would
return to that market and launch a European (Thales Alenia Space)-built
communications satellite for Indonesia.165
In the meantime the European satellite manufacturers had become
increasingly aware of their dependence on US components and, thus, on
the Strom Thurmond Act’s export controls, which they saw as mainly
motivated by political and trade-protectionist considerations rather than
by real national security concerns. As a result the European industry had
started to design-out (of their communications satellites) all US com-
ponents falling under the ITAR export controls, trying to make their
satellites ‘ITAR-free’.166
Since the relevant EU Regulations, based on MTCR and the
Wassenaar Arrangement, treat communications satellites, for export pur-
poses, as dual-use items (and not as weapons/arms) this has freed the
European manufacturers from the ITAR straitjacket and has given them a
competitive advantage over their US competitors vis-à-vis all foreign
clients buying their satellites and including those clients who are
attracted by Chinese launch prices: in the absence of any legislation
comparable to the above two US Acts, nothing prevents European
manufacturers from either selling commercial communications satellites
to China or exporting these satellites to China for launch on Chinese
launch vehicles.
After the – only partially successful – commercial Chinese launch
for Indonesia of 2009, the year 2011 saw China again performing two

165
See Commercial Space Transportation: 2009 Year in Review, Federal
Aviation Administration, Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/
AST), January 2010, at 8, 25; also UN Doc. ST/SG/SER.E/602, of 12 October
2010 (Chinese registration info to the UN Secretary-General), at 12.
166
That ‘designing-out’ would be a logical and predictable reaction on the
part of the non-US satellite manufacturers affected by the new rules was
recognized almost immediately after the adoption of the Strom Thurmond Act,
both by the European and US satellite industry and by the US Administration;
see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, para. 4.1.2.4, (text at) nn. 76 and 77.

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434 Handbook of space law

commercial launches, one of which was an ITAR-free communications

satellite for Eutelsat.167
That brings the discussion to the unsatisfactory situation (particu-
larly for the US industry) that there is no international agreement, either
multilateral or with the European Union or ESA alone, that creates a
common stand vis-à-vis countries of concern. And the US Administration
has lost its ability to adapt their export policies vis-à-vis China or other
countries, so as to take into account the availability of purely European
communications satellites and Chinese launches thereof: since the Strom
Thurmond Act, it no longer has discretion to determine whether or not
communication satellites are best regulated as defence articles or dual-
use items. Succinctly stated: ‘This is an exceptional removal of executive
discretionary authority.’168 These tightened controls have affected the US
satellite industry’s competitive position. According to the US Satellite
Industry Association (SIA):

[o]ne U.S. government study reported that the value of contracts lost due to
ITAR between 2003 and 2006 was $2.35 billion … In 1995, U.S. satellite
manufacturers enjoyed a 75 percent share of the global market; ten years later,
this has dropped to 41 percent, and has hovered between 35 and 50 percent
since then. ITAR has become a market differentiator for our competitors …
Since … April 2009, the number of European ‘ITAR-free’ satellites has
jumped from six to thirteen and another seven are sold or under construc-
tion.169

167
See Commercial Space Transportation: 2011 Year in Review, supra n. 12,
at 14, 24–5. The other commercial Chinese launch in that year involved a
communications satellite built by CAST, the Chinese satellite manufacturer for
Nigerian Communication Satellite Inc. In 2010 China performed 15 launches, all
of a non-commercial nature. In 2012 China again performed two commercial
launches, showing again that there are ITAR-free satellites available in the
international market, see Commercial Space Transportation: 2012 Year in
Review, supra n. 12, at 17, 29 and 32.
168
Mineiro, supra n. 159, para. 2.2. As the US Satellite Industry Association
(SIA), at a Congressional Hearing in February 2012, stated: ‘Satellites are the
only category of products mandated by Congress for blanket treatment as
munitions under the U.S. Munitions List (USML). Every item in USML
Category XV – “Spacecraft systems and Associated Equipment” – is legally
required to be regulated as a munition, no matter how outmoded or how
widely-traded the item. The most mundane bolts are regulated with the same
controls as the most sensitive imaging technology’; Written Testimony for
Patricia A. Cooper, President SIA before the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Hearing on export controls, arms sales, and reform: balancing U.S. interests (Part
II), of 7 February 2012 (hereafter SIA testimony 2012).
169
SIA testimony 2012, supra n. 168.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 435

The US industry for years asked to restore the executive branch’s

authority to differentiate, for export control purposes, between commonly
available items and sensitive satellite items/technologies – as they do
with respect to any other US technology; in other words to get rid of this
over-regulation of satellite-related exports. A number of Bills to that
effect were introduced in Congress.170
The United States, observed a State and Defense Departments’ report
of 2012 to Congress, is still the only spacefaring nation that controls all
commercial satellites and related items, including technology, as muni-
tions items and ‘this control is not effective in protecting U.S. national
security because some dual-use satellites and related technologies equiva-
lent to those originating in the U.S. are available from non-U.S. provid-
ers’. The Report concluded that authority to determine the appropriate
export control status of satellites and space-related items should be
returned to the President.171
The Report helped to finally pave the way for the adoption in
December 2012 of NDAA 2013, an Act that indeed restores the above
executive power, thereby making it possible for the President to return
more ‘innocent’ items, such as most commercial communications and
certain remote sensing satellites and components, to Department of
Commerce controls as applied to dual-use goods and technologies.172

170
In 2011, H.R. 3288, the ‘Safeguarding United States Satellite Leadership
and Security Act of 2011’, was introduced. It would, according to SIA, correct
the historical over-regulation of satellite exports while retaining protections on
critical technologies. But first, the US Administration, as requested in Sec. 1248,
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111-84),
had to produce a full report on the national security risks of taking satellites and
related items off the USML (Category XV) list. That Final Report to Congress,
‘Risk assessment of United States space export control policy’, prepared by the
Departments of Defense and State, was released on 18 April 2012. It supported
in general the above findings and criticism of SIA and recommended that
authority to determine the appropriate export control status of satellites and
space-related items be returned to the President. It also concluded that most
communication and lower-performing remote sensing satellites and related
components could be moved from the USML to the CCL without harm to
national security; see DOD News Release No. 268-12, of 18 April 2012.
171
Final Report, supra n. 170, 1, see also (iii).
172
See the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (H.R.
4310 as approved by the US Senate on 17 December 2012) (hereafter NDAA
2013), TITLE XII, Subtitle E labelled ‘Authority to remove satellites and related
components and technology from the United States Munitions List’, Secs.
1261–1267. The Bill became Public Law No. 112-239 on 2 January 2013 (date
of Pres. Signature); 126 Stat. 1633, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-112publ239/

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436 Handbook of space law

That legislation, when followed up by further executive action, will result

in the US satellite manufacturing industry being more on a par with its
international competitors whose exports are already regulated by dual-use
type of controls. There is one important competitive difference: export of
US-made commercial satellites and related items to China, whether to be
owned or to be launched by Chinese entities, is still prohibited.173 But the
new legislation, once implemented, is bound to change the existing
perception of international clients that export controls make the buying or
launching of US satellites time-consuming, costly and risky; that will
contribute to levelling the playing field for the United States and its
satellite and launch industries, and their international competitors.174

pdf/PLAW-112publ239.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014. Entry into force of

actual changes is foreseen for November 2014.
173
Cf. Sec. 1261(1), NDAA 2013, supra n. 172: ‘IN GENERAL. – Subject
to paragraph (3), no satellites or related items that are made subject to the Export
Administration Regulations (15 CFR part 730 et seq.) as a result of the
enactment of subsection (a) of this section, whether or not enumerated on the
Commerce Control List – (A) may be exported, re-exported, or transferred,
directly or indirectly, to – (i) any government of a country described in paragraph
(2); or (ii) any entity or person in or acting for or on behalf of such government,
entity, or person; or (B) may be launched in a country described in paragraph (2)
or as part of a launch vehicle owned, operated, or manufactured by the
government of such country or any entity or person in or acting for or on behalf
of such government, entity, or person. (2) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED. – The
countries referred to in paragraph (1) are the following: (A) The People’s
Republic of China. (B) North Korea. (C) Any country that is a state sponsor of
terrorism. (3) WAIVER. – The President may waive the prohibition in paragraph
(1) on a case-by-case basis if not later than 30 days before doing so the President
– (A) determines that it is in the national interest of the United States to do so;
and (B) notifies the appropriate congressional committees of such determination.’
174
In the absence of new implementing rules and policies, problems concern-
ing the export of satellite components may still influence the market: Thales Alenia
Space has been embroiled in a dispute with the State Department since early 2012,
because the satellite it built for Turkmenistan’s state-run communications system
and to be launched by China is believed to contain components covered by ITARs,
while the company maintains that the satellite is completely ITAR-free. The
company finally, on 22 June 2013, decided to choose a non-Chinese launch provider
and selected US company SpaceX and its launch vehicle Falcon-9 to do the job; see
SpaceX to launch Turkmenistan’s first satellite, www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/
2013/06/22/spacex-to-launch-turkmenistan-satellite-originally-to-be-launched-by-
china/, last accessed 25 June 2013. In recent months, the State Department is
believed to have added new components previously not listed to the USML, thereby
making it virtually impossible, in the short term, for Thales Alenia Space to produce

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7.5.3 Government Procurement of Launch Services

7.5.3.1 ‘Fly US’

Since the late 1980s, it has been consistent US Presidential policy to
promote the use, by civil government agencies, of domestic commercial
launch industry services. Though the underlying reason seemed to be at
first to free these launch companies from competition on the part of the
Space Shuttle, further regulations and policies made clear that these
measures were also meant to assist the national launch industry in
competing with foreign launch entities.
The President’s Commercial Space Launch Policy of 1990 ordered as
one of its implementing actions: ‘U.S. Government satellites will be
launched on U.S.-manufactured launch vehicles unless specifically
exempted by the President.’175 Congress, in the same year, formalized the
preference for US commercial launch services through the Launch
Services Purchase Act, which provided: ‘Except as otherwise provided in
this section, [NASA] shall purchase launch services for its primary
payloads from commercial providers whenever such services are required
in the course of its activities.’176 Where the Act also reiterated the ban on
Space Shuttle launches of commercial payloads, it served the dual
purpose of NASA henceforth using commercial launch services instead
of its own vehicle or DOD launchers, and using domestic instead of
foreign services.
Clinton’s 1994 National Space Transportation Policy Guidelines con-
firmed this ‘fly US’ policy as follows:

U.S. Government agencies shall purchase commercially available U.S. space

transportation products and services to the fullest extent feasible that meet
mission requirements and shall not conduct activities with commercial
applications that preclude or deter commercial space activities, except for
national security or public safety reasons. … For the foreseeable future,
United States Government payloads will be launched on space launch

ITAR-free satellites; see Space News, 24 June 2013, at 6; www.spacenews.com, last

accessed 26 June 2013.
175
Office of the Press Secretary, NSPD-2 ‘Commercial Space Launch
Policy’, Presidential Directive, NASA Historical Reference Collection (File:
12605), 5 September 1990.
176
Launch Services Purchase Act, Secs. 201–205; Public Law 101-611
(NASA Authorization Act 1991); of 16 November 1990), at Sec. 204(a)–(b).

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438 Handbook of space law

vehicles manufactured in the United States, unless exempted by the President

or his designated representative.177

While G.W. Bush, in his 2006 Space Policy, kept silent on this specific
issue,178 the Obama Administration confirmed the ‘US-built launch
vehicle’ condition both in his 2010 National Space Policy and in his 2013
National Space Transportation Policy.179

177
See National space transportation policy, Fact Sheet, The White House,
Office of Science and Technology Policy, of 5 August 1994), paras. IV
(‘Commercial space transportation guidelines’) and VI (‘Use of foreign launch
vehicles, components and technologies’).
178
The Bush Policy did contain the requirement that US Departments and
agencies use US commercial space capabilities and services to the maximum
practical extent; see 7. Commercial Space Guidelines, U.S. National Space
Policy, of 31 August 2006, www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/whitehouse/ostp_
space_policy06.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
179
I.e. ‘United States Government payloads shall be launched on vehicles
manufactured in the United States unless exempted by the National Security
Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy’; National Space Policy
of the United States of America, of 28 June 2010, Intersector guidelines –
Foundational activities and capabilities: enhance capabilities for assured access
to space. The National Space Transportation Policy of 21 November 2013 uses,
under the heading ‘International Collaboration’, virtually identical language. For
this reason, neither Sea Launch with its Ukrainian/Russian launch vehicle, nor
ILS (Proton!), nor Arianespace would qualify. A special provision in the latter
Policy permits US government use of foreign launch vehicles in case of
cooperative government-to-government agreements, launches of secondary tech-
nology demonstrator or scientific payloads for which no US launch service is
available and hosted payload arrangements on spacecraft not owned by the US
government. An example of the application of this – existing – policy can be
found in a US DOD/Department of State Report to Congress, under Finding 4,
Export of space-related items to our allies and closest partners presents a low risk
to national security and should be subject to fewer restrictions than exports to
other countries: ‘Recently, Europe’s Arianespace carried the first commercially
hosted payload for the U.S. Air Force into geostationary transfer orbit’; see Sec.
1248, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law
111-84) – Risk assessment of United States space export control policy,
Departments of Defense and State, Report to Congress, at 3–4. The 2013 Policy
also permits the use of foreign components or technologies on a case-by-case
basis. This allows, until further notice, Lockheed Martin and ULA (see supra
n. 13) to use the Atlas launch vehicle for US DOD launches notwithstanding the
fact that its first stage is powered by an RD-180 rocket engine built by Russian

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 439

As for the legislative part of the ‘Fly US’ policy, the Commercial
Space Act of 1998180 amended the above Launch Services Purchase Act
of 1990 by extending the requirement that NASA purchase launch
services from US commercial providers to the federal government as a
whole, thereby also including DOD/USAF, which, for national security
reasons, so far had been allowed to use its own launch vehicles. In other
words, the law requires the federal government to use US commercial
launch providers, whereas Presidential policy dictates the use of US-built
launch vehicles.
National security considerations may provide an understandable argu-
ment for keeping the launch of certain categories of satellites in national
hands, for example satellites that perform military or national security-
related tasks. The national security argument for restricting the launch of
NASA or NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
civil payloads to national launch companies is much weaker. Here the
idea is rather to protect the US launch industry against foreign competi-
tors. The US companies, at a 1993 Congressional hearing on ‘inter-
national competition in launch services’, were quite adamant that it
should be kept that way: ‘In order to assure our country’s access to space
for critical missions, we should continue the current policy which
requires that U.S. government payloads, whether military or civil, be
launched aboard U.S. launch vehicles. In this way, a sufficient and
predictable business base will ensure the viability of our domestic launch
industry.’181 And frequently, at the hearing, reference was made to the
foreign (European, Russian, Chinese, Japanese) practice of reserving
government payloads to national launchers:

There is no question that this is the only practical policy to assure a

reasonable chance of survival against the highly subsidized international
competition … . This is the standard by all international launch system
players in the world. We cannot force the Europeans to require U.S. access to
European government missions. The same applies to Japan, PRC, and the

Energomash; similarly, OSC (see supra n. 13) may, on this basis, continue to use
the NK-33 engines sold by Russian Kuznetsov for its Taurus-II/Antares launch
vehicle.
180
See Commercial Space Act, Public Law 105-303, 105th Congress, H.R.
1702, 27 January 1998; 42 U.S.C. 14731, at Title 11, ‘Federal acquisition of
space transportation services’, Secs. 201–206.
181
See ‘International competition in launch services’, Hearing before the
Subcommittee on Space, House Committee on Space, Science and Technology,
103rd Cong., 1st Sess., 19 May 1993 (hereafter Launch Hearing), at 34 (Martin
Marietta Space Group statement).

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440 Handbook of space law

Russians. The Europeans have a policy of flying government satellites only on

Ariane.182

And, similarly: ‘Every other country in the world with launch capability
restricts their government payloads to their launch vehicles whose
development they have previously funded. The Arianespace Board of
Trustees has requested recently that the European countries be required to
use Ariane for all European satellites – both government and commer-
cial.’183
What is the European side of the story?

7.5.3.2 ‘Fly Europe’ – or the Ariane preference declaration

In Europe, the situation is not as clear-cut as in the United States as, first,
a distinction should be made between ESA and the individual member
states.
ESA, the international intergovernmental organization, promotes and
supports independent European access to space as an inevitable pre-
requisite to its space applications and research programmes.184 It makes
investments to improve existing launchers and to develop new launcher
systems and regards continued commercial success in world markets as
crucial to ensure continued affordability of launches for its own space
projects.
The international market for Ariane launches includes (1) ESA as an
organization and (2) the individual member states, for example for the
launch of a domestic communications or weather satellite. In this regard,
in the European Space Policy of 2007, a joint EU/ESA document, the
observation is made that ‘a relatively small and open domestic institu-
tional market exposes the European launcher sector to severe peaks and
slumps in the commercial market, putting the industry at risk’.185 This
comment reflects two facts: (1) the launch needs of the individual
member states, whether military or civil, are very modest, and (2) the
states concerned are not obliged to use a European launch provider or
launch vehicle.

182
See Launch Hearing, supra n. 181, at 157 (McDonnell Douglas state-
ment).
183
See ibid., at 173 (General Dynamics statement).
184
See further on ESA supra, §§ 4.2.2–4.2.5.
185
European Space Policy, Communication from the Commission to the
Council and the European Parliament, COM (2007) 212 final, Brussels, 26 April
2007, para. 4.3, ‘Access to space’.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 441

As for ESA, in 2005, the ESA Council established a launch service

procurement policy for ESA missions, which required that any future
ESA satellites or missions be conceived so as to be compatible with the
use of at least one of the ESA-developed launchers or with the Soyuz
launcher operated from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), within the
range of their respective performances, unless this is not feasible in
respect of reliability or mission suitability.186
To that obligation imposed on the Director General of ESA was added
the requirement that, in case of such ESA missions,

preference shall be granted to launchers … in the following order of priority:

+ ESA developed launchers;

+ The Soyuz launcher operated from the CSG, when comparing the options
to launch ESA missions by non ESA-developed launchers;
+ Other launchers.187

The rule to only use Ariane for ESA missions has generally been
followed, though there were, in the past, a number of occasions where
budgetary constraints, the simple absence of a suitable Ariane vehicle at
the planned launch date or a foreign launch forming part of an inter-
national cooperative space project made ESA choose a non-European
launcher.188 In this connection it should be noted that the United States
also makes exceptions to its ‘Fly US’ policy for the sake of international
cooperative space projects.
As for national launch needs, since the very start of the Ariane project
in the early 1980s, the freedom of ESA member states who participated
in the Ariane programme to shop around for the best launch deal was
qualified by – what was then called – the ‘Ariane preference declaration’.
The most recent version thereof, the Launchers Exploitation Declaration,
reads as follows:

The Parties hereto will take the ESA developed launchers and the Soyuz
launcher operated from the CSG into account when defining and executing

186
Resolution on the Evolution of the European Launcher Sector – ESA/C-
M/CLXXXV/Res.3 (Final), of 6 December 2005, ESA Bulletin 125 (February
2006), 59–65, para. IV, ‘Launch-service procurement policy for ESA missions’,
subpara. 23; see www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bulletin125/bul125a_council.pdf,
last accessed 26 June 2013.
187
Resolution on the Evolution of the European Launcher Sector, supra
n. 186.
188
For examples, see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, at 275, (text at) n. 209.

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442 Handbook of space law

their national programmes as well as the European and other international

programmes in which they are involved, except where such use compared to
the use of other launchers or space transport means available at the envisaged
time presents an unreasonable disadvantage with regard to cost, reliability or
mission suitability.
Preference to their utilization shall be granted by the Parties in the
following order of priority:
+ ESA developed launchers,
+ The Soyuz launcher operated from the CSG when comparing the options
to launch missions by non ESA-developed launchers, [and]
+ Other launchers.189

Member states in the past did from time to time use the exceptions in the
Declaration and its predecessors, and opted for non-European launch
vehicles where the Ariane could have been used. The last such case was
the 2009 Sea Launch Zenith 3SL launch into GTO of the Sicral 1B, an
Italian military communications satellite.190 This ‘preference’ paragraph
is followed by a provision touching upon international competition: ‘The
Parties hereto agree to support collectively the setting-up of a framework
governing the procurement of launch services for European institutional
programmes and ensuring a level playing field for Europe on the
worldwide market for launch services.’191 The latter part of this

189
Declaration by certain European Governments on the Launchers Exploit-
ation Phase of Ariane, Vega, and Soyuz from the Guiana Space Centre with Final
Document, Paris, 30 March 2007, § I.8, www.official-documents.gov.uk/
document/cm80/8049/8049.pdf, last accessed 26 June 2013. This Launchers
Exploitation Declaration applies since January 2009. A very large majority of
ESA member states have since that date notified their acceptance of the
Declaration to the ESA Director General. Previous versions had comparable
language. In the first one, included in the Ariane Production Declaration of 1980,
the states participating in Ariane agreed ‘to take the Ariane launcher into account
when defining and executing their national programmes and to grant preference
to its utilization, except where such use [compared to the use of other launchers
or space transport means available at the envisaged time presents an unreason-
able disadvantage]’ (emphasis added).
190
For earlier examples (e.g. Deutsche Telekom’s Kopernikus in 1991, the
UK Defence Ministry’s Skynet in 1990) and for independent Eutelsat and
EUMETSAT launch procurement policies/practices; see Van Fenema, supra n. 3,
270–5. In October 2011 the Chinese launched Eutelsat’s Thales Alenia Space-
built ‘ITAR-free’ Eutelsat W3C communications satellite into GEO.
191
Ariane Production Declaration, supra n. 189, § I.9 (emphasis added).

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 443

Declaration clearly refers to the more strict ‘national launcher’ laws and
policies of other states, which, in ESA eyes, distort competition.192
A look at the launch figures through the years may explain why
Arianespace and its shareholders feel at a competitive disadvantage: in
the period 1997 to 2012 its two main competitors, the (launch companies
of the) United States and Russia, performed a substantial number of
launches of government payloads, so-called ‘non-commercial launches’,
with Arianespace in that respect seriously lagging behind. As regards the
United States, out of a total of 345 launches, 253 were non-commercial
and 92 were commercial launches; for Russia out of a total of 426
launches, 287 were non-commercial and 139 were commercial launches;
and for Arianespace out of a total of 124 launches, 19 were non-
commercial and 105 were commercial launches.193 A reciprocal opening
of protected governmental launch markets would thus clearly be an
attractive proposition for the European launch company!

7.5.4 Other Trade and Competition-Related Aspects: Bilateral

Launch Trade Relations

To date the trade in launch services has lacked international regulation:

there is no multilateral agreement in force that provides states or private
launch companies with ‘rules of the road’ applicable to their – coopera-
tive or competitive – launch activities. There is neither an international
intergovernmental organization addressing the rights and obligations of
the states concerned nor an international trade association promoting the
interests of the industry.
‘Launching States’ like the United States and the Russian Federation
resisted efforts aimed at bringing this activity under the trade in services
rules of the WTO/GATS,194 citing national security reasons and also
considering the competitive challenges to their launch providers if trade
in these services were liberalized and, as a consequence, protection of

192
For ESA and EU efforts to arrive at an agreement with i.a. the United
States on this issue, see infra, § 7.5.4.3.
193
See infra, Appendix, Launch Record 1997–2012.
194
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established by Agreement
Establishing the World Trade Organization (hereafter WTO Agreement), Mar-
rakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995; 1867 UNTS;
UKTS 1996 No. 57; ATS 1995 No. 8; 33 ILM 1125, 1144 (1994); see also the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Marrakesh, done 15 April
1994, entered into force 1 January 1995; UKTS 1996 No. 58; Cm. 3276; ATS
1995 No. 8.

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444 Handbook of space law

their national launch industry came under attack.195 These reasons,

largely stemming from the military-strategic relevance of rocket tech-
nology, are sufficiently strong to dampen any hope of a near-to-mid-term
future change in position of these states. Only large-scale scheduled
commercial passenger operations with dedicated space vehicles could
change perceptions and result, as a first step, in these vehicles being
brought under dual-use export controls as opposed to the present missile-
related controls. This has left possible (de-)regulation of the market to
national initiatives only. The only example so far of bilateral arrange-
ments in this field comes from the United States and goes back to the late
1980s and early 1990s, with China, Russia and Ukraine as the United
States’ bilateral partners.

7.5.4.1 United States–China

Faced with a post-Challenger accident (1986–1988) shortage of launch
facilities for US-manufactured satellites, the US Administration negoti-
ated an agreement with the Chinese government that would, for the first
time, allow Chinese Long March launches of ‘Western’ satellites. As
these satellites and components, largely manufactured in the United
States, and the relevant technology would in most cases fall under ITAR
restrictions, the export thereof to China for launch from Chinese territory
required an export licence from the State Department; without such a
licence a Chinese launch of the satellite simply could not take place.196
The resulting launch trade agreement of 1989 contained two important
restrictions that were to protect the interests of the deeply concerned US
commercial launch industry (which already faced tough competition from
Arianespace), namely on (1) capacity (to prevent the Chinese from
flooding the launch market with large numbers of Long March rockets),
and (2) price (to prevent this ‘non-market economy’ from price dumping
and seriously undercutting ‘Western’ launch prices).197

195
See further infra, § 15.2.2.4.
196
The question of Chinese launches was triggered by the sale of communi-
cations satellites built by US company Hughes Aircraft Corporation to Aussat of
Australia, and UK-, Chinese- and Hong Kong-owned Asiasat. The requirement
for an export licence provided the necessary US negotiating leverage for a
broader deal on Chinese entry into the international launch market.
197
During the period of the agreement, i.e. from 16 March 1989 until 31
December 1994, the People’s Republic of China could not launch more than 9
communications satellites for international customers (including the 2 Aussat and
one Asiasat satellites) and such launch commitments had to be proportionally
distributed over the period concerned. As for pricing, Chinese launch contracts

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 445

The Agreement, concluded by the US Trade Representative on behalf

of the President, as an Executive Agreement could not, and was not
meant to, set aside US export control laws and regulations. On the
contrary, it was emphasized in the Agreement and in separate communi-
cations that with each and every possible launch by China, the ITAR
criteria and procedures for export of the US satellite or satellite com-
ponent concerned would be applied in full.198 That, and the complicated
and often thorny relations between the two countries through the years,
resulted in a series of grants of export licences, and suspensions,
withdrawals or refusals thereof, as sanctions for Chinese human rights

had to contain prices, terms and conditions ‘which are on a par with those prices,
terms and conditions prevailing in the international market for comparable
commercial launch services’; Memorandum of Agreement Between the Govern-
ment of the United States of America and the Government of the People’s
Republic of China Regarding International Trade in Commercial Launch Ser-
vices, Washington, done 26 January 1989, entered into force 16 March 1989; 28
ILM 599 (1989). The guidelines for the implementation of the MOA, issued by
the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), appear in 54 Fed.
Reg. No. 19, of 31 January 1989, 4931–3. This MOA was accompanied by and
linked to two other bilateral MOAs already signed in December 1988: a Satellite
Technology Safeguards Agreement (Memorandum of Agreement on Satellite
Technology Safeguards Between the Governments of the United States of
America and the People’s Republic of China, Washington, done 17 December
1988, entered into force 16 March 1989; 28 ILM 604 (1989)) and a Launch
Liability Agreement (Memorandum of Agreement on Liability for Satellite
Launches Between the Government of the United States of America and the
Government of the People’s Republic of China (hereafter Memorandum on
Liability), Washington, done 17 December 1988, entered into force 16 March
1989; 28 ILM 609 (1989)). See, on this and two other launch trade agreements
(with Russia and Ukraine), Van Fenema, supra n. 3, ch. 3, 183–301. Further e.g.
L.F. Martinez, The Future Dimensions of East-West Space Markets, in Legal
Aspects of Space Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 4 ff.; W.B.
Wirin, Policy Considerations of Launching U.S. Origin Satellites in the People’s
Republic of China, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law
of Outer Space (1995), 173 ff.
198
Cf. Art. V(2), Memorandum of Agreement Between the Government of
the United States of America and the Government of the People’s Republic of
China Regarding International Trade in Commercial Launch Services, supra
n. 197: ‘With regard to export licenses, any application for a U.S. export license
will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis consistent with U.S. laws and
regulations. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to mean that the U.S.
is constrained from taking any appropriate action with respect to any U.S. export
license, consistent with U.S. laws and regulations.’

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446 Handbook of space law

violations or arms/missile proliferation activities.199 After the adoption of

the Strom Thurmond Act in 1999, this limited and ‘bumpy’ access to the
international commercial launch market came to an end, and a period of
ten years began during which China was effectively barred from offering
its launch services to international customers. As discussed earlier, the
recently adopted NDAA 2013 legislation on satellite export controls
maintains the ban on export of US satellites and related items to China.
As a result, and given the US industry’s continued dominance of the
market for satellite components unless and until ‘designing out’ efforts
have become the rule, China will for the foreseeable future play a
severely limited role in the international commercial launch market.

7.5.4.2 United States–Russia and United States–Ukraine

The United States–Russia launch trade agreement of September 1993200
and the United States–Ukraine agreement of February 1996201 contained

199
In 1995 the parties concluded a new 7-year agreement, based on similar
quantity and price conditions, but also containing language that created prospects
for the Chinese to get access to the LEO launch market, where planned Iridium
and Globalstar satellite constellations would require a substantial number of
launches; the Memorandum of Agreement Between the Government of the
United States of America and the Government of the People’s Republic of China
Regarding the International Trade in Commercial Launch Services, done 27
January 1995, entered into force 13 March 1995; 1998 BDIEL AD LEXIS
12,www.jaxa.jp/library/space_law/chapter_4/4-2-2-13/index_e.html, last accessed
27 June 2013. That agreement lapsed in 2001. Notwithstanding the post-
Tiananmen Square sanction legislation, waivers of the export restrictions con-
tained therein, based on ‘national interest’, were routinely granted until 1998 (13
waivers in all for some 20 satellite projects). The 1998 Strom Thurmond Act put
an end to that practice and Chinese launches of US satellites and components
became a thing of the past. The last such launch took place in 1999. This
situation lasted until 2009, when China re-entered the commercial launch market
with the launch of a Thales Alenia Space-manufactured Indonesian Palapa
communications satellite – built without U.S.-controlled components. See further
supra n. 190, for a similar commercial launch in 2011. Cf. also on the 1995
Agreement e.g. D.J. Burnett & D. Lihani, Developments in US Bilateral Launch
Service Agreements – An Update, 21 Air & Space Law (1996), 101.
200
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of the Russian Federation regarding international trade in
commercial space launch services, Washington, done 2 September 1993, entered
into force 2 September 1993; Treaties in Force 1994, US Dept. of State. See
further S. Gorove, United States Space Law, national and international regu-
lation, at I.A.4 (a-2). Cf. also Burnett & Lihani, supra n. 199, 101–2.
201
Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of Ukraine Regarding International Trade in Commercial Space

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 447

conditions comparable to those of their Chinese predecessor. Though the

geopolitical considerations and specificities of the respective bilateral
relations differed,202 the idea of a gradual and controlled entry into the
international commercial launch market of the respective non-Western
launch providers was the same. The newcomers meant competition for

Launch Services, done 21 February 1996, entered into force 21 February 1996;
24 Journal of Space Law (1996), 187; www.jaxa.jp/library/space_law/chapter_4/
4-2-2-15/index_e.html, last accessed 27 June 2013.
202
In the case of Russia, the dissolution of the Soviet Union created
concerns in the United States that advanced Soviet space and launch and missile
technology, if left unused, would end up in ‘countries of concern’. And Russia
was already selling missiles plus technology to India. Its commitment to abide by
MTCR standards and halt delivery of the technology to India helped bring about
the agreement. The fact that Lockheed in the meantime had formed a joint
venture with Russian companies Khrunichev and Energia to market the Russian
Proton launch vehicle gave the Russians a powerful ally within the United States.
The agreement was amended, with an increased launch allotment, on 30 January
1996; Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of the Russian Federation to amend the ‘Agreement Between the
Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian
Federation Regarding International Trade in Commercial Space Launch Ser-
vices’, Washington, done 30 January 1996, entered into force 30 January 1996;
see 24 Journal of Space Law (1996) at 183; for text www.jaxa.jp/library/space_
law/chapter_4/4-2-2-14/index_e.html, last accessed 27 June 2013. Cf. also Bur-
nett & Lihani, supra n. 199, 102–3.
In the case of Ukraine, see supra n. 201, apart from similar missile prolifer-
ation concerns, an important role was played by the new multinational launch
company Sea Launch, in which i.a. Boeing and the Ukrainian firm Yuznoye,
builder of the Zenith 3SL rocket would cooperate. The Agreement gave the
Ukraine an expanded launch allowance (11 satellites on top of the 5 allotted to
them) on condition that launches would be performed by this company; see Art.
V(1)(a) and (b). Subpara. (b) provides: ‘In addition, Ukrainian space launch
services providers may supply during the term of this Agreement, space launch
vehicles to an integrated space launch services provider for the launch of 11
principal payloads to [GSO] or [GTO]’ (emphasis added). The emphasized entity
was defined as ‘a joint venture that includes Ukrainian and U.S. companies and
provides commercial space launch services or commercial space launch vehi-
cles’. Additional conditions attached to this venture were i.a. that ‘(a) the venture
receives a commercial launch license issued by the U.S. Department of Trans-
portation; (b) the U.S. partner maintains a significant equity interest in, and
control in fact of, the joint venture and the United States is the source of a
significant share of the goods and services employed by the joint venture in any
space launch’. In a Protocol to the Agreement, the parties concluded that Sea
Launch met those conditions.

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448 Handbook of space law

the US launch industry and its European counterpart Arianespace and

more choice for the satellite manufacturers and their customers.
The – promised – advent of a number of ambitious multi-satellite LEO
satellite constellations in the mid-1990s, such as Iridium and Globalstar,
and the perceived threat of a shortage of capable launch vehicle operators
convinced the US government to ease the quantitative restrictions
imposed on China through a 1995 amendment of the agreement.203 Both
the Russian and the Ukrainian agreements reflected this new approach.
The Agreement with Russia expired on 31 December 2000. The
Clinton Administration terminated the Ukrainian agreement, set to expire
at the end of 2001, in June 2000 as a reward for Ukraine’s non-
proliferation record.204 The Agreement with China expired at the end of
2001.

7.5.4.3 United States–Europe

The United States and its other competitors, Japan, India and, in
particular Europe, never agreed on rules of the road to be applied to their
competitive behaviour in the international market of commercial launch
services. Between roughly 1982 and 1986 the United States made the
governmental Space Shuttle available for national as well as foreign
launch clients205 and, in the latter activity, had it compete with Ariane-
space. In that same period, US private launch companies made deter-
mined efforts to enter the same international launch market, thus
competing with both Arianespace and with the Space Shuttle, an increas-
ingly awkward situation domestically. Though the Reagan Administration
preached a pro-private launch industry gospel and Congress adopted

203
See supra, n. 199.
204
The press release read: ‘Statement of the President – I am pleased to
announce that today the United States has terminated the commercial space
launch trade agreement with Ukraine. This decision eliminates launch quotas and
gives U.S. firms greater opportunity to enter into commercial space launch joint
ventures with Ukrainian partners without limit and reflects Ukraine’s steadfast
commitment to international non-proliferation norms.’; The White House, Office
of the Press Secretary (Kiev, Ukraine), 5 June 2000. Ukraine became an MTCR
partner in 1998.
205
Cf. National Space Policy, Presidential Directive/NSC-42, 18 Weekly
Comp. Pres. Docs 894–898 (1982): ‘The first priority of the STS program is to
make the system fully operational and cost-effective in providing routine access
to space … Expendable launch vehicle operations will be continued by the [US]
Government until the capabilities of the STS are sufficient to meet its needs and
obligations.’

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 449

legislation, the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984,206 which would

provide legal certainty to this new DOT-supervised service industry, a
Shuttle pricing policy was maintained, which confirmed the primary role
of the Space Shuttle and gave precious little room for the newcomers to
‘take off’.207
In that same year US prospective launch company TCI accused
Arianespace before the United States Trade Representative (USTR) of
being subsidized by ESA member states and, in particular, France, and of
dumping launch services in the US market to the detriment of the infant
US launch industry.208 After a lengthy and thorough investigation, it was
concluded that, since there were no international standards of reasonable-
ness for launch services, USTR had no choice but to compare ESA
practices to US practice and to reasonable commercial practices. As ESA
practices were not sufficiently different from those of the United States
(vis-à-vis in particular the Space Shuttle), ‘they did not require affirma-
tive U.S. action at this time’.209
The Presidential Determination added: ‘But because of my decision to
commercialize expendable launch services in the United States … it may
become appropriate for the [United States] to approach other interested
nations to reach an international understanding on guidelines for com-
mercial satellite launch services at some point in the future.’210
Talks between the United States and Europe on this issue did materi-
alize. But the aims of the parties diverged: ESA challenged the US policy
to reserve the sizeable government (civil and military) satellite launch
market to US companies, which it saw as an indirect subsidy, whereas the

206
Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 16.
207
See ‘Shuttle pricing for foreign and commercial users’ (NSDD 181 of 30
July 1985, Fact Sheet (1 August 1985)); for an account of the awkward political
and competitive battle between the Space Shuttle ‘commercialized’ by NASA
and the ELV industry supported by the FAA Office of Commercial Space
Transportation; see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, 73–7.
208
For a more thorough discussion of this case and its outcome; see Van
Fenema, supra n. 3, 79–86.
209
Determination under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, The President,
Memorandum for the [USTR] of 17 July 1985, 50 Fed. Reg. 29631, of 22 July
1985.
210
Determination under Sec. 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, supra n. 209. In
testimony at a Congressional launch hearing in 1993, USTR’s Allgeier would
note: ‘Nevertheless, the determination did not endorse European practices and
did take note of the lack of international standards for government conduct in the
launch services market and the problems which that absence caused’; see Van
Fenema, supra n. 3, 281, n. 214.

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450 Handbook of space law

US side continued to focus on the ‘unfair’ subsidies given to Arianespace

and on more general fair trade principles comparable to the ones they
would later include in the launch trade agreements with China, Russia
and Ukraine.
Informal, exploratory, discussions started in 1987; they were meant to
find a common basis for negotiations on a common code of conduct. The
discussion broadened in 1988 when the United States informed ESA
about its plan to permit China – controlled – entry into the launch
market. ESA disagreed with the United States on both the proposed
capacity clause (too generous) and the pricing formula (too vague), but in
the 1990 ARABSAT case realized that the United States followed its own
priorities.211 Talks in 1990 and 1991 did not bring the parties any closer
to ‘rules of the road’ or a code of conduct.212
The prospect of yet another player, Russia, entering the launch market
on conditions to be set by the United States made the European side react
eagerly to a US invitation in 1992 to turn the negotiations with Russia
into a tripartite exercise and create a multilateral agreement. Irreconcil-
able differences in approach between the European and the US side,
revealed during preparatory bilateral discussions, prevented the trilateral
from materializing. The US side noted later, in 1993, that there was:

insufficient interest on [Europe’s] part in reaching an agreement that would

address our central goal of establishing standards for government support
during the various phases of launch activity – development, production and
operations. The Europeans also linked agreement on ‘rules of the road’ to
access to government launch procurements in the U.S. … any interest Europe
may have in a multilateral agreement is focused on strictly limiting Russian
access to the market.
With regard to the general market principles of importance to us in any
agreement with the EC and ESA, the Europeans urged us to eliminate those
elements of our proposal to the Russians addressing the limitation of subsidies
and adoption of other market-oriented disciplines as unacceptable to them. I

211
See infra, § 7.5.4.4.
212
The USTR representative reported: ‘A major effort to reach agreement on
standards for government involvement in the commercial space launch market,
begun in the summer and fall of 1990, faltered at the end of 1991 when [ESA]
and the European Community Commission were unable to resolve internal
European differences over the responsibilities of these organizations for policies
on commercial space launch’; see Van Fenema, supra n. 3, 283.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 451

regret to say that there does not appear to be any near term prospect for a
significant shift in this European position.213

The European Commission, in its 1996 Communication ‘The European

Union and Space’, took up this matter and, voicing concern about the
destabilizing increase in launch capacity offered by China, Russia and
Ukraine at sometimes extremely low prices, identified as crucial to the
European launch industry that:

A fundamental condition for the maintenance and development of European

space launch services is a degree of market access similar to that offered in
the EU and the existence of fair trade conditions. … negotiations [on rules of
the road] should include the U.S., whose industry benefits at an extraordinary
and unequalled level of governmental support and military programmes, as
well as emerging suppliers like Russia, Ukraine and China.214

In the absence of a workable negotiating mandate from the member

states on these issues, the Commission’s ambitions could not materialize.
The European Space Policy of 2007 mentioned the following launch-
related action plan: ‘During 2007, the Commission will evaluate the
benefits of negotiating reciprocal opening of public sector markets in its
dialogues with major space partners.’ To date, nothing seems to have
happened in this respect.215
Two issues therefore continue to ‘hang over’ the launch trade relation-
ship between the United States and Europe: (unfair) direct or indirect
subsidization of the respective industries and the nationality conditions
attached to space launch services provided to governmental entities
(government procurement of national launch services). There is no quick
and easy solution in sight for either problem.

7.5.4.4 Europe–Russia
Arianespace and ESA were unhappy with the United States–China
launch trade agreement of 1989 and actually protested to the USTR when

213
See Van Fenema, supra n. 3, 285; this concerned The European Union
and Space: Fostering applications, markets and industrial competitiveness, Com-
munication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament,
COM (96) 617 final, of 4 December 1996.
214
According to the Commission, ‘[l]aunch systems and propulsion also
benefit from important spillovers between the military and civilian sectors. The
U.S. industry has long benefited from such spillovers in the commercial markets,
thanks to a military space budget which is over forty times Europe’s’; see further
Van Fenema, supra n. 3, n. 231.
215
European Space Policy, supra n. 185, Annex I, ‘Key actions’, at 8.

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452 Handbook of space law

the Chinese launch company – in fierce competition with Arianespace –

obtained a contract for the launch of an ARABSAT satellite at a price
that Arianespace considered in violation of the ‘on a par’ pricing
provision of that agreement. The US government’s uncooperative
reaction to that complaint and the announced US agreement with Russia
increased European concern that these two ‘non-market economies’
would be left free to pose unfair competition to Arianespace in the only
market available to the company, the international commercial launch
market. For that reason the ESA Council, in 1992, recommended that
agreements be concluded with the governments of other spacefaring
nations ‘to ensure fair conditions in the launcher market’.216
ESA, as a follow-up, requested the European Commission to negotiate
a launch trade agreement with the Russians, containing strict capacity
and pricing conditions, to thus contain the Russian competitive threat
independent from US efforts. The EU Trade Commissioner did conclude
an agreement with Russia, but, for political and legal reasons, the
Council of Trade Ministers did not take action on the proposal and the
agreement never entered into force.217

7.6 CONCLUSION
The development of launch services into regular international trade
comparable to international air transport continues to be stymied by the
military origin and national security relevance of the ‘high-tech’ vehicles
and sensitive technologies used for that purpose. Those aspects, and the
resulting small number of states and private enterprises playing a role in
the provision of those services – and the fact that most of the operations
concerned do not involve the crossing of national borders – also stand in
the way of the creation of an international intergovernmental organization
dealing with regulatory, in particular safety- and sustainability-related,

216
See Resolution on the implementation of the European long-term space
plan and programmes, Chapter V (‘European Launcher Policy’), ESA Council
Meeting at Ministerial level, Granada, 10 November 1992.
217
Commission Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the conclusion
of an Agreement between the [EEC] and the Russian Federation on Space
Launch Services, COM (93) 355 final, of 22 July 1993. The legal argument was
based on doubts as to the so-called ‘exclusive competence’ of the Commission to
conclude agreements concerning trade in services. In December 1994, the
European Court of Justice determined that this competence was not exclusive,
but one shared with the member states; see Opinion 1/94 re. the Uruguay Round
Treaties (1995), 1 CMLR 205.

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Legal aspects of launch services and space transportation 453

aspects, and has so far prevented the industry from speaking with one
voice in fora like the UN Outer Space Committee and its Legal
Subcommittee.
For some time to come, regulatory developments in this field will
primarily come from national governments, in the form of national
legislation, policies and practices, and bilateral arrangements, influenced
to some extent by elements of soft law (and vice versa). This situation
will probably not change until routine passenger space transportation and
enlightened self-interest (space debris!), separately and in combination,
force the industry and the governments concerned to get their act
together.

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APPENDIX

Table 7A.1 Launch record 1997–2012 (=16 years)

Year 2007 Year 2008 Year 2009 Year 2010 Year 2011 Year 2012 1997–2012 Total

Comm. (non-c) Comm. (non-c) Comm. (non-c) Comm. (non-c) Comm. (non-c) Comm. (non-c) Comm. (non-c)
US 3 (16) 6 (9) 4 (20) 4 (11) – (18) 2 (11) 92 (253)
Europe 6 – 5 (1) 5 (2) 6 – 4 (3) 6 (4) 105 (19)
Russia 12 (14) 11 (15) 10 (19) 13 (18) 10 (21) 7 (17) 139 (287)
Ukraine – – – – – – – – – – – – 1 –
China – (10) – (11) 1 (5) – (15) 2 (17) 2 (17) 13 (120)
Japan – (2) – (1) – (3) – (2) – (3) – (2) – (34)
Int’l (Sea Launch) 1 – 6 – – – – – 1 – 3 – 33 (1)

454
Int’l (Land – – 1 – 3 – – – 1 – – – 5 –
Launch)
– – – – – – (1) – – – – –

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Israel (1) (5)

/
Brazil – – – – – – – – – – – – – (2)
India 1 (2) – (3) – (2) – (3) – (3) – (2) 1 (25)
JOBNAME: von der Dunk PAGE: 73 SESS: 8 OUTPUT: Thu Jan 22 14:14:17 2015

Iran – – – – – (1) – – – (1) – (3) – (6)

N-Korea – – – (1) – (1) – – – – – (2) – (3)
South Korea – – – – – (1) – (1) – – – – – (2)
Total launches 23 (45) 28 (41) 24 (54) 23 (51) 18 (66) 20 (58) 389 (757)
Total comm. + 68 69 78 74 84 78 1.146
non-c

Division: 08_Chapter7
Failures 3 2 3 4* 6o 5+ 60 = 5,2%
Revenue comm. $ 1,55 billion $ 1,97 billion $ 2,49 billion $ 2,45 billion $ 1,9 billion $ 2,4 billion $ 30,86 billion
Total payloads 117 106 111 110 133 139 1.804
Commercial 30 24 26 33 35 27 732

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o +
* GSLV–2 Rockot Proton M
KSLV–1 Taurus–XL Proton M (partial)
Proton–M Proton–M Safir (2x)
GSLV–2 Long March –2C Unha 3
= 5,4% Soyuz–U
Soyuz–Z

455
=7,1%

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Notes: comm. = commercial = open to international competition

/
non–c = non–commercial = governmental, reserved for national launch companies
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Source: www.faa.gov (Annual Launch Reports, FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation), accessed on 26 June 2013.

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8. Legal aspects of satellite communications

Frans von der Dunk

8.1 INTRODUCTION: THE DEFINITIONAL ISSUES

As of today, satellite communications still represents the largest and most
commercialized space sector with downstream terrestrial applications –
by far.1 Traditionally, ‘(tele)communications’ would refer to two funda-
mentally different concepts from an operational perspective; though as
both require the usage of radio waves (or in the alternative, not relevant
obviously for satellite communications, cables and wires2) the technical/
operational boundary between the two is often blurred as a consequence
of which they are not always readily perceived as being different in
nature: two-way point-to-point communications (traditionally telephone,
fax, telegraph, e-mail and suchlike) and one-way, point-to-multipoint
communications (‘broadcasting’, encompassing at least radio and tele-
vision) respectively.3 In particular the latter is subject in a number of

1
See e.g. C. Venet, The Economic Dimension, in Outer Space in Society,
Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 55 ff.; N. Frischauf,
Satellite Telecommunication, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds.
C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 134–46; further R.T. McNutt, The Future of
Satellite Communication, in Heaven and Earth: Civilian Uses of Near-Earth
Space (Eds. D.G. Dallmeyer & K. Tsipis) (1997), 117 ff.; P.L. Meredith & G.S.
Robinson, Space Law: A Case Study for the Practitioner (1992), 31; F. Lyall &
P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 199 ff., 245 ff., 319–23; B. Cheng,
Studies in International Space Law (1997), 541 ff.
2
See e.g. P.A. Salin, Satellite Communications Regulations in the Early
21st Century (2000), 9–10; F. Lyall, Law and Space Telecommunications (1989),
2–17; J.M. Smits, Legal Aspects of Implementing International Telecommuni-
cation Links (1991), 1–30.
3
Cf. e.g. Lyall, supra n. 2, 381–2 (even stating: ‘Strictly speaking,
broadcasting satellites lie outside the scope of simple telecommunications, being
directed towards the large-scale dissemination of information whether their
signals are received by the end-user direct from the satellite or through some
central point followed by cable to the customer’ (emphasis added)); Salin, supra
n. 2, 42, also ff.; McNutt, supra n. 1, 121.

456

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 457

respects to separate rules, which apply ‘on top of’ the more broadly
applicable regimes to telecommunications largo sensu.4
Also, analysis should distinguish between satellite communications as
the mere use of radio signals to communicate back and forth with any
object in outer space – whether it concerns, for example, remote sensing
satellites, deep space probes or manned spacecraft – and satellite
communications as the use of specifically designed satellites as part of an
infrastructure available for transmitting messages, whether two-way
point-to-point or one-way point-to-multipoint. Such ‘messages’ also
include, for instance, digital data sets involved in satellite remote
sensing5 or satellite navigation;6 in that sense those two space appli-
cations, usually considered as activities separate from satellite communi-
cations, still fall within the scope of (major parts of) the regime
applicable to the use of satellites and radio frequencies usually labelled
the ‘satellite communications legal regime’.
This is also, therefore, what the present chapter will address, while
refraining from addressing the specific remote sensing or navigation-
related aspects of those two activities. This also applies to the use of
space frequencies for the guidance of launch vehicles, the telemetry,
tracking and control of satellites of whatever operational nature, and
communications with manned spacecraft.
Consequently, firstly, the role of the ITU and its competences, as well
as the legal framework that resulted therefrom for the usage of radio
frequencies for space communications, will be scrutinized. Secondly, the
specific issue of direct broadcasting by satellite, including the related
issue of the (by now largely historical) discussion on the geostationary
orbit as addressed in the framework of the United Nations will be
addressed.
Recently, with the establishment in 1997 of an Agreement on Basic
Telecommunications Services under the Fourth Protocol to the GATS,7
the WTO and its GATS regime striving for global free trade in services

4
Cf. e.g. Cheng, supra n. 1, 563–4; S. Courteix, International Legal
Aspects of Television Broadcasting, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercial-
ization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 102 ff.; D.I. Fisher, Prior Consent to
International Direct Satellite Broadcasting (1990); M.L. Stewart, To See the
World (1991); all discussing the separate (legal) aspects of broadcasting as
compared to two-way communications.
5
See further infra, Chapter 9.
6
See further infra, Chapter 10.
7
Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Trade and Services of 15
April 1994 (Fourth Protocol to the GATS), Geneva, done 15 April 1997, entered

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458 Handbook of space law

have also started to legally impact the international satellite communica-

tions environment. The most important consequence thereof is the
privatization of the main international satellite organizations; the most
important multi-nation legal corollary thereof in turn is a largely syn-
chronous development in the European Community/Union.
All these developments, however, are addressed in the respective
chapters on the international trade aspects of space services,8 inter-
national organizations in space law9 and European space law.10 In other
words, the current chapter will focus on the international regime,
highlighting technical and operational issues involved in satellite commu-
nications, as opposed to the exclusively political, economic and commer-
cial ones.

8.2 THE ITU REGIME AND SATELLITE

COMMUNICATIONS

8.2.1 The General Characteristics of Using Satellites for

Communication Purposes

Following the seminal 1945 paper by Sir Arthur Clarke on extra-

terrestrial relays,11 it was realized that, at least in theory, satellites
orbiting the earth could present a very interesting addition to existing
wireless telecommuncation networks using radio frequencies. Here, there
was an obvious trade-off between the ‘geographical’ place where satel-
lites were operating, and the operational issues involved in transmitting
radio signals to them (‘uplinking’), having the satellite transponders
change the frequencies (expressed in Hertz) and then retransmitting the
signals down to a different spot on earth (‘downlinking’).
The orbit Sir Arthur Clarke had addressed was the so-called ‘geo-
stationary orbit’, an orbit at about 35,786 km above the equator where

into force 5 February 1998; WTO Doc. S/L/20 of 30 April 1996 (96-1750); 2061
UNTS 209; ATS 1998 No. 9; 33 ILM 1167 (1994); 36 ILM 354 (1997).
8
See infra, Chapter 15, esp. § 15.4.
9
See supra, Chapter 5, esp. §§ 5.4–5.6.
10
See supra, Chapter 4, esp. § 4.3.2.2.
11
A. Clarke, Extra-Terrestrial Relays, Wireless World (Oct. 1945), 305–8.
See further on this e.g. M.L. Smith, International Regulation of Satellite
Communication (1990), 5–10; R.L. White & H.M. White, The Law and Regu-
lation of International Space Communication (1988), 9; Lyall, supra n. 2, 322;
Cheng, supra n. 1, 541.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 459

satellites uniquely could remain ‘stationary’ from a terrestrial perspec-

tive.12 At that altitude the balance between the earth’s gravitational forces
and the centrifugal forces that are required for a satellite to maintain a
stable orbit is achieved at precisely the velocity that translates into the
same angular velocity as that of the earth – both complete a full
revolution every 24 hours. In other words, the satellite ‘keeps falling
around the earth’, from where it is perceived to remain in the same place
all the time. As a result, with respect to the geostationary orbit, satellites
de facto are not seen as following orbits around the earth, but as
occupying positions (‘slots’) in that orbit.
The stationary character of satellites in such slots presented an obvious
advantage for satellite communications in particular, as terrestrial anten-
nae basically could remain pointed in the same direction continuously.
Also, a mere three satellites strategically placed in the geostationary orbit
could cover almost the whole globe – only in the polar areas, not the
most interesting ones from a general communication perspective, was the
angle at which the radio waves came in too low above the horizon for
feasible unfettered radio contact. On the other hand, however, the
distances radio waves had to travel (at least some 70,000 km back and
forth) required considerable transmitting power – and inter alia caused
the famous time delays in Transatlantic conversations of old.
Once technology therefore advanced far enough to make it feasible to
more or less continuously access the capacity offered by moving satel-
lites and operate complete systems of satellites handing over communi-
cation traffic to each other in addition to communicating with ground
stations, other orbits started to become used as well. Generically, two
types of orbits are usually distinguished, although it should be pointed
out that the distinctions are legally irrelevant, and even in non-legal terms

12
See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_orbit, last accessed 12
March 2014; further also M. Williamson, Technical Issues and Empowerment of
the ITU, in International Regulations of Space Communications (Ed. M. Hof-
mann) (2013), 33; White & White, supra n. 11, 9–16; Lyall, supra n. 2, 248–50;
I.B.R. Supancana, The International Regulatory Regime Governing the Utiliza-
tion of Earth-Orbits (1998), 11–6; McNutt, supra n. 1, 132; Cheng, supra n. 1,
542. To be precise, the geostationary orbit was more of a virtual tube-like area
within which these physical characteristics generally applied; once a satellite
threatened to drift outside of that ‘tube’, small correctional manoeuvres were
necessary (‘station keeping’) to allow the satellite to continue to benefit from the
specific geostationary character of its position.

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460 Handbook of space law

far from uniformly delineated: low earth orbits (LEOs)13 and medium
earth orbits (MEOs).14
LEOs, in particular, became popular for commercial satellite commu-
nications, as they could make do with relatively small power inputs and
large amounts of digital data could be processed.15 MEOs came to be
occupied by a few other satellite communications systems16 and, more
notably, satellite navigations systems such as GPS and Galileo, where the
trade-off between more power and fewer satellites was considered more
beneficial. Finally it should be mentioned that in particular for certain
remote sensing operations not only LEOs but also highly elliptical orbits
(HEOs) presented an interesting option, if the operators were only really
interested in parts of the globe under the low part of the orbit (a few
hundred kilometres at most) and did not mind the satellite moving away
as far as 40,000 km at the other end of its orbit.17

8.2.2 The Basics of the ITU

8.2.2.1 A very brief institutional history

The ITU is one of the oldest intergovernmental organizations, starting out
in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union – the telegraph at the time

13
LEOs were generally considered to refer to orbits at altitudes of up to a
few hundred, sometimes a few thousand, kilometres, whilst the lowest possible
orbit was generally considered to be somewhere in the 100 kilometre range; cf.
e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit, last accessed 12 March 2014.
See further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 2, 245–7; McNutt, supra n. 1, 132–3; Supancana,
supra n. 12, 16–23.
14
MEOs were generally considered to refer to orbits at altitudes of at least
a few thousand up to some 25,000 kilometres (higher orbits than those were
essentially not feasible); cf. e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_Earth_
orbit, last accessed 12 March 2014. See further e.g. McNutt, supra n. 1, 133;
Lyall, supra n. 2, 245–7; Supancana, supra n. 12, 23–5.
15
One proposed satellite system Teledesic originally intended to launch
almost a thousand relatively small satellites for an ‘Internet in the sky’; see
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledesic, last accessed 12 March 2014. Other well-
known major operators in LEO included Iridium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Iridium_satellite_constellation, last accessed 12 March 2014) and Globalstar
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalstar, last accessed 12 March 2014).
16
A famous example concerned ICO Global Communications, now Pen-
drell; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendrell_Corporation, last accessed 12
March 2014; cf. also supra, § 5.5.2.
17
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_elliptical_orbit, last accessed 12
March 2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 461

being the only long-distance electronic communication instrument avail-

able.18 Once other electronic means of communication became feasible,
they were duly integrated: in 1885 telephony was added to the scope of
activity,19 and in 1906 radio communications in turn came within the
domain of the ITU as well.20 A further step recognizing the ever-
changing technological environment was to re-label the ITU as the
International Telecommunication Union in 1932,21 which of course has
remained its title ever since.
The most recent major developments in the context of the ITU took
place in the 1990s. The rapid and ever continuing development of
technology, as combined with the increasing number of ITU member
states,22 made the entry into force of consecutive adapted versions of the
underlying telecommunication conventions increasingly fall behind.
Sometimes by the time a particular convention was to enter into force it
was already out of date, and work on a yet newer version had to begin
immediately.23 Consequently, in 1992 the fundamental decision was
made to separate the more permanent features of the ITU structure and
modus operandi from the more volatile, more technically oriented ones;
the first largely wound up being included in the ITU Constitution,24 the

18
The ITU was first established as per the International Telegraph Conven-
tion, Paris, done 17 May 1865, entered into force 1 January 1866; 130 CTS 198;
56 BFSP 295. See further e.g. F. Lyall, International Communications – The
International Telecommunication Union and Universal Postal Union (2011),
23–8; Lyall, supra n. 2, 313 ff.; White & White, supra n. 11, 30 ff.
19
See e.g. Lyall, supra n. 18, 38; White & White, supra n. 11, 33; Lyall,
supra n. 2, 313–4.
20
As per the Radio-telegraph Convention, Berlin, done 3 November 1906,
entered into force 1 July 1908; 37 Stat. 15665, TS 608203 CTS 101; 99 BFSP
321; see further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 18, 48–56; White & White, supra n. 11,
33–6; Lyall, supra n. 2, 314–8.
21
As per the International Telecommunication Convention, Madrid, done 9
December 1932, entered into force 1 January 1934; 151 LNTS 5; USTS 867; 61
Stat. 1180; ATS 1934 No. 10; see further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 18, 76–81; White &
White, supra n. 11, 46–9; Lyall, supra n. 2, 319–20.
22
The ITU is one of the few international organizations with near-universal
membership; as of today it comprises 193 member states; see www.itu.int/en/
about/Pages/membership.aspx, last accessed 12 March 2014.
23
Cf. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 204–6; also Salin, supra n. 2, 54–5; Lyall,
supra n. 2, 325–6; R.S. Jakhu, International Regulation of Satellite Telecommu-
nications, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa)
(1992), 81–2.
24
Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union (hereafter
ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered into force 1 July

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462 Handbook of space law

second in the ITU Convention,25 both entering into force (in their first
iteration) in 1994.26
Since then, the major developments that required being taken into
consideration concern the rapidly growing impact of private commercial
operators in satellite communications. Whilst ITU remains a ‘classical’
intergovernmental organization in that only states at the highest level are
parties to the ITU Constitution and ITU Convention,27 some allowance
had to be made for involving private operators at least in the practical
decision-making and policy-setting processes.
Thus, in 1994 a first set of amendments28 agreed to at the Kyoto
Plenipotentiary Conference gave rise to allowing fundamental partici-
pation of non-governmental entities in the ITU conferences and institu-
tional setting as ‘small-m’ members entitled to be fully informed and
consulted.29 Four years later, another step was taken in this respect at the
1998 Minneapolis Plenipotentiary Conference: the amendments agreed
upon there30 allowed for private operators to become sector members,31

1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final
Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 1.
25
Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU
Convention), Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994;
1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of
the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 71.
26
Cf. also e.g. A.A.E. Noll, ITU Constitutional and Conventional Amend-
ments, Multi-Media und Recht (2000), 270 ff.
27
Cf. Art. 2; also Arts. 3, 8, 10, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24. ‘Operating
agencies’, the term of art for satellite operators, if not state agencies themselves,
were to be authorized by states for all purposes relevant to international radio
frequency usage; cf. e.g. Art. 6(2), ITU Constitution.
28
Instrument amending the Constitution of the International Telecommuni-
cation Union (Geneva, 1992), Kyoto, done 14 October 1994, entered into force 1
January 1996; Cm. 3447; ATS 1996 No. 10; Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary
Conference, Kyoto, 1994 (1995), at 1; and Instrument amending the Convention
of the International Telecommunication Union (Geneva, 1992), Kyoto, done 14
October 1994, entered into force 1 January 1996; Cm. 3447; ATS 1996 No. 10;
Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference, Kyoto, 1994 (1995), at 23.
29
See Art. 19, ITU Convention, supra n. 25, as amended 1994.
30
Respectively Instrument amending the Constitution of the International
Telecommunication Union of 22 December 1992, as amended 14 October 1994,
Minneapolis, done 9 November 1998, entered into force 1 January 2000; ATS
2000 No. 8; and Instrument amending the Convention of the International
Telecommunication Union of 22 December 1992, as amended 14 October 1994,
Minneapolis, done 9 November 1998, entered into force 1 January 2000; ATS
2000 No. 8.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 463

and hence to participate on a par with states at the level of the three
sectors in which the ITU had been divided in 1992.

8.2.2.2 The basic structure of the ITU

Following the fundamental 1992 overhaul of the institutional structure of
the ITU, further to the ITU Constitution and the ITU Convention as the
two highest constitutive documents of the organization, the Radio Regu-
lations remained the third document legally binding at the highest level,32
containing the extended details of the global arrangements to coordinate
the international use of the frequency spectrum.
Two main organs comprise the pinnacle of the institutional structure of
the ITU: the Council33 and the General Secretariat.34 The organization
continues to operate chiefly by way of Plenipotentiary Conferences
(‘plenipots’) and World Radio Conferences (WRCs). Plenipotentiary
Conferences35 such as the Kyoto and Minneapolis ones mentioned above
are held roughly every four years, and deal with general institutional
issues and discussion of overall aspects of ITU operations, possibly

31
Cf. Arts. 2, 3, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24, as amended 1998; further
infra, 8.2.2.2. Also e.g. A.A.E. Noll, The Space Law Related Role, Activities and
Contributions of the International Telecommunication Union (I.T.U.) in the Last
Decade of the 20th Century, in International Organisations and Space Law (Ed.
R.A. Harris) (1999), 119–20; U.M. Bohlmann, K.U. Schrogl & I. Zilioli, Report
of the ‘Project 2001’ Working Group on Telecommunication, in ‘Project 2001’ –
Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel)
(2002), 210–2. See on the issue of the sectors further infra, 8.2.2.2.
32
Radio Regulations Articles, Edition of 2012 (hereafter Radio Regu-
lations), www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2012, last accessed 15 April 2014; see also
Art. 4, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24. Further e.g. F. Lyall, The Role of the
International Telecommunication Union, in Outlook on Space Law over the Next
30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D. Crowther) (1997), 255–6; Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 1, 206–7; C. Koenig & J.D. Braun, The International Regulatory
Framework of EC Telecommunications Law: The Law of the WTO and the ITU
as a Yardstick for EC Law, in EC Competition and Telecommunications Law
(2002), 24–8.
33
See Art. 10, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; Art. 4, ITU Convention, supra
n. 25, spelled out further details of its functions. Further e.g. Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 1, 215–6.
34
See Art. 11, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; Art. 5, ITU Convention, supra
n. 25, spelled out further details of its functions. Further e.g. Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 1, 217; Koenig & Braun, supra n. 32, 21.
35
Cf. Arts. 8–9, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; Art. 1, ITU Convention,
supra n. 25. See further e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 215; Supancana, supra
n. 12, 72–8; Koenig & Braun, supra n. 32, 20–1.

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464 Handbook of space law

giving rise to amendments to the ITU Constitution and/or ITU Conven-

tion. In addition, WRCs,36 succeeding the World Administrative Radio
Conferences (WARCs) operative before the 1992 institutional overhaul,
are held with a roughly similar regularity to discuss and (hopefully) agree
on the actual substance of coordinating the international use of frequen-
cies.
Finally, ITU in 1992 had been subdivided into three sectors: the
Radiocommunication Sector,37 dealing with the use of the frequency
spectrum and hence most important from the present perspective; the
Telecom Standardization Sector38 dealing with technical harmonization
and development; and the Telecom Development Sector,39 which took
care of the ITU’s task as member of the UN family of intergovernmental
organizations to support the efforts of developing countries to become
and/or remain integrated in the international telecommunication com-
munity.

8.2.3 ITU Coordination and Regulation of International Usage of

Frequencies

8.2.3.1 The ITU and international frequency management

The ITU was, in general terms, targeted to work on the main issues
involved in international telecommunications, notably including – as far
as the various telecommunication modes involving radio waves were
concerned – minimizing unintentional cross-border interference by vari-
ous technical and legal means. The key purposes of the ITU’s activities in
this context were phrased as:

36
Cf. Art. 13, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; Art. 7, also Art. 9, ITU
Convention, supra n. 25. See further e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 225–7;
Supancana, supra n. 12, 79–104; Koenig & Braun, supra n. 32, 21–2.
37
See Arts. 12–16, 44 ff., ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; for further details
on its modus operandi Arts. 7–12, ITU Convention, supra n. 25. See further e.g.
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 224 ff.; Lyall, supra n. 32, 257–8; Koenig & Braun,
supra n. 32, 21–2.
38
See Arts. 17–20, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; for further details on its
modus operandi Arts. 13–15, ITU Convention, supra n. 25. See further e.g. Lyall
& Larsen, supra n. 1, 222–4; Lyall, supra n. 32, 258; Koenig & Braun, supra n.
32, 22.
39
See Arts. 21–24, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; for further details on its
modus operandi Arts. 16–18, ITU Convention, supra n. 25. See further e.g. Lyall
& Larsen, supra n. 1, 218–21; Lyall, supra n. 32, 258; Koenig & Braun, supra n.
32, 22.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 465

(a) to maintain and extend international cooperation among all its Member
States for the improvement and rational use of telecommunications of all
kinds;
… [and]
(c) to promote the development of technical facilities and their most efficient
operation with a view to improving the efficiency of telecommunication
services, increasing their usefulness and making them, so far as possible,
generally available to the public.40

Those legal means most prominently comprised a system coordinating

the use of radio frequencies which were available for wireless activities,
targeted to ensure that individual duly authorized users (governmental or
otherwise) would enjoy the interference-free usage of certain frequencies.
Thus the ITU most notably was to:

(a) effect allocation of bands of the radio-frequency spectrum, the allotment

of radio frequencies and the registration of radio-frequency assignments
… in order to avoid harmful interference between radio stations of
different countries; [and]
(b) coordinate efforts to eliminate harmful interference between radio
stations of different countries and to improve the use made of the
radio-frequency spectrum for radiocommunication services.41

This clause already lays down the blue-print for an elaborate process of
two alternatively three steps, involving ‘allocation’, ‘allotment’ and
‘assignment’ of radio frequencies to finally allow individual radio opera-
tors to use certain frequencies in an interference-free manner. The system
was further elaborated in the Radio Regulations,42 the third major legal
document underlining the ITU’s role and competences binding ITU
member states.43
This system is most succinctly summarized by the Radio Regulations
by way of the matrix in Table 8.1.

40
Art. 1(1), ITU Convention, supra n. 25.
41
Art. 1(2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24 (emphasis added).
42
Supra, n. 32.
43
Cf. again Arts. 4(3), 6, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; the references to
‘Administrative Regulations’ refer to both the Radio Regulations and the Inter-
national Telecommunication Regulations. See further on the Radio Regulations
e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 230–5.

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466 Handbook of space law

Table 8.1 Matrix of key terminology of the Radio Regulations, Art. 5(1)

Frequency
French English Spanish
distribution to

Services Attribution Allocation Atribución

(attribuer) (to allocate) (atribuir)

Areas or countries Allotissement Allotment Adjudicación

(allotir) (to allot) (adjudicar)

Stations Assignation Assignment Asignación

(assigner) (to assign) (asignar)

Source: Art. 5 – Introduction, Radio Regulations

In this context the ITU Constitution provides for the main principles to
be adhered to in implementing this process:

Member States shall bear in mind that radio frequencies … are limited natural
resources and that they must be used rationally, efficiently and economically,
in conformity with the provisions of the Radio Regulations, so that countries
or groups of countries may have equitable access to those … frequencies,
taking into account the special needs of the developing countries and the
geographical situation of particular countries.44

Even more specific, ‘Member States shall endeavour to limit the number
of frequencies and the spectrum used to the minimum essential to
provide in a satisfactory manner the necessary services. To that end, they
shall endeavour to apply the latest technical advances as soon as
possible.’45
Other important principles governing international frequency manage-
ment in the ITU context concern the principled obligation to avoid
harmful interference with other authorized radio traffic,46 priority for
distress calls and messages,47 formal non-applicability of the ITU

44
Art. 44(2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24.
45
Art. 44(1), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; Art. 4(1), Radio Regulations,
supra n. 32; cf. also Art. 38(1), ITU Constitution.
46
See Art. 45, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24.
47
See Art. 46, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24.

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regime to military radio installations,48 a right to cut off private tele-

communication activities which threaten national security49 and an obli-
gation for states to safeguard channels and operations within their
jurisdiction and control.50

8.2.3.2 The Radio Regulations and the first step in the process:
Allocation
The first step in the overall process of internationally managing fre-
quency usage is the aforementioned ‘allocation’, which refers to the
‘reservation’ at the international level of frequency bands to categories of
services using radio waves. The Radio Regulations in this respect define
‘allocation (of a frequency band)’ as ‘[e]ntry in the Table of Frequency
Allocations of a given frequency band for the purpose of its use by one
or more terrestrial or space radiocommunication services or the radio
astronomy service under specified conditions. This term shall also be
applied to the frequency band concerned.’51 The Radio Regulations
currently recognize no fewer than 42 specific services for the purpose of
allocation.52
The allocation of frequency bands is usually handled by way of the
WRCs, previously the WARCs, which take place usually every two
or three years.53 Here, the ITU member states ‘may partially or, in

48
Cf. Art. 48(1), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24. Still, such military
‘installations must, so far as possible, observe statutory provisions relative to
giving assistance in case of distress and to the measures to be taken to prevent
harmful interference, and the provisions of the Administrative Regulations
concerning the types of emission and the frequencies to be used, according to the
nature of the service performed by such installations’ (Art. 48(2), ITU Constitu-
tion) – and in actual fact they will be very much stimulated to do so: the laws of
physics dictate that also their radio traffic will turn into white noise if other, civil
telecommunication installations use the very same frequencies in the same
geographical area.
49
See Art. 34(2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24.
50
See Art. 38(3) & (4), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24.
51
Art. 1(16), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. Cf. also e.g. Meredith &
Robinson, supra n. 1, 161, Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 231; Salin, supra
n. 2, 48. For the Table of Frequency Allocations see further infra, § 8.2.3.3.
52
See Art. 1(19)–(60), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. Of those, exactly
half are ‘space services’; see further infra, § 8.2.4.2.
53
See Art. 13(1), (2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24. The modus operandi of
the WRCs is further established by Art. 7, ITU Convention, supra n. 25. See also
Note by Secretariat, Radio Regulations, III: ‘This revision of the Radio
Regulations, complementing the Constitution and the Convention of the Inter-
national Telecommunication Union, incorporates the decisions of the World

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468 Handbook of space law

exceptional cases, completely, revise the Radio Regulations’.54 In effect,

this means that, as technical, economic and other developments change
the (perceived) need for certain bandwidth, at the WRCs it will be
decided to ‘reserve’ new frequency bands for specific services and/or
‘take away’ certain bandwidth from others apparently not so much in
need thereof – all in conformity with the need to use radio frequencies
‘rationally, efficiently and economically’.55
Such decisions have to be prepared well in advance: ‘The general
scope of this agenda [of a WRC] should be established four to six years
in advance, and the final agenda shall be established by the Council
preferably two years before the conference, with the concurrence of a
majority of the Member States.’56 Obviously, in practice that time is also
used for extended analyses, discussions and often negotiations to prepare
for sufficient majorities of member states for any proposed additional
allocations for certain services, or conversely taking away existing
allocations.57
The process is considerably fine-tuned, however, to accommodate as
many potential conflicting interests, priorities and preferences of ITU
member states as possible.

Radio-communication Conferences of 1995 (WRC-95), 1997 (WRC-97), 2000

(WRC-2000), 2003 (WRC-03), 2007 (WRC-07) and 2012 (WRC-12). The
majority of the provisions of these Regulations shall enter into force as from 1
January 2013’.
54
Art. 13(1), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24; cf. also Art. 7(2.1.a), ITU
Convention, supra n. 25. Art. 32, ITU Convention, provides for the voting
procedure, effectively meaning that a consensus is striven for but if necessary a
simple majority suffices for approving a change.
55
Art. 44(2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24. Cf. also Art. 59(2), Radio
Regulations, supra n. 32, providing that ‘the provisions of these Regulations, as
revised by WRC-95, concerning new or modified frequency allocations (includ-
ing any new or modified conditions applying to existing allocations) … apply
provisionally as of 1 January 1997’ (emphasis added).
56
See Art. 7(2.2), ITU Convention, supra n. 25.
57
For constitution of the agenda concurrence by a majority of member
states is required, whereas a proposal to change the agenda requires a request by
at least one-quarter of the member states, which has then to be agreed again by
a majority; see Art. 7(2), (3), ITU Convention, supra n. 25. Decisions taken at a
WRC with respect to the Radio Regulations, for example on changing alloca-
tions, also require a majority of member states; the Radio Regulations comple-
menting the Constitution and Convention, the majority voting rules applying to
amendments to the latter (cf. Art. 55, ITU Constitution, supra n. 24, and Art. 42,
ITU Convention respectively) would apply at the WRCs as well for purposes of
amending the Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 469

Firstly, the world is divided into three main ITU regions, allowing
different regions in principle to follow different approaches – as the use
of a particular frequency in one region only may not cause threat of
interference to the use of that same frequency in another. Noting that, as
far as satellite communications is concerned, the ITU is very focused on
that part of outer space which is above the equator in view of the
predominant use of the geostationary orbit, this division happens to
reflect at a primary level the areas which can be reached from the same
section of the geostationary arc: Region 1 principally comprises Europe
and Africa, Region 2 the Americas, and Region 3 Asia, Australia and the
Pacific.58 Largely for terrestrial/political reasons, however, in deviation
from the above the whole territory of Russia forms part of Region 1, even
if extending all the way to the Pacific.59 More detailed subdivisions, still
at a regional level, are provided for, such as the African Broadcasting
Area, the European Broadcasting Area, the European Maritime Area and
the Tropical Zone.60
Secondly, by listing various categories of services and allocations the
Radio Regulations provide for yet more flexibility in allocating frequen-
cies to certain services in certain areas only, honouring as much as
possible individual sovereign interests and priorities of states. To start
with, a distinction is made between ‘primary services’ and ‘secondary
services’, whereby the latter

(a) shall not cause harmful interference to stations of primary services to

which frequencies are already assigned or to which frequencies may be
assigned at a later date; (b) cannot claim protection from harmful interference
from stations of a primary service to which frequencies are already assigned
or may be assigned at a later date; [yet] (c) can claim protection, however,
from harmful interference from stations of the same or other secondary
service(s) to which frequencies may be assigned at a later date.61

Next, the possibility is offered to allocate frequency bands, through the

mechanism of ‘footnotes’, with respect to a certain country or group of

58
See Art. 5(2), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32, incl. a small explanatory
map; in further detail Art. 5(3)–(9). Of course, the ITU by way of this approach
targets and addresses all radio communications, within which satellite communi-
cations only forms a certain sub-field; see further infra, § 8.2.4.
59
See Art. 5(3), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.
60
See Art. 5(10)–(21), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.
61
Art. 5(29)–(31), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32; see also Art. 5(23)–(28).

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470 Handbook of space law

countries only.62 If those are ‘additional allocations’, they are essentially

entitled to the same rights as primary services for the country or
countries to which the footnote applies; if they are by contrast ‘alter-
native allocations’, they are on a par with secondary services for the
country or countries at issue.63 Finally, services may even enjoy without
further ado the possibility to use certain frequencies under a strict ‘no
harmful interference, no protection against harmful interference’
regime.64

8.2.3.3 The Table of Frequency Allocations

The result of actual allocations following the above process and prin-
ciples as applied by the various WRCs is laid down in the Table of
Frequency Allocations, incorporated in the Radio Regulations by way of
Section IV of Article 5 – for a total of 136 pages.65 Preceding it, Section
III, comprising Article 5(46)–(52), provides for a brief ‘Description of
the Table of Frequency Allocations’.
The Table of Frequency Allocations itself encompasses all frequencies
practically useful for telecommunication purposes, currently running
from 8.3 kHz to 275 GHz,66 which, largely for convenience’s sake, have
been subdivided into a number of frequency bands. For each of those
bands the Table then indicates, per ITU Region if applicable, the
service(s) enjoying primary allocations and those enjoying secondary
allocations. Footnotes further provide wherever relevant for additional
allocations, per state and sometimes in quite precise detail.
While the Table itself determines the frequency bands by way of their
book-ending frequencies expressed in kHz, MHz and GHz, for practical
reasons frequency ranges have also been combined into much broader
bands and given simple numbers or acronyms for quick reference. Firstly,
the Radio Regulations themselves provide for a generic, nine-fold
division as shown in Table 8.2.

62
See Art. 5(32)–(33), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.
63
See Art. 5(34)–(41), esp. (36) & (40), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.
64
See Art. 5(43)–(43A), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.
65
See Art. 5(53)–(565), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32; comprising pp. 43–
178.
66
The bands below 8.3 kHz are ‘not allocated’, and so are those between
275 and 3,000 GHz; Radio Regulations, supra n. 32, 43 and 178 respectively.

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Table 8.2 Nine frequency bands as per the Radio Regulations, Art. 2(1)

Band Symbols Frequency range Corresponding Metric

number (lower limit metric subdivision abbreviations for
exclusive, the bands
upper limit
inclusive)
4 VLF 3 to 30 kHz Myriametric waves B.Mam
5 LF 30 to 300 kHz Kilometric waves B.km
6 MF 300 to 3 000 kHz Hectometric waves B.hm
7 HF 3 to 30 MHz Decametric waves B.dam
8 VHF 30 to 300 MHz Metric waves B.m
9 UHF 300 to 3 000 MHz Decimetric waves B.dm
10 SHF 3 to 30 GHz Centimetric waves B.cm
11 EHF 30 to 300 GHz Millimetric waves B.mm
12 300 to 3 000 GHz Decimillimetric
waves

Notes:
1. ‘Band N’ (N + band number) extends from 0.3 × 10N Hz to 3 × 10N Hz
2. Prefix: k = kilo (103), M = mega (106), G = giga (109).
3. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_spectrum, last accessed 12 March 2014,
for the meaning of the acronyms and additional information on the corresponding
wavelengths, as well as adding at the ‘top’ end four more bands (TLF, ELF, SLF and
ULF) and giving band number 12 the acronym ‘THF’. Further e.g. Williamson, supra
n. 12, 34–5.
Source: Art. 2.1. Radio Regulations

Note that the frequency ranges 3–8.3 kHz within Band 3 and 275–3,000
GHz within Bands 11 and 12 are currently not allocated through the ITU
system, but apparently expected to be potentially requiring such alloca-
tion in the future.
In addition, going back to the Second World War, frequency bands
have traditionally been referred to by another set of letters; while use is
sometime inconsistent the most authoritative would be the table devel-
oped by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in
its most recent version published 2002 (see Table 8.3).67

67
IEEE Standard 521-2002: Standard Letter Designations for Radar-
Frequency Bands; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_spectrum, last accessed
12 March 2014.

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472 Handbook of space law

Table 8.3 Twelve frequency bands as per IEEE Standard 521-2002

Band name Frequency range Origin of name

HF band 3–30 MHz High Frequency
VHF band 30–300 MHz Very High Frequency
L band 1–2 GHz Long wave
S band 2–4 GHz Short wave
C band 4–8 GHz Compromise between S and X
X band 8–12 GHz Used in World War II for fire control – X for
crosshair
Ku band 12–18 GHz Kurz-under
K band 18–27 GHz Kurz
Ka band 27–40 GHz Kurz-above
V band 40–75 GHz
W band 75–110 GHz W follows V
G band 110–330 GHz

8.2.3.4 The Radio Regulations and the second step in the process:
Allotment

The second step in the process of arranging the international use of the
radio-frequency spectrum effectively concerns ‘allotment’, which refers
to the ‘reservation’ of specific frequencies to states for the purpose of
specific telecommunication services intended to be provided.
The Radio Regulations define ‘allotment (of a radio frequency or radio
frequency channel)’ as ‘[e]ntry of a designated frequency channel in an
agreed plan, adopted by a competent conference, for use by one or more
administrations for a terrestrial or space radiocommunication service in
one or more identified countries or geographical areas and under speci-
fied conditions’.68 ‘Administration’ here refers to ‘[a]ny governmental
department or service responsible for discharging the obligations under-
taken in the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union,
in the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union and in
the Administrative Regulations’.69

68
Art. 1(17), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. Cf. also e.g. Salin, supra
n. 2, 48.
69
Art. 1(2), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32 (emphasis added).

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 473

In order to realize allotment in a manner not interfering with other

lawful international usage of the frequency spectrum within the ITU
framework each time such interference-free access to a frequency or set
of frequencies was requested an extended coordination process entered
into operation. The key ITU organ monitoring the coordination process
was the Radio Regulations Board (previously International Frequency
Registration Board, IFRB), consisting of individual experts who were to
‘serve, not as representing their respective Member States nor a region,
but as custodians of an international public trust’, and consequently were
to ‘refrain from intervening in decisions directly concerning the mem-
ber’s own administration’.70
The Radio Regulations Board would receive requests from states for
frequency allotments on a continuing basis in between WARCs and
WRCs respectively.71 Obviously, such requests for allotment would have
to fit within the legal parameters provided by the Table of Frequency
Allocations, and a request for the allotment of frequencies in bands not
allocated to the service for which they are intended to be used would thus
ab initio be defeated, unless it were itself not causing any harmful
interference whilst accepting any interference from duly authorized other
assignments.72 If, for instance, the proposed satellite system was intended
for a radio navigation service, the specific frequencies whose allotment
was requested should fit within the frequency bands allocated to that type
of service.

8.2.3.5 The Radio Regulations and the third step in the process:
Assignment
If indeed the radio frequencies thus allotted were to be used by the state
concerned itself, read a public operator somehow part of the governmen-
tal system, the step of ‘assignment’ properly speaking would converge
almost automatically with ‘allotment’ – as dictated by national rules and

70
Art. 14(3.1), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24.
71
See further e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 227 ff.; Meredith & Robinson,
supra n. 1, 188 ff.
72
Cf. esp. Art. 4(4), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32, requiring administra-
tions to ‘not assign to a station any frequency in derogation of either the Table of
Frequency Allocations in this Chapter or the other provisions of these Regu-
lations, except on the express condition that such a station, when using such a
frequency assignment, shall not cause harmful interference to, and shall not
claim protection from harmful interference caused by, a station operating in
accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Convention and these
Regulations’. See further infra, § 8.2.4.4, for the actual ITU coordination
process.

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474 Handbook of space law

principles. ‘Assignment’ in other words concerns the ‘reservation’ of

specific frequencies to specific operators for purposes of the services
these intended to provide – many of the clauses discussed above with
respect to allotment actually (also) already refer to assignment.73
If, by contrast, the actual intended operator were either an inter-
governmental organization or a private operator, neither of those having
independent competence to ask for ‘allotment’ of frequencies, ‘assign-
ment’ would effectively constitute a distinct third step whereby the state
to which the frequencies were allotted would formally permit that
operator to use them – as the Radio Regulations state: the ‘assignment
(of a radio frequency or radio frequency channel)’ refers to ‘[a]uthor-
ization given by an administration for a radio station to use a radio
frequency or radio frequency channel under specified conditions’.74 In
the case of an intergovernmental organization, that would normally be the
host state of that organization;75 in the case of a private operator, it would
likely be the state under whose (territorial) jurisdiction that operator
falls.76
In practice the above system meant that a state could request allotment
of certain frequencies either for its own purposes or for specific assign-
ment to a private or intergovernmental operator at any one particular
time. Such matters were obviously a matter for national state sovereignty,
and not subject to any international obligations further to those outlined
above as to the coordination process and related obligations under the
ITU regime.

8.2.3.6 The Master International Frequency Register

Once following the extended coordination process further discussed
below no other ITU member state could reasonably claim its communi-
cation operations to be at risk by the newly proposed system, the
frequencies in question would be allotted/assigned and by way of a
Notification Request included in the Master International Frequency
Register, and as such be legally protected against interference by others.

73
See e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 232–3; Meredith & Robinson, supra
n. 1, e.g. 162; Salin, supra n. 2, 48.
74
Art. 1(18), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. The reference to ‘administra-
tion’ (see also supra, text at n. 69) makes clear that assignment thus takes place
at a national level.
75
Cf. on this as regards the international satellite organizations supra,
§§ 5.4–5.8.
76
Cf. also more generally on private space operators in the context of
international space law, e.g. supra, §§ 2.1.2, 2.2.2.3, 2.3.1.1; Chapter 3.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 475

The Master International Frequency Register records the assignments

notified by the states in compliance with the coordination procedure and
ITU rules as sketched above, thereby in law receiving international
recognition of the right to uninhibited and interference-free usage of
those frequencies for the purposes intended.77 The Register thus consti-
tutes a permanent but continuously updated depository of authorized
frequencies for existing systems, further containing relevant technical
data. As indicated, such detailed data are only entered in the Register
after the coordination process has shown that no state can make a valid
objection to the proposed network operations, in particular from the
perspective of its own allotments being potentially threatened by interfer-
ence.

8.2.4 The ITU and Satellite Communications

8.2.4.1 The ITU and space services: Frequencies, geostationary

orbital slots and other orbits
The entire system discussed above in principle applied to any telecom-
munications using radio waves in an international context. Until
Sputnik-1 the inclusion of a relay station in outer space as part of a
telecommunication network requiring uplink and downlink radio trans-
missions using certain frequencies had remained science fiction or at
least – as per Sir Arthur Clarke’s proposal – mere theory, but the small
Soviet satellite changed that radically. It became evident that telecommu-
nications would soon start to use satellites as part of their networks, and
that inter alia frequencies would have to be set aside for such in-space
devices.
It was no more than logical that the ITU would also present the
appropriate forum to discuss frequency usage and radio interference in
the particular context of satellite communications, and indeed as early as
1959 at a World Administrative Radio Conference in Geneva it was
fundamentally decided to add that space communications – read in
particular the frequencies to be used therefore – would have to be
handled by the ITU as well.78 The Radio Regulations henceforth generi-
cally defined ‘space radiocommunication’ as ‘[a]ny radiocommunication

77
Cf. Art. 11, Radio Regulations, supra n. 32.
78
See e.g. Lyall, supra n. 18, 110; Lyall, supra n. 2, 324; White & White,
supra n. 11, 113–5; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 170–1; Smith, supra n. 11,
59; Supancana, supra n. 12, 79.

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476 Handbook of space law

involving the use of one or more space stations or the use of one or more
other reflecting satellites or other objects in space’.79
Satellite communications, however, not only require coordination of
the frequencies like any terrestrial wireless operation; they also require
some coordination of the physical position of the satellites in outer space.
The ITU was not as such given formal authority by its member states to
‘license’ or ‘authorize’ the physical occupation of positions in the global
commons of outer space by individual states, for example through the
allocation of orbits or geostationary slots along the lines of allocation of
frequencies.80
At the same time, there is an inherent relationship between the
(interference-free) usage of frequencies by satellites and the positions
they occupy: using the same frequency in neighbouring positions results
in white noise for both operators, but if the satellites find themselves on
opposite ends of the geostationary orbit there is no risk of interference
whatsoever. Thus, almost as if through the backdoor, the ITU frequency
coordination process also took into consideration the actual respectively
intended satellite positions: at first only in the geostationary orbit, later as
they became popular also in other orbits:

In using frequency bands for radio services, Member States shall bear in
mind that radio frequencies and any associated orbits, including the
geostationary-satellite orbit, are limited natural resources and that they must
be used rationally, efficiently and economically, in conformity with the
provisions of the Radio Regulations, so that countries or groups of countries
may have equitable access to those orbits and frequencies.81

Consequently, the ITU process discussed above as a key element in

streamlining international use of radio frequencies also refers to the need
to ‘effect … the registration of radio-frequency assignments and, for

79
Art. 1(8), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. ‘Space stations’ here does not
refer to manned space stations such as the ISS, but to any transmitter station
operating in outer space; see Lyall, supra n. 18, 110, fn. 133.
80
Note that outer space constitutes a ‘global commons’ with a baseline
regime of free exploration and use of outer space, only to be limited by the
global community of states as such. This could have occurred using the ITU as
the international vehicle, providing it with a derogatory authority to ‘regulate’
orbits in the same way that ICAO had been given ‘authority’ to ‘regulate’ the
airspaces above the high seas (another global commons); see e.g. N. Grief,
Public International Law in the Airspace of the High Seas (1994). Strictly
speaking, however, this so far has not happened with regard to satellite orbits in
outer space. Cf. also supra, § 5.2.3.
81
Art. 44(2), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24 (emphasis added).

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 477

space services, of any associated orbital position in the geostationary-

satellite orbit or of any associated characteristics of satellites in other
orbits, in order to avoid harmful interference between radio stations of
different countries’82 and to ‘coordinate efforts … to improve the use
made of the radio-frequency spectrum for radiocommunication services
and of the geostationary-satellite and other satellite orbits’.83

8.2.4.2 Space services in the ITU context

The 1959 WARC had essentially treated space communication services as
comprising two new services, the ‘space service’ (the uplink) and the
‘earth service’ (the downlink), and allocated the first frequency bands to
those services.84 As the use of space continuously expanded, however, the
simple concept of one downlink and one uplink service had to be
constantly refined, more bandwidth had to be allocated and the principles
guiding the actual allocation and allotment had to be refined.
Thus, an Extra-ordinary Administrative Radio Conference (EARC) in
1963, exclusively dedicated to space communications, among other
things promulgated the ‘first-come, first-served’ principle as the leading
one in allowing space system operations to use certain frequencies, and
also introduced specific procedures for filing, consultation and coordin-
ation.85 This referred to, for example, the need to include in the required
advance publication the orbital slots, and orbits respectively, intended for
the prospective satellite operations in addition to the requested frequen-
cies.86
At the WARC of 1971, similarly dedicated to space communications, it
was decided in 1971 to separate ‘space services’ into fixed-satellite
services (FSS), mobile-satellite services (MSS) and broadcasting-satellite
services (BSS), with appropriate amounts of (ever more) bandwidth set
aside for each of them.87

82
Art. 1(2.a), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24 (emphasis added).
83
Art. 1(2.b), ITU Constitution, supra n. 24 (emphasis added).
84
See Lyall, supra n. 18, 110, fn. 133; White & White, supra n. 11, 113;
Lyall, supra n. 2, 359; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 170; Smith, supra n.
11, 59; Supancana, supra n. 12, 79.
85
See e.g. White & White, supra n. 11, 116–28; Lyall, supra n. 2, 360–4;
Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 171–3; Smith, supra n. 11, 59–60; Supancana,
supra n. 12, 79–80. Cf. further infra, § 8.2.4.3.
86
Cf. White & White, supra n. 11, 121–4; also e.g. Meredith & Robinson,
supra n. 1, 172.
87
Cf. e.g. White & White, supra n. 11, esp. 138–52; Lyall, supra n. 2,
364–71; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 174–7; Smith, supra n. 11, 61;
Supancana, supra n. 12, 80–1.

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478 Handbook of space law

As of 2012, among the 42 services distinguished, no fewer than 21

separate specific space services are recognized by the Radio Regulations,
most of them satellite-specific versions of services more broadly defined,
as follows:

1.21 – Fixed-satellite service: A radiocommunication service between earth

stations at given positions, when one or more satellites are used; the given
position may be a specified fixed point or any fixed point within specified
areas; in some cases this service includes satellite-to-satellite links, which
may also be operated in the inter-satellite service; the fixed-satellite service
may also include feeder links for other space radiocommunication services.
1.22 – Inter-satellite service: A radiocommunication service providing links
between artificial satellites.
1.23 – Space operation service: A radiocommunication service concerned
exclusively with the operation of spacecraft, in particular space tracking,
space telemetry and space telecommand. These functions will normally be
provided within the service in which the space station is operating. …
1.25 – Mobile-satellite service: A radiocommunication service: between
mobile earth stations and one or more space stations, or between space
stations used by this service; or between mobile earth stations by means of
one or more space stations. This service may also include feeder links
necessary for its operation. …
1.27 – Land mobile-satellite service: A mobile-satellite service in which
mobile earth stations are located on land. …
1.29 – Maritime mobile-satellite service: A mobile-satellite service in which
mobile earth stations are located on board ships; survival craft stations and
emergency position-indicating radiobeacon stations may also participate in
this service. …
1.35 – Aeronautical mobile-satellite service: A mobile-satellite service in
which mobile earth stations are located on board aircraft; survival craft
stations and emergency position-indicating radiobeacon stations may also
participate in this service.
1.36 – Aeronautical mobile-satellite (R)* service: An aeronautical mobile-
satellite service reserved for communications relating to safety and regularity
of flights, primarily along national or international civil air routes. [(R) means
‘en-route’]
1.37 – Aeronautical mobile-satellite (OR)** service: An aeronautical mobile-
satellite service intended for communications, including those relating to
flight coordination, primarily outside national and international civil air
routes. [(OR) means ‘off-route’] …
1.39 – Broadcasting-satellite service: A radiocommunication service in which
signals transmitted or retransmitted by space stations are intended for direct
reception by the general public. In the broadcasting-satellite service, the term

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 479

‘direct reception’ shall encompass both individual reception and community

reception. …
1.41 – Radiodetermination-satellite service: A radiocommunication service
for the purpose of radiodetermination involving the use of one or more space
stations. This service may also include feeder links necessary for its own
operation. …
1.43 – Radionavigation-satellite service: A radiodetermination-satellite ser-
vice used for the purpose of radionavigation. This service may also include
feeder links necessary for its operation. …
1.45 – Maritime radionavigation-satellite service: A radionavigation-satellite
service in which earth stations are located on board ships. …
1.47 – Aeronautical radionavigation-satellite service: A radionavigation-
satellite service in which earth stations are located on board aircraft. …
1.49 – Radiolocation-satellite service: A radiodetermination-satellite service
used for the purpose of radiolocation. This service may also include the
feeder links necessary for its operation. …
1.51 – Earth exploration-satellite service: A radiocommunication service
between earth stations and one or more space stations, which may include
links between space stations, in which:
+ information relating to the characteristics of the Earth and its natural
phenomena, including data relating to the state of the environment, is
obtained from active sensors or passive sensors on Earth satellites;
+ similar information is collected from airborne or Earth-based platforms;
+ such information may be distributed to earth stations within the system
concerned;
+ platform interrogation may be included.

This service may also include feeder links necessary for its operation.
1.52 – Meteorological-satellite service: An earth exploration-satellite service
for meteorological purposes. …
1.54 – Standard frequency and time signal-satellite service: A radiocommu-
nication service using space stations on earth satellites for the same purposes
as those of the standard frequency and time signal service. This service may
also include feeder links necessary for its operation.
1.55 – Space research service: A radiocommunication service in which
spacecraft or other objects in space are used for scientific or technological
research purposes. …
1.57 – Amateur-satellite service: A radiocommunication service using space
stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of the amateur
service.

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480 Handbook of space law

1.58 – Radio astronomy service: A service involving the use of radio

astronomy.88

Interestingly, these services also include radio astronomy, the last one
mentioned here, which strictly speaking is not actively ‘using’ radio
frequencies, merely ‘passively’ receiving them in order to distill infor-
mation about cosmic and galactic phenomena through the radio waves
emitted by supernovas, dying stars, black holes and their likes. Including
radio astronomy as a service, however, allows allocating certain frequen-
cies to it on a primary or secondary basis, hence entitling radio
astronomers not to have their scientific activities disturbed, as relevant,
by possible ‘active’ users of those frequencies.
When in the late 1990s impending multi-satellite communication
projects for LEO were developed by such companies as Iridium and
Globalstar, the radio astronomy community became concerned with
interference by such high-power satellite systems, and, with the support
of the OECD’s Megascience Forum and the Committee on Radio
Frequencies (CRAF) of the European Science Foundation (ESF),
mounted a campaign to force those companies to adjust their plans partly
to guarantee continuing respect for the frequency bands allocated to radio
astronomy.89

8.2.4.3 From ‘first-come, first-served’ to a priori allocation

Following the straightforward focus on rational, efficient and economic
use of radio frequencies demanded by Article 44(2) of the ITU Constitu-
tion, ‘first-come, first-served’ was the natural default principle for prior-
itization of potential competing or interfering requests for frequency
usage. After all, every day a frequency was not used was lost for eternity.
Whilst this principle was considered inherently fair as between a set of
similarly minded developed liberal market economies with roughly equal
levels of technology, and not considered unduly burdensome as long as
the geostationary orbit remained far from overcrowded, such underlying
assumptions quickly began to change with the entry of more and more
satellites into orbit and the growing interest of more and more lesser-
developed and least-developed states in benefiting from satellite commu-
nications.

88
Art. 5, Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. Cf. also White & White, supra n.
11, xxii–xxiv.
89
See also F.G. von der Dunk, Space for Celestial Symphonies? Towards
the Establishment of International Radio Quiet Zones, 17 Space Policy (2001),
265–74.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 481

The latter, in particular, became concerned that the geostationary orbit

would be full, or that at least the most beneficial slots and frequencies
would be occupied by the time they themselves might have obtained the
technological and financial means to launch a satellite there. Closely
related, there were also political and ideological issues, in that domin-
ation of the geostationary orbit by the developed, read Western, world
would translate into Western control over telecommunications and West-
ern cultural dominance of global broadcasting.90
This happened in particular with respect to the most politically
sensitive of the original triad of space services developed at the 1963
EARC: satellite broadcasting (BSS) was viewed in particular by develop-
ing states as an instrument for the developed states to ‘impose’ their
cultural and social values. Developing states were therefore in particular
interested in, at some point in the future, running their own systems to
counteract such ‘imperialist’ influences, but might not be able to do so
beneficially by that time as a consequence of the hitherto applied
‘first-come, first-served’ principle – which consequently came under
heavy criticism for the first time.91
The Plenipotentiary Conference of 1973 in this respect came up with a
first compromise, that in addition to efficient and economic use (which
dictated allocation as soon as some state was seriously interested) also
equitable access (which should somehow guarantee to developing states
they would not find all positions gone by the time they were ready to
launch) was to be taken into consideration.92
At the 1977 WARC this general compromise was then worked out in
that so-called a priori plans for BSS would apply for two out of the three
global ITU Regions: Europe plus Africa and Asia plus Oceania respec-
tively; for the Americas the old system of ‘first-come, first-served’ would
continue to apply. These a priori plans meant effectively a few satellite

90
These general concerns also gave rise to the efforts to limit the freedom to
broadcast content with the help of satellite systems into countries not willing to
accept such broadcasts in the context of the United Nations, leading to the
establishment of the Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite;
see further infra, § 8.3.
91
See Supancana, supra n. 12, 79; Lyall, supra n. 2, 361–4; White & White,
supra n. 11, 123–4, 128–9; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 172–3.
92
See e.g. Smith, supra n. 11, 61–2, 77–86; White & White, supra n. 11,
152–3; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 177–8; cf. also Supancana, supra
n. 12, 72, 80–1.

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482 Handbook of space law

slots plus assorted frequencies would be reserved for each state, regard-
less of whether that state was in a position to start using them immedi-
ately.93
At the so-called 1985 WARC-ORB, again dedicated to space services,
some FSS frequency bands were also allocated for a priori allotment,
whereas further to the principled decision in 1971 to distinguish MSS
from other satellite services, at the 1987 WARC the first frequency bands
were actually allocated to MSS.94
The discussion on ‘first-come, first-served’ versus a priori planning
continued at another space-dedicated WARC-ORB in 1988. For FSS
some frequency bands and slots were now reserved for some groups of
states, while allowing ‘first-come, first-served’ to continue to apply for
other parts of the spectrum, and for BSS a priori planning rules were
drafted – and by contrast for MSS ‘first-come, first-served’ continued to
apply squarely.95
Finally, as far as this cursory overview is concerned, the WARC of
1992 was particularly memorable for both allocating again a considerable
measure of extra frequency bands for space communications, as opposed
to terrestrial communications, and for such allocations including for the
first time non-geostationary orbits.96 The WARC of 2000 and the WRC
of 2003 in turn became mainly famous for allocating more frequency
bands for future satellite navigation systems, in particular for the purpose
of the impending European satellite navigation system Galileo.97

8.2.4.4 The coordination of international frequency usage for

international satellite services
In view of the special character of satellite communications as opposed
to telecommunications largo sensu, with the need, for example, to deal
with specific issues of satellite orbital slots and orbits, a special coordin-
ation process was established in the context of the ITU. This coordination
process for a particular set of frequencies, satellite system and service

93
See Smith, supra n. 11, 63–4; Lyall, supra n. 2, 382–5; White & White,
supra n. 11, 159–62; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 178–9.
94
See Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 181–4; Supancana, supra n. 12,
81–3; Smith, supra n. 11, 87 ff.; White & White, supra n. 11, 201–32; Lyall,
supra n. 2, 393–5.
95
See e.g. Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 184; Supancana, supra
n. 12, 83–8; Smith, supra n. 11, 117–56.
96
See e.g. Noll, supra n. 31, 113–4; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 185;
Supancana, supra n. 12, 89–91; Salin, supra n. 2, 56.
97
Cf. Salin, supra n. 2, 464–5.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 483

taking place under the auspices of the Radio Regulations Board starts
with the advance publication of information on the proposed satellite
system, effectively a formal filing, including requested slots/orbits and
frequencies.98 Such a proposal had to be forwarded to the ITU not earlier
than seven years prior to the intended date of bringing the satellite system
into use (in order to preclude efforts to ‘reserve’ frequencies and
slots/orbits overly long in advance), and preferably not later than two
years.99
The still-considerable time frames gradually gave rise to the problem
of ‘paper satellites’, whereby states started to file requests well before the
final decisions to go ahead with developing and building the satellite had
been taken, in order to take up an early place in the ‘queue’.100 By the
same token, however, the ITU system would be clogged with many
proposals that would in the end not come to fruition, causing valuable
manpower and other resources to be wasted. In order to counteract such
strains on the system, in recent years in the ITU context a regime of
‘administrative due diligence’ has started to be implemented.101
The proposal for allotment/assignment would allow all ITU member
states other than the one requesting the allotment/assignment to report
threats of possible interference with their respective systems or those of
operators falling within their jurisdictions (whether actual or intended, in

98
Cf. Art. 9(1), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. Further e.g. Meredith &
Robinson, supra n. 1, 187 ff.; Salin, supra n. 2, 47–9.
99
See Art. 9(1), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32. Cf. also e.g. McNutt, supra
n. 1, 133–5, on the problems arising for industry from such time frames.
100
See in greater detail e.g. P. Stubbe, New Definition of ‘Bringing Into Use’
in the Radio Regulations, in International Regulations of Space Communications
(Ed. M. Hofmann) (2013), 91–3; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 236–44; H. Wong,
The ‘Paper Satellite’ Chase: The ITU Prepares for its Final Exam in Resolution
18, 63 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (1998), 849–79; cf. also Williamson,
supra n. 12, 37–9.
101
This meant i.a. that advanced filing would only be allowed upon proof of
certain satellite manufacturing and/or launch contracts being in place, and a
certain a priori deposit of administrative costs; see further e.g. Noll, supra n. 31,
117–22; Bohlmann, Schrogl & Zilioli, supra n. 31, 213–4; Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 1, 236–7; Salin, supra n. 2, 458–9; F. Lyall, The Radiocommunication
Assembly (RA-12) and the World Radio Conference (WRC-12), Geneva, 2012:
Progress (?), in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012
(2013), 583–4.

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484 Handbook of space law

the latter case of course having formally entered the ITU process before
the system whose allotment/assignment is now at issue).102
If such potential interference was reported, the requesting state had the
primary obligation to accommodate, which usually meant that it had to
propose alternative frequencies (in which case the process could basically
start all over again) or other methods by which such interference would
be avoided.103
The ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau is then in charge of mon-
itoring the coordination procedure: it processes the information of states
on application of the Radio Regulations, applies the Rules of Procedure
on the handling of possible conflicts, effects an orderly recording and
registration of frequency assignments and associated orbital characteris-
tics, keeps the Master International Frequency Register up to date, and if
necessary assists in the resolution of harmful interference conflicts.104
As of today, for all the space systems for which frequency bands were
allocated and frequencies allotted and assigned, the on-line Space Net-
work Systems (SNS) Database105 contains, in addition to a brief overview
of the Radio Regulations referring to space services (and general
information concerning statistics), data on more than 10,600 geo-
stationary satellite filings, 1,070 non-geostationary satellite filings and
7,900 earth station filings. Within this database, a freely navigable query
system allows searching for specific information.106

8.2.5 Challenges to the ITU Regime in the Context of Satellite

Communications

Though the ITU regime for coordinating the use of satellite frequencies
and attendant slots or orbits has undeniably worked rather well so far, it
is increasingly coming under pressure from various angles as a result of
the involvement of increasing numbers of, in particular, private commer-
cial operators and the ‘traditional’ character of the ITU regime as an
intergovernmental construct sometimes coming close to a ‘gentleman’s

102
Cf. e.g. Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 187–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 1, 232–3.
103
Cf. e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 229.
104
See Art. 12(2), ITU Convention, supra n. 25. Cf. also on ITU dispute
settlement in general e.g. Supancana, supra n. 12, 189–90; further infra, § 19.2.2.
105
At www.itu.int/sns, last accessed 12 March 2014.
106
At www.itu.int/snl/freqtab_snl.html, last accessed 12 March 2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 485

arrangement’.107 In view of the rapid developments it is not possible to

address all those developments, even threats, to the ITU’s proper impact
in the area of satellite communications here, but a brief survey of some
specific cases and scenarios should at least illustrate the general and
broad nature of such developments.
All of those cases and scenarios provide evidence of a broader
paradigmatic change in the environment in which satellites were used for
telecommunication purposes, which ultimately all came down to increas-
ing numbers of participants and increasing commercialization of their
activities causing mounting pressures on the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that
the ITU regime had, to many, represented, and that had so far rather
successfully regulated the technical and operational developments in this
global sector. In particular the overcrowding of certain geostationary
regions led to increasing temptations for states and other operators to
short-cut or simply bypass the ITU coordination process in view of the
political, economic and commercial interests at stake.108

8.2.5.1 The Tongasat affair

The first and most (in)famous and specific ‘attack’ on the ITU regime
came with the Tongasat case.109 In 1987 a US entrepreneur and retired
satellite expert convinced the King of Tonga, who was aware that the
South Pacific region suffered from poor and expensive communications,
to make use of the a priori planning regime meanwhile implemented110
by claiming orbital positions ‘reserved’ for Tonga and other nations in the
region. To properly be allotted, assign and register orbital positions in the
geostationary orbit with the ITU and build and operate satellites in a joint
venture with other South Pacific nations, the government of Tonga in

107
Cf. also e.g. Lyall, supra n. 2, 415–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 235 ff.
108
With ongoing technological developments allowing increasingly efficient
usage of geostationary spaces and frequencies, it is difficult to put a certain
maximum number on satellites, but repeated disputes regarding specific slots
have shown that at least certain regions of the orbit are subject to serious and
substantiated interest by more possible operators than they could currently host.
Cf. also e.g. Williamson, supra n. 12, 40–3; Stubbe, supra n. 100, 83–4; McNutt,
supra n. 1, 127–31, 135; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 249–52; Salin, supra n. 2,
52–3; early on Smith, supra n. 11, 13–4.
109
Cf. however for succinct references to similar cases Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 1, 238, fn. 157; Salin, supra n. 2, 52.
110
See supra, § 8.2.4.3.

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April 1988 authorized the entrepreneur to establish a Tongan company,

soon known as Tongasat, as the exclusive agent of the government.111
The agreement did not require the government of Tonga to contribute
funds to Tongasat yet allowed it to collect half its net income; all funds to
get the new company off the ground coming from the entrepreneur.
Tonga then, on behalf of Tongasat, applied for 16 slots, despite the fact
that Tonga itself had just over a 100,000 inhabitants: the plan was
essentially for Tongasat to sell or lease the slots thus to be allotted/
assigned for profit, rather than use them for undertaking satellite commu-
nications itself – in violation of the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ providing
hitherto that only frequencies and slots one actually intended to use
oneself could be registered.112
Six states, including the United States, complained to the ITU that
Tonga’s claims were greatly in excess of any projected need, calling the
move everything from exploiting a loophole to a space grab. For years it
remained in doubt whether Tongasat would be able to succeed; whilst the
provisions of the ITU Constitution and Convention did not explicitly
prohibit making use of rights under the a priori planning regime for the
purpose of selling or leasing rather than actually using claimed slots,113 it
had clearly not been the intention of the relevant provisions to allow that
to happen – such a scenario simply had never been contemplated.
In the course of ‘negotiations’ Tongasat first scaled back its requests to
six slots, which the ITU finally awarded in March 1991; half a year later

111
See generally e.g. Salin, supra n. 2, 51–2; Meredith & Robinson, supra n.
1, 167–9; J.C. Thompson, Space for Rent: The International Telecommunication
Union, Space Law and Orbit/Spectrum Leasing, 62 Journal of Air Law &
Commerce (1996), 279–311; D. Riddick, Why does Tongasat Own Outer Space?,
19 Air & Space Law (1994), 15–29.
112
See e.g. Thompson, supra n. 111, 281–2, referring to the ‘warehousing’
of spectrum; Salin, supra n. 2, 51–3; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 168. Cf.
also supra, §§ 8.2.3 and 8.2.4, describing the regulatory regime as tuned to allow
states and their operators to actually operate satellites in particular slots or orbits
with the attendant frequencies without interference as much as possible.
113
It could even be argued that thus bringing into use slots that would
otherwise most likely have lain dormant for at least a number of years – as
reserved namely for South Pacific nations – would amount to these slots being
‘used rationally, efficiently and economically’; Art. 44(2), ITU Constitution,
supra n. 24. Cf. also Thompson, supra n. 111, 285 (referencing the prior version
of the provision as per Art. 33, International Telecommunication Convention,
Malaga-Torremolinos, done 25 October 1973, entered into force 1 January 1975;
28 UST 2495), also 299–300; differently however Salin, supra n. 2, 52–3; Lyall
& Larsen, supra n. 1, 238, fn. 158; Supancana, supra n. 12, 63.

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the company managed to sign up Unicom Satellite Corporation as its first

licensee for two slots.114 Soon Tongasat won its seventh slot, and
currently Tongasat’s filings include nine geostationary satellite orbital
positions and a number of non-geostationary network filings.115 These
crucial positions connect the West Coast of the United States to Asia, one
of the world’s most important traffic streams with some 3.5 billion
people in the coverage pattern.
The uneasiness in many quarters with this course of events, and the
presumably facetious usage by Tongasat of the lack of legal precision in
the ITU regime’s documents, helped considerably to drive the process
towards a broader reconsideration and adaptation of the ITU regime,
including the introduction of such concepts as ‘administrative due
diligence’ to try and filter out proposals of serious intention to operate a
satellite system in the near future from the more capricious ones.116

8.2.5.2 Auctioning telecommunication frequencies

Next, there was the issue of ‘auctioning’ at a national level: in many
leading telecommunication states in the 1990s access to frequencies was
considered sufficiently valuable from a commercial perspective for
governmental authorities in charge of granting such access to auction
certain frequency bands, and collect huge sums from the winning
bidders.117
Whilst national sovereignty of those states entitled them to distribute
national access rights to frequencies as they saw fit, once those national
access rights were effectively stemming from internationally granted
rights – such as access to satellite frequencies in accordance with the ITU
regime – or had other international effects, it should be clear that those
international parameters would considerably limit, if not indeed simply
exclude, auctioning of satellite frequencies. Requests by administrations
for allotment of specific satellite frequencies under the ITU regime after

114
Though Unicom Satellite Corporation then failed to obtain the financing
it needed, by that time Tongasat had signed up Rimsat Ltd., which has since put
satellites in three of Tongasat’s positions and had options on two more. In 1994
Tongasat licensed one position to APT Satellite Company, a Hong Kong-based
consortium that is principally owned by three ministries of the People’s Republic
of China. See further in general Salin, supra n. 2, 52; Thompson, supra
n. 111, 300–2.
115
See www.tongasat.com/services/index.htm, last accessed 22 March 2014.
116
See supra, § 8.2.4.4; cf. also Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 238 ff.
117
Cf. e.g. Bohlmann, Schrogl & Zilioli, supra n. 31, 214–5; S. Mosteshar,
Comments on Frequency Management, in Proceedings of the Workshop on
Telecommunications (2000), 117.

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488 Handbook of space law

all were (supposed to be) made with a view to a specific planned satellite
(system) – it would at least be highly questionable whether assignment to
a highest bidder not known at the time of the coordination request would
then be an allowable option.118

8.2.5.3 Trade aspects of satellite communications

With the increasing commercialization and privatization of the sector it
was only logical that also international trade rules became of importance
for global satellite communications – and it was clear that the ITU was
not well equipped to handle those aspects. The fact that the World Trade
Organization did pick up those aspects119 may consequently have been a
natural course of events; the fact that in particular Western states tended
to start using the WTO regime for promoting their (commercial opera-
tors’) interests over the ITU regime, which was less prone to address
commercial interests over technological ones and those of interest also to
the developing states – witness the establishment of the Telecom Devel-
opment Sector in the latter context120 – causes considerable concern
within the ITU as potentially interfering with its purposes of enhancing
the benefits of telecommunications, including satellite communications,
for the entire globe.121
The development of an ITU-driven Memorandum of Understanding on
Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) in 1997
was one example of an effort on the part of the ITU to partially answer to
those paradigmatic changes.122 The idea was that by liberalizing the
trans-border movement of personal terminals, an aspect of both trade-
related and pragmatic/operational character, some measure of application
of the ITU regime would be guaranteed also in the international trade
context. Some 125 entities, state as well as non-state, signed up to the
MOU, but as it remained legally non-binding, it could not rise to the

118
Cf. also Bohlmann, Schrogl & Zilioli, supra n. 31, 214–5.
119
See further infra, § 15.4.
120
See also supra, § 8.2.2.2.
121
Cf. e.g. P.K. McCormick, Neo-Liberalism: A Contextual Framework for
Assessing the Privatisation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations, in The
Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCor-
mick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 21–5; Bohlmann, Schrogl & Zilioli, supra
n. 31, 210–2.
122
See e.g. Salin, supra n. 2, 454–6; Bolhmann, Schrogl & Zilioli, supra n.
31, 218.

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same level of representing a trade-regulating regime as the more funda-

mental and more law-based GATS/WTO regime.123
Whilst increasing participation of non-state – read commercial –
stakeholders in the ITU process has been realized as of the 1990s as
another such effort,124 the classical intergovernmental structure of the
organization has been maintained. It may be difficult to envisage a
fundamentally different course, but all the same the private sector may
continue to broadly find the ITU non-responsive to its particular needs,
slow, bureaucratic and politically charged as opposed to being tuned in to
the practical, economic and commercial realities.125

8.2.5.4 Intellectual property rights and satellite communications

A further angle to be briefly mentioned here from which the ITU regime
increasingly comes under pressure concerns efforts to apply intellectual
property rights to the satellite communication sector in an effort to
side-line other legal obstacles to monopolization of a certain type or
category of telecommunication operations – particularly relevant for the
high-key technological sub-sector of satellite communications.
The most ‘notorious’ example concerns the TRW case, in which the
US company of that name tried to assert its patent rights to a certain
technology to be used for a certain orbit in such a manner as to
effectively exclude other potential operators from using that orbit – in
front of a US court.126 The case was settled out of court, but were it to
have been successful in court, by using national US patent law a single
operator would in fact have circumvented the international ITU regime
for determining entitlement to use certain orbits and the attendant
frequencies.127

123
Cf. on the GATS/WTO regime liberalizing international trade in satellite
communication services comprehensively (as opposed to only addressing the
physical movement of terminals) infra, § 15.4.
124
Cf. also supra, § 8.2.2.1.
125
Cf. also broadly McCormick, supra n. 121, 2 ff.
126
See B.L. Smith & E. Mazzoli, Problems and Realities in Applying the
Provisions of the Outer Space Treaty to Intellectual Property Issues, in Proceed-
ings of the Fortieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 169–76; B.L.
Smith, Recent Developments in Patents for Outer Space, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000), 190–4; S. Moste-
shar, Satellite Constellation Patent Claim, 4 Telecommunications and Space
Journal (1997), 251–5, cf. also Lyall & Larsen, supra, n. 1, 124–6; Bohlmann,
Schrogl & Zilioli, supra n. 31, 207–8.
127
Cf. Smith, supra n. 126, 193–4.

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490 Handbook of space law

Nevertheless, also this specific case exemplified the risks inherent in

the fragmentation of satellite communications law beyond the traditional
lead of the ITU regime, as a consequence of commercialization and
privatization bringing in some other legal regimes such as those concern-
ing international trade or intellectual property rights.

8.2.5.5 Satellite communications as ‘international public good’ or

‘international public service’
A last major area of worry for those concerned with the ITU’s efficacy
and future to be briefly discussed here concerns the nature of satellite
communications as the international version of a ‘public good’ or ‘public
service’. ‘Public service’ has for example been defined as ‘[a] service
provided or facilitated by the government for the general public’s
convenience and benefit’;128 ‘public’ more generally as ‘[r]elating or
belonging to an entire community’ and/or ‘[o]pen or available for all to
use, share, or enjoy’.129
In the specific context of space activities this has translated most
particularly into the generic requirement that ‘[t]he … use of outer space
… shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries,
irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and
shall be the province of all mankind’.130 As seen, the ITU was established
inter alia to ensure that ‘mankind’, including the countries lagging
behind in ‘economic or scientific development’, would indeed ‘benefit’
from the use of radio frequencies as later including satellite frequencies,
by taking away at least technical, operational and interference-related
obstacles to such optimum usage.131
While it is inevitable, and from many perspectives even necessary, for
developed countries, and in particular their private entrepreneurs, to take
the lead in such efforts in order to allow others to follow later on, the
incentives to make them do so (notably to invest the necessary efforts and
sums in ever further developing the possibilities of usage of satellite

128
Black’s Law Dictionary (Ed. B.A. Garner) (8th edn., 2004), 1268.
129
Ibid., 1264.
130
Art. I, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27
January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347;
18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386
(1967).
131
See further supra, § 8.2.3.1.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 491

frequencies and orbits) should always remain balanced with the oppor-
tunities for those others to then enjoy such benefits also.
To many observers, the latter side of the equation is increasingly seen
to be at risk, as a consequence of the ITU’s impossibility to fundamen-
tally set aside state sovereignty when it comes to certain types of disputes
and interests,132 the increasing domination of commercial uses of satellite
frequencies over the more public and less revenue-earning uses,133 the
increasing use of the WTO as a forum for arranging international legal
and regulatory standards for satellite communications134 and last but not
least the privatization of some of the main intergovernmental satellite
operators, where in particular INTELSAT had originally been established
to offer a global public satellite communications infrastructure135 – as it
were, offering an international public good and an international public
service in one go.136
There is in all likelihood no simple single solution to the problem.
Commercialization and liberalization, as well as the irrepressible global-
ization that comes with them, cannot simply be undone – nor should they
be. Actually, globalization in the end may even result in the modi
operandi of commercial entrepreneurs in satellite communications
becoming not only available but also ingrained in parts of the world
where development is generally seen as lagging behind. Most interest-
ingly, a quantum leap is occurring in Africa where the availability of
mobile communications is overcoming the traditional underdeveloped
telecommunications infrastructures in most countries there, and is now
widespread enough to be a major catalyst of economic growth more
broadly speaking. It is likely that that will soon include satellite commu-
nications as well.
Nevertheless, it will remain a governmental task to ensure that also
clearly public satellite services, ranging from radio astronomy and a
basic communication system where the commercial sector is unwilling to

132
One telling example is the dispute over the Notifying Administration on
behalf of INTERSPUTNIK; see supra, § 5.7.2.
133
An interesting early example of such fears, though for the moment
dissipated by the failure at the time of the expected LEO operators, concerns the
interference these operators were expected to give rise to with radio astronomy;
see supra, text at n. 89. Cf. further e.g. Lyall, supra n. 101, 586.
134
Cf. further infra, § 15.4.
135
See also supra, § 5.4.1.
136
See more in general on such worries e.g. Salin, supra n. 2, 435–84; Lyall
& Larsen, supra n. 1, esp. 385–7 (under the heading of ‘The World Public
Interest’), also 235–44; McCormick, supra n. 121, 21–5.

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492 Handbook of space law

provide such a system to tele-medicine137 and tele-education, will (con-

tinue to) enjoy their place under the sun,138 and not allow private
commercial interests to prevail semi-automatically.

8.2.6 Concluding Remarks on the ITU Regime

As discussed, in spite of certain adjustments to the fundamental paradigm

changes in the satellite communication sector over the last decades the
ITU is (still) a classical intergovernmental organization, without a status
for other IGOs and private entities equal to states. Its focus being very
much on practical-technical and operational aspects, its traditional leader-
ship role in the sector is increasingly challenged through other legal
regimes, both internationally and domestically.
‘Affairs’ such as the Tongasat case and ‘scenarios’ on frequency
auctioning may be relatively unique in their details and results; they also
corroborate the conclusion on the special character of the ITU regime in
the context of space activities and space law. For all its key contributions
to space activities, in particular to the extent requiring the use of satellite
frequencies and orbits, the ITU and its member states have not been able
to preclude major non-technical/operational factors from frequently
impacting the use of outer space for all mankind as mandated by Article
I of the Outer Space Treaty in the context of satellite operations –
sometimes for the better, sometimes possibly for the worse, but never
simplifying the spacescape.
Also from the perspective of space law, the ITU regime stands out as
being of a totally different origin and role than the UN outer space
treaties. Developed long before the space treaties and long before man
entered into outer space, and without any overriding focus on space
activities, it soon turned out to be – and to this day remains – crucial for
all space activities. Fortunately, the relations between the ITU and

137
See e.g. S. Rooke, SATMED: Legal Aspects of the Physical Layer of
Satellite Telemedicine, in 34 Michigan Journal of International Law (2012),
209–47.
138
One area where this discussion is particularly visible concerns the worries
of some developing states regarding the Space Assets Protocol’s potential impact
on public services; see e.g. M.J. Stanford, The UNIDROIT Protocol to the Cape
Town Convention on Matters Specific to Space Assets, in Proceedings of the
International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 164; G. Catalano Sgrosso, Last
Comments on the Text of the Draft Protocol to the Convention on International
Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Space Assets, in Proceed-
ings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 217–20; also infra,
§ 16.4.3.

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Legal aspects of satellite communications 493

COPUOS have been rather effective so far in assuring that no undue

divergences or incompatibilities arose between telecommunications law
and space law in the overlapping area of satellite communications; in
other respects, however, the ITU has increasingly come under pressure
from various angles as discussed.139
A final interesting development to be noted here is the ITU being
‘requested’ to serve as Supervisory Authority for the UNIDROIT Space
Assets Protocol, in view of its long-standing experience with registration
of satellite orbits and frequencies.140 At the time of writing, it is uncertain
how this request will be answered; if ITU indeed were to take up this
new task, rather different from its core activities so far, it would at least
be able to ensure not just continued compliance but likely even consist-
ency (in terms of technical details) of registrations in the Space Assets
Protocol’s International Registry with its own Master International Fre-
quency Register.141

8.3 THE UN ‘REGIME’ ON DIRECT BROADCASTING

BY SATELLITE

8.3.1 The UN Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by

Satellite

Politically speaking the most visible involvement of UN bodies, notably

COPUOS, in the area of direct broadcasting by satellite may have been
the discussion on the status of the geostationary orbit, and in particular
the erstwhile efforts of several equatorial states to obtain special rights to
certain parts of that orbit.142 In terms of legal results, however, the

139
See on the ITU–COPUOS nexus e.g. Stubbe, supra n. 100, 83–4; F.
Tronchetti, Fundamentals of Space Law and Policy (2013), 40; White & White,
supra n. 11, 236 ff.; in extenso Salin, supra n. 2, 11 ff., 45 ff.; more generally on
their respective roles e.g. Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 561–5.
140
See further for the UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol infra, § 16.4; see
also e.g. Stanford, supra n. 138, 165–6.
141
See supra, § 8.2.3.6; cf. also e.g. S. Marchisio, Space Assets Protocol and
Compliance with International and Domestic Law, in Proceedings of the Inter-
national Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 187–8; P.B. Larsen, The Space
Protocol to the Cape Town Convention and the Space Law Treaties, in Proceed-
ings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 205.
142
See further on this supra, § 2.3.1.3.

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discussion on the appropriate legal principles and rules regarding the use
of satellites for direct broadcasting would likely be the more profound
one.
One major reason for that is that direct broadcasting by satellite (which
generally squares with the concept of the ‘Broadcasting-Satellite Service’
as this is used in the context of the ITU143) is the most politicized area
within satellite communications lato sensu, in view of the fear of many
developing countries of ‘cultural imperialism’ being the result of the
operation of such satellites as a consequence of the lopsided abilities to
use and finance the relevant technologies.144 From similar perspectives,
both the communist states by way of INTERSPUTNIK145 and the Arab
states by way of ARABSAT146 created their own satellite systems mainly
for broadcasting purposes.
The international discussion on a separate set of rules on direct
broadcasting by satellite essentially started in 1972, with a UNESCO
Resolution focusing on the free flow of information and educational and
cultural exchange by way of direct broadcasting satellites147 and –
following multi-year discussions in the United Nations – UN Resolution
2916(XXVII) calling for international agreements on the subject.148

143
Cf. supra, § 8.2.4.2. With reference to the epithet ‘direct’, it may be noted
that Art. 5(1.39), Radio Regulations, supra n. 32, defines the ‘broadcasting-
satellite service’ as ‘A radiocommunication service in which signals transmitted
or retransmitted by space stations are intended for direct reception by the general
public. In the broadcasting-satellite service, the term “direct reception” shall
encompass both individual reception and community reception.’ Thus, it includes
so-called Direct-To-Home (DTH) services as well as distribution of signals to
cable network heads and distributors.
144
See e.g. Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 205; Fisher, supra n. 4,
2 ff.; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 258–60; McNutt, supra n. 1, 124–5; Cheng,
supra n. 1, 563–4.
145
See further supra, § 5.7.
146
See further supra, § 5.8.
147
Guiding Principles on the Use of Satellite Broadcasting for the Free Flow
of Information, the Spread of Education and Greater Cultural Exchange, Res. 4,
of 15 November 1972, UNESCO General Conference, 17th Sess. (1972), UN
Doc. A/AC.105/109, 3 ff. (1973), see further F. Koppensteiner, The 1982
Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for Inter-
national Direct Television Broadcasting, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I.
Marboe) (2012), 165–6; Fisher, supra n. 4, 58–60; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1,
261–2.
148
UNGA Res. 2916(XXVII), of 9 November 1972, A/8730, Suppl. No. 30;
see further Fisher, supra n. 4, 109–17; on the preceding discussions within the
United Nations, 83–108; also Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 260–1.

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The UN Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite149

ultimately resulting in 1982 represented an effort at a compromise
between two fundamental (sets of) principles of international (space) law.
In particular the Western states promoted the freedom of information
(including both reception and provision) as a general principle of
international law,150 in the context of outer space finding its more specific
expression in the freedom to use outer space as long as not violating
rules of international law.151 By contrast, especially the developing
countries based their approach on their sovereignty over their respective
territory, which was translated in this particular context into the right to
control whatever happens there, including the information broadcast into
such territory.152
Those two sets of principles were both reflected throughout Resolution
37/92. For example, direct broadcasting satellite activities ‘should be

149
Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for
International Direct Television Broadcasting (hereafter Principles on Direct
Television Broadcasting by Satellite), UNGA Res. 37/92, of 10 December 1982;
UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 39. See further e.g. Koppensteiner, supra
n. 147, 161–81; Fisher, supra n. 4, 45–54, 149 ff.; Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 1, 263–9; White & White, supra n. 11, 250–1; Meredith & Robinson,
supra n. 1, 205–6; very extensively Stewart, supra n. 4.
150
Cf. e.g. Art. 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Paris, UN GA
Res. 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948; A/RES/217; Art. 19(2), International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, New York, done 19 December 1966,
entered into force 23 March 1976; UKTS 1977 No. 6; Cm. 6702; 6 ILM 368
(1967). See further e.g. I. Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law (8th
edn., 2012), 636 ff., esp. 643–4; M.N. Shaw, International Law (6th edn., 2008),
265 ff.; P. Rainger et al., Satellite Broadcasting (1985), 247–54.
151
Cf. Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 130; also supra, § 2.1.1. See
further e.g. Koppensteiner, supra n. 147, 173–7; Stewart, supra n. 4, 14–7;
Fisher, supra n. 4, 120–3, 171–86; White & White, supra n. 11, 249–50; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 1, 263.
152
Indeed, the Outer Space Treaty, supra, n. 130, refers to respect for
international law including the UN Charter (Charter of the United Nations, San
Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993;
24 UST 2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666
and 6711; CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1), international cooperation and
friendly relations amongst states (cf. e.g. Arts. I and III), which all include
respect for sovereignty; such a concept of sovereignty moreover increasingly was
held to encompass also ‘cultural sovereignty’, i.e. to refuse being impacted by
anything considered fundamentally antagonistic to national cultures. See further
e.g. Koppensteiner, supra n. 147, 171–3; Stewart, supra n. 4, 14–7, 21–4; Fisher,
supra n. 4, 120 ff.; 131–2, 152–70; White & White, supra n. 11, 249–50; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 1, 263.

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carried out [both] in a manner compatible with the sovereign rights of

States, including the principle of non-intervention, as well as with the
right of everyone to seek, receive and impart information and ideas as
enshrined in the relevant United Nations instruments’.153 Also, these
activities should promote both free dissemination and mutual exchange of
information and knowledge, and respect for cultural integrity.154 More
oblique provisions called for international responsibility for relevant
activities.155
None of those two-sided Principles, however, principally solved the
dilemma that was underneath: are states, basing themselves on their
sovereignty, entitled to condition or even preclude other states and their
entities from broadcasting into their territories, or are by contrast states,
basing themselves on the freedom to impart information and ideas,
entitled to broadcast programmes even into states opposed to such
broadcasting?
Strictly speaking, not even the Principles directly addressing this
question of whether ‘prior consent’ of the target state was required solved
the dilemma. Firstly:

Any broadcasting or receiving State within an international direct television

broadcasting satellite service established between them requested to do so by
any other broadcasting or receiving State within the same service should
promptly enter into consultations with the requesting State regarding its
activities in the field of international direct television broadcasting by
satellite.156

Also, ‘[a] State which intends to establish or authorize the establishment

of an international direct television broadcasting satellite service shall
without delay notify the proposed receiving State or States of such
intention and shall promptly enter into consultation with any of those
States which so requests.’157

153
Princ. 1, Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite, supra
n. 149.
154
See Princ. 2, Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite,
supra n. 149. Cf. further Principles 4, 5, 6 & 11.
155
See Principles 8, 9, Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by
Satellite, supra n. 149.
156
Princ. 10, Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite, supra
n. 149. In addition, as per Princ. 12, such activities had to be notified to the UN
Secretary-General.
157
Princ. 13, Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite, supra
n. 149.

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It remained unclear, however, whether this duty to consult and right to

be consulted, constituted an obligation of effort or an obligation of result:
‘An international direct television broadcasting satellite service shall only
be established after the conditions set forth in paragraph 13 above have
been met and on the basis of agreements and/or arrangements in
conformity with the relevant instruments of the International Tele-
communication Union and in accordance with these principles.’158 Would
the conditions of Principle 13 be complied with once consultation had
taken place, regardless of whether the broadcasting state would then be
going ahead anyway, or only if the wishes of the receiving state as
expressed during such consultations were honoured?
However, in view of the widely prevailing interpretation of this clause
as meaning ‘that a state receiving deliberate DBS widely prevailing
programming would be able to block the establishment of a DBS service
to its territories without its prior consent’, in other words an obligation of
result in terms of agreement on the particular DBS service amounting to
prior consent,159 the states looking for the freedom to broadcast did not
find the compromise satisfactory, and the Resolution was passed with
many votes against.160 As a consequence, no or little customary legal
value could be attached to the substance of the Resolution, at least for
those states voting against; a UN General Assembly not carrying legally
binding weight in and of itself. This, interestingly, was in contrast with
the Remote Sensing Principles161 of four years later, where essentially
the same dichotomy between states calling for the freedom of remote
sensing to rule supreme and those calling for the respect for sovereignty

158
Princ. 14, Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting by Satellite, supra
n. 149.
159
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 265; see also e.g. Fisher, supra n. 4, 141–51,
187–200; Meredith & Robinson, supra n. 1, 205; Stewart, supra n. 4, 28–31;
Tronchetti, supra n. 139, 15; Rainger et al., supra n. 150, 243. Less convinced
about ‘prior consent’ as the ruling principle, however, are e.g. Koppensteiner,
supra n. 147, 167–9; S. Hobe, Space Law – An Analysis of its Development and
its Future, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A.
Soucek) (2011), 480.
160
The voting score was 107 in favour and 13 against, with 17 abstentions;
United Nations Resolutions (Ed. D.J. Djonovich), Ser. I, Vol. XXI, 1982–1983
(1986), at 127. See further Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 263–4; Fisher, supra
n. 4, 45–6; Koppensteiner, supra n. 147, 170; White & White, supra n. 11, 251.
161
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space,
UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3 December 1986; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43;
25 ILM 1334 (1986).

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498 Handbook of space law

to do so was at play.162 In that case, however, it could be resolved in a

manner allowing the Resolution to be adopted with consensus, serving as
a starting point for what is now generally considered to constitute
customary law.163

8.3.2 Satellite Broadcasting Beyond the UN Principles

For direct satellite broadcasting, however, the international legal situation

remains ambiguous: with no broadly accepted international agreement on
whether ‘prior consent’ is required or the freedom to impart information
should overrule any such principle, essentially national laws and some bi-
and multilateral agreements on the issue will continue to result in a
highly complicated patchwork of legal rights and obligations in this
context.
Such multilateral agreements had been concluded between (by defin-
ition more limited) sets of like-minded states, and comprised conventions
such as the 1974 Brussels Convention164 or even a treaty pre-dating the
space era such as the 1936 International Convention on the Use of
Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace.165
The Brussels Convention focused on such requirements as preventing
retransmission of DBS and other signals by others than the intended
recipients and the protection of copyright in the context of retransmis-
sion, such as against piracy. Hence, it did not address the issue of
contents and/or prior consent in that respect, essentially reflecting the
Western perception on the freedom of provision of information – the
impetus for the Convention came from UNESCO’s desire to protect and

162
See further infra, § 9.4.1.2.
163
See e.g. J.I. Gabrynowicz, The UN Principles Relating to Remote Sensing
of the Earth from Outer Space and Soft Law, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I.
Marboe) (2012), 183–93; further infra, § 9.4.1.2.
164
Convention relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals
Transmitted by Satellite (hereafter Brussels Convention) Brussels, done 21 May
1974, entered into force 25 August 1979; 1144 UNTS 3; TIAS 11078; ATS 1990
No. 30; 13 ILM 1444 (1974). See further e.g. C.Q. Christol, The 1974 Brussels
Convention relating to the Distribution of Program-carrying Signals Transmitted
by Satellite: An Aspect of Human Rights, 6 Journal of Space Law (1978), 19–35.
165
International Convention on the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of
Peace, Geneva, done 23 September 1936, entered into force 2 April 1938; 186
LNTS 301; 1938 UKTS, Cmd. 1714; American Journal of International Law
(1938) Supp. 113; see further Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 268; Fisher, supra
n. 4, 160–2.

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promote such free dissemination, and the negotiating states rejected any
notion of a right to ‘prior consent’ on the receiving side in this respect.166
The Convention specifically did not address direct reception of satellite
signals,167 which would allow developing states a choice as to whether to
control any unwanted information through central distribution facilities or
simply allow individual reception, as long as copyrights remained – with
a few possible exceptions regarding educational or scientific broadcasts –
adequately protected.168 Actual drafting and implementation of anti-
piracy regulations, meanwhile, remained within the sovereign domain of
the states parties.169
The International Convention on the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause
of Peace more generally focused on prohibiting the ‘broadcasting to the
population of any territory intended to incite the population thereof to
“acts incompatible with the internal order or the security”’ of any
contracting state.170 Enunciated at a time when several localized armed
conflicts were preparing the way for the Second World War, from the
later perspective of the discussion regarding ‘prior consent’ this should be
seen as a specific case where the need for such ‘prior consent’ was
effectively pre-empted because of the (presumed) customary international
law status of the prohibition on inciting foreign populations into non-
permitted use of force.171
As a consequence of this rather fragmented legal landscape, it remains
to be seen whether the increasing access also of the lesser-developed
states to basic satellite and other telecommunication and Internet tech-
nology and services may make this particular political debate ultimately
obsolete – those states still bent on controlling the information available
to their respective populations have long since started to resort to other
legal means to achieve such control.

166
See Christol, supra n. 164, 20 ff., also 33–5; further Lyall & Larsen,
supra n. 1, 263; Rainger et al., supra n. 150, 255–60.
167
As per Art. 3, Brussels Convention, supra n. 164; see Rainger et al.,
supra n. 150, 257; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 1, 263.
168
Cf. Christol, supra n. 164, 30–1.
169
See e.g. Rainger et al., supra n. 150, 259.
170
Fisher, supra n. 4, 161, quoting Art. I, International Convention on the
Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace, supra n. 165.
171
Cf. Fisher, supra n. 4, 161, i.a. referring to J. Evensen, Aspects of
International Law Relating to Modern Radio Communications, 115 Hague
Recueil des Cours (1965), 557–61.

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8.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

Satellite communications, as the most widespread, substantial and com-
mercial application of space activities, is subject from a legal perspective
to a set of sometimes interlocking, sometimes unrelated regimes – even if
analysis remains at the international level. With the trade aspects thereof
dealt with in chapter 15, the financing aspects in Chapter 16, the
intellectual property rights aspects in Chapter 18 and (some of) the
dispute settlement aspects in Chapter 19, the current chapter has focused
on what is still the baseline of international satellite communications law.
This baseline falls apart in mainly two categories. The technical/
operational aspects are generally handled in the context of an elaborate
ITU framework focusing on the allocation, allotment and coordinated
assignment of radio frequencies and attendant slots/orbits, as well as
more generally promoting technical and operational harmonization and
standardization, and involvement also of the less-developed parts of the
world in a global communication society. In addition, due to its highly
politicized character from the start, the sub-sector of international satel-
lite broadcasting, even though subject to the same technical/operational
ITU regime as appropriate, has seen a major content-related discussion
giving rise to a UN Resolution. This set of Principles, however, so far has
been unable to resolve the problem – even as it seems to have lost some
of its urgency over time as a consequence of ulterior developments, as
indicated.
Meanwhile, the major political challenge may no longer come strictly
speaking from the developed–developing state dichotomy in the area of
broadcasting, but more broadly from the involvement of private operators
in all sub-sectors of international telecommunications, including satellite
communications. As the ITU is increasingly seen as being unable to cater
for their particular needs and desires (which boils down to quick
solutions, pragmatically and commercially oriented, and with as little
regulatory burden as possible), alternative venues addressing those – in
particular the WTO one – are being turned to. It can only be hoped that
in the process the bona fide interests and possible contributions of private
enterprise would not be served at the expense of some of the overarching
public values of satellite communications.

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9. Legal aspects of satellite remote sensing

Fabio Tronchetti

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Recourse to satellites for sensing the earth constitutes one of the most
widespread uses of outer space. Since the early days of space activities
states have utilized satellites for reconnaissance and other military-related
purposes. Nowadays, thanks to technological advancements and the
increased number of space actors, remote sensing products find appli-
cation in a broad array of areas, ranging from land monitoring to disaster
management. As a consequence of the modified socio-political environ-
ment in which remote sensing activities take place, several legal issues
related to the conduct of remote sensing operations as well as to the
access, distribution and use of the resulting data emerge.
The legal framework regulating the operation of remote sensing
systems, which consists of a heterogeneous combination of international
laws, national regulations and data policies, fails to address these issues
in a coherent and efficient way. This is mostly due to two factors. On one
side, the international legal rules negotiated within the United Nations do
not deal with the privatization and commercialization of remote sensing
operations. On the other side, while national regulations associated with
remote sensing and data policies specifically govern the conduct of
remote sensing activities and the commercial distribution of products and
data, they tend to do so pursuant to different strategies and standards.
Ultimately, this leads to diverging conditions applicable to the availabil-
ity, reliability, utilization and reproduction of remote sensing products.
Overall, the picture that emerges is a rather contradictory one: while a
vast amount of images and information is in theory available, an
increasing number of barriers restricting the flow of remote sensing
information and data exist.
The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on the complicated legal
issues surrounding remote sensing activities. This will be done by
analysing relevant international and national rules and policies and by
having recourse to examples taken from the practical activities of remote
sensing operators.

501

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9.2 REMOTE SENSING FROM SPACE:

CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS

9.2.1 The Technology of Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is a means to gather information about distant objects

without directly being in contact with them.1 Remote sensing technology
operates through sensors which ‘make use of the properties of electro-
magnetic waves emitted, reflected or diffracted by the sensed objects’.2
The study of the reflected or emitted energy allows scientists to identify
and classify objects.3
Sensing may be passive or active. In the case of the former, the sensing
device merely collects electromagnetic and other radiations naturally
emanating from the target (for example reflected solar radiation) –
photography is a typical example of passive remote sensing. In the case
of the latter, the sensing device illuminates electromagnetically the target
and analyses the reflection of that illumination – the use of radar is a
classic example of active remote sensing.
Photographic remote sensing gathers information through cameras
mounted on balloons and airplanes. Already in 1858, following the
invention of the camera, aerial views of the earth’s surface were taken by
cameras mounted on balloons.4 Systematic aerial photography was devel-
oped for military surveillance and reconnaissance during the First World
War and reached a peak during the Cold War.
The development of artificial satellites in the latter half of the twentieth
century allowed remote sensing to progress to a global scale and to be
utilized for broader goals, especially civilian ones. Unlike cameras that
use films, satellite remote sensing nowadays utilizes electronic photo-
sensitive sensors to take images in a digital format. Every piece of data
that is acquired through this process is given a digital value and sent via
a radio communications link to a ground station where it is transformed

1
See P.J. Gibson, Introductory Remote Sensing: Principles and Concepts
(2000), 1; NPA Group, Final Report BNSC Sectors Studies Programme Appli-
cation of Earth Observation to Legal Sector (2001), 16.
2
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space
(hereafter Remote Sensing Principles), UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3 December 1986;
UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43; 25 ILM 1334 (1986).
3
See A. Ito, Legal Aspects of Satellite Remote Sensing (2011), 4.
4
See L. Schmidt, New Tools for Diplomacy: Remote Sensing in Inter-
national Law, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Diplomacy/, last accessed
15 April 2014; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 413.

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Legal aspects of satellite remote sensing 503

into usable information, read imagery. Compared to aerial photography,

satellite remote sensing has the advantage of enabling repeated obser-
vation of a certain area in an easier and less-restricted manner, particu-
larly without being limited by physical national boundaries.5
Furthermore, active sensors, such as radar, permit monitoring even at
night, can penetrate cloud cover and are substantially unaffected by the
weather.6

9.2.2 How Does Remote Sensing Work?

In order to acquire remote sensing data, satellites need to be put in a

certain orbit around the earth.7 Usually, remote sensing is conducted from
two types of orbits: the geostationary orbit8 and low earth orbit (LEO).
Depending on the altitude of the orbit where a satellite is located the size
of the object that can be observed changes: the lower the altitude, the
smaller the object that can be discerned.
Thus, a key element in assessing the capability of a satellite is its
spatial resolution, that is the smallest size of an object that can be
discernible in an image. In a 1 meter spatial resolution image every pixel
will represent a 1 meter by 1 meter area. Clearly, images with higher
spatial resolution give users more specific information on the area and
objects concerned. Spatial resolution is, however, not the only factor
needed to determine the capability for remote sensing: temporal resolu-
tion, spectral resolution and swath width need to be taken into account
too.9

5
See further Ito, supra n. 3, 4; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 4, 418.
6
See K.J. Markowitz, Legal Challenges and Market Rewards to the Use
and Acceptance of Remote Sensing and Digital Information as Evidence, 12
Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum (2000), 230.
7
See D.H. Staelin & J. Kerekes, Remote Sensing Capabilities, in Heaven
and Earth: Civilian Uses of New Earth Space (Eds. D.G. Dallymeyer & K.
Tsipis) (1996), 169.
8
The geostationary orbit is a circular orbit located 35,786 km above the
equator where a satellite rotates around the earth in 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4
seconds. Such a period is synchronous with the earth’s rotation on its axis. Thus,
a satellite launched into the geostationary orbit appears to an observer on the
earth’s surface as being stationary over a certain point of the equator. For this
reason, this orbit is commonly referred to as ‘geostationary’.
9
Temporal resolution is the frequency at which data of the target may be
acquired, which varies depending on the orbit, the sensing capacity and the
periodicity of the remote sensing satellite. Spectral resolution, which is the
narrowness of the radio frequency band that is used for scanning, allows objects

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Importantly, data gathered by satellites need to be elaborated on earth

in order to generate useful information. This process involves different
subjects and takes place in several steps. Once data are collected by a
satellite they are sent to a ground station where they are processed by
computers for human viewing and interpretation. Each station then
elaborates the data so as to come up with a ‘certified’ product.10 As soon
as this product is ready, it is analysed and useful information is delivered.
The UN Remote Sensing Principles refers to three types of data:
primary data, processed data, and analysed information.11 However, in
practice, remote sensing operators utilize many other terms: for instance,
‘raw data’ or ‘unenhanced data’ for primary data, and ‘derived products’
and ‘value-added products’ for analysed information. The bottom line is
that there is no consistency in the way products from different systems
are referred to.

9.2.3 Applications

Thanks to the advantages of sensing from space, remote sensing data and
derived products (such as images and maps) are used in a variety of
ways. Applications include mapping, meteorology, natural resource man-
agement, land use, urban planning, delimitation of boundaries, reconnais-
sance for military purposes and verification of claims.12 Satellite remote
sensing is useful for monitoring and protecting the environment.13

to be discerned with similar sizes but different material. Often connected with
spatial resolution is the swath width, which is the breadth of the earth’s surface
underneath a satellite’s path that its sensor can observe at any particular moment.
10
Every receiving station undertakes a certification process for each data
type, for example the data certification of Radarsat data lasts approximately one
year and the distributor is provided with a certification level of Blue, Silver or
Gold. Each receiving station has a different set of processing stages to generate
certified products. For more information see Final Report BNSC Sectors Studies
Programme Application of Earth Observation to Legal sector, supra n. 1, 31.
11
Supra, n. 2. The Remote Sensing Principles define: (1) primary data as
‘raw data that are acquired by remote sensing borne by a space object and that
are transmitted or delivered to the ground from space by telemetry in the form of
electromagnetic signals, by photographic film, magnetic tape or any other
means’; (2) ‘processed data’ as ‘the products resulting from the processing of the
primary data, needed to make such data usable’; and (3) ‘analysed information’
as ‘the information resulting from the interpretation of processed data, inputs of
data and knowledge from other sources’, see Princ. I(b), (c) & (d) respectively.
12
See Staelin & Kerekes, supra n. 7.
13
See H. Ginzky, Satellite Images in Legal Proceedings Relating to the
Environment – A US Perspective, 25 Air and Space Law (2000), 114; C. Davies,

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Legal aspects of satellite remote sensing 505

Indeed, it provides crucial information to study the status of lands,

atmosphere and oceans. Present and past data can be compared to
evaluate the extent of deforestation, desertification, loss of polar ice, and
air and marine pollution. Satellite images are also used for verification of
environmental harm in specific areas.
Recourse to remote sensing products is particularly beneficial in the
context of disaster management activities, as they provide information
about earthquakes, floods, fires and landslides. Furthermore, they can
measure the extent of damage caused by a natural or man-made event
and be essential for the coordination and performance of rescue opera-
tions.14 In addition, satellites play an important role from a meteoro-
logical point of view. Meteorological satellites sense the earth’s
atmosphere and enable weather forecasting. They can also provide
warnings of hurricanes, snow storms and tsunamis, thus facilitating
evacuation and other practices aimed at reducing human casualties.
Recently, the use of remote sensing data as evidence in municipal and
international courts has also increased, although such a practice is still
the subject of controversy.15 In particular, in order to be admissible in the
course of a trial, remote sensing data need to fulfil the requirements
normally applicable to ‘scientific data’, such as reliability, or those
concerning the chain of custody and security. Different courts may apply
different standards and requirements. Satellite images are also utilized to
verify implementation and compliance with environmental agreements.16

9.3 THE EVOLUTION OF REMOTE SENSING

ACTIVITIES
Remote sensing from space has evolved from being an activity restricted
to a limited number of states, which operated remote sensing satellites

S. Hoban & B. Penhoet, Moving Pictures: How Satellites, the Internet and
International Environmental Law Can Help Promote Sustainable Development,
28 Stenson Law Review (1999), 1091.
14
See further infra, § 9.4.3.3.
15
On the issue of the admissibility of remote sensing products in legal
proceedings, see R. Macrory & R. Purdy, The Use of Satellite Images as
Evidence in Environmental Actions in Great Britain, 51 Droit et Ville (2001), 70;
Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites (Eds. R. Purdy & D. Leung) (2012).
16
See N. Peter, The Use of Remote Sensing to Support the Application of
Multilateral Environmental Agreements, 20 Space Policy (2004), 189; M. Onoda,
Satellite Earth Observation as Systematic Observation in Multilateral Environ-
mental Treaties, 31 Journal of Space Law (2005), 339.

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506 Handbook of space law

and benefited from the resulting data, to a present environment charac-

terized not only by an increasing number of states operating remote
sensing satellites and benefiting from their products, but also by the
active role played by intergovernmental organizations17 and private
companies. Significantly, some of these companies handle data provided
by the state-owned and/or -operated space systems.18 Others have begun
launching their own satellites and entered into contracts with states to
provide remote sensing services.19 Overall, looking at the current situ-
ation, three major features of remote sensing should be highlighted: the
variety of the actors involved, the extensive availability of remote sensing
products, and the expanded number of users. This is mostly due to the
fact that remote sensing products are released on a commercial basis.
The development of remote sensing activities can be roughly divided
into four phases: (1) remote sensing for reconnaissance and weather
forecast purposes (1957–1972); (2) the beginning of land observation for
civil purposes (1972–1986); (3) civil remote sensing programmes by
space-faring nations (1986–mid-1990s); and (4) the era of commercial
remote sensing (late 1990s–present).

9.3.1 Remote Sensing for Reconnaissance and Weather Forecast

Purposes

Similarly to most space technology,20 also the origin of remote sensing

from space is directly related to its military use and implications. In the
early years of the space era the two superpowers, the United States21 and
the Soviet Union, developed remote sensing technology for defence and
security-related purposes, such as defence planning and intelligence
gathering. Throughout the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United
States kept observing each other’s territory by means of reconnaissance

17
This concerns in particular EUMETSAT; see further supra, § 4.2.6.3.
18
See also on EOSAT and SpotImage further infra, § 9.3.3 and § 15.5.2.1.
19
See e.g. J.I. Gabrynowicz, The Perils of Landsat from Grassroots to
Globalization: A Comprehensive Review of US Remote Sensing Law with a Few
Thoughts for the Future, 6 Chicago Journal of International Law (2005), 45.
20
See e.g. K.U. Schrogl & J. Neumann, Article IV, in Cologne Commentary
on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009),
70.
21
The United States ran a reconnaissance programme ‘Corona’ until 1972.
The first film capsule obtained under this programme dates back to 1960. See
further D.A. Day, J.M. Logsdon & B. Latell, Eye in the Sky: The Story of the
Corona Spy Satellite (1998).

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satellites, thus highlighting the advantages provided by satellites in the

military field.
Alongside military applications, weather forecasting constituted the
other use of remote sensing satellites in the first decades of space activity.
Satellite remote sensing changed the science of weather forecasting by
enabling weather predictions up to several days in advance, and a much
more precise understanding of weather conditions. The United States
launched their first weather satellite, the Television and Infrared Satellite
(TIROS-1) in 1960.22 Geostationary weather satellites were launched in
the late 1970s and, since then, their use has broadly expanded.23

9.3.2 The Beginnings of Land Observation for Civil Purposes

Land observation for civil purposes began in 1972, with the launch of the
US Earth Resource Technology Satellites, usually referred to as
Landsat-1, proving the usefulness of remote sensing data in several fields
such as land use, natural resources management, agriculture and environ-
mental monitoring. The US government was the primary user of
Landsat-1 products; however, it enabled data reception by ground stations
of other nations through agreements. For example, as early as the 1970s,
ground stations in Canada, Japan, Italy and other states obtained raw data
from Landsat-1.24
At the time Landsat-1 was launched there was only one policy
governing remote sensing activity – a US national policy – and no formal
law. This policy was based on the principle of non-discriminatory access,
pursuant to which all data were made available to anyone requesting
them on condition that the recipient also make the data available on a
non-discriminatory basis.25 The policy was inspired by the Cold War

22
See further TIROS I – 50th Anniversary of the First Weather Satellite,
www.lib.noaa.gov/collections/TIROS/tiros.html, last accessed 15 April 2014.
23
See The History of Geostationary Weather Satellites, in NOOA Celebrates
200 Years of Science, Service, and Stewardship, http://celebrating 200years.
noaa.gov/foundations/satellites/welcome.html#geo, last accessed 15 April 2014.
24
On the practice of NASA entering into agreements with foreign ground
stations, see M.A. Roberts, US Remote Sensing Data from Earth Observation –
Law and Practice, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (1997), 111; P.A. Salin, LANDSAT Contracts Signed by US
Agencies with Foreign Ground Stations: Commercial Remote-Sensing from
NASA Scientific Experiments to EOSAT Private Endeavours, 41 Zeitschrift für
Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1992), 165 ff.
25
See further on Landsat-1 and its non-discriminatory access policy https://
directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/l/landsat-1-3, last accessed

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foreign policy goals of influencing allies and demonstrating technological

capability.

9.3.3 Civil Remote Sensing Programmes by Spacefaring Nations

Starting from the early 1980s, numerous states and intergovernmental

organizations began operating their civil remote sensing programmes; in
this way the US–Soviet duopoly in remote sensing activities was rapidly
put to an end.
The first state to join the ‘remote sensing club’ was France with the
launch of the Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) in 1986.26
Japan followed soon after by launching the Marine Observation Satellite
(MOS)-1 in 1987, dedicated to observing the oceans.27 India launched its
first remote sensing satellite in 1988, the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
(IRS)-IA, which was developed by the Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO).28 Also, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched its first remote
sensing satellite, the Earth Resource Satellite (ERS)-1 in 1991.29 Canada
launched its first remote sensing satellite, Radarsat-1, in 1995.30
Until the mid-1980s spacefaring states conceived remote sensing as a
governmental activity primarily intended to meet domestic needs.
Remote sensing programmes were run by governmental space agencies
and the users were largely limited to governmental bodies. Significantly,
towards the end of the 1980s this situation changed: the first steps in the
direction of commercializing remote sensing activities were taken, most

15 April 2014; NOOA Advisory Committee for Commercial Remote Sensing,

Open access meeting summary, 2005; www.nesdis.noaa.gov/CRSRA/files/
ACCRES_6_Meeting_Minutes_020205.pdf, last accessed 15 April 2014.
26
SPOT, which was developed by the French Space Agency CNES has ever
since remained a competitor for Landsat. See further http://eoedu.belspo.be/en/
satellites/spot.htm, last accessed 18 March 2014, www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/
1415-spot.php, last accessed 15 April 2014.
27
See further www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/mos1/index_e.html, last accessed 15
April 2014.
28
See further www.fas.org/spp/guide/india/earth/irs.htm, last accessed 18
March 2014; www.isro.org/, last accessed 15 April 2014.
29
See further on ERS-1 https://earth.esa.int/web/guest/missions/esa-
operational-eo-missions/ers, last accessed on 4 January 2014.
30
See further www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/radarsat1/, last accessed 15
April 2014; also T. Gillon, Regulating Remote Sensing Space Systems – New
Legislation for a New Era, 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 19.

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Legal aspects of satellite remote sensing 509

notably through data sales from governmental remote sensing satellites.31

For example, earth observation data from the SPOT-1 satellite were
commercially sold on the market in 1987 by SpotImage.32 Also some
photos obtained from Russian military reconnaissance satellites became
available for purchase in the early 1990s.
Importantly, in the mid-1980s, the United States attempted to commer-
cialize Landsat and, in order to facilitate this process, the Land Remote-
Sensing Commercialization Act, a piece of federal legislation, was
passed.33 However, this attempt was not successful; thus, in the early
1990s, the Landsat system was returned to the public sector. This process
was accompanied by the adoption of the second federal statute, the Land
Remote Sensing Policy Act, specifically amending its predecessor so as
to extend its application to private entities and declassifying high
resolution satellite technology making it available for commercial and
environmental applications.34
Overall, an important development was the progressive delegation of
the task to distribute remote sensing data from governments to private
entities. Nevertheless, until the mid-1990s, despite the announced goal of
commercialization (at that time commercialization of remote sensing
products was not only a goal of the US government, but also of the
French and Indian ones), governments remained the primary users of
remotely sensed data.

9.3.4 The Era of Commercial Remote Sensing

The conclusion of the twentieth century marked the definite arrival of the
era of commercial remote sensing; the sale of data and the users were no
longer limited to governments but included a wider community. One of
the reasons behind this development was the enhanced quality of the
products available on the market. Indeed, because of the increased spatial

31
See R. Bender, Launching and Operating Satellites, Legal Issues (1997),
220; H. de Santis, Satellites, Alliance, Relations and Developing World, Commer-
cial Observation Satellites and International Security (1990), 78.
32
At that time SpotImage was a quasi-private entity controlled by CNES;
now it is a private company under the European Aeronautic Defence and Space
Company Group.
33
Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act, Public Law 98-365, 98th
Congress, H.R. 5155, 17 July 1984; 98 Stat. 451; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, E.III.4.
34
Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, Public Law 102-555, 102nd Congress,
H.R. 6133, 28 October 1992; 15 U.S.C. 5601; 106 Stat. 4163.

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resolution of the images,35 earth observation36 data began to have a high

commercial value.
The advent of the commercial era logically meant increasing involve-
ment of private actors in the remote sensing field. For example, private
entities such as Space Imaging, Digital Globe, and OrbImage started
launching high resolution satellites in the late 1990s.37 Additionally, the
usefulness of remote sensing data was gradually recognized by a growing
number of states which started seeking access to remote sensing data.
Some of them began operating remote sensing satellites developed for
them by foreign private manufacturers,38 while others launched and
operated nationally manufactured satellites.39 The remote sensing policies
of these states were driven by commercial and environmental goals.40
In more recent years the practice of public–private partnerships (PPPs)
to fund earth observation satellites has multiplied. For example, Black-
Bridge (the former RapidEye), a constellation of five optical earth
observation satellites used for agriculture and mapping, is a PPP;
similarly, the TerraSAR-X high resolution satellite is financed by both the

35
In 1999, Space Imaging was the first company to release images with a
spatial resolution of 1 m. See further www.fas.org/irp/imint/space_imaging.htm,
last accessed 15 April 2014; also D.G. Clarke, Access Control of Remote
Sensing Satellites, in Commercial Satellite Imagery and United Nations Peace-
keeping (Eds. J.F. Keeley & R.N. Huebert) (2004), 171.
36
The expression ‘earth observation’ refers to ‘the gathering of information
about planet Earth’s physical, chemical and biological systems via remote
sensing technologies supplemented by Earth surveying techniques, encompassing
the collection, analysis and presentation of data’; European Plate Observing
System (EPOS), www.epos-eu.org/community/disciplinary-data-providers.html
#.UskSs7-A3IU, last accessed 18 March 2014.
37
See further Ito, supra n. 3, 12.
38
These include Turkey, Pakistan and Thailand. For example, the first
Turkish high resolution earth observation satellite, Göktürk-2, was launched from
the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 18 December 2012 on a Long March-2D
(Chang Zheng-2D) launch vehicle. For details on Göktürk-2, see http://
cn.cgwic.com/gk2/english/index.html, last accessed 18 March 2014.
39
These include states like China, Nigeria, Iran and South Korea.
40
See for example D.H. Kim, Korea’s Space Development Programme:
Policy and Law, 22 Space Policy (2005), 112; Y. Zhao, National Space
Legislation, with Reference to China’s Practice, in Proceedings of the Space Law
Conference 2006, Asian Cooperation in Space Activities, A Common Approach
to Legal Matters (2006), 51–64.

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German Space Agency and EADS-Astrium.41 This trend has also

involved Canada after the decision by the Canadian government to
increase the participation of the private sector in its remote sensing
missions starting with Radarsat-2.42 As Radarsat-2 is financed by the
private sector, this has called for a redefinition of the rules applicable to
the collection and dissemination of data. Other important achievements
have been the development of small satellite technologies43 and the
emergence of coordinated satellite services.44 The latter have proved to
be particularly useful in the environmental sector, where different satel-
lite operators combine their resources to provide essential data for
environmental protection and disaster response.

9.3.5 The Present Environment for Remote Sensing Activities

The current environment for remote sensing activities offers a rather

composite picture both in terms of the actors involved and of the process
of generation and distribution of data. Compared to the situation which
existed in the early decades of remote sensing from space, the number of
satellite operators has greatly increased. Nowadays, over 30 states
possess remote sensing satellites.45 Also international intergovernmental
organizations and private entities operate satellites. Ultimately, this
results in a large amount of data and products available to users.

41
See further on BlackBridge http://blackbridge.com/rapideye/index.html,
last accessed 18 March 2014; on TerraSAR-X M. Gerhard & B. Schmidt-Tedd,
Germany Enacts Legislation on the Distribution of Remote Sensing Satellite
Data, in Proceedings of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(2008), 411–6; F.G. von der Dunk, European Satellite Earth Observation: Law,
Regulations, Policies, Projects, and Programmes, 42 Creighton Law Review
(2009), 432–3; also www.dlr.de/eo/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-5725/9296_read-
15979/, last accessed 15 April 2014.
42
See infra, § 9.4.2.4.
43
No internationally recognized definition of ‘small satellites’ exists. How-
ever, they are often referred to as satellites with a mass less than 1,000 kg; see
further www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/satellite_mass_categories.html,
last accessed 15 April 2014.
44
Coordinated services based on operational remote sensing enable the
provision of data from integrated systems through international cooperation.
Coordinated services can result from using a constellation of satellites or a
combination of several satellites that operate independently.
45
See Ito, supra n. 3, 12.

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Another change concerns the process of generating and supplying data,

which has become highly elaborated. Currently, it consists of four main
phases: data collection, processing, value-adding and distribution. Differ-
ent entities are responsible for each phase, including data generators,
image-processing wholesalers, value-added providers, and distributors.
Data generators operate satellites and gather data. The image-processing
wholesaler elaborates the data to a more advanced level. Value-adding
entities further enhance the original data to obtain final products of
greater availability to the end-user, such as maps. Distributors distribute
the products to the end-users.46 Data and derived products are dissemin-
ated with different pricing schemes, depending on the type of data and
the users. Remote sensing data owners and producers individually decide
the conditions governing accessibility and pricing of their data, which are
usually referred to as ‘data policies’.47 Also, the user community has
significantly expanded and diversified, including not only governmental
bodies, but also private users.
Considering the significant changes that have occurred in the environ-
ment surrounding earth observation data production and distribution it is
important to assess whether the existing legal regime can adequately
regulate this fast-moving field. An overall assessment reveals the pres-
ence of several issues affecting access to and dissemination of remote
sensing data.
First of all, there is an increasing number of restrictions to the flow and
utilization of remote sensing products. On one side, limits are imposed
by data policies which, as described, regulate access to and price of
remote sensing data and products. On the other side, further restraints are
set forth by national regulations associated with remote sensing. Pursuant
to these regulations access to remote sensing data may be restricted for
reasons of national security, and states may reserve for themselves
priority access to data in times of crisis.48
Secondly, because data policies are defined by each data provider for
its own data sets, there is no unified mechanism to ensure the integrity
and authenticity of data as well as the reliability of the information. This
leads to an additional issue concerning responsibility and liability arising
from the supply and use or misuse of data and resulting products. Indeed,
incorrect data may cause damage to the end-users as well as to a third

46
For such data chains, see Crowsey Incorporated, Legal Assistant Guide to
Legal Applications for Geospatial Information, 10 June 2002, 24.
47
See infra § 9.4.3; also § 18.2 on the application of copyright in this
context.
48
See infra § 9.4.2.

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party relying on them. Currently, there is a great deal of uncertainty

connected to this problem, as data policies normally do not address it.
A further issue concerns the rights of the data supplier. As data are so
easily available on the Internet, they can be used and reproduced in
violation of the supplier’s intellectual property rights.49 Also, end-users
that have legally obtained data through contractual arrangements face a
number of restrictions; for example, they are normally prohibited from
selling the data to a third party.
Considering the above legal issues and their impact on the supply and
use of remote sensing data, the following section will analyse the current
legal framework governing remote sensing activities.

9.4 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR REMOTE

SENSING ACTIVITIES
The legal framework for remote sensing activities consists of laws and
regulations adopted at international and national levels. On the one hand,
there are general international space law principles which apply as well
as specific legal documents addressing remote sensing. On the other
hand, there are laws and regulations adopted by individual states for the
purpose of coordinating and supervising the actors operating in space
under their jurisdiction. This framework is completed by a multitude of
data policies put in place by remote sensing data generators to manage
the distribution of their products.

9.4.1 International Space Law

International space law includes binding and non-binding instruments

negotiated within the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space (UN COPUOS).50 Among the former are five international
treaties, notably the 1967 Outer Space Treaty,51 the 1968 Rescue and

49
See further infra, § 18.2.
50
See also supra, §§ 2.2, 2.3.
51
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).

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Return Agreement,52 the 1972 Liability Convention,53 the 1975

Registration Convention,54 and the 1979 Moon Agreement,55 providing
the legal foundation for space activities by regulating key issues relating
to the exploration and use of outer space. The latter include a series of
Declarations and Principles that address legal problems connected to
specific space applications.56

9.4.1.1 The UN space treaties

The UN space treaties do not specifically deal with remote sensing from
space. However, the majority of their rules and principles are applicable
and provide guidance, at least indirectly, to it.
The Outer Space Treaty is based on the principle of freedom of space
activities.57 Accordingly, outer space is open to all and freedom to
conduct space activities is guaranteed to every state; no state can be
impeded from carrying out space activities or be requested to obtain prior
authorization to do so. If this concept is applied to remote sensing, it
means that each state is entitled to launch satellites into space for the
purpose of remote sensing and that this choice cannot be lawfully
impeded by other states. Certainly, remote sensing activities must be
conducted pursuant to international law principles, including those of the
UN Charter.58 However, as the Outer Space Treaty does not impose any

52
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 Decem-
ber 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56;
Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968).
53
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29
March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971).
54
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January 1975, entered
into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS
1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975).
55
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979).
56
See supra, §§ 2.2.1.1, 2.2.1.3.
57
Cf. Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 51; see also supra, § 2.3.1.2.
58
Cf. Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 51, specifically referring to
Charter of the United Nations (hereafter UN Charter), San Francisco, done 26

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specific restriction on the uses of outer space, remote sensing activities

can, in theory, pursue scientific, military and commercial goals.
Significantly, private entities willing to carry out space activities are
under an obligation to obtain an authorization from their national state.59
Thus, if a private entity wishes to launch and operate a remote sensing
satellite it must request an authorization from the appropriate state party
to the Treaty. Once it has granted such an authorization, this state has the
duty to continuously supervise the authorized activities.
An interesting legal situation could arise when a private entity decides
to undertake remote sensing activities without the authorization from its
national state, for example because there is not yet a national law/
licensing system in place. It should be kept in mind that, pursuant to
Article VI, sentence 1, states are in any case internationally responsible
for national activities in outer space, whether such activities are carried
out by governmental or non-governmental entities.
Private national activities comprise activities undertaken by nationals
of that state and activities carried on from its territory. Significantly,
private ‘national’ space activities not only encompass launch activities,
but also satellite communications and remote sensing as well. Thus, a
state would be internationally responsible for violation of international
obligations committed by the private operator as well as liable for
damage caused in the course of its space activities regardless of whether
these activities had been licensed or not.60
In the absence of a system to authorize private remote sensing
operations the state would be unable to effectively supervise these
operations and to ensure that they complied with the provisions of the
Outer Space Treaty61 and did not undermine national security interests. In
order to protect itself, the state could put in place means to obtain
compensation for the amounts paid to cover damage caused by the
private entity. Where no specific statutory provisions existed, the state
could seek recovery of compensation from the non-governmental entity
based on contract law or the principles of tort or negligence. However,
where the damage occurred as a result of an international or criminal act

June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993; 24 UST 2225; 59
Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666 and 6711; CTS
1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1.
59
See Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 51; see also supra, § 2.3.1.1.
60
Cf. on the liability Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 51; Arts. I–V,
Liability Convention, supra n. 53. See further supra, §§ 2.3.1.1, 2.3.3.2.
61
Cf. Art. VI, 2nd sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 51.

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or omission on the part of the private entity, criminal proceedings would

be more appropriate.62
It is also important to point out that a state could have the option to
extend the applicability of relevant licensing systems not directly applic-
able to space activities to the licensing of remote sensing satellites. For
example, if a state has legislation governing telecommunication systems
which also include telecommunication satellites, the applicability of the
licensing requirements provided for under such legislation could be
extended to cover private remote sensing activities.
In any case, if a state realizes that its national private entities are
interested in carrying out remote sensing activities, it should set up a
system to authorize and supervise non-governmental space activities. The
lack of such a system could also result in the phenomenon of ‘licence
shopping’, as private entities could seek authorization for their remote
sensing activities from a third state.
Every object launched into outer space must be duly registered.63
Pursuant to the Registration Convention the duty to register a space
object falls upon the ‘launching State’. The Convention identifies four
categories of ‘launching States’: (1) the state that launches the space
object; (2) the state that procures the launching of the space object; (3)
the state from whose territory the object is launched; and (4) the state
from whose facility the object is launched.64
As there can only be one state of registry, if more than one state
qualifies as ‘launching State’, it is up to them to choose the one which is
going to register the space object.65 State practice reveals that the state of
registry is determined less on the basis of the location of launch than on
who procures the launch.66 For example, the United States does not
register all objects launched from its territory but only those which are

62
See more generally on liability supra, §§ 2.3.3, 3.2.3; also infra § 17.2.
63
Cf. Art. II(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 54; see also supra,
§ 2.3.4. Further F.G. von der Dunk, Beyond What? Beyond Earth Orbit?..! The
Applicability of the Registration Convention to Private Commercial Manned
Sub-Orbital Spaceflight, 43 California Western International Law Journal
(2013), 269.
64
See Art. I(a), Registration Convention, supra n. 54. See also supra,
§ 2.3.3.1 on the identical definition of the ‘launching State’ in the context of the
Liability Convention, supra n. 53.
65
See Art. II(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 54.
66
See B. Schmidt-Tedd & M. Gerhard, Registration of Space Objects:
Which Are the Advantages for States Resulting from Registration?, in Space
Law: Current Problems and Perspectives for Future Regulation (Eds. M. Benkö
& K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 132.

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owned or controlled by US private or governmental entities. Thus, it is

possible that a state performing commercial launch services from its
territory, for example by launching remote sensing satellites on behalf of
another state, even as it qualifies as a launching state does not become
the state of registry.
Furthermore, the Registration Convention requires the state of registry
to exercise control over the registered object, although it leaves open the
possibility that jurisdiction and control may be exercised by a ‘launching
State’ other than the state of registry through special arrangements.67 The
extent to which control should be exercised is, however, uncertain. This is
an issue of particular relevance in relation to remote sensing, as it is not
clear whether this control covers the dissemination of data and the
potential damage arising from their use.68
As far as damage is concerned, the Liability Convention attributes to
the ‘launching State’ the liability to compensate for the damage caused
by its space object, either on earth or in space. However, the definition of
‘damage’ provided for in the Convention does not include potential
damage arising specifically in connection with remote sensing activities,
such as damage connected to inaccurate, wrong or undelivered data.69

9.4.1.2 The UN Remote Sensing Principles

The United Nations Remote Sensing Principles70 constitute the only
international legal instrument specifically addressing the sensing of the
earth from space. The Principles thereby provide the basic legal frame-
work applicable to all kinds of remote sensing activities. In particular,
they lay down rights and duties of the actors involved in such activities
and establish rules regarding access to and distribution of data at

67
Cf. Art. II(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 54.
68
Importantly, under national Canadian, German and US remote sensing
legislation the notion of ‘control’ has been elaborated so as to include control
over ground stations, marketing, etc.; see for Canada, Arts. 2, 8(d) & (e), Remote
Sensing Space Systems Act (hereafter Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems
Act), assented to 25 November 2005; S.C. 2005, c. 45; for Germany, Secs. 11,
12, Act Protecting Against the Endangerment of German Security Through the
Proliferation of High Resolution Aerial Imagery of the Earth (Satellitendatensi-
cherheitsgesetz; hereafter German Act on Satellite Data Security), 23 November
2007, effective 1 December 2007; Federal Gazette (BGBl.) Year 2007 Part I No.
58, of 28 November 2007; for the United States, C. III, V, Land Remote Sensing
Policy Act, supra n. 34.
69
Cf. the definition of ‘damage’ as per Art. I(a), Liability Convention, supra
n. 53; also supra, § 2.3.3.2. Further Ito, supra n. 3, 194, 303.
70
Supra, n. 2.

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international level. The Principles have provided guidance for remote

sensing activities for nearly 30 years, yet in spite of their significance,
they have major shortcomings related to the ambiguous meaning of some
key terms and the inadequate regulation of issues like availability,
accuracy, supply, and use of remote sensing data.

9.4.1.2.1 Status of the Principles The Remote Sensing Principles are

included in a United Nations General Assembly Resolution, Resolution
41/65 of 3 December 1986. A UN General Assembly Resolution is not a
binding document per se. A binding instrument, such as a treaty, is made,
executed and ratified by states; once the process of ratification is
completed such an instrument becomes applicable and mandatory law for
the ratifying states. A UN General Assembly Resolution is not subject to
ratification and its implementation is largely left to the will of states.71
Further to its recommendatory nature, the value of a General Assembly
Resolution could still vary considerably. Factors that can influence this
evaluation are: the process of adoption of the resolution itself, such as
whether unanimously adopted or not, and consequent state practice. From
this perspective a large number of scholars consider the majority of the
Remote Sensing Principles to constitute customary international law.72
Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice73 recognizes
international custom as evidence of a general practice accepted as law.
This definition reflects the widely accepted view that custom consists of

71
On the non-binding nature of UN General Assembly Resolutions see V.
Kopal, The Role of the United Nations Declarations of Principles in the
Progressive Development of Space Law, 16 Journal of Space Law (1988), 5; A.T.
Guzman & T.L. Meyer, Explaining Soft Law (2009); F. Tronchetti, Soft Law, in
Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011),
621–3.
72
The customary nature of the Remote Sensing Principles is argued e.g. by
B. Cheng, Studies in International Space Law (1997), 136; S. Marchisio, Remote
Sensing for Sustainable Development in International Law, in Outlook on Space
Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D. Crowther) (1997),
338–40; J.I. Gabrynowicz, The UN Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the
Earth from Outer Space and Soft Law, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I.
Marboe) (2012), 183–93.
73
See Art. 38(1) (b), Statute of the International Court of Justice, San
Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; 156 UNTS
77; USTS 993; 59 Stat. 1031; UKTS 1946 No. 67; ATS 1945 No. 1.

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two elements: general practice, or usus, and the conviction that such
practice reflects, or amounts to, law (opinio juris).74
First of all, the Principles have found extensive confirmation in state
practice. Indeed, over the past two decades, states and private entities
have widely followed them. For example, as far as the principle of
sensing from space without prior consent is concerned, states have
undertaken remote sensing activities without seeking permission from
other states or external authority.75 Considering that the practical
implementation of the Principles has by now taken place for an extensive
period of time and that the Principles are often specifically referred to in
domestic, bilateral and multilateral legal documents, there is room to
argue their international customary nature.76 Nevertheless, as the Inter-
national Court of Justice has never explicitly confirmed the binding
nature of the substance of a General Assembly Resolution as constituting
customary law, similar arguments need to be treated with caution and
corroborated by factual and legal evidence.
Secondly, remote sensing operators largely comply with the Principles
on a spontaneous basis, thus contributing to support the view of the
existence of an opinio juris regarding the applicability of the Principles.
It is also significant that the final text of the Principles was the synthesis
of several drafts submitted by various delegations and that it was
unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly.77

9.4.1.2.2 Scope of the Principles Before analysing the content of the

Remote Sensing Principles it is important to understand their scope,
namely to which applications, activities and types of data they apply. The
Principles are relevant to a limited number of remote sensing applications
for civil purposes, specifically natural resource management, land use,

74
The elements constituting international custom have been delineated by
the International Court of Justice in the 1969 North Sea Continental Shelf Cases
(ICJ Reports, 1969, p. 3) and in the 1986 Nicaragua Case (ICJ Reports, 1986,
pp. 76, 98). On international custom generally see I. Brownlie, Principles of
Public International Law (7th edn., 2008), 6 ff.; also further supra, § 5.9.1.
75
Cf. V.S. Vereschetin & G.M. Danilenko, Custom as a Source of Inter-
national Law of Outer Space, 13 Journal of Space Law (1985), 121.
76
For example, the phrase ‘non-discriminatory’ appears in international data
exchange instruments such as the data policies of NASA and ESA, and WMO
Resolutions such as World Meteorological Organization Resolution 40, CG-XII.
77
See Ito, supra n. 3, 56; A.D. Terekhov, UN General Assembly Resolution
and Outer Space Law, in Proceedings of the Fortieth Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (1998), 98; Kopal, supra n. 71, 18.

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and protection of the environment.78 From this, one can infer that
military applications of remote sensing are not included within the scope
of the Principles. It is also questionable if dual-use satellites, which can
perform both civil and military functions such as those to be used for
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), are regulated
under the Principles.79 Furthermore, it is challenging to argue that
commercial activities other than the ones listed in Principle I are covered
notwithstanding.
The above issues are of primary importance as, nowadays, remote
sensing satellites are used in many applications other than natural
resource management, land use, and protection of the environment, such
as disaster management, urban planning, agriculture and verification. The
use of data for these purposes may fall outside of the scope of the
Principles and legal issues connected with these applications may not be
adequately addressed in the present regime.80
The Remote Sensing Principles concern remote sensing activities as
including the operation of remote sensing space systems, the collection
of primary data and the operation of storage stations, the processing of
data, interpreting the data and dissemination of data and products.
Importantly, although data handling activities and dissemination are
purely terrestrial undertakings, they fall within the reach of the Prin-
ciples.
Finally, the Principles are virtually silent on the position of private
entities. The only reference to them appears in Principle XIV, which
makes a link between state activities and those of private operators,
referring to Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty.81 This means that on

78
See Princ. I, Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 2.
79
On the legal issues surrounding the use of the Global Monitoring for
Environment and Security (GMES), see F.G. von der Dunk, The ‘S’ of
‘Security’: Europe on the Road to GMES, 2 Soochow Law Journal (2007), 1.
Generally on GMES see J. Aschbacher & M.P. Milagro-Pérez, The European
Earth Monitoring (GMES) Programme: Status and Perspectives, 120 Remote
Sensing of Environment (May 2012), 3.
80
See J. Monserrat, A Remote Sensing Convention for the Advancement of
Space Law, in Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (2004), 63.
81
Princ. XIV, Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 2, provides: ‘In compli-
ance with article VI of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States
in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies, States operating remote sensing satellites shall bear inter-
national responsibility for their activities and assure that such activities are
conducted in accordance with these principles and the norms of international law,

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one side, the state authorizing and licensing a private entity to perform
remote sensing from space is internationally responsible for the activities
of that entity and that, on the other side, such an entity is bound by the
national regulations of the state under whose jurisdiction it operates.
However, neither Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty nor Principle XIV
of the Remote Sensing Principles provides any direction on how non-
governmental entities should be authorized and supervised.

9.4.1.2.3 Content of the Principles The Remote Sensing Principles

lay down fundamental rules and principles regulating remote sensing
activities from space.82 The Principles devote particular attention to the
issues of responsibility for conducting remote sensing operations and
access, distribution and use of data. They tend to use rather general
language which, at times, gives room to flexible and somewhat contro-
versial interpretations.83
The key provisions of the UN Remote Sensing Principles can be
divided into three groups: those dealing with the freedom of remote
sensing, those dealing with respect for the rights and interests of the
sensed states, and more specific data rules.
As to the first group, Principle IV has a pivotal importance as it
establishes a fundamental concept: the freedom of sensing from space.
The first sentence of Principle IV thus stipulates: ‘Remote sensing
activities shall be conducted in accordance with Article I of the Treaty on
Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use
of Outer Space.’ As Article I of the Outer Space Treaty lays down the

irrespective of whether such activities are carried out by governmental or

non-governmental entities or through international organizations to which such
States are parties. This principle is without prejudice to the applicability of the
norms of international law on State responsibility for remote sensing activities.’
82
For an elaborate description and discussion of the Remote Sensing
Principles see S.M. Williams, Reflections and Suggestions on Remote Sensing
and International Law, 50 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2001), 409;
C.Q. Christol, Remote Sensing and International Space Law, 16 Journal of Space
Law (1988), 21; G. Catalano Sgrosso, International Legal Framework for Remote
Sensing, Workshop on legal remote sensing issues Project 2001, 5; R.S. Jakhu,
International Law Governing the Acquisition and Dissemination of Data, 29
Journal of Space Law (2003), 65; F.G. von der Dunk, United National Principles
on Remote Sensing and the User, in Earth Observation Data Policy and Europe
(Ed. R. Harris) (2002), 29–40.
83
Cf. S.M. Williams, The UN Principles on Remote Sensing Today, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2006),
2 ff.

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522 Handbook of space law

freedom of states to explore and use outer space,84 Principle IV, at least
indirectly, bases itself on this clause to set forth the right of states to
sense the entire globe from space using satellites. Such a provision,
which was strongly supported by the developed Western states during the
negotiation of the Principles, attributes to all states the right of data
collection from outer space.85 Principle IV goes on to set forth the rules
according to which data collection should be carried out, namely:
(1) there is no need for prior consent, notification, or consultation before
sensing; (2) no veto rights are attributed to sensed states on the sensing of
their territories; (3) no conditions are imposed for sensing capabilities in
terms of spatial and temporal resolution; and (4) areas cannot be
exempted from observation based on geographic considerations.86
The second group is addressed by the second sentence of Principle IV,
which deals with the sovereign rights of the sensed states. This clause
provides:

These [remote sensing] activities shall be conducted on the basis of respect

for the principle of sovereignty of all states, and people over their own wealth
and natural resources … Such activities shall not be conducted in a manner
detrimental to the legitimate rights and interests of the sensed state.

The status of the sensed states was widely debated during the formulation
of the Principles. However, the final text of Principle IV is rather
ambiguous, as it fails to clarify what the principles of sovereignty and the
legitimate rights of the sensed states entail in practical terms; also it does
not cover the issue of the participation of sensed states in remote sensing
activities together with the sensing state.87 Furthermore, the requirement
not to carry out remote sensing activities that go against the legitimate
rights and interests of the sensed states seems to be limited to the conduct
of remote sensing itself rather than to what happens after the data are
disseminated.
Usually, the interests of the sensed state are affected by the use and
misuse of data concerning its territory; nevertheless, Principle IV does

84
See also a similar discussion in the context of satellite direct broadcasting
supra, § 8.3.1.
85
See further e.g. S. Gorove, Developments in Space Law (1991), 295.
86
See S.M. Williams, Observing the Earth from Space in Light of the
Principle of Sovereignty, 82 Revista Brasileira de Direito Aeroespacial (April
2001).
87
See G. Catalano Sgrosso, Prevention and Management of Natural Dis-
asters, in Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie
& D. Crowther) (1997), 299; Ito, supra n. 3, 60.

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not seem to protect such interests as no specific obligations are imposed

on the sensing state (such as any liability for damage suffered by the
sensed state in case of misuse of data) and no specific rights are
attributed to the sensed state (such as control over access and distribution
of data concerning its natural resources). This issue is aggravated by the
impact of the commercialization of remote sensing activities and the
consequent easier accessibility to remote sensing data and products.
Finally, the issue of data rules is addressed by Principle XII, which
lays down general provisions concerning remote sensing data access and
dissemination: ‘As soon as the primary data and the processed data
concerning the territory under its jurisdiction are produced, the sensed
state shall have access to them on a non-discriminatory basis and on
reasonable cost terms.’88 These provisions have numerous implications.
Firstly, again no prior consent before dissemination is required: the
sensed states are not attributed any veto right or control over the
dissemination of information concerning their territories. Thus, at least
theoretically, sensed states can neither select to whom territorial infor-
mation is disclosed nor decide the type and quality of data to dissemin-
ate.89 Secondly, sensed states are not given any preferential access to data
and information concerning their territories, either exclusively or by way
of priority. Furthermore, sensed states are not given any financial
privilege, such as data provision, either free of charge or at a lower cost
than for the other states. The expression ‘reasonable cost terms’ is of
doubtful meaning. It could signify ‘marginal costs’ or it could mean
‘commercial market price’ if so deemed under the market conditions of
that particular moment. Thirdly, while under the non-discriminatory
access principle included in Principle XII sensing states have a general
obligation to make imagery available to sensed states, the former actually
make the data available based on their good faith.90 No legal mechanisms
exist to force sensing states to release data. Importantly, Principle XII
does not make a distinction based on the purpose for which data are used.
Another crucial issue concerns the availability of analysed information
derived from remotely sensed data. Principle XII presents a loophole,
particularly on this issue, as it provides: ‘The sensed states shall also
have access to the available analysed information concerning the territory

88
Princ. XII, Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 2 (emphasis added).
89
See von der Dunk, supra n. 82, 33; J.I. Gabrynowicz, Expanding Global
Remote Sensing Services, in Proceedings of Workshop on Space Law in the
Twenty-First Century (2000), United Nations, ST/SPACE/2, 101.
90
See L.J. Smith & C. Doldirina, Remote Sensing: A Case for Moving
Space Data Towards The Public Good, 24 Space Policy (2008), 22.

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524 Handbook of space law

under its jurisdiction in the possession of any state participating in the

remote sensing activities on the same basis and terms.’ Literally, this may
exclude situations where analysed information is not in possession of any
state – but for example in the possession of a private company.
Furthermore, the obligation to provide analysed information may not be
applicable to individuals or juridical persons, such as processing whole-
salers, creating a risk of discrepancy between the theory and the reality of
current practice. This uncertainty is among the reasons which explain
why data availability can be structured differently in the context of data
policies.
The other Principles included in the Remote Sensing Principles largely
repeat the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty, although, at times, they
adapt them to situations specifically related to remote sensing from
space.91 Particular attention is paid to the use of remote sensing data for
environmental and disaster management purposes, as states are requested
to warn in cases of harm to the environment or impeding disasters and to
freely disseminate the relevant information, as per Principles X and XI.
Another important topic is that of international responsibility. While it
is clear that states are internationally responsible for remote sensing
activities, including the dissemination of data, it is more controversial to
argue their responsibility for what happens afterwards as a consequence
of any activity by the state or a third party. Literally, the Remote Sensing
Principles do not impose responsibilities on either those states or entities
that are not operating satellites but who are actually receiving images
and/or engaged in data handling activities, or the third parties that use the
data. This is a significant loophole in the Principles, especially taking
into account the ever-increasing number of users of remote sensing
products and applications.
In conclusion, the Remote Sensing Principles constitute a positive
contribution to space law by laying down basic norms to regulate sensing
from space and connected operations. They establish the basic conditions
for operating remote sensing satellites and formulate the general respons-
ibilities expected of sensing states. However, the Principles utilize vague
language and do not adequately address key issues such as the rights and
obligations of the parties involved in remote sensing activities (either data
generators and end-users), ownership, availability and accessibility of

91
Among the issues addressed by the Remote Sensing Principles, supra
n. 2, the following can be listed: applicability of international law (Principles II
and III); strengthening of international cooperation (Principle V); and modalities
to structure international cooperation (Principles VI, VII and VIII).

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data, and the regulation of data accuracy and validation.92 Overall, the
Principles do not appear to be an effective instrument to manage modern
sensing activities and to deal with all the legal questions that they
encompass.
In any case it should not be underestimated that the Remote Sensing
Principles are a product of the 1980s, and reflect the politics, interests
and issues that were relevant at that time. In fact, as back then only few
sensing states existed and the rest of the world was composed of sensed
states, the Principles focus on the relation between sensing and sensed
states. Nowadays, the situation is different: not only has the number of
sensing states increased, but also private entities operate satellites.
Furthermore, the number of users and applications of remote sensing
products has greatly increased. Thus, right now the debate focuses on the
rights and obligations of data providers, data recipients and third parties:
all issues that were not seen as priorities during the drafting of the
Principles. As the relevance of these issues keeps growing they have been
extensively addressed at national level by states and on an individual
basis by remote sensing data generators.

9.4.2 National Regulations on Remote Sensing

9.4.2.1 Introduction
In the last two decades an increasing number of states has adopted
national space laws and regulations. The rationale behind this choice is
twofold: to ensure implementation of and compliance with the inter-
national obligations laid down in the space treaties, as well as to
organize, supervise and control the space activities of the subjects under
their jurisdiction. The legal foundation for national space legislation is
Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, which makes states internationally
responsible for national space activities carried out either by governmen-
tal agencies or by non-governmental entities, and requires them to
authorize and continuously supervise the activities of non-governmental
actors.93

92
See Smith & Doldirina, supra n. 90, 25; Ito, supra n. 3, 65.
93
For an extensive analysis of the relationship between Article VI of the
Outer Space Treaty and national space legislation see F.G. von der Dunk, The
Origins of Authorisation: Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty and International
Space Law, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk)
(2011), 3–28; also e.g. E. Back Impallomeni, Article VI of the Outer Space
Treaty, in Proceedings of the United Nations/Republic of Korea Workshop on
Space Law – Actions at the National Level (2004), United Nations, ST/SPACE/

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526 Handbook of space law

Although national space laws differ from each other, normally they
contain provisions addressing the following issues: (1) authorization and
licensing of national, that is notably private, space activities; (2) super-
vision and control over the authorized activities; (3) launching of space
objects and operation of launching facilities; (4) operation of objects in
space; (5) conduct of activities in outer space; (6) liability for damage
caused by space objects; and (7) registration of space objects.94
Once a state registers an object that it has launched into outer space it
retains jurisdiction and control over it.95 This is an aspect of particular
relevance for remote sensing since information acquired by satellites can
affect the interests of the state sensed and the international community at
large. Thus, states with remote sensing capabilities as well as nationals
involved in the launching and operation of remote sensing satellites are
increasingly adopting laws and policies to supervise the conduct of
remote sensing operators and to control and regulate the way in which
data are collected and distributed.

9.4.2.2 National regulations relating to remote sensing: General

remarks
National regulations on satellite remote sensing impose restrictions on
commercial remote sensing satellites, in particular in terms of data
collection and/or dissemination. There are two main purposes of this
form of governmental control: the first is to safeguard national security
by denying or restricting access to information; the second is to guaran-
tee the government priority access to the system’s capabilities during
times of crisis.
In tandem with the emergence of private actors and commercial remote
sensing satellites, numerous states have adopted national regulations
regulating remote sensing activities. Nevertheless, there is no consistency
in the way states have acted. While there are some states, such as the
United States, Canada, Germany and France, that have formal, specific
and transparent remote sensing legislation, or at least provisions clearly

22, 73–6; M. Gerhard, Article VI, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds.
S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 106 ff., esp. 120–2. Cf.
also supra, § 2.3.1.1.
94
For an extended analysis of national space legislation in general, see
supra, Chapter 3.
95
Cf. Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 51.

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dedicated to remote sensing, others, such as Australia96 and Argentina,97

have general space laws and regulations that include remote sensing and
data activities. Yet other states, such as China and India, have adopted
certain policies with regard to data collection and dissemination.98
The following sections will examine the main national laws and
policies specifically and explicitly governing (commercial) remote sens-
ing activities. The concluding part will highlight the current trends
related to national regulation of remote sensing activities.

9.4.2.3 The United States

US legislation on remote sensing has constantly evolved to respond to
technological developments, market trends and social needs.99 Compared
to other national legislation, the US laws focus on practical issues, such
as data policies and maintenance of competitiveness of domestic actors.
A general analysis of US laws and policies associated with remote
sensing reveals that their adoption has been mostly guided by the goals of
maintaining the leadership in this field whilst safeguarding national
security and foreign policy interests.100
Starting its activities in 1972 under the control of NASA, by the end of
the 1970s the United States began attempting to privatize the Landsat
system. This choice was codified into the Land Remote-Sensing

96
For an analysis of Australian space law see S.R. Freeland, Reshaping
Australia’s Space Policy and Regulation, 61 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraum-
recht (2012), 97; N. Siemon & S.R. Freeland, Regulation of Space Activities in
Australia, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
37–59.
97
For an analysis of Argentina’s regulation of space activities see J.
Hermida, Legal Basis for a National Space Legislation (2004), 185 ff.; J.
Hermida, Regulation of Space Activities in Argentina, in National Regulation of
Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 23–35.
98
See e.g. on India R. Kaul & R.S. Jakhu, Regulation of Space Activities in
India, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
153–98.
99
For a comprehensive analysis of US space law in general see J.I.
Gabrynowicz, 2010 One-Half Century and Counting: The Evolution of U.S.
National Space Law and Three Long-term Emerging Issues, 4 Harvard Law &
Policy Review (2010), 901; P.S. Dempsey, Overview of the United States Space
Policy and Law, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu)
(2010), 373–404.
100
For a description of US remote sensing law see Gabrynowicz, supra
n. 19, 45; E. Sadeh, Policies and Regulation of Earth Observation Services in the
United States, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
443–58; Ito, supra n. 3, 75–82.

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Commercialization Act of 1984.101 The original idea was to slowly

progress towards the commercialization of Landsat through the data sales
and to develop the Landsat series on a private-sector-driven basis at a
later stage. However, the commercialization did not go as planned,
mostly because of the increase in data price and the competition by
SPOT, funded by the French government, which took away significant
market share.102 Thus, the Landsat system returned to full governmental
control. The Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act was then
replaced by the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act in 1992.103 The Act
brought Landsat’s operation under the Department of Defense and
NASA, while licensing competencies and obligations were given through
the Secretary of Commerce to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).
Among the goals of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, spreading
public knowledge of the value and utility of Landsat data and enhancing
their distribution and use were of crucial importance.104 Cost obstacles
based on market prices were lifted and a standard (minimum) price for
unenhanced data was established, particularly applicable to governmental
agencies or subjects financially supported by the US government.105
Aiming at stimulation of the development of the commercial market,
exclusive rights for distribution of Landsat-7 products were no longer
handed to a single entity but were open to competition within the private
sector.
The Land Remote Sensing Policy Act regulates the licensing of the
operation of private remote sensing systems. The Act foresaw that in the
years to come commercial players would operate remote sensing systems
other than Landsat and proceed to subsequent data distribution. Con-
sequently, it requires persons under US jurisdiction and control to obtain
a licence to operate private remote sensing systems.106 Such a licence
imposes restrictions aimed at preserving US national security, such as
making unenhanced data available to the governments of other states and
informing the Secretary of Commerce of the characteristics of the
systems and the intention to conclude agreements with foreign states.

101
Supra, n. 33.
102
On the attempt to commercialize the Landsat system, see C.C. Joyner &
D.R. Miller, Selling Satellites: The Commercialization of Landsat, 26 Harvard
International Law Journal (1985), 63.
103
Supra, n. 34.
104
Cf. Sec. 5601(6), Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, supra n. 34.
105
See Sec. 5601(13), Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, supra n. 34.
106
See Sec. 5622(b), Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, supra n. 34.

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Fines up to US$ 10,000 per day can be imposed upon violation of these
conditions.107
The Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, which remains the main legal
instrument governing remote sensing activities in the United States, has
been updated and complemented by a series of policies and regulations.
The Presidential Decision Directive 23 (PDD-23) was promulgated in
1994.108 Its formulation was moved by the recognition of the emergence
of non-US remote sensing capability and the need to ensure continued
US global leadership in this sector. In order to achieve this goal the
Directive follows three directions: (1) it relaxes restrictions on data sale,
in particular by separating out tasks among the governmental agencies
involved in remote sensing activities; (2) it clarifies the operational
regime of Landsat (thus, for example, US entities are entitled to sell up to
1 metre ground resolution images); and (3) it specifies national security
measures as a licensing requirement.109
As to the latter, the Directive introduces a provision usually referred to
as ‘shutter control’, which enables the US government to shut down the
operation of a satellite to protect national security and foreign policy
interests as well as to comply with international obligations. In this
respect, the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits licensees
from disseminating imagery of Israel that is more detailed than what is
available from foreign commercial sources.110 Currently, limitation of
space resolution is implemented through a two-tiered approach. Electro-
optical imagery of 0.5 metres can be marketed generally, whereas
imagery higher than 0.25 metres can only be distributed with specific
authorization to recipients individually authorized by the US govern-
ment.111 In this case, before granting such an authorization the US
Department of State must first obtain assurance from the foreign govern-
ment that the imagery will not be released further without prior permis-
sion by the United States.

107
See Sec. 5658, Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, supra n. 34.
108
Presidential Decision Directive 23, US Policy on Foreign Access to
Remote Sensing Capability, 9 March 1998 (PDD-23).
109
See A. Florini & Y.A. Dehqanzada, No More Secrets? Policy Implications
of Commercial Remote Sensing Satellites, Carnegie Paper no. 1 (July 1999), 6.
110
Kyl-Bingaman Amendment to the 1997 National Defense Authorization
Act, 15 U.S.C. 5621. See also Public Law 104-201 div. A, Title X, Sec1064,
September 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2653.
111
J.C. Kessler, Leadership in the Remote Sensing Satellite Industry – US
Policy and Foreign Competition (2008), 8.

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Aware of the fact that remote sensing was still not commercially
profitable, the US government decided to actively support its national
remote sensing actors. Pursuant to this goal the US government released
the Commercial Remote Sensing Policy in 2003.112 This policy, which
replaces the earlier PDD-23, is intended to foster competitiveness of
national actors by softening restrictions on spatial, spectral and radio-
metric resolution and supporting the national remote sensing industry. A
key element of the 2003 Commercial Remote Sensing Policy is the
intention of the US government to increase reliance on US commercial
remote sensing capabilities. The policy states that the US government
will ‘rely to the maximum practical extent on US commercial remote
sensing space capabilities for filling imagery and geospatial needs’.113
This means that the US government intends to become a major customer
of US private remote sensing systems.
Finally, in order to implement the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy
Act and apply it to private actors, the United States adopted the
Licensing of Private Land Remote Sensing Systems Regulations in
2006.114 This licensing regulation incorporates detailed procedures for
licensing terms and conditions, review procedures, and monitory compli-
ance provisions. Accordingly, private remote sensing systems are strictly
controlled and subject to an annual audit. A licence holder must file an
application for amendment of the licence as well as to notify when it
intends to enter into an agreement with a foreign entity.115
In terms of data policies, the regulation distinguishes three situations
based on the funding mechanism: (1) systems that are not funded by the
US government; (2) systems partially funded by the US government; and
(3) systems fully or largely funded by the US government. As to
non-US-government funded systems, a licensee is allowed to enable
access to its unenhanced data on reasonable commercial terms and
conditions, subject to the condition of providing data to the sensed state.
With regard to systems partially funded by the United States a case-by-
case decision, taking into account US interests, will be made concerning
availability of the data on a non-discriminatory basis. For fully or

112
US Commercial Remote Sensing Policy, 28 April 2003. See also W. von
Kries, The US Commercial Remote Sensing Policy of April 28, 2003: Some
Comments, 52 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2003), 555.
113
Sec. II, Commercial Remote Sensing Policy, supra n. 112.
114
Federal Register Vol. 71, No. 79, April 25, 2006, 15 CFR Part 960,
Licensing of Private Land Remote Sensing Systems: Final Rule (hereafter
Remote Sensing Licensing Regulations).
115
See Sec. 960.8, Remote Sensing Licensing Regulations, supra n. 114.

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significantly US government-funded systems a licence is required for the

distribution of data on a non-discriminatory basis.116

9.4.2.4 Canada
Canada’s legislation relating to remote sensing is largely inspired by the
US precedent, yet it presents some relevant distinctions based on
Canadian national interests.117 This legislation, which includes a Remote
Sensing Space Systems Act118 and Remote Sensing Space Systems
Regulations,119 offers comprehensive regulation of national remote sens-
ing activities. Additional rules are provided by the bilateral agreement
concluded between Canada and the United States concerning the Oper-
ation of Commercial Remote Sensing Satellite Systems.120
One of the reasons leading to the adoption of the Act and the
Regulations was the need to adequately regulate the involvement of
private operators in remote sensing activities. The scope of the Canadian
Remote Sensing Space Systems Act is quite broad: it applies to public,
private and public–private systems.121 Hence, the Act is not only relevant
for commercial satellites, but also for satellites operated by the Canadian
Space Agency and other governmental entities. The intended use of a
satellite is not a relevant factor for determining the applicability of the
Act, and all systems following under Canadian jurisdiction are bound by
the data distribution controls set by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The wide scope of the Act is also visible when looking at the definition
of ‘remote sensing satellite’ that it provides, which includes optical radar,

116
See Sec. 960.12 (c), Remote Sensing Licensing Regulations, supra
n. 114.
117
For an analysis of Canada’s remote sensing legislation see Gillon, supra
n. 30, 19–32; Ito, supra n. 3, 82–6; also B.W. Mann, First License Issued under
Canada’s Remote Sensing Satellite Legislation, 34 Journal of Space Law (2008),
67–87. For a broader description of the regulation of Canadian space activities
see R.S. Jakhu, Regulation of space activities in Canada, in National Regulation
of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 81.
118
Supra, n. 68.
119
Remote Sensing Space Systems Regulations (Canadian Remote Sensing
Space Systems Regulations), 29 March 2007; SOR/2007-66.
120
Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of
the United States of America concerning the Operation of Commercial Remote
Sensing Satellite Systems, Washington, done 16 June 2000, entered into force 16
June 2000; 2000 CTS No. 2000/14.
121
Cf. Sec. 2, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.

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thermal infrared, multi-spectral and other types of sensors.122 Further-

more, the applicability of the Act is not limited to high resolution
satellites and concerns operations from inside and outside Canadian
territory. Anyway, it is significant that, although the Act is in theory
relevant to such a vast number of satellites, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs may exempt any persons, satellite system or data on an individual
or class from all or some aspects of the licensing regime.123 This is meant
to avoid situations where the Canadian government would exercise
jurisdiction over operations largely in the hands of other states.
The Canadian Remote Sensing Satellite System Act regulates and
controls remote sensing activities, particularly those of private entities,
through a system of licensing, continuous supervision and enforcement
mechanisms.124 As far as licensing is concerned, every person falling
under the jurisdiction of Canada must obtain a licence to carry out
remote sensing activities.125 Licences are granted by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and can be amended or suspended for a period of up to
90 days, or cancelled pursuant to the decision of the government.126
One of the main concerns of the licensing system is to ensure that the
operations of the satellite are secure.127 In other words, under the Act, the
government wants to guarantee that positive control of a satellite is
maintained at all times throughout its mission life and that at the end of
its operation, the spacecraft is disposed of in such a way that orbital
debris risks are mitigated and the spacecraft is de-orbited safely.
Another key aspect of the Canadian remote sensing regime is the
regulation of collection and distribution of raw data and remote sensing
products. The Act distinguishes between ‘raw data’ (the zeros and ones of
the digital information), ‘transforming’ (processing the data – the zeros
and ones – to form an image such that it is impossible to reverse-engineer
the raw data), and ‘remote sensing products’ (that is finished products
produced by this transformation, such as images or digital elevation
models).128 The raw data, particularly from high resolution synthetic

122
Cf. Sec. 2, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
123
Cf. Sec. 4(3), Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
124
On this point see Mann, supra n. 117, esp. 76 ff.
125
See Secs. 10–13, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra
n. 68.
126
Cf. Secs. 10–13, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra
n. 68.
127
See Gillon, supra n. 30, 27.
128
Cf. Sec. 2, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.

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aperture radar (SAR) systems,129 should be controlled. Such a control is

important to prevent the most sensitive information falling into the hands
of those who could use it against Canada or Canada’s friends and allies.
Furthermore, before granting a licence, the government will undertake
efforts to understand, in cooperation with the prospective licensees, the
nature of the systems applying for a permission to operate.130 Thus, the
review will not be limited to the technical elements of the application, but
will also include other considerations, such as the business models of the
applicants, the participants and clients of the proposed systems, who will
be operating the system, who will own it and how the sensitive
information will be managed.131
A large portion of the Act is dedicated to the obligations of the
licensee and rights of the government in connection with the operation of
the remote sensing systems, particularly with regard to supervision of
activities and control of data distribution. On one side, the licensee may
be restricted from communicating raw data and distributing remote
sensing products to any person other than the licensor.132 On the other
side, the government can issue orders limiting the authorized operations
of the licensee.133 These may include the suspension or cancellation of
the licence or the interruption of service and priority access. Additionally,
the Canadian government has the right to obtain priority access to data
for the purpose of international relations and national defence interests.134
The Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act also lays down how
the government can exercise effective supervision and control over the
licensed activities. Inspectors selected by the Minister can enter and
inspect, at any reasonable time, any place owned by or under the control
of the licensee.135 A licensee can breach the provisions of the Act in two
ways, namely by committing a violation or an offence. A violation is not
a criminal act, and a licensee is entitled to react to a notice of violation
within 30 days. An offence on the contrary, is deemed to be a criminal

129
SAR systems provide a different sort of image than optical systems, as
their sensors collect reflected energy emitted from the satellites themselves, and
do not collect naturally reflected energy in the form of light waves from the
earth, as happens with optical sensors. In this way SAR systems can penetrate
cloud cover and be used to image at night.
130
See Sec. 8, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
131
See Sec. 9, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
132
Cf. Sec. 8(4)(d), Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra
n. 68.
133
Cf. Sec. 14, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
134
See Sec. 15, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
135
Cf. Sec. 18, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.

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act which does not allow the licensee to respond.136 An offence concerns
four specific provisions of the Act: (1) the operation of satellite systems
without licence; (2) letting a person outside of Canada control the
satellite; (3) not complying with measures relating to suspension or
cancellation of the licence; and (4) not complying with a Minister’s order
to interrupt the service.137 An individual committing a violation is fined
up to C$ 5,000; for other cases the fine is C$ 25,000. The fine is imposed
on a daily basis and continues until the violation stops. A person guilty of
offence can be fined up to C$ 50,000, receive 18 months’ imprisonment,
or both. A juridical person can be fined up to C$ 250,000.138

9.4.2.5 Germany
Germany, similarly to Canada, lacks comprehensive domestic legislation
addressing overall space activities; instead, it has established specific
regulations dedicated to remote sensing from space.139 Until recently
Germany did not have an urgent need for adopting national space
legislation. The situation changed with the development of high resolu-
tion remote sensing satellites and the involvement of the private sector.
Indeed, the drafting of the German law specific to remote sensing began
alongside the implementation of the first large-scale PPP in the field of
Earth observation, TerraSAR-X. The German Act on Satellite Data
Security, the Satellitendatensicherheitsgesetz, came into force on 1
December 2007.140 The Act empowers the German government to control
collection and dissemination of high resolution satellite data so as to
reduce any threat to national security and the security of other nations.141
The German Act on Satellite Data Security applies to the operation of
high-grade remote sensing systems and the handling of data generated by

136
See Secs. 38–39, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra
n. 68.
137
See Secs. 5, 16(1), 13 & 14, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems
Act, supra n. 68.
138
See Sec. 38, Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act, supra n. 68.
139
On the regulation of earth observation services, including licensing, data
processing and distribution in Germany see generally B. Schmidt-Tedd & M.
Kroymann, Current Status and Recent Developments in German Remote Sensing
Law, 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 97–114; S. Hobe & J. Neumann,
Regulation of Space Activities in Germany, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 142–5; Ito, supra n. 3, 86–90.
140
Supra n. 68.
141
For a description of the Act see Schmidt-Tedd & Kroymann, supra
n. 139, 105–14.

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such systems.142 Thus, its scope arguably does not include low resolution
satellites. Significantly, the Act covers the operation of high-grade earth
remote sensing satellites and the handling of data resulting from these
systems by German nationals (natural and juridical persons), by foreign
juridical persons or associations of foreign nationals having their head-
quarters in Germany, and cases where the system is commanded from the
territory of Germany.143
Notably, the German Act separates remote sensing operators from data
providers and requires different types of authorization for them.144 Other
legal systems do not make this distinction and have only one type of
licence, usually for a system operator.145 Instead, the Act follows a
growing tendency to distinguish between the operation phase and the
distribution of products.
Under the German Act on Satellite Data Security a remote sensing
operator needs to obtain an ‘approval’, while the data operator is
requested to obtain a licence.146 The approved and licensed persons share
common obligations such as the duties to communicate to the responsible
authority any changes after the authorization and to allow inspectors to
investigate their premises. By contrast, requirements for documentation
are different for system operators and data distributors.147 Overall, the
obligations on the data distributors are, quite understandably, more
stringent and detailed. For instance, they are obliged to record the precise
detail of every transaction.
Importantly, before a data distributor complies with a data request,
such a request must undergo a ‘sensitivity check’, which will take into
account elements such as the content of the data, the location observed,
who purchases the data, the country of destination, and the time between
data acquisition and the processing of the data request.148 The sensitivity

142
The Act defines a ‘high-grade remote sensing system’ as ‘[a} space-based
transport or orbital system, including the ground segment, by means of which
data about the Earth are generated, where its sensor is itself/sensors are
themselves technically capable either alone or in combination with one or more
other sensors of generating data with a particular high information content with
the meaning of Paragraph 2’; Sec. 2(1), German Act on Satellite Data Security,
supra n. 68.
143
See Sec. 1(1), German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
144
Cf. Secs. 3, 11, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
145
This is the case of the Canadian Remote Sensing Space Systems Act,
supra n. 68. See also Ito, supra n. 3, 87.
146
See Sec. 1(1), German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
147
See Secs. 5, 18, 19, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
148
See Sec. 17, German Act on Satellite Security, supra n. 68.

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check takes place in two stages: the first one is performed by the data
distributor, while the second one is to be conducted on a case-by-case
basis by the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control.149 The data
distributor does not evaluate the sensitivity of the request arbitrarily, but
pursuant to a mandatory set of procedures.150
If a data request is deemed to be ‘non-sensitive’, the data distributor is
allowed to deliver the requested data without further approval from the
government.151 If, on the contrary, the distributor evaluates a data request
as ‘sensitive’ and yet wishes to proceed with answering it, a permit from
the Federal Office must be obtained. The Federal Office examines the
risk involved in the data request and will permit the distribution of data if
this is not going to endanger national security. Where compliance with
the data request is considered to be risky a permit may be conditionally
granted through measures such as reduced spatial resolution of data, time
delay, and reduced processing quality of the data.152 Noticeably, nearly
99 per cent of the permit applications are granted.153
Both data producers and distributors must grant priority access to data
to the German government in the event of an emergency, such as a threat
to national security.154
The provisions of the German Act on Satellite Data Security are
enforced through sanctions. Offences can be classified as either serious
or less serious, and the amount of the fines changes depending on the
seriousness of the offence. For serious offences, such as operating remote
sensing systems without permission or distribution of data without
permit, the fine can be up to € 500,000 and can lead to imprisonment.
For less serious offences, such as failure to undertake a safety check, the
fine may be as high as € 50,000.

9.4.2.6 France
France belongs to that group of states that do not have specialized laws
for remote sensing and regulate remote sensing from space through their
overall national space legislation.155 The 2008 French Law on Space

149
See Schmidt-Tedd & Kroymann, supra n. 139, 108.
150
Cf. Sec. 17, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
151
See Sec. 17, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68; also
Schmidt-Tedd & Kroymann, supra n. 139, 109.
152
See Sec. 17, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
153
See Schmidt-Tedd & Kroymann, supra n. 139, 113.
154
Cf. Sec. 21, German Act on Satellite Data Security, supra n. 68.
155
For a description of French space law see P. Achilleas, Regulation of
Space Activities in France, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S.

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Operations156 addresses the issues of remote sensing operations and

control of data distribution in its Title VII.157 As the provisions of this
Title are fairly general, they have been complemented by regulations in
the form of decrees. Notably, a decree of 6 June 2009158 supports the
application of measures provided by Title VII of the French Law and
articulates the rules provided thereby.
The legislation is applicable to the natural or juridical persons respons-
ible for the programming of a remote sensing satellite or responsible for
the collection of space-based remote sensing data.159 Thus, data resellers
and value-added service providers are not covered by it. Furthermore,
data from military satellites or data collected on behalf of the Ministry of
Defence fall outside of the scope of the legislation.160 Distribution of
remote sensing data is subject to prior declaration to the Administrative
Authority, which is identified by the legislation as the Secretary General
for National Defence.161 A declaration must be submitted two months
prior to the commencement of operations.
Importantly, governmental control is carried out by declaration instead
of through a licence.162 A declaration is a weaker means of control than a
licence, closer to a notification than to an authorization, and, contrary to
a licence, is not subject to rejection.
Title VII of the French Law on Space Operations further foresees
possible restrictions on remote sensing actors to protect national interests.
In particular, the Administrative Authority must ensure that the primary
operator of space-based remote sensing data does not compromise the

Jakhu) (2010), 109–22; more specifically on the remote sensing aspects P.

Achilleas, French Remote Sensing Law, 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 1–9;
Ito, supra n. 3, 90–4.
156
Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux opérations spatiales; hereafter
French Law on Space Operations); Loi n° 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008; unofficial
English version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 453.
157
Title VII, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 156, deals with the
issue of ‘space-based data’.
158
Décret No. 2009-643 relatif aux autorisations délivrées en application de
la loi no. 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008 relative aux opérations spatiales (hereafter
French Decree on Remote Sensing); Journal Officiel de la République Française,
10 June 2004, text 30 of 154.
159
See Art. 1, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 156.
160
See Art. 26, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 156.
161
Cf. Art. 23, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 156, and Art. 2,
French Decree on Remote Sensing, supra n. 158.
162
Cf. Art. 3, French Decree on Remote Sensing, supra n. 158.

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fundamental interests of the nation.163 In practice, a concrete mechanism

to control the commercial distribution of data has been established
through GIRSPOT, an inter-ministerial working group that reports on
cases that trigger the restrictive measures.164 Although the Law does not
specify concrete restrictive measures, restrictions may include suspension
of data distribution for a limited time, the obligation to delay data
distribution and the permanent prohibition of data distribution for certain
locations.165
The French Law on Space Operations also includes enforcement
mechanisms which enable the imposition of fines up to € 200,000 against
a person that distributes data without a declaration or does not comply
with data restriction regulations.166 This is a civil penalty, which makes
no distinction between an individual and other persons, such as a
juridical person. Clearly, the goal of the Law is not to promote the remote
sensing industry but to guarantee governmental control of remote sensing
activities and data distribution.
Practice reveals that France’s civilian remote sensing policy supports a
space imagery global market where data can be acquired on a non-
discriminatory basis. To ensure active French participation in this market,
SpotImage, a private law company, has been established in order to
organize the distribution of SPOT data distribution and to offer data of a
better resolution than the major alternative foreign systems. SpotImage
sells data collected not only by SPOT satellites, but also by foreign
systems such as QuickBird, Ikonos and Radarsat.167

9.4.2.7 Other relevant states

Other states, while not having specific laws governing remote sensing
activities, have adopted policies regulating data dissemination. Such a
choice has been mostly driven by the launch of high-performance remote
sensing satellites and the consequent need to manage the distribution of
the derived products. Amongst others, China, India and Japan have
followed this path.

163
Cf. Arts. 5–6, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 156.
164
See Achilleas, French Remote Sensing Law, supra n. 155, 5.
165
Cf. Art. 2, French Decree on Remote Sensing, supra n. 158.
166
See Art. 25, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 156.
167
See Achilleas, French Remote Sensing Law, supra n. 155, 2.

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China168 exercises rather strict control over the distribution and use
of its high resolution products. For example, the 4 metre resolution data
on Chinese territory generated by its high resolution satellite Beijing-1169
are not available to users outside China. Furthermore, the National
Mapping Service makes maps available to users; however, users not
authorized by the Chinese government are only allowed to access up to
1:1 million scale maps. These restrictions are relevant to remote sensing
because maps are often derived from satellite remote sensing data.
Interestingly, China has also launched initiatives to promote the
sharing of remote sensing data and to maximize their access and use for
various social aspects. The China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite Sys-
tem (CBERS), which consists of a series of remote sensing satellites
aimed at supporting users’ needs in earth resources applications, is based
on the idea of free access to data and products. Indeed, CBERS images
received in Brazil are freely available on the Internet for Brazilian and
other Latin American users,170 while CBERS images received in China
are freely accessible to users in China. A high-quality image-processing
software (SPRING) is also available to users in Brazil. The Chinese–
Brazilian cooperation is based on a bilateral agreement concluded in
1998171 and complemented by an inter-agency Protocol signed in
2009.172

168
For an overall analysis of Chinese space legislation see Y. Zhao, Regu-
lation of Space Activities in China, in National Regulation of Space Activities
(Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 247–65.
169
Beijing-1 was launched in 2005 and belongs to the Disaster Monitoring
Constellation (DMC), a group of satellites from several states/entities, whereby
32 m data can be exchanged among the DMC partners; see www.dmcii.com/, last
accessed 15 April 2014.
170
Since June 2004 more than 500,000 images have been freely distributed
in Brazil. See further J. Monserrat, Regulation of Space Activities in Brazil, in
National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 61–80.
171
Framework Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic
of China and the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil on
Cooperation in the Peaceful Applications of Outer Space Science and Tech-
nology, Beijing, done 8 November 1994, entered into force 29 June 1998; 2036
UNTS 335.
172
Protocol on the Cooperation related to CBERS Continuity, Expansion and
Applications, of 19 May 2009, signed by the Chinese National Space Adminis-
tration and the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB). The goal of the Protocol is to
favour the expansion of cooperation in the fields of space applications, satellite
development and other areas.

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India has a comprehensive earth observation data policy.173 This

Remote Sensing Data Policy, which was established in 2001, sets forth a
licensing mechanism and guidelines controlling the dissemination of
remote sensing data. As to licensing, a licence/permission issued by the
Department of Space is required to operate remote sensing data as well
as to acquire/disseminate data within India.174 The Department of Space
assigns licensing operations to two entities: the National Remote Sensing
Centre, which is responsible for acquisition and distribution of remote
sensing data within India, and Antrix Corporation Limited, which is in
charge of granting licences for acquisition/distribution of data outside of
India.175 With regard to data dissemination, the guidelines apply different
criteria depending on the degree of resolution.176 Data between 5.8
metres and 1 metre resolution can be distributed to users after screening
and ensuring that sensitive areas are excluded. Distribution of higher than
1 metre depends on the type of users. While no further clearance is
required by government users, other users are subject to a case-by-case
review by an inter-agency body, the High Resolution Image Clearance.
Japan constitutes an interesting example because it is an important
remote sensing nation but lacks a formalized, detailed data policy for all
remote sensing satellites.177 The guidelines of the Space Activities
Commission attribute a key role to the Japanese Space Agency JAXA,
which is in charge of promoting dissemination of data and results, which,
in turn, include remotely sensed data. In principle, all data are available
to the public without regard to a specific spatial resolution limit.
Data access is determined on a satellite-by-satellite basis. Decision-
makers can have internal discussions and ask who is requesting data and
why. All data can be used only for peaceful purposes and JAXA retains
intellectual property rights. Users are divided into three categories: public
data users, national security users and all others. Public users include
those that contribute to promotion of data utilization. For them, data is
available at the cost of reproduction, which means there should be almost

173
See ISRO: EOS: Policy-01:2001, Remote Sensing Data Policy.
174
Cf. Sec. 2, Remote Sensing Data Policy, supra n. 173.
175
See Sec. 3, Remote Sensing Data Policy, supra n. 173.
176
Cf. Sec. 4, Remote Sensing Data Policy, supra n. 173.
177
For an analysis of the organization of space activities in Japan see S.
Aoki, Current Status and Recent Developments in Japan’s National Space Law
and its Relevance to Pacific Rim Space Law and Activities, 35 Journal of Space
Law (2009), 363 ff.; also S. Aoki, Regulation of Space Activities in Japan, in
National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 199–223.

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no charge on networks.178 Other data users include commercial users

who can be offered a low price, but not lower than prices offered by
private companies. National security data are classified and comes from
Japan’s Information Gathering Satellite (IGS).179
In August 2008 Japan experienced a major development when its first
national space law, the Basic Space Law, entered into force.180 The Law,
however, did not innovate in the field of remote sensing as it did not deal
with licensing of remote sensing operators and policies for distribution of
data, but this situation of course could change in the future through the
adoption of a second national space law of Japan. This law, which is
currently under discussion, is supposed to contain criteria for author-
ization and supervision of satellite operators, obligations of licensees, and
provisions on data distribution.181
Apart from the above examples a major catalyst for establishing
remote sensing policies and law is the availability of affordable satellite
technology and small satellite missions. These missions create the need
for rules governing access and distribution of data. This is the path that
has been followed, for example, by Colombia, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Interestingly, in some nations that do not have a national space law,
private law and the satellite operating licensing regulations of another
state can govern a transaction. In Poland and the United Arab Emirates,
for example, contracts between the national data receiving entity and the
foreign satellite data provider are the only legal bases for data distribu-
tion absent national laws and policies.182

9.4.2.8 Final remarks

In short, more and more states are operating and benefiting from remote
sensing satellites. This has led numerous states to pass laws and policies
governing remote sensing activities and data distribution. An overall

178
See J.I. Gabrynowicz, The Land Remote Sensing Laws and Policies of
National Governments: A Global Survey, 18; www.spacelaw.olemiss.edu/
resources/pdfs/noaa.pdf, last accessed 15 April 2014.
179
Gabrynowicz, supra n. 178, 18.
180
Fundamental Act of Outer Space (hereafter Japanese Basic Space Law),
Law No. 43, 2008, enacted 21 May 2008, entered into force 27 August 2008; 34
Journal of Space Law 471 (2008). A summary of the Basic Space Law is
provided by S. Aoki, Introduction to the Japanese Basic Space Law of 2008, 57
Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2008), 589.
181
See S. Aoki, Japanese Space Activities Act in the Making, 61 Zeitschrift
für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2012), 111.
182
See Gabrynowicz, supra n. 178, 8.

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analysis of the current situation reveals five major points concerning the
legal framework for satellite remote sensing.
Firstly and most fundamentally, there is only a limited number of
specific national laws on remote sensing, and there are more national
policies than laws.
Secondly, the transparency of laws and policies is rare, but it is slightly
improving. While there are states such as the United States, Canada,
Germany and France which make their laws and policies available in
published national codes or on the Internet, many other states, particu-
larly from the developing world, lack this kind of transparency. This is
mostly due to differences in legal systems and negative attitudes towards
open access to information. Some developing countries also consider
transparency as a weapon in the hands of developed ones. At times,
language is a barrier, as an official English translation of the policies is
not often available. The advent of the Internet has, however, enhanced
access and distribution of national laws and policies.
Thirdly, national remote sensing laws are a means to regulate non-
governmental activities and public–private remote sensing operations.
Normally, these laws provide a regime to authorize and supervise remote
sensing activities and attribute to the government the right to interrupt
services and priority rights in times of emergency.
Fourthly, there are an increasing number of restrictions to access and
distribution of remote sensing data. While space-based, non-military
remote sensing activities are based on the idea that data are to be made
available in particular to sensed states on a non-discriminatory basis,
practice reveals the presence of a significant number of restrictions to the
access and distribution of data, particularly high resolution data. Further-
more, national security interests are given priority over general data
access, and governments are engaging in a practice generally referred to
as ‘controlled access’. In addition, the UN Remote Sensing Principles are
interpreted narrowly, for instance, by limiting the sensed state’s right to
data of its territory to data used for resource management purposes (such
as Canada). In addition, all national laws foresee a form of ‘shutter
control’.
Fifthly, there is an emerging trend of shifting from ‘commercialization’
of data to ‘use’ of data. National laws and policies reveal a growing
tendency to move from the goal of commercializing remote sensing data
to the objective of increasing their practical uses. Such a strategy is often
driven by the need to justify socially the enormous costs related to the
operation of remote sensing satellites. In fact, with the exception of the
United States, generally remote sensing laws are not meant to achieve
the purpose of promoting remote sensing activities but rather to

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adequately regulate them. This does not mean that commercial interests
should not be respected or even stimulated. For instance, one can notice
limits to the possibility of governmental authorities to restrict licensed
non-governmental activities (because of threats to national security).
However, commercial interests cannot prevail over public benefits.

9.4.3 Data Policy

9.4.3.1 General considerations

Modern societies rely heavily on remote sensing data for numerous
applications, and there is widespread demand for remote sensing prod-
ucts. However, such a request does not find adequate regulation within
the existing space law legal framework, as issues like access, distribution,
use and authenticity of data are covered in an uncertain and inconsistent
manner.
In particular, the UN Remote Sensing Principles fall short of such a
goal. Principle XII, which deals with data availability, limits its scope to
sensing states, sensed states, and other states interested in the data.
Additionally, it does not as such allow free access to data for public
benefit, for instance for disaster relief.183 Furthermore, regrettably the
Principles address the question of pricing policy in a controversial and
unsatisfactory way. The expression ‘reasonable cost terms’ is indeed
ambiguous and gives room to diverging interpretation. Also, the Prin-
ciples are silent as to the rights of data generators, such as intellectual
property rights or the conditions for the use of data, and disregard the
questions of accuracy, integrity and reliability of data.184
Consequently, at the present time validation, access, distribution and
use of remote sensing data take place pursuant to the individual decision
of the supplier through various policies. In other words, legally speaking
unilateral decisions are made by data suppliers on how data are going to
be handled or allowed to be handled, using their intellectual or other
property rights over the data as the legal basis and therefore by definition
limited only to those data sets.

9.4.3.2 The relevance of data policies

In recent years, the market of remote sensing data has expanded greatly.
Only a minority of governmental space agencies retain their data for
internal use or release them at marginal cost; instead, quite frequently

183
See further the discussion supra, § 9.4.1.2.
184
See Ito, supra n. 3, 200; von der Dunk, supra n. 82, at 33.

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544 Handbook of space law

data are distributed on a commercial basis.185 This fact, coupled with the
increasing presence of privately owned and -operated remote sensing
satellites, PPPs and cooperation among states in the operation of remote
sensing systems (including multi-state constellation of satellites), makes
the issue of data policy highly relevant.
Data policies lay down the rights and duties for data providers and
recipients.186 Effective data policies are crucial to ensure that users can
receive information in a timely manner and at the right time. Ideally, a
data policy should be established in such a way that users can enjoy
quality products whilst suppliers can exercise the rights associated with
the data. However, as data generators develop data policies in an
independent manner and pursuant to their own interests, these policies
tend to vary by, thus, affecting in diverging manners the conditions for
the access to data and the interests of suppliers, end-users and third
parties.

9.4.3.3 Main differences in data policies: Access and pricing

Existing data policies can be distinguished especially in terms of access
and pricing.187 As far as access is concerned, governmental agencies
generally follow two alternative approaches: open access (particularly in
the United States) versus more regulated access (especially in Europe).
Open access normally enables users to access data freely, or at least at
marginal cost, regardless of who the end-user is and the purpose for
which the data is used. For example, Orthorectified Landsat Data is
available free of charge via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).188 NASA
allows Quick SCAT data to be accessed free of charge for scientific and
educational goals.189 This reflects US federal policy, which applies the
concept of freedom of information for the data collected at the federal
level or using federal funds.

185
See L.J. Smith & C. Doldirina, Remote Sensing Data: Some Critical
Comments on the Current State of Regulation and Reflection on Reform, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2007),
253–63.
186
For an extensive description of the characteristics of data policies see A.
Ito, Improvement to the Legal Regime for the Effective Use of Satellite Remote
Sensing Data for Disaster Management and the Protection of the Environment,
34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 45 ff.; R. Harris & R. Browning, Data Policy
Assessment for GMES Final Report, EVK2-CT-2002-80012-DPAG, University of
London (2004).
187
See further e.g. Ito, supra n. 3, 202.
188
Cf. further www.landsat.org, last accessed 15 April 2014.
189
See Harris & Browning, supra n. 186, 35.

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By contrast, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency adopt a much more
regulated access approach, which distinguishes between different cat-
egories of users. For example, the Envisat data policy distinguishes
between category 1 and 2 uses, where the former is for research and
application development use, while the latter is for other uses, including
operational and commercial.190 The private entities operating remote
sensing systems, such as GeoEye and Digital Globe, mostly distribute
their data on a commercial basis. These commercial data generators only
sell data to a single category of commercial users, unless special
arrangements are made. For example, data may be supplied free of
charge for disaster relief purposes.
As previously described, entities face limitations imposed by the
governments through national legislation and policies, including shutter
control and priority access.191 Entities operating under the jurisdiction of,
inter alia, the United States, Canada, Germany and France need to adhere
strictly to the obligations imposed upon them by these respective states
by way of legislation or regulation. Other states, such as India and China,
by means of specific policies have established restrictions on the distri-
bution of data based on the criteria of spatial resolution. Hence, users in
all these states face various limitations in accessing remote sensing data.
In the coming years this tendency is expected to grow as a consequence
of the planned launch of high resolution satellites.
With regard to pricing, the policies differ depending on the type of
satellites concerned and the products derived therefrom. An important
distinction can be made between entities operating an open access policy
offering a free or marginal cost pricing and entities acting under a
regulated access with cost recovery pricing.
Entities of the first kind, which operate mostly in the United States, set
prices at the ‘marginal cost’ level, that is ‘the price that recovers the costs
incurred in providing data beyond the costs of the basic ground infra-
structure’.192 For instance, NASA applies a ‘cost of fulfilling user
request’ mechanism to Landsat data; all marginal costs that are necessary
to satisfy the user request193 are charged. Normally, such a cost is set at

190
See F.G. von der Dunk, Non-discriminatory data dissemination in prac-
tice, Earth Observation Data Policy and Europe (Ed. R. Harris) (2002), 44.
191
Cf. supra, §§ 9.4.2.3, 9.4.2.4 and 9.4.2.5.
192
Ito, supra n. 3, 202.
193
For details on this point see G. Schreier, Data Policy Implications on
Archive Design, Earth Observation Data Policy and Europe (Ed. R. Harris)
(2002), 175.

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546 Handbook of space law

approximately US$ 600 per scene for newly collected data,194 and
US$ 20–25 for archived data.
Instead, entities operating under a regime of regulated access policy
adopt different price schemes depending on the category of users they
deal with. For entities having more than one category of users, only data
for public use, such as those for internal, educational and humanitarian
applications, are disseminated under preferential conditions, either with a
price waiver or distributed at marginal cost. For example, ESA distin-
guishes between category 1 and 2 use: under category 1, which includes
research and development, data are distributed at marginal cost, that is ‘at
or near the cost of reproduction’.195 If a governmental space agency also
includes a commercial use data category, the data will be released on a
commercial basis. Private commercial entities target commercial users;
thus, private commercial data generators distribute their data on a
commercial basis. Data generators of high resolution satellites, like
GeoEye’s Orbview, sell their data at a full commercial price. For
example, data with spatial resolution of 60 cm are sold at a price of
US$ 10 per square km.196 Evidently there is a contrast between the price
offered by entities operating under an open access policy and the prices
of those acting on a more regulated basis.
An interesting case is represented by the European Union’s GMES
initiative, now labelled Copernicus, which aims at providing integrated
information for monitoring the environment from various sources for the
benefit of public and private users.197 A definitive data policy has not
been decided yet but it is expected that a certain measure of harmon-
ization will take place by ensuring a user-friendly service and cost-
effective access. Indeed, it is envisaged that a large amount of
information should be available free of charge.198
Overall, numerous factors influence the final price of satellite images
and derived products. Clearly, the accuracy, quality and reliability of the

194
See R. Harris, Comparison of Regime: ESA, NASA and NOAA, in
Proceedings of the International Conference: Satellite Remote Sensing in Aid of
Development: Legal Considerations (2003), 37.
195
ESA/PB-EO (97) 57 rev. 3, 4–6. See also F.G. von der Dunk, supra n. 41,
397.
196
For further information, see www.glcf.umd.edu/library/guide/Orbview3_
Product_Guide_25jan06.pdf, last accessed 15 April 2014.
197
See on GMES also supra, § 4.4.4.2.
198
See e.g. Communication from the Commission to the European Parlia-
ment and the Council Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES):
Establishing a GMES capacity by 2008 – Action Plan 2004–2008, COM (2004)
65 final, 6.

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data play a key role, as high spatial resolution data or data with
value-added attributes are more expensive than products with lower
characteristics. However, other elements, not necessarily related to the
data itself, contribute to determining the price of remote sensing prod-
ucts, in particular national policies, the type of data generator, and the
financing for building and managing the satellites, which may be either
fully or partially funded by public funding or financed solely by private
funding. In this respect, commercial entities normally set their prices in a
way that allow them to recover their initial investments for manufacturing
and launching satellites as well as the satellite’s operational costs. In
short, because of the various elements affecting access and price policies
of remote sensing products it is not feasible to have a single access policy
with a uniform price setting for all satellites.
It is, however, important to point out that, in recent years, common
access and pricing policies favourable to users are increasingly being
established and implemented in the fields of environmental monitoring
and natural disasters response. In Europe, public access to environmental
information is laid down in the Directive on access to environmental
information.199 The Directive establishes the right of any requestor to
access environmental information held by or for public authorities at
reasonable cost without having to reveal his/her interest. The Directive is
also applicable to earth observation data produced by private entities as
long as they are used for public services related to the environment.
In addition, the European Union is undertaking efforts to establish a
common infrastructure for the distribution and use of spatial information.
The adoption of the INSPIRE Directive constitutes a key step in this
process.200 The scope of INSPIRE is limited to Europe for the purpose of
environmental applications and covers any data with a direct or indirect
reference to a specific location or geographical area, including satellite
data and products.201 Importantly, the INSPIRE Directive is applicable to

199
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on public access
to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC,
2003/4/EC, of 28 January 2003; OJ L 41/26 (2003).
200
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an
Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE)
(hereafter INSPIRE Directive), 2007/2/EC, of 14 March 2007; OJ L 108/1
(2007). See also F. Tronchetti, Access and Distribution of Earth Observation and
Spatial Data in the European Context: The Impact of the European Directive
INSPIRE, in Space Law in the Era of Commercialization (Ed. S. Bhat) (2010),
167–87.
201
Article 4, INSPIRE Directive, supra n. 200.

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548 Handbook of space law

spatial data held by public authorities but it may also be relevant to

individuals and private entities. In terms of pricing policy, spatial data
sets to public authorities are available at marginal cost, while network
services and data fulfilling obligations under EU legislation are available
free of charge.
As far as the use of remote sensing data for natural disaster response is
concerned the most significant development has been the adoption and
implementation of the International Charter for Space and Major Dis-
asters.202 The Charter’s initiative was launched in 1999 by ESA and the
French Space Agency CNES for the purpose of promoting cooperation
among space agencies in the use of satellite data to manage crises during
and after disasters. The idea of establishing the Charter came from the
consideration that remote sensing from satellites can contribute to a more
effective response to disasters and enhance coordinated rescue operations.
Currently, 15 space organizations and a series of commercial data
providers (such as Digital Globe and GeoEye) make their space resources
available to help emergency managers worldwide to deal with a variety
of natural and anthropogenic disasters.203 Specifically, when a major
natural or man-made disaster has happened and relief and reconstruction
efforts are needed, upon activation of the Charter by the end-user, space
agencies respond with a review of applicable satellite data resources and
archive retrieval capabilities, and determine appropriate priority space-
craft tasking. Data are processed at predetermined levels (for example as
GIS-ready data sets), and in some cases value-added commercial data
fusion capabilities are initiated.204
Remarkably, under the International Charter for Space and Major
Disasters, data from different sources are supplied free of charge for the
benefit of all afflicted states, provided that they follow the procedure set

202
Charter on Cooperation to Achieve the Coordinated Use of Space
Facilities in the Event of Natural or Technological Disasters (hereafter Inter-
national Charter for Space and Major Disasters); www.disasterscharter.org/, last
accessed 19 March 2014; see also Ito, supra n. 3, at 317. Further A. Ito, Issues in
the Implementation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters,
21 Space Policy (2005), 141–9; F.G. von der Dunk, Legal Aspects of Using
Space-Derived Geospatial Information for Emergency Response, with Particular
Reference to the Charter on Space and Major Disasters, in Geospatial Infor-
mation Technology for Emergency Response (Eds. S. Zlatanova & J. Li) (2008),
21–40.
203
See www.disasterscharter.org/web/charter/members, last accessed 15
April 2014. Cf. further Ito, supra n. 3, 202.
204
See Smith & Doldirina, supra n. 90, 24.

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forth in the Charter. The success of the Charter is demonstrated by the

steady increase of activation in the last decade.205

9.4.3.4 Distribution of data and rights of suppliers and users

The majority of remote sensing data producers do not release their data
in an unregulated manner but through contractual arrangements, that is
licence agreements, with the users. In this way, suppliers maintain control
over the data and products after distribution. Broadly speaking, a licence
authorizes a third party to conduct certain activities and exercise rights
over certain products, which would be unlawful without the licence. A
licence related to satellite data and products lays down the rights of data
suppliers and regulates the activities of data recipients.
A licensee is under the obligation to pay a licence fee (usually referred
to as ‘royalty’) in return for permission to exercise rights that belong to
the licensor. In case of satellite images, a distinction between a licence
fee and a royalty can be made: the former is paid by users for access to
data, while the latter is paid to the owner/operator of a satellite by
distributors and value-added resellers upon the sale of products. Further-
more, users must comply with the conditions set by the licensor in the
licence. Compliance with such requirements is a precondition for the
issuing of the licence.206
Licensing conditions include permitted and prohibited activities.
Although the terms of the licence tend to vary, it is possible to identify a
common pattern according to which conditions are structured. Permitted
activities include the reproduction of products and use of the products for
internal use, permission for subcontractors to use products on behalf of
the licensee, and the generation of derived and value-added products.
Prohibited activities comprise further distribution of products to a third
party, sales of products, and sub-licensing without notification and
authorization.207
In any case, the commercial resale of the data is not allowed unless the
licensee is an authorized value-added reseller. Prohibited activities tend
to vary depending on the choice of the licensor and thus impact the
dissemination in different ways. Some entities adopt a very restrictive
approach towards further distribution and the treatment of the data, while
others are less restrictive. For example, under the licences issued by
Digital Globe end-users can share the data with affiliated entities by

205
See at www.disasterscharter.org/web/charter/map, last accessed 15 April
2014.
206
See Smith & Doldirina, supra n. 90, 27.
207
Ibid.

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means of a joint project, only if they consent to be bound by the licence’s

conditions and if they agree that upon completion of the project affiliated
entities are not entitled to retain the data.208
Overall, data generators limit further distribution and sharing of data
with third parties. This is evident from the higher levies imposed by data
generators in the case of multiple users’ sharing of data. This approach is
particularly detrimental in the field of environmental protection and
disaster management, as it may create obstacles to the implementation of
programmes based on the principle of sharing of data among operators
and users.
One should not forget that data generators tend to protect their
products by means of intellectual property rights.209 Remote sensing data
and products are the result of substantial financial investments and
technical achievements; thus, it is understandable that data generators
apply intellectual property rights to safeguard their efforts and assets.
Commonly the ownership of data stays with the data generators and
copyright is claimed by them over their products.
Clearly, the imposition of intellectual property rights influences access
to and distribution of data. Intellectual property rights create impediments
to the free flow of data and information, as well as creating obstacles to
the growth of the value-added sector. This trend can be keenly witnessed
in Europe, where public authorities claim copyright on the results of their
activities and do not always classify data and information they possess as
a public good.210 Nevertheless, in spite of the practice of claiming such
rights, it is doubtful whether the intellectual property rights of the data
generator are actually safeguarded. In fact, it is virtually impossible to
exercise an absolute control over the flow of data, especially considering
the technological means to spread information and products in real
time.211
Furthermore, several images and products are now available on the
Internet and can easily be used and reproduced in violation of copyright.
Complications also arise as each data supplier is bound by the intellectual

208
See http://nsidc.org/data/barrow/digitalglobe_license_form.html, last
accessed 15 April 2014.
209
See further infra, esp. § 18.2.
210
Cf. Smith & Doldirina, supra n. 90, 28.
211
See further M. Mejia-Kaiser, Proprietary Rights in Remote Sensing
Images, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (1996), 30 ff.; M. Mejia-Kaiser, The 1989 Berlin Court Decision on
Copyright to a Space Remote Sensing Image, in Proceedings of the Forty-
Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2005), 91 ff.

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property law of the nation whose jurisdiction covers the data supplier.
Many national laws require certain degrees of human intellectual inter-
vention, hence it is particularly questionable as to whether they apply to
raw data and processed data.212
Overall, although access and pricing policies are decided independ-
ently by data generators, absolute certainty and protection of intellectual
property rights depends on the characteristics and strengths of the
existing legal regime applicable to remote sensing activities, in particular
on the suitability of intellectual property rules to protect satellite images
and on the gaps that might exist between the existing regime and the
practice of data generators.213
Another issue, which while being largely unaddressed within the
existing legal regime still substantially affects the relation between data
generators and end-users, is the liability for damage arising in relation to
remote sensing activities. International space law establishes international
liability of a ‘launching State’ for the damage caused by its space object
or its component part in space or on earth. Without doubt, this includes
liability in cases where a remote sensing satellite falls on the earth’s
surface and causes damage.214 However, no provisions deal with other
types of damage associated with satellite remote sensing, such as damage
which arises from relying on inaccurate data and/or misuse of data. Any
person, either natural or juridical, and state is potentially exposed to the
risk of liability connected with this kind of damage. Data suppliers bear
liability risks in cases where aid workers are injured as a result of
inappropriate instructions or when users suffer damage caused by the
inaccuracy of the provided data. On the other hand, users may suffer a
risk of liability if misuse of data causes damage to data suppliers or to
third parties.
Under the current uncertain legal regime the damaged parties may face
negative consequences. Users may not recover compensation for the loss
they incur. It is significant that data generators have the tendency to
waive any kind of liability associated with the use of data. At times it can
also be challenging to prove the causal link between the use of data and
the damage. As a result, users may be less confident to use data for

212
Cf. M. Mejia-Kaiser, Satellite Remote Sensing Data in Databases Copy-
right or sui generis Protection in Europe?, 22 Annals of Air and Space Law
(1997), 496.
213
This, and other issues related to the application of intellectual property
rules to satellite images and products are discussed, infra, § 18.2, so they are not
addressed in further detail here.
214
See also supra, § 2.3.3, esp. § 2.3.3.2.

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critical decision-making that significantly affects either their interests or

third parties. Also suppliers may face unnecessary litigation costs under
uncertain liability. This fact can make them reluctant to provide data,
particularly on a voluntary basis.
This is also where the famous ‘Good Samaritan’ principle may come
in, for example in the context of the International Charter for Space and
Major Disasters. The doctrine has been used widely – and rather
differently – in different jurisdictions throughout the world.215 In essence,
application of the principle ‘prevents a rescuer who has voluntarily
helped a victim in distress from being successfully sued for “wrong-
doing.” Its purpose is to keep people from being so reluctant to help a
stranger in need for fear of legal repercussions if they made some
mistake in treatment.’216
What the ‘Good Samaritan’ principle means in the context of the
Charter, however, and whether its main criteria and parameters are
overruled by it, remains an issue to be dealt with in further detail. For
example, the principle is usually found to apply only when there is no
specific (legal) obligation resting upon someone to come to the rescue.
Are states or governmental agencies in the possession of relevant
knowledge, alternatively of technological means to easily acquire such
knowledge, however, not obliged to share such information? In other
words, do the Charter partners qualify as ‘Good Samaritans’ so as to be
able to invoke this principle in their defence?
In conclusion, while the existing policies regulating the distribution
and use of remote sensing data represent an essential factor enabling the
flow of remote sensing products worldwide, they are far from flawless
and in many respects lack the required legal precision and clarity. Indeed,
as a consequence they create barriers to accessing data, discriminate in
terms of users, reduce commercial opportunities, do not adequately
protect the position of users in case of damage caused by the use of the
provided data, and finally do not ensure adequate protection against
violation of intellectual property rights over remote sensing data. While
some of these problems could, in theory, be addressed and possibly
solved on a bilateral basis between data generators and end-users, ideally
adequate solutions should be developed at the international level.217 The

215
See e.g. Ito, supra n. 3, 177–80, 193–4, 266–7; von der Dunk, supra
n. 202, 31.
216
See http://pa.essortment.com/goodsamaritanl_redg.htm, last accessed 15
April 2014.
217
Cf. also Ito, supra n. 3, 64.

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Legal aspects of satellite remote sensing 553

latter approach, although preferable, faces numerous obstacles due to

economic and political interests related to remote sensing activities.

9.5 CONCLUSION
Remote sensing from space influences decision-making and affects the
lives of millions of people on a worldwide scale. The use of remote
sensing satellites has changed our understanding of the earth climate and
enabled a better management of land, sea and natural resources.
In recent years, the usefulness of remote sensing data has produced
two phenomena: an increase in the number of remote sensing satellites
operators and a wider request to access and use remote sensing-derived
products. The existing legal framework regulating remote sensing activ-
ities has managed to handle these phenomena in a rather contradictory
way: on one side, it has enabled the launch and operation of remote
sensing systems by both governmental and non-governmental actors as
well as the distribution of data and products across the world; on the
other side, it has not been able to avoid various barriers being imposed to
the access and use of remote sensing products and to adequately and
coherently address the issues related to the rights and obligations of data
generators, distributors and users.
Notably, despite the stated goals of commercializing remote sensing
data and products, the number of restrictions on access is rising. This fact
has led scholars to call for a reorganization of the international rules
governing the distribution and use of remote sensing products. In any
case, it is significant that in the last decade, in recognition of the social
and public benefits deriving from the use of remote sensing-derived
products, space actors have launched initiatives aimed at sharing their
space resources and allowing the free distribution of these products to
those in need, particularly from the less-developed states. Such a trend,
which has been particularly visible in the field of natural disaster
management and rescue operations, can be considered as one of the best
practical means to implement the dictates of Article I of the Outer Space
Treaty, providing: ‘The exploration and use of outer space … shall be
carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries’.

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10. Legal aspects of satellite navigation

Lesley Jane Smith

10.1 INTRODUCTION
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) belong to a fast-growing
field of international space activities that have become the primary
method for navigation and localization around the world.1 The variety of
GNSS applications developed over the previous decades that require
precise positioning and timing in their operations and impact on almost
all areas of navigation, modern logistics and numerous other fields is
vast. These GNSS applications constitute an important contribution to
navigation, not only from an economic perspective, but also in relation to
the legal issues they raise.
While not subject to any one specific set of GNSS rules, the legal
issues raised through the range of operations of GNSS applications
continues to attract interest. There is no one comprehensive table of
answers or rules applicable to GNSS operations. This is because the
characteristics of GNSS, a high-technology tool that has been developed
to assist various logistical operations that take place in virtual and
terrestrial terms, are hybrid. The technology forms an integral part of the
services which are offered in modern communication, observation and
navigation technology, with various levels of legal relations existing
between those producing, operating and retailing this technology, and not
least, its users.
The impact and significance of GNSS is now what the development of
postal and communication services represented to society in the nine-
teenth century, with one great exception: it is a high-impact, international
system of communication and navigation, but without a single inter-
national union of states responsible for its operations.
That not all legal questions raised by GNSS operations have therefore
been accorded a tailor-made response goes without saying; there has

1
See N. Ward et al., The Role of GNSS in E-Navigation and the Need for
Resilience; General Lighthouse Authorities, Research & Radio Navigation Direc-
torate, 2010, www.gla-rrnav.org/publications/index.html, last accessed 15 Janu-
ary 2014.

554

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 555

been interest in, but no decisive moves to introduce either a union of

GNSS systems or a regulatory community of states taking on the form of
an international convention. This reflects a lack of willingness at a
political level to invest in an international regulatory body; it also reflects
the interest in regional independence between the planned GNSS sys-
tems. Finally, it shows some hesitation in accepting structured legal
obligations arising from integrated GNSS system owners/providers
towards the various interest and user communities involved. The fact that
GNSS systems are for the most part provided free of charge is a further
related complexity from a liability perspective.
United States v. Jones,2 a US Supreme Court case decided in 2011
relating to the use of GPS tracking devices as a surveillance measure by
US government officials, is but one response to the spectrum of GNSS-
related legal issues that such technological applications raise. Legal
issues concerning the utilization of GNSS data vary according to the
specific up- or downstream technology and type of data in the particular
sector. This may involve passenger-related carriage at commercial or
private level, online banking services or even security-related measures
and services designed to ensure cargo or personal protection during
transport. There is no one finite category of the various upstream and
downstream products and services that are available. As a result, the
scope of differing legal rules potentially applicable within this sector is
equally broad.3
This chapter first offers a detailed analysis of the scope of GNSS
systems and the particular applications, and thereafter continues with an
analysis of the legal rules applicable to GNSS de lege lata. It reflects on
whether there is a need to expand on a dedicated GNSS legal regulation
in future, notably in the context of liability. The technical background of
the different GNSS systems and their organizational structures are
discussed along with legal questions stemming from their operations.
Some explanation is provided on the contemporary GNSS applications
market and on potential applications. This includes an appreciation of
their reliability, particularly as to whether there is a need for the
introduction of an international GNSS convention governing third-party

2
United States, Petitioner v. Antoine Jones, 565 U.S. 3 (2012), www.
supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-1259.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014; on
warrantless installation of a GPS tracking device by the US government, which
constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
3
Some legal systems may classify the use of GPS tracking as a breach of
data protection and privacy, for Germany, see K. Cornelius, Strafbarkeit einer
GPS Überwachung, 46 Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (2013), 3340.

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556 Handbook of space law

liability. In addition, the interaction between augmentation systems and

GNSS is discussed from a technical perspective and their impact on the
rules of liability for GNSS is thereafter reviewed.

10.2 THE CURRENT GNSS SYSTEMS

10.2.1 Basic Technical Aspects

The GNSS systems, which have become the primary means for most
navigation and positioning purposes, provide highly precise positioning
and timing information. The four major systems, namely the American
NAVSTAR GPS, the Russian GLONASS, the European Galileo and the
Chinese Beidou (Compass) share very similar technical features and
structures, which allow for comparable accuracy.4
Every GNSS is composed of three main segments, the space, the
ground and the user segment. The GNSS space segment consists of a
constellation of 24 to 30 satellites, which orbit the earth at an orbital
height of approximately 19,000 to 24,000 km. Each of these GNSS
satellites emits a signal to earth, which contains the satellite’s position
and time. The distance from the satellite to the receiver is calculated
through the time transmitted. In order to measure the distance as
accurately as possible, the chronometry is carried out by an atomic clock.
In other words, the more precisely time is measured, the more precise the
localization. The information from four satellites is sufficient for the
GNSS receiver to determine its position on earth.5 An uplink operations
centre controls the satellites and monitors their proper functionality, so
that malfunctioning can be limited to a minimum. Despite the similarities
in the technical structures, major differences exist in the organizational
and management structures of the different navigation systems. These are
expanded further below.

10.2.2 Organizational Structures and Services

10.2.2.1 The Global Positioning System (GPS)

The GPS satellite navigation system, operated by the US Department of
Defense (DOD), is divided into a space, a control and a user segment.

4
See B. Bhatta, Global Navigation Satellite Systems Insights to GPS,
GLONASS, Galileo, Compass and Others (2010), 49 ff.
5
Cf. www.gps.gov/systems/gps/space/, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 557

The space segment consists of a constellation of at least 24 satellites, that

are divided over six circular orbits, with at least four satellites in each
orbit.6
The control or ground segment is further divided into a Master Control
Station (MCS) located in the United States and four monitoring stations,
which are unmanned and located around the world. The monitoring
stations aid the MCS in collecting information about the orbits of the
satellites. By sending this received signal information to the MCS, the
data can be evaluated and transmitted back to the satellites. The correc-
tions focus on adjusting the satellite’s orbit, as well as correcting
difference in elapsed time.7 The user segment consists of all technical
equipment required to receive the GPS signal and calculates the exact
position and time.
The organisational and management structures of the NAVSTAR GPS
are built around the permanent National Executive Committee for
Spaced-Based PNT, established under the National Security Presidential
Directive 39 (NSPD-39).8 Figure 10.1 illustrates the National Executive
Committee’s composition and the relations between the departments and
agencies involved.
The National Executive Committee is chaired by the Deputy Secretar-
ies of Defense together with the Deputy Secretaries of Transportation and
exercises a determining role in advising and coordinating within the
decision-making process. While the responsibilities for the supervision
and operation of the GPS satellite constellation lie with the DOD, the
Department of Transportation (DOT) holds the responsibilities for the
civil augmentation systems.9 The GPS system is mainly managed by
the DOD, but as of 2008 the DOT provides appropriations to the DOD
for the maintenance of its civil programme.10 The National Space

6
See U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center – NAVCEN MS 7310, Alexan-
dria, www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=GPSmain, last accessed 15 January
2014.
7
See R. Lewis et al., Building a Multinational Global Navigation Satellite
System: An Initial Look (2005), 16.
8
Federal Radionavigation Plan (2010), Department of Defense, DOT-
VNTSC-RITA-08-02/DoD-4650.05. For more information on the specific direct-
ive, see www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-39.htm, last accessed 15 January
2014.
9
See Lewis, supra n. 7, 2.
10
For more specific information on the GPS budget, see www.gps.gov/
policy/funding/, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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558 Handbook of space law

WHITE HOUSE
Defense

Transportation

State NATIONAL
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
FOR SPACE-BASED PNT ADVISORY BOARD
Interior

Executive Steering Group Sponsor: NASA

Agriculture
Co-Chairs: Defense, Transportation
Commerce

Homeland Security
NATIONAL COORDINATION OFFICE

Joint Chiefs of Staff Host: Commerce

NASA

GPS International Engineering Forum

Workiing Group Ad Hoc
Co-Chairs: Defense, Working Group
Chair: State Transportation

Source: 2010 Federal Radionavigation Plan, Department of Defense, DOT-VNTSC-

RITA-08-02/DoD-4650.05, 2-12.

Figure 10.1 National Space Based PNT management structure for GPS
Policy11 gives the Secretary of Defense primary responsibility for pro-
viding resources for GPS development, acquisition, operation, sustain-
ment and modernization. The policy also states that the Secretary of
Transportation shall provide resources to the Secretary of Defense for
assessment, development, acquisition, implementation, operation and
sustainment of additional designated GPS civil capabilities, beyond the
second and third civil signals.
The GPS provides two main services, namely, the civilian GPS service
or Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and the military GPS service or
Precise Positioning Service (PPS). Since the Selective Availability restric-
tion was removed, both services allow for an equivalent horizontal
accuracy of about 7.8 metres.12 The main differences lie, firstly, in the

11
National Space Policy of the United States of America, 28 June 2010; see
www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-28-10.pdf, last
accessed 15 January 2014.
12
For more detailed technical information concerning the SPS, see
www.gps.gov/technical/ps/2008-SPS-performance-standard.pdf, last accessed 16

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 559

PPS’s utilization of two frequencies, allowing it to compensate for

ionospheric effects that can constrain the accuracy better than the SPS
and, secondly, in an improved reliability and jam resistance of the PPS.13

10.2.2.2 The Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS)

The GLONASS satellite navigation system, which is under the super-
vision of the Russian Ministry of Defence, consists of 21 regular
operational satellites and four spare satellites, which are divided into
three orbital planes with up to eight slots.14
The space segment (satellite constellation) is similar to the GPS space
segment. The GLONASS system is further categorized into a control and
user segment. The control segment is composed of a system control
centre, namely, the Coordination Scientific Information Centre (KNITs)15
and five monitoring stations, all of which are located on Russian territory.
An expansion of the network of monitoring stations is expected.16 The
user segment is represented by all individual devices needed to receive
the GLONASS signal and compute the individual location. After an
initial struggle, due to the late market entry of the system,17 the
GLONASS user segment has latterly been able to increase the
implementation of its signal receivers.18

April 2014; and for the PPS, see www.gps.gov/technical/ps/2007-PPS-

performance-standard.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014.
13
For further information see e.g. www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/
accuracy/, last accessed 16 April 2014.
14
For the latest information concerning the GLONASS satellite constella-
tion, see www.glonass-ianc.rsa.ru/en/GLONASS/, last accessed 15 January 2014.
15
See G. Kirk, GPS Modernization, GLONASS Augmentation and the
Status of Galileo – Benefits for Heavy and Highway Contractors, Trimble
Construction Division (2007), 2, www.trimble-productivity.com/media/pdf/
whitepaper_GPS_GLONASS_Galileo_construction.pdf, last accessed 16 April
2014.
16
See Current Planned Global and Regional Navigation Satellite Systems,
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, International Committee on
Global Navigation Satellite Systems Providers’ Forum, New York, 2010, 14.
17
For more detailed information concerning this initial hurdle, see http://
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8595704.stm, last accessed 16 April 2014.
18
The GLONASS receiving devices are implemented in various contempor-
ary cell phone and tablet devices, which constitute the biggest market for GNSS
receiving devices; cell phones implementing GNSS, such as Apple (see
www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html, last accessed 15 January 2014), and Sony
(see http://developer.sonymobile.com/wp/2012/01/19/glonass-support-in-our-
latest-xperia-phones/, last accessed 15 January 2014) are good examples.

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560 Handbook of space law

Federal Space Agency

Government of
The Russian Federaon
Defense

Transportaon INTERAGENCY
GLONASS
Aviaon COMMISSION Advisory Board
Roscosmos GLONASS Dept.
Chair: Federal Space Agency
Marime

Auto
EXECUTIVE Ad Hoc
WORKING GROUP Commissions
Rail Host: Federal Space Agency

Industry
Chief Designer
Board
Mapping RISDE

Source: GLONASS Status and Progress (S. Revnivykh, Central Research Institute for
Machine Building, 3d meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG), December
2008, p. 28; www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/icg/2008/icg3/04.pdf %5B).

Figure 10.2 Interagency GLONASS Commission management structure

The management responsibilities for GLONASS were originally held
by the Russian Ministry of Defence (MOD). Since the Federal Mission
Oriented Program (FMOP) was established in 2002, however, many of
those responsibilities shifted towards the Russian Space Agency (Roscos-
mos).19 The contemporary management structures of the GLONASS
navigation system (see Figure 10.2) provide that the responsibilities
concerning the development and operation of the system were to be held
jointly by the MOD as well as Roscosmos. Roscosmos is also respons-
ible for the development of the GLONASS augmentation system, while
the Federal Agency of Industry, together with the MOD, will supervise
the development and production of the user segment. The funding for the
entire system is received directly through the Russian federal budget.20 In

19
See www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/sap/2004/vienna/presentations/wednesday/
pm/revnivyk.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014; at 2.
20
See M. N. Krasilshchikov, The Federal Russian Mission Oriented Pro-
gram ‘GLONASS’ and State Concept of the United Positioning, Navigation and
Time System, SAE Meeting, October 2006, http://acgsc.org/Meetings/Meeting_
98/Subcommitte%20B/6.1.PPT, last accessed 16 April 2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 561

order to rebuild the GLONASS system a general budget for its re-
construction was approved by Government Resolution No. 587 of 20
August 2001. This initial programme was scheduled to last from 2002
until 2011; however, with a view to expediting the systems deployment,
an additional programme (as per Government Resolution No. 423 of 14
July 2006) was put forward, providing additional funding.21
GLONASS provides a Standard Precision (SP) signal and a High
Precision (HP) signal. Similar to the American GPS, one signal is
publicly accessible and one signal is reserved for military or governmen-
tal purposes.22 The authorized signal, namely the HP service, is accessi-
ble not only to Russian authorities, but also to the Indian officials.23 Such
access or even interoperability is a sign of international understanding
between the relevant countries.24

10.2.2.3 Galileo
The European Galileo satellite navigation system (GNSS Galileo Pro-
gramme) belongs to the European Union as a supranational governmental
organization. The European Union has, since the entry into force of the
Lisbon version of the Treaty on European Union25 and the introduction of
Article 47 thereof,26 a legal personality separate from that of its member

21
See www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/sap/2006/icg/02-1.pdf, last accessed on
16 April 2014.
22
The GLONASS Interface Control Document provides more detailed
technical information on each signal and can be inspected at http://gauss.
gge.unb.ca/GLONASS.ICD.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014.
23
For more information concerning the Indian–Russian agreement, see
www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/india-and-russia-to-revive-glonass-191325/,
last accessed 16 April 2014.
24
See also Art. 5, Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
on the implementation and exploitation of European satellite navigation systems
and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 and Regulation (EC)
No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, No. 1285/2013/EU,
of 11 December 2013; OJ L 347/1 (2013), which now regulates the compatibility
and interoperability of Galileo GNSS and EGNOS. It makes provision for further
international agreements to be concluded by the European Commission relating
to Galileo, including interoperability.
25
Treaty on European Union as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon amending
the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European
Community (hereafter Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union),
Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009; OJ C
326/13 (2012).
26
Art. 47, Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union, supra
n. 25, simply provides: ‘The Union shall have legal personality.’

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562 Handbook of space law

states, as well as an independent legal system and jurisdiction over

matters of substantive European law. The Galileo navigation system was
originally subdivided into four phases,27 of which two main phases, the
In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase and the Full Operational Capability
(FOC) phase are more commonly known. Unlike GPS or GLONASS,
Galileo GNSS has not yet reached FOC, and the deployment phase has to
be completed by 31 December 2020.28 During the IOV phase, prelimin-
ary testing was carried out on two experimental satellites (GIOVE-A and
GIOVE-B), together with four operational satellites,29 on which position-
ing tests were thereafter conducted.30 The remaining satellites are cur-
rently under construction.31 The FOC phase includes an initial
operational capability phase, during which basic operational requirements
are provided by an infrastructure of 18 satellites that are expected to be in
orbit by the end of 2014. On completion of the system in 2020, there will
be 30 satellites in operation.32
The original Galileo management structure was initially conceptualized
as a Public–Private Partnership (PPP), in the form of a Joint Undertaking
between the private and the public sector.33 This was subsequently

27
The four phases (definition; development and validation; deployment;
exploitation) were specified in the – since repealed – Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council on the further implementation of the European
satellite navigation programmes (EGNOS and Galileo), No. 683/2008/EC, of 9
July 2008; OJ L 196/1 (2008), and are now reinstated in Art. 3, Regulation
1285/2013, supra n. 24.
28
For the latest information concerning the status of Galileo, see
www.gsa.europa.eu/galileo/programme, last accessed 15 January 2014.
29
The IOV Phase was set for the time frame 2008–2013, the GIOVE-A and
GIOVE-B satellites were already launched in 2011 and the other operational
satellites are expected to launch soon. For updated information see further
www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/The_future_-_Galileo/What_is_Galileo,
last accessed 7 February 2014.
30
First steps of Galileo – European satellite navigation system achieves its
first position fix; Press release, IP/12, Brussels, 12 March 2013.
31
Deployment is to be completed by 31 December 2020; see Art. 3(c),
Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24.
32
For more Information concerning the IOV or FOC phases, see ESA’s
Galileo fact sheet, http://download.esa.int/docs/Galileo_IOV_Launch/Galileo_
factsheet_20120321.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014.
33
The concept of a Joint Undertaking was laid down in Progress report on
the GALILEO research programme as at the beginning of 2004, COM/2004/
0112(final), 52004DC0112; more generally and formally established by Art. 187,
Treaty establishing the European Community as amended by the Treaty of
Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 563

replaced by an entirely publicly financed structure (see Figure 10.3). The

Galileo system is funded by the European Union, with the European
Space Agency (ESA) acting as its contracting authority under a specific
delegation agreement between both organizations.34 Supervision over its
operations is held by the European Commission and delegated to its
specialist agency, the European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA).35
The responsibilities of the European Commission on behalf of the
European Union lie in ensuring the monitoring and development of the
programme, as well as ensuring the security of the system and taking an
active role in the decision-making process. The European Union has the
power of disposition over the Galileo budget and plays the most
significant role in matters of funding.36 The GSA, as an agency of the
European Union,37 is currently preparing concepts for the Galileo
exploitation phase, conducting market analyses for future applications, as
well as monitoring potential security threats of the system.38

European Community (hereafter Treaty on the Functioning of the European

Union), Lisbon, done 13 December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009;
OJ C 326/47 (2012). The Joint Undertaking itself was formally established by
means of Council Regulation setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking, No.
876/2002/EC, of 21 May 2002; OJ L 138/1 (2002).
34
See Art. 12, Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24. Cf. more generally for an
update on the latest division of institutional responsibilities in the current
deployment phase and relations between the Commission, ESA and the GSA,
Arts. 12–15.
35
The European GNSS Supervisory Authority’s current structures were
mapped out in Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council setting
up the European GNSS Agency, repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/
2004 on the establishment of structures for the management of the European
satellite radio navigation programmes and amending Regulation (EC) No 683/
2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, No. 912/2010/EU, of
22 September 2010; OJ L 276/11 (2010); and are further specified for the
exploitation phase in Art. 14, Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24.
36
The tasks of the Commission were originally outlined in Regulation
683/2008, supra n. 27, which has now been replaced by Regulation 1285/2013,
supra n. 24, notably Art. 12 thereof, together with a new Financial Regulation,
Regulation (EU, Euratom) of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, No. 966/2012, of 25 October
2012; OJ L 298/1 (2012).
37
A list of all EU Agencies can be found through http://europa.eu/about-eu/
agencies/index_en.htm, last accessed 16 April 2014.
38
A full list of all responsibilities of the GSA can be found at
www.gsa.europa.eu/gsa/organisation, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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564 Handbook of space law

Political oversight

Council and
European Parliament

Programme oversight and

Programme Management European GNSS
Programme Committee

European
Commission
Independant
advisors

Execution

European GNSS Supervisory

Space Agency Authority
Market
preparation
IOV
contracts Assistance tasks to EC Research

FOC Accreditation
Tasks delegated by EC
contracts Others

Source: Galileo Public Sector Governance (Communication from the Commission to the
European Parliament and the Council – Progressing Galileo: re-profiling the European
GNSS Programmes, COM (2007) 534 final, of 19 September 2007, at 10).

Figure 10.3 Galileo organizational structure

The responsibilities of the European Space Agency are contained in a
multi-annual delegation agreement,39 which transfers the technical
responsibilities of installing the system as well as taking monitoring and
inspection measures concerning the technical reliability of the constella-
tion and parts thereof.
The Galileo navigation system will provide five distinct services as
follows:40

39
The multi-annual delegation agreement was contained in Art. 24, Regu-
lation 683/2008, supra n. 27. This has now been repealed and updated by
Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24, which refers in Art. 15 to the delegation
agreement concluded under Regulation 966/2012, supra n. 36, on the financial
rules applicable to the general budget.
40
See Art. 2(4)(a)–(d), Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24. For more
information on the Galileo services, see www.gsa.europa.eu/galileo/services, last
accessed 16 April 2014.

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1. Open Service (OS): The OS will be publicly accessible and free of

charge, with an accuracy similar to other leading public GNSS
services.
2. Safety-of-Life Service (SOL): The SOL will be designated for
safety-critical applications and also compliant with the aviation
APV-I (Approach with Vertical Guidance) requirements,41 as
defined by ICAO in Annex 10 … as well as Open Sky Regu-
lations.42
3. Commercial Service (CS): The CS will, unlike the OS and the
SOL, make use of two frequencies and therefore provide higher
accuracy.
4. Public Regulated Service (PRS): The PRS will utilize two
encrypted frequencies and will only be authorized to selected
governmental institutions.

Additionally, as a fifth service the Galileo programme will support the

COSPAS-SARSAT SAR rescue network by detecting distress signals
transmitted by beacons and relaying messages to them and to a desig-
nated Rescue Coordination Centre.43

10.2.2.4 Beidou-2/Compass
As with the European Galileo system, the Chinese Beidou-2 or Compass
system is not yet fully operational, and still under development. The
programme is divided into three phases and has already entered its
second, or deployment phase. A total of 16 satellites have been launched
into orbit, 14 of which are currently operational.44

41
See Safety of Life Service Definition Document, Ref: EGN-SDD SoL,
V2.0; www.essp-sas.eu/downloads/hokiog/egnos_sol_sdd_in_force.pdf, last
accessed 15 January 2014.
42
See Convention on International Civil Aviation (hereafter Chicago Con-
vention), Chicago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force 4 April 1947; 15
UNTS 295; TIAS 1591; 61 Stat. 1180; Cmd. 6614; UKTS 1953 No. 8; ATS 1957
No. 5; ICAO Doc. 7300; International Standards and Recommended Practices
and Procedures for Air Navigation Services, Annex 10, Aeronautical Telecommu-
nications, Vol. II, Communication Procedures including those with PANS status,
6th edn., October 2001.
43
See Art. 2(4)(e), Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24.
44
See www.insidegnss.com/node/3590, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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566 Handbook of space law

The complete constellation of the Beidou-2 system will contain 30

satellites in a medium earth orbit (MEO) and five satellites in geo-
stationary orbit.45 This will constitute Beidou’s third phase, namely, the
operation and replacement phase. The control segment will be composed
of a Master Control Station (MCS), Upload Stations (US), and a network
of globally distributed Monitor Stations (MS).46
The Beidou-2/Compass system is owned by the Chinese government
and operated by its military.47 Specific information concerning the
organizational or financial structures as well as the procuring corpor-
ations or organizations of the system have not yet been made public.
However, two official documents have been released to date,48 namely, a
Beidou Interface Control Document (ICD)49 and a development report of
the Beidou system,50 and an official Chinese website has been devel-
oped.51 Beidou is to offer an open and an authorized service on a global
level; the authorized service will include a regional augmentation service
and a short message service.52

10.2.3 Regional Satellite Navigation Systems

The Regional Satellite Navigation Systems (RNSS) are, just like the
GNSS, independent operating satellite based navigation systems that
provide precise positioning and timing services. From their technical
prescription, the RNSS are similar to the GNSS, divided into the standard
operational segments, the main difference being that the reception area of

45
See Current planned global and regional navigation satellite systems,
supra n. 16, 35.
46
Bring the World and China to Your Doorstep, China Satellite Navigation
Office Beidou, June, 2012, www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/pres/copuos2012/tech-
07.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014.
47
See UNIDROIT 2010 Study LXXIX – Preliminary Study, March 2010, 6.
48
See Current planned global and regional navigation satellite systems,
supra n. 16, 38; Bring the World and China to Your Doorstep, supra n. 46, at 11.
49
See Beidou Navigation Satellite System Signal in Space Interface Control
Document (Test Version); www.beidou.gov.cn/attach/2011/12/27/2011122
73f3be6124f7d4c7bac428a36cc1d1363.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
50
See Report on the Development of Beidou (Compass) Navigation Satel-
lite System (V1.0), www.beidou.gov.cn/attach/2011/11/29/20111129206
1d0391c074ed0bee7493617237c88.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
51
The official Beidou website does not provide an English translation;
further comment is therefore not possible. See www.beidou.gov.cn/, last accessed
15 January 2014.
52
See Report on the Development of Beidou (Compass) Navigation Satel-
lite System (V1.0), supra n. 50.

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the system is regionally limited. This means that there is a lower number
of satellites and ground stations. Many countries which have installed
RNSS see these as a cost-effective alternative to the current major GNSS
systems, as independent implementation and operation are possible.

10.2.3.1 Beidou-1
The Beidou-1 system, also referred to as Beidou Navigation Satellite
Demonstration System, is a preliminary regional satellite-based naviga-
tion system, which has been extended to become the Beidou-2/Compass
or Beidou Navigation Satellite System.53 The Beidou-1 system was
installed in the year 2000 and its signal has been publicly accessible
since 2003.54
The system consists of three satellites in a geostationary orbit. As with
the current Beidou-2 system, it provides a civil and an authorized service,
with a short message service included in the latter.55 The Chinese
government holds the ownership of the system and provides the funding.
However, most of the Beidou-related documents are not available for
public viewing, although various official documents regarding the Beidou
system as well as the latest report are listed on the official Beidou
website, along with other policy statements.56

10.2.3.2 The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS)

The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is a Japanese RNSS, which
can operate independently but also function as a GPS augmentation
system. The initial system consists of three satellites in a highly elliptical
orbit (HEO) and was expected to become operational as of 2013.57
In relation to its funding, the Japanese government tried unsuccessfully
to establish a basis of collaboration between the private and the public
sector. The current structure foresees private involvement, but not in the
form of a PPP as originally envisaged.58 The key organisation of the
QZSS system is the Satellite Positioning Research and Application

53
See ibid.
54
See www.dragoninspace.com/navigation/beidou.aspx, last accessed on 15
January 2014.
55
See Report on the Development of Beidou (Compass) Navigation Satel-
lite System (V1.0), supra n. 50.
56
See http://en.beidou.gov.cn/beidoupolicy.html, last accessed 15 January
2014.
57
See www.navipedia.net/index.php/QZSS, last accessed 16 April 2014.
58
For further details see www.crcsi.com.au/Research/1-Positioning/1-11-
Japanese-QZSS, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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568 Handbook of space law

Center (SPAC), which carries out the main governmental task by

interacting with the academic, industrial, research and other procuring
parties.59 The Japanese Basic Space Law (2008) established the strategic
Headquarters for Space Policy, which supervises the QZSS programme.60

10.2.3.3 The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), which is to
offer its services over the broader area of the Indian subcontinent,
launched its first satellite in July 2013 and is scheduled to become fully
operational by mid-2015.61 The system will consist of seven geo-
stationary satellites and provide a standard and a precision service.62 The
system will be funded by the Indian government and is currently
developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The
budget proposals for the Department of Space for 2013–2014 have been
formulated under the framework of Decade Profile 2010–2020 and the
Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012–2017). The formulation of an Indian
Satellite Navigation Policy to facilitate the growth of satellite-based
navigation applications is also to be pursued.63

10.2.4 GNSS Augmentation

The GNSS augmentation systems, which increase the accuracy and

availability of the actual GNSS, originally emerged against the backdrop
of augmenting the US GPS system, as it was the only fully operational

59
See www.space.mict.go.th/activity/doc/aprsaf15_19.pdf, last accessed 16
April 2014.
60
However, the law constituted only a preliminary stage for the Japanese
Basic Plan for Space Policy (2009), which further promotes the commercial
utilization of space. For the Japanese Basic Plan for Space Policy, see
www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/utyuu/basic_plan.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
For further information on the programme see also www8.cao.go.jp/space/
english/pdf/nationalspacepolicy.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014.
61
See also www.isro.org/scripts/futureprogramme.aspx, last accessed 16
April 2014.
62
For more detailed technical information, see www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/
icg/2008/expert/2-3.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014.
63
Outcome Budget of the Department of Space, Government of India,
2013–2014, www.isro.org/pdf/Outcome%20budget2013-14.pdf, last accessed 15
January 2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 569

system at that point in time.64 Augmenting the GPS system became

necessary for a variety of reasons, one of which was the civil demand for
a more precise GPS signal than was available under its degraded public
service. The GPS signal with the SA limitation would provide for a
location with a horizontal accuracy of about 100 metres. In order to
implement the GPS system in the civil aviation sector, as well as in the
surveying and the agricultural sector, the GPS signal had to be refined to
increase its precision to an expedient level.65
On the technical side of the GNSS augmentation systems, a distinction
has to be made between Ground-Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS)
and Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS). Both make use of
the Differential GPS method, allowing accurate positioning through fixed
ground stations that deliver a corrected GNSS signal to the receiver.66
The main difference between SBAS and GBAS lies in the use of
satellites as relay stations in the case of the former, and in the coherent
expansion of range of signal coverage.67
The impact of augmentation systems on considerations relating to
liability is discussed further below.

10.2.5 Ground-Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS)

The various Ground-Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) provide

extremely high accuracy through a network of terrestrial ground stations
that are installed regionally.68 Safety-critical tasks, such as air traffic or
precision surveying, are the most common areas where GBAS are

64
See Informal Consultation Meeting, Third party liability for Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), UNIDROIT 2010 Study LXXIX –
Preliminary Study, March 2010, at 9.
65
See H. Dodel & D. Häupler, Satellitennavigation (2004), 219.
66
See ibid.
67
See R. Prasad & M. Ruggieri, Applied Satellite Navigation Using GPS,
GALILEO and Augmentation Systems (2005), 82. GNSS signal corrections are
necessary to compensate any deliberate limitation of accuracy, and also to avoid
unintentional errors of the GNSS signal by force majeure. These errors can result
from unpredictable solar activities that lead to ionospheric effects. Any alteration
of the transmitted time that changes in proportion to the satellite’s velocity
according to the theory of relativity can lead to a distortion of the signal. See also
P.W.L. van Barneveld, O. Montenbruck & P.N.A.M. Visser, Differential Iono-
spheric Effects in GPS Based Navigation of Formation Flying Spacecraft,
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [German Space Operations Centre
(GSOC)], 2004.
68
See Dodel & Häupler, supra n. 65, 219.

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570 Handbook of space law

utilized. In order to achieve such a high accuracy, the GBAS ground

stations transmit a revised GNSS signal to the receiver, located within the
reception area. Depending on the system, the accuracy may vary from
less than three metres69 up to a few millimetres;70 this depends mainly on
the degree of delay in the localization process; in other words, the faster
the localization information has to be received, the more inaccurate it
will be.
Annex 10 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation contains
provisions governing the standards to be maintained for augmentation
systems used in aviation.71

10.2.5.1 The Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS)

The Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) is a real-time GPS
augmentation system, which is commonly implemented in areas sur-
rounding major airports in the United States. The system provides
incoming as well as departing aircraft with accurate positioning data that
coincide with ICAO standards.
Although the ICAO standards provide an excellent technical regulatory
framework for the incorporation of GNSS into the field of aviation, they
have not been developed to fulfil all the requirements needed for the
various tasks undertaken by GNSS applications. They are not therefore
primarily suited as the principal regulatory regime for this segment.
Developing GNSS-dedicated system rules and requirements could be one
way towards enabling a safe utilization of GNSS services that are
integrated and certified for the aviation sector. However, this would
require a common line of approach to be put forward by the GNSS
service providers and implemented, if its adoption by the air carriers and
ICAO is to be ensured.

69
For the accuracy of EGNOS, exemplary for SBAS, see http://egnos-
portal.gsa.europa.eu/discover-egnos/about-egnos/benefits, last accessed 16 April
2014. See further infra, § 10.4.3.
70
Accuracies in the range of millimetres are found in post-processing
services, such as the HGHPS. For more information, see Dodel & Häupler, supra
n. 65, 226.
71
Annex 10, Chicago Convention, supra n. 42, contains requirements for
GBAS regarding the system’s accuracy, continuity, availability and integrity.
Additional specifications concerning performance and functions of GBAS can be
found under 3.7.3.5.1/3.7.3.5.2 of the International Standards and Recommended
Practices and Procedures for Air Navigation Services, Annex 10, Aeronautical
Telecommunications, Vol. I, Radio Navigation Aids; 6th edn., July 2006.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 571

Technically the system’s range is limited to a 45 km radius, which

allows for landing and take-off augmentation only. The supervision of the
system is carried out by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).72

10.2.5.2 The Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS)

The Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) are a network of
ground stations, which transmit a corrected highly accurate GPS signal.
The system is supervised by the US National Geodetic Survey (NGS),
however, the system’s structure is composed of a loose network of over
200 organisations that provide and maintain all of their respective CORS
equipment. Hence, the NGS does not operate the individual site(s) and
does not consider itself as the primary verifier of a site’s data quality.73
The CORS enables the NGS to take highly precise measurements,
through a post-processing method, in surveying the sector. The data
measurements are made publicly accessible for scientific purposes.74

10.2.5.3 The Nationwide Differential GPS System (NDGPS)

The Nationwide Differential GPS System (NDGPS) was devised as a
system enabling the US public to make use of the GPS’s open service, while
still degraded by Selective Availability. It covers the main US roads and
waterways and, unlike the CORS, provides a real-time GPS correction
signal. The NDGPS is mainly funded by the US Department of Transporta-
tion75 and operated by the US coastguard on behalf of the DOT.76

72
Various reports are available online relating to the details of LAAS
operations. Some are submitted in response to FAA development contracts, see
e.g. M.F. DiBenedetto, Review of Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS)
Flight Inspection Requirements, Methodologies, and Procedures for Precision
Approach, Terminal Area Path, and Airport Surface Guidance Operations,
Technical Memorandum OU/AEC 07-01 TM15689/2-1, www.faa.gov/air_traffic/
flight_info/avn/flightinspection/onlineinformation/pdf/tm_07-01_laas_final.pdf,
last accessed 15 January 2014.
73
Guidelines for New and Existing Continuously Operating Reference
Stations, www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/CORS_guidelines.pdf, last accessed 16
April 2014.
74
For more information on the CORS, see www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS/, last
accessed 16 April 2014.
75
The main regulation outlining the operating and financial structures is
Public Law 105-66, of 27 October 1997; 111 Stat. 1425, www.navcen.uscg.gov/
pdf/ndgps/ndgpsESC/backgroundDocuments/Public%20Law%20105-66.pdf, last
accessed 15 January 2014.
76
For organizational structures and concrete budget spending, see
www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=ndgpsMain, last accessed 16 April 2014.

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10.2.5.4 The Satellite Positioning Service (SAPOS)

The German Satellite Positioning Service (SAPOS) is a project led by the
Working Committee of the Surveying Authorities of the States of the
Federal Republic of Germany (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Vermessungsver-
waltungen der Länder der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, AdV) together
with the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Develop-
ment (Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung). The
system generates and transmits GPS correction data for cadastre and
survey purposes.
One of the reasons behind the implementation of SAPOS was to
comply with the legal obligation of those administrative bodies to
provide an adequate infrastructure for the German surveying sector.77 It
served the purpose of improving terrestrial navigation, by increasing the
limited accuracy of GPS, which, due to its former Selective Availability
restrictions,78 was insufficient for road navigation purposes.
The infrastructural network of SAPOS contains over 270 ground
stations, which utilize the GPS as well as GLONASS systems, and it
covers the entire territory of Germany.79 Three main services are pro-
vided by SAPOS, with distinct specifications (see Table 10.1).

Table 10.1 SAPOS services, overview

HEPS EPS GPPS

Method Real-time Real-time Post Processing

Accuracy-horizontal 0,01 – 0,02 m 0,5 – 3 m ≤ 0,01 m
Accuracy-vertical 0,02 – 0,03 m 1–5m 0,01 – 0,02 m
Unit 1 minute - 1 minute
SAPOS
0,10 € 150,- € p.a. 0,20 €
cost per unit

Source: SAPOS Präzise Positionierung in Lage und Höhe Prospekt (www.sapos.de/pdf/

SAPOS_Prospekt+.pdf).

77
Legal obligations that make the general modernization of surveying
methods compulsory, are not made on federal, but on Länder (state)-level. E.g.
for the Land Nordrhein-Westfalen the obligation is stipulated in § 4 Abs. 1,
DVOzVermKatG NRW. Further information can also be found at the website of
the Institut für Geodäsie und Geoinformation, http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/2012/
2784/2784.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014, at 28.
78
See Dodel & Häupler, supra n. 65, 222.
79
See www.sapos.de/pdf/SAPOS_Prospekt+.pdf, last accessed 16 April
2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 573

10.2.6 Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)

This section focuses on the major governmental systems, such as WAAS,

EGNOS, Beidou, MSAS/QZSS, and GAGAN. Satellite-Based Augmen-
tation Systems (SBAS) consist of a network of ground stations and a
constellation of one or more satellites in a geostationary or geosynchro-
nous orbit80 (see Figure 10.4).
The SBAS generally follow the same methodology utilised in GBAS,
namely, the Differential GPS (DGPS). Similar to the GBAS, the SBAS
receives the GPS signal on the ground and uses this data to compute a
corrected signal. The main difference between the systems lies in the
transmission of the corrected signal. The GBAS sends the corrected
signal directly to the end-users’ receiver, while the SBAS sends its
corrected signal via communication satellites to the receiver. Due to the
shorter range of reception, the GBAS needs a comprehensive network to
cover a specific region, while SBAS can operate with a lower number of
ground stations.81 The relative advantage of each system depends on the
circumstances of exploitation. While major airports utilise Ground-Based
Augmentation Systems, such as LAAS, due to their superior accuracy,
the SBAS are often used while the aircraft is in flight and GBAS signals
are not receivable.

10.2.6.1 The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)

The US Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) is an SBAS that
provides regional coverage over the North American continent. Under the
supervision of the FAA, the system was developed to increase the
accuracy of the GPS, as well as ensure integrity, that is, a notice of
malfunction, in the case of a signal error, by default.82 Similar to and also
compatible with other SBAS, the system functions by receiving and

80
The EGNOS and GAGAN SBAS utilize geostationary communication
satellites, while the QZSS and WAAS system have geosynchronous orbiting
satellites. For more information, see Dodel & Häupler, supra n. 65, 220.
81
For detailed technical descriptions concerning the GBAS and SBAS, see
Bhatta, supra n. 4, 187–98.
82
Other technical regulations, such as the requirements for system accuracy,
integrity, continuity and availability for the intended operation are further
specified in Annex 10, Chicago Convention, supra n. 42. However, as these
regulations are primarily of a technical nature, they do not replace a clearly
structured liability scheme. Despite its status as a predominant means of
navigation, GNSS regulatory aspects lack a unifying international convention.
This leaves various essential legal questions largely unanswered; cf. International
Standards and Recommended Practices and Procedures for Air Navigation

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574 Handbook of space law

Source: EGNOS-Portal (http://egnos-portal.gsa.europa.eu/discover-egnos/about-egnos/

what-sbas).

Figure 10.4 Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems overview

correcting GPS signals and transmitting them, together with a signal to
ensure its integrity, via an Inmarsat satellite to the receiver.83 The system
financing is provided by the US Department of Transportation.84

10.2.6.2 The European Geo-stationary Navigation Overlay System

(EGNOS)
The European Geo-stationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS)
represents the European counterpart to the US WAAS. The system covers
the broader European continent and, just like the WAAS, complies with
the ICAO standards. This service therefore complies with the prevailing
technical standards of the aviation APV-I (Approach with Vertical Guid-
ance) requirements, as defined by ICAO in Annex 10 … .85

Services, Annex 10, Aeronautical Telecommunications, Vol. I, Radio Navigation

Aids; 6th edn., July 2006.
83
See Dodel & Häupler, supra n. 65, 232.
84
For further information concerning the WAAS funding, see www.gps.gov/
policy/funding/2012/, last accessed 16 April 2014.
85
See International Standards and Recommended Practices and Procedures
for Air Navigation Services, Annex 10, Aeronautical Telecommunications, Vol.
II, Communication Procedures including those with PANS status, 6th edn.,
October 2001.

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EGNOS contains three services:86 an Open Service, a Safety-of-Life

Service, and the EGNOS Data Access Service, EDAS. The Open Service
is publicly accessible and free of charge, while the Safety-of-Life Service
will only be accessible with a certified EGNOS receiver. The most recent
service is the EGNOS Data Access Service, a commercial service
providing access to EGNOS ground-based data, in other words access to
the information collected by EGNOS’s ground stations; unlike the
EGNOS Safety-of-Life Service, all liabilities are disclaimed for the
EDAS.87
The EGNOS system was developed by ESA together with the Euro-
pean Commission and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air
Navigation (Eurocontrol).88 The EGNOS system is owned and funded by
the European Commission and vicariously operated by the European
Satellite Services Provider (ESSP) until 2021.89

10.2.6.3 The MTSAT Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS)

The MSAS is a Japanese Satellite-Based Augmentation System with
many technical similarities to the WAAS and EGNOS system. The
system utilizes two geostationary Multifunctional Transport Satellites
(MTSAT); the acronym MSAS is derived from MTSAT Satellite Aug-
mentation System.
MSAS provides an air navigation service for aircraft in flight by
augmenting the GPS signal, and offers a bilateral communication service.

86
The specific objectives of EGNOS and its services are regulated by Art.
2(5), Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24. For the three EGNOS services
see http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/satnav/egnos/edasx/index_en.htm, last
accessed 15 January 2014.
87
For specific information on the EGNOS Data Access Service, see
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/satnav/egnos/files/edas-sdd_en.pdf, last ac-
cessed 15 January 2014.
88
See Agreement between the European Community, the European Space
Agency and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation on a
European Contribution to the development of a global navigation satellite system
(GNSS) (hereafter Tripartite Agreement), Luxembourg, done 18 June 1998,
entered into force 18 June 1998; OJ L 194/16 (1998). The details on EGNOS
organizational structures contained in Regulation 683/2008, supra n. 27, on the
further implementation of the European satellite navigation programmes
(EGNOS and Galileo) have been replaced by Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24.
89
The ESSP structures can be seen at www.essp-sas.eu/egnos_in_operation,
last accessed 16 April 2014; and further information on the contract between the
GSA and ESSP can be found at www.gsa.europa.eu/news/long-term-stability-
egnos-secured, last accessed 16 April 2014.

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The MSAS is funded and owned by the Japanese government.90 As the

Multifunctional Transport Satellites are also used for climatic analyses,
they are operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency’s (JMA) Meteoro-
logical Satellite Center (MSC).91

10.2.6.4 The GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN)

system
The Indian GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system is
an SBAS, expected to become operational in 2014.92 The system will
consist of two geostationary satellites and one Master Control Center
(MCC). The programme’s development is conducted by the Airport
Authority of India (AAI) together with the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO).93
Satellite Navigation
Systems

GNSS-1 GNSS-2

Core Augmented Core GNSS Regional GNSS

GNSS GNSS

GPS GLONASS
Galileo Modernized GNSS-1 Compass QZSS Beidou-1 IRNSS
SBAS GBAS

Modernized GPS Modernized GLONASS

EGNOS WAAS MSAS GAGAN

LAAS NDGP CORS SAPOS

Source: Revised version of the organogram of the contemporary satellite navigation

systems based on that found in B. Bhatta, Global Navigation Satellite Systems Insights to
GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass and Others (2010), 189.

Figure 10.5 Overview of the contemporary satellite navigation systems

90
See Dodel & Häupler, supra n. 65, 231.
91
For more detailed information on the organisational structures of MSAS,
see the MSC website at http://mscweb.kishou.go.jp/remark/greeting.html, last
accessed 15 January 2014; as well as the MTSAT website www.jma.go.jp/jma/
jma-eng/satellite/operation.html, last accessed 16 April 2014.
92
See www.aai.aero/public_notices/aaisite_test/faq_gagan.jsp, last accessed
15 January 2014.
93
For more information on the GAGAN organizational structure, as well as
programme planning, see ISRO website, at www.isro.org/scripts/future
programme.aspx?Search=gagan#Satellite, last accessed 16 April 2014.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 577

GAGAN is primarily constructed for civil aviation purposes and will

be interoperable with other SBAS systems. The funding for the GAGAN
programme has been approved by the Indian Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs.94 The system has completed its final testing phase and
aims to complete and certify the system, in accordance with APV 1.0
requirements towards the end of 2014.95

10.3 LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE USE OF GNSS IN THE

TRANSPORT SECTOR
The legal implications deriving from the use of GNSS are on a par with
those involving other inherently dangerous or complex technical systems;
the primary focus is on whether liability can arise for damage caused as
a result of GNSS malfunction, or failure of the Signal in Space (SiS), and
if so, on whom the liability falls. The increase in civilian use of GPS, as
well as the development of the dedicated GNSS systems described in the
first part of this chapter, has led to discussions as to whether there should
be a dedicated GNSS legal regime that includes provision for any
liability arising out of its operations. As yet, no final proposals have been
forthcoming.96 This point is taken up again at the end of the chapter.
This section now looks at the legal principles which, in the absence of
any uniform liability system or model law for GNSS, might be consid-
ered as providing a legal basis for GNSS-induced claims for loss. While
GNSS failures are likely to be rare, a system failure, with all its
imponderables, cannot be fully discounted. Any unplanned interruption in
GNSS services may have potentially hazardous consequences. GNSS is
primarily deployed in transport-related activities, involving the safety of
persons, where safety of life is of paramount concern.

94
See www.medianama.com/2013/01/223-indias-navigation-service-gagan-
to-launch-in-2014-funding-use-cases/, last accessed 15 January 2014.
95
See http://theflyingengineer.com/flightdeck/gagan-indias-first-step-to-a-
future-air-navigation-system-fans/, last accessed 11 September 2014.
96
See supra, nn. 47, 64. The subject of a Convention for Third Party
Liability for GNSS remains on the Working Agenda of UNIDROIT as Item No 8,
May 2013; see www.unidroit.org/english/governments/councildocuments/2013
session/cd92-08-e.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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10.3.1 GNSS as Global Public Systems and the Theory of ‘No

Cause’

Each of the GNSS systems discussed at the beginning of this chapter

offers the particular service on a different basis. Whether the services are
public and free of charge, whether there are issues of government
immunity towards the operator, and whether the system requires compul-
sory service operator liability insurance, are all issues to be addressed for
each separate GNSS system owner and regulator. The only regional
GNSS that openly addresses the question of liability is the EU Galileo
GNSS; the remaining regional systems do not (yet) cater for liability
regimes. As independent public structures, there is no one supranational
regulatory authority or interface responsible for their operations.
Consequently, there is no general answer as to whether liability may
arise for GNSS failures. This rather depends on the system in use and the
parties in question. Indeed, there may well be valid legal and policy
reasons for (not) introducing such specific liability rules. The law relating
to GNSS, beyond its structural governance under national or regional
rules of public law, is therefore best described as still being in its early
stages.
Some eminent scholars have expressed opinions, in what is best termed
a ‘utilitarian’ view, of the use of, as well as the potential liability for,
GNSS systems. According to this view, GNSS systems create benefits
across all nations through their global signal coverage; however, ‘the
distribution of benefits’ brought about by GNSS should not be seen as
granting both a right to particular benefits, and a duty to make good any
damage suffered in the course of its use under the relevant provisions of
the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention.97 While Article I of
the Outer Space Treaty stipulates that ‘exploration and use of outer space
… shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries,

97
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967);
resp. Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects
(hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29 March
1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST
2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971).
Cf. F. Lyall & P. B. Larsen, Space Law: A Treatise (1995), 404.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 579

irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development’,98 the

right to commercial or SAR GNSS services should not be seen as
including a corollary right to compensation in the case of damage. This
perspective has found little attention to date. It is a reminder that
technical systems support progress, but at the same time that not all
systems, such as those governing radio signals, are constructed so as to
include legal rights.99

10.3.2 Applicable Law and Forum

Given its global nature, any failure or interruption in GNSS services

causing losses to persons or property may affect a vast group of people.
By virtue of the technology deployed, such damage or loss may take
place beyond national borders or outside the individual regional GNSS
system.100 Like all accidents or mass damage scenarios – these are likely
to be the most probable type of damage arising from a GNSS failure –
there may be competing interests and locations for bringing claims for
compensation. Connecting factors relating to GNSS accidents can range
from the location of the damage (lex loci delicti, lex loci commisi)101 to

98
Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 97.
99
This was in part influenced by the structure devised for the LORAN-C
signal transmission network. This is a long-range terrestrial radio signal naviga-
tion system that was previously in general use in a variety of states, such as the
United States and Canada. Its origins date back to the Second World War.
Various European states still belong to the network. However, its functions have
been largely overtaken by GPS; see further infra, § 10.5.2.
100
For details of the interoperability planned between GPS and Galileo, see
www.gps.gov/policy/cooperation/, last accessed 15 January 2014. Art. 29, Regu-
lation 1285/2013, supra n. 24, on the implementation and exploitation of Galileo
provides for further international agreements with third states to be concluded
according to Art 218, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, supra n.
33. This will include any further issues of interoperability.
101
Lex loci delicti denotes the law applicable to where the damage occurs
and not where it was caused, which is denoted by lex loci commisi; see the effect
of Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the law
applicable to non-contractual obligations, No. 864/2007/EC (hereafter Rome II),
of 11 July 2007; OJ L 199/40 (2007); by which the European Union opted for
the lex loci delicti, the law of the place where the damage takes place, as the
applicable rule of law; for further details, see L.J. Smith & C. Doldirina,
Jurisdiction and Applicable Law in Cases of Damage from Space in Europe –
The Advent of the Most Suitable Choice – Rome II, 66 Acta Astronautica (2010),
239–44. Under Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of
17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations, No. 593/2008/EC

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580 Handbook of space law

the location of ground receiver stations.102 The court hearing the action
has to decide which law applies to the substance of the claim; this may
not be the law of the forum (lex fori).103
In such a cross-border case, rules of national private international law
determine which law forms the basis for the claim.104 In order to
determine which law has to be applied by the court, ‘key’ factors relating
to the type of claim are examined (so-called ‘qualification’ of the legal
obligation).105 Legal obligations may exist by virtue of a statute; they
may arise by virtue of a duty under contract or a duty imposed by the law
of tort (negligence or fault-based liability). Generally, national rules
determine the qualification and thereafter, which substantive law is to be
applied to the international dispute. In addition, added complexities may
arise where a case relating to the same issue comes before various
different courts. In such a case, the doctrine of lis alibi pendens may be
relied on to stall a decision on the claim until such time as the primary
competent forum is established; this avoids diverse decisions relating to
one and the same case.106

(hereafter Rome I); OJ L 177/6 (2008), the law applicable to cross-border

contracts has been unified across the European Union for the various specified
categories of contracts, insofar as the parties have not otherwise reached
agreement on this.
102
The principle of lex rei sitae or the law relating to the location of property
can be relied on to establish the law that is to be applied to the property in
question, such as duties pertaining to ownership, as well as a basis to found a
domestic court’s jurisdiction in that country.
103
For an overview of international private law conventions harmonizing the
law applicable to cross-border disputes, as well as the details relating to possible
strategic selection of forum known as ‘forum shopping’ see e.g. Cheshire, North
& Fawcett, Private International Law (14th edn., 2008). For details of inter-
national private law conventions to which the United States is a signatory, see
www.state.gov/s/l/c3452.htm, last accessed 15 January 2014. It is not possible to
replicate here all national private international rules or national codes of
procedure to be applied by courts in the event of disputes involving claims with
foreign law elements.
104
See e.g. Art. 4, Rome I, supra n. 101, according to which the parties’
autonomous choice of law, when contained in a binding choice of law clause, is
given priority in cases of breach of contract.
105
A general overview of the legal considerations involved in this exercise
can be found in U. Drobnig & C. von Bar, The Interaction of Contract and Tort
and Property in Europe (2004).
106
For an overview of the use of anti-suit injunctions and the role of lis alibi
pendens, see e.g. Cheshire, North & Fawcett, supra n. 103. For the position in
Europe, see Arts. 21–23, Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 581

Much work has been undertaken on a sector-specific basis to unify the

conflicts of laws rules arising in cross-border disputes and it is not
possible to replicate these efforts within this work. International conven-
tions or rules of unified law provide for sector-specific solutions.107 The
main conventions governing damage arising within the various transport
sectors that might be affected by GNSS malfunction are mentioned
further below.108
The introduction of a uniform law regulating rights and duties for
GNSS could be a concerted response to such potential legal conflicts,
notably by stipulating the applicable law. Much has already been said
about the subject, as yet with no final, wholehearted support for its
introduction. Nevertheless, beyond reducing the types of conflicts
between legal systems in cross-border disputes through regional harmon-
ized solutions, the current absence of uniform law governing GNSS is a
first indication that the consensus required for such a convention may not
be easily reached.

10.3.3 Basis of Liability

Liability for GNSS damage arises insofar as there is a legal rule imposing
liability and a defendant on whom the burden or duty to compensate falls
in law.109 In the absence of such a rule of law, there can be no liability.

the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Brussels

Convention), Brussels, done 27 September 1968, entered into force 1 February
1973; OJ L 299/32 (1972); as replaced by Arts. 27–30, Council Regulation on
jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and
commercial matters, No. 44/2001/EC (Brussels I), of 22 December 2000; OJ L
12/1 (2001).
107
Some notable examples of the work of the Hague Conference on Private
International Law (HCCH), are e.g. the Convention on the Law Applicable to
Products Liability, The Hague, done 2 October 1973, entered into force
1 October 1977; 1056 UNTS 192, www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=
conventions.text&cid=84, last accessed 16 April 2014; the Draft Hague Prin-
ciples on Choice of Law in International Contracts, 2013, www.hcch.net/index_
en.php?act=text.display&tid=49, last accessed 15 January 2014, are currently
under discussion. See further S. Symeonides, The Hague Principles on Choice of
Law for International Contracts: Some Preliminary Comments, 61 American
Journal of Comparative Law (2013), 873–99.
108
See further infra, §§ 10.6–10.9.
109
Sector-specific convention law has led to the creation of various strict
and/or limited liability systems that provide for compensation on a non-fault
basis, where damage is inherent in the system’s own dangers. Cf. L.J. Smith & A.
Kerrest de Rozavel, The 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage

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582 Handbook of space law

The grounds on which a non-sector-specific GNSS liability claim might

be formulated were first analysed during the early development of the
GNSS systems.110 Previous reviewers have discussed the heads of claim
that could arise between the parties involved in the GNSS operations;
these relate to the legal obligations between GNSS system designers,
manufacturers, operators, through to direct or indirect users, as well as
unrelated third parties.111 Other studies focused on the effect of national
statutes governing state or government immunity from suit, which, in the
case of the US GPS system, clearly exclude any obligations to pay
compensation for its operations.112
GNSS services are supplied across a chain of providers and inter-
mediaries through to the end-user. Depending on the GNSS system
involved, duties of care may arise through the imposition of statutory
obligations, through parties’ contractual duties or other tort-based duty of

Caused by Space Objects, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe,

B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 124–6, esp. §§ 97, 102.
Technological advancement within systems that leads to increased risks and
inevitable danger to the public may lead to the introduction of a strict system of
liability and compensation. For the types of risks and structure as well as
rationale of all the leading risk-based liability systems, see G. Brüggemeier,
Substitution of Liability through Private and Social Insurance, in Common
Principles of Tort Law; a Restatement (2004), 267–74; G. Brüggemeier,
Haftungsrecht im dritten Millenium; Struktur, Prinzipien, Schutzbereich (2006).
110
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Liability for Global Navigation Satellite
Services: A Comparative Analysis of GPS and Galileo, 30 Journal of Space Law
(2004), 129–67.
111
See ibid.; H.G. Bollweg, Initial Considerations regarding the Feasibility
of an International UNIDROIT Instrument to cover Liability for Damage Caused
by Malfunctioning of Global Navigation (Satellite) Systems, 13 Uniform Law
Review (2008), 917–34; S.M. Carbone & M.E. De Maestri, The Rationale for an
International Convention on Third Party Liability for Satellite Navigation Sig-
nals, 14 Uniform Law Review (2009), 35–55; U. Magnus, Civil Liability for
Satellite Based Services, 14 Uniform Law Review (2009), 935–69.
112
Claims raised in the United States relating to transport or airline incidents
may reflect the consequences of the non-liability rule of the US GPS and
therefore have a different legal basis. For a detailed treatment of the case law
relating to all aspects of liability under US law, including air law and cases
decided under those rules, see J.M. Epstein, Global Positioning System (GPS):
Defining the Legal Issues of its Expanding Civil Use, 61 Journal of Air Law &
Commerce (1995–6), 262–71; see also infra, § 10.4.4.

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care, the breach of which may lead to the imposition of a duty to

compensate for losses suffered.113
The group of persons most likely to be negatively affected by GNSS
malfunction – generally known as third parties – does not fall within the
category of those towards whom the law always imposes a legal duty.
Consequently, there is no general duty in law or under current GNSS
operations to provide compensation for third-party loss; third parties are
generally members of the community who, by virtue of proximate
circumstances or location at the time damage is suffered, are negatively
affected. In the absence of an existing legal duty towards the injured
party or parties, whether or not third party, no liability can be deemed to
exist. The subject of third parties is discussed further below.114

10.3.3.1 The relevance of the law of outer space and liability for
GNSS
The international law of outer space provides the initial structure for
assessing liability for outer space activities, and with this, for GNSS
malfunctions that cause damage or loss. The two UN treaties governing
international state liability for damage caused by a space object are the
Outer Space Treaty115 and the Convention for International Liability for
Damage caused by Space Objects, known as the Liability Convention.116
Neither treaty directly addresses liability for damage caused by GNSS
failure; the qualification for international state liability arising under the
treaties is that damage is caused by a space object of a launching state.117
These treaties do not provide a general rule of liability – in contrast to
state responsibility – for outer space activities.
In the context of GNSS liability, the question whether a space object
includes not only its component parts, as specifically mentioned in
Article I(d) of the Liability Convention, but whether signals form part of

113
While courts are often willing to extend the borders of legal concepts
through case law, they are not legislators and cannot therefore introduce liability
for GNSS without parliamentary legislation; see L.J. Smith, Grounding Space,
Liability for Commercial Space Operations, in Liber Amicorum Gert Brüg-
gemeier (Eds. A. Colombi Ciacchi et al.) (2009), 607–28; further Brüggemeier,
Haftungsrecht, supra n. 109.
114
See infra, § 10.3.6; also L.J. Smith, Facing Up to Third Party Liability for
Space Activities – Some Reflections, in Proceedings of the Fifty-Second Collo-
quium on the Law of Outer Space (2010), 255–64.
115
Supra, n. 97.
116
Ibid.
117
See Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 97; Arts. I, II, III, Liability
Convention, supra n. 97.

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584 Handbook of space law

the functions of satellite as a space object, has given rise to discussions

about its definition.118 Liability can only arise where damage results from
a space object; during the drafting of the space treaties, there was an
implicit understanding that both the space object and the damage caused
would be both material and physical.119
The status of a Signal in Space (SiS), however, has not been authori-
tatively determined in law. The description of a space object under the
UN space treaties does not provide a comprehensive definition, nor does
it leave much room for damage resulting from immaterial sources; the
definition of damage itself refers back to that caused by a space object.120
This makes for an important distinction between liability for damage
from a space object, and liability for space activities. The latter may not
fall within the scope of the Liability Convention provisions, but rather
under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, which imposes a duty of
responsibility on states to authorize and continually supervise their
national space activities.121
As with all legal rules, the principles of interpretation offer assistance
in establishing the scope and purpose of the treaties in question.122
Firstly, the Outer Space Treaty and Liability Convention were drafted
with a view to creating a binding system of effective compensation for
victims of accidents resulting from space activities. Secondly, GNSS
liability relates to the effects of signal failure, that is, damage resulting
from the failure or interruption of an impulse deriving from radio-
transmitted signals. The question of GNSS liability is therefore linked to
whether the intangible parts of a space object’s operations fall within the
definition of a space object. Signals are an integral part of the satellite
operations, without which a space object cannot operate.

118
See A. Kerrest de Rozavel & L.J. Smith, Article VII, in Cologne
Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
Vol. I (2009), 134, § 26; Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 109, 12–17, esp.
§ 107.
119
See Kerrest de Rozavel & Smith, supra n. 118, 139–40, esp. § 51.
120
See Smith & Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 109, 129, esp. § 113.
121
See further on this also supra, § 2.3.1.1.
122
Arts. 31–33, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, done 23
May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS 331; UKTS 1980
No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969); govern the
interpretation of treaties. Although the Convention entered into force after the
Outer Space Treaty, this does not otherwise affect the current interpretation of its
provisions; see Kerrest de Rozavel & Smith, supra n. 118, 140, § 51. Art. 33,
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, goes so far as to exclude the
interpretation of a treaty provision that would lead to an absurd result.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 585

The focus at the original time of treaty negotiations was clearly on

compensation for any damage resulting from the operations of a satellite;
this led to the introduction of what remains a unique system of absolute,
unlimited liability. Physical damage caused by tangible parts of a space
object was of foremost concern. The delegations present at the treaty
negotiations were certainly aware of what outer space operations
entailed; it cannot, therefore, be said with absolute certainty that damage
from intangible electromagnetic waves was not to have been included
within the interpretation of the Liability Convention; the main concern
for the drafters at that stage was to ensure an adequate victim-orientated
compensation mechanism for satellite-induced damage.123
It is suggested that the question be approached pragmatically and in
the light of the Liability Convention’s purpose, which was to ensure
sufficient compensation for victims in cases of damage to property and
persons on earth. In the absence of international agreement, a shift away
from this approach is not called for.124 Further support for this line of
approach can be found in two specific provisions; firstly, the issue of
damage in orbit, which is governed by Article III of the Liability
Convention and requires fault to impose liability; this is discussed
below.125 Secondly, the provisions of Article VII of the Liability Conven-
tion provide that national mechanisms apply to damage that takes place
within a national, as opposed to international, context: Article VII
excludes space-related damage to own nationals from the ambit of the
international space liability regime, leaving settlement of the issue to
rules of national law. Leaving national issues to the national forum, while
not a response to all open questions, could certainly serve as a way
forward for introducing dedicated regional, as opposed to international,
GNSS liability regimes.

123
See e.g. F. Tronchetti, Fundamentals of Space Law and Policy (2013),
10–1.
124
Judge Manfred Lachs indicated that the time may come when further
action is required to develop responses to further questions of space law that may
arise; see M. Lachs, The Law of Outer Space (2011), 130: ‘Looking at the body
of law now existing, it could not be claimed that the rules adopted attained all the
required objectives. … Some of them demand further elaboration, while others
are not free of imprecision, or leave room for improvement. Some others
constitute a bare scaffolding for the law of tomorrow, indications or merely
inklings of the trend to be followed’ (emphasis added).
125
See infra, § 10.3.3.2.

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10.3.3.2 Absolute liability and fault liability in international space

law
The Liability Convention distinguishes between two categories of liabil-
ity, linking the type of state liability (absolute liability or fault liability) in
each instance to the location of the damage. The Convention’s distinction
between absolute liability for damage on earth under Article II and fault
liability for damage in orbit under Article III causes irritation;126 the
requirement of fault is seen as weakening what was designed as an
effective victim-oriented compensation mechanism in the face of the
increasingly hazardous environment of outer space: this distinction was
not drawn in the precursor Outer Space Treaty.127
However, the Liability Convention is the lex specialis of international
liability for space activities and its provisions have prior application.128
This means that states parties must demonstrate which, if any, of the
parties was at fault as between themselves. In the absence of fault, Article
III provides no remedy and leaves parties to bear their own losses.129
Article II of the Liability Convention, in contrast, imposes absolute
liability (that is allowing for no exception)130 for all damage occurring on
the earth or to aircraft in flight and caused by the space object.

10.3.3.3 Measure of fault

With the increase in space traffic and resulting volumes of space debris,
collision and damage in orbit are pending probabilities giving rise to
concern about the loss of space-based services. While the GNSS satellites
are not located in the orbits most affected by debris, debris impact
remains a genuine concern and one that has not abated since the

126
Cf. A. Kerrest de Rozavel, Liability or Damage Caused by Space
Activities, in Space Law: Current Problems and Perspectives for Future Regu-
lation (Eds. M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 91–111.
127
Cf. Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 97, providing that ‘each State
Party from whose territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally
liable for damage to another State Party to the Treaty or to its natural or juridical
persons by such object or its component parts on the Earth’.
128
The liability established under Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 97,
requires proof of fault, if ‘damage (is) being caused elsewhere than on the
surface of the Earth … by a space object’.
129
In particular the Iridium-Cosmos in-orbit crash in 2009 highlighted the
need for clear rules relating to after-life management of space craft, in particular
of dysfunctional satellites.
130
Art. II, Liability Convention, supra n. 97, provides: ‘A launching State
shall be absolutely liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space
object on the surface of the Earth or to aircraft in flight.’

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Iridium-Cosmos in-orbit collision in early 2009. Although the collision

opened up separate complex aspects relating to the Liability Convention
– it involved one and the same ‘launching State’, thereby preventing a
claim from being lodged under the Convention – the measure of fault to
be assessed under Article III of the Convention remains an unknown
quantity.131 A finding of fault is a challenge, particularly in the absence
of recklessness and without rules imposing a clear space traffic manage-
ment regime. While there has been a clear response in the form of
imposition of technical standards by national licensing authorities such as
the various debris mitigation guidelines, failure to comply with these
technical standards has not yet been put on a par with negligence or fault,
and this would have to be determined by the panel called on to hear
liability claims.132
In the absence of a binding system of space traffic management, GNSS
system failures that are caused by loss of Signal in Space (SiS) or other
malfunctioning are unlikely to be seen as constituting fault.133 They may
be easily attributable to the atmospheric conditions relating to space
weather or other cause of force majeure.
Article I(a) of the Liability Convention defines damage as ‘loss of life,
personal injury or other impairment of health, or loss of or damage to
property of States or of person, natural or juridical’. Under international
law, restitutio in integrum is the measure of damages due. This allows for
damnum emergens (loss suffered) and damnum lucrans (gain or profit) to
be claimed.134 There has been much discussion over the years about the
extent of the above in relation to damage from outer space. Loss must be
causally linked to the damage caused by the space object, whether
material or immaterial, and it must not be too remote.135 The underlying
principle of Article III of the Liability Convention governing damage in
orbit is that, in the absence of fault, each party carries its own losses.
This is the principle on which outer space activities are undertaken,

131
Cf. also supra, § 2.3.3.4.
132
See on the Cosmos-Iridium collision also further infra, § 13.2.1.
133
See Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), Space
Debris Mitigation Guidelines, 2002 (revised 2007), IADC-02-01; Space Debris
Mitigation Guidelines of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space, International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space,
UNGA Res. 62/217, of 22 December 2007; UN Doc. A/RES/62/217, http://
orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/library/Space%20Debris%20Mitigation%20Guidelines
_COPUOS.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
134
See Kerrest de Rozavel & Smith, supra n. 118, 141, § 55.
135
See ibid.

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insofar as damage does not occur on earth or aircraft in flight. It plays a

significant role in commercial practice. Given that damage in orbit in the
case of commercial operators is likely to lead to loss of service and with
this, financial loss, commercial satellite operators rely on solutions
provided by insurance. In other words, some general consideration has to
be given to the issue of whether GNSS activities automatically lead to
findings of liability.

10.3.4 Obligations in Tort and Contract as an Alternative Basis for

GNSS Liability

Since GNSS services are based on state or regionally organized struc-

tures, issues of public law and security arise during the licensing process.
Delivery of the GNSS services involves agreements between the author-
ities, operators and users levels at various levels, with corresponding
obligations mapped out in contract, as well as/or duties in tort. The final
(end-)user, particularly if not a commercial actor, generally only has a
contractual relationship with the retailer of the signal receiver and not
with the selected GNSS operator.136 In the absence of further contractual
duties, direct claims in contract between the individual end-user against
the system operator are therefore likely to be declared inadmissible. This
leaves tort law as the only basis for imposing duties of care under the law
of negligence.
While duties of care have been implemented under transport conven-
tion law, where GNSS is used in navigation, none of these conventions
has sought to regulate the specific situation of GNSS-related (as opposed
to general transport-related) damage. These conventions cater for the
rights of injured air transport passengers and those taking other forms of
transport. The sphere of tort law may, however, still force the issue of
GNSS liability onto a different level. The increasing number of GNSS
applications in our modern lives and the interdependency of communi-
cation systems with other tools that may suffer malfunction highlight the
complexity of the technical infrastructures on which society relies and
the extent to which the public has grown to take these for granted.
Largely because of the prior accessibility to GPS, there is a tendency to
regard GNSS as a self-understood, gratuitous public service.
Tort law is a tool for managing risk and drawing a legal balance
between those operating technical operating systems and those who rely

136
Considerations relating to manufacturer’s liability were one of the reasons
leading to a revision of the original Galileo GNSS consortium in which European
industry was involved; see further infra, § 10.4.

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on them. It involves considerations surrounding notions of duties of care

(such as legal protection and compensation in case of failure) towards
identifiable groups. While the utilitarian view is that GNSS services
entail neither rights nor obligations for those involved, there has been no
clear legal discussion – beyond that in the United States137 – as to
whether a general duty of care should be owed to the public at large
relating to GNSS use. Governments as owners of the GNSS systems have
not addressed this openly. The balance to be drawn at a regulatory-policy
level generally restricts the recognition of duties in law towards the world
at large, in the absence of a specific legal interest. This debate may,
however, continue in the context of increasing GNSS-integrated tech-
nology and applications.

10.3.5 Clear Limitations to Claims Based on Manufacturer’s and

Product Liability

Damage for outer space activities is, as a matter of principle, not

regulated by either manufacturer’s or product liability; outer space
activities take place in space and are subject to the legal regime that
apply to it. Cases may, however, be brought before domestic courts for a
variety of strategic reasons, not least because the time limit of one year
for raising a claim under Article X of the Liability Convention is
relatively short.138 Unlike most international rules, outer space law does
not require domestic remedies to be exhausted prior to raising a
state-to-state claim.139 Nevertheless, and particularly because of its
special status and the privileged position of GPS, litigants may look for
alternative bases for compensation in front of domestic courts.140

137
See further infra, § 10.4.4.
138
Art. X, Liability Convention, supra n. 97, provides in relevant part: ‘1. A
claim for compensation for damage may be presented to a launching State not
later than one year following the date of the occurrence of the damage or the
identification of the launching State which is liable. 2. If, however, a State does
not know of the occurrence of the damage or has not been able to identify the
launching State which is liable, it may present a claim within one year following
the date on which it learned of the aforementioned facts; however, this period
shall in no event exceed one year following the date on which the State could
reasonably be expected to have learned of the facts through the exercise of due
diligence.’
139
See Art. XI(1), Liability Convention, supra n. 97.
140
GPS has a privileged status by virtue of the government’s role as signal
provider along with the doctrine of state immunity and the government contrac-
tor defence, see further infra, § 10.4.4. Claims can be brought before domestic

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Claims for damages have been brought as flanking moves under the
heading of manufacturer’s liability, largely in the United States, relating
to losses resulting from aircraft crashes, and on occasion, under the
generally strict law of product liability regarding defective terrestrial
receivers. This is in part related to the absence of any liability for GPS. In
contrast to the inherent defect which is the basis of product liability
claims, manufacturers’ duties of care under tort law form the basis for
claims for loss or damage, where these result from negligent failures on
the part of the manufacturer with regard to the manufacturing process
itself; all manufacturing involves a high degree of compliance with
technical procedures and safety requirements. On proof of fault or
negligence within the production process, very often in conjunction with
alleviated rules of proof, the manufacturer may be held liable for the
consequences of its negligence.141
Product liability allows any of those involved in the process of
manufacture or sale (through to the retailer) to be joined in a suit for
damage resulting from an inherent defect. The inherent defect is the key
to such liability claims: undetectable by the human eye, a statistical
probability inherent within the manufacturing process, and appearing
only at the moment of damage to the detriment of the victim. Claims
based on either manufacturer’s or the broader-based product liability
(negligence, strict liability or breach of warranty) may also offer a
convenient means of overcoming the statutory limits on compensation
provided within the various international (transport) conventions that are
discussed further below.142 The resort to national courts under domestic
law has already been experienced in the field of oil pollution, for which
distinct, but limited, international and national liability regimes are in
operation. Claims before domestic courts may have the advantage of
overriding any limitation of operator liability.143

tribunals under Art XI(2), Liability Convention, supra n. 97; see further L.J.
Smith, Collisions in Space: Perspectives on the Law Applicable to Damages
Arising from Space Objects, in Proceedings of the International Institute of
Space Law 2012 (2013), 230–42.
141
On the development of manufacturer’s liability, see e.g. G. Brüggemeier,
The Foundation of Liability, in Common Principles of Tort Law; a Restatement
(2004), 43–90.
142
See further infra, §§ 10.6–10.9.
143
The various international conventions that impose limited operator liabil-
ity such as in the field of nuclear energy generally exclude limitations on liability
in the case of recklessness or gross negligence. The limitation of liability
provisions can be challenged, as is currently the case in the US Gulf of Mexico
BP deep water oil spill in relation to damages for oil pollution; the Fifth Circuit

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The early law of product(s) liability developed through case law as a

means of overcoming the rule of privity in contract and continues as a
strict form of liability in many jurisdictions, covered by statute law.144 It
offers automatic remedies on a non-fault basis in the case of inherent
defects leading to damage. The law imposes strict duties of care in the
face of risks that manufacturers and others in the supply chain are better
equipped to bear.145 Causation and damage must be shown, but the
circumstances of the defect are not for the plaintiff victim to prove. In
both categories, the risk to society is deemed to be fairly spread across
the various sectors of manufacturers, producers and consumers.
Claims under these headings in the space sector will be limited in
practice. While it is conceivable that claims be brought in relation to
navigational receiving equipment or ‘hardware’ that relies on GNSS
software, they will not provide a reliable basis for claims based on error
or malfunction of SiS.

10.3.6 GNSS and Third-Party Liability

Third parties are seen in law to be ‘innocent bystanders’, persons who are
not immediately involved in the activities leading to the damage, be this
by contract or other rules of law, but who belong to a group that is

appeals court in New Orleans in January 2014 has upheld the lifting of initially
curbed settlements to enable full-scale compensation; see http://louisiana
record.com/news/u-s-5th-circuit-court-of-appeals, last accessed 15 January 2014.
144
US products liability is state, not federal, law and comprises claims based
on negligence, strict liability and breach of warranty; see Brüggemeier, supra n.
141, 89–93; further www.law.cornell.edu/wex/products_liability, last accessed 16
April 2014. The EC Product Liability Directive (Council Directive on the
approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the
Member States concerning liability for defective products, 85/374/EEC, of 25
July 1985; OJ L 210/29 (1985)) as amended by Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 85/374/EEC on the
approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member
states concerning liability for defective products, 1999/34/EC (Product Liability
Directive as amended), of 10 May 1999; OJ L 141/20 (1999) relates only to
products designed for personal and not commercial use, dealing with damage
caused by products to consumers and not commercial users. It forms part of the
law of all member states in the European Union, and some non-EU states such as
Australia have adopted its provisions in what is seen as a form of legal
borrowing. Strict liability is imposed for inherent product defects.
145
The two most famous cases relating to the duties of care in law are
McPherson v Buick Motors, 161 A.D. 906 145 N.Y.S. 1132 1914 N.Y.; and
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 32.

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nevertheless negatively affected.146 The development of rules of law

extending the duty of care to the group of third parties has been a
response of the general law, notably through case law, and extended by
certain statutory provisions and conventions.147 One of the major con-
cerns relating to the lack of a dedicated legal regime for GNSS is that the
group of users or those likely to be affected through GNSS operations
does not stand in any form of legal (tort or contractual) relationship to the
owners or operators of the systems themselves.
Even if damage is suffered by third parties, whether their legal
interests are deemed too remote to be covered by general duties of law
can only be addressed on a case-by-case basis. The definition of a third
party is a question of law; it is linked to the concept of a ‘neighbour in
law’, that is, a person or group which is not too remotely removed from
the location of the damaging incident and for whom the risk is within
contemplation or foreseeable.148 If a claim for damages for this group is
to be upheld, the prerequisites of causation and remoteness must be met.
The regional GNSS were initiated or supported by governments as
navigational systems available to the public. Some systems are offered to
commercial and private users alike, free of charge, while others offer
differing categories of use, depending on the specific service and user
community. With some exceptions relating to Galileo GNSS, the major
part of GNSS services is available free of charge. Third parties are only
catered for by the law within dedicated liability regimes.149 Currently,
this is the case only for those covered by transport conventions that
specifically include third parties.150 There has been concern that, among

146
Third parties are those not otherwise directly covered by contractual
relations. Case law extended the duty of care in law to include this group of
‘neighbours in law’ at the forefront of those protected by the law of products
liability, see Donoghue v Stevenson, supra n. 145. Nevertheless, without a
statutory basis, the group is not fixed, leaving litigation to settle the issue of ‘who
in law is my neighbour?’ as judicially explained by Lord Atkinson, in Donoghue
v Stevenson.
147
See e.g. Rome Convention on Damage Caused by Foreign Aircraft to
Third Parties on the Surface (hereafter Rome Convention), Rome, done 7
October 1952, entered into force 4 February 1958; 310 UNTS 182; ATS 1959
No. 1; ICAO Doc. 7364; further infra, § 10.6.4.
148
McPherson v Buick Motors, supra n. 145; Donoghue v Stevenson [1932]
UKHL 32, supra n. 145. See further, Smith, supra n. 114, 255–64.
149
See Smith, supra n. 114, 255–6.
150
Cf. e.g. infra, § 10.6.4.

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all those potentially suffering damage through the use of GNSS, the
category of third parties may therefore largely go without legal protec-
tion.

10.3.7 Liability Insurance

Liability insurance is a compulsory requirement in the authorization of

space activities in some, but not all states.151 Various forms of insurance
exist to cover the risks of outer space activities, from launch insurance
through to in-orbit insurance for space operations. Insurance coverage is
available to commercial operators, with coverage limited to the value
insured. The insured party’s liability towards third parties may be covered
insofar as an ‘all risks’ launch risk has been taken out, or within the
satellite ‘in-orbit insurance’, where cover is included. However, since
GNSS are largely operated as public systems, not all governments take
out insurance, operating on a self-insurance basis. There is currently no
standard insurance coverage for GNSS induced damage.152
Whether third-party liability insurance is taken out depends on the
particular business; in the telecommunications sector, it is standard
practice. Commercial satellite operators in particular ensure against
financial or economic loss resulting from signal interruption in orbit.
Risk and insurance for the space sector is largely conditioned by
contracts that have developed into standard practice over the years. This
relies heavily on waivers of recourse and hold-harmless agreements
between the contractual partners and industrials operating the services.
Parties, if at all, therefore seek to insure their own losses.
The lack of uniformity in national space insurance requirements and
the absence of practice for the GNSS community is such that liability,
certainly towards third parties, may be, but is not necessarily, covered by
insurance. Whether insurance can become a future solution for all GNSS
operators in regard to damage and third-party damage, is reverted to
again below.153 Some alignment in state practice could develop the
context of licensing of national space activities. In practice, commercial

151
While there is generally a compulsory insurance requirement covering the
launching phase, in-orbit insurance is not a prerequisite of all national space
laws; see summary of national liability insurance requirements in UK Space
Agency Consultation on UK Outer Space Act, www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency/
news-and-events/2013/Dec/government-response-to-osa, last accessed 15 January
2014; see further supra, § 3.3.2.3 and infra, Chapter 17.
152
See for liability insurance issues in greater detail infra, § 17.2.
153
See infra, § 17.2.2.

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solutions will look for a limited commercial liability insurance that is

capped to a specific level in proportion to the contract volume. This may
take into account any national liability guarantees that are in operation
under the law.

10.4 REGIONAL AND NATIONAL GNSS: LEGAL

ASPECTS

10.4.1 The EU Framework for Galileo GNSS

Galileo is the European Union’s own GNSS system (ground and in-orbit
segment) and was originally conceived as a PPP with the GNSS
Supervisory Authority (GSA), an EU agency, acting as its public super-
visory and licensing agency, originally under Regulation 1321/2004,
which has since been amended.154 Reorganization between 2006 and
2007 at that stage led to a revised governance and budgetary structure for
the Galileo project, which was first contained in Regulation 638/2008,
and now revised under the most recent Regulation 1285/2013.155 These
European regulations follow the legislative drafting approach of repealing
and replacing the predecessor rules, but activities sanctioned under earlier
legislation do not lose their validity.
Under the 2013 regime, the roles of the European Commission, ESA
and the GSA are clearly spelled out. The GSA acts as a selection and
accreditation authority for the GNSS operator and is responsible for
ensuring regulation and certification of all services and providers. Owner-
ship of the ground and in-orbit system is in the hands of the European
Union, accompanied by sector-related legal duties, including those gov-
erning the EU’s contractual and non-contractual liability for its opera-
tions. European secondary legislation contains further details of the
various phases of development, deployment and exploitation of Galileo
GNSS.

154
Council Regulation on the establishment of structures for the manage-
ment of the European satellite radio-navigation programmes, No. 1321/2004/EC,
of 12 July 2004; OJ L 246/1 (2004); now repealed. See further also e.g. supra,
§ 4.4.4.1.
155
The European Commission was encouraged by the Council in Regulation
683/2008, supra n. 27, to prepare a proposal for amalgamating the Galileo
management structure set out in Regulation 1321/2004 and Regulation 683/2008.
See the most recent Regulation on the responsibilities between the various
institutions, Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24.

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The provisions of Articles 340(1) and 340(2) of the Treaty on the

Functioning of the European Union respectively govern the contractual
and extra-contractual (tort or quasi-contractual) liability of the EU
institutions under EU law.156 Under Article 12(1) of Regulation 1285/
2013, the European Commission has the overall responsibility for the
Galileo and EGNOS programmes during the implementation and exploit-
ation phase, including the management and reduction of their inherent
risks. The exact conditions under which the European Union, as owner of
the systems and represented by the Commission may be held liable for
any GNSS-related injury, remain moot.
Firstly, Galileo is the first potentially hazardous system involving space
activities of which the European Union is the owner. Secondly, the GSA
is responsible for selecting and accrediting the Galileo services operator
in terms of the applicable procurement rules and laying down contractual
terms for the operator. The European Court of Justice case law on the
liability of the European Union has to date dealt with claims for damages
resulting from administrative failure and negligence, as opposed to
compensation for losses caused by malfunction or inherently dangerous
activities such as satellite operations. In this respect, there is little doubt
that the European Union is required to adhere to the rules of international
space law; the provisions on liability contained in the Outer Space Treaty
having in the meantime acquired the status of binding rules of customary
international law.157

10.4.2 EU Primary and Secondary Law of Liability and the Law of

Outer Space

Liability of the European Union under international space law is a

complex subject; the Union has a personality separate from that of its
member states under Article 47 of the Consolidated version of the Treaty
on European Union. Because of its unique legislative and judicial
structure, the Union views itself as a community of states rather than an
international governmental organization. Neither the member states nor
the European institutions have immunity from suit, at least under EU law.
The European Union has competences in outer space that are shared with
its member states.158 The European Union’s own resources have not yet
been subjected to a major disaster claim.

156
See also Regulation 683/2008 supra n. 27.
157
See Kerrest de Rozavel & Smith, supra n. 118, 135–6, § 32.
158
The European Union has a so-called parallel space competence under Art.
4(3), Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union, supra n. 25, in

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With a legal personality separate from that of its member states, the
question of subsidiary liability of EU member states is now extraneous.
Ownership of the Galileo GNSS is with the European Union; liability,
not only in terms of Regulation 1285/2013 but also in terms of general
law, falls on the European Union. The Union is a subject of international
law and bound by its rules, including the rules of customary international
law.159 Ownership, as in this case, of potentially dangerous systems, falls
within the concept of dominus sentit casum. According to this principle,
owners are responsible for the consequences in law pertaining to the
risks, dangers or hazards of their own property or the property which is
under their control. In the deployment of the Galileo system, inter-
national law may also impose specific obligations of due regard that
dangerous systems do not negatively impact on other states.160
The initial incompatibilities between the system of international space
law and EU law relate primarily to the concepts involved under the UN
space treaties; these operate with the notions of ‘launching State’ and
‘space object’. Unlike ESA, which has collaborated as the contracting
and operative authority on its behalf, the European Union has not made a
declaration of acceptance of the provisions of the Liability Convention.161
In terms of the space treaty structures, the European Union therefore
poses a challenge to the concept of a ‘launching State’. Technically
speaking, it qualifies as having procured a launch; the funding for the
Galileo system is fully allocated by the EU budget, without any supple-
mentary member state contribution. Nevertheless, the European Union
remains a group of states and, if anything, a sui generis ‘supranational’

conjunction with Art. 189, Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
supra n. 33; see further supra, § 4.4.3.
159
The case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has
consistently confirmed the Community’s and thereafter the Union’s adherence to
the principles of international law; see Case 22/70 ERTA 1971 ECR 263; 1/94
Opinion of Court, 1994 ECR I-05267; Case 366/10, ATAA v Secretary of State
for Energy, judgment of the ECJ 21 December 2011, ECR 2011-I-0000.
160
Cf. Corfu Channel Case (United Kingdom v. Albania) (Merits), Inter-
national Court of Justice, 9 April 1949, I.C.J. Rep. 1949, 4.
161
The European Union cooperates under an earlier Framework Agreement
(Framework Agreement Between the European Community and the European
Space Agency, Brussels, done 25 November 2003, entered into force 28 May
2004; OJ L 261/64 (2004); 53 ZLW 89 (2004)) with ESA, which has been
extended and continues in force until 2016. See on the possibility under the
Liability Convention, supra n. 97, to accept relevant rights and obligations as an
intergovernmental organization supra, § 2.3.3.8.

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state-like entity – where following Article II of the Registration Conven-

tion it is a ‘launching State’ that should register its satellites.
The European Union operates out of Brussels, so that Belgium as
principal state would, in the absence of registration by ESA, be required
to undertake this step.162 Although the Union as a non-state remains
unique within the structure of the outer space treaties, particularly as it
does not have exclusive competence for space activities – it shares this
with its member states further to Article 189 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union as discussed – the applicability of
international law to the European Union, be this customary or treaty law,
cannot be discounted.

10.4.3 EGNOS and Galileo Risk Management

As the foregoing shows, the extent to which the European Union can be
held liable for non-contractual and contractual damage under the general
principles of European law relating to responsibilities for its inherently
dangerous satellite navigation system Galileo, and how the secondary
provisions of the Galileo Regulation interact with primary EU treaty law
relating to non-contractual liability, are complex. The issue relates to the
position of the European Union as owner-operator of a space system for
which liability may arise independent of fault. In addition, no separate
provision has been made for a strict GNSS liability regime, nor has there
been any formal declaration of the European Union’s acceptance of the
duties under the Liability Convention.163 The matter has, however,
already been approached in practice at the contractual level between the
European Union and, at the time of writing, the current EGNOS operator.
Under the terms of the operator contracts, the operator is required to take
out limited liability insurance coverage, to the same value as has become

162
Information as to registration of the Galileo satellites is not currently
available.
163
See also supra, n. 161. The conclusion of international agreements by
the European Union is governed by Art. 216, Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, supra n. 33. The CJEU can issue opinions in law on the
compatibility of such agreements with EU law under Art. 218(11), Treaty on
the Functioning of the European Union, see e.g. Opinion ECJ 1/94 re WTO
Agreement [1994] ECR I-5267, 5283, in relation to the accession by the
European Union to the WTO.

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standard within ESA states and is prescribed by the French Law on

Space Operations.164

10.4.4 GPS as Special Case under US Law

While the United States, like other states that have ratified the Liability
Convention, is liable for objects for which it is the ‘launching State’, this
Convention is not a source of government liability for GPS services.165
The position of ‘national’ GNSS liability in the US context is therefore
relevant to the discussion on GNSS liability.
The reasons for excluding liability for US GPS are twofold; firstly,
given its historical development, GPS was originally a military-based
system that was subsequently released for public use in 1986. It was
made clear at that stage as a matter of policy that no responsibility could
arise for a system that had been originally used by the US military.
Secondly, under the Federal Tort Claims Act166 and Suits in Admiralty
Act,167 separate statutes governing claims, including those at sea, there
can be no liability against the US government168 where the government
contractor defence is available.169 This holds those operating in the name
of the government free from civil suit.

164
The level of compulsory liability insurance requirement under the French
Law on Space Operations is € 60 million, as fixed by law; see Arts. 16–17, Law
on Space Operations (Loi relative aux opérations spatiales; hereafter French Law
on Space Operations); Loi n° 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008; unofficial English
version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 453; also supra, § 3.3.3.1.
165
See discussion supra, § 10.3.3.
166
For further information on the origins and operations of the Federal Tort
Claims Act of 1946 as amended (28 U.S.C.), see P.F. Figley, Understanding the
Federal Tort Claims Act; A Different Metaphor, http://digitalcommons.wcl.
american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=facsch_lawrev. See fur-
ther Epstein, supra n. 112, 243.
167
Suits in Admiralty Act, 46 App. U.S.C. 741.
168
Cf. von der Dunk, supra n. 110, 129–67.
169
The government contractor defence was laid down in Boyle v United
Techs Corp., S. Ct 487 U.S. 500 [1988]. For details of how the commercial
sector operates risks management, see generally P.L. Meredith, Space Insurance
Law, a Special Focus on Satellite Launch and In-Orbit Policies, 21–4 The Air &
Space Lawyer (2008), 13–5.

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10.5 ALTERNATIVE HEADS OF LIABILITY:

CERTIFICATION AND AUGMENTATION

10.5.1 The Role of Certification in GNSS Liability

Certification is a process by which a regulating authority, governmental

or private, determines whether systems are of the requisite safety and
security standard to perform a certain task. Where systems are safety
critical, most countries require some form of certification.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)170 and the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA)171 are the certifying authorities for the
European and US civil aviation sectors respectively. Any aircraft manu-
facturer, as well as any type of aircraft and its components, has to be
certified by these entities according to the regulations in force; the aim is
to reduce the critical risk of an aviation accident to a minimum.172 All
GNSS devices utilised as navigational means in an aircraft are required to
undergo a certification process. As utilization of GNSS by an aircraft is
considered to be safety-critical, any disturbance or malfunction of the
signal would then be automatically transmitted as such to the receiver.173
It is not clear whether a certification authority can be made liable for
damage or loss in the context of its certification functions. Of the claims
that have been brought against the aviation authorities in the United
States based on wrong certification, most have been unsuccessful; courts
have denied claims brought against the federal government in its regula-
tory capacity under the Federal Torts Claims Act of 1946, as amended.
This statute is now contained in Title 28 of the US Code under the

170
EASA was established by Regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a
European Aviation Safety Agency, No. 1592/2002/EC, of 15 July 2002; OJ L
240/1 (2002), as later amended by Regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a
European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC,
Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC, No. 216/2008/EC, of
20 February 2008; OJ L 79/1 (2008).
171
The FAA was established by the Federal Aviation Act, 23 August 1958,
Public Law 85-726; 72 Stat. 731.
172
For more specific information on EASA and FAA, see www.easa.
europa.eu/the-agency/easa-explained/what-we-do, last accessed 16 April 2014;
resp. www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/, last accessed 16 April 2014.
173
For more information concerning GPS integrity on aircraft, namely, the
Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM), see http://www.dlr.de/kn/en/
desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-7569/12812_read-32120/, last accessed 16 April 2014.

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chapter governing tort claims procedure and provides only a limited

waiver from the United States’ immunity from suit.
It may allow claims for damages against government agencies insofar
as a private person would, in the same circumstances, be liable under the
law as a result of negligence or wrongful act.174 The reasoning is based
on the so-called ‘discretionary function exception’, by which courts
ensure that litigants do not use the civil process to bring claims against
government for so-called ‘spot-checking’, as opposed to carrying out full
certifications. The authority has a discretionary function in its role as
certifier and the law does not provide for a presumption of negligence on
its part. The language of the courts is clear in refusing to grant claims
against the public authority, the effect of which would effectively lead to
the Federal Torts Claims Act being rewritten or opening the way to
challenge government immunity ‘through the back-door’.
In Europe, there have been single isolated cases, notably in Germany,
relating to liability of a certification authority but not in the context of
GNSS; a successful action was once brought in Germany relating to
motor vehicle certification.175 While interesting, the case is not indicative
of a clear rule of law or trend. There, a gas engine was certified as
properly installed, but later found to have been on the verge of exploding.
Cases that lead to death and loss in the context of high technology,
industrial or transport systems generally lead to public investigations in
which technical and state prosecuting authorities collaborate to establish
facts and evidence. If there is evidence of failure to comply with statutory
procedures, such a case may go to trial under public safety law. However,
this type of public investigation and statutory prosecution should be
distinguished from civil claims seeking compensation for loss in dam-
ages.
The foregoing is compounded by the lack of an international agree-
ment concerning certification for previous radio-navigation systems, such
as the LORAN-C.176 Many international agreements were established for
LORAN-C to ensure interoperability, covering similar aspects to the

174
See 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b); United States v. Varig Airlines, 467 U.S. 797
(1984).
175
This case related to a German motor vehicle and was heard by a local
appeal court, OLG Hamm, under reference number 11 U 112/08, DAR 2010,138,
see www.justiz.nrw.de/nrwe/olgs/hamm/j2009/11_U_112_08urteil20090617.html,
last accessed 16 April 2014.
176
See B. Kaniasuk, General Legal Issues Concerning GNSS and the Impact
on Developing Countries, thesis at the Institute of Air and Space Law, Faculty of
Graduate Studies and Research, McGill University, Montreal, December 1997.

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contemporary GNSS interoperability agreements. However, these all

omitted provisions for liability and certification. The scope of appli-
cations and technical possibilities of GNSS have altered substantially
from the original capabilities of radio-navigation. As a result, there is no
historical model from which to construct a regulatory prototype for a
fool-proof GNSS regulatory system that includes provisions on liability.

10.5.2 Impact of Augmentation on Liability

GNSS operations may be supported technically through further so-called

augmentation systems, which have been referred to previously within the
present chapter.177 The effect of these is to increase the precision and
accuracy of GNSS. The augmentation system EGNOS was developed as
a precursor and integral part of what was subsequently developed within
the Galileo GNSS System.
It is unclear whether the existence of augmentation systems impacts on
issues of liability. Causation requires to be proven, irrespective of the
type of liability, whether absolute or fault based.178 In addition, it may
not necessarily be possible to determine which of the systems suffers or
contributes to the malfunction; whether it was the original GNSS or the
augmentation system. Such issues add to the complexity of proof in the
absence of a sector-specific strict liability regime.179
Developments are under way in the context of certification liability
within the European Union similar to those in the United States with the
FAA. The first EGNOS system was certified as operator of the system by
the French National Supervisory Authority (NSA), on behalf of EASA.180
As from 2014, EASA assumes competence as certification authority for
the European Union in this field. The provisions of European law
thereafter apply to any issue of liability.

177
Cf. e.g. supra, §§ 10.2.4–10.2.6; also n. 99.
178
Cf. Kerrest de Rozavel & Smith, supra n. 118, 141–2, §§ 56–58; Smith &
Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 109, 126–8, §§ 106–9.
179
The US courts have developed pragmatic approaches to apportioning
strict statutory liabilities for particular markets where proof of the company’s
market share is impossible; in the field of pharmaceutical liability, the so-called
‘market-share liability’ was introduced in Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories, 26 Cal.
3d 588 (1980).
180
For more information, see www.egnos-portal.eu/node/1911, last accessed
15 January 2014.

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10.6 CIVIL AVIATION: LIABILITY FOR

NAVIGATIONAL AIDS AND DEVELOPMENT OF
CNS/ATM SYSTEMS

10.6.1 Introduction

The civil aviation industry has traditionally been one of the most
regulated sectors of the economy, with ongoing concerns to improve its
security standards, as well as navigational means. With the growing
density of international air traffic, the International Civil Aviation Organ-
ization (ICAO) made its first attempt to analyse the benefits and
limitations of a GNSS implementation as navigational aid for civil air
traffic by establishing the Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) com-
mittee in 1983.181
The FANS committee was commissioned to review possible future
navigation systems from their technical, operational and institutional, as
well as economical perspectives, and to elaborate a recommendation to
enable a long-term projection of the potential development of these
systems, including satellite navigation.182 The evaluation of the satellite
navigation system as a navigational means for air traffic highlighted the
benefits of the system, and led to the development of the Communi-
cation, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM)
systems.183 The following section explains how these fit into the structure
of the main designated conventions governing aviation responsibilities
and liability.

10.6.2 Navigational Aids and the Chicago Convention

These CNS/ATM systems, which provide sufficient navigational aid, as

well as exchange the essential information between the pilots of the
aircraft and air traffic controllers, are based on GNSS systems and have
been implemented to meet the ICAO requirements prescribed in Article
44 of the Chicago Convention. This provision, the main foundation for

181
See J. Aimar, Improved Flight Operations and Efficient Use of Airspace,
Air Traffic Management Services, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group, Aero
Magazine No. 12, October 2000, 28, www.boeing.com/commercial/aero
magazine/aero_12/navigation.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
182
ICAO, Council – 110th session, ICAO Doc. 9527 – C/1078 C-Min 110 &
C-Min 110/9, 1983.
183
ICAO, Report of the Fourth Meeting of the Special Committee on Future
Air Navigation Systems, ICAO, Doc. 9524, FANS/4, Rec. 2/1, 1988.

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the establishment of navigational aids for civil air traffic on an inter-

national level, points out that the

aims and objectives of the Organization are to develop the principles and
techniques of international air navigation… so as to: (a) Insure the safe and
orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world; … (c)
Encourage the development of airways, airports, and air navigation facilities
for international civil aviation.184

Article 44 promotes the constant improvement of navigational means for

air traffic, encouraging the contracting states to implement a satellite-
based navigational system as a means of raising the safety levels.
However, the Chicago Convention in its Article 28 also entrusts the
contracting state with the responsibility over the navigational aid systems
within its airspace:

Each contracting State undertakes, so far as it may find practicable, to:

(a) Provide, in its territory, airports, radio services, meteorological services
and other air navigation facilities to facilitate international air navigation, in
accordance with the standards and practices recommended or established from
time to time, pursuant to this Convention.185

The dilemma which many states are facing is therefore that the most
advanced navigation system is one for which they are accountable,
responsible and possibly even liable in law, but one over which they do
not hold control.
Although satellite-based navigation systems were non-existent and
therefore not a part of the Chicago Convention’s original interpretation of
air navigation facilities, the Convention still constitutes the legal basis for
the contemporary navigational aid systems in the civil aviation sector.
This has also given rise to support for the need for an international GNSS
convention. Where a state is not able to provide the ‘highest practicable
degree of uniformity in regulations, standards’ as established through
Article 37 of the Chicago Convention, many common interpretations of
the Convention allow the states to delegate the implementation function
to another entity, including public or private operators. The responsibility
of the delegating state under Article 28, however, remains unaffected,
even though the state is not in control of the actual system itself.186

184
Art. 44, Chicago Convention, supra n. 42.
185
Art. 28, Chicago Convention, supra n. 42.
186
See F. Schubert, Emerging Issues for Air Navigation Services, Inter-
national Conference on Contemporary Issues, Skyguide, New Delhi, India, April

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10.6.3 ICAO and GNSS Liability: Recent Developments

In 1992 ICAO came to its preliminary conclusion concerning the

establishment of an international GNSS legal framework, indicating that
such a legal framework tailored to the demands of a satellite-based
system required some consideration. During the ICAO’s 28th legal
committee session, it further concluded that the CNS/ATM systems
correspond with the terms and conditions laid down in the Chicago
Convention.187
The ICAO’s Panel of Legal Experts on the Establishment of a Legal
Framework with regard to GNSS (LTEP) was involved in the elaboration
of a possible legal regime that contained general provisions concerning
liability options and certification processes.188 This subsequently led to
the preparation of a Charter on the Rights and Obligations of States
Relating to GNSS Services, established in the ICAO Assembly Resolu-
tion A32-19 in 1998.189 This emphasised the importance of accessibility,
continuity, availability, integrity, accuracy and reliability of the signal, as
well as the cooperation, but also the sovereignty of the states concerning
their responsibility for navigational aid systems. However, as this Charter
mainly focuses on the importance of accuracy, integrity and cooperation
among states, many issues concerning certification and liability were not
fully answered. ICAO’s recommendation within its Assembly Resolution
A32-20 concerning the establishment of ‘an appropriate long-term legal
framework to govern the implementation of GNSS’190 led to the estab-
lishment of the Secretariat Study Group (SSG).
The SSG was commissioned to elaborate a contractual framework,
which could serve as preliminary solution towards an international
convention. Nonetheless, the 36th ICAO Assembly rejected a final
convention framework, shifting the responsibility of the task to the

2008, www.mcgill.ca/files/iasl/C06-Francis_Schubert-Framework_for_GNSS.pdf,
last accessed 15 January 2014.
187
ICAO, Report of the 28th session of the ICAO Legal Committee, ICAO
Doc 9630-LC189, 1992.
188
ICAO, Statement of ICAO policy on CNS/ATM Systems Implementation
and Operation, ICAO Doc. LC/29 – WP/3-2, 1994.
189
Charter on the Rights and Obligations of States Relating to GNSS
Services, Resolutions Adopted at the 32nd Session of the Assembly, A32-19,
1998.
190
Preamble, 3rd para., Development and Elaboration of an Appropriate
Long-term Legal Framework to Govern the Implementation of GNSS, Resolu-
tions Adopted at the 32nd Session of the Assembly, A32-20, 1998.

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European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC).191 With the presentation of

a working paper,192 the European Civil Aviation Conference also intro-
duced a first draft, addressing a potential contractual framework, which
would involve public and private law agreements. This framework, listed
under Appendix B of the working paper, provides for a two-tier approach
including certification and liability on the one hand, as publicly regulated
matters, and specific contractual relations among stakeholders on the
other. There is currently no coherent liability structure for all levels of
GNSS services and a European framework for the certification of GNSS
systems is only now emerging.
The initial EGNOS augmentation system operated by the European
Satellite Services Provider (ESSP) from 2006 until 2013, a consortium of
seven European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP),193 was origin-
ally certified as system operator by the French National Supervisory
Authority (NSA), on behalf of the European Commission.194 In its
second phase of operations, the same consortium has been re-selected to
operate EGNOS for the European Union for a second term.195 The
current Galileo GNSS operator during the first phase of the Galileo
system is a consortium of operators, led by Germany.196 The next
incumbent is as yet unknown; at the time of writing, as the system
approaches completion, further procurement is about to start at the EU
level for the successor GNSS operator.197

191
ICAO, Assembly – 36th Session; Legal Commission Agenda Item 47:
Work Programme of the Organization in the Legal Field, Report on the
Establishment of a Legal Framework with regard to CNS/ATM Systems Includ-
ing GNSS; A36-WP/140 LE/7; see also Bollweg, supra n. 111, 917.
192
ICAO Doc. A35-WP/125, http://legacy.icao.int/icao/en/assembl/a35/wp/
wp125_en.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
193
For more information concerning the ESSP members, see www.essp-
sas.eu/company_structure, last accessed 15 January 2014.
194
For more information on the certification process of ESSP, see www.essp-
sas.eu/egnos_in_operation, last accessed 15 January 2014.
195
The award of the long-term operations of EGNOS from 2014 to 2020
went to the first incumbent, ESSP, see http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/
cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=6768&lang=de, last accessed 15 January 2014.
196
See Galileo: Signature of Major Contract Leading to Initial Services in
2014 European Commission, IP/10/1382, of 26 October 2010, http://europa.eu/
rapid/press-release_IP-10-1382_en.htm, last accessed 15 January 2014.
197
The procurement for the deployment phase of Galileo took place under
the provisions of Regulation 683/2008, supra n. 27, in conjunction with the then
applicable Financial Regulation. These provisions have since been repealed, see
supra, at n. 24. The procurement relating to the exploitation phase is now
contained in Regulation 1285/2013, supra n. 24, in conjunction with the new

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10.6.4 Air Law Liability Conventions

In the absence of a dedicated international GNSS convention, two main

international agreements provide the basis for compensation in the
context of damage to third parties resulting from a malfunctioning GNSS
signal that leads to an aircraft accident.
For the passengers on an aircraft, Article 17 of the Warsaw Conven-
tion198 provides, in the case of loss or damage, for compensation on a
fault-based liability. The Warsaw Convention was amended in 1999 on
the signing of the Montreal Convention, which brought in a two-tier
liability regime based on strict liability with an upper limit of 113,100
SDR,199 where ‘the damage is not due to negligence, or another wrongful
act or omission on the part of the Carrier, its officials or agents’.200 As a
result, damage resulting from a faulty GNSS signal in an airline context
would lead to compensation, the level of which would depend in turn on
whether there had been any error or fault.
In the case of third-party damage on the ground, the Rome Conven-
tion201 provides that ‘[a]ny person who suffers damage on the surface
shall, upon proof only that the damage was caused by an aircraft in flight
or by any person or thing falling therefrom, be entitled to compen-
sation’.202 In other words, the aircraft operator may be held strictly liable
for any damage to a third party on the ground. An exception for this
liability exists under Article 6 of the Rome Convention, if ‘the person

Financial Regulation, Regulation (EU, Euratom) of the European Parliament and

of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the
Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, No. 966/
2012, of 25 October 2012; OJ L 298/1 (2012); that repeals the previous Financial
Regulation, Council Regulation on the Financial Regulation applicable to the
general budget of the European Communities, No. 1605/2002/EC, Euratom, of
25 June 2002; OJ L 248/1 (2002).
198
Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International
Transportation by Air (hereafter Warsaw Convention), Warsaw, done 12 October
1929, entered into force 13 February 1933; 137 LNTS 11; 49 Stat. 3000; USTS
876; UKTS 1933 No. 11; ATS 1963 No. 18.
199
SDR is not so much a currency, as it is a claim to currency, implemented
by the International Monetary Fund; see www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/
sdr.HTM, last accessed 15 January 2014.
200
Art. 19(2)(1)(b), Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for
International Carriage by Air (hereafter Montreal Convention), Montreal, done
28 May 1999, entered into force 4 November 2003; 2242 UNTS 350; ICAO Doc.
9740; 48 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht 326 (1999), DCW Doc. No. 57.
201
Rome Convention supra n. 147.
202
Art. 1(1), Rome Convention, supra n. 147.

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Legal aspects of satellite navigation 607

liable proves that the damage was contributed to by the negligence or

other wrongful act or omission of the person who suffers the damage’.203
Article 12 of the Rome Convention goes so far as to say that the liability
is unlimited, if the claimant can prove that the operator of the aircraft
caused the damage deliberately. The existence of these provisions con-
tributes in part to the lack of follow-through regarding a further dedicated
GNSS regime.

10.7 GNSS AND THE MARITIME TRANSPORT

SECTOR

10.7.1 Introduction

The (private) maritime sector has used GNSS as navigational aid system
ever since the first GNSS signal became accessible for civil purposes.
The malfunctioning of a navigational aid system in the maritime sector,
similar to the aviation sector, could result in a major catastrophe. The
unpredictability of repercussions initially forced the International Mari-
time Organization (IMO),204 which constitutes the maritime counterpart
to ICAO, to adopt its ‘Maritime Policy for a Future Global Navigation
Satellite System (GNSS)’ in 1997.205
This policy was contained in the IMO Assembly Resolution A.860(20)
and provides basic operational and institutional requirements for GNSS
in the maritime sector. In its institutional requirements, it is stated that

[t]he future GNSS should have institutional structures and arrangements for
control by an international civil organization in particular representing the
contributing Governments [as] IMO itself is not in a position to provide and
operate a GNSS. However, IMO has to be in a position to maintain control

203
Art. 6(1), Rome Convention, supra n. 147.
204
The IMO was originally established as the International Maritime Con-
sultative Organization by the Convention on the Intergovernmental Maritime
Consultative Organization IMCO, Geneva, done 6 March 1948, entered into
force 17 March 1958; 289 UNTS 48; TIAS 4044; UKTS 1958 No. 54; Cmnd.
589; Cmd. 7412; ATS 1958 No. 5; the Title of Convention was amended to
‘Convention on the International Maritime Organization’ in 1975 with effect
from 22 May 1982.
205
IMO Assembly Resolution A.860(20), Maritime Policy for a Future
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), 20th session, Agenda item 9,
adopted on 27 November 1997.

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over … the application of internationally established, cost-sharing and cost-

recovery principles; and the application of internationally established prin-
ciples on liability issues.206

Thus, the Resolution points out the need ‘to provide ships with naviga-
tional position-fixing throughout the world for general navigation, includ-
ing navigation in harbour entrances and approaches and other waters in
which navigation is restricted’.207
With the approval of IMO Assembly Resolution A.915(22) on the
‘Revised Maritime Policy and Requirements for a Future Global Naviga-
tion Satellite System (GNSS)’208 in 2001, the former Resolution
A.860(20) was revoked. While the institutional requirements remained
unaltered, the IMO recommended ‘the development and use of integrated
receivers’209 in its operational requirements for the first time. These
integrated receivers could inform the operator of the vessel about a
potential error or malfunctioning GNSS signal.
With the increasing importance of GNSS as the main means of
navigation, IMO Assembly Resolution A.815(19) on a ‘World-Wide
Radio-Navigation System’210 was also revoked by IMO Assembly Reso-
lution A.953(23), which states that ‘the provision and operation of a radio
navigation system is the responsibility of the Governments or organ-
izations concerned’.211 It also lists in its appendix the operational
requirements concerning the recognition of the system.

10.7.2 GNSS Requirements under Maritime Conventions

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS

Convention, also addresses the issue of GNSS by requiring that ‘[a]ll
ships irrespective of size are required to be fitted with a GNSS

206
Ibid., 5–6.
207
Ibid., 1.
208
IMO Assembly Resolution A.915(20), Revised Maritime Policy and
Requirements for a Future Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), 22nd
session, Agenda item 9, adopted on 29 November 2001.
209
Ibid., § 3.11, 6.
210
IMO Assembly Resolution A.815(19), World-Wide Radio-Navigation
System, adopted on 23 November 1995.
211
IMO Assembly Resolution A953(23), World-Wide Radio-Navigation Sys-
tem, 23rd session, Agenda item 17, adopted on 5 December 2003.

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receiver’.212 Unlike other parts of the Convention, Chapter V on the

safety of navigation is generally applicable to all ships on all voyages.213
In addition to the foregoing developments in the safety of passenger
ships, IMO has adopted two treaties on liability and compensation in
connection with passenger claims. The 1974 Athens Convention estab-
lishes limits of liability for claims such as death and injury and loss or
damage to passenger’s property (luggage and vehicles).214 The 2002
Protocol to the 1974 Convention (though not yet in force) significantly
increases these limits and also introduces strict liability and compulsory
insurance in connection with passenger claims.215
The IMO Assembly, at its twenty-fifth session, adopted a resolution on
guidelines on voyage planning for passenger ships operating in remote
areas in response to the growing popularity of cruise ships sailing to new
destinations, some of which are at considerable distances from search
and rescue facilities. This new IMO initiative comes in the aftermath of
the adoption of guidelines for ships operating in Arctic-ice-covered
waters, by the Organization’s Maritime Safety and Marine Environment
Protection Committees in December 2002.

212
SOLAS V/19.2.1.6, § 11.1; International Convention for Safety of Life at
Sea (hereafter SOLAS Convention), London, done 1 November 1974, entered
into force 25 May 1980; 1184 UNTS 3, 1300 UNTS 391, 1408 UNTS 339, 1484
UNTS 442 & 1593 UNTS 417; TIAS 9700 & 10626; UKTS 1980 No. 46 &
UKTS 1983 No. 42; ATS 1983 No. 22; Annex 20 – Inspection and Survey of
Navigational Equipment, 11.1, https://mcanet.mcga.gov.uk/public/c4/solas/solas_
v/Annexes/Annex20.htm#eleven, last accessed 15 January 2014.
213
For more information about SOLAS, see www.imo.org/About/
Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-the-Safety-
of-Life-at-Sea-%28SOLAS%29,-1974.aspx, last accessed 16 April 2014.
214
Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and Their
Luggage by Sea (hereafter Athens Convention), Athens, done 13 December 1974,
entered into force 28 April 1987; UKTS 1987 No. 40; Cmnd. 6326; International
Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), I-229.
215
Protocol of 2002 to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of
Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974, London, done 1 November 2002,
not yet entered into force, www.gard.no/ikbViewer/Content/72411/Athens%
20convention%20compilation.pdf, last accessed 16 April 2014, 12–20.

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10.8 THE ROAD SECTOR AND AUTONOMOUS

DRIVING SYSTEMS

10.8.1 Introduction

Automatic systems, such as automatic sliding doors or artificial pace-

makers, have become commonplace in modern society, and the latest
form of technology, the autonomous system, is now emerging in various
fields of daily life. Not yet widely known to the public, markets are
rapidly evolving around the technologies of autonomous systems in
almost all industrial sectors.216 Their use ranges from medical assistance
systems (robots) through to advanced guidance weaponry.217
The main difference between the conventional automatic systems,
which are designed to perform one specific task usually in a repetitive
manner, and the autonomous systems is that an autonomous system is
able to react to a vast variety of external stimuli, leading to a complex
evaluation process within the system itself. This lets the system decide
how to best react in a specific situation. The increasing complexities in
the decision-making process, as well as the coherent range of possibil-
ities for such systems, are accompanied by various legal and ethical
questions.
As the technical complexity grows, so does the autonomy of the
systems, with greater autonomous responsibilities being shifted from the
human to the technical systems. Legal issues of responsibility and
liability for a system that carries out autonomous, automatic processed
decisions, in the absence of designated legal regimes providing for
automatic liability, remain subject to the law as it currently stands. This
means that the classic rules of contract, tort, manufacturer’s and product
liability apply to these processes.
Apart from existing statutory (strict) liability regimes for sectors such
as transport and dangerous goods, and in the absence of the case stated in

216
Final Report 2011, Robotics and Autonomous Systems Industry, The
Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), National Defense University,
Washington, 2011, 4, www.ndu.edu/es/programs/academic/industry/reports/2011/
pdf/icaf-is-report-robotics-autonomous-systems-2011.pdf, last accessed 15 Janu-
ary 2014.
217
For more information on the different applications, see also N. McCarthy
& L. Dopping-Hepenstal Freng, Are We Ready for Autonomous Systems? A
Look at Some of the Hopes and Concerns for Robotic and Autonomous
Technology, 45 Ingenia (Dec. 2010), www.ingenia.org.uk/ingenia/articles.aspx?
Index=635, last accessed 15 January 2014.

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favour, no further liability systems are presently under discussion. This

perspective is important when considering whether there is a need for a
GNSS third-party liability system.

10.8.2 Autonomous Systems and Automobiles

GNSS-guided autonomous road vehicles belong to the autonomous road

application systems that have since emerged. As with airlines, safety has
been a concern since the advent of the first motor vehicles driving on
public roads. Throughout the history of motorization, numerous inven-
tions have increased the safety of the occupants, by providing better
control over the vehicle, such as lighting systems, rear-view mirrors and
windscreen wipers. With the early introduction of automatic systems,
such as anti-lock braking systems, the basic principle of control maxim-
ization has been challenged by passing a portion of control, and with it
responsibility, on to an artificial system in order to increase safety. These
safety processes are themselves automatic. Not all developments, how-
ever automated, qualify the automated system for use. Applications are
under way for testing of positional aids, ranging from automatic landing
systems for aircraft to assistance for the disabled. However, the certifi-
cation and licensing process, particularly for those involved in transport,
is not fully developed. Society is far from relying on fully autonomous
vehicles that would depend solely on sensing and navigational infor-
mation. Nevertheless, there is a clear trend to include further automatic
technology as a driving aid, particularly with a view to increasing safety
and reducing human error to the maximum.

10.8.3 Structure of Automated Systems and Effect in Law

The contemporary structure of aid systems for vehicles is divided into

four sub-categories: (1) warning and information systems, which consist
of systems that do not take direct control over the vehicle, such as
conventional GNSS receivers; (2) assisted-driving systems, such as
automated headlight systems, which take control over one specific part of
the vehicle; (3) automated driving systems, which take control over the
main function of the vehicle for specific purposes, such as automatic
parking;218 and (4) a fully-autonomous driving system, which does not
require any interaction with the driver.219

218
See Technology, the Third Industrial Revolution, Economist, September
2013; also ‘Driverless’ Tests on Automatic Vehicles Undertaken for Volvo

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612 Handbook of space law

The implementation of GNSS as a navigational aid system is con-

ducted either actively or passively, meaning that GNSS can either operate
as an independent system, by giving directions to the car directly, thereby
exerting some control over the vehicle, or it can be implemented as an
informational system only, as has now become commonplace. Where the
GNSS receiver is used as an informational device, without having any
direct influence on the car itself, the driver remains ultimately respons-
ible in a case of accident; he retains control over the vehicle and does not
necessarily rely or depend on the information it provides.220 A more
complex legal situation is created where the computed GNSS signal has a
direct influence on the vehicle, for instance in the case of automated
systems in the form of lane-keeping systems on long highways or
autonomous systems in various situations.

10.8.4 The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic

The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic,221 which has been signed by the
majority of European states as well as many other states, provides a set
of basic international rules for road traffic. The Convention stipulates that
‘every moving vehicle or combination of vehicles shall have a driver’,222
thus ‘every driver shall at all times be able to control his vehicle’.223
Though autonomous vehicles played no part in the initial consider-
ations of the Convention drafters, the law will require a designated driver
not only to have to accompany the autonomous car of the future, but also
to be in a position to regain control in a critical situation. In most traffic
accidents, the courts rely on statutory duties imposed under national

Vehicles and Sailing Boats, Including Test Run in Barcelona, www.economist.

com/topics/volvo, last accessed 16 April 2014.
219
See S.A. Beiker & M.R. Calo, Legal Aspects of Autonomous Driving,
The Need for a Legal Infrastructure that Permits Autonomous Driving in Public
to Maximize Safety and Consumer Benefit, Center for Automotive Research at
Stanford (CARS), Stanford University, 2010, 2, http://me.stanford.edu/groups/
design/automotive/ADP/Autonomous%20Driving%20-%20Essay%202010-12%2
0V0.5%28final%29.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014.
220
Cf. Informal Consultation Meeting, Third Party Liability for Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), UNIDROIT 2010 Study LXXIX –
Preliminary Study, March 2010, 32.
221
Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, Vienna, done 8 November 1968,
entered into force 21 May 1977; 1042 UNTS 17; E/CONF.56/16/Rev.1/Amend.1.
222
Art. 8(1), Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, supra n. 221.
223
Art. 8(5), Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, supra n. 221.

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legislation when considering responsibility for traffic incidents.224 Inter-

estingly, after Florida and Nevada, California has become the third
jurisdiction to pass an autonomous car law in 2012, allowing autonomous
cars to drive on public roads for scientific purposes, subject to compli-
ance with warning signs and insurance coverage.225
The combination of autonomous driving systems with GNSS included
in their operations does not alter the original starting position that the
existing international liability conventions apply where their scope covers
the type of accident. Existing liability provisions therefore currently
remain unaltered by the integration of GNSS.

10.9 GNSS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RAIL

TRANSPORT SECTOR
The impact of the above uniform convention law on an accident caused by a
GNSS failure is regulated for the rail transport sector in the now merged
COTIF Convention,226 an amalgam of the former CIV Convention227 with

224
Cf. Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by
Road (CMR Convention), Geneva, done 19 May 1956, entered into force 2 July
1961; International Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), IV-1; juncto
Protocol to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of
Goods by Road (CMR Protocol), Geneva, done 5 July 1978, entered into force
28 December 1980; 1695 UNTS 3; 17 ILM 608 (1978); International Transport
Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), IV-68; concerning the Electronic Consignment
Note (2008); and Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of
Passengers and Luggage by Road (CVR Convention), Geneva, done 1 March
1973, entered into force 12 April 1994; International Transport Treaties, Suppl.
1-10 (Jan. 1986), IV-43.
225
Details of insurance requirements include coverage up to US$ 5 million;
further requirements relate to clearly visible notices that the autopilot is switched
on. The vehicle must have a black box that can reconstruct the last 30 seconds
prior to accident, and the data must be saved for three years, see http://leginfo.
legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1298&search
_keywords, last accessed 15 January 2014.
226
Infra, n. 227.
227
A train accident caused by a GNSS failure or malfunction, causing loss or
damage to the passengers would fall within the Convention’s scope, as Art. 2,
CIV Convention (International Convention concerning the Carriage of Passen-
gers and Luggage by Rail (CIV), Berne, done 7 February 1970, entered into
force 1 January 1975, effectively incorporated and superseded by the COTIF
Convention (International Convention concerning the International Transport by
Rail, Berne, done 9 May 1980, entered into force 1 May 1985; International

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614 Handbook of space law

the CIM Convention,228 along with its series of Annexes regulating standard
passenger conditions. A separate Annex A to the COTIF Convention
regulates the rules applicable to cases of liability for death and damage to
passengers. This is another example of a private international law conven-
tion that links the applicable law to the law of the forum of the place where
any case is brought by stipulating that the national law of that legal system
applies. In this respect, it reduces the possibility of forum shopping and any
resulting legal conflicting results.

10.10 FEASIBILITY OF A UNIDROIT GNSS

CONVENTION
As discussed, there is no one legal response applicable to the question of
GNSS regulation and its liability. With the increase in types and numbers
of devices containing integrated GNSS technology, the question of
GNSS-related liability will continue to attract interest. Third-party
‘bystanders’ are seen to constitute the weaker interest group, requiring
greater protection by the law than passengers, who are directly covered
by convention law.
Third-party liability under GNSS has been selected within the latest
discussions relating to a possible international convention, and appears as
part of the 2013 work programme of UNIDROIT, the International
Institute for the Unification of Private Law, based in Rome. Should
deliberations at that level find international consensus, then civil liability
for third parties may come to operate under a common international
framework. In the meantime, until such time as a catastrophe occurs
requiring governments to act and provide remedies, legal regulation of
GNSS liability will not become a regulatory priority. As long as systems
are publicly owned and available free of charge, the responsibilities of

Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), V-183) as of 1 May 1985; Inter-
national Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986), V-133), states: ‘The carrier
shall be liable for the loss or damage … caused by an accident arising out of the
operation of the railway and happening while the passenger is in, entering or
alighting from railway vehicles’.
228
International Convention concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail (CIM
Convention), Berne, done 7 February 1970, entered into force 1 January 1975,
effectively incorporated and superseded by the COTIF Convention, supra n. 227,
as of 1 May 1985; International Transport Treaties, Suppl. 1-10 (Jan. 1986),
V-58.

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states can only otherwise arise in the context of existing national and
international commitments.
The Liability Convention neither excludes third parties from its scope
nor does it define this group of victims as a group distinct from other
victims suffering damage from outer space.229 The provisions relating to
absolute liability for damage on earth cover third-party loss, as do the
provisions governing damage in outer space or in air flight, insofar as
fault is established and the remaining prerequisites met. Limitations in
the duty to compensate may arise where the status of ‘launching State’ is
not given, and where third-party victims are also beyond the scope of the
existing conventions. This group has yet to be identified. The European
Commission is currently investigating the impact of its own Galileo
GNSS in relation to this potential group of third parties, and its report is
expected for the end of 2014.
The integration of GNSS within a wide range of devices and appli-
cations such as GNSS surveillance devices by police forces (security) and
GNSS data traces (smartphone), all collected by service providers, will
continue to challenge traditional ideas of the scope of liability and access
to navigation and communication services. At the same time, they open
up other issues and values as can be seen in issues such as privacy in the
field of telecommunications. The interaction between mobile tracking
services, the law of privacy, and data retention rules for telecom-
munication companies are all part of the discussion as to whether and
how the combination of each system, including GNSS, can or should be
separately regulated.

10.11 CONCLUSION
The foregoing highlights the complexities surrounding the regulating of
GNSS. The interfaces in its operations and the sectors in which it is put
to use, notably in the transport sector, all combine to maintain a sectoral
diversification within its operations. This in turn contributes to the lack of
development of a dedicated legal, as opposed to technical, regulatory
framework. With new interactive devices that include integrated GNSS
applications now entering the market, the various GNSS markets are
expanding rapidly; in the absence of a dedicated legal framework, there is
a fear that the system may lead to a disjunction between the various
categories of end-users.

229
See on the Liability Convention (supra, n. 97), supra, § 2.3.3.

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While the law of general and contractual obligations (contract, tort)

may serve as a flanking instrument for pursuing claims stemming from
the chain of distribution for GNSS operations and hardware, these do not
provide a sufficient legal basis for imposing liability. The status of the
Signal in Space remains undefined, and some national statutes have gone
so far as to exclude it from the scope of damage from outer space
activities. In addition, claims in damages for loss resulting from GNSS
services require causation and damage to be proved. On this point, the
interaction with augmentation systems and other natural interferences
may all compound to make this an insurmountable challenge, despite the
rules of res ipsa loquitur.
The leading conventions regulating liability in the fields of transport,
nuclear power and the law of the sea, all stem from concerted agreement
about the need to ensure a system of operator liability that is limited.
Convention victims are to be compensated and commercial risks man-
aged on a predictable basis, largely through insurance and with liability
capped to specific limits. Of the operator liability systems existing under
convention law, none excludes access to the courts of law.230
Currently, third-party liability resulting from GNSS is not a priority
issue for regulation. The existing transport conventions make some, albeit
very limited, provision for compensation for loss. The absence of a
liability prototype governing radio-signal regulation has not been condu-
cive in gaining support for a uniform regulatory framework for GNSS. If
a dedicated liability system is to be introduced for GNSS in the future,
limitation of liability will be required, as well as consensus between
states and the operators, whether public or private.
Should such an international regulatory initiative be forthcoming, it
should be on the basis of a model law to be adopted for the regional
GNSS systems. Although a uniform liability regime applicable to all
GNSS systems, be this Galileo, GLONASS or the Chinese Beidou,
would increase the level of legal certainty, the current lack of protection
under GPS, as well as the line taken by states such as France excluding
liability for satellite signals from the provisions of its national space law,
are clear indications that each regional system prefers to develop its own
approach.

230
See the case brought by the government of France, including the
Commune of Brittany, various citizens and companies in the case of the oil
pollution on the coast of France in 1978 against the US corporation Amoco
Cadiz; In the Matter of: Oil Spill by the Amoco Cadiz, 954 F.2d 1279 (7th Cir.
1992).

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The case for a new overlay regime of strict, but limited GNSS liability
remains to be stated in relation to its risk potential. Meanwhile, as the
technology push moves towards increased reliance on autonomous sys-
tems, regulatory challenges remain. These can only be resolved in
combination with compulsory insurance requirements, with provision for
third parties. Third-party GNSS-related claims – if beyond the scope of
the transport conventions – could otherwise become the focus of future
class actions and joined civil claims, insofar as they are not included in
compulsory insurance-based solutions for the public and/or private opera-
tors of GNSS.

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11. Legal aspects of public manned

spaceflight and space station operations
Carla Sharpe and Fabio Tronchetti

11.1 INTRODUCTION
Nobody would deny that mankind’s first steps into space have been
challenging. As a species we have been faced with, and overcome, a
variety of physical and technological challenges on our quest to reach the
stars. Many more, indeed, remain. However, there is another aspect of
our extra-planetary endeavours that has been equally taxing: the socio-
political challenge of sovereign powers and their representatives meeting
in neutral, unclaimed territory. The new human frontier, which opened
over 50 years ago, was initially devoid of any framework for competing
or collaborating – but no longer. It is remarkable that in just a few
decades, mankind developed a system of ‘law’ to fill the void, a
framework, that still continues to evolve today alongside the progressive
expansion of activities beyond the earth’s orbit.
Space law, which consists of a number of legal instruments, negotiated
at international, regional, and national levels, aimed at regulating human
activities in outer space,1 has been successful in preventing military
confrontation in outer space and in favouring international cooperation in
space projects.
Space law has developed in two stages, each of them influenced by
international political and economic factors: the first phase occurred
during the competitive, militarily dominated era of the Cold War, the
second within the more collaborative paradigm that has emerged since
the early 1990s2 – and this is clearly illustrated in manned spaceflight, in
particular in the context of space stations.
Whilst much of it is explicitly evolutionary in nature, the principle of
unanimity and national voluntarism that underlies all space law, and its
particular relevance for manned spaceflight in the context of highly
complicated multinational, long-duration space station operations, may

1
Cf. more in detail supra, §§ 2.1, 2.2.
2
Cf. supra, Chapter 1, also § 2.2.1.3.

618

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potentially make it less dynamic in practice than it was intended to be. As

such, it should always be kept in mind that, in examining the law, one
must not only consider lex lata (the law as it exists) but also lex ferenda
(the law as it ought to be).
The International Space Station (ISS) may be considered one of the
most significant examples of how the principle of international
cooperation has been successfully applied.3 In this respect, the building
and operation of the ISS is an international cooperative scientific
undertaking involving the major space powers (the so-called ISS Part-
ners), with the notable exclusion of China and India, where each Partner
contributes in a manner comparable to its level of technical expertise and
development.
The legal rules and principles developed, sui generis, to govern the
operation of the ISS constitute a particularly interesting sub-section of
space law. They are based on and consistent with the five UN space
treaties4 but significantly expand their provisions in order to provide a
legal framework capable of adequately addressing the specific issues
resulting from human activities on board a manned station orbiting in low
earth orbit.5 In particular, creative solutions have been found to deal with
questions of intellectual property rights, behaviour of astronauts, registra-
tion of space objects and liability. Thanks to its special features and its
successful operations, the legal arrangements put in place to govern the

3
The ISS was first legally established through a 1988 Intergovernmental
Agreement (Agreement Among the Government of the United States of America,
Governments of Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government
of Japan, and the Government of Canada on Cooperation in the Detailed Design,
Development, Operation, and Utilization of the Permanently Manned Civil Space
Station, Washington, done 29 September 1988, entered into force 30 January
1992; Cm. 705; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, D.II.4.2), which was later
superseded by the 1998 Intergovernmental Agreement; the Agreement among the
Government of Canada, Governments of Member States of the European Space
Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government of the Russian Federation,
and the Government of the United States of America concerning Cooperation on
the Civil International Space Station (hereafter Intergovernmental Agreement),
Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered into force 27 March 2001; TIAS No.
12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, D.II.4.
4
See in general terms supra, esp. § 2.3.
5
For early appraisals of legal issues involved in space station operations,
see Manned Space Flight (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (1993); F.G. von der Dunk,
Pandora’s Box? The Basic Legal Framework for Doing Business with a Space
Station: An Inventory of Problems, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercialization
(Ed. K.J. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 114–38.

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ISS activities may represent a useful precedent, if not a model, for future
international cooperative endeavours in space.
The purpose of this chapter is therefore mainly to examine the (space)
law applicable to the ISS in terms of how it came to be, its present state,
its major implications and how it might change in the near future, partly
with a view to how it may also provide useful precedents for future,
similarly complicated and multinational long-duration manned space
endeavours.
Thus, with the ISS as a primary example of effective space law, this
chapter will consider its history, the legal framework regulating its
activities, its commercial uses, in particular from a legal perspective, the
suitability of existing law for utilization and exploitation of future
manned space stations and celestial objects, and finally more broadly the
ISS as a model for future international cooperation.

11.2 FROM SINGLE-STATE SPACE STATIONS TO THE

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
From a mere technical point of view the ISS is a research laboratory
orbiting the earth at an altitude of between 330 and 410 km, in a
so-called low earth orbit.6 Taking advantage of the micro-gravity

6
For general perspectives on the ISS project see e.g. S. Rosmalen, The
International Space Station Past, Present and Future – An Overview, in The
International Space Station – Commercial Utilisation from a European Perspec-
tive (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 9–14; E. Messerschmid
& R. Bertrand, Space Stations: Systems and Utilization (1999), 39–53; D.M.
Harland & J.E. Catchpole, Creating the International Space Station (2002),
163–348; M.J. Rycroft, Beyond the International Space Station: The Future of
Human Spaceflight (2002), 13–20, 39–54; J.E. Catchpole, The International
Space Station: Building for the Future (2008), 1–28; R. Sattler, US Commercial
Activities Aboard the International Space Station, 28 Air & Space Law (2003),
66–82; more specifically on the legal aspects F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law:
A Treatise (2009), 120–2; A.D. Watson & W.G. Schmidt, Legal Issues Surround-
ing the International Space Station, 7 United States Air Force Academy Journal
of Legal Studies (1996–1997), 159–76; J.E. O’Brien, The U.S./International
Space Station, 15 Journal of Space Law (1987), 35–42; H.P. Sinha, Criminal
Jurisdiction on the International Space Station, 30 Journal of Space Law (2004),
85–128; M.C. Devlin & W.G. Schmidt, Legal Issues Continue to Surround the
International Space Station, 8 United States Air Force Academy Journal of Legal
Studies (1997–1998), 237–54; R. Moenter, The International Space Station:
Legal Framework and Current Status, 64 Journal of Air Law and Commerce
(1998–1999), 1033–56; C. Brünner & A. Soucek, Regulating the ISS: An

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environment, ISS crew members carry out experiments in biology, human

biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields. Furthermore,
the ISS provides an ideal environment to test the human ability to live
and work in space for extended periods.
Although the assembling of the ISS only began at the end of the 1990s,
interest in developing an orbital space station dates back to the origins of
the space era. Already in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while competing
to be the first country to send a man to space, the United States and the
Soviet Union included the development of space stations among the
primary goals of their respective space programmes. The Soviet Union
launched the first ever space station, Salyut-1, in 1971; the United States
responded by launching the Skylab Space Station in 1973.7 These early
examples of space stations were structurally different from the current
ISS, in that they were constituted by only one single element or module

Interdisciplinary Essay, 60 Acta Astronautica (2007), 594–98; A. Farand,

Commercialization of International Space Station Utilization: The European
Partner’s Viewpoint, 28 Air & Space Law (2003), 83–8; A. Farand, International
Space Station Utilization: Current Legal Issues, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal
Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel)
(2002), 387 ff.; M.H. Fonseca de Souza Rolim, USA–Brazil Implementing
Arrangement on the International Space Station: Interpretation and Application,
86 Revista Brasileira de Direito Aeronáutico e Espacial (2003), #1754; M.
Fukushima, Legal Analysis of the International Space Station (ISS) Programme
Using the Concept of ‘Legalisation’, 24 Space Policy (2008), 33–41; A.
Yakovenko, The Intergovernmental Agreement on the International Space Sta-
tion, 15 Space Policy (1999), 79–86; G.P. Zhukov, Registration and Jurisdiction
Aspects of the International Space Station, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000), 18–22.
7
See S. David, Skylab: America’s Space Station (2001); von der Dunk,
supra n. 5, 114; K.H. Böckstiegel, Space Stations: Legal Aspects of Scientific and
Commercial Use in a Framework of Transatlantic Cooperation: Proceedings of
an International Colloquium Hamburg (1985); Rycroft, supra n. 6, 239–51; A.J.
Young, Law and Policy in the Space Stations’ Era (1989); W. Ley & W. Stoffel,
Report of the ‘Project 2001’ Working Group on Space Stations, in ‘Project 2001’
– Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böck-
stiegel) (2002), 323 ff.; E.J. Steptoe, Panel Working Group on Space Stations:
Remarks, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer
Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 395 ff.; also www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/
skylab/index.html, last accessed 4 January 2014; more generally http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_station, last accessed 3 February 2014; further e.g.
R. Neri, Manned Space Stations (1990); Space Stations and the Law: Selected
Legal Issues, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1986; Inter-
national Space Station: The Next Space Marketplace (Eds G. Askell & M.J.
Rycroft) (2000).

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(‘monolithic’ space stations) as opposed to the ISS, which consists of

several elements assembled together in space at different stages (hence-
forth labelled ‘modular space station’).
Not just operationally but also legally speaking the ISS would funda-
mentally differ from the space stations which had hitherto orbited the
earth, from the US Skylab and early Russian space stations to the Mir.
The Mir was an astounding achievement, maintained in orbit for some 15
years until it had become too worn out to continue safe operations – and
with Russia now changing its focus to the ISS, no more funds were made
available for upkeep purposes8 – yet it remained a single-state space
station.
Therefore, the legal situation also for Mir was quite simple: following
registration under the Registration Convention9 the state of registry – first
the Soviet Union, later Russia – was entitled to exercise its jurisdiction
on a quasi-territorial basis on board.10 Consequently, for all legal
purposes Mir formed a floating piece of Soviet/Russian quasi-territory in
the global commons of outer space – and mutatis mutandis, the same
applies for the other space stations.
Due to economic, political, social and cultural priority changes in the
1960s, the US government imposed tremendous budget cuts on NASA.
While funds were allocated to develop the Space Shuttle programme,
these were not sufficient to include the building of a permanent space
station. Two decades on, however, in the 1980s, then-US President
Reagan supported the process for NASA to take on the objective of

8
See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir, last accessed 3 February 2014;
also S.A. Negoda, Legal Aspects of the Commercial Development of the Russian
Segment of the ISS, 28 Air & Space Law (2003), 89–96; S.R. Freeland, There’s
a Satellite in My Backyard – Mir and the Convention on International Liability
for Damage Caused by Space Objects, 24 University of New South Wales Law
Journal (2001), 462–84; Harland & Catchpole, supra n. 6, 143–62, 172–88; H.J.
Kramer, Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and
Sensors (2002), 997–1000.
9
As per Art. II, Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into
Outer Space (hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January
1975, entered into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28
UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975).
10
Cf. also Art. VIII, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States
in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington,
done 27 January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205;
TIAS 6347; 18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24;
6 ILM 386 (1967).

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building a permanently manned space station. In 1984 at the G-7

meeting, Reagan called upon a number of countries to join the United
States in the development and assembling of the ISS. This call for
international participation was answered by Japan, Canada, and the
European Space Agency (ESA), which became Partners of the ISS
programme Freedom in 1985. Within the programme, building the ISS
required the allocation of various tasks among the participating countries;
the Partners thus agreed on development and operational responsibilities
for the transportation systems and elements that they would provide.
In the 1990s, while the development of the ISS was well underway, the
Clinton administration faced budget constraints which led to a restructur-
ing of the ISS programme so as to reduce costs and increase international
involvement. The main goal of this initiative was to incorporate Russia
into the ISS programme. This would bring the extended Soviet and
Russian expertise and technologies11 to the project as well as solidify
relations with the former competitor. Accordingly, Clinton invited Russia
to join the programme. The invitation was accepted and Russia became a
full ISS Partner.
The ISS Partners then established a schedule to develop, ultimately
assemble and operate the ISS. A three-phase plan was envisaged; the first
preparatory phase ran from 1994 through to 1998. The main objective
was that of design and addressing operations in space for extended
periods of time, particularly with a focus on examining the Mir pro-
gramme. The second phase followed in 1998 and coincided with the
beginning of the actual construction of the station; indeed, in 1998 the
first control module, Zarya, was launched. The second phase was
completed in 2000 when the first crew was sent to the ISS. The third
phase commenced in 2000 and it was this phase that led to the
completion of the assembly of the ISS.12 Initially the ISS operational

11
As indicated, before joining the ISS project, Russia had built its own
space station Mir. The Mir was assembled in orbit between 1986 and 1996; it
remained operational until 2001 when it was de-orbited. See further e.g. W.
Peeters, Utilisation Aspects of ISS, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the
Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 365 ff. (i.a.
providing interesting comparators with Spacelab and Mir); von der Dunk, supra
n. 5, 115; also supra, references at n. 8.
12
See e.g. Rosmalen, supra n 6, 11–4; Ley & Stoffel, supra n. 7, 328–9.

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624 Handbook of space law

programme was scheduled to end in 2015 but was later extended – so far
to at least 2020.13
Nowadays, the ISS is an international cooperative endeavour involving
the 15 Partner States that signed the Intergovernmental Agreement on 29
January 1998.14 Each Partner15 and Cooperating Agency16 provides a
contribution proportionate to its technological and financial resources.
For example, ESA contributes the Columbus laboratory and the Auto-
mated Transfer Vehicle (ATV); Canada with the robotic arm
(Canadarm-2) and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, also
known as the Canada Hand or Dextre; Japan with the HTV logistic
vehicle for servicing purposes and the Japanese Experimental Module,
Kibo; Russia with the Zarya and Zvezda modules, the solar arrays, the
Soyuz launch vehicles and the Proton and Soyuz capsules (currently the
only means to transport crew members to the ISS); and the United States,
which incurs the majority of the expenses for the ISS maintenance and
operations, with the Unity and Harmony modules, solar arrays, the
Destiny research laboratory, and the Cygnus and Dragon cargo vehicles

13
Cf. e.g. http://blogs.nasa.gov/bolden/2014/01/08/obama-administration-
extends-international-space-station-until-at-least-2024, last accessed 17 April
2014.
14
Supra, n. 3.
15
‘Partner’ is defined by Art. 3(b), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n.
3, as referring to each of the four governments of Canada, Japan, Russia and the
United States plus ESA on behalf of the 11 governments of the participating
European states. ESA was established by means of the Convention for the
Establishment of a European Space Agency (hereafter ESA Convention), Paris,
done 30 May 1975, entered into force 30 October 1980; UKTS 1981 No. 30;
Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975); Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.I.1.;
the ESA contribution to the ISS was fundamentally given shape as a series of
optional activities; see further on this type of programme supra, § 4.2.3.2.
16
‘Cooperating Agency’ is defined by Art. 4(1), Intergovernmental Agree-
ment, supra n. 3, as referring to each of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA),
ESA, the Russian Space Agency (RSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), whereas Japan at the time of signing the 1998 inter-
governmental Agreement had yet to establish a proper national space agency; this
was to occur in 2003 with the establishment of the Japanese Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA), as per the Law Concerning Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA), Law No. 161 of December 12, 2002; General
Provisions Law Concerning Incorporated Administrative Agency, Law No. 103
of July 16, 1999. For further analysis see S. Aoki, Regulation of Space Activities
in Japan, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 201.

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(respectively provided by the private companies Orbital Sciences and

SpaceX).17
These contributions are regulated through a series of bilateral and
multilateral agreements among the parties. Participants in the building of
the Space Station differ from the parties to the Intergovernmental
Agreement. For example, the United Kingdom has a rather peculiar
status. It is one of the 11 member states of ESA which have signed the
Intergovernmental Agreement and is, thus, involved in the ISS project.
However, the United Kingdom does not contribute to the building of the
station, but rather funds it as part of the European participation in this
project, on a relatively minor scale.18 Brazil originally joined the ISS
programme as a bilateral partner of the United States via a contract with
NASA to supply hardware.19 In return, NASA would provide Brazil with
access to its ISS facilities in orbit, as well as a flight opportunity for one
Brazilian astronaut during the course of the ISS operational life. How-
ever, due to cost issues, the subcontractor Embraer was unable to provide
the promised Express pallet, and Brazil left the programme.20
In recent years, further developments have affected transportation
services to the Station. The United States closed down the Space Shuttle
programme in 201121 and as such the ISS is now serviced by the Soyuz

17
See further on these companies as working with NASA on servicing the
ISS infra, §§ 12.1, 12.4.3.
18
To wit, 5.5% for the original Columbus module; see K. Madders, A New
Force at a New Frontier (2000), 308. For more information on the participation
of the United Kingdom in the ISS project and the relevance of UK law thereto
see F. Lyall, British Law and the International Space Station, in The International
Space Station – Commercial Utilisation from a European Perspective (Eds. F.G.
von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 137 ff.
19
See further www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news/releases/1996_1998/h97-
233.html, last accessed 17 April 2014.
20
On the termination of the participation of Brazil in the ISS project
see http://openspacecraft.wikispaces.com/International+Space+Station+ISS, last
accessed 4 January 2014; earlier M.H. Fonseca de Souza Rolim, The USA–
Brazil Implementing Arrangement on the International Space Station: Interpret-
ation and Application, in Proceedings of the Forty-Fourth Colloquium on the
Law of Outer Space (2002), 87–99; J.G. Vaz & J.A. Guimaraes, Brazilian
Participation in the International Space Station, with an Emphasis on Micrograv-
ity Research, in International Space Station (Eds. G. Haskell & M. Rycroft)
(2000), 9–16; A. Fabricio dos Santos, The Flight of Brazil’s First Astronaut, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2007),
450–4.
21
See www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jul/HQ_11-240_Atlantis_Lands.html,
last accessed 17 April 2014.

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626 Handbook of space law

spacecraft, the Progress spacecraft, the ATV, the H-II Transfer Vehicle
and the Dragon spacecraft.22 The latter constitutes the first example of a
privately owned and developed spacecraft operating cargo services to the
ISS.23

11.3 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGULATING ISS

ACTIVITIES
The legal framework pertinent to ISS activities derives from two distinct
sources: the general international legal framework applicable to all space
activities, in particular the UN space treaties,24 and the specific legal
instruments underpinning the operations on board the ISS. The relation
between these two sources is that the latter is based on and shall not
contravene the former. This is not to say that the latter does not expand
on or further clarify some principles of the former but merely that it does
not result in a re-formulation or re-interpretation of basic principles of
international space law. Such a general analysis should also be applicable
to other future regimes specifically addressing space stations, following
the general rule of lex specialis derogat legi generali.25

22
For further information see www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/12/soyuz-
tma-07m-three-new-crewmembers-iss/, last accessed 4 January 2014. The
Dragon Spacecraft is owned by the private company SpaceX; SpaceX is also
working on a vehicle to transport personnel to the ISS. See further
www.spacex.com/dragon, last accessed 4 January 2014.
23
See further on this infra, § 12.1.
24
This is also recognized by the Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3,
itself; cf. Art. 2(1), explicitly mentioning the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10,
Rescue Agreement (Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of
Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space, London/
Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 December 1968;
672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56; Cmnd. 3786;
ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968)), Liability Convention (Convention on
International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, London/Moscow/
Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961
UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS
1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971)) and Registration Convention, supra n. 9.
25
See in general terms: ILC Draft Articles on the Law of Treaties with
Commentaries (1966), 221; R.K. Gardiner, Treaty Interpretation (2008), 343–5;
cf. for the specific treaty context Art. 30(2), Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties, Vienna, done 23 May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155
UNTS 331; UKTS 1980 No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679
(1969).

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11.3.1 The General International Framework Applicable to Space

Activities

11.3.1.1 The Outer Space Treaty

The legal foundation for all activities in outer space is provided by the
1967 Outer Space Treaty.26 This treaty, which lays down the main
principles guiding human activities in outer space, has been ratified by
over 100 states, including all the spacefaring nations.27
Among the fundamental principles established by the Outer Space
Treaty, two in particular stand out with respect to the ISS: the prohibition
to appropriate outer space28 and the right to freely explore and use outer
space.29 According to the former, because outer space constitutes a global
commons, no state can exercise legal control over any of its parts as if it
were its legal territory.30 Consequently, the ISS operates in a sovereignty-
free environment. Pursuant to the latter principle, all states are granted
the right to freely carry out the exploration and use of outer space. This
right does find some restriction in other provisions of the Outer Space
Treaty; for example, Article VI requires a state to exercise ‘authorization
and continuing supervision’ of national activities in outer space, and
Article VII establishes state liability for damage caused by space objects,
even in the case of activities carried out by private entities.31
The main provisions of the Outer Space Treaty relevant to the ISS are
included in Articles I, third sentence, and VIII. The former gives states
parties the right to perform scientific research in outer space; such a
provision constitutes the legal basis of any scientific undertaking in
space, including the ISS. The latter makes it clear that by registering a
space object, the state of registration is entitled to exercise jurisdiction on
board and over personnel thereof, even if the latter is involved in
extra-vehicular activities. In short, through Article VIII, the law of the
state of registration is applicable to all activities related to the registered
object on a quasi-territorial basis.32

26
Supra, n. 10; more in general see supra, § 2.3.1.
27
See e.g. www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/treatystatus/index.html, last
accessed 4 January 2014.
28
See Art. II, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10.
29
See Art. I, 2nd sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10.
30
See further supra, § 2.3.1.2.
31
See further supra, § 2.3.1.1.
32
Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10, provides in relevant part: ‘A
State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is
carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any

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Some of the principles laid down in the Outer Space Treaty were
elaborated in follow-up treaties. For the purpose of our discussion, two of
these treaties have specific relevance: the 1972 Liability Convention and
the 1975 Registration Convention.

11.3.1.2 The Liability Convention

The Liability Convention builds upon the principle of state liability
provided for in Article VII of the Outer Space Treaty.33 Firstly, the
Convention only deals with third-party liability.34 Significantly, a distinc-
tion is made between damage caused on earth or to aircraft in flight,
regulated by a regime of absolute liability,35 and damage caused to
another space object, regulated by fault liability.36 Secondly, the Conven-
tion only deals with international liability: thus, it does not address
damage caused to nationals of the ‘launching State’37 or persons being
involved or merely present at the launch.38 Thirdly, liability falls upon
states, even if the damage has resulted from an activity carried out by a
private entity.39 Obviously, this principle will be applicable only if the
state concerned qualifies as the ‘launching State’ for that private activ-
ity.40 Finally, the Convention enables unlimited compensation to victims,
and a dispute settlement mechanism, to be activated upon failure of

personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body.’ See also e.g. B.
Cheng, The Extra-Terrestrial Application of International Law, 18 Current Legal
Problems (1965), 132; B. Cheng, The Commercial Development of Space: The
Need for New Treaties, 19 Journal of Space Law (1991), 30; R. Oosterlinck,
Private Law Concepts in Space Law, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercial-
ization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 52.
33
See more in general on the Liability Convention (supra n. 24), supra,
§ 2.3.3.
34
Cf. e.g., Arts. I, 1st sent., & VIII, Liability Convention, supra n. 24.
35
See Art. II, Liability Convention, supra n. 24.
36
See Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 24.
37
See Art. VII(a), Liability Convention, supra n. 24.
38
See Art. VII(b), Liability Convention, supra n. 24.
39
Cf. on this issue e.g. L.J. Smith & A. Kerrest de Rozavel, The 1972
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, in
Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U.
Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 114–5, 131, 168–70; C.Q. Christol, International
Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, 74 American Journal of
International Law (1980), 351 ff.; also A. Kerrest de Rozavel & L.J. Smith,
Article VII, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-
Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 129–30; 134–9.
40
Art. I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 24, defines the ‘launching State’
as ‘(i) A State which launches or procures the launching of a space object; (ii) A

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Legal aspects of public manned spaceflight 629

diplomatic negotiations to offer a satisfactory solution, is furthermore

established.41 In principle, all these provisions will also be applicable to
space stations or component parts42 thereof launched into outer space.
Notably, Article XXII of the Liability Convention permits inter-
governmental organizations (IGOs), subject to a few conditions,43 to
enjoy substantially the same rights and obligations under the Convention
as states parties. Actually, on a closer look, this status is a secondary one,
since claims addressed to an IGO will be semi-automatically forwarded
to its member states if the claim is not settled within six months.44 Article
XXII is of particular relevance to the present discussion as ESA, a
Cooperating Agency to the ISS project, has deposited the relevant
Declaration accepting rights and duties under the Liability Convention.45

11.3.1.3 The Registration Convention

The Registration Convention elaborates upon Article VIII of the Outer
Space Treaty on registration and jurisdiction.46
As to jurisdiction, Article II includes the key provision by creating a
link between the ‘launching State’, liable under the Liability Convention,
and the registration of the space object. Indeed, pursuant to this Article,
the ‘launching State’ is obliged to register the object that it has launched
into space. Where there is more than one ‘launching State’, the states
concerned should among themselves decide which one is going to serve
as the state of registry and, consequently, to bear the obligations arising

State from whose territory or facility a space object is launched’. See further
supra, § 2.3.3 incl. § 2.3.3.1.
41
See for further details supra, § 2.3.3.2 and § 2.3.3.2.7 respectively.
42
Note that the definition of ‘space object’ as triggering the application of
the Liability Convention, supra n. 24, as per Art. I(d) thereof ‘includes
component parts of a space object’.
43
These conditions are: (a) a majority of the member states of the
organization should be party to the Outer Space Treaty (supra n. 10); (b) a
majority of the member states of the organization should be party to the Liability
Convention (supra, n. 24) itself; and (c) the organization should itself declare its
acceptance of the relevant rights and obligations.
44
Cf. Art. XXII((3)(b), Liability Convention, supra n. 24.
45
Declaration on the Convention on International Liability for damage
caused by Space Objects, 23 September 1976; International Organisations and
Space Law (Ed. R.A. Harris) (1999), at 33; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
A.III.2, at 1. See e.g. G. Lafferranderie, The European Space Agency (ESA) and
international space law, in International Organisations and Space Law (Ed. R.A.
Harris) (1999), 19–22; further supra, § 4.2.5.1; also § 2.3.3.8.
46
See more in general on the Registration Convention (supra n. 9), supra,
§ 2.3.4.

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out of the Convention.47 With regard to registration, the Convention

establishes a double system of registration, involving both a national
registry48 and an international register held by the UN Secretary-
General.49
Once again, this system also pertains to space stations, which need to
be registered as ‘space objects’ or alternatively ‘component parts’ thereof
in accordance with the Convention, which, for example, requires as part
of the international registration information on who the ‘launching
State(s)’ is/are, any designator or registration number, date and territory
or location of launch, basic orbital parameters and general function of the
space object.50
Similar to the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention allows
IGOs to accept rights and obligations provided by it. ESA has done so by
means of a Declaration in 1979.51 Where an IGO operates as a ‘registra-
tion entity’ under the Convention, the question arises as to how to deal
with jurisdiction when it comes to registration, as an IGO does not
exercise jurisdiction in the traditional public international meaning of the
word.52 Consequently, the states involved have to themselves find a
solution on how to deal with this. Clearly, this is a problem that arose in
connection with the participation of ESA and its member states in the
ISS.53

47
See Art. II(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 24.
48
Cf. Art. II, Registration Convention, supra n. 24.
49
Cf. Art. III, Registration Convention, supra n. 24.
50
See Art. IV(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 24.
51
Declaration of Acceptance of the Convention on the Registration of Space
Objects, 2 January 1979; International Organisations and Space Law (Ed. R.A.
Harris) (1999), at 27. See e.g. Lafferranderie, supra n. 45, 19–23; further supra,
§ 4.2.5.1; also § 2.3.4.3.
52
See further in general C. Archer, International Organizations (3rd edn.,
2001), 92–107; G.I. Tunkin, Theory of International Law (1974), 326–35; J.
Klabbers & A. Wallendahl, Research Handbook on the Law of International
Organizations (2011), 33–55; F. Seyersted, Common Law of International
Organizations (2008), 81–244; M. Keyes, Jurisdiction in International Litigation
(2005).
53
See further infra, § 11.3.2.3.

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11.3.2 The Special International Legal Framework Governing the

ISS

11.3.2.1 Introduction
The Intergovernmental Agreement in its 1998 version is the cornerstone
of the specific legal regime pertaining to the ISS and its related
activities.54 All other legal documents relating to ISS activities, negoti-
ated either on a multilateral or on a bilateral basis, refer to and are based
on it. Underneath the Intergovernmental Agreement there is a series of
Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) concluded between the Cooperat-
ing Agencies of the states parties.55 The MOUs are bilateral agreements
regulating the contribution of each Agency to the ISS project.56 At a third
level all further implementing arrangements between the same entities
form part of the ISS legal framework. The next tier of the hierarchy
consists of contracts and subcontracts needed to involve private industry.
These contracts mostly deal with the commercial uses of the ISS and
address issues such as intellectual property rights (IPR).

11.3.2.2 The Intergovernmental Agreement on the ISS: General

remarks
The Intergovernmental Agreement was the outcome of years of negoti-
ations, following the US proposal to build a permanent space station in
the 1980s, with the original version of the Agreement signed in 1988
being amended later to accommodate the participation of Russia in the
ISS project. The Intergovernmental Agreement has been accepted by 15
Partner States as well as by five Cooperating Agencies.57 From a public

54
Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3. See e.g. Ley & Stoffel, supra n.
7, 341–2; also Moenter, supra n. 6, 1033.
55
Cf. e.g., on NASA’s authority to conclude such agreements as MOUs,
M.C. Wholley & S.A. Mirmina, Bilateral framework agreements governing
international cooperation in space, in Proceedings of the International Institute of
Space Law 2008 (2009), 381–8.
56
For example, an MOU has been concluded between the Italian Space
Agency (ASI) and NASA. The MOU was signed in Washington on 6 December
1991 and later amended on 9 October 1997 and 11 January 2005. The MOU
deals with the design, development, operation and utilization of three mini-
pressurized logistic modules for the ISS. This cooperation is at the core of the
Italian participation and utilization of the ISS, as ASI has acquired some
utilization rights on board the station. Cf. also Arts. 1(1) & (3), 4(2) & (3),
Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
57
The 15 Partner States are: the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, and
11 members of ESA, namely Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the

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632 Handbook of space law

international law point of view the Intergovernmental Agreement can be

considered a ‘mixed agreement’. Mixed agreements are defined as:
‘Agreements with a third party to which an international organization and
its members are parties, each in respect of its own competence’.58
The purpose of the Intergovernmental Agreement is ‘to establish a
long-term international cooperative framework among the Partners, on
the basis of genuine partnership, for the detailed design, development,
operation, and utilization of a permanently inhabited civil international
Space Station for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international
law’.59 In addition, the ISS should further ‘the scientific, technological,
and commercial use of outer space’.60 Several legal issues stand out in
this specific legal regime governing activities on board the ISS with
respect also to the legal solutions put in place by means of the
Intergovernmental Agreement: registration and jurisdiction in general,
criminal jurisdiction in particular, the handling of IPR and liability.61

11.3.2.3 Registration and jurisdiction

With regard to registration and jurisdiction the Intergovernmental Agree-
ment follows the approaches offered by international law, in particular by
the Registration Convention. The main question during the negotiation of
the Agreement was whether the ISS, despite being assembled in space
over an extended period of time, should be registered as one space object
(the option originally favoured by the United States) or as a number of
space objects, each by their own state of registration. Article 5 of the
Intergovernmental Agreement makes clear that the latter option prevailed,
as it states that ‘each Partner shall register as space objects the flight

Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The
five Cooperating Agencies are: the NASA, the Russian Space Agency (RSA, also
known as Roscosmos), ESA, the Government of Japan (GOJ), representing
different organizations responsible for various aspects of cooperation, and the
Canadian Space Agency (CSA). See also Arts. 1, 3, 4, Intergovernmental
Agreement, supra n. 3. For a detailed assessment of the Cooperating Agencies,
see e.g. Ley & Stoffel, supra n. 7, 331–9.
58
H.G. Schermers & N.M. Blokker, International Institutional Law (2003),
1756, see also ff.
59
Art. 1(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
60
Ibid.
61
For a general analysis of the legal issues relating to the operation and use
of the ISS see F.G. von der Dunk, The International Legal Framework for
European Activities on Board the ISS, in The International Space Station –
Commercial Utilisation from a European Perspective (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk &
M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 15–32.

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elements listed in the Annex which it provides’. In this sense Article 5

reflects and does justice to the international character of the ISS project.
As far as the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia are concerned, no
particular problems exist: each of these states registers their own ISS
modules and, consequently, is entitled to exercise jurisdiction over them
pursuant to Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty.62 Furthermore, Article
5(2) of the Intergovernmental Agreement allows these states to exercise
jurisdiction over ‘personnel in or on the Space Station who are its
nationals’. Some complications arise from the potential overlap of
jurisdiction, for example a Russian cosmonaut working on the US
module falling under both Russian and US jurisdiction. Such problems
would have to be solved in a manner akin to that of issues of competing
jurisdiction on earth, namely by granting (quasi-)territorial jurisdiction
higher priority than personal jurisdiction.63
What is really special is the approach chosen to deal with the
registration and jurisdiction of the European components of the ISS.
Although the European states party to the Intergovernmental Agreement
are sovereign states as they signed the Agreement, they have jointly
appointed ESA not only as their collective Cooperating Agency, but also
as representing the ‘European Partner’.64 Consequently, the European
modules have been registered by ESA which, as described above, under
Article VII of the Registration Convention, has acquired the right to
operate as the ‘State of registration’.65
As ESA however, is not a sovereign state, the exercise of ‘jurisdiction’,
a prerogative usually exclusively of sovereign states, requires further
arrangements.66 These arrangements are not to be provided for by the ISS
agreements as they are essentially an internal matter for the ESA member
states participating in the ISS, with the exception of two key areas which
were of enough immediacy to require being dealt with in the Inter-
governmental Agreement itself: criminal jurisdiction and jurisdiction
regarding IPR.

62
See further supra, § 2.3.4.
63
See K.M. Clermont, Civil Procedure: Territorial Jurisdiction and Venue
(1999); M. Akehurst, Jurisdiction in International Law, 46 British Yearbook of
International Law (1972), 157 ff.; also e.g. von der Dunk, Pandora’s Box?, supra
n. 5, 125–6.
64
See Arts. 3(b), 4(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
65
See also Art. 5(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
66
See further e.g. Seyersted, supra n. 52. Cf. also Art. II(2), Registration
Convention, supra n. 9, more broadly calling for such arrangements as between
various ‘co-launching States’.

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634 Handbook of space law

11.3.2.4 Criminal jurisdiction

As far as criminal jurisdiction is concerned, personal jurisdiction is the
prevalent factor: ISS Partner States exercise criminal jurisdiction over
personnel who are their nationals. The same principle applies to the
European Partner States, which ‘may exercise criminal jurisdiction over
personnel in or on any flight element who are their respective nation-
als’.67 However, it may be that damage occurs to a flight element of a
Partner State other than the one whose national is involved: in such a
case, the other Partner State is also entitled to exercise jurisdiction on the
basis of the registration of the flight element, subsidiary to the first state
de jure or de facto agreeing to such an exercise of jurisdiction.68
Clearly, no reference is made here to the European Partner; con-
sequently, the status of the European module, which does not qualify as
‘the flight element of a Partner State’ might seem unclear. However, as
the potential problem of absence of any criminal jurisdiction on the part
of ESA has been skirted by the references to the nationality of individual
personnel – where there is no such thing as ‘ESA nationality’69 – even in
cases where the ESA module is involved as the site of the misconduct at
issue, any primary or subsidiary criminal jurisdiction simply reverts to a
European Partner State involved, as appropriate.

11.3.2.5 Intellectual property rights

Intellectual property attributes the owner with an economic right which is
related to the commercial value of the invention, design, innovation or
other work. It gives the owner a positive and a negative right: on the one
hand, the owner has a monopoly to exploit such right over a certain
period of time; on the other hand, the owner is entitled to prevent others
from using, manufacturing, or benefiting in any way from its work. In the
event that the owner’s rights are violated, it may take legal action against
the violator.70
As regards the ISS and more broadly space stations in general, analysis
should focus in particular on patent rights, in view of the major envisaged
role of space stations in the development of future products, for example

67
Art. 22(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
68
See Art. 22(2)(b), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3; Art. 22(2)(a)
furthermore also allows the Partner State of nationality of the victim of any
‘misconduct on orbit’ to exercise criminal jurisdiction on such a subsidiary basis.
69
This, notwithstanding the fact that European crew members qualify as
‘ESA crew’, rather than as crew members of their individual states of nationality;
cf. also Art. 11, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
70
See in greater detail infra, Chapter 18.

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in the realm of medicine, pharmaceuticals and new materials develop-

ment.71 Other types of IPR, such as copyright, trademarks, and software
or database rights could also come to play a role at some time in the
future, but currently do not seem to be of major importance.72
National patent laws are applicable only to the territory of a specific
state; consequently, the question arises how their applicability can be
extended to outer space due to the absence of sovereignty in the space
environment.73 As regards the ISS, the Intergovernmental Agreement
does not lay down a specific solution to the issue of IPR: as a state
retains jurisdiction and control over objects it sends into outer space, the
easiest solution would be to make patent laws applicable and enforceable
for objects in outer space that fall under the jurisdiction and control of a
given state. Thus, based on the link between registration and jurisdiction,
the Intergovernmental Agreement allows for the application of national
law, including the ISS Partners’ national intellectual property laws, and
Article 21(2) merely provides the jurisdictional framework, by establish-
ing that the patent laws of the ISS Partner State having registered the
flight element in which an invention has taken place may be made to
apply to the patenting of that invention.74
The situation concerning the ISS thus consists of a mix of nationally
owned space elements in which different national laws are in place;
different intellectual property laws apply to each flight element of the

71
Cf. for the ISS Arts. 1, 9 (on utilization), Intergovernmental Agreement,
supra n. 3; M. Belingheri, A Policy and Legal Framework for Commercial
Utilisation, in The International Space Station – Commercial Utilisation from a
European Perspective (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006),
33–46; R.P. Veldhuyzen & T.L. Masson-Zwaan, ESA Policy and Impending
Legal Framework for Commercial Utilisation of the European Columbus
Laboratory Module of the ISS, in The International Space Station – Commercial
Utilisation from a European Perspective (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A.
Brus) (2006), 47–62, on commercial utilization as an expansion of (more)
scientific, exploratory and experimental activities.
72
Cf. e.g. A.M. Balsano & J. Wheeler, The IGA and ESA: Protecting
Intellectual Property Rights in the Context of ISS Activities, in The International
Space Station – Commercial Utilisation from a European Perspective (Eds. F.G.
von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 69–76.
73
See in greater detail infra, §§ 18.2, 18.3.
74
Art. 21(2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3, states that ‘for
purposes of intellectual property law, an activity occurring in or on a Space
Station flight element shall be deemed to have occurred only in the territory of
the Partner State of that element’s registry, except that for ESA-registered
elements any European Partner State may deem the activity to have occurred
within its territory’.

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636 Handbook of space law

ISS. For example the United States adopted this principle and made
patent law applicable to space objects under its jurisdiction and control,
including the US-registered ISS modules.75
The regulation of IPR relating to activities on board the European
Partner’s flight elements then again required some specific solution, in
light of the fact that ESA has no ‘jurisdiction’ on IPR issues either. As
ESA represents the ESA member states which participate in the ISS
activities and act together as ‘European Partner’, ESA registers the flight
elements on behalf of the European Partner States and acts as the ‘State
of registry’. An activity occurring in or on ESA elements could thus be
deemed to have taken place in all European Partner States simultaneously
– and this is indeed what the Intergovernmental Agreement provides,76
making it conceivable that the various laws of those states could be
applicable to activities occurring in or on the European ISS module.
In this respect, each European Partner State individually decides how
IPR are to be protected in their jurisdiction. Up to now, only Germany
and Italy have taken specific actions to make their relevant IPR legisla-
tion applicable to inventions created on board of the European module.77
Consequently, such inventions should first be registered under German or
Italian IPR law to obtain the applicable protection – which then, by virtue

75
This was achieved by way of the Patents in Outer Space Act, Public Law
101-580; 35 U.S.C. 10; 104 Stat. 2863, extending the scope of existing US patent
law to inventions made on board US-registered space objects; see also infra,
18.3.4; further e.g. Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 72, 66; Lyall & Larsen, supra n.
6, 125–6; P.S. Dempsey, Overview of the United States Policy and Law, in
National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 389; H.L. van
Traa-Engelman, Commercial Utilization of Outer Space: Law and Practice
(1993), 296–300; C.J. Cheng, The Use of Airspace and Outer Space for All
Mankind in the 21st Century (1995), 84–5; S. Bhat, Inventions in Outer Space:
Need for Reconsideration of the Patent Regime, 36 Journal of Space Law (2010),
1–18.
76
See Art. 21(2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
77
See e.g. Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 72, 67–9; K.F. Nagel, German
Policy with Regard to ISS Utilization, in Project 2001 – Legal Framework for the
Commercial Use of Outer Space: Proceedings of the Project 2001 – Workshop on
the International Space Station (2000), 137 ff.; L.J. Smith, Legal Aspects of
Commercial Utilization of the International Space Station: A German Perspec-
tive, in The International Space Station – Commercial Utilisation from a
European Perspective (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006),
153–80; V. Iavicoli, Italy and the Commercial Utilization of the International
Space Station, in The International Space Station – Commercial Utilisation from
a European Perspective (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006),
181–202.

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Legal aspects of public manned spaceflight 637

of international treaties (and in this case also EU law) is accepted by,

thus extended to, most other countries in the world, including all
European ones.78
With regard to the possible infringement of IPR in or on a European
ISS module, Article 21(4) of the Intergovernmental Agreement then
includes a provision aimed at preventing one act of infringement from
being raised in different procedures in different ESA member states.
Accordingly, this clause provides that where intellectual property is
protected in more than one European Partner State the owner of the right
may not recover in more than one such state for the same act of
infringement of the same intellectual property right. Nevertheless, the
owner of the right can select the state whose intellectual property law
offers the most advantage. This creates the potential for forum shopping
and legal uncertainty within the parameters of international copyright
conventions and EU law harmonizing at least to a considerable extent
applicable national regimes.79

11.3.2.6 Liability
The Intergovernmental Agreement provides a rather special regime
concerning liability. Article 17 makes clear that the liability solutions
within the ISS project do not derogate from the existing international
liability framework.80 This means that if a part of the ISS were to cause
damage to a third state compensable under the Liability Convention, that
state would address its claim to the relevant ‘launching State’ pursuant to
the Liability Convention. Notably, this also applies if damage is caused to
a space object of an ISS Partner State as long as that space object is not
part of the ISS project – for that purpose, the Partner State would qualify
as a third state.81
Article 16 sets forth the legal regime applicable to activities undertaken
within the ISS and the damage possibly arising in that context as a lex
specialis to the lex generalis of the Liability Convention.82 The scope of

78
Cf. further infra, § 18.3.1.
79
Cf. again further infra, § 18.3.1.
80
See Art. 17(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
81
Cf. Art. 16(3)(a), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3, requiring for
application of the Agreement’s special regime on liability that ‘the person, entity,
or property damaged is damaged by virtue of its involvement in Protected Space
Operations’.
82
Note that Art. XXIII, Liability Convention, supra n. 24, specifically
recognizes the sovereign right of states parties to the Convention to apply
different liability rules as between themselves.

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638 Handbook of space law

the liability regime is rather wide: indeed, it extends to all damage

suffered in the context of the ‘Protected Space Operations’, which are
defined as ‘all launch vehicle activities, Space Stations activities, and
payload activities on Earth, in outer space, or in transit between Earth
and outer space in implementation of this Agreement, the MOUs, and
implementing arrangements’.83 Furthermore, they include research,
design, development, test, manufacture, assembly, integration, operation,
or use of launch or transfer vehicles, the ISS itself, or a payload, as well
as related support equipment and facilities and services; plus all activities
related to ground support, test, training, simulation, or guidance and
control equipment and related facilities or services.84
The basic idea applicable to Protected Space Operations is that of a
general cross-waiver: this approach was chosen to encourage partici-
pation in the exploration, exploitation, and use of outer space through the
ISS.85 The cross-waiver is broadly structured and only cases concerning
bodily injury, wilful misconduct or IPR are excluded from it. The
cross-waiver also extends to all entities related to different Partner States
and between such entities of one Partner State and another Partner State
itself. ‘Related entities’ include all contractors and subcontractors of a
Partner State at any tier, all user or customers of a Partner State, and all
contractors and subcontractors of a user of a Partner State. For the
purpose of Article 16 of the Intergovernmental Agreement, ESA is
included as if a ‘Partner State’, as the Cooperating Agency of 11 Partner
States.86

11.4 THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK REGULATING ISS

ACTIVITIES
11.4.1 General Remarks

ISS development and operations are, and will likely remain, the primary
responsibility of the ISS Partners. However, along with the use for
governmental (publicly funded) research, the commercial utilization of
the ISS, in particular privately funded research, constitutes an important
component of the ISS structure, albeit one that is still in its infancy. The

83
Art. 16(2)(f), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
84
See Art. 16(2)(f)(1) & (2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
85
See Art. 16(3)(a), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
86
Cf. Art. 16(2)(a), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3, referring to
the Cooperating Agencies of Partner States.

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involvement of the private sector is important to sustain the ISS project

and to enable it to run beyond 2020.87
From a purely legal point of view, neither the Intergovernmental
Agreement nor the various MOUs explicitly refer to the commercial
utilization of the ISS. This is a direct consequence of the fact that, at the
time of the drafting of the Agreement, the use of the ISS for publicly
funded scientific research was the primary goal, while the involvement of
the private sector was expected to be marginal at best.88 Nevertheless, the
Intergovernmental Agreement and the MOUs leave the door open for
commercial activities and, in particular, the involvement of private
entities. Indeed, they give each Partner an extended measure of freedom
to use their ISS utilization share in a manner of their own choosing: they
establish that each Partner may use equipment and facilities in or on each
other Partner’s elements in accordance with their respective ‘utilization
rights’, which are detailed in Article 9 of the Intergovernmental Agree-
ment. This provision states that Partners providing ISS user elements (not
required for keeping the ISS in operational state and, thus, completely
oriented towards research89) maintain the use of those elements (for
example, for Europe, the Columbus laboratory), whilst Partners providing
resources and infrastructure elements to operate and use the ISS elements
(such as the Canadarm) in exchange receive a fixed share of the use of
other Partner’s user elements.
In short, each Partner may use and choose users for its allocations for
any purpose consistent with the objectives of the Intergovernmental
Agreement and is allowed to barter or sell any portion of its allocation to
Partners or even non-Partners.90 The terms and conditions of any barter
or sale shall be determined on a case-by-case basis by the parties to the
transaction. However, these transactions are subject to two conditions:
any transfer of ownership of ISS elements or of equipment requires prior

87
See e.g. T. Malik, International Space Station Gets Life Extension
Through 2024, www.space.com/24208-international-space-station-extension-
2024.html, last accessed 17 April 2014; K. Koenig-Muenster, White House
Approves Space Station Extension until 2024, www.msnbc.com/the-cycle/if-you-
saw-gravity-youll-news, last accessed 17 April 2014; J. Foust, Four More Years,
www.thespacereview.com/article/2434/1, last accessed 17 April 2014; further Ley
& Stoffel, supra n. 7, 327–8, 330–1, 339–41; G. Catalano-Sgrosso, Applicable
Jurisdiction Conflicts in the International Space Station, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Third Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2001), 179–80.
88
Cf. e.g. Farand, International Space Station Utilisation, supra n. 6, 391–2.
89
See e.g. Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra n. 71, 50.
90
See also e.g. Belingheri, supra n. 71, 37–40; Veldhuyzen & Masson-
Zwaan, supra n. 71, 49–51; Ley & Stoffel, supra n. 7, 342–4.

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notification to the other Partners91 and any transfer of equipment to any

non-Partner or private entity under the jurisdiction of a non-Partner shall
receive the prior consent of the other Partners.92 The providers of user
elements (such as ESA’s laboratories) are under the obligation to give
other Partners a relevant share (49 per cent) of the utilization rights
attached to those elements, maintaining the remaining 51 per cent for
their own use (which they may also barter or sell).93
Since only the use of user elements has been explicitly addressed in
the Intergovernmental Agreement, the commercial utilization of resources
elements and other elements is certainly allowed, along with the so-called
‘non-conventional use’, such as merchandizing, sponsorship, publicity or
space tourism. The agreements in place also enable protection of
proprietary and commercially sensitive information.94
Each ISS Partner decides on its own policy of commercial utilization:
nevertheless, it is important that a certain level of harmonization among
Partners exists. With regard to the ESA Partner, the goal is to allow
30–45 per cent commercial use of the total utilization capacity. The 1998
US Commercial Space Act95 allows privatization/commercial utilization
of part of its ISS utilization activities, and the revenues gained are
re-invested for NASA space development research. NASA offers 30 per
cent of its access rights for commercial exploitation. In Russia, due to
problems of public financing, there is a clear and positive approach
towards commercial use and private investments. As will be seen, this led
to the promotion of space tourism to the ISS. Canada also has a positive
attitude towards commercialization, offering 50 per cent of its utilization
rights for that purpose. Japan has a more restrictive approach and makes
only 30 per cent of its share available for commercial utilization.96
As indicated above, it is important that Cooperating Agencies harmon-
ize their commercialization policies. In this respect, several multilateral

91
See Art. 6(3), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
92
See Art. 6(4), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
93
See e.g. Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra n. 71, 50.
94
Cf. also e.g. Belingheri, supra n. 71, 42–6; Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan,
supra n. 71, 49 ff.
95
Commercial Space Act, Public Law 105-303, 105th Congress, H.R. 1702,
27 January 1998; 51 U.S.C. 50101; 112 Stat. 2843 (1998). See specifically on its
impact vis-à-vis the ISS, T. Kosuge, US Commercial Space Act of 1998 and Its
Implications for the International Space Station, in Proceedings of the Forty-
Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000), 28–34.
96
See e.g. Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra n. 71, 51; Ley & Stoffel,
supra n. 7, 332, 335, 337.

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mechanisms laid down in the MOUs enable a coordinated implementa-

tion of commercial utilization projects. An important role is played, at a
multilateral level, by the User Operations Panel (UOP) and the Systems
Operations Panel (SOP), whose tasks are to prepare the long-term
utilization resources and accommodation allocations to the Partners as
well as a five-year Consolidated Operations and Utilization Plan
(COUP). The COUP is approved by the Multilateral Control Board
(MCB), in which every Partner is represented.97
The MCB has the task to ‘coordinate approaches to commercial
activities aboard the ISS and acts as the focal point of coordination
among the partnership on commercial projects to foster the greater
commercial development of ISS’.98 Among the first tasks for the MCB
was the drafting of a list of principles on ‘commercial guidelines’ to
govern ISS commercial activities. These guidelines are intended to
harmonize and coordinate commercial activities of the Partners, while
respecting the individual commercial activities of each agency. The
guidelines apply, in particular, to market sectors such as research and
development, sponsorship, merchandizing, advertising and entertainment,
and space flight participation.99

11.4.2 Intellectual Property Rights

One of the preferred options to increase the economic value of the ISS
project is to put in place an adequate legal and commercial environment
for the creation, use, transfer and protection of IPR. The presence of such
an environment is likely to favour new commercial activities, innovation,
products and services.100 It is only with the help of a legal system
assuring protection against unauthorized use, copying, and other exploit-
ation, of original products or inventions that private investments can be
attracted by a specific business sector.101

97
On these aspects, see Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra n. 71, 51 ff.;
also Farand, International Space Station Utilisation, supra n. 6, 387–9.
98
Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra n. 71, 51 ff.
99
For a description of the 2002 MCB Recommended Guidelines, see M.
Uchitomi, Open Up International Space Station to the Commercial Fields,
ISTS-r-25 (2004), 1; also e.g. Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra n. 71, 53.
100
On this point see Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 72, 63–86; A. Farand,
Jurisdiction and Liability Issues in Carrying out Commercial Activities in the
International Space Station (ISS) Programme, in The International Space Station
– Commercial Utilisation from a European Perspective (Eds. F.G. von der Dunk
& M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 87–95.
101
See Belingheri, supra n. 71, 37 ff.; also infra, § 18.3.

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As far as ISS activities are concerned, an essential requirement for

private investment is the presence of applicable legislation, inter-
nationally structured and applicable in outer space and on earth with an
adequate enforcement mechanism for protecting IPR. An example of
commercial activity in the context of the ISS is the branding, sponsorship
and general use of the ISS image to inspire and promote business on
earth through the media.
However, according to some scholars the goal of achieving an efficient
intellectual property legal regime can be best served through the estab-
lishment of best practices, rather than seeking to change the laws.102 In
their view, best practices can contribute to the fundamental goal of
harmonization of intellectual property regimes applicable to IPR related
to ISS activities. The term ‘best practices’ refers to the best way of doing
something, using a specific technique or technology; in this case, it
means to establish standards that might lead to the most efficient use,
protection and dissemination of intellectual property for products or
inventions of any kind related to the ISS.
Among the recommended best practices would be (1) a clear identifi-
cation of ownership and traceability of intellectual property, as this
enables more efficient protection and dissemination; (2) any contract and
subcontract clearly addressing the issue of ownership of intellectual
property; (3) putting in place a structure to manage IPR and, in particular,
to ensure that all relevant risks are identified and dealt with; and (4)
allowing the imposition of conditions on the commercialization of
resulting intellectual property. In the case of (in part or in whole)
industry-funded activities, an entity should evaluate whether the owner-
ship of, or rights to, the intellectual property or the benefits should be
shared, and whether the imposition of conditions may work as a
disincentive to the use and commercialization of the intellectual property.
As to the ISS, for the purpose of IPR Article 21 of the Inter-
governmental Agreement establishes a connection between the state of
registration of an ISS module and its national law. Accordingly, each
state shall consider inventions made in its registered elements as having
taken place in its territory.103 Nevertheless, some key issues arising from
the protection of intellectual property of inventions made on board the
ISS remain. Indeed, intellectual property protection, if obtained, is in the

102
See Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 72, 79 ff.; cf. also Ley & Stoffel, supra
n. 7, 349; Steptoe, supra n. 7, 401.
103
See further e.g. Ley & Stoffel, supra n. 7, 347–8; Balsano & Wheeler,
supra n. 72, 66 ff.; Catalano-Sgrosso, supra n. 87, 184–5; von der Dunk, supra
n. 5, 130–2.

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first instance limited to the territory of the state that granted the patent,
and a certain lack of protection could arise if the patent were to be used
in an element under a different jurisdiction. Not all these issues are
solved by the general, quasi-global harmonization and mutual acceptance
achieved by international treaties ranging from the 1883 Paris Conven-
tion104 to the 1967 Stockholm version thereof105 and the 1970 Patent
Cooperation Treaty106 – or, limited to European states, the 1973 Euro-
pean Patent Convention.107
Patent systems adopted by the ISS Partner States differ and this could
lead to difficulties in obtaining protection in different states. For example,
the United States intellectual property system is based on the ‘first-to-
invent’ principle, according to which whoever can prove to be the first to
have made an invention may obtain a patent, even if someone else has
already registered it.108 Instead, Europe and Japan follow the ‘first-to-
file’ principle. This system enables greater certainty in ascertaining who
has priority, but it also requires the research to be carried out with great
discretion.109
Among the issues relating to intellectual property protection, the
possible conflicts of laws establishing different protection systems and
procedures are worth mentioning. The automatic recognition of patents is
only possible among European Partner States who as yet have not
established procedures to implement the Intergovernmental Agreement’s

104
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property as Modified by
Additional Act of 14 December 1900 and Final Protocol (Paris Convention),
Paris, done 20 March 1883, entered into force 6 July 1884; 828 UNTS 305;
USTS 379; UKTS 1907 No. 21; ATS 1907 No. 6.
105
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March
1883 as revised, Stockholm, 14 July 1967, entered into force 19 May 1970; 828
UNTS 305; TIAS 6923, 7727; 24 UST 2140; UKTS 1970 No. 61; Cmnd. 3474;
ATS 1972 No. 12; 6 ILM 806 (1967).
106
Patent Cooperation Treaty, Washington, done 19 June 1970, entered into
force 24 January 1978; 1160 UNTS 231; TIAS 8733; 28 UST 7645; Cmnd.
4530; UKTS 1978 No. 78; ATS 1980 No. 6; 9 ILM 978 (1970).
107
Convention on the Grant of European Patents (European Patent Conven-
tion), Munich, done 5 October 1973, entered into force 7 October 1977; 1065
UNTS 199; UKTS 1982 No. 16; Cmnd. 8510. See more in general infra, § 18.3;
also e.g. Catalano-Sgrosso supra n. 87, 182–5; C.H. Walker, Potential Patent
Problems on the ISS, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law
of Outer Space (2000), 60–70.
108
Cf. A. Piera, Intellectual Property in Space Activities: An Analysis of the
United States Patent Regime, 29 Air and Space Law (2004), 42.
109
Cf. Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 72, 67–71.

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644 Handbook of space law

provisions concerning inventions made in the ESA laboratory. Further-

more, a system ensuring complete secrecy of information, including
those obtained on board and subsequently transmitted to the ground, is
not guaranteed. Lastly, issues related to property rights over technical
information acquired in a joint venture project remain.
Interesting solutions regarding IPR protection can be found in the
contracts signed by the Cooperating Agencies with the users. In the case
of the contracts signed by ESA, if research is carried out by Agency staff,
the latter is the owner of the results, and it is under an obligation to
disclose them to its member states for further research and the strength-
ening of European industry competitiveness.110
If research in the ESA laboratories, with regard to mandatory or
optional programmes,111 is performed by public or private organizations,
such organizations become the owner of the inventions and must protect
them under Article 37(1) of the General Clauses and Conditions for ESA
Contracts.112 However, after a brief period of priority over the results, the
owner must disclose the data and information to the Agency, and the
member states participating in the programme may use them under free
and irrevocable licences. In any case, the ownership of data deriving from
work undertaken in the ISS and the resulting possibility to obtain
exclusive licences will be decided by specific collaboration schemes
agreed by ESA and its customers.113
As far as NASA is concerned, two types of agreements are signed by
the Agency with commercial users wishing to use ISS resources: the
Space Act Agreements and the Cooperative Research and Development

110
See J.F. Mayence, Quelle est la politique de l’Agence spatiale européenne
en matière de propriété intellectuelle? La politique de la propriété intellectuelle
dans les contrats de l’Agence spatiale européenne, in Droit & Technologies
(2008), 9, www.droit-technologie.org/upload/dossier/doc/164-1.pdf, last accessed
17 April 2014.
111
See for mandatory and optional programmes supra, §§ 4.2.3.1 and
4.2.3.2.
112
General Clauses and Conditions for ESA Contracts, ESA/C/290, rev.5,
http://emits.sso.esa.int/emits-doc/reference/docrefe.pdf, last accessed 4 January
2014.
113
See International Space Station – ISS, European Users Guide to Low
Gravity Platforms, UIC-ESA-UM-0001, Issue 2, Rev. 0, at 92, http://
wsn.spaceflight.esa.int/docs/EuropeanUserGuide/chapter_7_iss.pdf, last accessed
17 April 2014; also Farand, supra n. 88, 93; Balsano & Wheeler, supra n. 72,
76–8.

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Agreements.114 Agreements can be reimbursable or non-reimbursable,

depending on the user’s financial contribution to NASA expenses. In the
latter case, data and inventions resulting from joint activities are owned
by the relevant parties. NASA ensures confidentiality of the data and
agrees with the contractors about the modalities of their disclosure.
Inventions made by participants under a reimbursable Space Act Agree-
ment, which was thus paid for by NASA, are entirely owned by the
participants, unless the invention was made by NASA employees.115
Within this general framework, it appears that the patentability of
inventions made on board the ISS, where various states cooperate and
public and private entities participate in the research, is still an open
issue. The potential incompatibility of rules derives from different
protection systems around the world, which may adopt diverging criteria
for priority, novelty and applicability of intellectual property. The ques-
tion of the harmonization of regulation and mutual recognition opens the
way for a solution that, most likely, could only be reached at international
level. Anyway, some practical solutions can be found in the agreements
between the Cooperating Agencies and private users. This type of
agreement addresses the issue of ownership of intellectual property,
alongside the timing for disclosure of information and a compulsory
licence system.
An additional question concerning the commercialization of ISS activ-
ities and research is the protection and secrecy of data.116 In this respect,
the ISS Crew Code of Conduct117 contains provisions to protect classified
information. Crew members shall protect registered data and avoid
diffusion of any non-protected data, which shall only be used in the
performance of their duties. Moreover, confidential information obtained

114
See e.g. Catalano-Sgrosso, supra n. 87, 185; D. Bloch & R. Gray,
Intellectual Property in Government Contracts: Protecting and Enforcing IP at
the State and Federal Level (2012), 185 ff.; E.M. Berman, Chapter 10 Coopera-
tive Research and Development Agreements, in Technology Transfer and Public
Policy (Ed. Y.S. Lee) (1997), 159 ff.; M.L. Katz, An Analysis of Cooperative
Research and Development, in 17 The RAND Journal of Economics (1986),
527–43.
115
See e.g. Bloch & Gray, supra n. 114, 187–9; Catalano-Sgrosso, supra
n. 87, 185.
116
Cf. also Art. 19(3)(b), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
117
Code of Conduct for the International Space Station Crew (hereafter
Crew Code of Conduct), 1 October 2000; 14 C.F.R. Pt. 1214; 65 Fed. Reg. No.
246, 80302-8, of 21 December 2000, www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?
pid=3418, last accessed 5 February 2014.

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646 Handbook of space law

by an ISS crew member during ISS activities shall only be used for
official purposes and not for his/her personal interests.118
Additionally, the ISS Crew Code of Conduct establishes some require-
ments for Partner States. Accordingly, they shall take measures to
guarantee confidentiality of utilization data passing through the Space
Station Information System,119 respect the confidentiality of data and
goods to be transported on its space transportation system120 and protect
data and goods to be exchanged.121

11.4.3 Orbital Space Tourism

‘Space tourism’ can be loosely defined as space travel for recreational

and leisure purposes.122 ‘Space tourists’ are thus non-professionally
trained astronauts who, so far, have consisted of wealthy people paying
for an expensive ticket to experience travelling in outer space.123 Space
tourism is usually divided into two categories: orbital space tourism and
sub-orbital space tourism, where the former involves a ‘tourist’ reaching
a space object in low earth orbit such as the ISS and spending an amount
of time on board. Such activities have to be properly integrated, inter alia
in a legal sense, into the broader and more public ISS project and
activities as a whole.124

11.4.3.1 The development of orbital space tourism

Towards the end of the 1990s, MirCorp, a private venture that was then
managing the Mir space station, began advertising the possibility for
private passengers to visit the station. Such a move was the direct
consequence of the budget cuts suffered by the Russian space programme
and the need to find alternative ways to cover the station’s costs.125
Dennis Tito, an American businessman, became their first candidate.
When the decision to de-orbit Mir was made, Tito managed to switch his

118
See Crew Code of Conduct, supra n. 117, Sec. II – General Standards, (c)
– Use of position.
119
See Art. 13, Crew Code of Conduct, supra n. 117.
120
See Art. 12, Crew Code of Conduct, supra n. 117.
121
See Art. 19, Crew Code of Conduct, supra n. 117.
122
See on this definitional issue further infra, § 12.2.1.
123
See further infra, §§ 12.1, 12.2.1.
124
The other aspects of orbital space tourism, that is those not directly
concerning the ISS but either transportation to and/or from the ISS or alternative
‘destinations’ in outer space altogether, are addressed infra, §§ 12.4.3, 12.4.4.
125
Cf. e.g. www.space.com/11480-space-tourists-russia-space-station-mir.
html, last accessed 4 January 2014.

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trip to the ISS. Despite strong initial opposition by NASA, Tito arrived at
the ISS on 28 April 2001 and stayed for seven days, becoming the first
‘fee-paying’ space tourist at a ticket price of US$ 20 million. In the
following eight years, six millionaires followed in Tito’s steps.126 Space
Adventures, which meanwhile had subsumed MirCorp,127 thus became
the only company so far to have sent paying passengers to space. In
conjunction with the Russian Space Agency and Rocket and Space
Corporation Energia, Space Adventures facilitated the flights for all of
the world’s first private space explorers.
On 3 March 2010, Russia announced that, due to the increased
permanent crews of professional astronauts aboard the expanded ISS,
space tourism was temporarily put on hold.128

11.4.3.2 The legal status of ‘space tourists’

One of the most significant issues relating to the increasing participation
of private/non-professional individuals in space flights concerns the legal
status of such individuals.129 This question is relevant mostly for two

126
See e.g. G. Catalano-Sgrosso, Application of the Rules of the Code of
Conduct to the First Crews on Board the International Space Station, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2003),
80–1; also further infra, § 12.1, at nn. 3 and 4, and literature referenced there.
127
Cf. e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Passing the Buck to Rogers: International
Liability Issues in Private Spaceflight, 86 Nebraska Law Review (2007), 404–5;
also A. Thorpe, The Commercial Space Station: Methods and Markets (2007),
70–1.
128
See e.g. D. Solovyov, Russia Halts Space Tours as U.S. Retires Shuttle, 3
March 2010, www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/03/us-space-russia-idUSTRE6223
VF20100303, last accessed 17 April 2014; also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Space_tourism, last accessed 17 April 2014.
129
Generally, on the question of the legal status of space tourists see: S.R.
Freeland, Up, Up and … Back: The Emergence of Space Tourism and its Impact
on the International Law of Outer Space, 6 Chicago Journal of International Law
(2005), 1–22; F.G. von der Dunk, Space for Tourism? Legal Aspects of Private
Spaceflight for Tourist Purposes, in Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth Colloquium
on the Law of Outer Space (2007), 18–28; von der Dunk, supra n. 127, 400–38;
C.E. Parson, Space Tourism: Regulating Passage to the Happiest Place off Earth,
9 Chapman Law Review (2006), 493–526; V.S. Vereshchetin, Elaborating the
Legal Status of Astronauts, 7 Hastings International and Comparative Law
Review (1984), 501–7; Y. Hashimoto, The Status of Astronauts toward the
Second Generation Space Law, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (1994), 206–10.

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648 Handbook of space law

reasons: international space law lacks a clear and uncontroversial defin-

ition of ‘astronauts’, yet they are entitled to special protection.130 The
absence of a clear-cut definition of what an ‘astronaut’ is stems from
the fact that, at the time the UN space treaties were negotiated, the
involvement of private paying passengers in a space flight was a matter
of science fiction. Nowadays, however, that situation has of course
drastically changed, due to the orbital tourism destined for the ISS and
the impending advent of sub-orbital tourism.
The existing provisions included in international and national space
law documents do not help clarify the issue. Article V of the Outer Space
Treaty speaks of ‘astronauts’, while the Rescue Agreement uses both the
terms ‘astronauts’131 and ‘personnel of a spacecraft’.132
The ISS Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection,
Assignment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting)
Crewmembers distinguish between a professional astronaut/cosmonaut,
namely a person who has undergone special training and has been
qualified as such by the space agency of one of the ISS Partners, and a
spaceflight participant, who is an individual sponsored by one of the
agencies for a temporary assignment as visiting scientist, commercial
user or tourist.133 Also US national law speaks of both ‘crew’ and ‘flight

130
See more in detail further supra, § 2.3.2.1; also infra, § 12.5.1. Cf. also G.
Catalano-Sgrosso, Legal Status of the Crew in the International Space Station, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000),
39 ff.
131
See 1st para., Preamble, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 24.
132
See Arts. 1–4, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 24.
133
Cf. Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assign-
ment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers’
signed by representatives from NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, CSA and ESA
providing that: ‘A professional astronaut/cosmonaut is an individual who has
completed the official selection and has been qualified as such at the space
agency of one of the ISS partners and is employed on the staff of the crew office
of that agency.’ Thus: ‘Spaceflight participants are individuals (e.g. commercial,
scientific and other programs; crewmembers of non-partner space agencies,
engineers, scientists, teachers, journalists, filmmakers or tourists) sponsored by
one or more partner(s). Normally, this is a temporary assignment that is covered
under a short-term contract’, Section III – Definitions, November 2001,
www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=4578, last accessed 4 January 2014.
For an analysis of these Principles see http://chapters.nss.org/policy-cmte/files/
ISS-CREW_202.pdf, last accessed 4 January 2014; cf. also ESA/C/IGA-CC
(2001), of 7 September 2001, Outcome of the meetings held in Montreal,
Canada, of the Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB), on 17 July 2001, and of
the Heads of the ISS Cooperating Agencies, on 18 July 2001, and its Annex 4.

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participants’.134 As mentioned above, the question of what an ‘astronaut’

is becomes important in view of the special benefits and protection
accorded under international space law to astronauts. Could clients of a
space tourist enterprise be considered as ‘astronauts’ and thus be entitled
to such special treatment?135
Looking at the existing law, any feasible definition of ‘astronaut’
would seem to require two components: an element of training and
selection and a journey on board of a space object. As to the former, until
recently all astronauts were trained professionals and members of either
military or civilian governmental space agencies. In the case of space
tourists travelling to the ISS, an element of training, both physical and
technical, was still required. Based on these factors there is room to argue
that such space tourists could be viewed as astronauts, at least for flights
of extended duration.
The situation is more problematic, however, for paying passengers or
‘spaceflight participants’ on a sub-orbital flight. Unlike traditional astro-
nauts and even tourists travelling to the ISS, spaceflight participants are
not expected to undergo any form of physical and technical training
before their (short) journey in outer space. For example, Virgin Galactic
advertises that the training for participants to its sub-orbital flights will
be rudimentary, with a health check being more relevant. Thus, it appears
problematic to attribute to spaceflight participants the status of ‘astro-
nauts’ based on the criteria of training and technical capability. The
different nature, and arguably also the different legal position, of space-
flight participants compared to traditional astronauts also appears in the

See further e.g. Ley & Stoffel, supra n. 7, 345–6; Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan,
supra n. 11, 53–5; Catalano-Sgrosso, supra n. 130, 36–7; Catalano-Sgrosso,
supra n. 126, 77–8.
134
See e.g. 51 U.S.C. Sec. 50902(2) & (17), defining both terms respectively
as ‘any employee of a licensee or transferee, or of a contractor or subcontractor
of a licensee or transferee, who performs activities in the course of that
employment directly relating to the launch, reentry, or other operation of or in a
launch vehicle or reentry vehicle that carries human beings’ and ‘an individual,
who is not crew, carried within a launch vehicle or reentry vehicle’. Also US
Federal Aviation Administration: Human Space Flight Requirement for Crew and
Space Flight Participants: Final Rule (2006), 71 Fed. Reg. No. 241, 75616-45; 14
C.F.R. Pts. 401, 415, 431, 440 & 460, as amended.
135
See, for extended analyses and different opinions on this, e.g. M.J.
Sundahl, The Duty to Rescue Space Tourists and Return Private Spacecraft, 35
Journal of Space Law (2009), 163–200; M. Chatzipanagiotis, The legal status of
space tourists in the framework of commercial suborbital flights (2011), esp.
5–38. Cf. also Ley & Stoffel, supra n. 7, 349; further infra, § 12.5.1.

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already-mentioned FAA Rules for space tourists, which distinguish

between ‘crew’ and ‘spaceflight participant’.136
Due to these distinctions some scholars argue that spaceflight partici-
pants should not be deemed astronauts, and especially not ‘envoys of
mankind’; consequently, they should not enjoy the respective benefits.137
On the other hand, other scholars argue that, even if one accepts the
distinction between ‘crew’ and ‘spaceflight participants’, both might be
the ‘personnel of a spacecraft’ in terms of the Rescue Agreement, where
one assumes that the sub-orbital flight vehicle is a spacecraft.138 In short,
all on board a space vehicle would be considered astronauts, because the
term ‘personnel’ does not distinguish between civilian and military. This
approach would entitle private passengers to all benefits attributed to
astronauts by the Rescue Agreement. Additionally, others argue that the
duty to help space tourists in distress is provided for by reasons of
humanity.139
Even recourse to the second criterion, namely the participation in a
journey on board a space object as determined by its intended altitude,
does not help in solving the question of which subjects should be entitled
to enjoy the benefits attributed by international space law to ‘astronauts’:
among the most debated issues related to private manned sub-orbital
flights is the choice of the law applicable to sub-orbital journeys and the
status of sub-orbital vehicles. As to the first issue, in the absence of a
demarcation between airspace and outer space,140 the issue of the

136
See the definitions quoted supra, n. 134.
137
So e.g. S. Gorove, Legal Problems of the Rescue and Return of
Astronauts, 3 International Lawyer (1968–1969), 898–902; I.H.P. Diederiks-
Verschoor, Search and Rescue in Space Law, in Proceedings of the Nineteenth
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1977), 17; Hashimoto, supra n. 129,
208–9.
138
So e.g. R. Cargill Hall, Rescue and Return of Astronauts on Earth and in
Outer Space, 63 American Journal of International Law (1969), 205; Report of
UN/Republic of Korea Workshop on Space Law, Daejon, South Korea, 2003,
A/AC.105/814, at para. 37. Cf. also Y. Ling, Does the Rescue Agreement Apply
to Space Tourists, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law
2011 (2012), 192–201. For the Rescue Agreement (supra n. 24) in general, see
supra, § 2.3.2.
139
So e.g. M.J. Sundahl, Rescuing Space Tourists: A Humanitarian Duty and
Business Need, in Proceedings of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (2008), 204–14; cf. however also F.G. von der Dunk, A Sleeping Beauty
Awakens: The 1968 Rescue Agreement after Forty Years, 34 Journal of Space
Law (2008), 433–4.
140
See on this issue also supra, § 2.2.1.3.

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applicable law to the sub-orbital journey remains. It has been argued that:
(1) air law should govern the sub-orbital journey because the vehicles
to be used for sub-orbital flight are sufficiently similar to aircraft;141
(2) space law, with appropriate amendments, should be applicable to the
entire journey on the grounds of the proposed function of the spacecraft
carrying tourists, that is: to fly, although briefly, in outer space;142 and/or
(3) air law should be applied to the combined vehicle until the moment of
separation and then space law should be applied to the spacecraft from
the moment it is launched until its return to the earth.
The status of the vehicles utilized in the course of a sub-orbital flight
remains uncertain. Indeed, depending on the categorization of these
vehicles as aircraft or space objects, the procedure according to which
they should be registered as well as the rules applicable to them and to
people on board would change. Although an internationally agreed
definition of ‘space object’ is still missing, this term can be interpreted as
‘any man-made artifact that is intended to be launched into outer
space’.143 Arguably, many of the vehicles being developed for sub-orbital
flights would qualify as aircraft for the purpose of triggering the
application of air law. Certainly this is the case for the combined vehicle
utilized by Virgin Galactic, which has the characteristics of an aircraft in
terms of technical functions, and where, until separation, the space
vehicle represents merely an additional cabin. However, there are valid
arguments to deem SpaceShipTwo a space object, because of its intention
to reach outer space and of the fact that, after separation, it does not
derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air.144 If this

141
See e.g. J.B. Marciaq et al., Accommodating Sub-Orbital Flights into the
EASA Regulatory System, in Space Safety Regulations and Standards (Eds. J.N.
Pelton & R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 187–212; R. Abeyratne, Space Tourism – Parallel
Synergies Between Air and Space Law?, 53 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraum-
recht (2004), 184; further infra, § 12.3.2 and literature referenced there.
142
See e.g. B. Cheng, International Responsibility and Liability for Launch
Activities, 20 Air and Space Law (1995), 299; further infra, § 12.3.3 and
literature referenced there.
143
Cf. F.G. von der Dunk, Beyond What? Beyond Earth Orbit?, 43 Califor-
nia Western International Law Journal (2013), 269; further supra, § 2.3.3.3.
144
This refers to the ‘standard’ definition of ‘aircraft’ as per Annex 7 to the
Chicago Convention, Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks, 5th edition,
July 2003, Definitions; Annex 8, Airworthiness of aircraft, 10th edition, April
2005, Definitions; cf. further infra, § 12.3.2..2. See S. Hobe, Legal Aspects of
Space Tourism, 86 Nebraska Law Review (2007), 443. Note, however, that this
generally acknowledged definition refers to vehicles which can derive support in

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assumption is accepted, these spacecraft could also be registered as

‘space objects’ under the 1975 Registration Convention.145
To summarize, if space law is applicable to all or part of the
sub-orbital journey and the sub-orbital vehicle is registered as a space
object, there might be room to argue that all on board this vehicle should
enjoy the advantages that international space law attributes to astronauts.
In any case, the status of private spaceflight participants remains uncer-
tain. Thus, in the years to come, the international legal community might
be faced with the task of redefining legal categories of individuals
involved in spaceflights.
Before concluding, it is worthwhile highlighting the benefits that the
space treaties confer on astronauts. The bottom line is that astronauts
shall receive special assistance and protection when facing emergency or
distress. In this respect, Article V of the Outer Space Treaty establishes a
duty for the states parties to give assistance to astronauts in an emer-
gency, accident or distress when found in the territory of another state
party or on the high seas.146 This duty is extended to emergencies
occurring in outer space and on celestial bodies.147 The provisions of
Article V of the Outer Space Treaty are elaborated and further specified
in the 1968 Rescue Agreement, which was indeed intended to develop
the duties imposed on parties of the Outer Space Treaty in its call for
rendering all possible assistance to astronauts in the event of accident,
distress or emergency landing and the prompt and safe return of
astronauts to the launching authority.148
It should be pointed out that the Rescue Agreement focuses on
assistance to astronauts on earth, while rescue and return operations in
space remain largely unaddressed, mostly due to the technical difficulties
that this kind of operation would entail. In any case, even if private
spaceflight participants are attributed the status of astronauts, the ques-
tion of how rescue operations should be undertaken and who should bear
the costs still needs to be addressed.

the atmosphere from the reactions of the air – requiring neither actual use
thereof, nor support for the whole flight.
145
On these issues see extensively infra, § 12.3.3.3.
146
See Art. V, 1st sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10.
147
See Art. V, 2nd sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10.
148
For an analysis of the 1968 Rescue Agreement, supra n. 24, see C.Q.
Christol, The Modern International Law of Outer Space (1982), 152–212; von
der Dunk, supra n. 139, 414–38; further supra, § 2.3.2.

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11.5 MILITARY USES OF THE INTERNATIONAL

SPACE STATION
An interesting aspect of the ISS project is the possibility to use the Space
Station for military purposes. The station, like many major space
projects, has an inherent dual-use nature with the capability to execute
both civil and military operations. Indeed, the presence of humans in
space may be utilized both to perform scientific research and to employ
advanced technological capabilities for military applications. Signifi-
cantly, a state does not have to launch a military crew into earth orbit in
order to obtain militarily useful information from a crewed mission.149
For example, in the case of photo-reconnaissance, ‘[d]epending upon the
sensing or photographic equipment onboard a space mission, even a civil
crew … could obtain and deliver highly valuable military information’.150
The prospect of military use of the ISS raises questions related to the
admissibility of military activities within the limit of the 1998 Inter-
governmental Agreement that established the ISS partnership. These
questions are linked to the much broader issue of the lawfulness of
military activities in outer space.151
Pursuant to the 1998 Intergovernmental Agreement, the ISS is a ‘civil
space station’ to be used for ‘peaceful purposes’ in order to ‘enhance the
scientific, technological, and commercial use of outer space’.152 How-
ever, the Intergovernmental Agreement does not provide any indication of
how the expression ‘peaceful purposes’ should be interpreted in the
context of the ISS.
The Outer Space Treaty and, in particular, its Article IV,153 partially
demilitarizes outer space by: (1) banning the use of nuclear weapons

149
See S.E. Doyle, Civil Space Systems: Implications for International
Security, UN Institute for Disarmament Research (1994), 79.
150
Ibid.
151
See on the latter supra, Chapter 6.
152
Art.1(1) & Art. 14(1) respectively, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra
n. 3.
153
Art. IV, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10, reads as follows: ‘States Parties
to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects
carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction,
install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space
in any other manner. The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all
States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment
of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of
weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies shall be
forbidden. The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other

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anywhere in outer space; (2) prohibiting the stationing of weapons of

mass destruction in orbit around the earth, moon or any other celestial
body, or otherwise installing such weapons on the moon or any other
celestial body; (3) restricting use of the moon and other celestial bodies
for exclusively peaceful purposes; and (4) expressly forbidding military
manoeuvres, the testing of weapons, or the establishment of military
bases, installations or fortifications on celestial bodies. However, there is
no express prohibition on military uses in the ‘void’ of outer space, as
long as these uses are consistent with the general principles of inter-
national law. This has direct implications for the possibility of using the
ISS for military applications. The key to understanding why outer space
can be used for non-offensive military purposes is to ascertain the
meaning of the expression ‘for peaceful purposes’, as used in Article IV
of the Outer Space Treaty.
The adjective ‘peaceful’ appears in the majority of the UN space-
related documents but none of them contains an authoritative interpret-
ation thereof.154 The phrase ‘peaceful purposes’ as used in the 1967
Outer Space Treaty was originally adopted from the 1959 Antarctic
Treaty.155 In this context, ‘peaceful’ means ‘non-military’, because the
Antarctic Treaty substantially demilitarizes the Antarctic continent.156
Based on this interpretation there are those who have sought to equate
‘peaceful’, as it pertains to outer space, with ‘non-military’,157 by
arguing, thus, that all military activities should be banned in outer
space.158 Such a restrictive interpretation of the word ‘peaceful’, how-
ever, does not find confirmation in state practice. Instead, a broader
understanding of ‘peaceful’ according to which this term is equated with
‘non-aggressive’, and military activities in outer space are allowed as
long as consistent with the UN Charter, has emerged and progressively

peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility
necessary for peaceful exploration of the Moon and other celestial bodies shall
also not be prohibited.’
154
Cf. e.g. I.A. Vlasic, The Legal Aspects of Peaceful and Non-Peaceful
Uses of Outer Space, in Peaceful and Non-Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (1991),
37.
155
See Arts. I, IX, Antarctic Treaty, Washington, done 1 December 1959,
entered into force 23 June 1961; 402 UNTS 71; TIAS 4780; 12 UST 794; UKTS
1961 No. 97; Cmnd. 913; ATS 1961 No. 12.
156
So e.g. A.A. Cocca, Historical Precedents for Demilitarization, in Main-
taining Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1984), 41–2.
157
Cf. Vlasic, supra n. 154, 41.
158
Cf. B. Cheng, Studies in International Space Law (1997), 650–1.

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been accepted.159 Indeed, since the beginning of the space era the United
States has championed this approach;160 even though the Soviet Union
was officially opposed to such an approach, it is also true that already in
the early 1960s both the United States and the Soviet Union used
satellites for reconnaissance purposes.161 It is equally relevant that a
consensus has developed within the United Nations that ‘peaceful’ more
specifically equates to ‘non-aggressive’.162 Nevertheless, the precise
scope and substance of the notion of ‘peaceful use of outer space and
celestial bodies’ remains one of the main sources of controversy sur-
rounding space activities.163 And perhaps nowhere is this uncertainty
more clearly exemplified than in the context of the ISS.
Under international space law, states are free to establish space stations
in outer space, even if they are devoted exclusively to military purposes,
provided they comply with the limitations of the Outer Space Treaty.164
Also, there is no restriction on the use of military personnel in outer
space.165 In fact, the Outer Space Treaty expressly provides that military
personnel are even permitted to perform certain ‘peaceful’ activities, such
as scientific research, on the moon and other celestial bodies.166

159
See N. Jasentuliyana, The Moon Treaty, in Maintaining Outer Space for
Peaceful Purposes (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1984), 128; S. Gorove, Article IV of
the Outer Space Treaty and Some Alternatives for Further Arms Control, in
Maintaining Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes (Ed. N. Jasentuliyana) (1984),
77, 82.
160
See B. Cheng, The Status of Outer Space and Relevant Issues: Delimita-
tion of Outer Space and Definitions of ‘Peaceful Use’, 11 Journal of Space Law
(1983), 89 ff.; A. Morgan, Military Use of Commercial Communication Satel-
lites: A New Look at the Outer Space Treaty and ‘Peaceful Purposes’, 60 Journal
of Air Law & Commerce (1994), 353–5.
161
See e.g. Vlasic, supra n. 154, 42, 45.
162
Cf. esp. Art. 51, UN Charter (Charter of the United Nations, San
Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993;
24 UST 2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666
and 6711; CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1), recognizing the inherent right of
self-defence as the most fundamental exception to the prohibition on the use of
armed force. See further Morgan, supra n. 160, at 303; Vlasic, supra n. 154, 38,
42.
163
Cf. also e.g. M. Lachs, Views from the Bench: Thoughts on Science,
Technology and World Law, 86 American Journal of International Law (1992),
673, 686.
164
See of course Art. IV, 1st sent., Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10.
165
Cf. Vlasic, supra n. 154, 50.
166
See Art. IV, para. 2, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 10.

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While the 1998 Intergovernmental Agreement calls for a ‘civil inter-

national space station’ to be operated ‘for peaceful purposes’, it does not
provide any explicit restrictions on the use of the ISS for military
purposes. Importantly, in 1988, during talks between the United States
and the European Partner States, the chief US negotiator declared that

the United States has the right to use its elements, as well as its allocations of
resources derived from the Space Station infrastructure, for national security
purposes … [and that further, w]ith respect to such uses of these elements and
resources, the decision whether they may be carried out under the Agreement
will be made by the United States.167

The European delegates further made it clear that by ‘peaceful purposes’

they meant civil, non-military projects,168 thereby linking the concepts of
‘peaceful’ and ‘scientific’ purposes, while at the same time dispelling any
notion that ‘operational space applications’ might include systems used
for purposes of national defence.
Nevertheless, during the negotiations of the Intergovernmental Agree-
ment the US view prevailed, and was ultimately incorporated into the
1998 Agreement. Once more, Article 9.3(b) provides: ‘[T]he Partner
providing an element shall determine whether a contemplated use of that
element is for peaceful purposes, except that this subparagraph shall not
be invoked to prevent any Partner from using resources derived from the
Space Station infrastructure’.
If by ‘peaceful purposes’ the Partners had, in fact, meant ‘civil,
non-military purposes’ then Article 9(3)(b) of the Intergovernmental
Agreement would seemingly be superfluous. Furthermore, under the
Agreement each ISS Partner retains jurisdiction and control over the ISS
elements it provides,169 and the determination of whether a contemplated
use of an ISS element is for ‘peaceful purposes, in accordance with
international law’ is expressly removed from the scope of the ISS
‘consensus management’ regime.170 Thus, each Partner is essentially free
to decide how best to utilize its respective ‘user elements’ according to its

167
B. Cheng, The Commercial Development of Space: the Need for New
Treaties, 19 Journal of Space Law (1991), 17, quoting an Exchange of Notes of
19/20 September 1988 between the Chief US Negotiator and the Head of the
European Governments’ Delegation to the International Space Station Negoti-
ations.
168
See Cheng, supra, n. 167, 29.
169
See Art. 5(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3.
170
Art. 1(3) & Art. 7(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 3; see also
Memorandum of Understanding Between the National Aeronautics and Space

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interpretation of international law principles,171 which, consequently, can

lead to military applications of the ISS where a Partner considers such
applications to fall within the definition of civil and peaceful uses.
In conclusion, despite ambiguities in the understanding of the expres-
sion ‘exclusively for peaceful purposes’, the ISS can also be used for
military purposes insofar as such actions are non-aggressive and consist-
ent with international law. Ultimately, it is how states utilize the space
station which is the key factor in determining its civil or military
potential.172

11.6 THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE

STATION
Originally, the ISS was supposed to remain in service until 2015.
However, due to delays in the assembling process and the willingness of
the ISS Partner States to utilize the Station at its full operational capacity,
the ISS project has been funded until 2020. This decision was the
outcome of a meeting held in Canada in March 2012 of the ISS Partners,
resulting in a renewed pledge to maintain the ISS until at least 2020.173
NASA reports that it is still committed to the principles of the mission
but also to use the International Space Station in new ways, which were
not elaborated upon. CSA President Steve MacLean stated his belief that
the ISS’s Canadarm will continue to function properly until 2028,
alluding to Canada’s likely extension of its involvement beyond 2020.174
In any case a willingness among the ISS Partners to keep the ISS in
operation until 2028 is emerging.175
What will happen at the end of the lifetime of the ISS still remains
uncertain. One possibility is the building of a third-generation modular
space station by using some of its existing parts. According to a 2009

Administration and the European Space Agency Concerning Cooperation on the

Civil International Space Station, done in Washington, 29 January 1998.
171
See Arts. 7(3); 9(3), & Art. 1(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra
n. 3.
172
See S.E. Doyle, Civil Space Systems: Implications for International
Security, UN Institute for Disarmament Research 1994.
173
See www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/mar/HQ_12-066_ISS_HOA_State
ment.html, last accessed 17 April 2014.
174
See http://nasawatch.com/archives/2012/02/, last accessed 17 April 2014.
175
See www.space-travel.com/reports/ISS_could_be_used_for_satellite_
assembly_until_2028_999.html, last accessed 4 January 2014.

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658 Handbook of space law

report,176 Space Corporation Energia is considering methods to remove

from the station some modules of the Russian Orbital Segment when the
end of mission is reached and use them as a basis for a new station,
known as the Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex
(OPSEK). The modules under consideration for removal from the current
ISS include the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), scheduled for
launch in 2014, with other Russian modules currently planned for
attachment to the MLM before 2015. Neither the MLM nor any
additional modules attached to it will have reached the end of their useful
lives in 2016 or 2020. The report foresees OPSEK remaining in operation
for a period of 30 years. The proposal would use OPSEK to assemble
components of manned interplanetary spacecraft destined for Mars, the
moon, and possibly Saturn. The returning crew would also recover on the
station before landing on earth. Such space stations could form part of a
deep space network, supporting manned exploration of the solar sys-
tem.177
It is interesting to point out that China, a major spacefaring state,
seems likely to remain outside of this project and other initiatives aimed
to extend the lifetime of the ISS. Instead, China has its own contempor-
ary manned space programme, Project 921, and has carried out
cooperation and exchanges with countries such as Russia and Germany
in manned and unmanned space projects. China launched its first
experimental space station Tiangong-1 in September 2011 and has
officially initiated the permanently manned Chinese space station pro-
ject.178 Accordingly, built and launched entirely by China, it will combine
indigenous designs with international compatibility as a third-generation
modular space station, comparable to the Soviet/Russian Mir, the Russian
OPSEK and the ISS. Operations will be controlled from the Beijing
Aerospace Command and Control Centre in China. The planned launch-
ing date is around 2020.179

176
See Russia To Save ISS Modules, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/
8064060.stm, last accessed 17 April 2014; also www.russianspaceweb.com/
opsek.html, last accessed 4 January 2014.
177
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPSEK, last accessed 17 April 2014.
178
For information on the Chinese Manned Space Station Programme, see
http://en.cmse.gov.cn/list.php?catid=64, last accessed 17 April 2014.
179
See www.space.com/21774-china-manned-space-station-next.html, last
accessed 17 April 2014; www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/07/chinas-manned-
space-program/100549/, last accessed 4 January 2014.

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11.7 CONCLUSION: THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE

STATION AS A MODEL FOR FUTURE
COOPERATION IN SPACE ACTIVITIES?
One of the most significant and unique features of the ISS project is the
high level of structured international cooperation among the Partner
States. A series of multilateral and bilateral legal instruments have
developed into an elaborate framework that has enabled the shared
management and costs of the ISS and ultimately contributed to make the
station a successful example of large-scale international cooperation in
outer space.
The ISS project has thus provided a successful legal platform for
potential future manned exploration and use of outer space. It has shown
that governments can collaborate on technological, financial, political and
legal levels to produce successful projects that provide for the benefit of
all with little dispute and operational difficulty.180
Similarly, plans for manned exploration and use of the solar system,
such as the exploration of Mars or habitation of the moon or of another
celestial body, would require the participation of many entities, both of a
governmental and of a non-governmental nature. In February 2011,
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden stated: ‘Any mission to Mars is
likely to be a global effort.’ Cooperation would not only be required for
the technical management of a potential lunar or Mars station, but also
for the establishment of an international legal regime to govern the
exploration, use and exploitation of the natural resources contained
therein.181
The extraction and use of natural resources from celestial bodies and
the eventual colonization of other planets constitute some of the most
fascinating goals in the realm of space activities. These plans are driven
not only by governments, but also by private companies. Planetary
Resources is a company whose mission is to apply commercial, innova-
tive techniques to explore space.182 The intention is to develop low-cost
robotics to explore and mine asteroids for resources that may be utilized
by space-based and terrestrial customers. Planetary Resources is not the

180
See e.g. E. González Ferreiro & A. Azcárraga, Orbital Space Ports: Their
Operating Procedures and Legal Frame, in Proceedings of the Fiftieth Collo-
quium on the Law of Outer Space (2008), 160–77.
181
See further on this issue infra, e.g. § 14.3.
182
See www.planetaryresources.com/, last accessed 18 February 2014.

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only company investigating asteroid mining, and others are proposing

such mining activities on the moon.
The legal regime applicable to activities on celestial bodies is provided
for in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and in the 1979 Moon Agreement.183
The former establishes fundamental principles applicable to all kinds of
space activities, including those on celestial bodies, and has been ratified
by all spacefaring states. The latter, which lays down specific provisions
dealing with manned scientific and commercial operation on celestial
bodies, has been ratified by only 15 states, not including any of the
leading space powers.184
The presence of mankind on celestial bodies beyond short-duration
visits creates a series of legal issues that become evident, such as the
legal status of permanent stations on a celestial body’s surface, of
personnel on board, of liability for damage caused by activities on such
celestial bodies, and the legal rules governing the removal and use of
natural resources contained therein.
One possible way to approach some of these issues could be to use
some of the legal solutions currently in force in the context of the ISS as
a model. The Intergovernmental Agreement provides for unique legal
solutions to some issues of IPR and criminal jurisdiction, as well as for a
very extended inter-party waiver of liability and the fundamental appli-
cation of the concept of time-sharing in terms of usage of the manned
facilities part of the ISS. Overall, the ISS offers an example of how to
manage international cooperation with respect to long-duration manned
missions in outer space.
Instead, the development of a regime to govern the commercial
exploitation of extraterrestrial resources would likely require new legal
solutions that also take into account the expectations and needs of private
companies. In any case, it is possible to foresee the utilization of the ISS
regime as a model for cooperation and utilization, and it has shown itself
to be a robust and evolving framework.
Problems will arise not when governments extend their reach to
landing on Mars or collecting samples from asteroids but when questions
related to the ownership of revenues generated from extraterrestrial
mining activities, especially when private entities are involved, are
addressed. Can those who can afford the trip be awarded the rights to the
spoils? If profits are earned and resources used by the few, is the Outer

183
For a detailed description of the legal regime applicable to extraterrestrial
resources, see infra, § 14.4.
184
See www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/SpaceLaw/treatystatus/index.html, last ac-
cessed 17 April 2014; also supra, § 2.3.5.

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Space Treaty’s declaration of outer space as a province of mankind for

the benefit of all thereby nullified? Follow-on questions then include who
has the right to allocate space resources, what the allocation criteria will
be and who will enforce the allocations and usage in space.
In particular the involvement of private entities and their requirement
for economic returns requires awareness of the considerations and
parameters within which the international community must stay. It must
be ensured that such new developments in space-based activities do not
endanger fundamental space law principles, such as the exploration and
use of outer space for the benefit of all mankind. Another challenge, in
order to allow sustainable private participation in future projects, is to
address the legal regime governing the extraction and commercial use of
resources from celestial bodies.
Many challenges await the international community. However, if
nations can maintain the same level of collaboration and willingness to
cooperate that has characterized the ISS experience, it is likely that future
outer space endeavours would be structured in a cohesive way leading to
success.

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12. Legal aspects of private manned

spaceflight
Frans von der Dunk

12.1 INTRODUCTION
‘Private commercial human spaceflight’, also often loosely and impre-
cisely known as ‘space tourism’, is quite likely the type of space activity
having raised most enthusiasm with the public at large ever since the
Apollo moon landings of 1969 through 1972 – and at the same time may
present the largest challenge to the existing body of (international) space
law yet.
As early as 1990 a Japanese journalist, the first professional non-career
cosmonaut, visited the then-Soviet Mir station to write daily newspaper
reports of what it meant to be in orbit, soon to be followed by an English
engineer.1 Yet, it was the launch of Dennis Tito to the Russian part of the
International Space Station (ISS)2 in 2001 which gave birth to the
phenomenon of ‘space tourism’ – he flew for no other reason than his
desire to fly in outer space and happening to have the money privately
available to pay the price quoted to him (some US$ 20 million) for
fulfilling that desire.3 So far, Tito has been followed to the ISS by
another six orbital tourists, including one woman, Anousheh Ansari, and

1
See S.A. Negoda, Legal Aspects of the Commercial Development of the
Russian Segment of the ISS, 28 Air & Space Law (2003), 90–1; Y. Hashimoto,
The Status of Astronauts toward the Second Generation Space Law, in Proceed-
ings of the Thirty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1994), 208; A.
Lele, Security Connotations of Space Tourism, 11 Astropolitics (2013), 219.
2
See on the ISS supra, esp. §§ 11.3–11.6.
3
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Passing the Buck to Rogers: International
Liability Issues in Private Spaceflight, 86 Nebraska Law Review (2007), 404–5;
S.R. Freeland, Up, Up and … Back: The Emergence of Space Tourism and Its
Impact on the International Law of Outer Space, 6 Chicago Journal of Inter-
national Law (2005), 2–3.

662

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one of the others actually taking the trip twice – against, generally, rising
prices.4
While at the time of writing such space tourism adventures on board
the ISS are temporarily halted due to the prioritization of other ISS
flights,5 they have not been banned in principle and may be resumed at
any time once new extraordinarily wealthy individual clients show their
interest in such flights.
Almost equally sensational as Tito’s first flight were the events that
unfolded in 2004. In October of that year a Scaled Composites-built
carrier aircraft (the WhiteKnightOne) flew to some 55,000 ft above the
Mojave desert in California and released a rocket-powered vehicle (the
SpaceShipOne) with a pilot and room for two passengers to an altitude of
over a 100 km – and repeated the event within three weeks, thus winning
the US$ 10 million purse made available by the Ansari family (yes, the
same of the first female space tourist) coveted by dozens of other
competitors for the X-Prize.6 One of the closest competitors to the victors
immediately established Virgin Galactic, teaming up with Scaled Com-
posites to build larger versions of the two-stage vehicle (SpaceShipTwo
allowing for two pilots and six passengers) and start flying paying
passengers (to the tune of some US$ 200,000 per ticket) into the edge of
outer space and back – a feat now expected to happen in 2015 or so.7

4
See e.g. T. Brannen, Private Commercial Space Transportation’s Depend-
ence on Space Tourism and NASA’s Responsibility to Both, 75 Journal of Air
Law & Commerce (2010), 642–3, 653; S. Chaddha, U.S. Commercial Space
Sector: Matured and Successful, 36 Journal of Space Law (2010), 34–6.
5
See supra, § 11.4.3.1.
6
See e.g. Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles and Emerging Markets,
FAA, February 2005, 1, 4–5; further von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 405–6; Freeland,
supra n. 3, 1–2; Chaddha, supra n. 4, 35–6; Brannen, supra n. 4, 644; V.J.
Vissepó, Legal Aspects of Reusable Launch Vehicles, 31 Journal of Space Law
(2005), 195. Officially, some 26 contenders entered the race for the X-Prize; see
The U.S. Commercial Suborbital Industry: A Space Renaissance in the Making,
FAA, 2; also e.g. T.R. Hughes & E. Rosenberg, Space Travel Law (and Politics):
The Evolution of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, 31
Journal of Space Law (2005), 8–9. The 100 km altitude was generally referred to
as the lower boundary of outer space; see on this issue supra, § 2.3.1.3.
7
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, FAA, February 2013, www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/
ast/media/Annual_Compendium_of_Commercial_Space_Transportation_2012_
February_2013.pdf, last accessed 10 March 2014, 27, 134; also http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic, last accessed 2 January 2014.

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Moreover, Virgin Galactic will likely be followed, possibly closely, by

several competitors having devised different operational and tech-
nological concepts.8 For example, XCOR is developing a single-stage-to-
space Lynx vehicle, taking off and landing like an aircraft and destined to
transport passengers to outer space and back in cooperation with SXC
also in 2015 or so, possibly from Curacao.9 Blue Origin, by contrast,
aims to launch passengers into those regions with its New Shepard
vehicle using a vertical take-off and vertical landing concept.10
Finally, though attracting considerably less attention than ISS tourism
and nascent sub-orbital tourism, within the United States two more
important developments occurred and continue to occur which may result
in further revolutionary developments in private manned spaceflight. On
the one hand, private operators already in the business of operating or
developing unmanned launch services turned to developing manned
spaceflight capability as well, strongly supported by NASA following a
redirection of the latter’s focus from low-earth-orbit to deep space.11
Notably this concerned SpaceX12 and Orbital Sciences;13 in addition

8
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 23–30; also M. Gerhard, Space Tourism – The Authorisation of
Suborbital Space Transportation, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed.
F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 264–5; Brannen, supra n. 4, 654–6; F.G. von der
Dunk, The Integrated Approach – Regulating Private Human Spaceflight as
Space Activity, Aircraft Operation, and High-Risk Adventure Tourism, 92 Acta
Astronautica (2013), 200–4; M. Chatzipanagiotis, The Legal Status of Space
Tourists in the Framework of Commercial Suborbital Flights (2011), 2; Hughes
& Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 2–3; specifically with a view to the spaceports from
which they should operate M.C. Mineiro, Law and Regulation Governing U.S.
Commercial Spaceports: Licensing, Liability, and Legal Challenges, 73 Journal
of Air Law & Commerce (2008), 761.
9
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 28, 133; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOR_Aerospace, last
accessed 2 January 2014. Cf. further also F.G. von der Dunk, Sun, Sea, Sand …
and Space: Launching Tourists into Outer Space from the Dutch Caribbean, in
Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 349–50.
10
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 25, 134; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin, last accessed
2 January 2014.
11
See e.g. www.space.com/17856-nasa-deep-space-station-moon-farside.
html, last accessed 15 January 2014.
12
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 33, 141; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX, last accessed 2
January 2014.

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Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) also aims for orbital servicing activ-
ities with its Dream Chaser, a concept similar to the Lynx in its
appearance – but, to be launched vertically, this time going for orbital
velocities, altitudes and operations.14
On the other hand, driven partly by the X-Prize competition and its
successful conclusion in 2004, Bigelow Aerospace is testing inflatable
scale models of future hotels in outer space, ultimately aiming to have a
fully equipped orbital hotel operational by 2015 or shortly thereafter.15
The first major step, the launch of an inflatable unmanned module
Genesis-I, has already taken place in July 2006, and was apparently such
a success that the next step, sending up Genesis-II, a copy of Genesis-I
carrying mementos for the public, was soon taken as well.16 Yet further
steps are to follow. Following the lead of the X-Prize, moreover, Bigelow
has dedicated ‘America’s Space Prize’ of US$ 50 million for the first
fully privately funded orbital space vehicle, in order to enhance the
possibilities for actually visiting the orbital hotel-to-be.17
In describing these various projects the key notions are ‘private’,
‘tourism’ and ‘spaceflight’; in order to allow for a thorough evaluation of
how current space law addresses and/or future space law should address
such new developments it is therefore necessary first to define those
terms to some extent.

13
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 33, 140; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Sciences_
Corporation, last accessed 2 January 2014.
14
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 34–5, 142; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_
Corporation, last accessed 2 January 2014; also Lele, supra n. 1, 223–4.
15
Cf. e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 36; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Aerospace, last
accessed 2 January 2014; further B. Perlman, Grounding U.S. Commercial Space
Regulation in the Constitution, 100 The Georgetown Law Journal (2012), 938–9.
See, also, for earlier plans, e.g. L. Billings, Exploration for the Masses? Or
Joy-Rides for the Ultra-Rich? Prospects for Space Tourism, 22 Space Policy
(2006), 162–3; R.D. Launius & D.R. Jenkins, Is It Finally Time for Space
Tourism?, 4 Astropolitics (2006), 261; von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 408–9. For a
possible competitor, Galactic Suite Ltd., see Brannen, supra n. 4, 655.
16
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Aerospace, last accessed 2
January 2014.
17
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America’s_Space_Prize, last accessed 10
March 2014; also Brannen, supra n. 4, 644–5; S.H. Bromberg, Public Space
Travel–2005: A Legal Odyssey into the Current Legal Regulatory Environment
for United States Space Adventurers Pioneering the Final Frontier, 70 Journal of
Air Law & Commerce (2005), 658.

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12.2 THE KEY DEFINITIONAL ISSUES

12.2.1 ‘Private Manned Spaceflight’ Versus ‘Space Tourism’

The most fundamental definitional issue concerns the ‘private’ character

of the various new developments briefly indicated above, in particular
with a view to the traditionally state-oriented character of space activities
and (especially international) space law.18 ‘Private’ as the opposite of
‘public’ refers to the legal character of the actors involved, and essentially
equates with ‘non-governmental’, that is referring to persons or entities
not formally part of the state’s official bodies and usually therefore acting
for personal motivations – of which the profit motive is of course the
most prominent one in the highly costly space sector.19
Also in the original phases of the space age, private industry did play a
role, even in the context of manned spaceflight – but exclusively as
manufacturers of hardware or software to be used for the actual space-
flight operations (from launch to landing, and including flight control,
living and working on board space stations, moon walks and other
extra-vehicular activities) which remained the exclusive domain of gov-
ernmental space agencies and one intergovernmental European Space
Agency.20 Thus, if the epithet is to have any distinguishing value, ‘private
spaceflight’ should refer to more substantial involvement of private actors
than only in the purely terrestrial manufacturing phases.
This is also where the phrase ‘space tourism’ becomes not only
imprecise but also confusing21 as this focuses on the motive for going

18
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, As Space Law Comes to Nebraska, Space
Comes Down to Earth, 87 Nebraska Law Review (2008), 500–2; cf. also supra,
§ 2.2.2.3; F.G. von der Dunk, The Origins of Authorization: Article VI of the
Outer Space Treaty and International Space Law, in National Space Legislation
in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 5–9.
19
Cf. also US National Space Policy, of 28 June 2010, www.white
house.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-28-10.pdf, last accessed 12
January 2014, at 10: ‘The term “commercial,” for the purposes of this policy,
refers to space goods, services, or activities provided by private sector enterprises
that bear a reasonable portion of the investment risk and responsibility for the
activity, operate in accordance with typical market-based incentives for control-
ling cost and optimizing return on investment, and have the legal capacity to
offer these goods or services to existing or potential nongovernmental cus-
tomers.’
20
Cf. also more generally supra, § 2.2.2.3.
21
Cf. e.g., the ‘official’ definition of ‘tourism’ in general offered by the
World Tourist Organization (UNWTO) and the UN Statistical Committee in

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into space. Legal analyses should thus be careful in using the concept of
‘space tourism’, where for example in aviation for legal purposes no
difference is made between tourist passengers and business passengers on
board the same aircraft. Furthermore, several prospective sub-orbital
operators have indicated that they would see the launching of small
satellites or other carriage of scientific payloads as another potentially
profitable business, which clearly is not ‘tourism’ in any normal sense of
the word.22
The most appropriate definition of ‘private manned spaceflight’ there-
fore would be ‘flights of humans intended to enter outer space (a) at their
own expense or that of another private person or private entity,
(b) conducted by private entities, or (c) both’. This double criterion is
formulated to exclude scenarios where governments or intergovernmental
organizations pay for the flight of a particular human and undertake the
actual flight operations, in which case the flight is legally speaking still
comprehensively ‘public’ in nature. Flights such as carried out by private
operators on behalf of NASA, however, are still included by virtue of
criterion (b), whereas flights such as those of Tito remain included by
virtue of criterion (a).

12.2.2 ‘Sub-Orbital’ Versus ‘Orbital’ – and the Definition of ‘Outer

Space’ Revisited

Essentially, the four most visible and topical versions of private space-
flight highlighted earlier under that definition can be further subdivided
into ‘sub-orbital’ and ‘orbital’, the latter comprising private visits to the

1994, as quoted by Launius & Jenkins, 255, supra n. 15, which reads: ‘The
activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual
environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and
other purposes’, where in particular the last four words constitute a counter-
intuitive addition since it would effectively equate ‘tourism’ with all travel,
taking away any distinctive common-sense meaning.
22
Cf. e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 24 ff. The discussion of what ‘space tourism’ means is
moreover further complicated by some ‘definitions’ including non-space hyper-
bolic flights; see on this von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 402–3, quoting S. Hobe & J.
Cloppenburg, Towards a New Aerospace Convention? – Selected Legal Issues of
‘Space Tourism’, in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (2005), 377: ‘space tourism’ encompasses ‘any commercial activity
offering customers direct or indirect experience with space travel’; so also
Freeland, supra n. 3, 6; cf. further Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 3. See for the
plans to launch scientific payloads e.g. Brannen, supra n. 4, 653.

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ISS, servicing the ISS as a private operation and plans for private hotels
in orbit. Thus, at a second level the differences between, and definitions
of, ‘sub-orbital’ and ‘orbital’ become important, even if currently those
might seem self-evident.
‘Sub-orbital’ strictly speaking refers to the technical/operational feat of
‘not completing one orbit’ around the earth.23 Thus, for instance in the
context of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) a ‘sub-
orbital flight’ has been loosely defined as ‘a flight up to a very high
altitude which does not involve sending the vehicle into orbit’.24 How-
ever, whilst as for manned flights perhaps for the near future these may
only concern short and easily distinguishable ‘up-and-down’ missions, in
the somewhat further future they may well come to encompass aviation-
like point-A-to-point-B transportation, both A and B being somewhere on
earth.25 While the assumption with point-A-to-point-B transportation is,
of course, that still not a single orbit is completed even though the
outer-space part of the trajectory on such (presumably transcontinental)
flights may span major parts of the globe, the trajectories may well come
to overlap or closely approximate true orbital trajectories.26
It is important to realize, therefore, that ultimately ‘sub-orbital’ may
turn out not to be a very helpful distinguishing criterion for legal
purposes of, inter alia, regulating such flights. In practice it is often,
consciously or unconsciously, equated to remaining below a certain

23
Note, however, that strictly speaking every trajectory that post-launch is
determined only by gravitational and drag forces follows an ellipsoid orbital
trajectory (in other words, a natural parabola) around one virtual centre-point and
two virtual foci (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipse, last accessed 3 April
2014) – in the case of a ‘sub-orbital’ trajectory it is just an orbit which intersects
with the earth. As R. Simberg explained (e-mail in possession of the author): ‘It’s
basic orbital mechanics’, and ‘[t]he only reason it’s an incomplete ellipse is
because the earth gets in the way’; even parabolic flights in weightless aircraft
follow such elliptical trajectories effectively qualifying as ‘sub-orbital’. Cf. also
e.g. M. Benkö & E. Plescher, Space Law – Reconsidering the Definition/
Delimitation Question and the Passage of Spacecraft Through Foreign Airspace
(2013), 8 ff.
24
As quoted in P. van Fenema, Suborbital Flights and ICAO, 30 Air and
Space Law (2005), 405.
25
See also von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 403, 406–8, on Virgin Galactic’s
announced plans in this respect.
26
At the same time, it is this character of aviation-like across-the-globe
transportation which has given rise to numerous comparisons with aviation also
for legal purposes; see further infra, § 12.3.2.1, esp. n. 46.

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altitude (that of ‘an orbit’) – or, by contrast (and rather confusingly),

above a certain altitude (namely as being in outer space).27
Another issue is whether hyperbolic flights are subsumed under the
concept of ‘sub-orbital’ – which strictly speaking would be correct, since
clearly not achieving orbital velocity, yet neither reaching an altitude by
any means to be considered ‘outer space’. The FAA defines ‘suborbital
trajectory’ as ‘the intentional flight path of a launch vehicle, reentry
vehicle, or any portion thereof, whose vacuum instantaneous impact point
does not leave the surface of the Earth’, which does not refer to ‘outer
space’ or any minimum altitude to be aimed for.28 As a ‘suborbital rocket’
is then defined with reference to being ‘rocket-propelled’, obviously
aircraft on hyperbolic trajectories are excluded from the application of
these regulations.29 The FAA launch licensing regulations alternatively
refer to ‘suborbital launch vehicles’ and ‘suborbital rockets’30 – yet the
FAA reports define ‘suborbital reusable vehicles’ as ‘commercially
developed reusable space vehicles that travel just beyond the threshold of

27
An example of the former would be Sec. 1, 12th bullet, Space Affairs Act
(South African Space Affairs Act), 6 September 1993, assented to on 23 June
1993, No. 84 of 1993; Statutes of the Republic of South Africa – Trade and
Industry, Issue No. 27, 21–44; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I
(2001), at 413; which defines ‘launching’ as ‘the placing or attempted placing of
any spacecraft into a sub-orbital trajectory or into outer space’ (emphasis added);
the use of ‘or’ suggesting a dichotomy between ‘outer space’ and ‘sub-orbital’.
An example of the latter would be Van Fenema, supra n. 24, 396, referring to
‘the launch of an object or objects into outer space without that object or such
objects completing one or more orbits around the earth’. See further for an
extended discussion on the definition of ‘sub-orbital’, and whether it means
actually remaining below any boundary referenced by way of ‘orbital’ (as ‘sub’
means ‘below’), as meaning not arriving even in the lowest regions of outer
space, or reaching above such a boundary as long as not achieving a single full
orbit (as ‘sub-orbital’ means exactly that whilst generally assuming outer space is
still reached), including examples of various implicit interpretations/definitions,
F.G. von der Dunk, Beyond What? Beyond Earth Orbit?…! The Applicability of
the Registration Convention to Private Commercial Manned Sub-Orbital Space-
flight, 43 California Western International Law Journal (2013), esp. 285–9;
further V. Nase, Delimitation and the Suborbital Passenger: Time to End
Prevarication, 77 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2012), 748–9; Gerhard,
supra n. 8, 263, n. 2; Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 2; Benkö & Plescher, supra
n. 23.
28
Sec. 50902(20), 51 U.S.C.; 14 C.F.R. § 401.5. Note that, e.g., deep space
probes do not even have a ‘vacuum instantaneous impact point’.
29
Cf. 14 C.F.R. § 401.5.
30
Cf. 14 C.F.R. Chapter III, Subch. C, at various instances.

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space, about 100 km (62 miles) above the Earth’, adding ‘[w]hile
traveling through space’.31
Effectively, the FAA, the single governmental authority worldwide so
far having addressed these issues from a regulatory perspective, thus uses
two alternative criteria in determining the craft subject to launch licens-
ing, with the result that also certain flights not reaching or even intending
to reach outer space are licensed under the Commercial Space Launch
Act, thereby skirting the definitional issue.32
On the one hand, the FAA defines such a launch vehicle as ‘a
suborbital rocket’, where the technology – rocket propulsion versus airlift
– serves as the key criterion distinguishing between sub-orbital flights
regulated under launch licensing regulations and ‘other’ flights regulated
under aviation regulations, regardless of where the flight takes place or is
intended to take place.33
On the other hand, ‘launch vehicle’ can also refer to ‘a vehicle built to
operate in, or place a payload or human beings in, outer space’.34 The
reference to ‘outer space’ in itself would make this a geographic
criterion, but at the same time the reference to the vehicle being ‘built to
operate in’ – as opposed to ‘operating in’ – outer space even allows
inclusion of non-rocket vehicles as long as they can be characterized as
still being part of an undertaking ultimately targeting outer space.35
For the present analysis, sub-orbital flights could thus be further
subdivided into ‘sub-orbital space flights’ (the ones aiming to achieve
altitudes of 100 km or higher, as reflected by the perhaps not de
jure but de facto approach of the FAA by way of its reports), and ‘other

31
The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2012,
supra n. 7, 24.
32
For a brief survey of the Commercial Space Launch Act in general see
further supra, § 3.3.1.1; also infra, §§ 12.3.4.2 and 12.3.4.3; Cf. also Hughes &
Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 30–3, 50–1; on international ramifications of US/FAA
approaches in this context, 76–7.
33
See Sec. 50902(8) (B), 51 U.S.C. This allows the FAA also to license e.g.
test flights of vehicles or component parts thereof ultimately destined for use in
outer space, but as such not necessarily aiming themselves to enter outer space –
wherever that begins.
34
Sec. 50902(8) (B), 51 U.S.C.
35
This allows the FAA also to license e.g. certain high-altitude balloon
flights such as contemplated by Paragon, which aim at an altitude of ‘only’ 30
km; see letter FAA to P.L. Meredith, 26 September 2013, at www.faa.gov/about/
office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/pol_adjudication/agc200/interpretations/data/
interps/2013/meredith-zuckertscoutt&rasenberger%20-%20(2013)%20legal%20
interpretation.pdf, last accessed 18 April 2014.

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sub-orbital flights’ which do not aim for such altitudes yet still use rocket
technology and hence also happen to be regulated by the FAA under its
(space) launch licensing regime.36
Further analysis here will then focus only on the former, as only these
constitute spaceflight in the real sense of the word, namely as intended to
reach outer space – hyperbolic flights to altitudes of 30 or 40 km never
leave air space, hence never trigger the applicability of space law to the
extent that it has a geographical, ‘spatialist’ basis.37 And even if some of
them may use rocket technology, and thus presently fall within the scope
of the FAA’s launch regime, qualification of such vehicles as ‘space
objects’, the main trigger of application of international space law outside
of outer space itself, becomes doubtful as not even the intention to reach
outer space is there.38 Of course, this once more raises the issue of the
lower ‘geographical’, spatialist boundary of outer space – as this is often
equated with the lowest possible or actual altitude at which a satellite can
still maintain an orbit around the earth.39
It also means that the distinction between ‘sub-orbital’ and ‘orbital’
spaceflight ultimately cannot be drawn that sharply, to the extent both
types of spaceflight make use of the same geographical realm of outer

36
See further infra, § 12.3.4.3.
37
This refers esp. to Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty (Treaty on Principles
Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space,
including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, London/Moscow/Washington,
done 27 January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205;
TIAS 6347; 18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24;
6 ILM 386 (1967)), and all other elements of international space law applicable
to the global commons of outer space following therefrom; see infra, § 12.3.3.1;
further supra, § 2.3.1.2.
38
Note esp. Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 37; Liability Convention
(Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects,
London/Moscow/Washington, done 29 March 1972, entered into force 1 Septem-
ber 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16;
Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971)); and Registration Convention
(Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, New York,
done 14 January 1975, entered into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15;
TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14
ILM 43 (1975)), applicable to ‘objects launched into outer space’ and ‘space
objects’ respectively, where the definition of such objects crucially hinges on the
intention to launch such objects into outer space; see infra, § 12.3.3.2; further
supra, § 2.3.3.3.
39
See the extended analysis in von der Dunk, supra n. 27, 280 ff., arriving
at the conclusion that this would or at least very well could – again – point to an
altitude of some 100 km above sea level; see also supra, § 2.3.1.3.

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space. It is only with this broader perspective in mind that one can
address the currently relevant manned ‘sub-orbital’ flights, which reach
the lower edge of outer space only for a short time span,40 as a subset of
space flights whereas the fact that 95 per cent of the activity takes place
in the realm of air space (as generally perceived) makes discussion of
actual applicability or possible application of some parts of air law also
relevant.
Mirror-wise, of course similar definitional problems play in the realm
of private ‘orbital’ manned spaceflight. While the concept of ‘orbital’ is
clear (any object achieving sufficient escape velocity to allow itself to
complete at least one full orbit around the earth earns itself that epithet41)
any space object has to first traverse some airspace or other before
arriving at such orbital altitudes, which almost by definition are in outer
space (and to the extent manned spaceflight is at issue, of course also
during its return should do so).
While in the future travel beyond (low) earth orbit qualifying as
‘orbital’ – even if the ultimate destination (such as the moon) may be
‘beyond’ any earth orbit – could be envisaged, again for the time being
analysis could limit itself to addressing the operations in (low) earth orbit
falling within the scope of ‘private spaceflight’, which concern transport-
ation to or from space stations, whether governmental or private as
Bigelow Aerospace is developing them. Thus, the present chapter will
first address the legal aspects of sub-orbital and orbital private manned
spaceflight separately, and then address some aspects of private manned
spaceflight in principle applicable to both categories.

12.3 LEGAL ISSUES OF PRIVATE SUB-ORBITAL

MANNED SPACEFLIGHT
12.3.1 Introduction: Space Law Versus Air Law

The overarching special issue concerning regulation of private sub-orbital

manned spaceflight concerns the question of whether this indeed, legally
speaking, concerns spaceflight, or is more akin to aviation of a special
character. Further to the spatialist-versus-functionalist dichotomy,42 this

40
Note, however, that ‘sub-orbital’ as such would also encompass sounding
rockets going to much higher altitudes; see. e.g. Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 23.
41
See for a basic technical/operational analysis of orbital velocity for the
purpose of legal discussions von der Dunk, supra n. 27, 282–3.
42
See supra, § 2.3.1.3; also e.g. Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 7–17.

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question bifurcates into two sub-questions: to what extent does, would or

should air law apply because the activities (largely) take place in
airspace? And to what extent does, would or should it apply because they
are conducted with what could be determined to be aircraft? The
mirror-sides to these questions obviously focus on space law and the
concepts of ‘outer space’ and ‘space objects’.

12.3.2 The Applicability of Air Law

12.3.2.1 The issue of ‘airspace’

The most fundamental rule of air law is the sovereignty of states over
their national airspace, defined as the airspace over ‘the land areas and
territorial waters adjacent thereto under the sovereignty, suzerainty,
protection or mandate of such State’ – but without any upper limit
indicated.43 As a consequence, states are individually entitled to deter-
mine the legal regime applicable basically to any craft flying in such
national airspace, albeit that by signing up to the Chicago Convention
and other international treaty arrangements (including notably the bi-
lateral agreements between sovereign states on commercial aviation)
most states have agreed to certain international standards and practices
and/or specific cross-border aviation operations.44
Consequently, states inter alia retain full responsibility for the safety
of aviation within their national airspaces, which includes the provision
of appropriate air traffic services – although not necessarily liability for
any damage suffered as a consequence of deficient provision of such
services.45 It also includes responsibility for clearing specific parts of

43
Arts. 1, 2, Convention on International Civil Aviation (hereafter Chicago
Convention), Chicago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force 4 April 1947;
15 UNTS 295; TIAS 1591; 61 Stat. 1180; Cmd. 6614; UKTS 1953 No. 8; ATS
1957 No. 5; ICAO Doc. 7300.
44
The International Air Services Transit Agreement (Two Freedoms Agree-
ment), Chicago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force 30 January 1945; 84
UNTS 389; 59 Stat. 1963; UKTS 1953 No. 8; Cmd. 6614; ATS 1957 No. 5;
ICAO Doc. 7500, and (in particular) the International Air Transport Agreement
(Five Freedoms Agreement), Chicago, done 7 December 1944, entered into force
8 February 1945; 171 UNTS 387; 59 Stat. 1701; ICAO Doc. App. IV-2187,
represented efforts to establish a world-wide regime of access to aviation
markets; due to the limited partisanship esp. to the Five Freedoms Agreement,
however, most of those arrangements were realized through bilateral air service
agreements.
45
Cf. Art. 28, Chicago Convention, supra n. 43; also e.g. Arts. 12, 22, 25.
See further F.P. Schubert, An International Convention on GNSS Liability: When

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airspace surrounding a launch event (both in space and in time), but so

far this has remained – and for the near future will likely remain – a
matter of national (air) law, without any real need or formal requirement
for international regulation.
From this perspective, certainly the currently envisaged sub-orbital
flights would have much in common with aviation: they will often use
airports for take-off and landing, will only for a small, upper part of the
hyperbolic flight profile leave what is commonly referred to as ‘airspace’,
and will consequently also interfere with normal aviation taking place in
the same three-dimensional area. At a later stage, furthermore, flights are
envisaged to provide point-to-point aviation-like transportation across the
globe. In all these cases, the outer-space part of the trajectory is more like
a helpful incident than a main target or a crucial element of the flight.46

12.3.2.2 The issue of ‘aircraft’

Technologically speaking the comparison essentially hinges on the defin-
ition of an ‘aircraft’ as ‘any machine that can derive support in the
atmosphere from the reactions of the air other than the reactions of the
air against the earth’s surface’.47 As the use of the word ‘can’ points out,
with the exception of craft which can only operate in a completely
ballistic mode, all envisaged vehicles for private human spaceflight

Does Desirable Become Necessary?, 24 Annals of Air and Space Law (1999),
252–4; M. Bartkowski, Responsibility for Air Navigation (ATM) in Europe, 21
Annals of Air & Space Law (1996), 46 ff.; Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 144.
46
Also historically, many similarities to aviation have been referenced; cf. in
general e.g. Hobe & Cloppenburg, supra n. 22, 378–81; Van Fenema, supra
n. 24, 399–403; R. Abeyratne, Space Tourism – Parallel Synergies Between Air
and Space Law?, 53 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2004), 184 ff.;
Gerhard, supra n. 8, 268–78; Vissepó, supra n. 6, 173; somewhat naïvely (e.g.
repeatedly referring to angel investors as ‘altruistic billionaires’ – without any
quotation marks), Bromberg, supra n. 17, 639 ff.; for a critical appraisal of this
approach, von der Dunk, supra n. 8, 200–8; also with reference to XCOR/SXC’s
plans, F.G. von der Dunk, Trying to Fit a Square Peg into a Round Hole?
Applying Air Law to Manned Commercial Spaceflight – the Case Study of
Curacao, 12 Aviation & Space Journal (2013), 23–31.
47
E.g. Annex 7 to the Chicago Convention, supra n. 43, Aircraft Nationality
and Registration Marks, 5th edition, July 2003, Definitions; Annex 8, Airworthi-
ness of aircraft, 10th edition, April 2005, Definitions. See also Vissepó, supra
n. 6, 185–9.

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would fit the bill, and hence entail application of the regimes that the
existence and operation of aircraft trigger.48
It is for those reasons that both the International Civil Aviation
Organisation49 and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)50
started considering the development, at a global and European-regional
level respectively, of regulation as requisite for sub-orbital flights. ICAO,
however, though acknowledging the applicability of the general definition
of ‘aircraft’ to most of the vehicles currently being designed for private
sub-orbital flight, has decided to desist (at least for the time being) from
developing Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for such
sub-orbital vehicles or the operations conducted with them.51
EASA at first intended to develop an appropriately specific certifi-
cation regime for the craft to engage in sub-orbital flights (at least to the
extent that these qualify as ‘aircraft’) and, once that regime would be
sufficiently developed, start addressing attendant safety issues such as
those related to crew and passenger licensing and certification, but those
efforts currently have been put on hold.52

48
Strictly speaking, it is not even necessary for a vehicle to actually ‘derive’
such ‘support’ for any portion of the flight to qualify as an aircraft, as long as it
would at least have (had) the option to do so. Note the various technologies used
as indicated supra, § 12.1. See further e.g. Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 19–20;
Gerhard, supra n. 8, 264–5, 268–9.
49
ICAO was established by way of Arts. 43–90, Chicago Convention, supra
n. 43, to develop an international regime for the safety of aviation, essentially
through the development of many SARPs by way of continuously updated
Annexes (cf. Arts. 37 & 38). See also Van Fenema, supra n. 24, 396, 400–3.
50
EASA was established as a special agency of the European Union to
develop EU-wide rules on aviation safety, in particular through certification of
aircraft; cf. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on
common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation
Safety Agency, No. 1592/2002/EC, of 15 July 2002; OJ L 240/1 (2002); later
amended by Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on
common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation
Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC, Regulation (EC)
No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC, No. 216/2008/EC, of 20 February
2008; OJ L 79/1 (2008).
51
See Working Paper on Concept of Suborbital Flights, ICAO Council,
175th Session, 30 May 2005, C-WP/12436. Cf. also in general Hughes &
Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 76–7; Vissepó, supra n. 6, 179–85.
52
See e.g. J.B. Marciacq et al., Towards Regulating Suborbital Flights: An
Updated EASA Approach, Paper IAC-10-D2.9.5, 61st International Astronautical
Congress, Prague, 2010, 2, not published in the Proceedings of the International
Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011); J.B. Marciacq et al., Accommodating

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12.3.2.3 Applicability and application of international air law

Generally, the applicability and/or application of international air law
and, following, the sovereign jurisdiction of individual states over their
national airspaces as well as over aircraft registered nationally,53 national
air law to sub-orbital spacecraft and space flights hinges on those two
concepts of airspace and aircraft. Thus, the application of the inter-
national contractual liability regimes of air law, effectively requiring
states parties to the respective conventions to establish or alternatively
harmonize national law requiring aircraft operators to compensate dam-
age caused to passengers and cargo on board aircraft in the course of
transportation by such aircraft (or during embarkation or disembarkation)
in accordance with whatever terms the relevant treaty regime prescribes,
is made contingent upon transportation of passengers on board aircraft.54
The same essentially applies to third-party liability: as far as regulated
on the international level, the 1952 Rome Convention55 as later amended
by the 1978 Montreal Protocol56 apply to damage caused (on the ground)
by aircraft. As a 2009 Convention57 has not yet entered into force and the
number of states parties to the Rome Convention and the Montreal

Sub-Orbital Flights into the EASA Regulatory System, in Space Safety Regu-
lations and Standards (Eds. J.N. Pelton & R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 187–212; also
Gerhard, supra n. 8, 269–79.
53
Cf. Arts. 17–21, Chicago Convention, supra n. 43.
54
These regimes range from the Warsaw Convention (Convention for the
Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Transportation by Air,
Warsaw, done 12 October 1929, entered into force 13 February 1933; 137 LNTS
11; USTS 876; UKTS 1933 No. 11) to the Montreal Convention (Convention for
the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, Montreal,
done 28 May 1999, entered into force 4 November 2003; 2242 UNTS 350;
ICAO Doc. 9740; 48 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1999), at 326); see
e.g. Art. 17, Warsaw Convention; Art. 17(1), Montreal Convention. Cf. further
e.g. Hobe & Cloppenburg, supra n. 22, 378–80; Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8,
86–95.
55
Rome Convention on Damage Caused by Foreign Aircraft to Third Parties
on the Surface (hereafter Rome Convention), Rome, done 7 October 1952,
entered into force 4 February 1958; 310 UNTS 181; ATS 1959 No. 1; ICAO
Doc. 7364.
56
Protocol to Amend the Convention on Damage Caused by Foreign
Aircraft to Third Parties on the Surface Signed at Rome on 7 October 1952
(hereafter Montreal Protocol), Montreal, done 23 September 1978, entered into
force 25 July 2002; ICAO Doc. 9257.
57
Convention on Compensation for Damage Caused by Aircraft to Third
Parties, Montreal, done 2 May 2009; not yet entered into force; ICAO Doc. 9919.

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Protocol is fairly limited, however, mostly national law would be

applicable directly.58
The application of criminal air law even rests upon a combination of
the applicability of the concepts of ‘aircraft’ and ‘airspace’. The first
treaty to address the issue was the 1963 Tokyo Convention, which
provided that the state in whose airspace an aircraft registered with
another state is flying is the primary state entitled to exercise its ‘criminal
jurisdiction over an offence committed on board’ an aircraft – although
the former state should not do so unless other criteria apply.59 Additional
treaties and protocols, such as the 1970 Hague Convention,60 generally
followed the same approach.
In other words, once and to the extent that the vehicles intended for
use by private human spaceflight are considered aircraft and/or to the
extent they use airspace (provided of course the various other require-
ments for application of the respective conventions were equally fulfilled)
their respective regimes would also apply on board those private human
spaceflight vehicles.61
Unfortunately, this as such neither provides in itself a clear-cut regime
– in view of the various technologies being developed for sub-orbital
flights and the uncertainties surrounding the geographical definitions of
‘airspace’ and ‘outer space’ respectively62 – nor excludes the simultane-
ous applicability of space law, which consequently has to be analysed
next from the same perspective.

58
Cf. also e.g. Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 141–7.
59
Namely, if ‘(a) the offence has effect on the territory of such State [being
overflown]; (b) the offence has been committed by or against a national or
permanent resident of such State; (c) the offence is against the security of such
State; (d) the offence consists of a breach of any rules or regulations relating to
the flight or manoeuvre of aircraft in force in such State; [or] (e) the exercise of
jurisdiction is necessary to ensure the observance of any obligation of such State
under a multilateral international agreement’; Art. 4, in conjunction with Art.
1(2), Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board
Aircraft (hereafter Tokyo Convention), Tokyo, done 14 September 1963, entered
into force 4 December 1969; 704 UNTS 219; 2 ILM 1042 (1963); ICAO Doc.
8364. See e.g. Abeyratne, supra n. 46, 190–3; Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 43–4.
60
Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (hereafter
Hague Convention), The Hague, done 16 December 1970, entered into force 14
October 1971; 860 UNTS 105; TIAS 7192; 22 UST 1641; UKTS 1972 No. 29;
Cmnd. 4577; ATS 1972 No. 16; 10 ILM 133 (1971); ICAO Doc. 8920.
61
For the case study of Curacao from this perspective, see von der Dunk,
supra n. 46, 24 ff.
62
See supra, § 12.2.2, also § 2.3.1.3.

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12.3.3 The Applicability of Space Law

12.3.3.1 The issue of ‘outer space’

The applicability of space law along similar lines as air law hinges firstly
upon the definition of ‘outer space’. ‘Outer space’ has provisionally been
defined as the area from a terrestrial perspective beyond 100 km above
sea level following an analysis that an international customary legal rule
seems to be emerging that such altitude would present the most sensible
and logical boundary between the sovereign realm of airspaces and the
global commons of outer space.63
For the current analysis, it may be added that indeed the prospective
sub-orbital projects all refer to that same altitude as their ‘aim’, their
main sales argument, and that the number is increasingly being refer-
enced even in US documents addressing sub-orbital spaceflight licens-
ing.64 From that perspective there can be little doubt that under most
analyses the sub-orbital flights envisaged by Virgin Galactic, XCOR/SXC
and their likes would at least top out in the lowest area of ‘outer space’,
and to that extent would trigger application of space law.

12.3.3.2 The issue of ‘space objects’

The relevance of the definition of ‘space objects’ for private sub-orbital
spaceflight is akin to, and actually mirroring, that of the definition of
‘aircraft’ as analysed above.
The original problem encountered here is that space law does not
really define ‘space object’, other than by virtue of the partly circular
‘[t]he term “space object” includes component parts of a space object as
well as its launch vehicle and parts thereof’.65 This ‘definition’ firstly
makes clear that, for example, the WhiteKnight aircraft carrying Space-
Ships would, as ‘launch vehicles’, also qualify as ‘space objects’ once the
SpaceShips themselves so qualified – even though the WhiteKnights

63
See supra, § 2.3.1.3.
64
See e.g. Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles and Emerging Markets,
supra n. 6, 1, 4, 15–27; 2011 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation Develop-
ments and Concepts: Vehicles, Technologies, and Spaceports, FAA, January
2011, www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/2011%20 Dev
Con%20Report.pdf, last accessed 10 March 2014, 27–33; The Annual Compen-
dium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2012, supra n. 7, 24–9, 132, 137–8;
also supra, § 12.2.2.
65
See Art. I(d), Liability Convention, supra n. 38, and Art. I(b), Registration
Convention supra n. 38.

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would equally continue to qualify as aircraft under the Chicago Conven-

tion’s definitions.66
Secondly, however, the reference to ‘launch’ does provide a further
pointer as to what a ‘space object’ should be taken to refer to. General
opinion now holds ‘space object’ to refer essentially to any man-made
artefact ‘launched’ into outer space, which to start with then begs the
question what the word ‘launch’ refers to.67 The underlying assumption
by and large used to be that a launch constituted a kind of vertical
departure aiming at entering outer space while using rocket engines.
Any such assumption, however, has now been ‘corrupted’ firstly by air
launches conducted, for example, by Pegasus.68 In such cases, the
spacecraft proper was released from underneath an aircraft in mid-air
where the very first part of the trajectory essentially is a horizontal one –
activities still legally defined as ‘launches’ at least for the purpose of, for
example, the Liability Convention.69
More broadly, there is no single, generally accepted legal definition of
‘launch’; the most sensible and comprehensive approach would be to rise
above any technological variations and to simply consider any object
(attempted to be) brought into outer space by that token ‘launched’.
Which of course brings the question back to what ‘outer space’ refers to
– so that for the present purposes a ‘space object’ equates with any
man-made artefact intended to be flown to an altitude of at least 100 km
above sea level, which would then include all vehicles currently being
developed for sub-orbital (space)flight.70

66
Cf. supra, § 12.3.2.2.
67
Cf. also e.g. B. Cheng, Studies in International Space Law (1997), 324–6,
esp. 464, 493–5; Hobe & Cloppenburg, supra n. 22, 381; as applied in particular
to sub-orbital vehicles Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 20–7; Gerhard, supra n. 8,
282–3; Benkö & Plescher, supra n. 23.
68
See e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 8; also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Sciences_
Corporation, last accessed 2 January 2014.
69
Pegasus as a US company operating from US territory also required
licences under the Commercial Space Launch Act (now codified as 51 U.S.C.
Chapter 509 – Commercial Space Launch Activities) for such activities; see
www.faa.gov/data_research/commercial_space_data/launches/?type=license, last
accessed 12 January 2014.
70
See again supra, § 12.2.2 and § 2.3.1.3.

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12.3.3.3 Applicability and application of international space law

Generally, the applicability and/or application of international space law
and, to the extent fitting within that framework, national space law71 to
sub-orbital spacecraft and spaceflight hinges on those two concepts of
‘outer space’ and ‘space object’. Applicability of the concept of ‘outer
space’ in particular gives rise to the international responsibility of states
for any activities in that realm as long as these can be qualified as
‘national activities’ of the state in question, consequently obliging them –
at least if they are held to be the ‘appropriate State’ to do so – to
undertake proper ‘authorisation and continuing supervision’ of such
activities.72
Whilst these clauses refer to ‘national activities in outer space’,73 it
may be noted that also for national activities below the geographical
threshold of outer space states remain internationally responsible, in
particular with respect to those taking place within national airspaces, in
accordance with the general public international law concept of ‘state
responsibility’.74 From that perspective, crossing any boundary into outer
space may not seem to be of much relevance with a view to regulating
those flights. The main difference, however, which is of key importance
in the context of private manned spaceflight in particular, is that under
general state responsibility states are only directly and fully responsible
for their own activities, whereas under space law responsibility they are
equally responsible for non-governmental, read private activities.75

71
See on national space law in general supra, Chapter 3. A case for
applying space law comprehensively to sub-orbital flights is made e.g. by B.
Cheng, International Responsibility and Liability for Launch Activities, 20 Air &
Space Law (1995), 299 ff.
72
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 37; see also supra, § 2.3.1.1.
73
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 37 (emphasis added). Cf. also the
discussion on what constitutes ‘outer space’, supra, § 2.3.1.3.
74
See e.g. Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally
Wrongful Acts, adopted in August 2001; Report of the ILC on the Work of its
Fifty-third Session, UN Doc A/56/10(2001), p. 26 ff.; cf. also Art. 28, Chicago
Convention, supra n. 43.
75
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 37, states in relevant part: ‘States
Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities
in outer space … whether such activities are carried on by governmental
agencies or by non-governmental entities’ (emphasis added). See for an extended
analysis of this issue e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Liability versus Responsibility in
Space Law: Misconception or Misconstruction?’, in Proceedings of the Thirty-
Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1992), 363–71.

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This constitutes one angle from which individual states have found it
necessary to establish national space laws and regulations for cases where
such national activities in outer space are undertaken by non-state actors,
read essentially private commercial operators. In particular with respect
to private human spaceflight, however, the space treaties did not provide
much relevant detail. Therefore it was – and still is – largely up to such
national law and regulation to address the specifics of this novel type of
space activities.76
Applicability of the concept of ‘space object’ in turn most notably
triggers application of international space law’s regimes on liability and
registration-cum-jurisdiction. The Liability Convention, addressing third-
party liability, applies to damage caused by space objects, and holds
liable for such damage the states qualifying as ‘launching State(s)’ under
the applicable provisions.77 As this liability also applies for non-
governmental space objects causing damage (including sub-orbital vehi-
cles), states have started to implement national legal regimes addressing
derogation from such liabilities (in whole or in part) and related
insurance requirements. As international space law, however, again has
addressed liability in general terms only – certainly from the perspective
of private sub-orbital manned spaceflight – most national laws remain
fairly general in their elaboration.78
Also the Registration Convention principally focuses on ‘space
objects’ as the object of the relevant registration obligations.79 Formally,
the Convention even limits itself to space objects ‘launched into Earth
orbit or beyond’,80 which is assumed by many to ipso facto exclude
sub-orbital spacecraft. However, upon closer view it appears that this
formal limitation was mainly intended to exclude one-off sounding rocket
launches and deep space probes, (semi-)failed launches and launches of
intercontinental ballistic missiles, and should not be seen as making it
principally impossible to register sub-orbital vehicles under the Registra-
tion Convention’s terms.81

76
See for a more detailed analysis e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 8, 200–2; cf.
also supra, §§ 3.1, 3.2. For the US case, see also infra, § 12.3.4.
77
See Arts. I(c), II–V, Liability Convention, supra n. 38.
78
Cf. in general also supra, §§ 3.2.3, 3.3. For the US case, see also infra,
§§ 12.3.4.2, 12.3.4.3.
79
Cf. Arts. II–IV, Registration Convention, supra n. 38.
80
Arts. II(1), V, Registration Convention, supra n. 38.
81
See the detailed analysis in von der Dunk, supra n. 27, 278 ff., esp.
334–5, 339–40.

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Especially once the next paradigmatic step is taken of moving from

A-to-A sub-orbital tourist excursions to A-to-B space-transiting traffic
(which may certainly also come to include traffic to and from the space
station, as NASA is currently developing in cooperation with the private
sector82), an international space traffic management system would no
longer be a luxury but a necessity.83
At that point, the Registration Convention would provide an appropri-
ate first starting point for an embryonic international space traffic
management system handling all objects reaching outer space, which
could later be transformed into a separate and more tailor-made regime.
The equation of its key terminology ‘into Earth orbit or beyond’ with the
more generic term ‘outer space’ and the convergence of opinion on a 100
km altitude as the lower boundary of outer space would allow for an easy
and coherent elaboration of the first vestiges of such a system.84 Such
elaboration, moreover, could generally follow the US approach to licens-
ing private manned commercial sub-orbital spaceflight.85

12.3.4 The US Regime Regarding Private Sub-Orbital Manned

Spaceflight

12.3.4.1 The role of US national legislation on private sub-orbital

manned spaceflight
As discussed, under international law not even the very fundamental
question of the extent to which private sub-orbital manned spaceflight is,
should be or could be regulated by air law, space law, both, or neither,
could be solved satisfactorily, partly because of the novelty of these
developments vis-à-vis the air law and space law treaties that could or
would possibly apply or be made to apply.
This means that the situation in the United States, not only the major
country involved in the various advanced projects to start sub-orbital
flights on a private basis, but also the only one so far having drafted

82
See further infra, § 12.4.3.1.
83
See for an early and broad perspective on such a space traffic manage-
ment system Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management, IAA, 2006; also e.g.
Vissepó, supra n. 6, 191–3.
84
Following that approach, it could also relatively easily overcome the
unspoken equation of a space object with its launch for registration purposes, as
the craft developed for private manned commercial sub-orbital spaceflight will be
intended for multiple and frequent reuse. Cf. von der Dunk, supra n. 27, 323–4,
335–6.
85
As discussed in detail in von der Dunk, supra n. 27, 334 ff., esp. 337–9.

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specific national legislation on the issue, is of crucial importance. To the

extent some other states are at least discussing or envisaging the
development of similarly dedicated national legislation, the US example
would likely serve as the first and main precedent to look to for further
guidance.86
From the perspective of the above discussion on air law versus space
law, it is therefore relevant as well that the United States has opted
basically to approach sub-orbital manned spaceflight as, indeed, a version
of spaceflight to be regulated under existing launch legislation and
regulation, even if by way of adaptation, rather than a version of aviation
to be regulated under air transport legislation and regulation.

12.3.4.2 The 1984/1988 Commercial Space Launch Act

When in the 1980s the US government decided to stimulate private
involvement in the launch service sector – exclusively targeting
unmanned launches at the time, as private manned spaceflight did not yet
constitute a viable proposition – it enunciated the Commercial Space
Launch Act in 1984,87 fine-tuning in particular the liability regime by
way of Amendments in 1988.88 With a view to the later regulatory
developments addressing private manned spaceflight, the key elements of
the resulting regime could be summarized under seven headings.
Firstly, the Commercial Space Launch Act provided for an obligation
for any private company with US nationality or launching from US
territory89 to obtain a licence for each intended individual launch of an
object into outer space from the licensing agency, which was the Office
of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation
(now AST) within the FAA.90 Also, it provided for a similar obligation

86
See also F.G. von der Dunk, Mixing US and Dutch Approaches: Towards
Curacao’s Legislation on Private Commercial Spaceflight, 62 Zeitschrift für Luft-
und Weltraumrecht (2013), 740–56.
87
Commercial Space Launch Act, Public Law 98-575, 98th Congress, H.R.
3942, 30 October 1984; 98 Stat. 3055; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.III.3. See further e.g. Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 11–3; also supra,
§ 3.3.1.1.
88
Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments, Public Law 100-657, 100th
Congress, H.R. 4399, 15 November 1988; 49 U.S.C. App. 2615; 102 Stat. 3900;
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.III.3, 13 ff. See further e.g. Hughes &
Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 14–8, 56–7.
89
See Sec. 50904(a), 51 U.S.C.
90
Cf. 14 C.F.R. §§ 401.1, 401.3.

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for any private company intending to operate a launch site on US

territory.91
Secondly, a number of conditions were imposed before a licence would
be granted, related to such general public interests as national security
and abidance by international obligations incumbent upon the United
States.92 Those conditions were phrased in general and broad terms; the
details could and would either be provided in implementing regulations93
or as per individual licences in view of the idiosyncrasies often accom-
panying specific prospective launch activities.
Thirdly, amongst the licence requirements figured prominently an
obligation to insure, up to an amount to be calculated using a rather
complex process, against third-party liability claims for damage caused
by the space objects to be launched, and to make sure inter alia that, in
the event that the US government would be obliged to pay international
compensation under the Liability Convention, it would be reimbursed up
to that amount.94 Alternatively, licensees could show ‘financial respons-
ibility’ up to the same amount for compliance here.95
This clause not only operated in the context of an international liability
claim addressed against the United States under the Liability Convention,

91
See Sec. 50904(a), 51 U.S.C. Further in great detail Mineiro, supra n. 8,
759–805; also e.g. P. Vorwig, Regulation of Private Launch Services in the
United States, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
415–16.
92
See Secs. 50905(a), 51 U.S.C.
93
In the US case this elaboration was realized by way of 14 C.F.R. Chapter
III.
94
The process called for the calculation of the ‘Maximum Probable Loss’
(MPL) potentially resulting from an accident of the space object (at least during
its first phase), which would determine the reimbursable amount unless that MPL
was either higher than US$ 500 million or higher than ‘the maximum liability
insurance available on the world market at reasonable cost’; in which cases the
lower of the two latter amounts will constitute the reimbursable amount; Sec.
50914(a), (c), Commercial Space Launch Act as amended in 1988, supra, n. 88.
In actual fact, the highest amount ever quoted as a cap in a licence concerned
US$ 261 million for Atlas-V and Delta-IV launches; cf. FAA-OCST, Financial
Responsibility Requirements as Determined by the Maximum Probable Loss
(MPL) Process as of January 9, 2012, slide 3, at www.faa.gov/about/office_org/
headquarters_offices/ast/launch_license/mpl_values/media/MPL_Values_2012.
pdf, last accessed 18 April 2014. See further e.g. A. Kerrest de Rozavel & F.G.
von der Dunk, Liability and Insurance in the Context of National Authorisation,
in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011),
141–50; Vorwig, supra n. 91, 411–3; Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 17–8.
95
Sec. 50914(a) (3), (4), 51 U.S.C.

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but also in the context of a national liability claim in US courts, where it

effectively worked the other way around: the US government promises in
principle to reimburse the licensee for any third-party claims above the
maximum amount calculated as indicated, albeit only up to a maximum
of US$ 1.5 billion above the amount the licensee was required to
compensate.96
Fourthly, as to inter-party liability to start with a similar licensing
requirement pertained to damage which might be inflicted on US
government property in the course of such activities, which in particular
looked at the use of federal launch sites by private launch operators.97
Whilst the first launch licence was granted by the FAA in 1989 and as of
now well over 200 licences have followed,98 the first launch site licence
was granted in 1996 with the current tally standing at eight99 – so far the
overwhelming majority of private launches has indeed taken place at US
government-owned launch sites.
Fifthly, with regard to remaining scenarios for inter-party liability, the
Commercial Space Launch Act imposed an obligatory cross-waiver of

96
Cf. Sec. 50915(a) (1), 51 U.S.C. This amount is to be adjusted for
inflation as of 1 January 1989-dollars, meaning the current value would be in the
range of US$ 3.0 billion. Of course, this ‘promise’ of ‘limited’ US government
contributions to a liability claim (as the clause states: ‘To the extent provided in
advance in an appropriation law or to the extent additional legislative authority is
enacted providing for paying claims in a compensation plan’) does not have any
effect under the Liability Convention, where state liability applies at an unlimited
level; cf. Arts. I(c), II–V, XII, Liability Convention, supra, n. 38. See further S.
Hobe, Legal Aspects of Space Tourism, 86 Nebraska Law Review (2007), 453–4;
Vorwig, supra n. 91, 412–3; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise
(2009), 492–3.
97
See Sec. 50914(a) (1) (B), (3) (A) (ii), 51 U.S.C. In this case, the same
formula was followed as referred to supra, n. 94; only the maximum cap on
liability in this context was established at US$ 100 million. In actual fact, this
amount was quoted as a cap in a licence for various Atlas-V launches; cf.
FAA-OCST, Financial Responsibility Requirements as Determined by the Max-
imum Probable Loss (MPL) Process as of January 9, 2012, slide 3, at www.faa.
gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/launch_license/mpl_values/media/
MPL_Values_2012.pdf, last accessed 18 April 2014. Cf. also e.g. Mineiro, supra
n. 8, 760 ff., incl. 796–7.
98
See for a full list and further details www.faa.gov/about/office_org/
headquarters_offices/ast/launch_license/licensed_launches/historical_launch/, last
accessed 14 January 2014.
99
See The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation:
2012, supra n. 7, 38. Also e.g. Brannen, supra n. 4, 657–8; on the spaceports
available for private manned launches, Mineiro, supra n. 8, 761–5, 792–3.

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liability between the launch service provider and any other contractual
party (as a form of contractual (non-)liability):

A launch or reentry license issued or transferred under this chapter shall

contain a provision requiring the licensee or transferee to make a reciprocal
waiver of claims with its contractors, subcontractors, and customers, and
contractors and subcontractors of the customers, involved in launch services
or reentry services under which each party to the waiver agrees to be
responsible for property damage or loss it sustains, or for personal injury to,
death of, or property damage or loss sustained by its own employees resulting
from an activity carried out under the applicable license.100

A similar waiver was to be arranged for as between the licensee and any
executive agency of the US government and its contractors.101
Sixthly, there was no reference in the Act to mandatory requirements
regarding the certification of the hardware involved or the licensing of
operating personnel involved in the launch activities (although this could,
in theory at least, be inserted in an individual licence). This clearly
represents a different approach from international aviation, where an
extended regime calls for mandatory certificates of airworthiness (and
licences of personnel).102
Finally, in cases where other states are fundamentally involved in a
particular launch activity outside US territory to be licensed, the appli-
cation of the US licensing regime and attendant requirements may
depend on an agreement between the United States and the other state
concerned, de facto allowing the former to avoid ‘double licensing’ to the
extent considered unnecessary or unwanted from the US perspective.103
The extent to which the licensing authorities would allow for abstention
from the exercise of US jurisdiction to impose a licence obligation may
be subject to rather severe constraints, in view of, for example, the

100
Sec. 50914(b)(1), 51 U.S.C. See also e.g. Hughes & Rosenberg, supra
n. 6, 61–4; Mineiro, supra n. 8, 794–6.
101
See Sec. 50914(b)(2), 51 U.S.C.
102
See Arts. 31, 32, Chicago Convention, supra n. 43, as further elaborated
in Annexes 6, Operations of aircraft, and 8, Airworthiness of aircraft. Cf. further
e.g. specifically on Europe, Gerhard, supra n. 8, 272–7.
103
Sec. 50904(a)(3), 51 U.S.C., applies US jurisdiction in the absence of an
agreement to the contrary with another state, whereas vice versa Sec. 50904(a)(4)
requires a relevant agreement to exist for the US regime to apply regarding
relevant activities outside any state’s territory.

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extensive US export controls regarding security-sensitive dual-use tech-

nology,104 but at least the possibility is there in principle.

12.3.4.3 The adaptation as per the 2004 Commercial Space Launch

Amendments Act
A first step towards adapting the Commercial Space Launch Act to the
possibility of private manned spaceflight operations was taken in 1998,
when the Commercial Space Act105 purportedly was ‘amended … to
address liability and government indemnification concerns and to address
licensing authority for RLVs [reusable launch vehicles]’, thus allowing
the FAA to start licensing re-entry operations in addition to launches.106
Then, when the 2004 deadline for the X-Prize contest came close, and
with it the chance that somebody would actually (try to) win it, US
legislators kick-started a process of regulation for allowing such flights
on an appropriate basis, even though they were clear that legislation and
regulation addressing this impending new activity should remain con-
fined to a minimum level required to protect key public interests so as not
to stifle this about-to-be-born industry.107
This overarching approach to private manned spaceflight for the FAA
also translated into limiting oversight with respect to the operator, with a
temporary ban on safety regulation and certification of the vehicle – so
far ‘the operator holds the “ticket” not the vehicle’.108 Generally,
‘regulatory standards governing human space flight must evolve as the

104
As per respectively the Arms Export Control Act of 1976; 22 U.S.C.
2751; and the implementing International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITARs);
and the Export Administration Act of 1979; Public Law 96-72, 96th Congress; 50
U.S.C. 2401; 93 Stat. 503; and the implementing Export Administration Regu-
lations (EARs). See further supra, § 6.6.3, § 7.5.1.4, § 7.5.2.3.
105
Commercial Space Act, 27 January 1998, Public Law 105-303, 105th
Congress, H.R. 1702; 51 U.S.C. 50101; 112 Stat. 2843 (1998). The Act was
enunciated for addressing several and rather varied issues of space commercial-
ization and the resulting involvement of private entities in space operations; cf.
e.g. P.S. Dempsey, Overview of the United States Space Policy and Law, in
National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 389–90.
106
Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 4, see also 19–24, incl. references to
FAA regulations drafted in consequence (14 C.F.R. § 401.5 (2000)).
107
Cf. Sec. 50901(b), 51 U.S.C.; see extensively Hughes & Rosenberg, supra
n. 6, 4–75; also M.J. Kleiman, J.K. Lamie & M.V. Carminati, The Laws of
Spaceflight (2012), 83–4, 107; von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 417–9; Gerhard, supra
n. 8, 295–6; Hobe, supra n. 96, 445; Brannen, supra n. 4, 651; Bromberg, supra
n. 16, 659–62; cf. also Vissepó, supra n. 6, 214–5.
108
Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 71; see also Sec. 50905(c)(2) & (3), 51
U.S.C. At the time of writing, this temporary ban has been extended to 1

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industry matures so that regulations neither stifle technology develop-

ment nor expose crew or space flight participants to avoidable risks as the
public comes to expect greater safety for crew and space flight partici-
pants from the industry’.109 Only once a considerable number of flights
had been undertaken could it be expected that relevant failure modes
would become visible, and hence that it would make sense to start
addressing them by way of regulation.
With the victory of Scaled Composites in the X-Prize contest110 and
the ensuing establishment of Virgin Galactic this process quickly gave
rise to the conclusion that the most appropriate way to handle such
flights on a more consolidated basis in the future would be to adapt the
regime of the Commercial Space Launch Act, which had regulated
launch activities precisely for similar reasons of public interests (notably
safety-, liability- and national security-related) to the specifics of
launches with humans on board, rather than develop a separate regime
from scratch or adapt aviation regulations.111 The result was the 2004
Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act112 amending the 1984/1988
Act to achieve such goals, followed by further legal measures as part of
the Code of Federal Regulations.113
Most fundamentally, the licensing obligation was now also applied to
re-entry, whereas formerly it only applied to launches.114 Interestingly
this allowed the FAA to de facto regulate the whole sub-orbital trajectory
at least as far as the near-term projects are concerned, and as far as public

October 2015; see Sec. 50905(c)(3) as amended by Sec. 827, Public Law 112-95;
126 Stat. 133.
109
Sec. 50901(a)(15), 51 U.S.C. Cf. further e.g. Hughes & Rosenberg, supra
n. 6, 44–8; Perlman, supra n. 15, 936.
110
Note that the FAA proactively and de jure prematurely licensed the
first-ever private flight into the edge of outer space of Scaled Composites’
SpaceShipOne on 1 April 2004 using the Commercial Space Launch Act as
amended in 1988, supra n. 88, although an experimental airworthiness certificate
under 14 C.F.R. parts 21 and 91 was also required; see Hughes & Rosenberg,
supra n. 6, 37–8, also 66–7.
111
See e.g. Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 21 ff.; Van Fenema, supra
n. 24, 399–400.
112
Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, Public Law 108-492, 108th
Congress, 23 December 2004, 49 U.S.C.; 118 Stat. 3974.
113
To wit 14 C.F.R. Chapter III, Commercial Space Transportation, Federal
Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation.
114
Cf. the definitions of Sec. 50902, 51 U.S.C., notably sub (4) & (13), also
Sec. 50904(a). See furthermore Secs. 50904, 50905, 51 U.S.C., for the general
licensing requirements. Further e.g. Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6,
21 ff.

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safety is directly at issue. Notoriously, the FAA has not been given
explicit ‘on-orbit jurisdiction’ by the US Congress, and more specifically
was authorized only to license launch and re-entry115 – but as long as
sub-orbital flights do not provide transportation services across major
sections of the globe, the launch more or less seamlessly transitions into
the re-entry, so that effectively the comprehensive flight is thus regulated.
Once, by contrast, A-to-B sub-orbital transportation became a feasible
reality, however, it would become doubtful whether the more or less
horizontal middle part of the trajectory, between launch proper and
re-entry proper, would still fall under the FAA’s competence to license.
This would be all the more relevant in view of the complexity resulting
from the unpredictability of human behaviour in longer flights and the
lack of an automatic safety component to such behaviour, which would
bring in the public safety-focused jurisdiction of the FAA: the ‘range of
in-space activity’ of the spacecraft would not anymore be ‘pre-ordained’
as humans ‘make mistakes, commit violence, develop afflictions, and so
on’, and may well ‘behave in ways that regulators have not contemplated
beforehand’.116
Another major addition to the Commercial Space Launch Act as per
the amendments of 2004 was the inclusion of ‘experimental permits’ as

115
Cf. Sec. 50904, 51 U.S.C.; e.g. Perlman, supra n. 15, 930, 935–7; also
Commercial Space Transportation – Industry Trends, Government Challenges,
and International Competitiveness Issues, GAO-12-836T, 19. Strictly speaking,
Sec. 50904, 51 U.S.C., only refers to ‘launch’ and ‘re-entry’, without specifying
whether this encompasses (parts of) the flight in outer space, which of course
also means that in the licensing process the FAA will keep an eye out also for
what might happen in the outer space portions of any space object’s flight, if
only for international third-party liability reasons, and insert as possible relevant
conditions, for example in a safety approval, if at issue. Furthermore, firstly Sec.
50902(4), 51 U.S.C., defines launch with reference to placing or trying to place
spacecraft, manned or unmanned, into outer space, suggesting that the in-space
part of the operations should no longer be defined as part of the launch – but
since normal payload separation does take place in outer space, one need not
simply assume that there is no FAA jurisdiction in outer space whatsoever.
Secondly, it may be noted that 14 C.F.R., § 440.11, requires insurance obliga-
tions under a launch licence to cover the period up to 30 days from payload
separation or alternatively from the launch properly speaking, apparently extend-
ing FAA authority over the licensed operations to that extent into outer space
also. The underlying rationale for these limitations largely seems to refer back to
a hesitation on the part of the United States to exert extra-territorial jurisdiction
in the global commons of outer space; cf. Perlman, supra n. 15, 942 ff. See also
further infra, § 12.4.4.1.
116
Perlman, supra n. 15, 940, 941.

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alternatives to the licences properly speaking: the former would allow for
launches or re-entries ‘solely for – (1) research and development to test
new design concepts, new equipment, or new operating techniques;
(2) showing compliance with requirements as part of the process for
obtaining a license under this chapter; or (3) crew training prior to
obtaining a license’.117
Still, the existing US regime had now become applicable to private
sub-orbital manned spaceflight, with a few more specifics added to take
account both of the additional issues flowing from the presence of
humans on board spacecraft launched and the need for the FAA to
stimulate, not stifle, this infant industry.118 Also the existing third-party
and inter-party liability regimes summarized above were now applied to
sub-orbital manned launches to be licensed.119
Of course, as the pre-existing versions of the Commercial Space
Launch Act addressed satellite launches, there had been no need to
regulate any passenger liability – but the 2004 Amendments did not
really fill that gap either. Notably, they maintained the arrangement that
on inter-party liability vis-à-vis contractual parties other than the US
government, a reciprocal cross-waiver of liability was imposed, which
did not extend to spaceflight participants, although an argument could
well be made that they should, as such, qualify as ‘contractors’ or
‘customers’.120 Actually, an earlier version of the proposed amendments
did include spaceflight participants in this waiver,121 but this provision
did not make it into the final legislation.

117
Sec. 50906(d), 51 U.S.C.; see also Hughes & Rosenberg, supra n. 6,
33–4, 60–1, 65–7; on the absence of third-party liability indemnification for
flights under experimental permits, 57–8.
118
Cf. also Sec. 50901(7), 51 U.S.C.
119
Thus, for the 2004 Scaled Composites launches a cap of US$ 3.1 million
was quoted for third-party liability in the licence, whereas the cap for inter-party
liability vis-à-vis the US government was zero as the launches did not take place
from US government facilities; see FAA-OCST, Financial Responsibility
Requirements as Determined by the Maximum Probable Loss (MPL) Process as
of January 9, 2012, slide 7, at www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_
offices/ast/launch_license/mpl_values/media/MPL_Values_2012.pdf, last accessed
18 April 2014.
120
See Sec. 50914(b), 51 U.S.C.; also discussion in Hobe, supra n. 96, 451;
R. Sadowski, Insuring Commercial Space Travel, 61 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2012), 85–6.
121
See H.R. 3752, Sec. 2 (2004); cf. further Hughes & Rosenberg, supra
n. 6, 57, 59, 61–4.

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Instead of addressing passenger liability in a straightforward fashion,

by way of the most targeted adaptation of the existing regime to manned
sub-orbital flight the 2004 Amendments required an operator to obtain
‘informed consent’ of the passenger before he would be licensed to fly
him or her:

The holder of a license or a permit under this chapter may launch or reenter a
space flight participant only if … [he] has informed the space flight
participant in writing about the risks of the launch and reentry, including the
safety record of the launch or reentry vehicle type … [and] the holder of the
license or permit has informed any space flight participant in writing, prior to
receiving any compensation from that space flight participant … that the
United States Government has not certified the launch vehicle as safe for
carrying crew or space flight participants.122

‘Informed consent’ in that sense replaces the possibility of certification of

craft and/or crew as a piece of safety regulation common to aviation. As
a matter of fact, the Commercial Space Launch Act now specifically
prohibited the proposal of regulations ‘restricting or prohibiting design
features or operating practices’, unless a serious accident or incident has
occurred, until December 2012,123 a prohibition more recently extended
to – so far – October 2015.124
This requirement of ‘informed consent’, a concept borrowed from the
high-adventure sports and tourism sector, and notably what the safety
records should at a minimum provide for in order to ensure that the
‘consent’ would indeed be ‘informed’, was further elaborated by the
Code of Federal Regulations.125 In addition, an ‘informal consent-light’
was required for the licensed operator to launch or re-enter crew in its
craft; the information requirement here was limited to the lack of US
government safety certification of the vehicle.126

122
Sec. 50905(b)(5), 51 U.S.C.
123
Cf. Sec. 50905(c)(2)(C) & (3), 51 U.S.C.
124
See Sec. 827, FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Public Law
112-95, 112th Congress, 14 February 2012, amending Sec. 50905(c)(3), 51
U.S.C.
125
See § 460.45, 14 C.F.R. Chapter III. See for a thorough analysis and
critique of the concept of ‘informed consent’ in this context T. Knutson, What is
‘Informed Consent’ for Space-Flight Participants in the Soon-to-Launch Space
Tourism Industry?, 33 Journal of Space Law (2007), 105 ff. See also Hughes &
Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 35–7, 51–6; R.A. Yates, State Law Limitations on the
Liability of Spaceflight Operators, 9-1 The SciTech Lawyer (summer 2012), 15;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 96, 493–4; Hobe, supra n. 96, 445–6.
126
Cf. Sec. 50905(b)(4), 51 U.S.C.

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Whilst these clauses do not make any reference to a waiver of liability

towards the passenger in case the lack of safety certification translated
into an actual accident, they were perceived by many as allowing
operators at least a strong defensive argument against any claims by
passengers or their descendants for compensation of damage sustained on
such flights.127 Principally, however, it left courts or tribunals seized with
a claim for damage the discretion to honour such defence or alternatively
ignore it partially or comprehensively.128 It certainly did not equate with
the rather straightforward passenger liability which airlines had to accept
under national laws, harmonized as relevant by international aviation
treaties.129

12.3.4.4 The individual US state statutes

Following the lack of legal certainty resulting from the federal ‘informed
consent’-based regulation, the various companies gearing up to enter the
business still felt uncomfortable about the possibilities for being sued
successfully by passengers or their descendants. Several individual US
states then took advantage of the resulting opportunity to make them-
selves more attractive as places of business by precisely filling that gap,
in creating statutes linking explicit waivers of liability to detailed
‘informed consent’ provisions.130
This concerned, in chronological order: Virginia with its Space Flight
Liability and Immunity Act in 2007,131 Florida with its Space Activities

127
Cf. e.g. Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 8, 106 ff., esp. 109–12; Hughes &
Rosenberg, supra n. 6, 63–4.
128
Cf. also Yates, supra n. 125, 15; Hobe, supra n. 96, 451.
129
The Montreal Convention, supra n. 54, for example, provided for strict
liability up to 100,000 SDR per passenger per accident, with a second tier of in
principle unlimited liability applicable unless the carrier could fully exculpate
himself. See Art. 21, Montreal Convention; further e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 3,
430–1, 434–5.
130
Cf. also in detail F.G. von der Dunk, Federal versus State: Private
Commercial Spaceflight Operator Immunity Regulation in the United States, in
Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2013 (2014), 517–28;
further Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati, supra n. 107, 107–8; Chatzipanagiotis,
supra n. 8, 114–5; A. Greene Apking, A Step in the Right Direction: Colorado’s
First Space Legislation, 91 Denver University Law Review Online (2013), 201–6;
Mineiro, supra n. 8, 797–8; Sadowski, supra n. 120, 87–8.
131
Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act; Art. 24, Code of Virginia; Va.
Code Ann. §§ 8.01-227.8 to 8.01-227.10 (2007), http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/
legp504.exe?071+ful+CHAP0893+pdf, last accessed 18 April 2014.

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Statute in 2009,132 New Mexico with its Space Flight Informed Consent
Act in 2010,133 Texas with its Space Activities Statute in 2011,134
Colorado with its Act Concerning Limited Liability for Spaceflight
Activities signed into law in April 2012,135 and most recently so far
California with its Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act of September
2012, part of the California Civil Code.136
All six statutes essentially translated the federal ‘informed consent’
requirement into (slightly differently phrased) warning statements dic-
tated by the statutes themselves, to be signed by the spaceflight partici-
pant, which then automatically resulted in immunity from liability of the
operator vis-à-vis the spaceflight participant.137
Exceptions to this immunity from liability are provided by each of the
statutes, but here a first major measure of divergence may be noted.
Whilst in Virginia and Texas only (1) gross negligence, wilful or wanton
disregard, or alternatively (2) intentional injury disallow the operator to
claim immunity,138 in the other four states an additional, third carve-out

132
Space Activities Statute; Chapter 331, Sec. 501, Florida Statutes; Fla.
Stat. Ann. Sec. 331-501 (2009), www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/331.501,
last accessed 18 April 2014.
133
Space Flight Informed Consent Act; S.B. 9, 49th Leg. Reg. Sess. (N.M.
2010), https://rescommunis.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/new-mexico-space-flight-
informed-consent-act/, last accessed 18 April 2014.
134
Space Activities Statute; S.B. 115, 82d Leg. (Tex. 2011), Tex. Civ. Prac.
& Rem. Code, Title 4, Chapter 100A, www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CP/
htm/CP.100A.htm, last accessed 18 April 2014.
135
Act Concerning Limited Liability for Spaceflight Activities; Colo. Rev.
Stat. Ann. Sec. 41-6-101, www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/olls/sl2012a/sl_
126.htm, last accessed 18 April 2014.
136
Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act; AB 2243, Cal. Civ. Code, Div. 3,
Pt. 4, Title 7, Chapter 5, Art. 5, www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?
section=civ&group=02001-03000&file=2210-2212, last accessed 18 April 2014;
see also www.commercialspaceflight.org/2012/09/california-governor-signs-the-
spaceflight-liability-and-immunity-act/, last accessed 18 April 2014.
137
See respectively § 8.01-227.10(B), Space Flight Liability and Immunity
Act (Va.), supra n. 131; Secs. 331.501(3)(b), 331.501(2)(a), Space Activities
Statute (Fl.), supra n. 132; Secs. 4(A), 3(A), Space Flight Informed Consent Act
(N.M.), supra n. 133; Secs. 100A.003(a), 100A.002(a), Space Activities Statute
(Tx.), supra n. 134; Secs. 41-6-101(3)(b), 41-6-101(2)(a), Act Concerning
Limited Liability for Spaceflight Activities (Co.), supra n. 135; Secs. 2211(a),
2212(a), Spaceflight and Liability Immunity Act (Ca.), supra n. 136.
138
Cf. § 8.01-227.9(B), cf. also (A), Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act
(Va.), supra n. 131; Sec. 100A.002(b), Space Activities Statute (Tx.), supra
n. 134.

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is provided for, phrased in the Florida example as cases where the

operator ‘[h]as actual knowledge or reasonably should have known of a
dangerous condition on the land or in the facilities or equipment used in
the spaceflight activities and the danger proximately causes injury,
damage, or death to the participant’.139 Such a carve-out, however, might
prove rather tricky in real-life court disputes:

The intended scope of this additional exception can only be made clear when
viewed in the overall context of the statutory schemes and the pre-existing
statutory and judicial precedent. Of course, all spaceflight operators are
aware of dangers in the use of their facilities and equipment: it is the reason
warnings must be given to the spaceflight participant and an informed consent
secured. If that knowledge alone could nullify the limitations on liability, then
the entire statutory scheme would be rendered meaningless.140

A further key element of the statutes concerns the scope ratione personae
of the immunity from liability thus offered. For example in the case of
Virginia, whilst the space flight entity is defined in the first instance as
the operator licensed by the FAA as per the Commercial Space Launch
Act,141 it is then added that it ‘shall also include any manufacturer or
supplier of components, services, or vehicles that have been reviewed by
the United States Federal Aviation Administration as part of issuing such
a license, permit, or authorization’142 – read: essentially the contractors
and subcontractors of the flight operator itself.
Florida and Colorado follow the same approach as Virginia,143 but
Texas extends the scope of the immunity to even include any ‘employee,
officer, director, owner, stockholder, member, manager, or partner of the
entity’,144 whilst California by contrast does not extend the scope of the

139
Sec. 331.501(2)(b)(2), Space Activities Statute (Fl.), supra n. 132; cf. also
Sec. 3(B), Space Flight Informed Consent Act (N.M.), supra n. 133; Sec.
41-6-101(2)(b), Act Concerning Limited Liability for Spaceflight Activities
(Co.), supra n. 135; Sec. 2212(c), Spaceflight and Liability Immunity Act (Ca.),
supra n. 136.
140
Yates, supra n. 125, 15 (emphasis added); the author proceeds to briefly
analyse such pre-existing statutory and judicial precedent.
141
Notably by Secs. 50905, 50906, 51 U.S.C.
142
§ 8.01-227.8, Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act, supra n. 131.
143
See respectively Sec. 331.501(1)(c), Space Activities Statute (Fl.), supra
n. 133; Sec. 41-6-101(1)(b), Act Concerning Limited Liability for Spaceflight
Activities (Co.), supra n. 135.
144
Sec. 100A.001(4)(B), Space Activities Statute, supra n. 134.

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immunity to contractors and subcontractors, except if responsible for the

payload.145
Originally, New Mexico had adopted the narrowest approach here, not
including any contractors and subcontractors in the scope of the
waiver.146 Following the realization that this would actually place the
state at a relative disadvantage vis-à-vis other states competing for
the business of commercial spaceflight, however, a new Bill was intro-
duced in the New Mexico Senate.147 This Bill proposes to add to the
definition of ‘space flight entity’, as the legal person entitled to the
waiver, the by now familiar phrase ‘a manufacturer or supplier of
components, services or vehicles used by the entity that has been
reviewed by the United States federal aviation administration as part of
issuing such a license, permit or authorization’.148
Further to the above-mentioned differences in formulations, the
importance of which will perhaps be difficult to gauge until actual
disputes arise and will have to be solved by courts seized of such
disputes, differences in other areas could also present cause for concern
from the perspective of a harmonized US-wide legal framework.149 In
view, moreover, of the leading role of the United States globally in
addressing issues of private commercial spaceflight in legal and regula-
tory detail, at the international level similar issues may arise – the
potential for ‘flags of convenience’ and a resulting global ‘competition’
for such industry to arise in this context has already begun to be
discussed at the UN level.150
Firstly, with six states now having accepted at least a general warning-
plus-waiver regime with limited exceptions ratione materiae and broad
application ratione personae, what about the 44 other US states? Suppose
a case were brought before the courts of one of those states – for
example, because an heir of a victim does not feel bound by the waivers?
After all, the warning statements giving rise to those waivers, quoted

145
See Sec. 2210(d), Spaceflight and Liability Immunity Act, supra n. 136.
146
Cf. Sec. 2(C), Space Flight Informed Consent Act, supra n. 133.
147
S.B. 240, 51st Leg.; Bill introduced by M.K. Papen, www.nmlegis.gov/
Sessions/13%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0240.pdf, last accessed 18 April 2014. As
of this writing, the Bill has not (yet) passed.
148
Sec. 2(J) (renumbered from 2(C)) as proposed, S.B. 240, supra n. 147.
149
Cf. again Yates, supra n. 125, 15–6.
150
Cf. e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Towards ‘Flags of Convenience’ in Space?, in
Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2012 (2013), 811–30; M.
Gerhard, Article VI, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B.
Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 25.

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above, are qualified by the phrases ‘under Virginia law’, ‘under Florida
law’, ‘under New Mexico law’, ‘under Colorado law’ and ‘under
California law’ respectively – only the Texas Statute does not make such
a reference. What does it mean that, nevertheless, those statutes make
reference to a ‘participant’s representatives’, sometimes expressly includ-
ing ‘heirs’, as being precluded from bringing liability claims?151
Secondly, and related to the foregoing, the variations in US state law –
and the absence of any state law so far in the majority of US states – in
an area already regulated, albeit lightly, at the federal level with regard to
a sector being perceived generally as being of nationwide, if not indeed
international character, raise the issue of ‘federal pre-emption’: to what
extent do individual US states have the constitutional right to draft their
own laws in this field?152 While this issue has so far not been legally
tested – partly because the first commercial flights are still in the future,
partly because the FAA may not yet be clear itself on how to regulate
further than it currently has – it will most likely sooner or later have to be
addressed.
In view of the overwhelming focus so far of the impending spaceflight
industry on the United States, such issues and problems might spill over
also into the international arena, to the extent private commercial
spaceflights are being considered in that context for the near future. This
inter alia refers back to the issue of ‘flags of convenience’, where
non-US jurisdictions may not be willing – or even constitutionally
allowed – to accept ‘informed consent’-based immunity from liability for
private operators.153

151
See § 8.01-227.9(A), Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act (Va.),
supra n. 131; Sec. 331.501(2)(a), Space Activities Statute (Fl.), supra n. 132;
Sec. 3(A), Space Flight Informed Consent Act (N.M.), supra n. 133; Sec.
41-6-101(2)(a), Act Concerning Limited Liability for Space Activities (Co.),
supra n. 135; and Sec. 2212(b), Spaceflight and Liability Immunity Act (Ca.),
supra n. 136. The Texas Statute simply posits a lack of liability ‘to any person’;
Sec. 100.A.002(a), Space Activities Statute, supra n. 134.
152
See on this e.g. also Yates, supra n. 125, 16; Perlman, supra n. 15, 955 ff.
153
Such issues may be all the more relevant in view of the fundamental
uncertainty as to how ‘informed’ ‘consent’ can really be in a novel yet highly
technological sector; see again Knutson, supra n. 125, 105 ff.

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12.4 LEGAL ISSUES OF PRIVATE ORBITAL MANNED

SPACEFLIGHT

12.4.1 ‘Public’ Versus ‘Private’

Whilst the overarching legal question as regards sub-orbital manned

spaceflight concerns the potential applicability of space law, air law, or
both, at least there can be no doubt that it concerns private flight, as the
envisaged operations comply with both sub-criteria of the definition of
private spaceflight given.
For orbital manned spaceflight this works the other way around: there
can be little doubt that both in terms of technologies used and activities
aimed for, and in terms of areas involved, this concerns spaceflight. By
contrast, here the overarching question is more profoundly to what extent
one is dealing with private spaceflight, or more precisely where the
public elements of the complex projects at issue would give way to
private elements. For proper legal analysis of these issues one should
currently distinguish three types of orbital manned spaceflight:154 orbital
tourism, orbital service flights and orbital hotel operations.

12.4.2 Orbital Tourism

12.4.2.1 The legal character of orbital tourism

As to the first subcategory of orbital manned spaceflight, the type of
orbital private manned spaceflight inaugurated by Tito’s flight clearly
complies with a lower level of privatization of manned spaceflight, being
compliant only with sub-criterion (a) of the working definition of private
manned spaceflight provided before.155 Whilst the motivation and money
for the flight was private, his transportation on board a Soyuz to and from
outer space was a governmental affair and his destination in outer space
an intergovernmental space station. Consequently, the novel aspects of
this type of ‘private’ flight were not so much legal in themselves, but
rather para-legal in that certain aspects of the existing legal environment
were given a different flavour and perspective. For example, the Liability
and Registration Conventions clearly applied, as there could be no

154
This means, for example, that private manned flights to the moon or other
celestial bodies, not likely to occur in the near or medium term, need not be
addressed at this point. See also von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 409–10, Lele, supra
n. 1, 221–2; for a first rudimentary discussion of such legal issues e.g. Freeland,
supra n. 3, 13–4.
155
See supra, § 12.2.1.

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question the vehicles used for such orbital tourism qualified as ‘space
objects’, read objects launched into outer space.156
Only at the next level would some questions arise. Most notably, this
regards the extent to which the presence of an inexperienced, essentially
non-trained,157 non-career space flyer raises additional liability issues,
following a considerably heightened chance of damage being caused (or
at least the perception thereof), creating unease concerning the applic-
ability of the existing regime to such damage.158

12.4.2.2 Liability in the context of orbital tourism

Following the state liability imposed by the Liability Convention, the
baseline legal analysis at the international level is simple: the ‘launching
State(s)’ remain(s) liable, and it is up to such states to ensure, as
appropriate, that the private space tourist will be subject to reimburse-
ment obligations, insurance obligations or other conditions if they wish to
be legally able to derogate (parts of) relevant claims to the tourists or
their operators.159
The main difference between the individual orbital tourist and other
private entities, read companies, is that those states qualifying as ‘launch-
ing States have (usually) established a requirement for such private
operators to obtain a licence by way of national space legislation. Such a
licence would notably include obligations to insure against third-party
liability of those states under the Liability Convention in so far as claims
would result from damage caused by such licensees.160 The orbital

156
Cf. Art. I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 38, and Art. I(a), Registration
Convention, supra n. 38; also supra, § 12.3.3.2. Consequently, e.g. such launches
were also properly registered with OOSA; see e.g. for the Soyuz TM-32 flight of
28 April 2011 with Tito on board: # 3099, ST/SG/SER.E/397, of 14 September
2001, 2, §1, at www.unoosa.org/pdf/reports/regdocs/ser397E.pdf, last accessed
18 April 2014.
157
Whilst the various orbital space tourists did undergo a training pro-
gramme of sorts, this did not really compare with the extensive selection and
multi-year training process of ‘true’ astronauts and cosmonauts.
158
Cf. e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 413–7; Freeland, supra n. 3, 2–3. The
other major legal issue concerns the status of non-career astronauts vis-à-vis
career astronauts; see on this further infra, § 12.5.1, also supra, § 11.4.3.2.
159
Cf. the fourfold definition of the ‘launching State(s)’ as per Art. I(c),
Liability Convention, supra n. 38; also supra, § 2.2.3.
160
Cf. e.g. Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk, supra n. 94, 127–34; C.
Gaubert, Insurance in the Context of National Authorisation, in National Space

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tourists themselves, however, would not normally be covered by such

licensing regimes – nor have they so far even been seriously considered
in that context.
In the abstract, the solution might perhaps indeed be to require a
similar licence from an orbital tourist – yet obviously the practicality of
such an approach is highly doubtful. In addition, it may be remarked that
a major rationale for allowing, even stimulating up to a point, orbital
tourism was the additional funding it would generate for the public
agencies taking such tourists on board flights likely planned anyway –
which brings analysis to the only context in which such flights have so
far taken place: that of the ISS.161

12.4.2.3 Liability as dealt with in the context of the ISS

All seven orbital tourists that have flown so far went to the ISS; all flew
on Russian Soyuz vehicles operated by the Russian Space Agency
launched from the Russian launch facilities at Baikonur.162 Whereas Tito
was originally headed for the Russian Mir station, with the de-orbit of the
latter shortly before his flight was due, he was re-directed to the ISS –
more precisely, to the Russian module of the ISS.163

Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 165–9; also supra,
§ 3.2.3, infra § 17.2.
161
Especially for the Russian Space Agency, flying all orbital tourists so far,
fees ranging from US$ 20 million to US$ 40 million constituted a welcome
contribution to mission costs and more broadly the Russian space programme, to
some extent struggling after the end of the Soviet Union; see http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism, last accessed 3 January 2014.
162
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism, last accessed 3 January
2014; further supra, § 11.4.3. Though Baikonur was on Kazakh territory and
launches from there consequently (also) gave rise to liability of Kazakhstan
under the Liability Convention, supra n. 38, under bilateral arrangements
between Russia and Kazakhstan the former took it upon itself to reimburse the
latter for any such claims which necessitated compensation to be paid. See
Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on
Basic Principles and Terms of the Utilization of the Baikonur Cosmodrome,
Moscow, done 28 March 1994, entered into force 10 December 1994; 30 Journal
of Space Law (2004) at 26.; further e.g. M. Hosková, The 1994 Baikonur
Agreements in Operation, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the
Law of Outer Space (2000), 263–72.
163
See e.g. Billings, supra n. 15, 163; R. Sattler, US Commercial Activities
aboard the International Space Station, 28 Air & Space Law (2003), 79–81; Lele,
supra n. 1, 219; F.G. von der Dunk, Regulation of Space Activities in the
Netherlands, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010),
231–3.

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There was no arrangement in the context of the ISS for something

which might be called ‘personal’ liability, for understandable reasons –
hitherto all persons having entered into outer space were highly trained
employees normally of governmental space agencies, whose presence in
outer space was primarily or exclusively for professional reasons. This
also meant that any issues of such persons causing damage and hence
invoking questions of liability were dealt with in the context of their
professional employment, any ‘personal’ liability likely being waived
except in cases involving gross negligence or disregard of orders.
Upon offering Tito a new destination in outer space by way of the
Russian module of the ISS, Russia met with considerable resistance from
the ISS Partners. The specific liability regime applicable to ISS opera-
tions as ‘Protected Space Operations’ amounted to a comprehensive
mandatory cross-waiver of such liabilities.164 As a result, NASA in
particular165 was worried it might face a situation where Tito could cause
damage to the US module or US experiments (not to mention the whole
ISS) without being able to hold Russia or the Russian Space Agency
liable for such damage, or alternatively might cause the ISS to cause
damage to third-parties entailing US liability as one of the ‘launching
States’ of the ISS without a proper recourse mechanism.
This possibility was foreseen by the Intergovernmental Agreement only
to the extent that if Partner States were to bring in a further state or a
private entity under the jurisdiction of such a state, they would require
consultation and a priori consensus with other Partner States for doing

164
See Art. 16, Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments
of Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the
Government of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States
of America concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station
(hereafter Intergovernmental Agreement), Washington, done 29 January 1998,
entered into force 27 March 2001; TIAS No. 12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law –
Basic Legal Documents, D.II.4; also further supra, § 11.2.
165
Of course, the same would apply to any other ISS Partner State, but at
that point in time, apart from Russia itself, only the United States already had a
module in place on the ISS. Moreover, US authorities were most worried about
amateur astronauts, read tourists, as they had been faced recently with a tragic
accident on a US submarine with visitors on board, happening to surface
precisely under a Japanese fishing vessel, killing more than a dozen fishermen.
Cf. further L.J. Smith & K.U. Hörl, Legal Parameters of Space Tourism, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2004),
45, n. 7; P. Collins, Meeting the Needs of the New Millennium: Passenger Space
Travel and World Economic Growth, 18 Space Policy (2002), 191; Freeland,
supra n. 3, 2–4.

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so.166 Also, such states should seek ‘to avoid causing serious adverse
effects on the use of the Space Station by the other Partners’.167 At the
same time, however, the Intergovernmental Agreement provided that
respective Partner States would maintain jurisdiction and control over
their respective modules; in other words, it was essentially within the
sovereign discretion of Russia to allow Tito on board its module.168 More
specifically, Partner States have ‘the right to barter or sell any portion of
their respective allocations’.169
The deadlock resulting from these clauses was solved by a special ad
hoc agreement between the relevant states, which provided for a prohib-
ition on Tito leaving the Russian module and Russia taking out liability
insurance (purportedly at the cost of US$ 100,000), whilst NASA (and
the other space agencies) would drop further resistance to his presence on
board the ISS.170 Had it been aware in advance, Russia could well have
required either the company sending Tito or Tito himself to accept an
obligation of reimbursement through a licence.171 In other (future) cases,
this certainly remains a possibility – and obviously not only for Russia.
Once NASA realized that bringing tourists to the space station, as long
as properly covered by appropriate legal arrangements, could actually be
a beneficial operation (partly because of the trend towards allowing
partial commercialization of space station activities in order to help
alleviate governmental budget problems), its attitude fundamentally
changed, giving rise to a comprehensive and formalized solution.172

166
See Art. 9(3.a), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 164.
167
Art. 9(4), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 164.
168
See Art. 5(2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 164.
169
Art. 9(2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 164.
170
See e.g. Freeland, supra n. 3, 2–3; von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 414.
171
It may be noted in this regard that the cross-waiver of Art. 16, Inter-
governmental Agreement, supra n. 164, whilst comprehensive in many other
respects, does not extend to ‘claims between a Partner State and its related entity
or between its own related entities’; cf. Art. 16(3)(d)(1).
172
As per the Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection,
Assignment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crew-
members, November 2001, www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=4578, last
accessed 4 January 2014; now offering the possibility in principle of bringing
non-professionals to the ISS; see infra, § 12.5.1. Further e.g. Freeland, supra
n. 3, 3; cf. also R.P. Veldhuyzen & T.L. Masson-Zwaan, ESA Policy and
Impending Legal Framework for Commercial Utilisation of the European
Columbus Laboratory Module of the ISS, in The International Space Station
(Eds. F.G. von der Dunk & M.M.T.A. Brus) (2006), 54–5.

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It should be noted, however, that this development did not in any sense
change the liability situation as dealt with by Article 16 of the Inter-
governmental Agreement – or for that matter the Liability Convention as
far as international third-party liability is concerned.173 The cross-waiver
continues to stand, making the state under whose jurisdiction a tourist is
going up (so far, this concerns Russia only) immune from claims under
the Intergovernmental Agreement for damage caused by such a tourist;
whereas at the same time that state continues to be liable for international
third-party damage, something to be possibly – but not automatically or
necessarily – deflected through the particular contract with the ‘tourist
company’ involved obliging it to disburse any relevant international
claim.

12.4.3 Legal Issues of Orbital Service Flights

12.4.3.1 The legal character of orbital service flights

In a sense, orbital service flights represent a mirror-side scenario from
orbital tourism: in this case the operator of the flight is a private operator,
thus complying with criterion (b) of the working definition of private
spaceflight, but the passengers are essentially employees of public space
agencies, ‘true astronauts’, thereby not fitting within criterion (a). In that
sense, the main novel legal issues remain confined to the flight to and
from the destination in outer space.
In the United States, so far the only state where privately operated
manned flights to orbital locations, read exclusively again so far the
ISS,174 are about to be actually undertaken, this development goes back
to the specific US political decision to decommission the Space Shut-
tles.175 The resulting looming exclusive dependence on Russian human
transportation to and from the ISS was not considered acceptable – both

173
See also Art. 17(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 164, which
expressly confirms that ‘except as otherwise provided in Article 16, the Partner
States, as well as ESA, shall remain liable in accordance with the Liability
Convention’. Further supra, §§ 11.3.1.2, 11.3.2.6.
174
Obviously, the private entities concerned would be willing to serve other
destinations in outer space if possible with their current vehicles, but so far the
only possible two candidates would be the Chinese space station being developed
– where for political and security-related reasons the involvement at least of US
private operators is quite unlikely whereas outside the United States so far no
immediate private manned orbiting servicing capacity would be available – and
the Bigelow space hotels being developed; see for the latter infra, § 12.4.4.
175
See e.g. Lele, supra n. 1, 219; Brannen, supra n. 4, 662; Chaddha, supra
n. 4, 50.

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in general, for redundancy purposes, and in specific political terms of the

Russo–American relationship – and it caused NASA to be directed to
forcefully stimulate the development of private alternatives through
extended (including notably financial) support for research and develop-
ment, and develop strategies and programmes to engage selected private
companies in this.176
Once the decision to phase out the Space Shuttle in the course of 2010
had been taken in 2006, NASA started out by investing through the
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme in
unmanned access capabilities to the ISS, then by way of the Commercial
Crew Development (CCDev) programme in preliminary work for manned
space transportation.177 Following their success, both are now comple-
mented by a Commercial Crew & Cargo Program (C3PO) to have
privately developed and operated spacecraft soon transporting astronauts
to and from the ISS.178
As all such flights are still privately operated, they continue to require
licences from the FAA, which inter alia takes care of the liability issues
just as with other FAA-licensed launches.179 NASA from this perspective
is going to be little more than a customer once the manned spaceflight
capabilities of the various vehicles are proven, likely buying individual
flights to the ISS – albeit a rather special customer in many ways.180

12.4.3.2 Legal issues of flying government-employed astronauts on

private vehicles
As a consequence of NASA’s key role in stimulating orbital service
flights, it may in particular (be tempted to) foist high-level requirements
upon these private partners – who will likely remain quite dependant on
such an anchor tenant for the foreseeable future – in order to allow its
astronauts (or guest astronauts from other space agencies destined for the

176
Cf. e.g. Brannen, supra n. 4, 660–8; Chaddha, supra n. 4, 50–2.
177
See on the COTS and CCDev programmes e.g. 2011 U.S. Commercial
Space Transportation Developments and Concepts: Vehicles, Technologies, and
Spaceports, supra n. 64, 38–45; The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space
Transportation: 2012, supra n. 7, 60–1; Chaddha, supra n. 4, 29–30; Brannen,
supra n. 4, 667.
178
See on the C3PO programme e.g. The Annual Compendium of Commer-
cial Space Transportation: 2012, supra n. 7, 60 (as consisting of ‘CCDev2’ and
‘CCiCap’); also Chaddha, supra n. 4, 30–1; Lele, supra n. 1, 219–20.
179
See supra, §§ 3.3.3.1, 12.3.4.2, 12.3.4.3; also www.faa.gov/about/office_
org/headquarters_offices/ast/launch_license/licensed_launches/historical_launch/,
last accessed 3 January 2014.
180
See also further infra, § 12.4.3.2, on the issue of ‘informed consent’.

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ISS) to board those vehicles, but these will essentially remain a matter of
contractual legal arrangements, NASA in this context not having any
regulatory authority as such.181
The most topical legal issues would thus be the consequence of having
NASA employees or guests, formally qualifying as government person-
nel, flying on board vehicles operated by private operators licensed by
the FAA – and consequently required under the current regime to only
have their passengers declare their ‘informed consent’. In short, the FAA
and NASA have discussed such complexities for several years now and
have reached an agreement where in essence such flights will have joint
oversight of the FAA and NASA, in which the FAA will license with
public safety in mind and NASA will provide passenger and crew safety
and mission assurance.182
Since the signature of the MOU, NASA and the FAA have been
closely cooperating to implement its goals and strategies. The two
agencies established a programme-level working group and a ‘harmon-
ization team’ tasked respectively with identifying potential issues related
to NASA astronauts flying on FAA-licensed vehicles and addressing
additional specific legal questions and issues. This has already given rise
to some tangible results.
For example, in November 2013 the FAA, following a specific request
by NASA,183 made public its interpretation on the ability of NASA
astronauts to perform operational functions during an FAA-licensed
launch and re-entry.184 The FAA found that the operative version of the
Commercial Space Launch Act and the FAA’s regulations impose no

181
Cf. e.g. Sec. 102(b), (c), National Aeronautics and Space Act, Public Law
85-568, H.R. 12575, 29 July 1958; as amended through 1983; 72 Stat. 426;
Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.III.1, directing NASA to ‘exercis[e]
control over aeronautical and space activities sponsored by the United States’ and
to ‘seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial
use of space’ (emphasis added) – that is: not to regulate it.
182
See Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) for Achievement of Mutual Goals in Human Space Transportation,
signed June 4, 2012; see www.nasa.gov/pdf/660556main_NASA-FAA%20
MOU%20-%20signed.pdf, last accessed 15 January 2014; also www.spacenews.
com/article/nasa-faa-sign-agreement-human-spaceflight-regulation, last accessed
15 January 2014.
183
See e.g. http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=45022, last accessed
18 April 2014.
184
See Federal Aviation Administration Interpretation Concerning Involve-
ment of NASA Astronauts During a Licensed Launch or Reentry, Fed. Reg. Vol.

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operational constraints on NASA astronauts for the performance of such

functions. Furthermore, in December 2013 NASA, in collaboration with
the FAA, submitted to Congress a proposed amendment to the Commer-
cial Space Launch Act to more fully address issues related to FAA-
licensed missions providing space station transportation services for
NASA astronauts by adding a ‘Government Astronaut’ classification to
the CSLA.185 It remains an open question of course how this construction
would be regulated in different contexts, or even different states, in the
future.

12.4.4 Legal Issues of Orbital Hotel Operations

12.4.4.1 The legal character of orbital hotel operations

In a sense, orbital operations such as currently being developed by
Bigelow Aerospace would most likely combine the legal aspects of both
orbital tourism and orbital servicing flights, and hence could comply with
the working definition of private spaceflight under both aspects. Whilst,
certainly upon proof of viability and operational safety of the concept,
astronauts may also come to be sent to such space facilities and may
moreover be brought there (and back) by spacecraft operated by public
space agencies, for the first phase it is more likely that only private
tourists will seek out that facility (giving rise to compliance with criterion
(a)) and will go there and back on board privately operated spacecraft
(giving rise to compliance with criterion (b)).186
At a basic level, an orbiting space hotel is a ‘space object’ without any
question, so it simply triggers all the legal consequences as per, for
example, the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention.187
All its manoeuvres as well as all activities on board moreover clearly

78, No. 231, of 2 December 2013; Rules and Regulations; 72011-72013; FR Doc
No: 2013-28405.
185
See NASA Return on Investment Report, Issue 14, February 2014,
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/NASA_ROI_Report_Feb_2014.pdf, last
accessed 18 April 2014.
186
In order to try to ensure that indeed such private transportation capabil-
ities would be developed, Bigelow also offered ‘America’s Space Prize’ of
US$ 50 million for the first completely privately developed spacecraft with
orbital capabilities; see Brannen, supra n. 4, 644–5; Bromberg, supra n. 17, 658.
187
See supra, on the Liability Convention (supra n. 38) § 2.3.3, and on the
Registration Convention (supra n. 38) § 2.3.4.

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constitute ‘activities in outer space’ so as to trigger the international

responsibility of the state whose national activities they constitute.188
Focusing once more on the United States as the state where relevant
developments have proceeded furthest, the legal analysis is more compli-
cated. Following the perceived lack of the FAA’s on-orbit jurisdiction,
future orbiting space hotels would or could not, except for the launch
(and if appropriate re-entry), be licensed by the FAA under the Commer-
cial Space Launch Act.189 The FCC is only entitled to regulate the
telecom aspects of in-orbit operations.190 NOAA only has regulatory
authority for orbiting remote sensing satellites as far as the specific
remote sensing aspects are concerned.191 NASA has no legislative or
regulatory authority vis-à-vis other private actors in space.192
How, thus, should the orbital phases of hotel operations – by far the
longest phases – come to be regulated? And if this is yet an open
question in the US context, in other states so far no particular attention
has been paid to such legal issues – for obvious reasons, in view of the
practical realities; yet these issues will sooner or later also require
international attention.

12.4.4.2 Specific legal issues of orbital hotel operations

As a consequence of the above, it is especially the quasi-permanent
character of hotels in orbit – they would likely be intended to be
operational at least for a number of years, if not decades, as opposed to
space vehicles operated for short-duration flights – and their presumed
lesser manoeuvrability as compared to ‘normal’ spacecraft which cause
special legal issues to arise in practice.
Firstly, this means that the states possibly going to be held liable for
damage caused by any activities on a hotel in orbit would be, much more
than with regard to a ‘simple’ short-duration flight, induced to exercise
jurisdiction on board these space hotels both by the licensing process
and, perhaps, by actual monitoring at regular intervals of what is going

188
Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 37; see also von der Dunk, supra
n. 3, 435; further supra, § 2.3.1.1.
189
Cf. e.g. Perlman, supra n. 15, 934–7; also supra, § 12.3.4.3, esp. (text at)
n. 115.
190
Cf. Secs. 151, 152, 301, 303, 307, Communications Act, 19 June 1934; 47
U.S.C. 151 (1988); 48 Stat. 1064.
191
As per Secs. 5621–5625, Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, Public Law
102-555, 102nd Congress, H.R. 6133, 28 October 1992; 15 U.S.C. 5601; 106
Stat. 4163.
192
See supra, n. 181.

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on there. In other words: the issue of which state is entitled to exercise

jurisdiction, following Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty and the
Registration Convention,193 is of much greater importance than in short-
duration flights, as is the way in which it then will apply national law to
such a hotel.194 This would now not only concern normal responsibilities
and liabilities for operators of a transport activity, but also, for example,
criminal law and intellectual property rights law.195
As it were mirror-wise to the private character of the hotel operator,
the private character of the guests equally should be taken into consider-
ation. Not only would states be rather keen on exercising jurisdiction on
board hotels in orbit in terms of criminal law largely because guests on
the hotel would principally not be trained professionals but paying
amateurs,196 but now also third-party liability issues need be dealt with
more profoundly and broadly.
Most pertinently, the question arises regarding the applicability of the
Liability Convention in case the guest – not necessarily coming from
the/a ‘launching State’ of the hotel in orbit itself – him- or herself could
be directly held to have caused relevant damage. Here, of course, the
comparisons with the ISS hosting the first few orbital tourists so far
might be helpful.197 However, in that case it had to be concluded that the
solution most appropriate in the abstract – individual licensing of ISS
tourism with inclusion of certain reimbursement and insurance obliga-
tions – did not seem to be feasible in reality.
This particular legal issue therefore certainly requires further analysis
and development, once the trips of the first orbital hotel guests are around
the corner. As the above approach of licensing individual guests would be
even less feasible in the case of orbital hotels, should the hotel operator,
as a (primary) target for licensing, be burdened with taking care of such
liabilities and responsibilities ‘on behalf of’, in lieu of his passengers/
guests? And along similar lines: should inter-party, contractual liability as
between the hotel operator and the hotel guests be left to contractual
freedom, should cross-waivers be imposed by law or regulation – as is

193
Cf. supra, § 2.3.4.1.
194
Cf. also e.g. Hobe, supra n. 96, 446–7.
195
Cf. e.g. Perlman, supra n. 15, 940–1.
196
Cf. ibid., 941–2; M. van Pelt, Space Tourism – Adventures in Earth Orbit
and Beyond (2005), 145–51; L.D. Solomon, The Privatization of Space Explor-
ation: Business, Technology, Law and Policy (2011), 81–115.
197
See supra, § 12.4.2.3.

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quite common elsewhere in the space sector198 – or should yet different

solutions be devised at the legislative level, nationally or internationally?
Would or should the ‘informal consent’ approach currently being applied
by US law to sub-orbital flights and their passengers199 be transposed to
orbital hotel operators and their guests?
A final particular issue in the liability realm concerns scenarios where
spacecraft, whether private or not, dock with the space hotel, and
effectively a situation arises where two different types of space objects
conduct a docking operation: one a transport vehicle and the other a more
permanent part of infrastructure. Such dockings would obviously consti-
tute activities possibly leading to damage. Both being space objects, the
relevant provisions of the Liability Convention provide for fault liability
in case of damage.200
However, with two space objects consciously and intentionally docking
but being of such different character, fault may turn out to be rather
difficult to establish. Yet, the operator of the hotel should not automatic-
ally proceed on the assumption that it would be the operator of the
docking spaceship, the more active and manoeuvrable of the two, which
in case of damage should be held liable. In any case, proper protocols
and standard procedures would have to be developed which include clear
indications regarding potential liability situations as well as other legally
relevant scenarios.

12.5 LEGAL ISSUES OF BOTH SUB-ORBITAL AND

ORBITAL PRIVATE MANNED SPACEFLIGHT

12.5.1 The ‘Astronaut’ Issue

12.5.1.1 The Outer Space Treaty and the Rescue Agreement on

‘astronauts’
The main legal issue which spans both sub-orbital and orbital private
manned spaceflight concerns the legal status of the new categories of
space flyers involved – notably crew employed by private operators and
passengers privately paying for such flights.

198
See e.g. the ISS regime, supra, § 11.3.2, and the US national regime
under the Commercial Space Launch Act (supra n. 87), supra, §§ 12.3.4.2,
12.3.4.3.
199
See supra, § 12.3.4.3.
200
See esp. Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 38.

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Under the Outer Space Treaty, astronauts (or, in the Russian version of
the Treaty, cosmonauts) were to be considered ‘envoys of mankind’,201
who as per the Rescue Agreement202 were then to be allotted special
rights – in particular as regards the extended obligations of states
concerned to come to their rescue in case of distress or emergency.203
Technically speaking, the Rescue Agreement referred to ‘personnel of a
spacecraft’ throughout the operative provisions, but the full title of the
Rescue Agreement and its Preamble refer to ‘astronauts’, which essen-
tially renders the question on whether these terms are identical largely
semantic.204 The change in terminology may perhaps have had to do with
a desire to express more clearly what categories of man would be
concerned, but does so essentially by equating the newer term to the
older one.205
These provisions essentially remained theory, in so far as they were
never invoked in practice to provide support or rescue services vis-à-vis
astronauts or cosmonauts. Astronaut fatalities during spaceflight have so
far remained confined to the Challenger crew halfway through the launch
and the Columbia crew upon re-entry; cosmonaut fatalities to the
parachute failure during re-entry of Soyuz-1 and the decompression of
Soyuz-11 in outer space itself.206 In all cases these disasters occurred so

201
See Art. V, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 37.
202
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 Decem-
ber 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56;
Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968).
203
Cf. Arts. 1–4, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 202; see further supra,
§§ 2.3.2, 11.4.3.2; also in general F.G. von der Dunk, A Sleeping Beauty
Awakens: The 1968 Rescue Agreement after Forty Years, 34 Journal of Space
Law (2008), 422–4; Cheng, supra n. 67, 258–61; The Astronauts and Rescue
Agreement (Eds. G. Lafferanderie & S. Marchisio) (2011).
204
See e.g. 1st para., Preamble, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 202. Further
e.g. R. Hara, Legal Status of Astronauts and Other Personnel on the Moon,
Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1984),
165–7; S. Gorove, Major Definitional Issues in the Space Agreements, Proceed-
ings of the Thirty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1993), 77–8, also
n. 15; V. Kopal, Some Remarks on Issues Relating to Legal Definitions of ‘Space
Object’, ‘Space Debris’ and ‘Astronaut’, Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1995), 105–6.
205
See e.g. M. Lachs, The Law of Outer Space (1972), 79, 88–9 at n. 4; cf.
also Kopal, supra n. 204, 105.
206
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_accidents_
and_incidents, last accessed 4 January 2014.

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rapidly and disastrously that no issue of international rescue efforts

whatsoever arose.

12.5.1.2 ‘Crew’ and ‘spaceflight participants’ in the context of the

Rescue Agreement
The appearance of the first ‘space tourists’ on the scene and the
likelihood that they will soon be followed by many more, at least into the
edge of outer space, has inter alia given rise to new attention being paid
to the Rescue Agreement. Do the privately employed crews undertaking
the flight operations, and even more so the privately paying passengers
they are flying, represent in any meaningful sense of the word the
‘envoys of mankind’ that Article V of the Outer Space Treaty was
contemplating or the ‘astronauts’ enjoying special legal attention, even
treatment, under the Rescue Agreement?
For the present subject, it was the first ‘space tourist’, Tito, fuelling
such discussions. The aforementioned discussion about his presence on
the Russian module, largely against the wishes of the other ISS partici-
pants who were afraid an untrained human being might cause serious
havoc, if not disaster, quickly led to the formal establishment of a
category of space travellers different from that of a professional astro-
naut: that of the ‘spaceflight participant’.207
By agreement amongst the ISS Partner States on Principles Regarding
Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assignment, Training and Certifi-
cation of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers in January 2002,
this category was thus defined as comprising ‘individuals … sponsored
by one or more partner(s)’, explicitly including tourists.208 It was also
under this regime that the second and further space tourists would visit
the ISS.

207
Cf. also supra, § 12.4.2.3.
208
See Sec. III – Definitions, Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for
Selection, Assignment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visit-
ing) Crewmembers, supra n. 172. See also Veldhuyzen & Masson-Zwaan, supra
n. 172, 55: a spaceflight participant is ‘an individual (e.g. … crewmembers of
non-partner space agencies, engineers, scientists, teachers, journalists, film-
makers or tourists), sponsored by one or more partner(s); normally this is a
temporary assignment that is covered under a short-term contract; they are
eligible for assignment as visiting scientist, commercial user or tourist, but their
task assignment cannot include ISS assembly, operations and maintenance
activities’. Also Smith & Hörl, supra n. 165, 39, and n. 24, i.a. making reference
to Art. III, Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assign-
ment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers.
See further e.g. 111 ESA Bulletin (Aug. 2002), 82.

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The rather explicit distinction thus made between professional astro-

nauts and spaceflight participants, even if formally only applicable to the
ISS context, may well turn out to be trendsetting. The ISS is currently, by
a stretch, the most complicated manned space project in operation in
international, operational, technical as well as legal terms, and the only
current outer space destination for space tourists. In addition, it combines
most of the first-rank space powers; from that perspective currently only
China and India might qualify as such amongst the states not on board.
This means that the legal arrangements for the ISS indeed stand a good
chance of being a point of departure for developing relevant international
law ultimately applicable to the whole world.
Furthermore, US legislation, as discussed above, has also used the term
‘spaceflight participant’ to clearly distinguish such private space flyers
from ‘classical’ NASA and guest astronauts, and attached major legal
consequences to such status as per the 2004 Commercial Space Launch
Amendments Act.209 Effectively, it also notionally separates ‘crew’ of
private licensees from such classical astronauts, even though the former
would also be professionals, as they would be subject to a light version
of ‘informed consent’ as well, and at a later stage crew requirements may
come to be imposed by the FAA.210
In view of these distinctions, it may well be argued that the Rescue
Agreement should not apply to spaceflight participants. The often-heard
argument that humanitarian considerations should be imperative and
should therefore result in application of the Agreement to every human
being in outer space, planning to go there or being on the way back,211
may well backfire: why then any need to establish a special Agreement to
provide for the – rather extended! – obligations of relevant states to come
to the rescue, to ‘immediately take all possible steps … and render … all
necessary assistance’ without regard for costs or own safety?212
Existing general humanitarian obligations to assist humans in distress
already would cover what is necessary and justified for spaceflight
participants, without the added ‘entitlements’ under the Rescue Agree-
ment or even Article V of the Outer Space Treaty’s qualification as

209
See supra, § 12.3.4.3.
210
See supra, § 12.3.4.3; further also Knutson, supra n. 125, 105 ff.
211
Cf. e.g. M.J. Sundahl, The Duty to Rescue Space Tourists and Return
Private Spacecraft, 35 Journal of Space Law (2009), 167 ff., esp. 178–89.
212
Art. 2, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 202.

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‘envoys of mankind’.213 After all, this is also presently the case with
tourists in the high mountains or similar realms, where the inherent
dangers accepted willingly and only for the pleasure derived therefrom
should not translate into a blanket licence to have others risk their lives or
their funds if the risks unfortunately translate into reality.

12.5.2 Towards the Future – Space Traffic Management Issues

12.5.2.1 Blurring the lines between ‘sub-orbital’ and ‘orbital’

As discussed above in particular in the context of the definitional issues
pertaining to sub-orbital and orbital flight respectively,214 for practical
reasons presently it does make sense to distinguish between private
sub-orbital manned spaceflight and private orbital manned spaceflight.
The former concerns flights of short duration which for the near future
would not reach above altitudes of some 120 km (that is marginally in
outer space) and immediately return from such altitudes to the place of
departure, whereas the latter aim for altitudes of several hundreds of
kilometres (the ISS for example operating at altitudes of 350 to 400 km
above sea level) and usually complete a number of orbits before any
return trip is undertaken.
At the same time, it is obvious that this clear-cut situation may only be
temporary, merely an initial stage in private manned spaceflight. Once
sub-orbital flights start covering major parts of the globe and seek out
higher altitudes, perhaps even use parts of orbital trajectories for the
purpose, or launch small low-earth-orbiting satellites which may them-
selves seek out orbits at such slightly higher altitudes, the borderline
between the two types of flight will increasingly become blurred.
Such blurring would firstly cause the above-noted discussions as to the
applicable legal regimes for these activities to take on a different
character altogether. For instance, if a spacecraft pilot can use essentially
the same technology to go to 120 km and to go to 400 km, any licensing
of crew along airline precedents would make less and less sense, and so
would certification along similar lines.
Secondly, and more importantly, wherever one envisages airspace to
give way to outer space, whether one acknowledges the existence of a

213
Cf. already G. Gál, Space Law (1969), 224; Lachs, supra n. 205, 79, 81;
C.Q. Christol, The Modern International Law of Outer Space (1982), 153,
155–6, 159.
214
See supra, § 12.2.2.

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Legal aspects of private manned spaceflight 713

‘right of innocent passage’215 and whether one adheres more to a

functionalist or to a spatialist approach when it comes to applying space
law and air law respectively,216 such flights in the end inevitably make
use of the same geographical realm, and hence their activities would
somehow need to be coordinated to avoid dangerous or even catastrophic
situations.

12.5.2.2 Towards a space traffic management system?

The above brings analysis back to the issue of a space traffic manage-
ment system: at whatever altitude, the air traffic system currently
ensuring the safety of all movement in airspaces, both at the international
and at the domestic levels, for operational, technical or other non-legal
reasons cannot satisfactorily take care of the safety of operations. Thus
the need for a space traffic management system of some sort or other
arises.
The present situation from such a perspective clearly needs adaptation.
Of course, initially the Registration Convention was developed to take
care of the baseline for any safety-related coordination of space activities:
the identification of space objects and their locations read orbits or
orbital slots and an international open-access register allowing other users
of outer space at least a general awareness of the presence, locations and
orbits of such space objects.217
Even in the ‘classical’ context of space activities being predominantly
governmental in character and usually moreover not involving humans in
space (hence not requiring the same level of safety precautions), however,
the Registration Convention has not been able to function to full
satisfaction, the tendency being for registration to become increasingly

215
See on this supra, § 2.3.1.4; also R.L. Bridge, International Law and
Military Activities in Outer Space, 13 Akron Law Review (1980), 661; J. Prevost,
The Law of Outer Space – Summarized, 19 Cleveland State Law Review (1970),
602. Significantly, the right of innocent passage has been held by the United
States since the beginning of the space age. For example, this right was
championed by President D. Eisenhower, see NSC 5918, U.S. Policy on Outer
Space, 17 December 1959, which states that the United States ‘[c]ontinue to
support the principle that, in so far as peaceful exploration and use of outer space
are concerned, outer space is freely available for exploration and use by all, and
in this connection: (a) consider as a possible U.S. position the right of transit
through outer space of orbital space vehicles or objects not equipped to inflict
injury or damage’; sec. 42 (emphasis added).
216
Cf. also further supra, § 2.3.1.3.
217
Cf. Arts. II–VI, Registration Convention, supra n. 38.

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714 Handbook of space law

neglected or sloppily executed.218 That so far few actual collisions

between space objects have occurred seems to be more a matter of the
relatively small number of space objects operating in a huge area than of
proper coordination.
It should be added, of course, that the Registration Convention, while
perhaps a convenient starting point in theory, in itself does not provide
for any ‘management’ or even ‘coordination’ system; it remains with the
individual launching states to unilaterally undertake – if possible, of
course – any ‘traffic manoeuvres’ necessitated by any awareness of the
potential for a collision. The ISS, for example, with increasing regularity
has to undertake in-orbit manoeuvres to avoid space debris – usually
without the Registration Convention being of much help in identifying
such collision dangers.219
The problem of maintaining an operational environment with optimum
safety is further complicated by the fact that other systems of registration
also may provide information (potentially) relevant for avoiding colli-
sions: the voluntary system for registration based on UN Resolution
1721(XVI),220 the registration of frequencies (intended to be) used by
satellites in the context of the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU),221 and the registration of security interests as per the UNIDROIT
Space Assets Protocol.222
Finally, the Registration Convention clearly has not been geared to
either private space activities as such, with registration remaining

218
See e.g. the analysis in Y. Lee, Registration of Space Objects: ESA
Member States’ Practice, 22 Space Policy (2006), 42–51; also e.g. B. Schmidt-
Tedd & M. Gerhard, Registration of Space Objects: Which are the Advantages
for States Resulting from Registration, in Space Law: Current Problems and
Perspectives for Future Regulation (Eds. M. Benkö & K.U. Schrogl) (2005), 122,
134–5; B. Schmidt-Tedd, The Registration Convention, in Cologne Commentary
on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013),
310–14, 322.
219
See e.g. ISS forced to perform debris avoidance maneuver, www.space
safetymagazine.com/2012/01/13/iss-forced-perform-debris-avoidance-maneuver/,
last accessed 15 January 2014; also generally Protecting the Space Station from
Meteoroids and Orbital Debris (1997).
220
UNGA Res. 1721(XVI)B, of 20 December 1961; General Assembly –
Sixteenth Session, Resolutions adopted on reports of the First Committee, at 6.
See further supra, § 2.2.1.1.
221
See further supra, § 8.2.4.
222
Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equip-
ment on Matters Specific to Space Assets (hereafter Space Assets Protocol);
UNIDROIT Doc., DCME-SP–Doc. 43, of 9 March 2012. See further infra,
§ 16.4.

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Legal aspects of private manned spaceflight 715

squarely an obligation of relevant states entailing a major risk of time

delays and other flaws arising, or in particular to private manned space
activities, where indeed mere registration of positions or even complete
flight patterns may no longer suffice – and at some point in the future a
space traffic management regime along the lines of the air traffic regime
devised under ICAO auspices, especially as applicable to international
airspaces (noting that these, like outer space, should be characterized as
‘global commons’),223 may indeed be called for.224

12.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS

A mere 15 years ago it was unthinkable to address a complete chapter to
private manned spaceflight in a book on space law, let alone one going
into considerable detail as does the present one. Yet, the developments
sketched here have not only been manifold and diverse, but they have
also given rise to one of the more profound reconsiderations of many
elements of international space law as it had developed up to that point –
next to the more general involvement of private entities in such space
sectors as satellite communications, launching and satellite remote sens-
ing, or the ISS as an international manned outpost in space possibly
foreshadowing longer-duration human presence on celestial bodies.
Of necessity, the present chapter therefore contains a snapshot of the
present legal situation pertaining to private manned spaceflight, in view
of the rapidly unfolding developments. Thus, it has also confined itself to
just four subcategories of private manned spaceflight, and discussed only
a few international as well as domestic US law aspects. Nevertheless,
apart from any intrinsic interest in the (legal) subject matter of private
manned spaceflight, the discussions on how to apply law to such new
ventures are particularly illustrative of how space law evolves, and hence
seem to warrant the attention being paid to them here.
This concerns in particular such definitional issues as outer space
versus airspace, space objects versus aircraft, and sub-orbital versus
orbital, but also responsibility versus liability, private versus public and
even of launching, flight and transportation themselves. Many of those
concepts had never been precisely circumscribed or defined – largely

223
Cf. Arts. 77, 78, Chicago Convention, supra n. 43; also N. Grief, Public
International Law in the Airspace of the High Seas (1994); L. Weber & E.
Giemulla, Handbook of Aviation Law (2011), 144.
224
Cf. for further analysis e.g. Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management,
IAA, 2006.

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because the necessity to do so had not been there – and had simply been
taken for granted. If anything, therefore, the advent of private manned
spaceflight is now forcing these issues, and hence will have a greater
impact on the evolving legal and regulatory framework for space activ-
ities and their major applications than being merely relevant for the
private spaceflight activities themselves.

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13. Environmental aspects of space activities

Lotta Viikari

13.1 INTRODUCTION
Humanity has benefited from space activities in numerous ways. Among
other uses, space technology can provide an effective tool for protection
of the environment. For instance, satellites monitor the earth environment
and changes in it. They can serve the needs of environmental impact
assessments and early warning systems for natural disaster reduction. The
range of environmental applications of satellites is nearly unlimited.1
Unfortunately, the use of outer space also involves increasing environ-
mental problems. The detrimental effects of space activities may concern
the space environment per se, the atmosphere, the earth, and/or human
activities in these environments. The most severe environmental hazards
in the space sector are those that take place after the launch phase. These
include, above all, space debris.2 Another environmental problem closely
connected with that of space debris is the threat of nuclear contamin-
ation.3
Typical for the threats posed by environmental hazards in outer space
is that these threats often do not affect the particular operation which
causes them but endanger other space (and even terrestrial) activities
indiscriminately. This is a manifestation of the ‘tragedy of the commons’
problem: benefits of individual space missions accrue primarily to the
entities conducting these activities but the detrimental impact of space
exploitation can usually hamper all those involved in the sector (and even
others).4 This renders many strategies adopted nationally or by a limited

1
See e.g. Satellite-based Applications on Climate Change (Eds. J. Qu, A.
Powell & M.V.K. Sivakumar) (2013).
2
See further infra, § 13.2.1.
3
See further infra, § 13.2.2.
4
For a more detailed treatment of the tragedy of the commons problem in
general, see J. Vogler, The Global Commons: Environmental and Technological
Governance (2nd edn., 2000), 10–5. On its role in the space sector in particular,
see B.C. Weeden & T. Chow, Taking a Common-pool Resources Approach to
Space Sustainability: A Framework and Potential Policies, 28 Space Policy

717

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718 Handbook of space law

set of states for combating adverse environmental consequences of space

activities ineffective. Actors adhering to debris mitigation measures, for
instance, may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage if others do
not comply with similar requirements.
Thus far the international community has not managed to treat many
space-related environmental problems with the efficacy these problems
appear to require. Nevertheless, positive indications are provided by the
efforts of some states and international organizations to alleviate environ-
mental degradation of outer space. Above all, both the governmental
sector and the industry have tried to mitigate the problem of space debris
by developing procedures, recommendations and standards to promote
environmentally more benign practices in the design and operation of
space missions. For instance, many states worldwide have issued national
debris mitigation guidelines.5 On a regional level, European organizations
in particular have been active in alleviating this hazard. Space debris is
also one of the central issues discussed within the United Nations
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS).6
Despite the various efforts to confront the debris problem, no binding
international regulation exists for mitigating this threat, let alone other
environmental problems related to space activities.
A detailed assessment of all environmentally inclined efforts to regu-
late space activities at regional and national levels is unnecessary because
such attempts tend to be broadly consistent. Instead, this chapter dis-
cusses the relevance of the instruments of the international law of outer
space for regulating environmentally harmful space activities – above all,
the five UN space treaties. Additionally, the more recent work of the UN
COPUOS and relevant developments within other international organ-
izations are examined. The chapter also puts forward some recommenda-
tions for the future.

(2012), 167 ff.; also P.A. Meek, The CRP Approach to Space Sustainability:
Commentaries on Weeden and Chow, 28 Space Policy (2012), 174–6.
5
For more information on national regulation pertaining to space debris,
see Active Debris Removal – An Essential Mechanism for Ensuring the Safety
and Sustainability of Outer Space; Report of the International Interdisciplinary
Congress on Space Debris Remediation and On-Orbit Satellite Servicing, 27
January 2012; U.N. Doc. A/AC.105/C.1/2012/CRP.16, 33 ff.
6
See on the role of UN COPUOS in the law-making process at the
international level supra, §§ 1.1–1.3, also § 2.1.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 719

13.2 ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS

13.2.1 Space Debris

The most prominent environmental problem connected with space activ-

ities is space debris. ‘Space debris’ is a general term referring to all
tangible man-made materials in space which do not serve a useful
purpose.7 Various definitions have been given for space debris.8 The
international documents pertaining to the issue typically focus on the
functionality of objects as the relevant criteria: space objects9 become
space debris once they cease to be functional.10 Debris thus includes
spent satellites and rocket bodies, their fragments and parts, material
released during space operations, as well as leaking fuel, paint flakes,
microparticulate matter and such like, orbiting the earth uncontrolled.
Everything launched into outer space has the potential to become space
debris.
However, even seemingly non-functional space objects may constitute
valuable assets. An inactive space object can be in reserve for future
activities or carry valuable classified information, for instance. Therefore
the criterion of technical functionality may not be the most feasible one
for distinguishing space debris from other space objects.11 Furthermore,
it must be emphasized that only ‘technical’ definitions of space debris

7
On the definition of space debris in more detail, see L. Viikari, The
Environmental Element in Space Law (2008), 31–6.
8
See e.g. IAA Position Paper on Orbital Debris (2001), 3; Technical
Report on Space Debris, UN COPUOS STSC, (1999), para. 6; IADC Space
Debris Mitigation Guidelines (2007), Sec. 3.1.
9
‘Space object’ is the term of art used in several space treaties, such as
notably the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29
March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971); cf. esp. Arts. I(d), II–V; and the Convention on Registration of Objects
Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done
14 January 1975, entered into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS
8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS 1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM
43 (1975); cf. esp. Arts. I(b), II, IV. See also further on these Conventions infra,
and § 2.3.3 and § 2.3.4 respectively.
10
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 30.
11
See L. Perek, Management Issues Concerning Space Debris, in Proceed-
ings of the Fourth European Conference on Space Debris (2005), ESA/ESOC,
ESA SP-587, 588; F.G. von der Dunk, Too-close Encounters of the Third-party
Kind: Will the Liability Convention Stand the Test of the Cosmos 2251–Iridium

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exist: as indicated above, there is no commonly accepted legal definition

of what constitutes space debris. It may well be that not all man-made
items in outer space that can be considered debris from a purely technical
point of view should be classified as space debris in a legal sense.
Currently about 21,000 man-made objects are being actively tracked in
earth orbit; around 16,000 of them are of known origin and catalogued in
the US Space Command’s Space Surveillance Network (SSN).12 Fewer
than 3,500 of the catalogued space objects are payloads, about 9,000
fragmentation debris, and about 1,800 mission-related debris; the number
of rocket bodies is nearly as high as that of mission-related debris.13
Additionally, it is estimated that there may be as many as 600,000
smaller (1–10 cm) uncatalogued objects in earth orbit, and hundreds of
millions of pieces within the range of one millimetre to one centimetre.14
The main sources of space debris are break-ups (accidental and
intentional) and (intentionally released) operational debris. These are
expected to be overtaken by collisions as the primary source of debris in
the not too distant future.15 Debris originating from human space
activities concentrates in the orbits where most human activities take
place. Accordingly, a little over half of the debris measuring more than 1
cm in size is located in low earth orbit (LEO),16 where also the highest
probability of collisions lies.17 At the same time, there have been more

33 Collision?, in Proceedings of the Fifty-Second Colloquium on the Law of

Outer Space (2010), 203.
12
For information about different space object catalogues worldwide, see B.
Weeden, Overview of the Legal and Policy Challenges of Orbital Debris
Removal, 27 Space Policy (2011), 41.
13
See 16-1 Orbital Debris Quarterly News (Jan. 2012), 7–8.
14
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 10.
15
See Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peace-
ful Uses of Outer Space, UN OOSA (2010), ST/SPACE/49, www.oosa.
unvienna.org/pdf/publications/st_space_49E.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014.
Initially the Guidelines were approved in 2007; see Report of the Forty-fourth
session of the STSC, 2007, A/AC.105/890, Annex IV; Report of the Fiftieth
session of COPUOS, 2007, A/62/20, Annex. Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines
of the UN COPUOS, 1, 3.
16
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 15.
17
See ibid., 17. The low polar orbits used by earth observation satellites are
particularly congested; see M. Williams, Space Debris as a ‘Single Item for
Discussion’, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2011
(2012), 333; C. Wiedemann, Space Debris Mitigation, in Soft Law in Outer
Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 320, 323.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 721

launches to higher orbits where objects (including space debris) stay

longer.18
Until the mid-1990s, the growth of space debris was linear. Debris
mitigation efforts and a decrease in the number of launches contributed to
a notable decrease in the amount of catalogued space debris in the late
1990s and early 2000s.19 However, two major debris-generating break-up
events changed the situation. In January 2007 China conducted an
anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test by destroying its polar-orbiting
weather satellite Fengyun-1C. In February 2009 the first collision
between two satellites, the (non-functional) Russian satellite Cosmos-
2251 and the active US satellite Iridium-33 took place.20 By July 2012 a
total of over 5,500 debris particles had been officially catalogued in the
SSN following these break-ups, 90 per cent of which were still in orbit.
These pieces of debris account for 36 per cent of all LEO objects.21 Even
a single break-up incident (let alone several) can thus make a big
difference.
A mere 6–7 per cent of tracked space objects are active, operational
satellites.22 As said above, space debris constitutes a hazard to all
spacecraft indiscriminately. The harm it may cause can range from radio
interference to collisions. The latter may result in anything between
minor damage to total loss of spacecraft. Effective shielding is possible
only against debris below 1 cm in diameter.23
The potential damage by even the tiniest debris particle circulating in
outer space derives from the fact that impact velocities in orbits are
enormous (0.1–0.8 km/s in geostationary orbit; 6–14 km/s in LEO).24 A
particle no more than 1 cm in size can easily incapacitate an entire

18
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 7.
19
See Space Security 2011, 29, www.spacesecurity.org/space.security.
2011.revised.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014.
20
The incident has been described as having ‘no doubt unchained a new
chapter in the field of space debris’: Williams, supra n. 17, 2. Such collisions are
now increasingly viewed as a real risk; ibid., 4. See also Report of the
Fifty-second session of COPUOS, 2009, para. 110; Report of the Forty-sixth
session of the STSC, 2009, A/AC.105/933, para. 73. For a detailed legal analysis
of the incident from the point of view of liability, see von der Dunk, supra n. 11,
199–209.
21
See 16-3 Orbital Debris Quarterly News (July 2012), 2.
22
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 10.
23
See ibid., 14.
24
See R.S. Jahku, Space Debris in the Geostationary Orbit – A Matter of
Concern for the ITU, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law
of Outer Space (1992), 206.

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functional satellite, and an even smaller piece of debris entering the body
of an active satellite can trigger a fatal reaction.25 Space debris presents
an obvious threat also to humans in space. Astronauts performing
extra-vehicular activities are in the greatest danger, as a spacesuit cannot
offer even as much protection against space debris as the shielding of a
spacecraft can.
Even collisions with less dramatic consequences result in more debris,
as larger pieces fragment into smaller ones, increasing the risk of further
collisions. Although for most space operations the chance of colliding
with a sizeable debris fragment might remain relatively low still for some
time, it has been estimated that growth in the debris population can turn
valuable regions in earth orbits inhospitable within only a few decades.26
Once the density of objects in orbit is high enough, pieces of debris may
even start to collide with each other in a cascading manner, leading to
ever more space debris.27
Collisions can also release radioactive contamination and other harm-
ful substances. Obviously, space debris is a particular hazard to manned
space activities. The International Space Station (ISS)28 had to conduct
four collision avoidance manoeuvres between April 2011 and April 2012
(and would have conducted two more, had the warnings come sooner)29 –
quite an increase compared to its previous average collision avoidance

25
See ibid., 209.
26
Cf. e.g. Space Security 2011, supra n. 19, 29.
27
Such a chain reaction is also known as the ‘Kessler effect’ or ‘Kessler
syndrome’, referring to Donald Kessler, who predicted the possibility as early as
1978; see D.J. Kessler & B.G. Cour-Palais, Collision Frequency of Artificial
Satellites: The Creation of a Debris Belt, 83-A6 Journal of Geophysical
Research (June 1978), 2637–46; webpages.charter.net/dkessler/files/Collision%
20Frequency.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014. For a more detailed account of
the threat, see The Kessler Syndrome, as discussed by Donald J. Kessler, 8
March 2009, http://webpages.charter.net/dkessler/files/KesSym.html, last ac-
cessed 11 February 2014.
28
See for the ISS more in detail supra, §§ 11.2–11.6.
29
Collision threats are not always detected in time for conducting avoidance
manoeuvres. The last time astronauts on the ISS had to seek refuge in emergency
escape capsules because of debris passing the station too close was in March
2012; cf. ISS Crew Take to Escape Capsules in Space Junk Alert 2012, BBC
News, 24 March 2012, www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17497766, last
accessed 11 February 2014. A similar incident took place in June 2011; see K.
Chang, Debris Gives Space Station Crew Members a 29,000-M.P.H. Close Call,
New York Times, 28 June 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/science/space/
29junk.html?_r=1, last accessed 11 February 2014.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 723

manoeuvre rate of one per year since 2000.30 Also satellites need to
perform avoidance manoeuvres on a regular basis.31 Space debris is
dangerous even because it can crash to earth. This poses a risk to human
life, as well as a risk of creating environmental pollution, particularly
where satellites with nuclear power sources are concerned. On balance,
‘space debris presents a global risk to humanity in general and to space
activities of all space-faring nations in particular’.32

13.2.2 Nuclear Contamination

The problem of space debris is closely linked to that of the use of nuclear
power for space activities. Nuclear power sources (NPS) as such consti-
tute an environmental threat in outer space but the risks are multiplied by
the presence of space debris which can cause collisions and, eventually,
more radioactive space debris. A major source of nuclear contamination
in outer space would be collisions and explosions of satellites with NPS
on board.33 Also nuclear space debris and radiation may pose particularly
serious hazards for participants in manned space flights.
However, the most severe of the risks posed by the use of NPS in
space from a human point of view seems to be the possibility of
radioactively contaminated objects returning to earth. This constitutes a
real risk for the population living beneath the orbit of a space object with
an NPS on board, as was demonstrated by the unprogrammed re-entry in
1978 of the Soviet satellite Cosmos-954 which was equipped with a
uranium-fuelled NPS. The orbit of Cosmos-954 decayed, and it

30
See Increase in ISS Debris Avoidance Maneuvers, 16-2 Orbital Debris
Quarterly News (April 2012), 1, orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/pdfs/
ODQNv16i2.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014.
31
In 2010, NASA’s satellites conducted seven collision avoidance man-
oeuvres, ESA satellites nine, and satellites of the French space agency CNES a
total of 13; see Space Security 2011, supra n. 19, 36. On average, satellite
operators performed three collision avoidance manoeuvres per week in 2010; see
Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities: Overcoming the Chal-
lenges of Space Debris, Report of the International Interdisciplinary Congress on
Space Debris, January 2011, A/AC.105/C.1/2011/CRP.14, 21.
32
Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 6.
33
Previously, intentional nuclear explosions, i.e. nuclear tests, were also
conducted in outer space by the United States and the Soviet Union. Such
operations were prohibited in 1963 by the Partial Test Ban Treaty (Treaty
Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under
Water, done 5 August 1963, in force 10 October 1963, 480 UNTS 43).

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re-entered the atmosphere and disintegrated in Canada, scattering hazard-

ous radioactive debris across a large tract of land. Fortunately, it landed
in the uninhabited Canadian north, resulting in no more than clean-up
operations. Had the debris come down in populated areas, massive
damage to health and property could have occurred.34 Despite the risks
involved, NPS will be used in space activities; they provide the only
viable energy option for many longer-duration space missions.35

13.2.3 Other Environmental Hazards

Space debris and nuclear contamination are by no means the only

environmental problems related to space exploration. The production of
space technology and the transport of its products on earth are far from
being environmentally friendly activities. The launching stage produces
noise pollution, dust and emissions. On the way to outer space, dis-
charges from the rocket motors cause the atmosphere to deteriorate.36
Other potential environmental hazards in the space sector include organic
contamination of outer space (‘forward contamination’) and its converse,
‘back-contamination’ of the earth by unfamiliar contaminants transported
by returning spacecraft.
At least at the moment, such threats appear less relevant than those
posed by space debris and nuclear contamination. Therefore the focus in

34
For a more detailed account of the Cosmos-954 incident, see e.g. S.
Gorove, Developments in Space Law: Issues and Policies (1991), 239–41; also
further supra, § 2.3.3.9.
35
See e.g. L. Summerer & U.M. Bohlmann, The STSC/IAEA Safety
Framework for Space Nuclear Power Source Applications – Influence of
Non-binding Recommendations, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe)
(2012), 233–8.
36
See e.g. M. Rothblatt, Environmental Liability Issues of Rocket Exhaust
under International Space Law, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (1993), 308; C.Q. Christol, Protection of the Space
Environment – Debris and Power Sources. The Use of Airspace and Outer Space
for All Mankind in the 21st Century, in Proceedings of the International
Conference on Air Transport and Space Application in a New World (Ed. C.J.
Cheng) (1995), 254, 258. It has been argued, however, that degradation of the
atmosphere caused by space activities is negligible; cf. L. Perek, Maintaining the
Space Environment, in Luft- und Weltraumrecht im 21. Jahrhundert/Air and
Space Law in the 21st Century (Eds. M. Benkö & W. Kröll) (2001), 422.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 725

the following is on regulation of the space debris issue and the use of
NPS, primarily in earth orbits.37

13.3 SPACE LAW FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL

PERSPECTIVE

13.3.1 UN Space Law

The body of international space law consists of five UN treaties: the 1967
Outer Space Treaty;38 the 1968 Rescue Agreement;39 the 1972 Liability
Convention;40 the 1975 Registration Convention;41 and the 1979 Moon

37
One should also not ignore the fact that other celestial bodies and their
orbital environments will face similar threats sooner or later; see M. Williamson,
Scope and Methodology, in IAA Cosmic Study ‘Protecting the Environment of
Celestial Bodies’ (Eds. M. Hofmann, P. Rettberg & M. Williamson) (2010), 12;
iaaweb.org/iaa/Scientific%20Activity/Study%20Groups/SG%20Commission%2
05/sg56/sg56finaldraftreport.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014. The current
international law of outer space is largely silent as to environmental consider-
ations pertaining to celestial bodies other than the earth (and our moon). For
instance, the UN NPS Principles (see further infra, § 13.3.1.4) give no guidance
for the disposal of nuclear devices elsewhere than in earth orbiting satellites; see
F. Lyall, Planetary Protection from a Legal Perspective – General Issues, in IAA
Cosmic Study ‘Protecting the Environment of Celestial Bodies’ (Eds. M.
Hofmann, P. Rettberg & M. Williamson) (2010), 60; iaaweb.org/iaa/Scientific
%20Activity/Study%20Groups/SG%20Commission%205/sg56/sg56finaldraft
report.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014.
38
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).
See further in general supra, § 2.3.1.
39
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 Decem-
ber 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56;
Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968). See further in general supra,
§ 2.3.2.
40
Supra, n. 9.
41
Supra, n. 9.

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Agreement.42 The Moon Agreement is the most advanced of these in an

environmental sense. However, to this date, it has gained no more than 15
states parties, which renders the instrument practically meaningless.43
Another UN space treaty which remains less relevant for the current
examination is the Rescue Agreement.44
Unfortunately, even the remaining UN space treaties have relatively
little to say about environmental issues. At the time of their conclusion in
the 1960s and 1970s, such considerations were not among the highest-
ranking items on the agendas of states. Later on, it has proven very
challenging for the actors in the arena to agree on new legally binding
international rules. Instead, the UN General Assembly has adopted five
sets of (non-binding) principles applicable to the use of outer space.45
The most relevant of these from an environmental point of view are the
1992 NPS Principles (Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power
Sources in Outer Space).46
Another regulator of space activities worth mentioning here is the
UN-sponsored International Telecommunication Union (ITU).47 Its inter-
est in guaranteeing undisturbed telecommunication activities (including
those that are space-based) in general and the effective use of the
geostationary orbit (GEO) for satellite communications in particular have
resulted in certain regulations relevant to environmental aspects of space
activities.
Above all, the ITU has long been concerned over physical over-
crowding of GEO by functional as well as non-functional space objects.
As early as the beginning of the 1970s, the Union declared GEO to be a
limited international natural resource to which all countries are entitled to

42
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979). See further in general supra, § 2.3.5.
43
See www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/treatystatus/index.html, last accessed
11 February 2014. For a thorough examination of the Moon Agreement from an
environmental perspective, see Viikari, supra n. 7, 62–5.
44
For an examination of the possible relevance of the Rescue Agreement in
cases involving environmental damage in the space sector, see Viikari, supra n. 7,
81–3.
45
Cf. in general also supra, § 2.2.1.3.
46
Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space
(hereafter NPS Principles), UNGA Res. 47/68, of 14 December 1992; UN Doc.
A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 47.
47
See on the role of the ITU in general supra, § 8.2.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 727

equitable access.48 Today, the ITU Constitution provides that ‘Member

States shall bear in mind that radio frequencies and any associated orbits,
including the geostationary-satellite orbit, are limited natural resources
and that they must be used rationally, efficiently and economically’.49
The ITU also adopted as early as 1993 a recommendation on ‘Envir-
onmental Protection of the Geostationary Satellite Orbit’, which called
upon states to ensure that geostationary satellites are transferred at the
end of their lifetime to a ‘supersynchronous graveyard orbit’ which does
not intersect GEO.50

13.3.1.1 The Outer Space Treaty

The leading principle in UN space law is that of the freedom of use and
exploration of outer space.51 The Outer Space Treaty requires ‘free access
to all areas of celestial bodies’,52 which might be compromised by
pollution of outer space, particularly by the growing amount of space
debris.53 Another central principle is that the ‘launching State’, by
registering it, retains jurisdiction and control over a space object and any
personnel thereof.54 The ownership of objects launched into outer space
is not affected by their presence there or by their return to earth.55 At the
time the Outer Space Treaty was drafted, it was obviously presumed that

48
Cf. Art. 33(2), International Telecommunication Convention, Malaga-
Torremolinos, done 25 October 1973, entered into force 1 January 1975; 28 UST
2495.
49
Art. 44(2), Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union
(hereafter ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered into
force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No.
28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992
(1993), at 1; newest version: Collection of the Basic Texts of the International
Telecommunication Union adopted by the Plenipotentiary Conference, 2011
edition, 3–56.
50
Cf. ITU-R S.1003, Point 3. In 2004, the ITU revised this recommendation
to endorse use of the formula of the IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines,
supra n. 15, (see further infra, § 13.3.2.2) for calculating minimum disposal
altitudes for GEO spacecraft (Sec. 5.3.1, Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines).
The formula generally results in disposal altitudes of 235–450 km above GEO.
The aim is to guarantee that the spacecraft disposed of will never return to within
200 km of GEO; Cosmic Study on Space Traffic Management, IAA (Eds. C.
Contant-Jorgenson, P. Lála & K.U. Schrogl) (2006), 34.
51
See Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38.
52
Art. I(2), Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38.
53
See also M. Williamson, Space: The Fragile Frontier (2006), 154.
54
See Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38.
55
See Ibid.

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728 Handbook of space law

each state wanted to maintain the ownership of a spacecraft at all times.

However, this is not necessarily the case with space debris because of the
responsibility and liability provisions (as will be examined in more detail
below).
Retaining jurisdiction and control also means retaining responsibility
and liability: a state cannot avoid its duties as a ‘launching State’ by
abandoning a space object.56 An extremely difficult question is whether
the removal of another state’s space object could be possible under some
circumstances without the approval of that state. The UN space treaties
never envisioned such a scenario either. They recognize no termination of
the jurisdiction and control over a space object – either permanently or
temporarily.57 Because of the extra-territorial jurisdiction of states over
their space objects, an attempt to unilaterally remove a foreign space
object can even be considered a breach of sovereignty.58

56
Cf. Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38.
57
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 33. It has been suggested
that the Rescue Agreement, supra n. 39, could allow a state threatened by space
debris launched by another state to unilaterally remove such an object; see N.M.
Matte, Environmental Implications and Responsibilities in the Use of Outer
Space, 14 Annals of Air & Space Law (1989), 433; C.Q. Christol, Jurisdiction
and Control: Permissible Unilateral Responses to Dangerous Space Debris, in
Luft- und Weltraumrecht im 21. Jahrhundert/Air and Space Law in the 21st
Century (Eds. M. Benkö & W. Kröll) (2001), 303–12. On unilateral measures as
a response to space debris, see also e.g. H.A. Baker, Liability for Damage
Caused in Outer Space by Space Refuse, 13 Annals of Air & Space Law (1988),
191–2; C.Q. Christol, Suggestions for Legal Measures and Instruments for
Dealing with Debris, in Environmental Aspects of Activities in Outer Space: State
of the Law and Measures of Protection (1990), 268–80; H. DeSaussure, An
International Right to Reorbit Earth Threatening Satellites, 3 Annals of Air &
Space Law (1978), 389–94; G.T. Hacket, Space Debris and the Corpus Iuris
Spatialis (1994), 189–99; Matte, supra, 434; K.F. Schwetje, Liability and Space
Debris, in Environmental Aspects of Activities in Outer Space: State of the Law
and Measures of Protection (1990), 36–40. However, the Outer Space Treaty,
supra n. 39, assigns the jurisdiction, control and ownership of a space object to
the state of registration for an indeterminate period of time, which seems to
militate against such interpretations.
58
State jurisdiction is the manifestation of state sovereignty. The extra-
territorial jurisdiction a state possesses over its space objects (and persons and
things on board) can also be termed ‘quasi-territorial jurisdiction’. The same
applies to ships and aircraft beyond the national territory. See B. Cheng,
Nationality for Spacecraft? Air and Space Law: De Lege Ferenda (Eds. T.L.
Masson-Zwaan & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 206; also Weeden, supra
n. 12, 41. On the other hand, as the debris population increases, hazards may
become so severe that there might not always be time to negotiate about the need

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Environmental aspects of space activities 729

Article IV of the Treaty forbids the stationing of ‘any objects carrying

nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction’ in
outer space. It also reserves celestial bodies for ‘exclusively peaceful
purposes’, banning all military activity on them. Furthermore, Article IX
requires states parties to conduct their activities in outer space, including
the moon and other celestial bodies, ‘so as to avoid their harmful
contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth
resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where
necessary, [to] adopt appropriate measures for this purpose’.
It should be noted that although the Outer Space Treaty prescribes that
states are to avoid any harmful contamination of outer space, the
terrestrial environment is only protected from ‘changes … resulting from
the introduction of extraterrestrial matter’ (‘back-contamination’).
Another observation is that the determination of which measures should
be regarded as ‘appropriate’ (and when it is ‘necessary’ to adopt such
measures) is completely at the discretion of the state conducting poten-
tially harmful space activities. Moreover, the Outer Space Treaty fails to
give guidance in determining the meaning of both ‘harmful contamin-
ation’ and ‘adverse changes in the environment’.59 On balance, the duty
to avoid harmful contamination is ‘general and aspirational’, leaving
‘indefinite the circumstances when active measures are to be taken’.60
Furthermore, Article IX of the Treaty includes an obligation to conduct
space activities ‘with due regard to the corresponding interests of all
other States Parties’, thus pointing towards an obligation to avoid
creating hazards that could adversely affect the safe conduct of space

to remove a certain space object with the state that has jurisdiction and control
over it. Eventually, it may become necessary to exempt space debris from such
‘protection’ by space law; cf. Perek, supra n. 11, 589. See M. Mejía-Kaiser,
Removal of Non-functional Space Objects without Prior Consent, in Proceedings
of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2008), 293–301, for a
suggestion to use the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of
Wrecks (Nairobi Convention), Nairobi, done 18 May 2007, not yet entered into
force; Cm. 8243, Misc. No. 5 (2011); 46 ILM 694 (2007), www.official-
documents.gov.uk/document/cm82/8243/8243.pdf, as a model for the removal of
space debris.
59
For a discussion concerning the terms ‘contamination’, ‘harmful’, and
‘adverse changes’, as well as the ‘necessity’ and ‘appropriateness’ referred to in
Art. IX, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 39, see, e.g. ILA Report of the Sixty-Fourth
Conference, Queensland, 1990, 156–61.
60
Lyall, supra n. 37, 58.

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activities by other states.61 As for more concrete obligations, the Article

establishes a requirement for a state party to undertake ‘appropriate
international consultations’ before proceeding with a planned space
activity or experiment that might cause ‘potentially harmful interference’
with the space activities of others. Another state party may request such
consultations – but only if it ‘has reason to believe’ that the planned
activity ‘would cause potentially harmful interference with activities in
the peaceful exploration and use of outer space’.62
By talking about harmful interference with others’ space activities, the
consultation clause of the Outer Space Treaty clearly aims not to protect
the environment per se but to safeguard human space activities.63 Yet, a
spill-over effect may be better environmental protection. However, the
obligation to enter into consultations does not entitle the potentially
affected state to bar the planned activity, nor does it specify any
procedure or time limits for the consultations or requirements for
providing the other state(s) involved with information of any kind.
Furthermore, the consultations need not lead to any result, and even if
they do, there is no obligation to take into account the result in any way
when eventually conducting the space activities concerned. Even the
basic notion of ‘appropriate international consultations’ remains quite
ambiguous. Accordingly, although consultations could provide a positive
force for environmental protection the consultation requirement of the
Outer Space Treaty remains rather trivial in practice.64 Not surprisingly,
states are not particularly eager to consult with each other about their
planned space activities. A state reluctant to consult could in many cases
also easily claim that it was not aware of any potential threat from its
plans to the space activities of others.65

61
The duty to pay due regard to the corresponding interests of other states
in the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38 (and in the law of the sea) is examined in
more detail in Hacket, supra n. 57, 86–103.
62
Art. IX, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38.
63
It has been argued that the protection offered to outer space by Art. IX,
Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38, was never intended to extend to the space
environment as such but was only meant to further scientific utility. See H.A.
Baker, Protection of the Outer Space Environment: History and Analysis of
Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty, 12 Annals of Air & Space Law (1987), 163,
166–7. For a more detailed treatment of the negotiation history of Art. IX and the
conflict between environmental and utility approaches, see ibid.; also Hacket,
supra n. 57, 104–20.
64
See Hacket, supra n. 57, 120–31, for a discussion of the consultation
clause of the Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38, in general.
65
See Hacket, supra n. 57, 124.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 731

This also raises the question regarding whether the only obligation
China violated when shooting down their Fengyun-1C weather satellite
was not informing and consulting in advance, not so much the shooting
itself. This might have been an extreme case; following prior information
and consultation the protests that would have arisen in this particular case
would have made it hard for China to claim ignorance of potentially
harmful consequences. But even then one might need to resort to general
environmental and other international law principles of a more general
nature (such as sic utere tuo66) for finding illegality of China’s actions, as
space law alone would seem to provide tools too modest for such a
result.

13.3.1.2 The Liability Convention

A central concern when talking about environmental harm caused by
space activities is responsibility and liability. The general rule, according
to Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, is that states bear international
responsibility for activities in space. Article VII, moreover, establishes
international liability of ‘launching States’. The ‘launching State’ is liable
‘for damage to another State Party or to its natural or juridical persons
caused by [its space] object or its component parts on the Earth, in air or
in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies’.67
The Liability Convention complements these provisions by setting out
more detailed rules for cases of ‘space damage’ involving different states.
It establishes two separate regimes of liability: one of absolute liability to
be applied in the case of damage caused by a space object ‘on the surface
of the Earth or to aircraft flight’,68 and another based on fault liability

66
For more information on the principle sic utere tuo, ut alienum non
laedas (‘use your own property in such a manner as not to injure that of
another’) in general and its role in the space sector in particular, see Viikari,
supra n. 7, 150–7; further also E.E. Smead, Sic Utere Tuo Ut Alienum Non
Laedas: A Basis of the State Police Power, 21 Cornell Law Quarterly (1935–
1936), 276–92; G. Lynham, The Sic Utere Principle as Customary International
Law: A Case of Wishful Thinking, 2 James Cook University Law Review (1995),
172–89.
67
Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38.
68
Art. II, Liability Convention, supra n. 9. Pursuant to Art. VI, exoneration
from absolute liability is to be granted ‘to the extent that a launching State
establishes that the damage has resulted either wholly or partially from gross
negligence or from an act or omission done with intent to cause damage on the
part of a claimant State or of natural or juridical persons it represents’, except in
cases where the ‘launching State’ has caused the damage by violating inter-
national law.

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which applies when the damage occurs in outer space.69 All space
activities are ultra-hazardous and it has been deemed appropriate that
those engaged in such activities (and gaining profit from them) should
also bear the risk of any ensuing damage, whereas possible victims on
earth deserve full compensation.70 In particular, if NPS are used, such
damage can be considerable. Article V of the Convention improves the
possibilities for victims of damage to obtain compensation by establish-
ing joint and several liability of all ‘launching States’ for joint launches
and the right of the victim state to seek the entire compensation from any
or all of the launching states.
However, although this system may by and large afford victims of
space operations considerable protection, it can appear less just from the
point of view of those involved in a space mission. Firstly, the Liability
Convention restricts its scope by excluding damage caused to citizens of
the same state which launched the space object in question, as well as to
foreign nationals participating in that space operation.71 Secondly, under
Article III, persons (as well as property) must be on board a space object
in order to recover damages, a condition which in principle would, for
instance, exclude incidents in which astronauts engaged in extra-
vehicular activities are killed.
Furthermore, a major problem is the overly extensive definition of a
launching state. Pursuant to the Liability Convention, the term ‘launching
State’ means ‘(i) A State which launches or procures the launch of a

69
See Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 9.
70
This can be seen as a manifestation of the doctrine of ‘dangerous things’,
under which ‘a person who creates a situation where there is a possibility of
acute and catastrophic danger is liable without proof of fault to pay compen-
sation if that danger eventuates’; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise
(2009), 108. Pursuant to the Preamble to the Liability Convention, supra n. 9, a
focal motive for the Convention was ‘to ensure, in particular, the prompt
payment under the terms of this Convention of a full and equitable measure of
compensation to victims of [damage caused by space objects]’. As is stated in
Advantages of adherence to the Convention on International Liability for
Damage Caused by Space Objects, produced by a Working Group on the Status
and Application of the Five United Nations Treaties on Outer Space under the
Legal Subcommittee of the UNCOPUOS: ‘[b]y concentrating internationally the
concept of absolute or objective and unlimited liability for any damage caused by
space objects on the surface of the Earth or to aircraft in flight, the [Liability]
Convention has become a unique case and a real novelty in contemporary public
international law concerning the protection of victims’. Report of the Forty-fifth
session of the LSC, 2006, A/AC.105/871, Annex I, Appendix, para. 3.
71
See Art. VII, Liability Convention, supra n. 9; also supra, § 2.3.3.5.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 733

space object; (ii) A State from whose territory or facility a space object is
launched’.72 Hence, most launches will involve several ‘launching
States’, of which only few typically have a real say in the operation of
the space mission. Application of the Liability Convention may thus
result in liability of states that are in fact little more than ‘innocent
bystanders’. It may even be complicated to determine which states
constitute the ‘launching States’ under the Liability Convention. Above
all, the ‘procurement’ of the launching of a space object is anything but
an unequivocal expression, particularly where space objects launched by
private entities are concerned.73
The Liability Convention also regulates situations where damage is
caused

elsewhere than on the surface of the Earth to a space object of one launching
State or to persons or property on board such a space object by a space object
of another launching State, and of damage thereby being caused to a third
State or to its natural or juridical persons.74

In such a case ‘the first two States shall be jointly and severally liable to
the third State’.75 This means that, for instance, if a piece of space debris
hits a spacecraft of another state and this causes further damage to a third
state, both the ‘launching State’ of the debris (where its identity can be
established) and that of the (‘innocent’) spacecraft damaged by it are
jointly and severally liable for possible damage to any other states. In the
case of damage which occurs in outer space, fault liability applies,76

72
Art. I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 9. Art. V(3) further specifies that
a state ‘from whose territory or facility a space object is launched shall be
regarded as a participant in a joint launching’. See also Application of the
concept of the ‘launching State’, UNGA Res. 59/115, of 10 December 2004; UN
Doc. A/RES/59/115, adopted on the basis of a resolution of UN COPUOS in
2004 (Report of the Forty-seventh session of COPUOS, 2004, A/59/20, para. 149
and Annex II).
73
‘Procurement’ may be interpreted to include financial backing for a
launch, a request by one state to another to launch a satellite of the requester or
a private individual or enterprise providing payload for a launch, for instance. On
the other hand, such activities as supplying minor components to the payload or
the sale of a satellite should not be enough to qualify as ‘procurement’ causing a
country to be considered as a ‘launching state’. Cf. Christol, supra n. 36, 271–2;
also supra, § 2.3.3.1.
74
Art. IV(1), Liability Convention, supra n. 9.
75
Ibid.
76
See Art. IV(1.b), Liability Convention, supra n. 9.

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734 Handbook of space law

whereas for damage on earth (or to aircraft in flight) liability is

absolute.77
If a spacecraft with an NPS is involved and parts of it fall back to
earth, the damage may be very grave and the ensuing absolute liability
accordingly significant. Moreover, the victims are allowed to ask for full
compensation from any one of the liable states, who are then to apportion
it between themselves according to fault.78 Consequently, if there is no
fault on the part of the launching state of the NPS-equipped spacecraft
but only on the part of the ‘launching State’ of the piece of debris (no
matter how small that piece is), the latter is to pay all of the compen-
sation.79 Even in such a case, the victims of damage on earth can, on the
other hand, legitimately demand the entire compensation from the
‘innocent’ state (which may eventually encounter difficulties in collecting
it from the state at fault).
The situation is the same where active debris removal (ADR) is
concerned: if a removal operation causes damage to a third state, both the
‘launching State’ of the target (space debris) and that of the removal
mechanism would be liable (jointly and severally). Even where the
‘launching State’ itself is performing the removal operation, the legal
complexities involved can be significant. All ADR operations will
inevitably require some interaction with the target object and may hence
pose a hazard to space activities.80 Crossing orbits obviously increases
the risk of collisions.81 On balance, debris removal operations can entail

77
See Art. IV(1.a), Liability Convention, supra n. 9.
78
See Art. IV(2), Liability Convention, supra n. 9. Also von der Dunk,
supra n. 11, 204. Art. IV(2) further provides: ‘If the extent of the fault of each of
these States cannot be established, the burden of compensation shall be appor-
tioned equally between them.’
79
This illustrative example has been presented by A. Kerrest de Rozavel,
Space Debris, Remarks on Current Legal Issues, in Proceedings of the Third
European Conference on Space Debris, Vol. 2 (2001), ESA SP-473, 870–1, who
suggests that liability rules should be amended so as to avoid outcomes where
damage resulting from nuclear pollution is not compensated by the user of the
NPS; see ibid., 873.
80
Even the possible use of ‘remote control’ techniques based on lasers fired
into space in order to alter the orbit of a piece of debris can be problematic. For
instance, accidental illumination of spacecraft by low-power lasers could damage
optical sensors; see Weeden, supra n. 12, 39, 41–2.
81
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 32.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 735

considerable legal challenges in terms of liability – which may create an

incentive to leave space debris where it is.82
Fault liability is problematic also because proving fault may be an
insurmountable problem where damage caused by space debris is con-
cerned. Very often, the source of a particular piece of debris cannot be
identified, in which case it is also impossible to identify an entity to
whom fault could be attributed. It may even be impossible to point out
the debris particle which caused the damage.
However, even where a known debris object is concerned, proving
fault can be very difficult. There exist no systematic ‘space traffic rules’
or other such standards (including standards for handling the environ-
mental hazards of space activities) a breach of which could indisputably
be considered as establishing fault under the Liability Convention. For
instance, leaving a non-functional satellite in orbit (even in a congested
one) is not against the law of outer space, although removing such
objects would of course be desirable.83 In a similar manner, as long as no
standard of care for ADR operations exists, it is very difficult to assess
whether negligence has been involved in a possible damaging incident
occurring in the context of such operations.84
Furthermore, even if liability can be established, the liable entity is the
‘launching State’ – also where the owner and operator of the space object
is a completely different entity. This is true even for satellites the
ownership of which has changed while in orbit.85 Damage is, moreover,
only compensable if it results in ‘loss of life, personal injury or other
impairment of health; or loss of or damage to property of States or of
persons, natural or juridical, or property of international inter-
governmental organizations’.86 States cannot be held liable for the mere

82
It has been proposed that if damage occurs while someone attempts to ‘do
the right thing’, i.e. to remove space debris, fault could be somehow mitigated.
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 32. Fault-based liability could even
be replaced by a standard building upon strict, objective liability with a limited
liability amount. Alternatively, states involved in debris mitigation/remediation
programmes could resort to mutual waivers of liability; see Active Debris
Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 42.
83
The situation is typically less complicated where damage is caused by
space debris falling down to earth: there is no need to establish fault because the
absolute liability regime applies. Moreover, objects that survive passage through
the earth’s atmosphere tend to be large and thus more likely to be identifiable.
See Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 79, 870.
84
See Weeden, supra n. 12, 42.
85
See Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 32.
86
Art. I(a), Liability Convention, supra n. 9.

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presence in outer space of any form of pollution or even for damage the
pollution may have caused to the environment outside the sovereign
territory of states. The Liability Convention does not even mention such
environmental problems as pollution; it is merely concerned with direct
damages suffered by states or legal or juridical persons due to the space
activities of others.87 Moreover, an activity merely involving a risk of
damage, no matter how hazardous, without such damage actually occur-
ring can never result in liability under the Convention.
The ambiguous terminology of the Liability Convention can even be
interpreted to exclude all damage caused by space debris: it applies to
damage ‘caused by a space object’ and the only definition the Convention
provides of a ‘space object’ is that it includes ‘component parts of a
space object as well as its launch vehicle and parts thereof’.88 It has
indeed been questioned whether this provision refers to anything other
than entire units. The situation becomes most complicated in the case of
small pieces of debris, as one can argue that such a particle is neither a
space object nor a component part of one. However, if space debris does
not qualify as a space object for the purposes of the Liability Convention,
the instrument becomes largely meaningless in establishing liability for
space activities: an interpretation which would exclude the most common
and hazardous form of potential damage related to space activities from
the scope of the Convention can hardly be considered feasible.89

87
Only Art. XXI, Liability Convention, supra n. 9, can be interpreted as
referring to the environmental consequences of space activities: it mentions
damage caused by space objects presenting ‘a large-scale danger to human life’
or seriously interfering ‘with the living conditions of the population or the
functioning of vital centres’. This Article does not, however, regulate issues of
responsibility or liability but merely aspires to guarantee ‘appropriate and rapid
assistance to the State which has suffered the damage’, if that state so requests.
88
Art. I(d), Liability Convention, supra n. 9; see also supra, § 2.3.3.3.
89
It has been argued to be ‘commonly accepted’ that the definition of ‘space
object’ as including ‘its launch vehicle and parts thereof’ ‘may include debris
caused by the breakup of a launch vehicle’ and even other types of space debris;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 70, 107, see also 86. Interestingly, the European Space
Agency took the position as early as 1988 that space debris can be regarded as a
‘component part’ of a space object; see Report of the ESA Space Debris Working
Group, 1988, 67. Some authors go as far as to argue that anything launched into
outer space can qualify as a ‘space object’; see Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 79,
869 and n. 1. In the same vein, the 2004 European Code of Conduct for Space
Debris Mitigation defines space debris as any non-functional man-made space
object ‘including fragments and elements thereof’; European Code of Conduct
for Space Debris Mitigation, Issue 1.0, 28 June 2004, 13, www.cnsa.gov.cn/
n615708/n676979/n676983/n893604/appendix/2008529151013.pdf, last accessed

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Environmental aspects of space activities 737

13.3.1.3 The Registration Convention

The Registration Convention also has relevance, if only indirect, for
environmental problems related to space activities. It operates in conjunc-
tion with the Liability Convention in particular. Availability of infor-
mation such as that registered with the United Nations pursuant to the
Registration Convention can be essential in the case of a collision
between space objects as it can facilitate identification of the (liable)
‘launching State(s)’ involved.
The Registration Convention obligates launching states to register all
objects ‘launched into Earth orbit or beyond’ in a national register90 as
well as to furnish the UN Secretary-General ‘as soon as practicable’91
with various types of information concerning space objects registered in
the national registry. This information is then entered into a UN register
maintained by the Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA).
The information to be registered with the UN OOSA includes (1) the
name of launching state(s); (2) an appropriate designator of the space
object (or its registration number); (3) the date and territory or location of
launch; and (4) basic orbital parameters.92 The ‘general function of the
space object’ should also be notified.93 Furthermore, the Registration
Convention requires notification of space objects which are no longer in
earth orbit.94
Unfortunately, the Registration Convention entails problems similar to
those of the other UN space treaties. Above all, the ambiguous termin-
ology leaves ample scope for interpretation (again considering the terms
‘launching State’ and ‘space object’, for instance). The Registration
Convention, too, appears to envision only the registration of unitary space
objects and therefore provides little help in cases where the cause of
damage is, for instance, a tiny piece of fragmentation debris.
If new environmental standards for space activities are established,
more exacting registration requirements could provide an important

11 February 2014. See also Viikari, supra n. 7, 70–1. It should be noted that
responsibility for internationally wrongful acts under Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty,
supra n. 38, is borne for ‘national activities in outer space’; it is not tied to
‘space objects’ in the way international liability under Art. VII is. Hence the
definitional problems concerning space debris as ‘space object’ are relevant only
where the question of liability for harm is at stake. See Towards Long-term
Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 24.
90
Art. II(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 9.
91
Art. IV(1), Registration Convention, supra n. 9.
92
See ibid.
93
Art. IV(1)(e), Registration Convention, supra n. 9.
94
See Art. IV(3), Registration Convention, supra n. 9.

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738 Handbook of space law

mechanism for assuring compliance. The least that could be done is to

demand that states inform the UN Secretary-General about fragmentation
of their space objects. Furthermore, bearing in mind collision hazards, it
would be most useful to have information about a space object’s power
source registered – above all where this is nuclear power. Another very
simple improvement would be to require registration of information on
the most distinctive orbital parameter for GEO satellites, namely the
location of the object relative to the surface of the earth.95
Furthermore, although the Registration Convention requires notifica-
tion of space objects which are no longer in earth orbit, there are no
requirements concerning explosions and break-ups of registered space
objects or changes of orbital positions.96 The Convention also says
nothing about furnishing information regarding defunct satellites still in
orbit or other types of space debris, nor does it provide for registration of
different parts of a space object. Moreover, there is no requirement to
register possible transfer of ownership of space objects in outer space.97
Obviously, more detailed registration practices could greatly facilitate the

95
This is usually expressed as the corresponding longitude on the earth’s
equator; Practice of States and International Organizations in Registering Space
Objects, Background paper, Secretariat, Forty-fourth session of the LSC (2005),
A/AC.105/C.2/L.255, para. 73. Despite the lack of an obligation to do so, many
(if not most) states with space objects on GEO have already registered their GEO
positions; ibid., para. 74.
96
See again Art. IV(3), Registration Convention, supra n. 9. Besides, even
the record of notifications by states parties to the Registration Convention
concerning re-entering space objects has not been laudable: only about 50% of
re-entries have been notified to the United Nations; cf. Practice of States and
International Organizations in Registering Space Objects, supra n. 95, para. 81.
97
Any additional information can be furnished to the United Nations even
now on the basis of Art. IV(2), Registration Convention, supra n. 9: ‘Each State
of registry may, from time to time, provide the Secretary-General of the United
Nations with additional information concerning a space object carried on its
registry’. In practice, hardly any pieces of space debris (catalogued or un-
catalogued) are registered with the United Nations. See Weeden, supra n. 12, 41.
Registrations of transfer of ownership of space objects in orbit are also rare. The
registration of other kinds of ‘additional information’ has been more common.
For instance, information has been provided when a satellite has ceased to
function. Art. IV has also been also used for notifying the international
community in potential emergency situations involving an impending re-entry of
space objects and decay of nuclear-powered space objects; Practice of States and
International Organizations on Registering Space Objects, supra n. 95, Chapter
IV.C.7. However, registration practices vary significantly, internationally and
nationally.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 739

identification of hazardous space objects and the states responsible for

them – possibly providing an incentive to prevent the generation of
debris.98
Another interesting proposal for improving the situation is that states
could register the functional status of their space objects and thus
themselves define whether, for instance, intact satellites that are no
longer active should be regarded as debris.99 Technically, the simplest
register along these lines would be one that contains information on those
objects which are considered ‘functional’ (or which a state wants to
protect);100 another approach would obviously be the registration of
objects considered debris.101 Although it could be unfeasible to register
very small objects, registration of at least the bulkier parts of spacecraft
that have become debris, such as used launch-related rocket bodies and
stages, would seem not only possible, but potentially very beneficial.102
Such registrations could also greatly facilitate ADR operations.

13.3.1.4 The Nuclear Power Source Principles

The NPS Principles adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly
in 1992 constitute a positive step towards more advanced environmental
protection by legal means in the space sector. However, the Principles
only apply to nuclear power sources for electricity generation – not to the
possible use of nuclear energy for propulsion purposes.103 Also, the
safety requirements adopted in the Principles are rather general,
allowing those utilizing NPS considerable freedom of choice.104 Besides,
their focus is on nuclear safety rather than serving environmental
considerations. Furthermore, principles adopted by a General Assembly

98
See Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 79, 873.
99
See Practice of States and International Organizations on Registering
Space Objects, supra n. 95, para. 109. It has been proposed that an inter-agency
body similar to the IADC (see further infra, § 13.3.2.2) could develop inter-
national guidelines for the practice of registering the functionality of space
objects; see Perek, supra n. 11, 588.
100
See the proposal of Perek to that end in ILA Report of the Sixty-Fifth
Conference, Cairo, 1992, 144–5.
101
See e.g. Mejía-Kaiser, supra n. 58, 297.
102
See Perek, supra n. 11, 588. Where a collision in space between space
objects of different states results in debris, determination of the nationality of the
new pieces of debris could be very difficult though.
103
See 6th para., Preamble, NPS Principles, supra n. 46.
104
See also Christol, supra n. 36, 266.

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740 Handbook of space law

Resolution can of course never have the legally binding force of a

convention.105
In the main, the NPS Principles reflect already well-accepted rules of
space law dealing with such matters as safe use, safety assessment,
notification of re-entry, emergency assistance, responsibility, liability and
compensation. However, they also contain some innovations, contributing
to increased safety of space operations – not least from an environmental
perspective. Principle 3 attempts to restrict the use of nuclear power in
space by limiting it to ‘those space missions which cannot be operated by
non-nuclear energy sources in a reasonable way’. The general goal is to
‘protect individuals, populations and the biosphere against radiological
hazards’.106 The Principle even requires that the ‘design and use [of NPS]
shall also ensure with high reliability that radioactive material does not
cause a significant contamination of outer space’.107 Furthermore, the
Principle calls for the fuelling of on-board nuclear reactors by ‘highly
enriched uranium 235’ only.108 It also prescribes that ‘nuclear reactors
shall not be made critical before they reach their operating orbit or
interplanetary trajectory’.109
Another innovative principle is Principle 2, which offers a definition of
a ‘launching State’ as ‘the State which exercises jurisdiction and control
over a space object with nuclear power sources on board at a given point
in time relevant to the principle concerned’.110 However, the NPS
Principles still leave largely unresolved the question of the nature and
status of the ‘launching State’ where accountability for damage in the
case of an NPS incident is concerned. According to Principle 2(2), ‘[f]or

105
On the legal status of UN General Assembly resolutions in general and
those pertaining to space activities in particular, see A.T. Terekhov, UN General
Assembly Resolutions and Outer Space Law, in Proceedings of the Fortieth
Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 97–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra
n. 70, 43–50. For discussion in UN COPUOS concerning the need for revision of
the NPS Principles, see e.g. Report of the Fifty-first session of the LSC, 2012,
A/AC.105/1003, paras 88–104, and Report of the Fifty-fourth session of
COPUOS, 2011, paras 189–194.
106
Princ. 3(1)(a), NPS Principles, supra n. 46.
107
Ibid.
108
Princ. 3(2)(c), NPS Principles, supra n. 46.
109
Princ. 3(2)(d), NPS Principles, supra n. 46. To this end, there is a further
requirement that a nuclear reactor’s design and construction be such that it
‘cannot become critical before reaching the operating orbit during all possible
events, including rocket explosion, re-entry, impact on ground or water, submer-
sion in water or water intruding into the core’; § (2)(e).
110
Princ. 2(1), NPS Principles, supra n. 46.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 741

the purpose of principle 9 [on liability and compensation], the definition

of the term “launching State” as contained in that principle is applicable’;
but Principle 9 only refers to the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability
Convention for a definition of launching state.111
Finally, Principle 4 requires that a state launching a space object must
ensure that ‘a comprehensive safety assessment’ is conducted prior to the
launch.112 The assessment is to cover ‘all relevant phases of the mission
and shall deal with all systems involved, including the means of
launching, the space platform, the nuclear power source and its equip-
ment and the means of control and communication between ground and
space’.113 The results of the assessment ‘shall be made publicly available
prior to each launch, and the [UN] Secretary-General … shall be
informed on how States may obtain such results of the safety assessment
as soon as possible prior to each launch’.114

13.3.2 Other Regulatory Developments

On balance, the UN space law treaties do not have very much to offer in
terms of addressing environmental effects of space activities. Fortunately,
more recent – and more plausible – efforts to alleviate environmental
problems related to space activities by common norms have also taken
place. The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC)
and the International Law Association (ILA) have been trying to mitigate
the hazard of space debris. Also UN COPUOS has adopted Space Debris
Mitigation Guidelines which are based on the IADC Guidelines. More-
over, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)115 is devel-
oping international standards on the basis of the work of the IADC. The
Guidelines reflect ‘the fundamental mitigation elements of a series of
existing practices, standards, codes and handbooks developed by a
number of national and international organizations’,116 hence the in-depth

111
See also Christol, supra n. 36, 271–2.
112
Princ. 4(1), NPS Principles, supra n. 46.
113
Ibid.
114
Princ. 4(3), NPS Principles, supra n. 46. For a detailed treatment of the
NPS Principles and the negotiating history of the instrument, see D.A. Porras,
The United Nations Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in
Outer Space: The Significance of a Soft Law Instrument after Nearly 20 Years in
Force, in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 205–32.
115
See in general www.iso.org/iso/home/about/about_governance.htm, last
accessed 11 February 2014.
116
Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, supra n. 15, 1.

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742 Handbook of space law

treatment of such other attempts is unnecessary in the context of the

current examination.
In addition to space debris, the other environmental problems of the
space sector are also discussed internationally. The other environmental
hazard UN COPUOS is currently discussing is the use of NPS in
space.117 The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has long been
working on issues related to planetary protection.118

13.3.2.1 The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

(UN COPUOS)

13.3.2.1.1 Space debris After several years of discussions about

whether space debris should be put on the agenda of the Scientific and
Technical Sub-Committee (STSC) of the UN COPUOS, space debris has
been included as a separate annual agenda item since 1994.119 The STSC
established a Working Group on Space Debris in 2004 to develop a set of
technical debris mitigation guidelines on the basis of the IADC Guide-
lines.120 The STSC adopted its space debris mitigation guidelines in
2007.121 The Committee proper endorsed the guidelines the same year,122
and so did the UN General Assembly, also inviting member states to
implement the guidelines nationally.123

117
See Report of the Fifty-first session of the LSC, supra n. 105, paras
88–104, and Report of the Fifty-fourth session of COPUOS, 2011, paras
189–194.
118
COSPAR has also discussed other environmental aspects of space activ-
ities to some extent. It prepared a study for UN COPUOS entitled ‘Environ-
mental Effects of Space Activities’ as early as 1983. A follow-up study under the
same title with a particular emphasis on space debris was released in 1988; see
L. Perek, Space Debris at the United Nations, 2 Space Debris (2002), 126.
119
See Report of the Thirty-first session of the STSC, 1994, A/AC.105/571,
paras 63–74. For a summary of the discussion concerning space debris within the
UN prior to its adoption as an STSC agenda item, see Hacket, supra n. 57,
201–4.
120
Initially, UN COPUOS asked the IADC to develop a set of such voluntary
guidelines in 2001. See Report of the Thirty-eighth session of the STSC, 2001,
A/AC.105/761, para. 130. They were submitted to the UN COPUOS in late
2002.
121
See Report of the Forty-fourth session of the STSC, supra n. 15, para. 99
and Annex IV.
122
See Report of the Fiftieth session of COPUOS, supra n. 15, paras 118–19
and Annex.
123
International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, UNGA Res.
62/217, of 22 December 2007; UN Doc. A/RES/62/217. National implementation

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Environmental aspects of space activities 743

The Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of UN COPUOS are ‘the

leading international arrangement to mitigate space debris’.124 They
provide guidance on how to conduct space activities in a manner which
minimizes their harmful by-products.125 The Guidelines are to be consid-
ered for mission planning, design, manufacture and operational phases of
spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages. Hence they apply both to
planning and operation of new missions, as well as to operation of
existing ones (‘if possible’). Exceptions to the implementation of the
guidelines can be justified by provisions of the UN space treaties and
principles, for instance.126 Obviously, the guidelines are not legally
binding under international law.127 Nevertheless, the fact that all major
spacefaring states take part in the work of the STSC which, moreover,
operates by consensus, should facilitate the approval and implementation
of the Guidelines on the national level.128
The UN COPUOS Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines are:

1. Limit debris released during normal operations.

2. Minimize the potential for break-ups during operational phases.
3. Limit the probability of accidental collision in orbit.
4. Avoid intentional destruction and other harmful activities.
5. Minimize potential for post-mission break-ups resulting from stored
energy.

of the UN COPUOS Guidelines varies significantly; the US national regime is

currently the most elaborate one. In 2010 China finalized its national space
debris mitigation regulations similar to the IADC/UN COPUOS Guidelines; see
Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 21–2. For
more information on national implementation measures, see ibid., 30–4.
124
Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 5.
125
Cf. ibid., 28.
126
See Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, supra n. 15, 2.
127
This is also explicitly stated in Sec. 3, 2nd para., Space Debris Mitigation
Guidelines, supra n. 15.
128
In the United Kingdom, for instance, the IADC/UN COPUOS mitigation
measures are used by national licensing authorities as evaluation criteria for
assessing operators’ ability to comply with debris mitigation safety requirements;
see R. Crowther, R. Tremayne-Smith & C. Martin, Implementing Space Debris
Mitigation Within the United Kingdom’s Outer Space Act, in Proceedings of the
4th European Conference on Space Debris (Ed. D. Danesy) (2005), ESA/ESOC,
ESA SP-587, 579–80; R. Tremayne-Smith, Environmental Protection and Space
Debris Issues in the Context of Authorisation, in National Space Legislation in
Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 184–7.

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6. Limit the long-term presence of spacecraft and launch vehicle

orbital stages in the LEO region after the end of their mission.
7. Limit the long-term interference of spacecraft and launch vehicle
orbital stages with the GEO region after the end of their mission.

All space systems should be designed in the first place so that no debris
is released during normal operations (as opposed to emergency situations,
less severe accidents and other non-foreseeable potentially debris-
generating incidents). If this is not feasible, at least the effect of debris on
the space environment should be minimized. Operators are to prepare
themselves for the possibility of operational phase break-ups by planning
(and executing where needed) disposal and passivation measures.129 Also
many accidental on-orbit collisions could be avoided by proper design
and mission profiles, allowing for, inter alia, adjustments of launch time
and collision avoidance manoeuvres. Obviously, intentional destruction
of space systems should be avoided. If intentional break-ups are neces-
sary, they should be conducted at (low) altitudes where the orbital
lifetime of the fragments remains short. Any on-board energy sources no
longer needed should be depleted or passivated. Finally, non-operational
spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages should be removed from the
densely populated orbits (LEO and GEO) in a controlled manner or (if
removal is not feasible) stored in sufficiently safe post-mission disposal
(‘graveyard’) orbits.130
Although the UN COPUOS Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines con-
stitute an important step towards reducing risks related to space debris,
they are not sufficient in the long term. They remain quite general in
nature and do not provide a comprehensive approach to the problem.
Environmental protection is not even mentioned. The Guidelines give no
guidance as to questions of liability. Provisions about data exchange
concerning the space environment are also missing. Even intentional
destruction of space objects (such as ASAT tests) is not banned.131 Given
the increase in launches to higher altitudes and the fact that the only
feasible debris removal mechanism still is natural decay due to atmos-
pheric drag, which is even somewhat effective only in LEO,132 it is of

129
See Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, supra n. 15, 2.
130
See ibid., 3.
131
Quite the contrary: pursuant to the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines,
supra n. 15, intentional break-ups may even be ‘necessary’ (in which case they
should be conducted at low-enough altitudes).
132
In higher orbits the atmospheric drag is virtually nil. See Towards
Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 15 (Fig. 1). For more

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Environmental aspects of space activities 745

utmost importance to stop deliberate destruction of spacecraft, particu-

larly in the higher orbits. Furthermore, the Guidelines do not address the
debris issue in the context of non-peaceful space activities. For the issues
they do address, the Guidelines express at most political, not legal
commitment to mitigating the space debris problem.133 The instrument
was even developed without contribution from the Legal Sub-Committee.
Currently, UN COPUOS is discussing the debris issue through both of
its subcommittees. The STSC has had space debris as an agenda item for
nearly two decades already. It has recently agreed that ‘States, in
particular spacefaring nations, should pay greater attention to the problem
of collisions of space objects, including those with nuclear power sources
on board, with space debris and to other aspects of space debris,
including its re-entry into the atmosphere’.134 Additionally, the STSC has
on its agenda a new item, ‘Long-term sustainability of outer space
activities’ (since 2010). The space debris issue has been discussed also in
the context of this item.135 In the Legal Sub-Committee, ‘General
exchange of information on national mechanisms relating to space debris
mitigation measures’ has been an agenda item since 2009.136 During the
discussions on the topic, information about national efforts in the field of
space debris policies and mitigation standards is brought to the attention
of the Sub-Committee.
However, the mandate of the Legal Sub-Committee does not extend to
the consideration of any substantive legal aspects of space debris or to
detailed analysis of the UN COPUOS Guidelines.137 It has been repeat-
edly proposed that the Legal Sub-Committee ‘should include on its

information on the effect of the atmospheric drag on space objects, see Weeden,
supra n. 12, 39.
133
See Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31,
28, 36–37.
134
E.g. Report of the Forty-ninth session of the STSC, 2012, A/AC.105/
1001, para. 91.
135
See e.g. Report of the Forty-ninth session of the STSC, supra n. 134,
paras 199–204. The Sub-Committee has noted, for instance, that ‘States could
contribute to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities by implement-
ing the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee and the Safety
Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer Space’; Report of
the Forty-seventh session of the STSC, 2010, A/AC.105/958, para. 185.
136
See Report of the Forty-eighth session of the LSC, 2009, A/AC.105/935,
paras 148–62.
137
See Review of the Legal Aspects of the Space Debris Mitigation
Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, with a View
to Transforming the Guidelines into a Set of Principles to be Adopted by the

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agenda an item to review the legal aspects of the [UN COPUOS] Space
Debris Mitigation Guidelines’.138 It has been proposed also that the UN
COPUOS Guidelines be transformed into a new set of UN space
principles (like the NPS Principles).139 This should obviously be dis-
cussed in the Legal Sub-Committee.140
Although UN Principles are legally non-binding, they could establish
additional political support for the UN COPUOS Guidelines.141 They
could also ‘create a basis for legally binding rules to be negotiated at
some time in the future’.142 Provided that the principles managed to
generate unified state practice and opinio juris on the need to honour
such principles, they could even contribute to the establishment of
(binding) customary international law.143

13.3.2.1.2 Nuclear power The use of NPS in outer space is a separate

agenda item of the STSC.144 The Sub-Committee’s Working Group on
Nuclear Power Sources in Space has prepared in cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)145 a voluntary Safety

General Assembly, Working Paper Submitted by the Czech Republic, 50th

session of the LSC, 2011, UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/L.283, para. 10. Accordingly,
this agenda item has been described as a ‘cautious attempt to approach the legal
aspects of the [space debris issue] in UNCOPUOS’; I. Marboe, The Importance
of Guidelines and Codes of Conduct for Liability of States and Private Actors, in
Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 140.
138
E.g. Report of the Fifty-fourth session of COPUOS, 2011, para. 209;
Report of the Fifty-first session of the LSC, supra n. 105, paras 148, 150.
139
See e.g. Report of the Fifty-fourth session of COPUOS, 2011, paras 103,
209; Review of the Legal Aspects of the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of
the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, supra n. 137, 2011, para.
11; Report of the Fifty-first session of the LSC, supra n. 105, paras 149–150. See
also ILA Report of the Seventy-Fifth Conference, Sofia, 2012, 303.
140
See also Report of the Fifty-first session of the LSC, supra n. 105, para.
155.
141
See Towards Long-term Sustainability for Space Activities, supra n. 31,
39.
142
Review of the Legal Aspects of the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of
the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, supra n. 137, para. 18.
143
See ibid.
144
See e.g. Report of the Forty-ninth session of the STSC, supra n. 134,
paras 136–51.
145
The IAEA was established by way of the Statute of the IAEA (Statute of
the International Atomic Energy Agency, New York, done 23 October 1956,
entered into force 29 July 1957; 276 UNTS 3, www.iaea.org/About/statute.html,
last accessed 18 April 2014).

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Environmental aspects of space activities 747

Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer Space,

approved in 2009.146 The Safety Framework is to ‘provide high-level
guidance in the form of a model safety framework’ for national and
international use.147 It consists of recommendations for governments and
management of space NPS applications as well as of general technical
guidance.148
The Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in
Outer Space applies to launch, operation and end-of-service phases of
space missions using nuclear power.149 It urges, for instance, govern-
ments to ‘verify that the rationale for using the space [NPS] application
has been appropriately justified’.150 The benefits of the use of NPS in a
space mission and the risks associated must be thoroughly assessed: ‘a
balance needs to be found between the requirement for protection … and
the expected benefits of the space NPS application’.151
Furthermore, the Safety Framework calls for proper emergency prepar-
edness by governments and relevant intergovernmental organizations
(such as regional space agencies).152 At the same time, the instrument
stresses that the organization conducting a space NPS mission has the
prime responsibility for safety, ‘ensuring the availability of adequate
resources for safety and promoting and sustaining a robust safety culture

146
The instrument is intended to supplement the IAEA Safety Standard
Series without being a publication in the series (see Preface of the Safety
Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer Space, infra n. 147).
For more information about the development of the Safety Framework, see
Summerer & Bohlmann, supra n. 35, 241–8.
147
Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer
Space, 2009, A/AC.105/934, www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/Safety/safety
framework1009.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014, 1 (para. 1.2).
148
For a detailed assessment of the Safety Framework for Nuclear Power
Source Applications in Outer Space, see Summerer & Bohlmann, supra n. 35.
149
Other aspects of space NPS applications (e.g. those concerning develop-
ment, testing, production and transportation of space NPS on earth) are
addressed by other international and national nuclear safety standards; Safety
Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer Space, supra n. 147,
2 (para. 1.3); see also Summerer & Bohlmann, supra n. 35, 238.
150
Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer
Space, supra n. 147, 3 (para. 3.2).
151
Summerer & Bohlmann, supra n. 35, 248–9. This also necessitates an
analysis of alternatives to the use of NPS, for instance.
152
See Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer
Space, supra n. 147, 4 (para. 3.4).

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at all organizational levels’.153 Most importantly, however, this respons-

ibility is not to be confused with the international responsibility of the
UN space law treaties (under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty and
NPS Principle 8).154
Furthermore, the Safety Framework, inter alia, reiterates that ‘having
technical competence in nuclear safety is vital for satisfying the safety
objective’.155 Of utmost importance are design and development pro-
cesses. They should ‘provide the highest level of safety that can
reasonably be achieved’ by integrating ‘safety considerations in the
context of the entire space NPS application’, throughout all mission
phases.156 Also risk assessments should be an essential part of mission
authorization processes.157
The scope of the Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source
Applications in Outer Space is narrower than that of the NPS Principles
in the sense that it is aimed at protecting ‘people and the environment in
Earth’s biosphere’ only, not the space environment nor humans in outer
space.158 On the other hand, the Safety Framework constitutes a signifi-
cant advance by being applicable to the use of NPS not only for

153
Ibid., chapter 4. ESA, for instance, has started implementing the Safety
Framework. However, it has declared that ‘the implementation of some of the
guidance requires a deeper analysis of the options available within the organ-
izational setup of ESA’ – including, for instance, questions related to the primary
responsibility of the organization conducting the space NPS mission. See Report
of the Forty-ninth session of the STSC, supra n. 134, App., 42.
154
The ‘prime responsibility for safety’ of the Safety Framework for Nuclear
Power Source Applications in Outer Space, supra n. 147, should be understood
in the context of internal distribution of responsibilities among partners in a
space mission only. In more detail, see Summerer & Bohlmann, supra n. 35,
256–8. More in general on Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty (supra n. 39), supra
§ 2.3.1.1.
155
Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer
Space, supra n. 147, 6 (para. 5.1).
156
Ibid., 6–7 (para. 5.2).
157
See ibid., 7 (para. 5.3).
158
Ibid., 2 (para. 2). These limitations are due to the fact that sufficient
knowledge for providing ‘a technically sound basis for developing a space NPS
application framework for protecting humans in the unique conditions in space
and beyond Earth’s biosphere’ does not yet exist. The same applies to protection
of environments of other celestial bodies (see para. 1.3). It has been pointed out
that the argument of lacking scientific knowledge as a reason for such limitations
can also be seen as ‘leaving the door open’ to future revision of the Safety
Framework in this respect: if sufficient data becomes available, the protection of

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electricity generation, but for propulsion and heating purposes too; it

applies to all space NPS applications ‘without prejudice’.159 Neither the
NPS Principles nor the Safety Framework constitutes a legally binding
instrument under international law, however.160
International regulation of the use of space NPS is difficult because
such applications have unique nuclear safety considerations which cannot
be addressed in safety guidance for terrestrial nuclear applications. The
requirements of space NPS applications vary significantly also from
mission to mission.161

13.3.2.2 The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee

(IADC)
The IADC is an organization of ESA and national space agencies from
(currently) 11 countries founded in 1993.162 Its purpose is to exchange
information on space debris research activities and facilitate cooperation
in the area, to review ongoing cooperative activities, and to identify
options for debris mitigation.163 In fulfilling this purpose, it has, inter
alia, issued the IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines.164 These
Guidelines are not examined here in detail as their provisions are largely
repeated in the Guidelines of the UN COPUOS.

extraterrestrial environments and humans in outer space might be included in the

scope of the framework. See Summerer & Bohlmann, supra n. 35, 240–1.
159
Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in Outer
Space, supra n. 147, 2 (para. 1.2).
160
It has been proposed that the UN COPUOS Legal Sub-Committee should
‘undertake a review of the Safety Framework and … promote binding standards’:
Report of the Fifty-first session of the LSC, supra n. 105, para. 92.
161
See Preface, Safety Framework for Nuclear Power Source Applications in
Outer Space, supra n. 147.
162
See in general on the IADC www.iadc-online.org, last accessed 11
February 2014; also e.g. Viikari, supra n. 7, 93–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 70,
23, 38, 308, 493, 529, 563; N.N. Smirnov, Space Debris: Hazard Evaluation and
Debris (2001), 22; J. Wheeler, Space Debris: Legal Framework, Issues Arising
and New ISO Guidelines in 2010/2011, in Yearbook on Space Policy 2010/2011:
The Forward Look (Eds. P. Hulsroj, S. Pagkratis & B. Baranes) (2013), 260 ff.
163
For more detail, see Terms of Reference for the Inter-Agency Space
Debris Coordination Committee, 4 October 2006, www.iadc-online.org/
index.cgi?item=torp, last accessed 10 August 2012.
164
IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines (hereafter IADC Guidelines);
A/AC.105/C.1/L.260. The latest version of the Guidelines is from 5 July 2007;
see www.iadc-online.org/index.cgi?item=docs_pub, last accessed 10 August
2012.

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It is important to note that the two sets of guidelines are not the same,
however. Above all, the IADC Guidelines are in some respects more
detailed. For instance, they not only call for post-mission disposal of
spent spacecraft, but also establish specific instructions as to how this
should be conducted, including a formula for calculating the minimum
altitude to which objects from the GEO should be re-orbited.165
Disposal of LEO objects should be conducted by de-orbiting. For the
LEO region, the instrument further suggests a 25-year post-mission
orbital lifetime limit.166 Moreover, the IADC Guidelines recommend that
‘[i]n order to manage the implementation of space debris mitigation
measures … a feasible Space Debris Mitigation Plan be established and
documented for each program and project’ (irrespective of the orbital
region).167 This Mitigation Plan should include (1) a ‘management plan
addressing space debris mitigation activities’; (2) a ‘plan for the assess-
ment and mitigation of risks related to space debris, including applicable
standards’; (3) ‘measures minimising the hazard related to malfunctions
that have a potential for generating space debris’; (4) a ‘plan for disposal
of the space system at end of mission’; (5) a ‘[j]ustification of choice and
selection when several possibilities exist’; and (6) a ‘[c]ompliance matrix
addressing the recommendations of these Guidelines’.168

165
See Sec. 5.3.1, IADC Guidelines, supra n. 164.
166
See Sec. 5.3.2, IADC Guidelines, supra n. 164. Re-orbiting of LEO
spacecraft into orbits where the residual lifetime of debris is 25 years at most is
an efficient measure for stopping the accumulation of space debris. This option is
not economically feasible for higher-altitude orbits, however. For GEO space-
craft, the best end-of-life disposal mechanism currently is re-orbiting to a
graveyard orbit at least 235 km above the nominal GEO altitude. At the moment,
only half of all satellites are properly re-orbited. See Towards Long-term
Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 42. Even a GEO graveyard cannot
provide a long-term solution, as the re-orbited satellites remain uncontrolled; see
Williamson, supra n. 37, 8.
167
Part 4, IADC Guidelines, supra n. 164.
168
Ibid. For a more detailed assessment of the IADC Guidelines, see Viikari,
supra n. 7, 93–6. For comparison between the guidelines of the IADC and those
of UN COPUOS in more detail, see Committee for the Assessment of NASA’s
Orbital Debris Programs; National Research Council, Limiting Future Collision
Risk to Spacecraft: An Assessment of NASA’s Meteoroid and Orbital Debris
Programs (2011), 80.

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The IADC Guidelines have been criticized for containing no advice as

to their practical implementation by states.169 Nevertheless, the Guide-
lines have been used in the development of new international standards,
such as the debris document of UN COPUOS and mitigation standards of
the ISO. The IADC Guidelines have also been widely used by national
and regional space organizations when identifying their own standards
for mission requirements and establishing norms of a more general
nature.170
One example is the 2008 Requirements on Space Debris Mitigation for
ESA Projects, which are fully compatible with the Guidelines of the
IADC (and those of UN COPUOS).171 Also in the United States, national
debris mitigation requirements of government agencies such as the
Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Communications Commis-
sion and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are in
conformity with the IADC Guidelines.172 In the United Kingdom,
mitigation measures provided by the IADC Guidelines are used directly
by national licensing authorities as standards for assessing compliance of
proposed space activities with the current best practices of the space
sector. For instance, compliance of a licence applicant’s end-of-life
satellite disposal plans with the recommendations of the IADC (inter

169
See e.g. T. Hitchens, Space Debris: Next Steps, in Safeguarding Space for
All: Security and Peaceful Uses, Conference report March 2004, UNIDIR/
2005/20 (2005), 65.
170
See e.g. Report of the Forty-second session of the STSC, 2005,
A/AC.105/848, para. 91.
171
In 2002, five European space agencies issued the European Space Debris
Safety and Mitigation Standard, which became the European Code of Conduct
for Space Debris Mitigation in 2004. The ESA Director General confirmed his
endorsement of the European Code but also emphasized that ‘the Code of
Conduct may be difficult to implement directly, especially in binding business
agreements’; many of its provisions need more detailed implementation stand-
ards; Space Debris Mitigation for Agency Projects, ESA, Paris, 1 April 2008,
ESA/ADMIN/IPOL(2008)2, www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615708/n676979/n676983/n8936
04/appendix/200852915833.pdf, last accessed 11 February 2014, 1. ESA’s own
space debris mitigation instructions translate the IADC Guidelines and those of
UN COPUOS applicable to all procurements of space systems and launch
services for new ESA programmes. They define minimum requirements for the
limitation of space debris and risk reduction measures in case of re-entries of
space objects into the earth’s atmosphere. The document addresses management,
design and operational requirements.
172
See Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 70, 493.

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alia, the use of IADC’s re-orbiting formula for GEO satellites) is

examined.173

13.3.2.3 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

The International Organization for Standardization is the primary inter-
national standards organization relevant for the space sector. Virtually all
ISO space standards (over 150 to date) are produced by subcommittees
13 (developing standards related to space data and information transfer
systems) and 14 (developing standards related to space systems and
operations) of the technical committee ISO/TC 20, ‘Aircraft and space
vehicles’.174
From an environmental point of view, the high level standard ISO
24113:2011, ‘Space systems – Space debris mitigation requirements’ is
the most important achievement. It applies to all unmanned systems
launched into near-earth space – including launch-vehicle orbital stages,
operating spacecraft and any objects released as part of normal opera-
tions or disposal actions. The European Cooperation for Space Standard-
ization (ECSS) has adopted this standard (with modification); also ESA
and many national space agencies subscribe to the standard.175 Another
early ISO space standardization project now completed concerns satellite
propellant measurement and management in orbit for the purpose of
debris mitigation.176 An example of space standards currently under
development is ISO 16158, ‘Space systems – Avoiding collisions with
orbiting objects’.
Of course, compliance with standards of the ISO, as a non-
governmental organization, is voluntary and the ISO has no powers of
enforcement. Yet, the ISO is a network of national (governmental and
private) standards institutes operating in no fewer than 164 countries. As
ISO standards are developed only in response to market need, many of

173
See Crowther, Tremayne-Smith & Martin, supra n. 128, 579–80. On the
national implementation of IADC/UN COPUOS Guidelines in Canada, China,
France, Germany, India, Russia, and the United States, see Towards Long-term
Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 30–4.
174
See E. Gasiorowski-Denis, Blast off … ISO Standards Make a Deep
Impact in Space, 2–9 ISO Focus+ (Oct. 2011), 9.
175
See D. Finkleman & H. Stokes, Keep It Clean – Taking Action on Space
Debris, 2–9 ISO Focus+ (Oct. 2011), 22.
176
ISO 23339:2010 ‘Space systems – Unmanned spacecraft – Estimating the
mass of remaining usable propellant’. Other standards relevant for environmental
management of space activities include ISO 27875:2010, ‘Space systems –
Re-entry risk management for unmanned spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital
stages’.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 753

them have achieved widespread applicability and practical influence in

the globalized markets.177

13.3.2.4 The International Law Association (ILA)

The International Law Association (ILA), through its Space Law Com-
mittee, produced a Draft Convention on Space Debris in 1994.178 The
instrument attempts to address the issue in a comprehensive way in its 16
articles, ‘correct[ing] the lack of precision of the Space Treaties in
force’.179 It applies to ‘space debris which causes or is likely to cause
direct or indirect, instant or delayed damage to the environment, or to
persons or objects’.180 The scope of application of the instrument thus
includes even indirect damage. Moreover, in addition to applying to
existing damage, the ILA Draft Convention applies to situations where
debris is likely to cause damage. The instrument also takes into account
purely environmental damage; it even refers to such damage prior to
mentioning damage to persons and objects. Hence, it clearly goes beyond
the Liability Convention in many respects.
What is more, the ILA Draft Convention has no restrictions as
regards the areas of outer space to which it applies.181 The instrument
also includes provisions on international responsibility and liability.182
Article 6 further specifies the application of the instrument in this respect

177
See M. Campins-Eritja & J. Gupta, The Role of ‘Sustainability Labelling’
in the International Law of Sustainable Development, in International Law and
Sustainable Development: Principles and Practice (Eds. N. Schrijver & F. Weiss)
(2004), 264–70.
178
ILA Draft Convention on Space Law Debris, 43 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (1994), at 395. See also infra, § 19.2.4.3.
179
ILA Report of the Sixty-Fifth Conference, Cairo, 1992, 143. At the same
time, the ILA Draft Convention on Space Debris, supra n. 178, expressly states
that its provisions should not be considered incompatible with the existing space
treaties; see Art. 5.
180
Art. 2, ILA Draft Convention on Space Debris, supra n. 178. ‘Damage’ in
this instrument means ‘loss of life, personal injury or other impairment of health,
or loss of or damage to property of States or of persons, natural or juridical, or
property of international intergovernmental organizations, or any adverse modifi-
cation of the environment of areas within or beyond national jurisdiction or
control’; Art. 1(e). The wording is derived mostly from Art. 1(a), Liability
Convention, supra n. 9.
181
Initially, the scope of the instrument was to be narrower: the early drafts
were restricted to GEO and LEO only. See ILA Report of the Sixty-Sixth
Conference, Buenos Aires, 1994, 311.
182
See Arts. 7 & 8 respectively, ILA Draft Convention on Space Debris,
supra n. 178. Also on responsibility and liability in general supra, § 2.3.1.1.

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by stating that its rules concerning responsibility and liability ‘apply to

damage caused by space debris in the space environment and, in the
absence of other international agreements on the matter, to damage
caused to the Earth environment’.183
Furthermore, in addition to a general obligation of cooperation,184 the
Draft Convention sets out a duty to cooperate in more detail: it contains
specific obligations to ‘prevent, inform, consult, and negotiate in good
faith’.185 These obligations concern prevention of environmental damage
and dispute avoidance, development and exchange of technology for
debris mitigation (in accordance with ‘national laws and practices’),
information exchange, and consultations in the case of potential damage
deriving from space debris.186 Moreover, there is an obligation to
negotiate in good faith, which is specified to mean, inter alia, ‘not only
to hold consultations or talks but also to pursue them with a view of
reaching a solution’.187 However, the ILA Draft Convention on Space
Debris has not (at least as yet) developed into a legally binding
international instrument.

13.3.2.5 The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)

The Committee on Space Research published recommendations concern-
ing planetary quarantine requirements as early as 1964. The COSPAR
Planetary Protection Policy was adopted in 2002.188 It is revised on a

183
Questions of responsibility and liability were among the major issues of
discussion at the time of drafting the ILA instrument. The predominant view was
that any obligations to prevent and control space debris should be accompanied
by provisions on responsibility and liability; cf. Williams, supra n. 17, 3–4. For a
more detailed discussion, see ILA Report of the Sixty-Sixth Conference, Buenos
Aires, 1994, 311–4.
184
See Art. 3, ILA Draft Convention on Space Debris, supra n. 178.
185
Art. 4, ILA Draft Convention on Space Debris, supra n. 178.
186
See, Art. 4, (a), (b) & (c) respectively, ILA Draft Convention on Space
Debris, supra n. 178. Pursuant to Art. 4(d), there is an obligation to hold
consultations when there are ‘reasons to believe that activities carried out … , or
planned to be carried out, produce space debris that is likely to cause damage to
the environment, or to persons or objects, or significant risk thereto’.
187
Art. 4(e), ILA Draft Convention on Space Debris, supra n. 178. ‘Refusal
to hold consultations, or the breaking up of such without justification, shall be
interpreted as bad faith’; Art. 4(d).
188
COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy, 20 October 2002, amended the last
time 24 March 2011; https://cosparhq.cnes.fr/sites/default/files/pppolicy.pdf, last
accessed 18 April 2014.

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regular basis. The COSPAR Policy is based on the following policy

statement:

The conduct of scientific investigations of possible extraterrestrial life forms,

precursors, and remnants must not be jeopardized. In addition, the Earth must
be protected from the potential hazard posed by extraterrestrial matter carried
by a spacecraft returning from an interplanetary mission. Therefore, for
certain space mission/target planet combinations, controls on contamination
shall be imposed in accordance with issuances implementing this policy.189

The Policy establishes five planetary protection categories, defined

depending on the nature of the mission and the target body, and suggests
planetary protection requirements for each category. The decisive crite-
rion is the degree of interest a mission’s target body represents for
understanding the origins and evolution of life. The most demanding
planetary protection requirements are imposed for missions returning to
earth (Category V).
‘Planetary protection’ is generally understood as concentrating on
biological protection from contamination (forward and back-
contamination).190 The COSPAR Policy is ‘regarded as the international
consensus standard for biological contamination under the [Outer Space
Treaty]’,191 interpreting Article IX in particular.192 It has been described
as ‘the established policy of the concerned space-faring nations to take
into account the COSPAR Planetary Protection Guidelines in the defin-
ition of requirements for their missions’.193 Both NASA and ESA comply
with the COSPAR requirements.194

189
Ibid., 1.
190
See Williamson, supra n. 37, 7, 9; C. Conley & P. Rettberg, COSPAR
Planetary Protection Policy – Present Status, in IAA Cosmic Study ‘Protecting the
Environment of Celestial Bodies’ (Eds. M. Hofmann, P. Rettberg & M. William-
son) (2010), 16; http://iaaweb.org/iaa/Scientific%20Activity/Study%20Groups/S
G%20Commission%205/sg56/sg56finaldraftreport.pdf, last accessed 12 February
2014.
191
Conley & Rettberg, supra n. 190, 19.
192
See e.g. M. Hofmann, The Role of COSPAR Guidelines in Interpreting
Article IX OST, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2011
(2012), 311–7.
193
U.M. Bohlmann, Connecting the Principles of International Environ-
mental Law to Space Activities, in Proceedings of the International Institute of
Space Law 2011 (2012), 305.
194
For a more detailed treatment, see Bohlmann, supra n. 193, 301 ff. In
Europe, the COSPAR standards have been implemented also by the ECSS, by a
set of recommendations approved in 2008 with the aim of preventing forward

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Furthermore, it has been suggested that ‘COSPAR should propose

management guidelines to the UN COPUOS in collaboration and
coordination with other international bodies … similar to the way that
space debris guidelines were developed and adopted internationally’.195
The issue of planetary protection has taken on renewed relevance with
the various plans for new (manned and unmanned) moon and Mars
missions. The COSPAR Planetary Policy framework may need to be
expanded to address even forms of harmful contamination other than
biological/organic.196

13.4 THE WAY FORWARD

The UN space law treaties have only a little to say about environmental
aspects of space activities. For instance, none of them even mentions
space debris. The more recent non-binding instruments fill the gaps to
some extent. Although the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines produced
by the IADC are called mere ‘guidelines’, they were described as a de
facto ‘standard for the responsible space operator’ even before the
development and adoption of the UN COPUOS Guidelines building upon
the recommendations of the IADC.197
The global standardization work of the ISO further strengthens the role
of the common guidelines, better enabling their use in a legally relevant
manner. However, it has been assessed that there are ‘mixed signs’ about
how well the UN COPUOS Guidelines are in fact working. Apparently,

contamination of other celestial bodies: ECSS-Q-ST-70-55C ‘Space product

assurance – Microbial examination of flight hardware and cleanrooms’;
ECSS{Q{ST{70{01 ‘Space product assurance – Cleanliness and contamination
control’; ECSS{Q{ST{20 ‘Space product assurance – Quality assurance’;
ECSS{Q{ST{10{09 ‘Space product assurance – Nonconformance control sys-
tem’.
195
See COSPAR Workshop on Ethical Considerations for Planetary Protec-
tion in Space Exploration (Eds. J.D. Rummel, M.S. Race & G. Horneck) (2012),
16, 21, 40–41; https://cosparhq.cnes.fr/sites/default/files/ppp_workshop_report_
ethical_considerations_princeton_final_v1a_7nov2012.pdf, last accessed 20 Feb-
ruary 2014.
196
See Conley & Rettberg, supra n. 190, 17–8. For a current discussion on
the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy (particularly from an ethical point of
view), see ibid.; also COSPAR Workshop on Ethical Considerations for Planetary
Protection in Space Exploration, supra n. 195.
197
S.A. Mirmina, Reducing the Proliferation of Orbital Debris: Alternatives
to a Legally Binding Instrument, 99 American Journal of International Law
(2005), 661.

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standard practices on average have improved. Nevertheless, at worst, a

single major break-up event can undo the progress made during years of
mitigation efforts.198 Besides, even the most scrupulous implementation
of the existing debris mitigation instruments globally would not be
enough. These instruments lay down recommendations the focus of
which is on curtailing the creation of new pieces of space debris. This
does not help to reduce the massive amount of debris already in orbit.
International standardization in general is a tool not well suited to
tackling problems already created. In particular, it is hardly ever capable
of affecting the operation of spacecraft which have already been put into
outer space.199
Alongside legal development, the development of technology for active
removal of non-functional objects in outer space is indeed imperative.
Also on-orbit satellite servicing (OOS) could alleviate the problem.200 It
has been evaluated that ADR and OOS ‘are necessary to ensure the
continued sustainability of activities in LEO, MEO [medium earth orbit]
and GEO, and that they will become absolutely indispensable in a
relatively short period of time’.201 Given that space debris is difficult (if
not impossible) to clean up and the amount of it is increasing steadily, the
need for ADR and OOS activities is obvious ‘in order to meet the
long-term need to protect the space environment as well as a short-term
need to protect operating space assets from damage or destruction by
debris’.202
However, ADR and OOS unavoidably entail major legal problems,
many of which need to be solved before conducting such operations.
Under the current space law regime, no distinction between functional
spacecraft and non-functional space debris exists: both are considered

198
See Towards Long-term Sustainability in Space Activities, supra n. 31,
29.
199
The situation is different as regards pre-existing installations on earth: at
least technically (even if not politically) it is usually possible to make their future
operations subject to review and licensing requirements in accordance with new
standards. In contrast, present technology does not allow the same in respect of
objects in outer space.
200
See Active Debris Removal, supra n. 5, 7. For an assessment of the
(emerging) technical means for ADR and OOS, see ibid., 21 ff. For a summary
of ADR technologies and techniques, see Weeden, supra n. 12, 39–40.
201
Active Debris Removal, supra n. 5, 8.
202
Ibid, 43. It has been estimated that with ADR and collision avoidance the
accumulation of space debris in earth orbits could be stopped almost completely;
see Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 20.

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‘space objects’.203 Once an unequivocal legal definition of what consti-

tutes space debris has been established, the next major question is how
the legal status of ‘space debris’ changes compared to that of ‘space
object’ (in terms of jurisdiction, control and salvage).
Above all, the international legal framework pertaining to space debris
must be able to address obligations and rights to take preventive
measures. This entails questions concerning the legality/illegality of
generating space debris, debris mitigation obligations, collision avoid-
ance, data exchange – and ADR.204 For instance, which entity can decide
that a particular object is space debris available to be removed? Which
types of space debris should be prioritized for removal?205 Who is
allowed to remove debris? How about liability aspects of ADR opera-
tions?206 The current law of outer space is unable to answer such
questions. In fact, instead of encouraging ADR, it largely constitutes a
prohibitive element.
The international community needs to resolve such legal questions,
preferably by an international treaty. It has also been suggested that states
establish an intergovernmental organization to foster the development of
the technologies for ADR and OOS and – once feasible – to conduct such
operations on a commercial basis. Along the same lines, the establish-
ment of a ‘Global Fund for Space Debris Removal’ has been proposed,
with the mandate to contribute to the development of technology and
compensate for costs of ADR activities.207

203
See also Weeden, supra n. 12, 40.
204
See Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31,
22.
205
For a more detailed treatment of this question, see Weeden, supra n. 12,
40–1. In general, if the preferred goal is to reduce short-term risks to operational
spacecraft in the most popular orbits, the target of removal operations should be
small (1–10 cm) objects. If the aim is primarily to reduce the growth of the space
debris population and hence the long-term risk to spacecraft, removal of large
objects (i.e. the sources of future space debris) should be prioritized; see ibid.,
40.
206
See Active Debris Removal, supra n. 5, 29–30.
207
See ibid., 28–9, 45. See also e.g. McGill Declaration on Active Space
Debris Removal and On-Orbit Satellite Servicing, of 12 November 2011,
A/AC.105/C.1/2012/CRP.16, App. A: ‘National governments and competent
international bodies should examine legal and regulatory mechanisms and
processes to advance and facilitate the removal of space debris from orbit and the
servicing of satellites in orbit. These mechanisms and processes should seek to
encourage or commend the following types of actions: … b. Establishment of
national or international funds to support the removal of space debris from orbit

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Environmental aspects of space activities 759

Furthermore, states are urged to procure the removal of space debris

created by national space activities and to include in their national
licensing rules for the space sector ‘an assured removal requirement’.
Indeed, although the environmental problems of the space sector are
inherently international, national law is indispensable in tackling them
because that is the level where all space operations are licensed.208
Unfortunately, many licensing systems have traditionally not required
public authorities to get approval for their projects, particularly for
military ones;209 many space missions are public projects, very often
involving also at least some military application. Even government-
sponsored civilian space activities typically are not subject to licensing
regimes.210
New environmentally relevant regulatory attempts include the initiative
by the European Union for an International Code of Conduct for Outer
Space Activities. In June 2012, the European Union officially launched a
multilateral diplomatic process to discuss its initiative.211 Information
dissemination and the exchange of views on the concept of this Code of
Conduct have been delegated to the UN Institute for Disarmament
Research (UNIDIR). Negotiations open to all UN Member States started

and the servicing of satellites in orbit’; para. 7. Moreover: ‘Consideration should

be given to the creation of a Global Economic Fund for Space Debris Removal to
pay for removal service in the long term (to cover the cost of removal of existing
debris plus spacecraft that fail in orbit)’; para. 10.
208
Cf. Active Debris Removal, supra n. 5, 39–40, 44–5.
209
See A. Kiss & D. Shelton, International Environmental Law (2nd edn.,
2000), 211–2.
210
See Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31,
30. Nevertheless, the more intensive the use of outer space becomes, the more
interest all stakeholders should have in reliable regulations. For instance, despite
its initial reluctance, the military now favours increasingly stricter codes of
conduct for the management of the space debris problem. Cosmic Study on Space
Traffic Management, supra n. 50, 54.
211
By way of Council Decision 2012/281/CFSP of 29 May 2012 in the
framework of the European Security Strategy in support of the Union proposal
for an international Code of Conduct on outer-space activities, para. 4. The Code
was originally drafted in 2008 (Council of the European Union, 17 December
2008, 17175/08), and revised in 2010 (Council of the European Union, Council
Conclusions concerning the Revised Draft Code of Conduct for Outer Space
Activities, 11 October 2010, 14455/10). The latest version of the draft code was
released on 16 September 2013, http://eeas.europa.eu/non-proliferation-and-
disarmament/pdf/space_code_conduct_draft_vers_16_sept_2013_en.pdf, last ac-
cessed 18 April 2014.

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in October 2012, with a view to adopting the Code in 2013,212 and

concluding the process in 2014.213
The proposed legally non-binding instrument would be a set of best
practices applicable to all space activities and complementary to the
existing space law framework.214 It is meant, for example, to help to
avoid accidents and harmful interference in space, curtail the generation
of new space debris and reduce its detrimental effects, and facilitate
cooperation, including information sharing, on space activities.215 The
goal is also to facilitate the implementation of the UN COPUOS Space
Debris Mitigation Guidelines.216 Despite the laudable objectives, many
states have raised concerns about the European proposal;217 the success
of the Code remains to be seen.
It is not merely the law of outer space and developments within this
normative system that are relevant for the space sector. As Article III of
the Outer Space Treaty affirms, all public international law is applicable

212
See EU Launches Negotiations on an International Code of Conduct for
Outer Space Activities, Press release, Brussels, 6 June 2012; A 252/12,
www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/130649.pdf,
last accessed 12 February 2014.
213
See Statement by the Spokesperson of EU High Representative Catherine
Ashton on the consultations for an International Code of Conduct for Outer
Space Activities, 20 November 2013; 131120/01, http://eeas.europa.eu/
statements/docs/2013/131120_01_en.pdf, last accessed 18 April 2014.
214
See para. 1, Revised Draft, supra n. 211.
215
See, paras. 4, 5, 8 respectively, Revised Draft, supra n. 211.
216
See para. 5, Revised Draft, supra n. 211. The European Union professes
to be ‘particularly sensitive to the issue of the risks posed by space debris,
whatever its origin, which is detrimental to present and future activities’; Council
Decision 2012/281/CFSP, supra n. 211, para. 4.
217
Including countries such as Brazil, India and China; China has apparently
already announced that it will not even participate in the upcoming negotiations.
The attitudes of Russia and the United States remain quite unpredictable, even
though the latter has recently declared its support for the European effort. See
e.g. M. Listner, Code of Conduct: Corrections, Updates, and Thoughts Going
Forward, The Space Review, 18 June 2012, www.thespacereview.com/article/
2101/1, last accessed 12 February 2014. Support is not coherent even within the
European Union itself; cf. J.F. Mayence, The European Union’s Initiative for a
Code of Conduct on Space Activities: A Model of Soft Law for Outer Space?, in
Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 348. Among the reasons for
dissatisfaction is the exclusion of many states from the consultations on the
initiative, in addition to objections and concerns of more substantive nature; see
Listner, supra. For a more detailed assessment of the European initiative, see
Mayence, supra; also infra, § 6.7.

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Environmental aspects of space activities 761

to space activities.218 This includes international environmental law. Thus

far international environmental law has paid relatively little attention to
the space sector (and vice versa), hence environmental treaties are mostly
designed for activities taking place on earth. In contrast, general prin-
ciples of environmental law are potentially applicable to all states in
respect of all kinds of activities and all types of environmental prob-
lems219 – those of the space sector included. Accordingly, international
environmental principles can and should provide direction in attempts to
modify the outdated law of outer space. They are an equally essential
tool in filling the gaps in the space treaties as well as in addressing the
various problems evident in interpretation of the existing provisions of
space law.
No doubt the principle of sustainable development, for instance, is
increasingly important for all space activities. Degradation of the space
environment has become a severe problem, with the potential to threaten
not only the exploration and exploitation of outer space by the present
generation but also the opportunities of generations to come.220 As has
been pointed out in the context of space debris, ‘[t]he proliferation of
space debris poses major risks to the sustainability of mankind’s explor-
ation and use of outer space’.221

218
Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38, provides: ‘States Parties to the
Treaty shall carry on activities in the exploration and use of outer space,
including the Moon and other celestial bodies, in accordance with international
law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in the interest of maintaining
international peace and security and promoting international cooperation and
understanding.’
219
See P. Sands, Principles of International Environmental Law (2nd edn.,
2003), 231.
220
See, for instance, Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, supra n. 15, 1:
‘[t]he prompt implementation of appropriate debris mitigation measures is …
considered a prudent and necessary step towards preserving the outer space
environment for future generations’. In a similar manner, the first statement of
the McGill-Cologne Declaration on Space Debris 2010 (13 April 2010,
A/AC.105/C.1/2011/CRP.14, App. 2) proclaims: ‘States should make safe and
sustainable use of outer space a policy priority and should preserve access to and
use of this unique environment for future generations.’
221
Active Debris Removal 2012, supra n. 5, 7; see also McGill Declaration
on Active Space Debris Removal and On-Orbit Satellite Servicing, supra n. 207,
1: ‘orbital debris poses a growing and serious hazard to the sustainability of
space activities’.

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Accordingly, ‘Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities’ has been

an agenda item of UN COPUOS since 2010.222 The STSC has set up a
Working Group on Space Sustainability to address the issue; one of its
four expert groups covers space debris as an aspect of space sustainabil-
ity. The goal of the Working Group is to develop by 2014 a set of best
practice guidelines for operating safely and sustainably in earth orbit.223
Indeed, the general idea of sustainable development as a comprehensive
view of integrating economic and environmental interests should be
accepted as a starting point for all space activities.224 Sustainable
management of outer space and its resources should serve as the
foundation for any new norms in space law, too.
Another environmental principle worth mentioning here is that of due
diligence. Basically, it means the duty to protect the rights of other states
and is concerned with unlawful failure to take precautions that would
safeguard other states from damage resulting from the source state’s
activities. However, the principle of due diligence does not imply that any
harm whatsoever constitutes a breach of international law. The state
causing the harm fulfils its duties if it takes all due care – all measures
expected from a ‘good government’ acting in consideration of its
international responsibilities – not to cause damage.225 The Outer Space
Treaty also contains a due diligence provision of sorts: the obligation of
Article IX to conduct space activities ‘with due regard to the corres-
ponding interests of all other States Parties’.226

222
See Report of the Fifty-third session of COPUOS, 2010, A/65/20, paras
150–68.
223
See Report of the Fifty-fourth session of COPUOS, 2011, A/66/20, Annex
II; Terms of reference and methods of work of the Working Group on the
Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities of the Scientific and Legal
Subcommittee, AC.105/L.281/Add.4, 2011. For a more detailed account of this
agenda item of UN COPUOS, see G. Brachet, The Origins of the ‘Long-term
Sustainability of Outer Space Activities’ Initiative at UN COPUOS, 28 Space
Policy (2012), 161–5.
224
See Williamson, supra n. 37, 8. For a definition of ‘space sustainability’,
see R.A. Williamson, Assuring the Sustainability of Space Activities, 28 Space
Policy (2012), 155–6. It has been argued that ‘space sustainability’ has even
‘become the buzz word in the space community’; Meek, supra n. 4, 1.
225
See J. Brunnée, Acid Rain and Ozone Layer Depletion: International Law
and Regulation (1988), 95.
226
It has even been assessed (quite optimistically, though) that this provision
‘can be interpreted as creating an obligation to respect the interests of other
States Parties not to endanger the environment both of outer space, including the
celestial bodies, and of the Earth by space activities’; M. Hofmann, Planetary

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The particular measures required to observe due diligence depend on

the circumstances of each case.227 A breach of international standards,
even standards of a legally non-binding character, could have legal
consequences by constituting evidence of a breach of due diligence
obligations.228 For instance, a sufficiently detailed code of conduct which
is consistent with other relevant instruments could help to determine the
level of care that any ‘good launching state’ needs to observe in its space
activities.229 The Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of UN COPUOS,
the IADC Guidelines, the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy and the
STSC/IAEA Safety Framework may all provide points of reference for
the exercise of due diligence.230 The principle of due diligence has,
however, not been tried in a concrete case concerning environmental
aspects of space activities, hence its scope and potential in the space
sector remain unclear.231
One should also recognize the specific characteristics of the space
sector which make some environmental principles less applicable. For
instance, the fact that any activity taking place in outer space may be

Protection from a Legal Perspective: Due Diligence and National Legislation, in

IAA Cosmic Study ‘Protecting the Environment of Celestial Bodies’ (Eds. M.
Hofmann, P. Rettberg & M. Williamson) (2010), 63; http://iaaweb.org/iaa/
Scientific%20Activity/Study%20Groups/SG%20Commission%205/sg56/sg56final
draftreport.pdf, last accessed 12 February 2014. The author also argues that Art.
I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 38, declaring the exploration and use of outer
space as the province of all mankind, could be interpreted ‘so as to include a
common interest of all countries not to cause any harm to the existing space
environment’; Hofmann, supra, 63–4.
227
For instance, considerations of the resources available to a state, the
factual effectiveness of its control, and the nature of the activities in question
may justify differing degrees of diligence; see P.W. Birnie & A.E. Boyle,
International Law and the Environment (2nd edn., 2002), 112.
228
Cf. Kiss & Shelton, supra n. 209, 52.
229
Cf. Kerrest de Rozavel, supra n. 79, 872–3.
230
See Bohlmann, supra n. 193, 3–4; Towards Long-term Sustainability of
Space Activities, supra n. 31, 23; COSPAR Workshop on Ethical Considerations
for Planetary Protection in Space Exploration, supra n. 195, 41; Marboe, supra
n. 137, 141–4.
231
For an interesting assessment of the required standard of care in space
activities vis-à-vis the debris problem, see M. Mejía-Kaiser, Collision Course:
2009 Iridium-Cosmos Crash, in Proceedings of the International Institute of
Space Law 2009 (2010), 274–84. It has been assessed that ‘the concepts of due
diligence and standard of care to avoid collisions come to the limelight’, thanks
to the increasing relevance of debris mitigation; ILA Report on the Seventy-Fifth
Conference, Sofia, 2012, 494–5.

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regarded as ultra-hazardous renders the principle of due diligence, as well

as that of precaution232 somewhat less applicable. In a similar manner,
the principle that the polluter (that is the immediate actor at fault) pays
does not appear entirely suitable for the space sector. As discussed above,
it can already be a challenge to determine the most appropriate (or even
any) liable entity or entities. Complex causation questions can also not be
avoided; considering, for instance, the problems in attributing damage to
particular pieces of debris and, moreover, the potential cumulative effects
of damaging events. Even if these issues were resolved, there would be
additional challenges in designing the liability system, including ques-
tions such as the determination of the relevant damage and appropriate
time limits for liability given that the occurrence of damage in outer
space may involve (very) long time lags.
A straightforward application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle seems
particularly unfeasible also because the damaging potential of space
activities exceeds the capacity of any single spacefaring entity to make
reparation.233 Furthermore, satellite constellations can be seen as consti-
tuting a global ‘social infrastructure’ providing important services to all
countries. The allocation of losses within a larger community of relevant
entities than only those directly involved with the launching and oper-
ation of a particular space object thus often seems warranted.234 Tiered
systems and collective loss-sharing arrangements could channel the risks
of ultra-hazardous activities and ensure means for adequate indemnifica-
tion for damages.
Of course, those gaining the economic benefits of space activities
ought to bear the primary responsibility. One potential tool for achieving
a balance between the ‘polluter pays’ principle and collective responsibil-
ity would be an international ‘space damage fund’ that takes into account
the extent of states’ space activities as well as their economic situation.235
The proposal to establish a Global Fund for Space Debris Removal,
contributions to which would be made ‘on an equitable basis’ by ‘all

232
For a detailed treatment of the precautionary principle and its role in the
space sector, see Viikari, supra n. 7, 157–78.
233
For a more detailed assessment of the applicability of the ‘polluter pays’
principle in the space sector, see Viikari, supra n. 7, 190–203.
234
See e.g. Report of the Forty-ninth session of the STSC, supra n. 134,
para. 91.
235
See also M. Uchitomi, Sustainable Development in Outer Space: Applic-
ability of the Concept of Sustainable Development to Space Debris Problems, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Third Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2001),
77–8.

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launch operators as well as space systems owners and operators’,

governmental and non-governmental, also reflects such thinking.236 Such
mechanisms can be seen as reflecting the principle of common but
differentiated responsibility too.237

13.5 CONCLUSION
Effective management of environmental problems related to space activ-
ities is impossible using the current international law of outer space only.
The UN space treaties were all drafted at a time when environmental
considerations were not central to the political discourse. In fact, they
may even be counterproductive to the environmentally inclined aspira-
tions of the space sector today.
The fundamental problem with UN-sponsored space law is that it sets
out a variety of principles and rules which are expressed in very general
terms. Concepts such as environmental protection, due regard,
cooperation, prior consultation, and interests of all present and future
generations are considered important in space law but, at the same time,
the particular provisions implementing them are vague and leave consid-
erable room for interpretation. Support for (or at least acceptance of)
nearly any kind of peaceful activity in outer space can be derived from
the UN space treaties. They also expressly permit states to conduct a
wide range of potentially environmentally detrimental activities in outer
space. For instance, the generation of space debris is not per se illegal,

236
Active Debris Removal, supra n. 5, 2012, 45. In analogous areas of
human activities, liability has often been shared between the producer of damage
and society according to different kinds of formulas; this is called ‘socialization
of risks’; G.F. Silva Soares & E. Vieira Vargas, The Basel Protocol on Liability
and Compensation for Damage Resulting from Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, 12 Yearbook of International Environ-
mental Law (Eds. G. Ulfstein & J. Werksman) (2003), 69–104. On the idea of
using international fund mechanisms in the space sector, see also L. Viikari, A
New Liability Regime for the Space Sector – An Economic Imperative, 3 Indian
Journal of International Economic Law (2010), 113–40.
237
The focal role of this principle in the space sector, including in respect of
the debris issue, has been emphasized, e.g., in the McGill-Cologne Declaration
on Space Debris 2010: ‘Recognizing that the principle of common but differen-
tiated responsibility, as enabling all States to fulfil their obligations associated
with current international efforts in preserving the terrestrial environment, is an
important precedent to guide current and future space debris mitigation and
remediation efforts.’ More on the role of the principle in the space sector, see
Viikari, supra n. 7, 2008, 178–84.

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and debris may be the result of various fully legitimate space operations.
On the whole, the provisions of the space treaties imply that changes
(including contamination) in the environment of the earth, outer space, or
celestial bodies below the threshold of ‘harmfulness’ are permissible.
Moreover, evaluation of the impact of a particular activity is largely left
to the very state responsible for conducting that activity. Where novel
techniques such as ADR and OOS are concerned, the UN space law
treaties can even hinder the adoption of environmentally more benign
practices.238
Although subsequent space law instruments have not managed to
rectify the shortcomings of the UN space treaties, some of the environ-
mental problems connected with space activities have been diminished by
UN space principles – the NPS Principles, above all – and the regulations
of the ITU. More advanced norms for environmental purposes in the
space sector have been proposed by other international organs, such as
the IADC and the ILA. In the main, these have been recommendations
concerning mitigation of space debris. The approval of the Space Debris
Mitigation Guidelines by UN COPUOS and the UN General Assembly
constitutes the most significant step forward. The work of the ISO in
space standardization further supports this development. Yet many diffi-
culties remain.
In principle, it obviously is in the self-interest of satellite operators and
other actors in the space sector to preserve the environment where they
are conducting their activities.239 Even non-spacefaring nations have a
vested interest in environmental protection of space activities: there is
always the risk of re-entering space debris and – above all – many states
which have no independent launch capabilities nevertheless own space
assets (satellites) the preservation of which may be critical for the

238
It may well be that the most significant challenges concerning such
operations are not technical but legal in nature; cf. Weeden, supra n. 12, 43.
239
It has been pointed out that the commercial space sector may in fact have
even more incentives to act in a responsible manner than non-commercial
operators, as the financing of the activities of the latter ‘may have little to do
with the ability of the spacecraft to continue revenue-producing activity’,
Mitigation of Orbital Debris (in the Matter of), Notice of Proposed Rulemaking;
Propose to amend our rules to address orbital debris mitigation, and seek
comment on a number of issues. FCC 02-80, IB Docket No. 02-54. 13 March
2002 para. 32. K. Kensinger, S. Duall & S. Persaud, The United States Federal
Communication Commission’s Regulations Concerning Mitigation of Orbital
Debris, in Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Space Debris
(2005), ESA/ESOC, ESA SP-587, 571–2.

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development of these countries.240 In addition, the interests of even future

generations should be safeguarded.
In practice, however, the earth orbits are not well preserved. For
instance, compliance with the various debris mitigation instruments
remains inconsistent. The problem is that debris mitigation policies
typically increase the short-term costs of space missions, as the losses
resulting from debris impacts avoided generally become a considerable
factor only over time. Although the reduction of mission costs in the long
term could be significant, this alone may not be capable of providing
economic incentives to make environmentally more benign policies
attractive enough.241 Furthermore, objects launched into outer space
before the importance of mitigation requirements was understood con-
tinue to contribute significantly to the generation of the debris population.
Nevertheless, there is hope. It has been estimated that ‘we are at the
threshold of a new epoch in which environmental preservation of outer
space has taken on a new meaning and sense of urgency not only for
purposes of protecting valuable space assets in the short-term, but also to
ensure the continued sustainability of space activities in the long-
term’.242 Indeed, the efforts already taken by various stakeholders provide
positive pointers to the existence of a common understanding on the need
to adopt improved approaches to environmental management of space
activities.
At the same time, it is obvious that these steps alone are not enough.
For instance, the debris mitigation guidelines of UN COPUOS and IADC
are only technical in origin and nature.243 Besides, there is no guarantee
that any voluntary actions will be continued in the future. Accordingly, it
has been repeatedly proposed that the United Nations move from debris
mitigation guidelines to a set of space debris principles adopted by the
General Assembly.244 Another proposal made is to adopt a Space Code of

240
See Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 5, 36.
241
See J.S. Greenberg, Economic Principles Applied to Space Industry
Decisions (2003), 381.
242
Active Debris Removal, supra n. 5, 8.
243
Thus far the entire space debris problem has appeared primarily as a
concern of technical nature. States have been far more hesitant to discuss the
legal aspects of the issue. See Marboe, supra n. 137, 139–41.
244
See, above all, Review of the Legal Aspects of the Space Debris
Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,
supra n. 137, with a view to transforming the Guidelines into a set of principles
to be adopted by the General Assembly. In a similar manner, see e.g. Williams,
supra n. 17, 8; Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra
n. 31, 39.

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Conduct such as that currently put forward by the European Union. A

code of conduct should be politically more acceptable than a legally
binding treaty, yet more demanding than a set of principles.245
Obviously, the most demanding regulatory option would be an inter-
national convention concentrating on the environmental aspects of space
activities. In practice, however, this would in all likelihood be a very
challenging (if not practically unfeasible) approach at the moment. The
lengthiness of the international treaty-making process is one among the
many obstacles: attracting sufficiently broad acceptance for such an
instrument would certainly take at least years. All the more so as there is
a clear tendency in the space sector today to develop regulation not by
adopting new legally binding instruments but in the form of less formal
soft-law arrangements.246
Indeed, the adoption of new binding international space treaties (as
well as the establishment of an international organization for space traffic
management) has been estimated to be a long-term (20+ years) goal
only.247 However, the willingness of states to enter into legal commit-
ments may change faster, too, particularly if other approaches prove
insufficient. It seems quite obvious that the legal ambiguities related to
UN space law will at some point necessitate the adoption of a new
binding space treaty (or treaties), especially for the needs of space debris
salvage and remediation operations.248 Moreover, if there is renewed
interest in using nuclear power sources for space missions and even for
propulsion purposes, international rules for limiting hazards related to
NPS will surely be in demand. The issue of planetary protection is also
likely to need more rigorous common regulation sooner or later. The
increasing diversity of the concerns and stakeholders involved and the
need for long-term management call for persistent, extensive new envir-
onmental space policies which require binding, unambiguous, effective
international rules. As long as such common rules are missing, an
increasingly precautionary approach to all space activities is imperative.

245
See Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 39.
246
It has been considered to be ‘generally believed that the stage of treaty
and principle adoption by the UN is over’ – for the time being at least; Williams,
supra n. 17, 8; see also ILA Report on the Seventy-Fifth Conference, Sofia, 2012,
303; as well as further supra, § 2.2.1.
247
Towards Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities, supra n. 31, 38.
248
See ibid., 40; F.G. von der Dunk, Contradictio in terminis or Realpolitik?,
in Soft Law in Outer Space (Ed. I. Marboe) (2012), 54–5.

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14. Legal aspects of space resource utilization

Fabio Tronchetti

14.1 INTRODUCTION
Harvesting and using extraterrestrial natural resources has represented a
dream of mankind for centuries as well as a favourite topic for science
fiction novels. In recent years, these dreams have gotten closer to reality
as both governments and private entities have announced ambitious plans
involving the extraction and utilization of valuable materials contained in
celestial bodies. Although technical and financial obstacles still stand in
the way of the actual exploitation of extraterrestrial resources, these plans
have caught the fascination of laymen and the media alike. This interest
mostly stems from the economic rewards that the use of outer space
materials is expected to generate.
Apart from the attention raised with the general public, the possibility
to exploit the natural resources of the moon and other celestial bodies has
generated extensive discussions within the legal community.1 Such dis-
cussions have focused on the modes, forms and purposes of extra-
terrestrial exploitative activities. At the bottom of the problem lies the
fact that the existing international space law rules leave a great deal of
uncertainty as to the legal status of celestial bodies’ resources as well as

1
See S. Hobe et al., The Moon Agreement, in Cologne Commentary on
Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. II (2013),
325–426; F. Tronchetti, The Exploitation of Natural Resources of the Moon and
Other Celestial Bodies: A Proposal for a Legal Regime (2009); W.N. White,
Interpreting Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, in Proceedings of the Forty-
Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2004), 175; V. Pop, Appropriation
in Outer Space: The Relationship Between Land and Ownership and Sovereignty
on the Celestial Bodies, 16 Space Policy (2000), 275; F.G. von der Dunk, The
Moon Agreement and the Prospect of Commercial Exploitation of Lunar
Resources, 32 Annals of Air & Space Law (2007), 91; S. Hobe, Adequacy of the
Current Legal and Regulatory Framework Relating to the Extraction and
Appropriation of Natural Resources, 32 Annals of Air & Space Law (2007),
114–5; R.S. Jakhu, Twenty Years of the Moon Agreement: Space Law Chal-
lenges for Returning to the Moon, 56 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht
(2007), 54.

769

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the possibility to mine and use them for commercial reasons. This
uncertainty is to be seen as a negative and potentially destabilizing factor
for two reasons. First, it may discourage private investors interested in
devoting their financial capital to extraterrestrial mining. Second, it may
eventually lead states (as well as private entities authorized by their
national states) to act unilaterally and start exploiting the natural
resources contained in the celestial bodies.
Taking these issues into account legal scholars have put forward
proposals aimed at clarifying the legal status of extraterrestrial natural
resources and regulating their extraction and commercial use.2 However,
so far none of these proposals has gained global consensus or has been
taken over by any spacefaring state. Nevertheless, the formulation of
internationally agreed rules to govern the exploitation of natural
resources in outer space remains a primary goal of the international
community. In pursuing this objective the existing rules dealing with the
management and use of limited resources in international areas, such as
in the context of Antarctica, the ocean floor and earth orbits, provide
valid examples to be taken into account.
The purpose of the present chapter is to shed light on the legal status
of celestial bodies as well as of the natural resources contained therein.
The analysis will start setting out the nature of extraterrestrial resources
and the current and future plans concerning their exploration and use.
Then the chapter will address the legal framework applicable to and
governing human activities on celestial bodies. Particular attention will
be dedicated to the study of the rules applicable to space resource
utilization, specifically from a commercial point of view. In this respect,
the need to develop specific provisions regulating the latter option will be
highlighted. The chapter will finally suggest elements to be inserted into
a future legal regime to regulate extraterrestrial commercial mining.

2
See Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 233–86; L. Viikari, From Manganese Nodules
to Lunar Regolith (2002), 141–62; R. Buxton, Property in Outer Space: The
Common Heritage of Mankind Principle vs. the First in Time, First in Right Rule
of Property Law, 69 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2004), 689; R.J. Lee,
Creating an International Regime for Property Rights under the Moon Agree-
ment, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(2000), 409; C. Tucker, Lunar Rights: How Current International Law Addresses
Rights to Use and Exploit Lunar Resources, the Practical Difficulties Attached,
and Solutions for the Future, 34 Annals of Air & Space Law (2009), 591–620.

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14.2 THE (NATURAL) RESOURCES OF THE MOON

AND OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES
The moon and other celestial bodies contain vast amounts of natural
resources. The lunar crust offers a variety of primary elements, including
uranium, thorium, potassium, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, titanium,
calcium, aluminium and hydrogen.3 In addition, the lunar soil preserves
platinum-group metals – such as platinum, palladium, osmium, and
iridium; highly valuable commodities used in medical devices, renewable
energy products, catalytic converters, and, potentially, automotive fuel
cells.4
Significantly, scientific studies have indicated that the lunar surface is
covered by a layer of loose particulate material, the so-called lunar
regolith.5 Lunar regolith are the result of a natural process where the
lunar rocks are exposed to cosmic and solar radiation, as well as to solar
wind.6 Solar wind consists mainly of electrons and protons as well as
alpha-particles (ionized Helium-3 and Helium-4). When these particles
hit the surface of the moon, they are trapped in the crystals of the regolith
minerals that naturally occur in the lunar soil.7 Some evaluate the regolith
in the Mare Tranquilitatis area on the moon to contain at least 10,000
metric tons of Helium-3.8
Helium-3 is thus often referred to as the first likely object of
governmental and private interest, as it would have the potential to
substitute fossil fuels as the main source of energy on earth. It is argued
that 370 metric tons of Helium-3 would be able to supply mankind with
energy for an entire year.9 Chemically speaking, Helium-3 is a single
neutron helium isotope that is not radioactive, and when bombarded with

3
See E. Robens et al., Investigation of Surface Properties of Lunar
Regolith Part II, 94 Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2008), 627.
Cf. also more in general H. Schmitt, Return to the Moon (2006).
4
See www.space.com/2032-asteroid-mining-key-space-economy.html, last
accessed 20 February 2014.
5
See E.A. King, Space Geology: An Introduction (1976), 165.
6
See I.A. Crawford, The Scientific Case for Renewed Human Activities on
the Moon, 20 Space Policy (2004), 91; King, supra n. 5, 188.
7
See G. Faure & T.M. Mensing, Introduction to Planetary Science: The
Geological Perspective (2007), 164.
8
See C.R. Neal, The Moon 35 years after Apollo: What’s Left to Learn?,
69 Chemie der Erde (2009), 21. Cf. however I.A. Crawford, Lunar Resources: A
Review, accepted for publication in Progress in Physical Geography (2014).
9
See N. Reinke, No Helium-3 from Moon – Commentary on the Current
Moon Debate, DLR Countdown 03/07, 24.

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neutrons could interact with electromagnetic forces applied in the fusion

process. This could create electricity directly, without producing radioac-
tive neutrons as a by-product.10 The downside of this process is that
Helium-3 needs a temperature of about 10 million degrees Celsius for
this collision to occur naturally. Such temperatures can be generated on
earth for only very short periods of time (for example, in a thermonuclear
hydrogen bomb).11 Significant technological advancements are still
required to enable large-scale usage of Helium-3 as a source of energy.
Whether for Helium-3 or for other resources, however, the ‘race’ seems
to be on its way.
Furthermore, the moon contains reserves of water. Scientific missions,
such as NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite
(LCROSS), have confirmed that moon water is present in some places in
the form mostly of pure ice crystals.12 Clearly, the presence of water in
the lunar soil is of particular relevance for future exploration and use of
the moon and its resources.
As to celestial bodies other than the moon, it is estimated that
near-earth asteroids of a diameter larger than 1 kilometre contain vast
amounts of platinum and minerals such as iron and nickel.

14.3 EXTRATERRESTRIAL MINING: WHERE DO WE

STAND NOW?
Upon the conclusion of the Apollo programme in 1972, the moon and
other celestial bodies almost completely disappeared from the space
agenda of the spacefaring states. This situation lasted until the beginning
of the twenty-first century when a renewed interest in exploring and
possibly using extraterrestrial bodies and their resources emerged. Such
an interest was expressed not only by governments, but also by ambitious
private entities. The following section will provide a short overview of

10
See ibid., 24.
11
See Faure & Mensing, supra n. 7, 165.
12
For an overview of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite
mission see NASA, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite,
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html, last accessed 20 Febru-
ary 2014; and for a description of the results of this mission Lunar Impact
Uncovered More Than Just Moon Water (Ed. T. Phillips), NASA Science News,
21 October 2010, http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/
21oct_lcross2/, last accessed 20 February 2014.

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public and private plans for extraterrestrial mining and an analysis of the
technical and economic issues related to them.

14.3.1 Current Governmental Extraterrestrial Explorative

Operations and Future Plans

Starting from 2007 some of the technologically advanced states, includ-

ing the United States,13 China,14 Japan,15 and India16 began launching
unmanned lunar missions.17 These missions were mostly motivated by
the possibility to use the moon as a base for further exploration of the
solar system and to extract and utilize the (natural) resources contained in
the lunar soil and subsoil.18 Thus, it seemed to many that a new, global,
‘moon race’ had started.
However, in 2010 the situation changed: on the one side, the newly
elected US Administration decided to cancel its lunar programme;19 on
the other side, Japan and India began experiencing setbacks to their lunar
ambitions.20 By contrast, China was fully committed to pursuing its lunar
projects and successfully completed the Chang’e-2 mission in 2010 and,
most recently, on 14 December 2013, placed the rover Yutu on the lunar
surface as part of the Chang’e-3 mission. Therefore, China can be
currently viewed as the unchallenged leader in lunar projects, not only
because of its past and present successes, but also looking at its
ambitious future plans. The Chinese National Space Administration
(CNSA) has announced its intention to launch a sample return mission to

13
The United States launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission on
18 June 2009.
14
China launched the Chang’e-1 mission on 24 October 2007.
15
Japan launched the Selene-1 mission on 14 September 2007.
16
The Indian Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008.
17
All these missions essentially consisted of a probe orbiting around the
moon and analysing its geological composition.
18
Cf. Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 1–7.
19
See H. Lacey, Obama to Suggest End of NASA Moon Program,
www.examiner.com/article/obama-to-suggest-end-of-nasa-moon-program, last
accessed 20 February 2014.
20
The Japanese Selene-2 and the Indian Chandrayaan-2 missions, initially
planned to take place around 2012–13, have been postponed to 2016–17, even as
some additional delays may occur due to financial constraints. See S. Laxman,
Japan SELENE-2 Lunar Mission Planned for 2017, www.asian scientist.com/
topnews/japan-announces-selene-2-lunar-mission-2017/, last accessed 20 February
2014; India to Launch Chandrayaan-2 by 2017, www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/
science/india-to-launch-chandrayaanii-by-2017/article5562361.ece?ref=slider News,
last accessed 20 February 2014.

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earth’s natural satellite by 2017. This mission will conclude China’s lunar
exploration programme.21 After that, China is considering a manned
moon landing by the mid-2020s and, eventually, the construction of a
lunar base.22 Although the Chinese government has not yet made a firm
final decision on sending people to the moon’s surface, scientists are
actively working to develop the required technology to make these two
projects possible.
As far as the United States is concerned, the official space exploration
goals of the US Administration are a first manned Mars mission by
2030,23 and ‘capturing’ and mining an asteroid. With regard to the latter
goal the US Administration intends to ask the Senate for more than
US$ 100 million in 2014 for a future mission to move a small, near-earth
asteroid into orbit around the moon and then send out astronauts to bring
back samples within a decade. This mission is supposed to combine
several ongoing NASA space projects including asteroid detection,
robotic spacecraft development, the construction of the Space Launch
System, and the development of a deep space exploration capsule and
technologies facilitating manned Mars missions.24 The funding of such
an ambitious project remains uncertain.

21
The Chinese lunar exploration programme consists of three phases: (1)
the orbital phase: this phase foresaw the launch of two lunar orbiters, Chang’e-1
and Chang’e-2, and has been completed; (2) the soft lander/rover phase: this
phase is ongoing and includes spacecraft capable of soft landing on the surface
of the moon and deploying lunar rovers (it includes the Chang’e-3 and
Chang’e-4 missions); (3) the sample return phase: the last phase aims at sending
an automatic return mission to the moon, capable of collecting up to 2 kg of
lunar samples and return them to the earth.
22
See the speech given by Zhang Yuhua, deputy general director and deputy
general designer of the Chang’e-3 probe system, at the Shanghai Science
Communication Forum, 14 January 2014, as reported by the People’s Daily,
China Considers Manned Moon Landing Following Breakthrough Chang’e-3,
www.universetoday.com/107716/china-considers-manned-moon-landing-following-
breakthrough-change-3-mission-success/, last accessed 20 February 2014.
23
On the corresponding statement of US President Barack Obama on 15
April 2010 see J. Amos, Obama Sets Mars Goal for America, BBC News, 15
April 2010, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8623691.stm, last accessed on 20 February
2014.
24
See www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-exploration?oid=1
85131&sn=Detail, last accessed 20 February 2014.

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14.3.2 Private Extraterrestrial Mining Plans

Apart from governmental initiatives, several privately funded extraterres-

trial mining projects have been announced. While the actual technical and
economic feasibility of such projects is highly questionable, nevertheless
they still receive extensive coverage in the media. On 24 April 2012 a
company called Planetary Resources announced a plan to mine asteroids
in order to obtain their mineral resources.25 This plan also foresees the
creation of a fuel depot in space by 2020, using water from asteroids,
which could be broken down in space to liquid oxygen and liquid
hydrogen for rocket fuel. From there, it could be sent to earth orbit for
refuelling commercial satellites or spacecraft. Planetary Resources’ pro-
ject has been widely publicized, mostly because its founders include film
director and explorer James Cameron, and investors include Google’s
chief executive Larry Page and its executive chairman Eric Schmidt.26
Another similar venture, called Deep Space Industries, was initiated by
entrepreneur David Gump. This company intends to begin searching for
asteroids suitable for mining by 2015 and by 2016 return asteroid
samples to earth.27 Deep Space Industries plans to start asteroid mining
by 2023.28

14.3.3 Technological and Economic Issues Relating to

Extraterrestrial Mining

A number of technical and economic issues still stand in the way of

extraterrestrial mining. The technology to effectively remove large quan-
tities of minerals and other resources from the surface and subsurface of
celestial bodies in the absence of gravity is not ready yet.29 Another
question is whether extraterrestrial mining activities can be carried out
automatically or require constant human presence and supervision. In the
latter case, adequate technology would need to be developed in order to

25
See www.planetaryresources.com/, last accessed 20 February 2014.
26
See http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-04-24/business/35450807_1_
planetary-resources-asteroids-for-precious-metals-mine-asteroids, last accessed
20 February 2014.
27
See http://deepspaceindustries.com/, last accessed 20 February 2014.
28
See www.businessinsider.com/deep-space-industry-asteroid-mining-plan-
2013-2?op=1, last accessed 20 February 2014.
29
See R. Lochan & V. Gopalakrishnan, Lunar Exploration – The Road
Ahead, in Proceedings of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space
(2008), 56–67; R.J. Lee, Law and Regulation of Commercial Mining of Minerals
in Outer Space (2012), 69–76.

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enable a prolonged human presence in outer space. Furthermore, it is

important to assess where the extracted resources would be utilized,
either in situ, for example to support a human settlement,30 or on earth. If
the second option were chosen, a fast, reliable and cheap means of
transportation from a celestial body to the earth and vice versa would
need to be available.
Alongside technical issues there are several economic factors to be
taken into account. First of all, the costs of developing the technology to
harvest, collect and eventually send back to earth extraterrestrial natural
resources are enormous. Due to the financial difficulties affecting the
majority of states, it seems difficult to conceive that they might be able to
afford to invest large sums of money in extraterrestrial mining. In this
respect, the potential contribution of private operators might prove to be
of vital importance, as they may be ready to dedicate such financial
resources to the mining of extraterrestrial natural resources – provided
that the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon and other
celestial bodies were perceived as a profitable business. Do the costs of
extracting and returning asteroidal materials to earth far outweigh their
market value? Historically, the long time scales and uncertain returns on
asteroid mining have driven most investors away from such undertak-
ings.31 In any case, the insertion of the extracted extraterrestrial resources
in terrestrial markets should be realized gradually. Indeed, outside
sources of precious metals could lower prices sufficiently to possibly
doom the venture, by too rapidly increasing the available supply of such
metals.
A factor potentially favouring the extraction and commercial use of
extraterrestrial natural resources is the progressive exhaustion of essential
minerals and fossil fuels on earth.32 Although scientists disagree as to
when these resources will be depleted, it is unquestionable that sooner or
later this will happen. Humankind needs to find alternative sources to
sustain its development and needs and, thus, extraterrestrial mining could
become a valuable option.

30
See M. Hofmann, Recent Plans to Exploit the Moon Resources Under
International Law, in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (2005), 425.
31
Cf. Lee, supra n. 29, 4–7.
32
See ibid., 32–45; Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 2.

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14.4 THE LEGAL STATUS OF CELESTIAL BODIES

AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL NATURAL
RESOURCES

14.4.1 Preliminary Considerations

Turning to the legal issues concerning such plans as addressed above,

since the beginning of space activities the legal status of celestial bodies
and their natural resources has generated heated discussions within legal
circles. Actually, it is partly due to the recent interest in extraterrestrial
mining that these issues have vigorously returned to centre stage in the
space law debate. Analysis of the relevant international space law rules
reveals a distinction between the legal status of celestial bodies as a
whole and that of their natural resources: while the former appears to be,
to a large extent, clear and adequately elaborated, the latter is rather
uncertain.
Among the reasons that can be put forward to explain this distinction
one can argue that at the time the fundamental rules governing space
activities were elaborated the primary concern of their drafters was to
clarify the legal nature of celestial bodies, rather than that of their
resources. This choice had its roots in the geo-political decisions of the
two super powers and in technological and economic barriers that meant
that the extraction and use of extraterrestrial resources was not a feasible
option in the late 1960s.
In order to provide a comprehensive description of the legal regime
applicable to the utilization of space resources the following sections will
discuss the legal status of celestial bodies first, and then that of the
natural resources contained therein. In doing so, attention will be paid to
the two most relevant international treaties on this topic, namely the 1967
Outer Space Treaty33 and the 1979 Moon Agreement.34

33
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).
34
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979).

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14.4.2 The Legal Status of Celestial Bodies

14.4.2.1 The Outer Space Treaty

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is the cornerstone of international space
law.35 Its provisions, containing rules and principles regulating the
exploration and use of outer space, have provided the legal basis on
which space activities have developed in the past 47 years. The import-
ance of the Outer Space Treaty also stems from the fact that over 100
states are parties to it, including the main spacefaring nations.
Article II of the Outer Space Treaty establishes a cardinal concept of
international space law: the non-appropriative nature of outer space.
Article II reads as follows: ‘Outer space, including the Moon and other
celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of
sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.’ This
non-appropriative character of outer space was one of the first principles
agreed upon by states when the fundamental rules governing space
activities were laid down at the dawn of the space era. This principle
already appeared in both the UN Resolutions 172136 and 1962.37
When space activities began many feared that outer space could
become a theatre of conflicts, as states could compete to acquire control
over strategically and economically significant celestial bodies. Instead,
states took another direction and agreed to renounce any territorial claims
over outer space or any of its parts and to consider the space environment
as not appropriable. For the creators of the space law regime, the
non-appropriative nature of outer space was the best guarantee for
preserving the peaceful nature of the space environment and to ensure
that all mankind could benefit from its exploration and use.38
The text of Article II makes clear that the traditional means of
acquiring property or sovereignty rights over things or lands (such as by

35
See further supra, esp. §§ 1.1, 2.2.1.2, 2.3.1.
36
UNGA Res. 1721(XVI), of 20 December 1961; General Assembly –
Sixteenth Session, Resolutions adopted on reports of the First Committee, at 6.
37
Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, UNGA Res. 1962(XVIII), of 13 December
1963; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 37. For an analysis of the work on the
United Nations on outer space in the period 1958–66 see P.G. Dembling & D.M.
Arons, Space Law and the United Nations: The Work of the Legal Subcommittee
of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 32
Journal of Air Law & Commerce (1966), 329.
38
See F. Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 27; also supra, § 2.3.1.2.

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use or occupation) do not apply to outer space and celestial bodies.39

Thus, states are not allowed to extend their sovereignty rights over outer
space and any of its parts. This principle has to be read in conjunction
with the provisions of Article I, paragraph 1 of the Outer Space Treaty,
which confer on states parties to the Treaty the right to freely explore and
use outer space. These two Articles attribute outer space the status of a
res communis omnium, an area open to all states but not capable of being
appropriated by any of them.40 Accordingly, all states are entitled to
access, explore and use outer space, regardless of their level of tech-
nological development and without the need for any form of author-
ization, but cannot appropriate outer space and its celestial bodies.
A point which has raised controversy over the years is whether the
prohibition laid down in Article II also extends to private entities. The
issue has its origin in the words of Article II, which speak of prohibition
of ‘national appropriation of outer space’. Normally, the term ‘national’
is associated with states and not with private subjects. Based on this
consideration, some scholars and other individuals argue that Article II
has a ‘loophole’ and that, while banning states from appropriating outer
space and the celestial bodies, it does not prohibit private subjects from
doing so.41 This argument is often utilized by companies selling ‘extra-
terrestrial properties’ over the Internet.42

39
For an extensive analysis of Art. II, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 33, see
L.I. Tennen, Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, the Status of the Moon and
Resulting Issues, in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of
Outer Space (2005), 520; R.S. Jakhu & S.R. Freeland, Article II, in Cologne
Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl)
Vol. I (2009), 44–63; F. Tronchetti, The Non-Appropriation Principle as a
Structural Norm of International Law: A New Way of Interpreting Article II of
the Outer Space Treaty, 33 Air & Space Law (2008), 277.
40
The concept of res communis comes from Roman law and it is opposed to
the concept of res nullius, which is used with reference to a thing without an
owner that can be appropriated by anyone. Early attempts to consider outer space
as a res nullius were rejected in favour of its status as a res communis. On this
point see e.g. M. Smirnoff, Legal Status of Celestial Bodies, 28 Journal of Air
Law & Commerce (1961–1962), 290.
41
See e.g. White, supra n. 1, 175. Cf. however e.g. the Statements of the
Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) of 2004 and
2009, at www.iislweb.org/docs/IISL_Outer_Space_Treaty_Statement.pdf and
www.iislweb.org/docs/Statement%20BoD.pdf; last accessed 18 April 2014;
respectively; also supra, § 2.3.1.2.
42
On this point see extensively V. Pop, The Men Who Sold the Moon:
Science Fiction or Legal Nonsense?, 17 Space Policy (2001), 195; Tronchetti,
supra n. 1, 203–10.

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Several arguments can be put forward to reject the legality of private

appropriation of celestial bodies. First of all, there are some historical
and conceptual reasons.43 At the time the Outer Space Treaty was
negotiated, states were the only active space actors. Private entities were
only involved as contractors and suppliers to governments and truly
private space activities were seen as not feasible at the time.44 Con-
sequently, the drafters of the Treaty did not consider it necessary to
expressly prohibit the appropriation of outer space by private operators.
Additionally, allowing private appropriation of outer space would go
against the spirit of and the idea behind the Outer Space Treaty. As
described, the prohibition of appropriation of outer space is a cardinal
principle of space law. Therefore, it is not clear why private operators
should be allowed to appropriate celestial bodies when states are for-
bidden to do so.45
Furthermore, more specific legal arguments to refute private claims of
ownership in space can be put forward. It should be kept in mind that
according to Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty states shall bear
international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including
the activities of non-governmental entities, and authorize and continu-
ously supervise the authorized space activities. From this it follows that if
a state is prohibited from engaging in a certain conduct (in this case from
appropriating outer space), ‘then it lacks the authority to license its
nationals or other entities subject to its jurisdiction to engage in that
prohibited activity’.46 Significantly, in the context of Article VI the word
‘national’ includes also private entities. Furthermore, as also indicated by
the IISL Board of Directors, the prohibition of national appropriation
also precludes the application of any national legislation on a territorial
basis to validate a private claim.47 Private property exists only if a
superior authority recognizes and protects it. But a private entity cannot
legally rely on national law to acquire property over part of the ‘global

43
Generally see Pop, supra n. 1, 277; supra, § 2.3.1.2.
44
Cf. also further supra, § 2.2.2.3.
45
See C.W. Jenks, Space Law, London, (1965), 201.
46
P.M. Sterns & L.I. Tennen, Privateering and Profiteering on the Moon and
Other Celestial Bodies: Debunking the Myth of Property Rights in Space, in
Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2003),
59.
47
See Statement, Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space
Law (IISL) on Claims to Property Rights Regarding the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies, www.iafastro-iisl.com/additional%20pages/Statement_Moon.
htm; last accessed 20 February 2014.

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commons’ of outer space. If a state were to recognize claims to

extraterrestrial properties by its nationals, this would constitute an
appropriation of outer space ‘by other means’, which is prohibited under
Article II.
Apart from Article II there are other Articles of the Outer Space Treaty
that are relevant to determine the legal status of celestial bodies. Article I,
paragraph 1 declares that ‘the exploration and use of outer space shall be
carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, and shall
be the province of all mankind’. The meaning and practical implications
of this Article are uncertain.48 While some argue that it only has a moral
value, others point out the binding value of its provisions. In general
terms this provision means that the exploration and use of outer space,
being the ‘province of all mankind’, is not aimed at serving only the
interests of those states that have the technological capability to explore
and utilize outer space, but those of all states, no matter what their degree
of economic and scientific development. This is an idea that has
permeated space activities since their inception: indeed, the space age
was deemed to be an opportunity of development for all countries, rather
than for a limited group of states only.49
Undoubtedly, Article I, paragraph 1 is formulated vaguely. However, a
few unequivocal points arise with regard to its interpretation. Firstly, the
clause does not require any mandatory sharing of the benefits generated
from space activities. While all states are in principle entitled to benefit
from space activities, it is up to the states that have carried out such
activities to decide the forms and modes of this sharing. Secondly, it
imposes some limitations on the freedom of states to explore and use
outer space for their exclusive benefit.50 Thirdly, the most feasible way to
enable the largest number of countries to benefit from space activities is
through international cooperation.51 Clearly, the terms of Article I,
paragraph 1 have a profound impact on the legal regime governing

48
On Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 33, see generally S. Hobe, Outer
Space as the Province of All Mankind – An Assessment of 40 Years of
Development, in Proceedings of the Fiftieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (2008), 442; N. Jasentuliyana, Article I of the Outer Space Treaty
revisited, 17 Journal of Space Law (1989), 129.
49
See further supra, §§ 2.2.2, 2.3.1.2.
50
See R.S. Jakhu, Legal Issues Relating to the Global Public Interest in
Outer Space, 32 Journal of Space Law (2006), 31.
51
See S. Hobe, Article I, in Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S.
Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 38–9.

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extraterrestrial mining, as they impose some important, although general,

limits and conditions on such undertakings.
Alongside Article I, paragraph 1, Article IX establishes that when
exploring and using outer space, including celestial bodies, states shall
avoid their harmful contamination. This provision, which has a direct
influence on extraterrestrial mining, is also applicable to private entities
authorized by a state to carry out space activities. In a similar scenario, it
would be the duty of this state to ensure that the authorized private
operator complies with international obligations.

14.4.2.2 The Moon Agreement

The 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and
Other Celestial Bodies, usually referred to as the Moon Agreement, was
opened for signature in December 1979 and entered into force in 1984.52
The purpose of this Agreement was to further define the legal status of
the moon and other celestial bodies and to establish rules to govern the
exploration, use and exploitation of the natural resources contained
therein.
Unlike the Outer Space Treaty, the Moon Agreement has received to
this date only a limited number of ratifications. Fifteen states, not
including any of the space powers, are parties to it and four more
additional states have signed it. This fact significantly reduces its legal
significance and impact on present lunar and other celestial bodies’
activities. It is still worthy of analysis to the extent that, due to the
current interest in extraterrestrial natural resources, the Agreement has a
realistic chance of being ratified by states in the future.
Among the several reasons behind the low level of acceptance of the
Moon Agreement two can be highlighted.53 Firstly, for nearly 35 years
there were no moon-related activities and, consequently, there was no
need to agree on a specific legal regime governing them. States become
parties to treaties only if they see a clear advantage in doing so. As
activities on the moon did not occur for over three decades, there was no
need to ratify the Moon Agreement. Secondly, there was the controversial
nature of some of its provisions, particularly the ones introducing the
concept of the ‘common heritage of mankind’. Such a concept is

52
For a detailed analysis of the Moon Agreement, supra n. 34, see Hobe et
al., supra n. 1, 325–426; C.Q. Christol, The Modern International Law of Outer
Space (1982), 253–311; H.W. Bashor, The Moon Treaty Paradox (2004). Further
also supra, § 2.3.5.
53
See von der Dunk, supra n. 1, 100; Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 38–41.

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considered, rightfully or not, by many as a stumbling block for the

acceptance of the Agreement.54
As far as the legal status of the moon and other celestial bodies is
concerned, the Moon Agreement, on one side, reaffirms the provisions of
the Outer Space Treaty55 and, on the other side, significantly expands
them. Article 11, paragraph 2, reiterates the non-appropriative nature of
the moon and other celestial bodies with a wording that mirrors that of
Article II of the Outer Space Treaty. Instead, paragraph 3 of the same
Article moves one step forward by addressing the issue of property rights
in outer space and clarifying the position of natural and legal persons
with respect to the non-appropriation of celestial bodies. Accordingly,
neither the surface and subsurface of the moon nor natural resources in
place shall become the property of any state, international inter-
governmental or non-governmental organization, national organization or
non-governmental entity, or any natural persons. Furthermore, the place-
ment of personnel, equipment and facilities or on below the surface of
the moon does not create any right of ownership over the surface and
subsurface of the moon.
The most relevant provisions for the purpose of our discussion are
included in the remaining paragraphs of Article 11.56 Article 11, para-
graph 1, affirms that ‘[t]he Moon and its natural resources are the
common heritage of mankind, which finds its expression in the pro-
visions of this Agreement, in particular in paragraph 5 of the Article’.
The ‘common heritage of mankind’ principle constitutes one of the most
debated notions of international law and an agreed interpretation of its
meaning and legal consequences does not exist.
From a legal standpoint the ‘common heritage of mankind’ is an
evolution of the res communis concept.57 As previously described,

54
See also further supra, § 2.3.5.2.
55
See on this point F.G. von der Dunk, The Dark Side of the Moon – The
Status of the Moon: Public Concepts and Private Enterprise, in Proceedings of
the Fortieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 121.
56
For an analysis of Art. 11, Moon Agreement, supra n. 34, see B.
Rosenfield, Article XI of the Draft Moon Agreement, in Proceedings of the
Twenty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1980), 209; C.Q.
Christol, Important Concepts for the International Law of Outer Space, in
Proceedings of the Fortieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 73; S.
Hobe, Common Heritage of Mankind – An Outdated Concept in International
Space Law?, in Proceedings of the Forty-First Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (1999), 271; Lee, supra n. 2, 414.
57
Generally on the ‘common heritage of mankind’ see H.S. Rana, The
Common Heritage of Mankind & the Final Frontier: A Revaluation of Values

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according to the latter, certain areas outside national jurisdiction may not
be appropriated or occupied by any states because they represent a
common concern of all mankind. At the same time, such theory calls for
equality of treatment and confers on all states the right to freely explore,
use and exploit the common area concerned and its resources.
The ‘common heritage of mankind’ concept differs from this approach
in several ways. It is based on the assumption that certain areas lying
outside of national jurisdiction, for reasons of the scientific and commer-
cial value of the resources contained therein, shall be commonly man-
aged by all states on behalf of mankind. Consequently, a ‘common
heritage of mankind area’ cannot be appropriated by a single state or
private person. Unlike under the res communis theory, states are not given
the right to freely use and exploit a ‘common’ area and its resources.
Instead, all activities, particularly those aimed at exploiting the area’s
resources, can be carried out only in accordance with principles and rules
established by an international regime. The primary purpose of such a
regime is the orderly management of the area and its resources, and the
equitable sharing by all states of the benefits derived therefrom. This
concept also calls for environmental protection and freedom of scientific
investigation within the ‘common heritage of mankind’ area. The most
controversial aspects of the ‘common heritage of mankind’ theory are the
formulation of the principles and rules constituting the international
regime and the way benefits can be shared among all states. Indeed,
developed and less-developed states hold diverging positions.
The concept of the ‘common heritage of mankind’ has been inserted
into two international legal instruments, the 1982 United Nations Con-
vention on the Law of the Sea58 and the 1979 Moon Agreement. The
negotiation of these two treaties ran in parallel and influenced each
other.59 Thus, in order to understand the nature and scope of the

Constituting the International Legal Regime for Outer Space Activities, 26

Rutgers Law Journal (1994), 225; L.M. Fountain, Creating Momentum in Space:
Ending the Paralysis Produced by the Common Heritage of Mankind Doctrine, in
35 Connecticut Law Review (2003), 1753; V.S. Mani, The Common Heritage of
Mankind: Implications for the Legal Status of Property Rights on the Moon and
Other Celestial Bodies, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on the
Law of Outer Space (1997), 35.
58
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, done 10
December 1982, entered into force 16 November 1994; 1833 UNTS 3 and 1835
UNTS 261; UKTS 1999 No. 81; Cmnd. 8941; ATS 1994 No. 31; 21 ILM 1261
(1982); S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-39.
59
See in detail e.g. Viikari, supra n. 2; Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 38–61,
85–130.

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‘common heritage of mankind’ under the Moon Agreement, it is useful to

briefly examine it in the general context of international law, particularly
in relation to the law of the sea, keeping in mind Article 11, paragraph 1.
The late 1960s and early 1970s were characterized by dynamic
geo-political developments, particularly by the presence of the newly
independent developing states in the international arena. These states
pushed for a re-definition of the economic relations between the North
and the South of the world and for the establishment of a ‘New
International Economic Order’. In their view, the industrialized countries
had taken advantage of the less-developed ones for centuries; therefore, it
was time for the former to give something back to enable the latter to
develop.60
Under the new international economic order theory industrialized
states were under the obligation to: (1) mandatorily transfer technology
to developing countries; (2) financially assist them; and (3) create a
licensing system for international goods which gave preferential access to
the less technologically advanced states.61 These states considered these
principles as necessary elements to be included in the legal regimes
governing the exploitation of international areas, such as the deep seabed.
Consequently, the new international economic order theory signifi-
cantly affected the negotiations of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which started in 1974 and ended in 1982
with the adoption of the Convention. Under Article 136, Part XI, the deep
seabed was declared to be the ‘common heritage of mankind’ and a legal
mechanism to govern the exploitation of the deep seabed resources was
established. The organizational structure established in the form of an
International Seabed Authority was meant to restrict the technologically
and economically advanced states and their companies from using the
deep seabed resources to their own exclusive benefits. Additionally, the
Authority was empowered to decide on the distribution of benefits
derived from such resources.62
The insertion of the ‘common heritage of mankind’ in the final text of
UNCLOS met with the opposition of the industrialized countries which,
eventually, largely refused to ratify the Convention. In the decade that
followed, developed and developing countries worked together to reduce
their differences. This process led to the adoption of the 1994

60
See UNGA Res. 3201(XXIX), Sixth Special Session, Supp. (N. 1), UN
Doc. A/9551 (1974).
61
See ibid.
62
Cf. esp. Arts. 156 ff., United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
supra n. 58.

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Implementation Agreement of Part XI of UNCLOS, which included a

new and more liberal version of the common heritage of mankind
theory.63 Indeed, several obligations, such as the mandatory transfer of
technology, were removed and the voting mechanism within the Author-
ity, now reflecting the level of technological development and the
effective involvement in the exploitative activities, was changed.
This brief summary gives rise to one important conclusion: by the
beginning of the 1990s the developing countries had by and large
abandoned the idea of an international economic order with asymmetric
obligations for industrialized states and accepted a free-market approach
to manage international areas.
In parallel with these events, negotiations for a legal framework
governing human activities on the moon and other celestial bodies took
place and resulted in the adoption of the Moon Agreement in 1979.
Article 11, paragraph 1 declares the moon and its natural resources to be
the ‘common heritage of mankind’. However, unlike UNCLOS, the
Moon Agreement does not fully elaborate the ‘common heritage of
mankind’ concept; instead, its meaning and scope remain largely de-
batable.64 Article 11 leaves it entirely open as to how the international
regime for the exploitation of the resources of the moon and other
celestial bodies should be shaped and exploitative lunar activities organ-
ized. For example, nothing similar to the International Seabed Authority
is created under the Moon Agreement.
When reading the Moon Agreement it becomes evident that its drafters
did not consider the exploitation of extraterrestrial natural resources as a
matter of immediate urgency. Consequently, any specific decision on the
rules governing such exploitation was postponed. Indeed, Article 11,
paragraph 5 calls upon states parties to establish an international regime
for the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon and celestial
bodies, but only when such exploitation is about to become feasible.
Article 11, paragraph 7 provides for the structure of the main features of

63
Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (hereafter New
York Agreement), New York, done 28 July 1994, entered into force 28 July 1996;
1836 UNTS 3; 33 ILM 1309 (1994); UKTS 1999 No. 82; Cm. 2705; ATS 1994
No. 32.
64
On this point see von der Dunk, supra n. 1, 100 ff.; P.M. Sterns, G.H.
Stine & L.I. Tennen, Preliminary Jurisprudential Observation Concerning Prop-
erty Rights on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies in the Commercial Age, in
Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1997),
49.

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the envisioned international regime, namely: (1) any exploitation of

extraterrestrial resources should be undertaken in an orderly and safe
manner; (2) the natural resources should be rationally managed (which
means that any resource-wasting activities should be avoided); (3) the use
of extraterrestrial resources should enable the expansion of opportunities;
and (4) the benefits derived from the exploitation of extraterrestrial
resources should be ‘equitably’ shared among states. Significantly, Article
11, paragraph 7(d), calls for ‘equitable’ and not ‘equal’ sharing. Such a
sharing shall take into account the interests and needs of developing
countries as well as the efforts of those countries which have contributed
directly or indirectly to the exploration of the moon. This paragraph tries
to seek a balance between the interests of investing states (that is, of
states directly involved in exploitative activities) and non-investing ones.
Thus, the Moon Agreement falls short of clarifying the meaning of the
‘common heritage of mankind’ principle and how this concept should
impact extraterrestrial exploitative activities. The Agreement only lays
down general principles and future commitments. However, looking at
the provisions of Article 11, paragraph 7, it is not simply one-sidedly to
the benefit of developing countries: this paragraph does call for a sharing
of benefits, but such a sharing should be equitable. This is the main point
where the Agreement deviates from the idea of return on investment.
Developing countries, which have invested nothing or very little in lunar
activities, will get something in return, assuming thus a privileged and
asymmetrical position, but not necessarily on the same basis as those
countries investing; it is as yet uncertain according to which principles
and by which authority such a sharing should be determined. Because of
these uncertainties and imbalances in its provisions several authors claim
that the Moon Agreement should be disregarded and considered history.65
Others propose more constructive approaches,66 such as an amendment of
the Agreement or the insertion of a Protocol containing rules to govern

65
See, for example, J. Benson, Space Resources: First Come First Served,
in Proceedings of the Forty-First Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1999),
46; E. Dinkin, Property Rights and Space Commercialisation, The Space Review
(2004), www.thespacereview.com/article/141/1, last accessed 20 February 2014.
66
See K.V. Cook, The Discovery of Lunar Water: An Opportunity to
Develop a Workable Moon Treaty, 11 Georgetown International Environmental
Law Review (1994), 647; Viikari, supra n. 2, 143 ff.; R.H. O’Donnell, Staking a
Claim in the Twenty-First Century: Real Property Rights on Extra-Terrestrial
Bodies, 32 Dayton Law Review (2007), 461; Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 233–86.

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the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources inspired by the new interpret-

ation of the common heritage of mankind included in the 1994 Amend-
ment to Part XI of UNCLOS by way of the New York Agreement.67
Significantly, in recent years the Legal Sub-Committee of UN COPUOS
has undertaken efforts to enhance adherence to the Moon Agreement.68
These discussions have shown that still today many states consider it
unappealing and as having uncertain economic implications.
In conclusion, as the Moon Agreement is largely non-ratified, the legal
status of celestial bodies is the one provided for in the Outer Space
Treaty, according to which celestial bodies cannot be appropriated but are
free for exploration and use by states and their duly authorized nationals.
A different issue concerns the right of governmental and private subjects
to use the natural resources located in outer space. This issue is addressed
in the next section.

14.4.3 The Legal Status of Extraterrestrial Natural Resources

The legal status of extraterrestrial resources is a highly controversial

topic. Indeed, international space law lacks clear and internationally
accepted rules governing their removal and use. On one side, the Moon
Agreement, which includes dedicated provisions on the utilization of
celestial bodies’ resources, has not been accepted by the majority of
spacefaring states. On the other side, the Outer Space Treaty is virtually
silent on the issue of resources. This situation generates uncertainty and
can be viewed as a factor obstructing the commencement of extra-
terrestrial mining activities.
It is important to clarify that controversy relates not to the scientific
but to the commercial use of extraterrestrial natural resources. As to the
former, consensus exists on the right of states to extract and use
extraterrestrial resources for scientific purposes, such as scientific inves-
tigation and research.69 Instead, no agreement exists on the rules and

67
On these points see infra at §§ 14.5.2, 14.5.3.
68
Cf. Joint Statements on the Benefits of Adherence to the Agreement
Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies by
the States Parties to the Agreement, UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/L. 272, Legal
Sub-Committee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,
Forty-Seventh Session, 3 April 2008.
69
For the analysis of the use of lunar and other celestial bodies resources
for scientific purposes see for instance: M.J. Listner, The Ownership and
Exploitation of Outer Space: A Look at Foundational Law and Future Challenges
to Current Claims, 1 Regent Journal of International Law (2003), 75; G. Gál,

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conditions regulating their removal and utilization for the purpose of

obtaining a financial gain, whether such activities are carried out by
states or by private operators.70
The Outer Space Treaty prohibits national appropriation of outer space
broadly considered, including the moon and other celestial bodies, but it
does not refer to space resources, let alone their commercial use. This
fact led scholars to hold two diverging interpretations of the right to
remove and appropriate natural resources contained in a celestial body.
On the one hand, a group of authors points out that the non-
appropriation principle refers only to outer space as a whole and not to
its natural resources.71 Therefore, by analogy with the rules underlying
the freedom of the high seas, these authors state that the right to freely
explore and use outer space, which is provided in Article I of the Outer
Space Treaty, also includes the right to remove and use the natural
resources contained thereof.72 This position is indirectly supported by the
interpretation given by some states, such as the United States, and legal
scholars, of certain provisions of the Moon Agreement.73 Pending the
establishment of a legal regime governing the exploitation of lunar
resources pursuant to Article 11, paragraph 5, of the Agreement, no

Acquisition of Property in the Legal Regime of Celestial Bodies, in Proceedings

of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1997), 42; von der
Dunk, supra n. 55, 121. Cf. also Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 33,
providing: ‘There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer space,
including the Moon and other celestial bodies.’
70
On the issue of use of extraterrestrial resources for commercial purposes
see Tronchetti, supra n. 1, 218–32; A. Akbar, La lune patrimoine commun de
l’humanité: comment exploiter les ressources lunaires dans le respect du droit
international, Note de l’Ifri (2006); A. Kerrest de Rozavel, New Developments
and the Legal Framework Covering the Exploitation of the Resources of the
Moon, in Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (2005), 530.
71
So e.g. B. Cheng, Le Traité de 1967 sur l’espace, Journal du droit
international (1968), 533; M. Williams, The Exploration and Use of Natural
Resources in the Law of the Sea and the Law of Outer Space, in Proceedings of
the Twenty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1987), 198; Jenks,
supra n. 44, 275; Gál, supra n. 69, 47.
72
Cf. e.g. Art. II, Convention on the High Seas, Geneva, done 29 April
1958, entered into force 30 September 1962; 450 UNTS 82; TIAS 5200; 13 UST
2312; UKTS 1963 No. 5; Cmnd. 584; ATS 1963 No. 12; which for the first time
formally and explicitly conferred upon states the freedom of fishing in inter-
national waters.
73
So e.g. Christol, supra n. 52, 262–3; E. Galloway, Status of the Moon
Treaty, 3-9 Space News (1998), 21.

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express moratorium on the removal and utilization of these resources

exists. This, because the rules applicable during the pre-regime era are
those laid down in the Outer Space Treaty which, according to their view,
do not prohibit the use, including commercial, of natural resources.
On the other hand, another group of scholars argues that the prohib-
ition laid down in Article II applies both to outer space and its natural
resources. They affirm that the absence of any reference to natural
resources in the text of Article II is not relevant, because the Outer Space
Treaty never makes a distinction between outer space and its natural
resources. Therefore, the term outer space must be understood in a
comprehensive manner so as to include both outer space broadly consid-
ered and its natural resources.74
Regardless of which interpretation one favours, one should rely on the
existing written rules to arrive at appropriate conclusions regarding the
status of extraterrestrial natural resources. The Outer Space Treaty
attributes to outer space the nature of a res communis omnium, an area
freely open to everybody but not capable of being appropriated. Tradi-
tionally, resources located within a ‘global commons’ can be appropriated
without raising questions of ownership over the area where the resources
have been removed. For example, this idea has found application in the
law of the sea, according to which public and private subjects are given
the right to fish in the high seas without claiming appropriation over the
area where the fishing has occurred. Thus, many argue that a similar
principle should be applied to outer space, allowing subjects to mine
resources from celestial bodies and acquire property rights over the
extracted materials; however, this should not entail ownership claims over
the moon and other celestial bodies’ soil and subsoil.75
Nevertheless, rules relevant in the high seas cannot be automatically
applied to outer space. Indeed, no specific international legal parameters
governing the mining and commercial use of extraterrestrial resources as
well as protecting the legitimate interests of private and public entities
involved in such activities exist. Furthermore, space law includes prin-
ciples, which are not present in the law of the sea, that create potential
obstacles to the removal and commercial use of resources.

74
See e.g. S. Gorove, Limitations on the Principles of Freedom of Explor-
ation and Use in Outer Space: Benefits and Interests, in Proceedings of the
Thirteenth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1971), 74; A.A. Cocca, ILA
Report of the Fifty-Fourth Conference, The Hague, 1970, 454.
75
See e.g. O’Donnell, supra n. 66, 472 ff.; K.A. Baca, Property Rights in
Outer Space, 59 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (1993), 1041.

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One example concerns the idea that the exploration and use of outer
space is the province of all mankind. Such an idea might collide with the
economic interests of a company carrying out extraterrestrial mining and
raise several legal dilemmas. To what extent would the financial profit
gained by such a company be consistent with the idea of the use of outer
space as the ‘province of all mankind’? Additionally, extraterrestrial
mining is a much more risky undertaking than fishing in the high seas.
Consequently, the risk of accidents occurring in this context is rather
high. This may eventually result in liability issues not necessarily
regulated under the existing international space law rules. Moreover,
extraterrestrial mining should be carried out avoiding harmful contamin-
ation to the space environment, particularly that of the moon and other
celestial bodies. Regrettably, international space law lacks dedicated rules
for the preservation of the space environment. The most relevant pro-
visions are included in Article 7 of the Moon Agreement which, as
previously stated, has not been accepted by the majority of spacefaring
states.
Additional considerations should play a role with regard to possible
private exploitation of extraterrestrial resources. It should be kept in mind
that private operators have a special relation with their national states, as
the latter are internationally responsible for the space activities of the
former according to Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty. This means that
a state must ensure that its nationals do not violate international rules and
obligations while operating in space. Private entities must receive an
authorization from their national state, usually in the form of a licence, in
order to carry out space activities. Such a state is under an obligation to
supervise the authorized private space activity.76
It is highly questionable whether a state could license and, con-
sequently, authorize private entities to extract and commercially use
extraterrestrial natural resources (in a fashion similar to mining in the
high seas, where licences of this kind may theoretically be issued).77
Outer space being a ‘global commons’, a state cannot without further ado
use its national law to protect private (and public) business interests
related to extraterrestrial mining activities. States might then also be
prohibited from recognizing private property rights over the extracted

76
Cf. Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 33.
77
See for this approach e.g. P.A. Dasch, M.M. Smith & A. Pierce,
Conference on Space Property Rights: Next Steps, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law on Outer Space (2000), 174; G.H.
Reynolds, International Space Law: Into the Twenty-First Century, 25 Vanderbilt
Journal of Transnational Law (1992), 225.

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resources through national law, as this might constitute appropriation of

outer space ‘by other means’ prohibited by Article II of the Outer Space
Treaty.
All in all, the legal situation governing the exploitation of extra-
terrestrial resources appears highly controversial, especially when the
position of private operators is taken into account. This situation acts as a
discouraging factor for private entities interested in extraterrestrial min-
ing, who may choose not to invest in it because of uncertain economic
gains.78 Such an end result is detrimental to the whole international
community because these subjects might be the only ones capable of
devoting significant financial resources to extraterrestrial mining. For this
reason, scholars have repeatedly called for development of a proper legal
regime at the international level to handle such operations which is able
to ensure adequate financial gain for the investors whilst properly
balancing the global public interests in terms of safety, security, eco-
logical security, and the preservation of historic sites.79 In the search for
such a regime, it would be a useful exercise to look at existing legal
frameworks regulating the use, including commercial, of limited
resources and to see whether lessons can be learned and adapted to the
management of extraterrestrial mining.

14.5 INTERNATIONAL SEABED MINING

14.5.1 The Evolution of the Legal Regime Governing International
Seabed Mining

The international legal regime regulating the exploitation of the natural

resources located in the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of
national jurisdiction is currently provided for in Part XI of the 1982
UNCLOS,80 as amended by the 1994 New York Agreement.81

78
See S. Twibbel, Space Law: Legal Restraints on Commercialisation and
Development of Outer Space, 65 University of Missouri Kansas City Law Review
(1997), 589; E.J. Reinstein, Owning Outer Space, 20 Northwestern Journal of
International Law and Business (1999), 59; Dinkin, supra n. 65.
79
See K. Kosmo, The Commercialization of Space: A Regulatory Scheme
that Promotes Commercial Ventures and International Responsibility, 61 South-
ern California Law Review (1987–1988), 1055; H.G. Lewis & L. Lewis, A
Proposed International Regime for the Era of Private Commercial Utilization of
Space, 37 George Washington International Law Review (2005), 745.
80
Supra, n. 58.
81
Supra, n. 63.

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Originally, no international rules addressing the status of seabed

mineral resources existed. The 1958 Convention of the High Seas, while
opening the high seas to all nations and excluding them from national
appropriation, conferred upon states parties four freedoms: (1) the
freedom of navigation; (2) the freedom of fishing; (3) the freedom to lay
submarine cables and pipelines; and (4) the freedom to fly over the high
seas.82 These four freedoms notably did not include the right to mineral
extraction, mostly because at the time the Convention was negotiated it
was not known that the international seabed contained valuable
resources. Once these resources were discovered in the late 1960s,
consensus emerged on the need to develop international principles to
govern their extraction and (commercial) use. These principles were
discussed in the context of the negotiations of the UNCLOS and
eventually inserted in its Part XI.
Part XI of the Convention declared the seabed and its resources the
‘common heritage of mankind’ and set up a complex mechanism for their
management and exploitation, with an International Seabed Authority
empowered to authorize, control and direct the exploitation of the deep
seabed resources being established. Any company wishing to operate
within the ‘common heritage of mankind’ area had to apply for a licence
from the Authority.83 Such a licence had to include the request for two
mining sites of equal value, one to be mined by the applicant, the other
by the mining arm of the Authority, called the Enterprise (the so-called
‘parallel system’). Applicants were requested to pay an initial fee of US$
250,000 and an annual fixed fee of US$ 1 million. Levies on mining
activities were to be distributed among all states parties to the Convention
in accordance with the decisions taken by the Authority.84 Furthermore,
the Authority could force developed states to transfer, on fair commercial
terms, mining technology that could not be obtained on the open market
to developing states, in order to enable them to engage in seabed mining
activities.85 Crucially, decisions of the Authority, whose main organs
were the Council and the Assembly, were to be taken on a ‘one state, one

82
See Art. 2, Convention on the High Seas, supra n. 72.
83
See Art. 153, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra
n. 58.
84
See Arts. 151, 153, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
supra n. 58.
85
See Art. 144, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra
n. 58.

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vote’ basis, thus resulting in the Authority being directed and influenced
by the developing states in most of its decision-making processes.86
When UNCLOS was opened for signature in 1982 it was clear that
developed states, which were the only ones capable of carrying out
mining activities in the international seabed, refused to accept the
provisions of its Part XI. In their view they were detrimental to their
political and economic interests and inspired by an anti-free market
philosophy.87
Nevertheless, technologically advanced states were aware of the advan-
tages deriving from the presence of a legal regime to regulate deep sea
mining. Hence, a group of Western states set up an alternative regime to
allow and manage mining activities before the entering into force of the
Convention, especially moved by the intention to protect their domestic
companies, which had already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in
preparation for seabed mining.
According to this regime, which was called the ‘Reciprocating States
Regime’, each state had to adopt similar national legislation to regulate
deep seabed mining. The United States opened the way with its Deep
Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act of 1980,88 followed by the Federal
Republic of Germany’s Act on the Interim Regulation of Deep Sea Bed
Mining in the same year.89 Later, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and
Italy adopted similar Acts.90 According to these national laws, citizens
and companies were allowed to explore and exploit deep seabed
resources upon granting of a licence from their national states. The state
had the power to protect and recognize private ownership claims over the
extracted resources. Licensees were obliged to pay a levy, which was
substantially inferior to the one foreseen in Part XI of UNCLOS. Under
the Reciprocating States Regime, states committed to coordinate and not
to interfere with each other’s activities.

86
See Arts. 159 (Authority), 161 (Council), United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea, supra n. 58.
87
See C.C. Joyner, Legal Implications of the Concept of the Common
Heritage of Mankind, in 35 International & Comparative Law Quarterly (1986),
190 ff.; M.V. White, The Common Heritage of Mankind: An Assessment, 14
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law (1982), 509 ff.; E.D. Brown,
The International Law of the Sea (1994), 300–10.
88
Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act, 30 U.S.C. 1401 (1980).
89
Act on the Interim Regulation of Deep Sea Bed Mining; 20 ILM 393
(1981), 21 ILM 832 (1982).
90
See for France, 21 ILM 808 (1982); for the United Kingdom, 20 ILM
1219 (1981); for Japan, 22 ILM 102 (1983); for Italy, 24 ILM 983 (1985).

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However, the Reciprocating States Regime was only meant to be an

interim regime before UNCLOS entered into force. In the late 1980s a
growing understanding spread among developed states on the need for
incorporating the amendments to Part XI set up in that Regime into the
body of the Convention. Developed states concurred on the usefulness of
having one universal system governing deep seabed mining beyond
national jurisdiction. This approach was shared by the developing states
as well.
Thus, in the 1990s developed and developing states engaged in a
process aimed at amending Part XI of UNCLOS, which resulted in the
adoption by the UN General Assembly of the New York Agreement, the
Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, on 28
July 1994. The Agreement was opened for signature on 29 July and was
promptly signed by 50 states, including 18 developing and 18 developed
states. The United States, while agreeing to apply it provisionally,
eventually did not ratify either UNCLOS or its Implementation Agree-
ment.

14.5.2 A New Approach as per the New York Agreement

The 1994 New York Agreement significantly amended Part XI of

UNCLOS.91 Its provisions resolved the criticisms levelled by the devel-
oped states at the original Part XI and applied a free-market approach to
the management of the Area and its resources. In doing so, the Agree-
ment introduced a new version of the ‘common heritage of mankind’
concept in which the rigid political and economic requirements had been
significantly softened.
The main amendments introduced by the New York Agreement to Part
XI concerned, firstly, decision-making mechanisms which give techno-
logically and economically advanced states an impact proportionate to
their economic interest and the involvement in seabed activities. Con-
sequently, the former approach of ‘one state, one vote’ is abandoned.
Secondly, the Agreement resulted in the abandonment of any form of

91
For an analysis of the New York Agreement, supra n. 63, see C.B.
Thompson, International Law of the Sea/Seed: Public Domain versus Private
Commodity, 44 National Resources Journal (2004), 843; A. De Marffy-
Mantuano, Current Development: The Procedural Framework of the Agreement
Implementing the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 89
American Journal of International Law (1995), 814.

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mandatory transfer of technology.92 Developing states should henceforth

rather obtain deep seabed mining technology on the open market, at a fair
and reasonable price, or through joint ventures with industrialized states.
Thirdly, deep seabed mining is now to be carried out in accordance with
sound commercial principles, and there shall be no subsidization or
discriminatory practices in favour of some particular states or produc-
ers.93 Fourthly, new procedures specifying timetables for the approval of
proposed exploration work plans are established.94 Finally, the parallel
system, according to which an applicant had to submit requests for two
sites of equal value, was abandoned.

14.5.3 The New York Agreement: A Useful Example for an

Extraterrestrial Mining Regime?

The New York Agreement offers several useful elements from the
perspective of the drafting of a legal regime governing extraterrestrial
mining. To start with, it highlights some general, but significant, ideas.
First, the setting up of an international regime emerges as the optimal
solution for the management and exploitation of resources located
beyond national borders. A laissez-faire approach is to be viewed as
unpredictable and potentially dangerous. Second, international agreement
on the formulation of the rules constituting such a regime is possible,
provided that states have a clear interest in doing so. Most importantly,
the Agreement introduces a new interpretation of the ‘common heritage
of mankind’ principle which has been accepted by both developed and
developing states. Remarkably, this interpretation embraces a free-
market-oriented philosophy.
The New York Agreement also shows how a legal regime governing
the exploitation of international resources should be created and what
elements it should contain. The key to its success is represented by a
balance between the interests of developing and developed states, includ-
ing their private companies. When setting up an international legal
framework it is, thus, necessary to make sure that, while the special
needs of the developing states are recognized and protected, economic
incentives and measures aimed at encouraging the involvement of devel-
oped states (and their companies) and protecting their investments are
established.

92
See Sec. V, Annex, New York Agreement, supra n. 63.
93
See Sec. VI, Annex, New York Agreement, supra n. 63.
94
See Sec. I, Annex, New York Agreement, supra n. 63.

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Additionally, an international regime must ensure that the states which

contribute the most to the exploitation of resources situated in an
international area have an adequate impact on the decision-making
mechanism of the legal regime regulating such exploitation. Here, the
New York Agreement offers useful solutions relating to the mechanism to
regulate the granting and the duration of the licences to explore and
exploit mineral resources located beyond national borders. The Agree-
ment specifies the timetable for the approval of explorative working plans
of seabed sites and the duration of each approved plan. This system has a
very positive impact because it contributes to generating certainty among
those who intend to invest money in seabed mining.
Keeping these factors in mind, one could imagine the transfer and
application of this new interpretation of the ‘common heritage of mankind’,
and the principles that it contains, to the regulation of extraterrestrial mining
for commercial purposes. Such a process could theoretically occur in two
ways. First, by interpreting the ‘common heritage of mankind’ principle in
the context of the Moon Agreement in accordance with this new interpret-
ation. Pursuant to this approach, the international regime to be established
under Article 11(5) of the Moon Agreement should mirror, to the largest
extent possible, the structure and functioning of the one provided for in the
New York Agreement. This solution would, however, face the disagreement
of those who oppose the Moon Agreement and who, consequently, may not
be willing to become parties to it.
Alternatively, a dedicated legal regime regulating the extraction and
commercial use of extraterrestrial natural resources, not having a formal
connection with the Moon Agreement, could be formulated. On one side,
such a regime, while not explicitly referring to the ‘common heritage of
mankind’, should largely resemble the procedures and mechanism of the
ones included in the New York Agreement. On the other side, this should
not be directly related to the Moon Agreement but, for example, to the
Outer Space Treaty. This idea could take the shape of an additional
protocol to that Treaty or to a separate agreement merely referring to it.
As mentioned above, the United States is not a party to UNCLOS.
Thus, explorative and exploitative activities in international waters by its
nationals/companies are governed by the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral
Resources Act, according to which the United States is entitled to license
these kind of activities and to recognized ownership claims over the
extracted resources. Some argue that a similar system should be applied
to the mining and exploitation of extraterrestrial natural resources.95

95
See supra, at n. 88.

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Anyway, not only would such an approach be in conflict with the terms
of Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, but it would raise significant
questions about the acceptance by other states of the granted licences and
the recognition of the ownership claims.

14.6 THE USE OF THE GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT

14.6.1 The Geostationary Orbit as a Limited Natural Resource

The geostationary orbit is the circular orbit 35,786 km above the equator
where a satellite rotates around the earth in 23 hours 56 minutes and 4
seconds.96 As this period is synchronous with the time the earth needs to
rotate around its axis, a satellite launched into the geostationary orbit
appears to an observer on the earth’s surface as being fixed, stationary
over a certain point of the equator. Hence, this orbit is called ‘geo-
stationary’. Considering that the area visible from a satellite placed in
such orbit covers one-third of the earth’s surface, three satellites are in
the position to provide with their signals almost global coverage, with the
exclusion of the polar regions. Thanks to such features, the geostationary
orbit is a strategic resource for telecommunications, broadcasting and
meteorological purposes.97
Satellites operate through radio signals and, thus, use the radio
frequency spectrum to provide their services. The radio frequency
spectrum is a specific band of the electromagnetic spectrum that allows
satellites to communicate with the earth. Therefore, satellites require
orbital locations and allocated frequencies for space communications
services in order to operate within the geostationary orbit. Because of the
numerous political, economic and social advantages resulting from
operating a satellite in the geostationary orbit, the request and com-
petition for orbital slots and frequencies has dramatically increased.98

96
For a description of the characteristics of the geostationary orbit see: K.U.
Schrogl, Questions Relating to the Character and Utilization of the Geostationary
Orbit, in International Space Law in the Making: Current Issues in the United
Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Eds. K.U. Schrogl &
M. Benkö) (1993); S. Cahill, Give Me My Space: Implications for Permitting
National Appropriation of the Geostationary Orbit, 19 Wisconsin International
Law Journal (2001), 231; F. Lyall, Law and Space Telecommunications (1989),
388.
97
See also e.g. supra, § 8.2.1.
98
Cf. also e.g. supra, § 8.2.5.

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Legal aspects of space resource utilization 799

From these preliminary remarks also follow the comparisons that can
be made between the geostationary orbit and the natural resources of the
moon and other celestial bodies, which may perhaps be helpful in
developing a regime for future resource exploitation. Firstly, both the
geostationary orbit and the natural resources of the moon are limited
resources which share the need for being properly managed and allocated
in order to prevent their wasteful use and to maximize their value.
Because of its physical characteristics, only a restricted number of states
can operate satellites in the geostationary orbit at a given time. Further-
more, satellites need to be maintained at a certain distance to avoid
interference and collisions. Also, special care has to be taken not to
pollute the geostationary orbit, as it may endanger the activities of any
other geostationary operator. Similar principles are relevant to extra-
terrestrial mining, as the concurrent activities of miners should be
regulated in order to preclude interferences and the deterioration of the
environment. Secondly, both the geostationary orbit and celestial bodies’
resources are located in areas beyond national jurisdiction and are, in
principle, non-appropriable.
An international regime to govern the allocation, use, and management
of the radio spectrum resource (orbital slots and frequencies) has been
put in place. The following section gives a brief description of the
functioning of such a regime, as far as required to address and assess its
potential value as an example for a future natural space resource
utilization regime.99

14.6.2 Allocation of the Orbit/Spectrum Resource: The ITU Regime

The organization responsible for international administration and alloca-

tion of geostationary slots and frequencies for satellites communications
is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).100 Within the ITU

99
For a more comprehensive overview, see supra, § 8.2.
100
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of
the United Nations. According to Art. 1(1), (Constitution of the International
Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22
December 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No.
24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary
Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993); the purposes of the Union are: (1) ‘to
maintain and extend international cooperation among all its Member states for
the improvement and rational use of telecommunications of all kind’; (2) ‘to
promote and to offer technical assistance to developing States in the field of
telecommunications’; (3) ‘to promote the development of technical facilities and
their most efficient operation with a view to improving the efficiency of

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framework the responsibility of managing the frequency spectrum, as

well as the positions of geostationary satellites, is dealt with by the
Radiocommunication Sector. In accordance with Article 12 of the 1992
ITU Constitution the objective of the Radiocommunication Sector is to
ensure ‘the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio
frequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services, including those
using the geostationary-satellite or other satellite orbits’. In order to fulfil
these purposes the Radiocommunication Sector ensures that the Radio
Regulations, read the international rules regulating the allocation of the
frequency bands and containing technical parameters to be observed by
operators, are respected.101
As a consequence of the physical limitations of the geostationary orbit
described above, a tension between the goal of ensuring fair and
equitable access to it on the one hand and its efficient use on the other
exists. Significantly, Article 44(3) of the ITU Constitution clarifies that
access to and allocation of the geostationary orbit shall be done on an
equitable basis. This is in order to ensure that ‘the special needs of the
developing countries and the geographical situation of particular coun-
tries’ are taken into account. The language of Article 44 thus fully
recognizes the interests of the less-developed states in arriving at a
balance in the use and management of the orbit/spectrum resource by
emphasizing that equity was to be measured not simply in terms of
efficiency and economy.
The main system for allocating geostationary orbital slots and frequen-
cies is the so-called a posteriori method, which is based on a first-come,
first-served approach.102 This system consists of several steps: when a

telecommunication services, increasing their usefulness and making them, so far

as possible, generally available to the public’; and (4) ‘to promote the use of
telecommunication services with the objective of facilitating peaceful relations’.
101
These Radio Regulations are adopted during World Radio Conferences;
see further Art. 13, ITU Constitution, supra n. 100; Art. 7, Convention of the
International Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU Convention), Geneva,
done 22 December 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS
1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional
Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 71.
102
For an analysis of the a posteriori method of allocation see R.S. Jakhu,
The Legal Status of the Geostationary Orbit, 7 Annals of Air and Space Law
(1982), 333; J.C. Thompson, Space for Rent: The International Telecommuni-
cation Union, Space Law, and Orbit/Spectrum Leasing, 62 Journal of Air Law &
Commerce (1996–1997), 279; J. Wilson, The International Telecommunication

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satellite operator wishes to develop a communication satellite system, it

contacts the state member who informs the Radiocommunication Bureau
of the intention to assign particular frequencies and geostationary posi-
tions to this operator. Such request is reviewed in the light of the Table of
Frequency Allocations and of the Master International Frequency Regis-
ter to make sure that no operator has claimed these frequencies before
and that no interference with already existing systems is expected to take
place. If no problems are encountered during the review process, the ITU
adds the operator’s notification to the frequency register and the frequen-
cies and a geostationary slot are attributed to such operator on a
temporarily basis, namely for the whole period in which the satellite
system is operational. It is important to stress that the operator is, thus,
given a temporary right to use a certain orbital slot but he does not obtain
any ownership rights over it. However, the operator is protected from
interference by other users.
In recent years this a posteriori allocation mechanism increasingly has
been facing the problem of ‘paper satellites’. In short, this problem
consists of a growing number of slot applications submitted to the ITU to
accommodate the needs of systems that will never leave the earth or are
merely speculative. The ITU counteracts such practices by obliging
applicants to provide detailed plans of their intended space activities and
to set out a deadline for the deployment of the satellite in the assigned
orbital position.
In the 1980s, pushed by the requests of the developing states, a new
system for assigning the orbit/spectrum resource, which was called ‘a
dual system of allocation’ or an a priori method, was set up.103 Under

Union and the Geostationary Satellite Orbit: An Overview, in 23 Annals of Air &
Space Law (1994), 241; L.D. Roberts, A Lost Connection: Geostationary
Satellite Networks and the International Telecommunication Union, 15 Berkeley
Technology Law Journal (2000), 1095; F. Lyall, Paralysis by Phantom: Problems
of the ITU Filing Procedures, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (1997), 189; O. Fernández-Brital, The Legal Status of
the Geostationary Orbit and ITU Recent Activities, in Proceedings of the
Thirty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1990), 223.
103
For a description of the a priori method and of the process leading to its
adoption, see: C.Q. Christol, The Legal Status of the Geostationary Orbit in the
Light of the 1985–1988 Activities of the ITU, in Proceedings of the Thirty-
Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1990), 215; S. Ospina, The ITU
and WARC-ORB: Will the Revised Radio Regulations Result in a Sui-Generis
Legal Regime for the GSO?, in Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Colloquium on
the Law of Outer Space (1990), 247; T. Lozanova, Legal Status of the
Geostationary Orbit in the Light of the Recent Activities of ITU, in Proceedings

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this system, which applied only to the Fixed Satellite Services (FSS),104
and within that service, only to the so defined ‘expansion band’, each
ITU member was entitled to an orbital position, within a predetermined
arc and a predetermined band. Thus, by means of an a priori allotment
plan each state received at least an orbital slot and one frequency to be
used for communication purposes.105 However, this did not mean that the
state receiving the allotment was technologically capable of using it, thus
potentially leaving several slots and frequencies unused.

14.6.3 The ITU Regime: A Useful Example for an Extraterrestrial

Mining Legal Regime?

Both the geostationary orbit and the minerals present on the surface and
the subsurface of the moon and other celestial bodies are ‘limited natural
resources’. Consequently, they have the need for a system ensuring their
proper management, allocation, use and preservation in common, and an
analysis of how the geostationary orbit is administered may provide
useful and practical elements to be used for any future regime to be
applied to extraterrestrial mining.
First of all, the legal framework governing the orbit/spectrum resource
is based on the concepts of equitable access and efficiency. These two
concepts should become part of the future lunar and other celestial
bodies’ legal regime, as their presence is necessary to enable it to strike a
balance between the requests and interests of both developed and
less-developed states and to comply with the demand for non-
discrimination in the exploration and use of outer space laid down in
Article I of the Outer Space Treaty.106

of the Thirty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1990), 233; S.

Wiessner, Access to a Res Publica Internationalis: The Case of the Geostationary
Orbit, in Proceedings of the Twenty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (1987), 147.
104
The 1988 WARC Final Acts defined an FSS as ‘a radiocommunication
service between Earth stations at given positions, when one or more satellites are
used; the given position may be a specific fixed point with specified areas; in
some cases this service includes satellite-to-satellite links, which may also be
operated in the inter-satellite service; the fixed-satellite service may also include
feeder links for other space radiocommunication services’; Final Acts, 1988, Art.
I, Mod. 22.
105
See 1988 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) Final Acts,
39.
106
Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 33, provides in this regard that ‘[t]he
exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial

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Secondly, the ITU’s mechanism for the allocation of the radio spec-
trum resource is significant because it shows that even if resources are
located in a non-appropriable area, that is outer space, they can be used
also for commercial goals as long as such a use is consistent with
relevant internationally agreed rules.
Furthermore, the ITU system offers practical examples of how limited
resources can be allocated. This system is based on the idea that the use
of positions and frequencies is limited in time. No entity, indeed, is
provided with a permanent title to the geostationary resources. This
aspect is of fundamental relevance for a legal regime for extraterrestrial
mining. One crucial aspect of such a regime should be that entities are
allowed to exploit extraterrestrial sites only for a limited and pre-
determined, although renewable, period of time, without gaining any
permanent proprietary title to those sites. A similar provision would
ensure compliance with Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, declaring
outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, as non-
appropriable.
However, there are some other elements of the allocation system of
orbital slots that should arguably not be introduced into the legal regime
regulating the exploitation of extraterrestrial mineral resources. For
example, the a priori system, while being fair and appreciable from an
ethical point of view, tends to cause inefficiency and the potential waste
of a limited natural resource, due to the fact that many developing states
would not be in a position to make use of their assignments. A similar
approach should not be reproduced in the context of extraterrestrial
mining because it could be perceived as detrimental to economic interests
and to criteria of efficiency.

14.7 MINERAL ACTIVITIES IN ANTARCTICA

14.7.1 The Antarctic Treaty System

Activities in Antarctica are regulated by the so-called ‘Antarctic Treaty

System’, a conventional regime consisting of several international agree-
ments.107 The Antarctic Treaty System is considered one of the most

bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries,
irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development’.
107
The Antarctic Treaty System comprises: the Antarctic Treaty, Washington,
done 1 December 1959, entered into force 23 June 1961; 402 UNTS 71; TIAS
4780; 12 UST 794; UKTS 1961 No. 97; Cmnd. 913; ATS 1961 No. 12; the

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successful legal structures ever created to govern operations in an

international area, as it has allowed for more than 50 years of peaceful
scientific investigation and environmental protection of the Antarctic
area.
The 1959 Antarctic Treaty108 constitutes the foundation of the system,
as it provides direction and guidance for all activities to be carried out in
Antarctica. Article IV of the Treaty deals with the legal status of the
continent. It should be kept in mind that, before the entry into force of
the Treaty, several states successfully carried out explorative missions in
Antarctic regions. As a result of these missions, there were states which
claimed sovereignty over the parts of the Antarctic continent they had
explored, states which, in spite of having played a crucial role in
uncovering Antarctica, did not claim any territorial rights and, at the
same time, refused to recognize claims made by other states although
they reserved the right to make territorial claims in the future, and states
which did not put forward any claim, did not reserve themselves any
right to make claims in the future and refused to accept the claims made
by others.109 This complicated situation called for international manage-
ment of the Antarctica area. The solution adopted by Article IV of the
Antarctic Treaty was to put territorial and sovereignty claims in abey-
ance; in simple terms, it froze the claims and the opposition to the claims
over Antarctica as they were in 1959.110

Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, London, done 1 June 1972,

entered into force 11 March 1978; TIAS 8826; 27 UST 441; ATS 1987 No. 11;
11 ILM 251 (1972); the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine
Living Resources, Canberra, done 20 May 1980, entered into force 7 April 1982;
TIAS 10240; ATS 1982 No. 9; 19 ILM 841 (1980); the Convention on the
Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources (hereafter Wellington Convention),
Wellington, done 2 June 1988, not yet entered into force; 27 ILM 868 (1988);
and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (hereafter
Madrid Protocol), Madrid, done 4 October 1991, entered into force 14 January
1998; UKTS 1999 No. 6; Cm 1960; ATS 1998 No. 6; 30 ILM 1455 (1991).
108
For an analysis of the Antarctic Treaty, see J. Hanessian, The 1959
Antarctic Treaty, 9 International & Comparative Law Quarterly (1960), 436; R.
Sattler, Symposium: Issues in Space Law: Transporting a Legal System for
Property Rights from the Earth to the Stars, 6 Chicago Journal of International
Law (2005), 23.
109
See in extenso A. Watts, International Law and the Antarctic Treaty
System (1992); The Antarctic Legal Regime (Eds. C.C. Joyner & S.K. Chopra)
(1988).
110
Art. IV, Antarctic Treaty, supra n. 107, thus declares that its provisions
shall be interpreted neither as ‘a renunciation by any Contracting Parties of
previously asserted rights of or claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica’ nor

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While the Antarctic Treaty regulates the legal status of Antarctica, it

does not address the issues of recovery and exploitation of the mineral
resources contained therein. This is in large part due to the fact that when
the Treaty was negotiated there were insufficient geological data demon-
strating the presence of mineral resources in the Antarctic region.
However, when, at the beginning of the 1970s, the existence and the
potential economic value of Antarctic mineral resources was proven, the
parties to the Antarctic Treaty felt that leaving their legal status
unresolved could threaten the peaceful nature of Antarctica, forcing the
topic to the centre of the political agenda.
The negotiations on the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic
Mineral Resources, the Wellington Convention, officially began in
1982.111 These negotiations took place among the so-called ‘Consultative
Parties’ to the Antarctic Treaty, namely those states which had undertaken
‘substantial research activity’ in Antarctica.112 As the majority of devel-
oping states lacked the financial capability to carry out this type of
activity, the Consultative Parties were mainly developed states. Negoti-
ations ended on 2 June 1988, when the Wellington Convention was
adopted. According to Article 62, in order to enter into force the
Convention had to be ratified by all Consultative Parties which had
participated to the negotiations. When France and Australia withdrew
their support for the Convention, the entire ratification process collapsed.
Three years after the failure of the Wellington Convention a new
instrument, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic
Treaty, the so-called Madrid Protocol, was adopted.113 The Protocol put

as ‘a renunciation or diminution by any Contracting Parties of any basis of claim

to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica which they may have whether as a result
of its activities or those of its nationals’.
111
For an analysis of the negotiations of the Convention on the Regulation of
Antarctic Mineral Resources, see C.C. Joyner, The Antarctic Minerals Negotiat-
ing Process, 81 American Journal of International Law (1987), 888; A. Watts,
Lesson to be learned from the Mineral Resources Negotiations, in Antarctic
Challenge III (Ed. R. Wolfrum) (1988), 319–31.
112
Cf. Art. IX(1), Antarctic Treaty, supra n. 107, speaking of ‘Contracting
Parties … consulting together’ taking all key political and legal decisions
regarding the area. Art. IX(2) refers to ‘substantial research activity’ as a
condition for being admitted to the consultative meetings. See further Arts.
XI–XIII.
113
For an analysis of the Madrid Protocol, supra n. 107, see D. Vidas, The
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty: A Ten-Year
Review, in Yearbook of International Co-operation on Environment and Devel-
opment, 2002/2003, 51.

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an end to the possibility of mining and using Antarctica’s mineral

resources for commercial reasons by declaring: ‘Any activity relating to
mineral resources, other than scientific research, shall be prohibited.’114
Although no state party to the Antarctic Treaty System has ratified the
Wellington Convention, it is still worth analysing its provisions in view
of their potential impact on the development of a legal regime to regulate
the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon and other celestial
bodies.

14.7.2 A New Approach as per the Wellington Convention

The main purpose of the Wellington Convention is to set up a legal

framework to regulate explorative and exploitative activities of the
Antarctic mineral resources.115 Ensuring the protection of the Antarctic
environment is one of the primary concerns of the Convention.116 All
mineral resource operations are subject to a preventive assessment aimed
at verifying their potential environmental impact. These operations will
not be authorized and will be stopped where they represent a threat to the
Antarctic ecosystem.
On the institutional level the Convention creates a framework including
an Antarctic Mineral Resource Commission, a Regulatory Committee, a
Special Meeting of Parties and a Scientific, Technical and Environmental
Committee. The Commission, which is composed by the Consultative
Parties which possessed this status when the Convention was open for
signature,117 adopts decisions concerning the protection and conservation
of the Antarctic environment, the designation of protected areas, the
identification of areas for possible exploration and development, and the
review of action by the Regulatory Committee. Decisions are generally
taken by a three-quarters majority, although those relating to the submis-
sion of exploration and development applications are adopted by consen-
sus.118 A Regulatory Committee is established for each designated area.

114
See Art. 7, Madrid Protocol, supra n. 107.
115
For an explanation of the provisions of the Wellington Convention, supra
n. 107, see e.g. C.C. Joyner, The Evolving Antarctic Minerals Regime, 19 Ocean
Development and International Law (1988), 73; J.G. Starke, International Legal
Notes, 62 Australian Law Journal (1988), 956; Note, Death of a Treaty: the
Decline and Fall of the Antarctic Minerals Convention, 22 Vanderbilt Journal of
Transnational Law (1989), 631.
116
See Arts. 2, 3 & 4, Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.
117
See Art. 21, Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.
118
See Art. 41(2), Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.

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Its main functions are to look upon applications for exploration and
development permits, to approve management schemes and to monitor
exploration and development.119
The Scientific, Technical and Environmental Committee consist of
scientists of all parties to the Convention.120 Its function is not only to
give scientific or technical advice, but also to provide for a level of
participation in the decision-making by all the parties that are not
represented in the Commission. Mineral activities are envisioned to take
place in a three-stage process: prospecting, exploration and development.
Prospecting is an activity ‘aimed at identifying areas of mineral resources
potential for possible exploration and development’.121 Prospecting nei-
ther provides the operator with any right to resources and prospecting,
nor requires authorization from the institutions of the Convention.122
The rules regulating exploration and development are more complex. A
detailed discussion of such rules goes beyond the limited purpose of this
chapter. Here, it suffices to say that the beginning of exploration and
development activities is subordinated to prior evaluation and author-
ization by the institutions of the regime. Once authorization is given, the
authorized activities are to be carefully scrutinized. Decision-making in
the context of exploration and development must undergo several stages
and may be extremely slow.
The essence of the application process consists in the preparation and
approval of the Management Scheme and a development permit. The
Management Scheme is the instrument governing exploration and devel-
opment activities. The approval of the Management Scheme provides the
applicant with exclusive rights to explore the resources located in the
assigned block in accordance with the Management Scheme’s pro-
visions.123 The development permit allows the applicant to use, including
for commercial purposes, the extracted resources.

119
See Art. 29, Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.
120
See Art. 23, Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.
121
Art. 1(8), Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.
122
Art. 37(1) & (2), Wellington Convention, supra n. 107.
123
The Management Scheme is approved if accepted by a two-thirds
majority, which majority shall include a simple majority of the group of claimant
states and a simple majority of non-claimant states. Thus, a Management Scheme
needs the affirmative vote of seven members of a ten-member Regulatory
Committee, which must include at least two from the group of claimant states
and three from the group of non-claimant states. As a consequence, it is beyond
the power of a single claimant state to provide for or even to block the approval
of a Management Scheme.

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The approved Management Scheme and the respective permit may be

modified and suspended if the activities are likely to generate or have
provoked unacceptable impacts over Antarctica’s environment or if the
operator has failed to comply with the Convention’s requirements.
Monetary sanctions can be imposed upon the operator as well.

14.7.3 The Wellington Convention: A Useful Example for an

Extraterrestrial Mining Regime?

The Wellington Convention constitutes a valuable precedent for two

reasons: it contains several elements which can be inserted in a legal
regime to govern the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources, and at the
same time it shows mistakes that should be avoided when establishing
such a regime. As to the latter point, one of the reasons behind the
Wellington Convention’s failure was its lack of economic incentives for
mining operators; its system was actually perceived to impede mining
operations of Antarctica’s resources as a profitable business. In this
regard, the consensus-based procedure for the concession of an author-
ization to explore and use a certain area was considered a major
stumbling block. In particular, the fact that such an authorization could
be rejected due to the refusal of one state member of the Regulatory
Commission only, regardless of the fact that the applicant might have
successfully carried out the prospecting phase with full respect for
environmental requirements and may already have devoted huge financial
and technical resources to it, constituted a tremendous disincentive from
an economic point of view.
Then, a major problem of the system governing Antarctic mineral
resource activities was the length of its decision-making mechanism. The
three-stage process which leads to the concession of an authorization to
operate was extremely slow and acted as a discouraging factor on
potential investors. Finally, the institutional framework established by the
Convention was inefficient and over-complicated.
Thus, taking into consideration the causes of the failure of the
Wellington Convention, it is possible to affirm that a legal instrument
governing mineral activities within an international area should contain
the following elements:

1. economic incentives for operators and certainty of the legal regime

governing mineral activities;
2. a reasonable timetable to provide the operator with the author-
ization to proceed in mineral activities;

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3. a simple institutional framework in which each institution has a

clear and distinct function;
4. efficient and fair voting procedures; and
5. mechanisms to ensure international participation in mineral activ-
ities.

Despite its limits, however, the Convention provides some useful ele-
ments to be inserted in the regime governing future exploitation of
extraterrestrial resources. Firstly, its strong emphasis on the protection of
the Antarctic environment is to be applauded; its provisions establishing
environmental parameters and requirements to be respected when pros-
pecting and exploring in Antarctica. Similar rules should be applied to
extraterrestrial mineral activities as well. Indeed, the respect for and
preservation of the lunar and other celestial bodies’ environment is to be
considered a prerequisite for exploitative operations to be carried out.
Secondly, the Wellington Convention sets up a mechanism to settle
disputes among mining operators. A similar mechanism should be
included in the legal regime regulating mineral activities in outer space.
Indeed, an international regime is more likely to be successful if it
contains a procedure to settle controversies among the participating
parties.

14.8 A LEGAL REGIME FOR THE EXPLOITATION OF

EXTRATERRESTRIAL NATURAL RESOURCES
Considering the elements highlighted in the previous sections the follow-
ing considerations should be taken into account with respect to any
further international regulation of the exploitation of extraterrestrial
natural resources:

1. The moon and the other celestial bodies in our solar system contain
vast amounts of economically valuable natural resources.
2. A concrete interest in removing and commercially using extrater-
restrial resources exists, particularly with the private sector.
3. Technical barriers still stand in the way of mining activities in outer
space.
4. The existing international legal framework does not clarify the legal
status of extraterrestrial natural resources and to what extent and in
which forms these resources can be used for commercial purposes.
5. Such uncertainty acts as a discouraging factor for private investors.

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Thus, internationally agreed rules to govern the removal and commercial

use of resources should be put in place. Certainly, this is a highly
challenging goal which raises several issues related, for example, to the
forum where these rules should be negotiated, which states should be
involved in the negotiation process, and what chances of success these
rules might have.
The limited purpose of this chapter does not allow these issues to be
addressed adequately. It is, nevertheless, worth briefly addressing three
points: (1) Why do we need internationally agreed rules? (2) What should
be the content of these rules? (3) Which legal form should they take?
It is argued here that rules to manage the public and private exploit-
ation of extraterrestrial natural resources should be commonly agreed by
states at the international level rather than developed individually by
single states on a national basis. In principle, following the example of
national regulation of mining the deep seabed, states could adopt national
legislation allowing and authorizing private entities to exploit extra-
terrestrial sites and recognizing property rights over the extracted
materials. Apart from the already analysed problems of consistency with
existing space law principles, however, similar practices would hardly be
recognized by other states. Furthermore, it is likely that, once a state has
adopted legislation of this kind, other states would do the same. This
situation could potentially lead to conflicting claims, a race to the most
profitable resources, and, eventually, to dangerous tensions among inter-
national actors. This risky scenario could be avoided if an international
regulation of governmental and private exploitation of natural space
resources were in place.
This does not mean that national law would be irrelevant in the context
of such exploitation. Private operators wishing to carry out space
activities would need to receive an authorization, in the form of a licence,
from their national state. Once the state has granted such a licence it shall
exercise supervision and be internationally responsible for the authorized
activities. Thus, private entities willing to mine extraterrestrial sites
would always need to apply for a national licence. However, pursuant to
the approach suggested in this chapter, the permission and right given to
a private operator to exploit extraterrestrial resources would not come
from the national licence per se but from the international system and
procedures put in place by states to regulate extraterrestrial mining.
As to the second point, based also on the experience gained with the
regulation of Antarctica, the deep seabed, and the geostationary orbit, it is
suggested that a legal regime to govern the exploitation of lunar
resources should include the following elements:

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1. A concise and simple framework – complex and lengthy rules are

difficult to interpret and implement.
2. Measures to protect the environment: any exploitative activity
should be authorized, carried out, reviewed, and even interrupted,
based on its compliance with strict environmental criteria.
3. Economic incentives: the legal regime should be able to attract
public and private investors for the appropriate economic reasons.
This could be done, in particular, by ensuring returns on invest-
ments made, protecting exploiters’ rights against third parties and
clarifying the proprietary title of a miner over the extracted
resources.
4. An international body or authority empowered to manage, authorize
and control the exploitation of extraterrestrial natural resources.
This is the most challenging point, as the idea of creating inter-
national authorities has progressively lost appeal among (devel-
oped) states. It is, however, true that the management and allocation
of limited resources in international areas, such as the deep seabed
and earth orbits, is in the hands of organizations at an international
level, even if composed of individual states. Consequently, a similar
approach should be followed with respect to extraterrestrial mining.
5. A proportionate and time-efficient decision-making mechanism:
states should be given the power to influence decisions of the
international authority in a manner proportionate to their impact on
and investments in exploitative activities. Furthermore, a fixed
timetable should regulate the decision-making within the authority,
such as the concession of a licence.
6. A system of licences to regulate the exploitation of extraterrestrial
natural resources. A licence would give a licensee a temporary right
to mine and use, also for commercial purposes, the resources
located in a lunar or other celestial body’s site. Upon expiration of
the licence that site would theoretically be put on the market again
and open for other users – a licence should not confer the licensee
any proprietary title over the related site.
7. A dispute settlement mechanism regulating disputes arising from
the exploitation of space resources. The presence of such mechan-
ism would contribute to strengthening the legal regime and the
enforcement of its rules.
8. The presence of practical solutions aimed at ensuring that the
exploitation of extraterrestrial resources is not only beneficial to
those directly involved in it, but also to all mankind. While no
mandatory sharing of benefits should be required, the implementa-
tion of this concept would be necessary not only to guarantee the

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812 Handbook of space law

general acceptance of such a legal regime, particularly by the

developing states, but also to comply with the provisions laid down
in Article I of the Outer Space Treaty.
9. The promotion of international cooperation in extraterrestrial
exploitative activities.

As to the final question, the legal regime regulating extraterrestrial

mining could arguably take three different shapes: (1) it could be
formally linked to the Moon Agreement; (2) it could be annexed to the
Outer Space Treaty; (3) it could be developed without a direct link with
a specific existing space law instrument. Under the first option, the
regime should be negotiated pursuant to Article 11, paragraphs 5 and 7 of
the Moon Agreement. Clearly, this would require states to first become
parties to the Agreement, a choice that many states do not seem to be
ready to make at the present time. Following the second option, the rules
governing the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources should be included
in a protocol annexed to the Outer Space Treaty. This could be a more
feasible option, as all spacefaring states are parties to the Treaty and
annexing an additional instrument to a pre-existing treaty is not an
uncommon practice in international law. Finally, the legal regime could
be inserted in a legal instrument which would be formally independent of
international space law treaties.

14.9 CONCLUSION
For some three decades the legal status of extraterrestrial natural
resources did not constitute a primary topic of discussion for the
international space law community. Nowadays, thanks to the growing
interest of private investors in such resources and the gradual depletion of
natural resources on earth, however, that situation has changed. Many,
inside and outside legal circles, have begun wondering whether it is
possible, especially for a private operator, to extract natural resources
located in outer space and use them for profit purposes.
Such a possibility still faces technical and legal barriers. While the
former are expected to be progressively solved, the latter represent
obstacles that may be difficult to overcome. The existing international
space law instruments leave the legal status of extraterrestrial natural
resources substantially unaddressed, thus generating a great deal of
uncertainty about the rights and duties of ‘extraterrestrial miners’. Such
uncertainty not only discourages potential investors but also gives room
to national practices – a state authorizing one of its nationals to exploit

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Legal aspects of space resource utilization 813

an extraterrestrial site and recognizing property rights over the extracted

resources – having a potentially destabilizing effect on the peaceful
nature of outer space.
The international community should therefore take steps towards
agreeing on international rules governing the extraction and use of
extraterrestrial mining, with particular attention to the involvement of
private operators. This would certainly be a challenging task, as states
take diverging approaches on how this should be put into practice.
Nevertheless, it would be in the common interest to follow this path
rather than leaving extraterrestrial resources open to individual and
internationally uncoordinated practices.

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15. International trade aspects of space

services
Frans von der Dunk*

15.1 INTRODUCTION: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN

INTERNATIONAL TRADE REGIME

15.1.1 The Background to the International Trade Regime

The origins of substantial aspirations and efforts to establish a global

regime regulating international trade, and in particular trying to liberalize
such international trade, go back to the worldwide economic crises of the
late 1920s and 1930s, the Second World War, and their aftermath,
including the gradual evolvement of the opposition of capitalist and
communist ideologies and systems.
On the one hand, there was the concern that competition for markets
and the desire to strive for economic autonomy had to a considerable
extent fuelled the belligerence of several nations playing a key role in
igniting the Second World War.1 On the other hand, at least on the
Western side of the Cold War divide, two more general perceptions
played a major role: that international trade would be a major tool both to
help avoid the poverty and economic crises which had also contributed to
the war breaking out, and at an even more ideological level, to generate
the global understanding which should hopefully heighten the barriers to

* The author is very grateful to Matthew Schaefer, Law Alumni Professor

of Law and Director of the Space, Cyber, & Telecom Law Program, University
of Nebraska-Lincoln, College of Law, for his valuable comments and sugges-
tions; of course any responsibility for shortcomings continues to rest with the
author.
1
Cf. e.g. A.F. Lowenfeld, Bretton Woods Conference, in The Max Planck
Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. I (2012), 1055;
J.H. Jackson, The Jurisprudence of GATT and the WTO (2000), 21; J.H. Jackson,
World Trade and the Law of the GATT (1969), 9–10; R. Bhala, International
Trade Law: Interdisciplinary Theory and Practice (3rd edn., 2008), 6; H. Saitoh,
International Trade Regulation, in The Law of International Relations (Ed. K.
Tatsuzawa) (1997), 317–20.

814

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International trade aspects of space services 815

racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination which rose to such

shocking levels in the course of the Second World War.2 Finally, though
this remained largely implicit, international trade, in particular its liber-
alization, would help to counteract the communist ideology which was
taking hold on the Eastern side of the fence, soon to turn into the major
opponent in a Cold War determining geopolitics for the next four
decades.

15.1.2 The GATT and the International Trade Rounds

It was thus that in 1947 the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT)3 was concluded, a treaty of potential (and hoped-for) global
application providing a framework for the breaking down of barriers to
international trade in goods, notably import tariffs and quotas. Though
formally not an intergovernmental organization, a secretariat in Geneva
started functioning as a de facto permanent institutional basis to promote
and support the actual undertakings to lower such trade barriers, as the
GATT itself provided the framework and the principles, but not the
details and the implementation of trade liberalization.4
Those actual undertakings in short amounted to application of the
generic regime of the GATT rules and obligations, such as the most
favoured nation (MFN) and National Treatment (NT) principles,5 to sets
or categories of goods, as agreed upon in long and complicated inter-
national negotiations, the so-called ‘Rounds’.6 The first one of those, the
Geneva Round, actually started before the GATT was even agreed upon,

2
Cf. e.g. J.H. Jackson, The World Trading System (2nd edn., 1997), 11–3;
Jackson, supra n. 1, 21; W. Benedek, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(1947 and 1994), in The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
(Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IV (2012), 313.
3
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereafter GATT 1947), Geneva,
done 30 October 1947, entered into force 1 January 1948; 55 UNTS 194; TIAS
1700; ATS 1948 No. 23. See e.g. Jackson, supra n. 2, 31 ff.; Jackson, supra n. 1,
17 ff.; Benedek, supra n. 2, 312–23; R. Bhala & K. Kennedy, World Trade Law
(1998), 1 ff.; A.T. Guzman & J.H.B. Pauwelyn, International Trade Law (2009),
82–4.
4
Cf. Jackson, supra n. 2, 31–78; Benedek, supra n. 2, 315; P.T. Stoll,
World Trade Organization (WTO), in The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. X (2012), 969; also Bhala, supra n. 1,
5–9.
5
See further infra, § 15.2.2.1 and § 15.2.2.2.
6
See for a general overview of the GATT and the various Rounds, from
which much of the following is taken, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_

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816 Handbook of space law

running from April through December 1947, with the participation of 23

states and achieving 45,000 tariff concessions affecting US$ 10 billion
worth of trade.
So far seven more Rounds have followed, plus a ninth overall at Doha
currently still ongoing.7 The Annecy Round of 1949 had 13 GATT parties
exchange some 5,000 tariff concessions, the 1950–1 Torquay Round saw
38 GATT parties exchange some 8,700 tariff concessions cutting the
1948 tariff levels by some 25 per cent, the Geneva II Round of 1956 led
26 GATT parties to agree on the admission of Japan as well as on a total
of US$ 2.5 billion in tariff reductions, and the 1960–1 Dillon Round
achieved tariff concessions worth US$ 4.9 billion of world trade among
the same number of states. Then, with the enormous rise of parties to the
GATT, the Rounds started to comprise many years. The 1964–7 Kennedy
Round with 62 states achieved tariff concessions worth US$ 40 billion of
world trade, the 1973–9 Tokyo Round tariff reductions worth more than
US$ 300 billion among 102 states, and the 1986–93 Uruguay Round
major reductions in tariffs (about 40 per cent) and agricultural subsidies,
an agreement to allow full access for textiles and clothing from develop-
ing countries, and an extension of intellectual property rights protection
worldwide among 123 states, whereas the Doha Round, starting in 2001
and still not concluded, involves 159 WTO member states.8 In short: the
GATT provided a basic framework regime for international trade liberal-
ization, rather than in and of itself a detailed substantive regime therefore
– that was left to further negotiations as per these various trade Rounds.
Of course, for many years ‘outer space’ was not at all an issue in this
context. At the time of establishing the GATT, the closest mankind had
been to space were a few V-2 rocket launches,9 and (in a virtual sense)
some epochal and visionary articles by scientists.10 And as long as outer
space remained a domain accessible only to a handful of states, state

Agreement_on_Tariffs_and_Trade, last accessed 26 March 2014; further e.g.

Bhala, supra n. 1, 9–139; Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3, 5–9.
7
Though a so-called ‘Bali package’ was signed on 7 December 2013, the
Round has not yet been formally concluded; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
General_Agreement_on_Tariffs_and_Trade, last accessed 26 March 2014.
8
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization, last accessed
26 March 2014.
9
Cf. e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-orbital_spaceflight, last accessed
26 March 2014; referring to a 1944 V-2 launch reaching an altitude of 189 km.
10
Most notable amongst those of course was A. Clarke, Extra-Terrestrial
Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?, Wireless World
(October 1945), 305–8.

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International trade aspects of space services 817

agencies and state-run intergovernmental organizations for politico-

military or scientific rather than commercial purposes, there was little
relevance in considering a free trade regime with respect to outer space,
space activities or space-based services in any event.

15.1.3 The GATS and the WTO – and Satellite Communications

The above started to change more or less at the same time that the overall
success of the GATT was giving rise to a desire to broaden the general
trade liberalization in the 1990s. That desire resulted most prominently in
1994 in the agreement on a similar framework regime for trade in
services to complement the trade in goods, the General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS),11 and an agreement to underpin and institu-
tionalize the whole range of trade liberalization efforts by establishing a
proper intergovernmental organization, the World Trade Organization
(WTO).12
The 1990s also witnessed a major paradigm change in telecommuni-
cations, including satellite communications, at least in the developed
countries, moving away from a government-dominated public service
environment to a private-enterprise-oriented commercial business envir-
onment.13 For the first time consequently questions arose as to the

11
General Agreement on Trade in Services (hereafter GATS), Marrakesh,
done 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995; 1869 UNTS 183; UKTS
1996 No. 58; Cm. 3276; ATS 1995 No. 8. See further e.g. Jackson, supra n. 2,
306–10; M. Krajewski, General Agreement on Trade in Services (1994), in The
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IV
(2012), 323–34; Bhala, supra n. 1, 1539 ff.; Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3,
1242–70; Guzman & Pauwelyn, supra n. 3, 553 ff.
12
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (hereafter WTO
Agreement), Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995;
1867 UNTS 154; UKTS 1996 No. 57; ATS 1995 No. 8; 33 ILM 1125, 1144
(1994). See generally Jackson, supra n. 2, 44 ff.; further e.g. Stoll, supra n. 4,
968 ff.; Bhala, supra n. 1, 27–43; Guzman & Pauwelyn, supra n. 3, 80 ff.;
Saitoh, supra n. 1, 323–4.
13
See e.g. P.K. McCormick, Neo-Liberalism: A Contextual Framework for
Assessing the Privatisation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations, in The
Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCor-
mick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 1–34; also M.J. Mechanick, The Role and
Function of Residual International Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations
Following Privatisation, in The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite
Organisations (Eds. P.K. McCormick & M.J. Mechanick) (2013), 176–81; F.
Lyall, Law and Space Telecommunications (1989), 421 ff.; I. Walden, Telecom-
munications Law and Regulation: An Introduction, in Telecommunications Law

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818 Handbook of space law

desirability, feasibility and likelihood of achieving liberalization in the

trade in those telecommunication services, originally comprising a
government-exclusive and domestically fenced-off economic sector.
This also raised the issue for the first time as to what extent other
space activities becoming of economic and commercial importance might
(have to) be subjected to the general international trade liberalization
promoted in the GATT, GATS and WTO context. Notably this concerned
launching, more tentatively satellite remote sensing and satellite naviga-
tion, in the near future perhaps private commercial spaceflight – all the
while noting that in none of those sectors, so far, has any such discussion
given rise to actual and formal involvement of GATT, GATS and the
WTO.
Before those processes, and any resulting legal regimes, are addressed,
however, it is appropriate to first address the general aspects of the
GATT, GATS and WTO regimes as they developed without much thought
being given to any possible application in the context of space activities
or space-based products or services.

15.2 THE GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE GATT, GATS

AND WTO REGIMES
15.2.1 The Framework: GATT, GATS and WTO

As already indicated, the GATT and then GATS, as underpinned by the

institutional framework established by way of the WTO, provide for a
framework regime directing global trade in products and services to
become ever more liberalized by way of positing a handful of funda-
mental legal principles and legal and institutional mechanisms, as well as
mechanisms to sort out trade disputes that will inevitably arise in view of
the crucial role of international trade in the international community.

15.2.1.1 The WTO Agreement: The essentials

Formally, within the international trade regime thus established the WTO
Agreement now constitutes the overarching document at the highest
level, as ‘[t]he WTO shall provide the common institutional framework

and Regulation (Ed. I. Walden) (3rd edn., 2009), 9–11; more generally C. Venet,
The Economic Dimension, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law (Eds. C.
Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 55 ff.; E. Walter, The Privatisation and
Commercialisation of Outer Space, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law
(Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 493–9.

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International trade aspects of space services 819

for the conduct of trade relations among its Members in matters related
to the agreements and associated legal instruments included in the
Annexes to this Agreement’.14 At a second level, there is a set of
agreements referred to as ‘Multilateral Trade Agreements’, which ‘are
integral parts of this Agreement, binding on all Members’ as annexes to
the WTO Agreement.15 The first three, dealing with substantive trade law
principles and rules, are the GATT in a revised version (labelled GATT
1994, as Annex 1A),16 the GATS (as Annex 1B) and the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agree-
ment, as Annex 1C).17 In addition, two procedural annexes also belong to
these Multilateral Trade Agreements: Annex 2, the Understanding on
Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, and Annex
3, the Trade Policy Review Mechanism.18
At a third level, and formally incorporated in the WTO Agreement
even though they ‘do not create either obligations or rights for Members
that have not accepted them’ but are only binding upon ‘those Members
that have accepted them’, the ‘Plurilateral Trade Agreements’ come into

14
Art. II(1), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12. Cf. further e.g. Stoll, supra n. 4,
971 ff.; Bhala, supra n. 1, 34–5.
15
Art. II(2), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
16
See Art. II(4), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12. Actually, GATT 1994
comprises GATT 1947 as amended plus 12 Agreements dealing with specific
subjects: Agriculture, Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,
Textiles and Clothing, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade-Related Investment
Measures, Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994 (on dumping),
Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994 (on customs valuation),
Preshipment Inspection, Rules of Origin, Import Licensing Procedures, Subsidies
and Countervailing Measures, and Safeguards; see List of Annexes, WTO
Agreement. Cf. specifically on the GATT 1994 e.g. Benedek, supra n. 2, 315–6.
17
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(hereafter TRIPS Agreement), Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered into force
1 January 1995; 1869 UNTS 299; UKTS 1996 No. 10; Cm. 3046; ATS 1995 No.
38. See further e.g. Jackson, supra n. 2, 310–3; Guzman & Pauwelyn, supra n. 3,
589 ff.; Bhala, supra n. 1, 1611 ff.; T.N. Srinavan, The TRIPS Agreement, in The
Political Economy of International Trade Law (Eds. D.L.M. Kennedy & J.D.
Southwick) (2002), 343–7; on its application in the satellite communications
context e.g. P.A. Salin, Satellite Communications Regulations in the Early 21st
Century (2000), 76–81; in great detail K.H. Böckstiegel, P. Krämer & I. Polley,
Patent Protection for the Operation of Telecommunication Satellite Systems in
Outer Space?, 47 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1998), 3–17, 166–78;
on the TRW case e.g. S. Mosteshar, Satellite Constellation Patent Claim, 4
Telecommunications and Space Journal (1997), 251–5, also supra § 8.2.5.4.
18
See Art. II(2), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12, cf. also Art. III(2), (3).

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play.19 Annex 4 currently lists four of these, of which only the Agreement
on Government Procurement could be implicated in the context of space
activities.20
Whilst the Multilateral Trade Agreements are ‘binding upon all Mem-
bers’, it should be pointed out that the WTO Agreement effectively
provides for an opt-out clause for individual WTO member states from
such agreements, available at the moment of a state becoming a member
of the WTO.21 The main difference between Multilateral and Plurilateral
Trade Agreements therefore – apart from their focus on overarching
structural regimes and substantive sectors respectively – is more a matter
of the default position being the opposite in the two cases than of a
fundamental difference in the appreciation of state sovereignty. In both
cases sovereign discretion ultimately rules whether a state will be bound
by a particular regime – where newly joining member states have an
opt-out possibility whilst the WTO members in the Uruguay Round,
following a single package approach, had to join virtually all agreements
with the exception of the Plurilateral Trade Agreements.
It is the main function of the WTO as an organization to ‘facilitate the
implementation, administration and operation, and further the objectives,
of this Agreement and of the Multilateral Trade Agreements, and … also
[to] provide the framework for the implementation, administration and
operation of the Plurilateral Trade Agreements’.22 Thus, the WTO

shall provide the forum for negotiations among its Members concerning their
multilateral trade relations in matters dealt with under the agreements in the
Annexes to this Agreement. The WTO may also provide a forum for further
negotiations among its Members concerning their multilateral trade relations,

19
Art. II(3), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
20
Agreement on Government Procurement, Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994,
entered into force 1 January 1996; 1915 UNTS 103; UKTS 1996 No. 53; see
also J. Boucher & J.F. Dennin, 1996 WTO Agreement on Government Procure-
ment, in Law & Practice of the World Trade Organization (Ed. J.F. Dennin),
Booklet E, Release 95-4 (1995), 1–14. The other three Plurilateral Trade
Agreements listed in Annex 4 are the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, the
International Dairy Agreement and the International Bovine Meat Agreement.
Meanwhile, agreements on financial services, shipping and telecommunications
(as to the latter, see further infra, § 15.4.2) have been added.
21
See Art. XIII, WTO Agreement, supra n. 12; cf. also B. Hindley, What
Subjects Are Suitable for WTO Agreement?, in The Political Economy of
International Trade Law (Eds. D.L.M. Kennedy & J.D. Southwick) (2002),
158–60.
22
Art. III(1), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.

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International trade aspects of space services 821

and a framework for the implementation of the results of such negotiations, as

may be decided by the Ministerial Conference.23

This function applies to all five Multilateral Trade Agreements and, as

applicable, to the Plurilateral Trade Agreements. It also would obviously
provide the baseline for any addressing of space sectors through the
WTO framework regime currently not so addressed – once sufficient
political and economic will had developed. With respect to the dispute
settlement procedures of Annex 2 and the trade policy review mechan-
isms the WTO is specifically charged to administer them, in order to
achieve a major level of transparency.24
This then finally brings analysis to a fourth level. This concerns
agreements which provide the bulk of the substantive trade regimes, by
applying – following the negotiations in such Ministerial Conferences as
mentioned in this clause or the various ‘Rounds’ referred to earlier – the
above general regime to specific issues or specific sectors (other than the
sector-specific Plurilateral Trade Agreements on civil aircraft, govern-
ment procurement, dairy products and bovine meat products, already
regulated through Annex 4).25

15.2.1.2 The WTO: Institutional aspects

The institutional structure of the WTO is generally similar to that of other
‘classical’ international organizations, with the two highest organs exclu-
sively the domain of sovereign member states26 – and the European
Commission representing the European Union as the exception.27
These organs are the Ministerial Conference, convening at least every
two years and comprised of all member state representatives with the
ultimate authority to ‘carry out the functions of the WTO and take
actions necessary to this effect’ and ‘to take decisions on all matters

23
Art. III(2), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12 (emphasis added).
24
See Art. III(3), (4), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
25
Specific issues concern e.g. trade-related investment measures or rules of
origin; the special sectors thus arranged concern agriculture and textiles and
clothing respectively; see Annex 1A.
26
See further e.g. www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org6_
e.htm, last accessed 26 March 2014.
27
See e.g. P.J. Kuijper, External Relations, in The Law of the European
Union and the European Communities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn.,
2008), 1304–5, ff.; Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3, 198–239; P.L.H. Van den
Bossche, The European Community and the Uruguay Round Agreements, in
Implementing the Uruguay Round (Eds. J.H. Jackson & A.O. Sykes) (1997),
23–6.

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822 Handbook of space law

under any of the Multilateral Trade Agreements’,28 and the General

Council, equally representing all member states running the WTO as
between Ministerial Conferences.29 The General Council inter alia
guides the activities of three Councils for the three substantive Multi-
lateral Trade Agreements: the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council
for Trade in Services and the Council for TRIPS, in charge of overseeing
the functioning of the three respective agreements.30
Assisting the Ministerial Conferences and the General Council is the
third, ‘standard’ organ of intergovernmental organizations, the Secre-
tariat, headed by a Director-General.31 Also, along traditional lines of
functional immunities,

[t]he responsibilities of the Director-General and of the staff of the Secretariat

shall be exclusively international in character. In the discharge of their duties,
the Director-General and the staff of the Secretariat shall not seek or accept
instructions from any government or any other authority external to the WTO.
They shall refrain from any action which might adversely reflect on their
position as international officials. The Members of the WTO shall respect the
international character of the responsibilities of the Director-General and of
the staff of the Secretariat and shall not seek to influence them in the
discharge of their duties.32

Thus, the Secretariat as well as other organs of the WTO benefit from
legal personality, privileges and immunities in the same vein as those to
be accorded by the member states to the organization.33

15.2.1.3 The WTO Agreement: The dispute settlement procedures

One of the major flaws of the GATT system as it had operated since
1947 was the lack of a coherent and overarching mechanism for the
settlement of disputes on any international trade issues coming up in that
context.34 The institutionalization of the global trade regime by way of

28
Art. IV(1), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12; further e.g. Bhala & Kennedy,
supra n. 3, 16–7.
29
See Art. IV(2)–(4), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
30
See Art. IV(5), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12; further e.g. Bhala &
Kennedy, supra n. 3, 17–9.
31
See Art. VI(1), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12; further e.g. Bhala &
Kennedy, supra n. 3, 19.
32
Art. VI(4), WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
33
See Art. VIII, WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
34
See extensively Jackson, supra n. 1, 111–92; also Guzman & Pauwelyn,
supra n. 3, 84; Bhala, supra n. 1, 143 ff.; further M.L. Busch & E. Reinhardt,
Testing International Trade Law: Empirical Studies of GATT/WTO Dispute

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International trade aspects of space services 823

establishment of the WTO offered an excellent opportunity to address

also this major problem. Consequently, as indicated, partisanship to the
WTO Agreement entailed also acceptance of the dispute settlement
procedures offered by its Annex 2.
This system consisted of a system of ‘escalating’ dispute settlement
mechanisms, starting with consultation and then moving up through
panels, the Appellate Body and ultimately a Dispute Settlement Body
(DSB), where, however, parties may also decide on arbitration.35 Whilst
certainly constituting a major step forward compared to the pre-WTO
situation, the WTO dispute settlement regime continues to suffer from a
few shortcomings when viewed in the overall context of a global
commercial sector, still being unable to fully address one key character-
istic of the global trade arena: that most stakeholders by now are private
companies actually undertaking the trade activities at issue.
Firstly, the regime does not (necessarily) give rise to a binding solution
imposed by a neutral third party, although it comes rather close by
‘creating a reverse consensus rule that maintains arbitral or appellate
decisions unless a consensus vote rejects them’.36 Whilst Annex 2
consistently speaks of ‘recommendations and rulings’37 of the DSB,
suggesting the former would be non-binding as different from the latter,
this is nowhere explicitly stated – rulings, once adopted (which is
essentially automatic), are legally binding at the international level.38
When trade disputes concern multi-million dollar issues for categories of
private commercial companies having to operate in a multi-government-
regulated environment, possibilities of avoiding binding dispute settle-
ment would risk being made use of all too often.

Settlement, in The Political Economy of International Trade Law (Eds. D.L.M.

Kennedy & J.D. Southwick) (2002), 457–66; Saitoh, supra n. 1, 324–6.
35
Annex 2, WTO Agreement, supra n. 12, further to Art. III(3) provides for
this dispute settlement system. See Art. 4, Annex 2, on consultations; Art. 5 on
good offices, conciliation and mediation; Arts. 6–16 and 18–19 on panels; Arts.
17–19 on the Appellate Body; Arts. 20–24 on the Dispute Settlement Body; and
Art. 25 on arbitration. See further e.g. Guzman & Pauwelyn, supra n. 3, 115–64;
I. Walden, International Telecommunications Law, in Telecommunications Law
and Regulation (Ed. I. Walden) (3rd edn., 2009), 756–9.
36
G. Goh, Dispute Settlement in International Space Law (2007), 212.
37
See Art. 21, Annex 2, WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
38
Cf. e.g. Art. 3, Annex 2, WTO Agreement, supra n. 12, which seems to
skirt the issue, referring to member states ‘affirm[ing] their adherence to the
principles for the management of disputes’ as per Annex 2 (in § (1)) and also
otherwise merely asserting the value of conforming to decisions arising out of
the dispute settlement system.

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824 Handbook of space law

Secondly, the regime does not even formally allow private companies
having issues with a particular WTO-devolving regulation or the inter-
pretation, implementation or application thereof to assert a claim on its
own behalf in the framework of the WTO dispute settlement regime.39
This is of course not surprising given the character of the WTO as a
classical international intergovernmental organization, yet automatically
means many important actors and stakeholders in international trade will
not have direct access to such dispute settlement procedures – and this
analysis also applies squarely to satellite communications, the more so as
space law itself does not even provide for a state-to-state dispute
settlement mechanism, with the exception of the Liability Convention, of
rather limited scope,40 and the – as of yet untested – Permanent Court of
Arbitration (PCA) Rules on Outer Space Disputes.41
Thirdly – and this is perhaps particular to the space communications
environment – the WTO is obviously very focused on trade and commer-
cial aspects. While expertise in those areas as necessary for dispute
settlement will in principle be broadly available, many potential other
important angles to a trade and commerce dispute involving satellite
communications, such as the technical/operational,42 politico-security and
social approaches, might easily be left out of the considerations or treated
insufficiently or incorrectly – unless of course panels or parties would
actively involve appropriate experts themselves.

39
Cf. e.g. Art. 3, esp. (2), (3), (7), Annex 2, WTO Agreement, supra n. 12.
See also e.g. P. Cowhey & M.M. Klimenko, The WTO Agreement on Basic
Telecommunications Services and Its Implications for Developing and Transition
Economies, IR/PS Policy report No. 99-06, 1999, University of California, 7, at
n. 4; cf. further Jackson, supra n. 2, esp. 127 ff.; Jackson, supra n. 1, 133 ff.
40
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29 March
1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762; 24 UST
2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965 (1971).
See further infra, § 19.1.3; also supra, § 2.3.3.7, § 2.3.3.8.
41
Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space
Activities (Rules on Outer Space Disputes), The Hague, 6 December 2011,
www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1188, last accessed 2 February 2014.
See further infra, § 19.3.
42
This is of course where in particular the ITU, which also has its
complicated dispute settlement mechanisms, might present a more appropriate
tool for solving international disputes. See e.g. on the ITU in general supra,
§ 8.2, esp. 8.2.2; on the dispute settlement system infra, § 19.2.2.

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International trade aspects of space services 825

15.2.1.4 The GATT and the GATS: The essentials

The GATT deals with the trade in goods43 or products44 which are not
defined by the GATT itself, but could generally be defined as ‘tangible or
movable personal property other than money’ and ‘usu[ally] (1) tangible
personal property, (2) the result of fabrication or processing, and (3) an
item that has passed through a chain of commercial distribution before
ultimate use or consumption’ respectively.45 In other words: it concerns
something tangible, which in the context of, for example, trade can be
measured in distinctly visible units. This is usually broadly interpreted;
for example electricity has also been defined as being a ‘good’.46
When the GATS in 1994 essentially transposed the main elements of
the GATT regime to the context of services, it did not define those as
such either, but only listed the categories of (international) services in
principle subject to its regime, as respectively being

the supply of a service

(a) from the territory of one Member into the territory of any other Member;
(b) in the territory of one Member to the service consumer of any other
Member;
(c) by a service supplier of one Member, through commercial presence in the
territory of any other Member; [or]

43
The term ‘goods’ is used e.g. in § 1, Preamble, GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
44
The term ‘products’ is generally used throughout the operative provisions
of the treaty; see e.g. Arts. I(1), III(1), GATT 1947, supra n. 3. Cf. also Jackson,
supra n. 1, 59–60.
45
Black’s Law Dictionary (9th edn., 2009), 762, 1328; cf. also A. Marsoof,
A Case for Sui Generis Treatment of Software under the WTO Regime, 20
International Journal of Law & Information Technology (2012), 291–3 (‘the term
“goods” presupposes tangibility’, at 293), also 296–304; J. Bhagwati, Economic
Perspective on Trade in Professional Services, in Legal Problems of International
Economic Relations (Eds. J.H. Jackson, W.J. Davey & A.O. Sykes) (4th edn.,
2002), 855–8, focusing on storability and (absence of) user–producer interaction;
Bhala, supra n. 1, 322. Furthermore, it may be noted that under EU law the terms
‘goods’ and ‘products’ are often used interchangeably, goods being defined i.a. as
‘products which can be valued in money and which can be capable, as such, of
forming the subject of commercial transactions’; Case 7/68 Commission v. Italy,
at 428, as quoted by K.J.M. Mortelmans, The Functioning of the Internal Market:
The Freedoms, in The Law of the European Union and the European Com-
munities (Eds. P.J.G. Kapteyn et al.) (4th edn., 2008), 599.
46
See Mortelmans, supra n. 45, 600, quoting jurisprudence of the Court of
Justice of the European Union on the matter. Cf. also Marsoof, 308–9, supra
n. 45, on UN classifications.

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826 Handbook of space law

(d) by a service supplier of one Member, through presence of natural persons

of a Member in the territory of any other Member.47

The GATS excludes ‘services supplied in the exercise of governmental

authority’, the latter being defined as ‘any service which is supplied
neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more
service suppliers’.48 By that token ‘all services except those supplied in
the exercise of governmental authority and certain air traffic rights … are
covered by the GATS’.49
Obviously there are major differences between international trade in
products and international trade in services.50 The former simply involves
the physical movement of the product from one state to another where
dealing with the passing of borders consequently suffices to arrive at the
desired level of liberalization, whereas the latter requires the above-
mentioned, more complicated fourfold definition:

Services are unlike goods, which can be built by a company in one part of the
world one day, shipped on a boat from another part of the world another day,
only to arrive and be stored to await sale in a warehouse in a third country the
next day. In contrast, services require direct and simultaneous interaction
between the service producer and the service consumer. This is especially true
for telecommunications, as a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development report stated, because the provision of such ‘services
depends on infrastructure which is not mobile across borders. Therefore,
foreign direct investment is required or, alternatively, access to existing
infrastructure on a fair and non-discriminatory basis.’51

47
Art. I(2), GATS, supra n. 11. Usually, those four categories are respec-
tively referred to as cross-border supply, consumption abroad, commercial
presence and presence of natural persons. See again Marsoof, supra n. 45,
293–304; Bhagwati, supra n. 45, 855–8, for the distinction of ‘services’ from
‘goods’.
48
Art. I(3)(b) & (c) respectively, GATS, supra n. 11.
49
Krajewski, supra n. 11, 325.
50
See e.g. Stoll, supra n. 4, 973–8, esp. 977; also Marsoof, supra n. 45,
293–6, 300–4, on the legal differences following therefrom.
51
E. Senunas, The 1997 GATS Agreement on Basic Telecommunications: A
Triumph for Multilateralism, or the Market?, 1997 Boston College Intellectual
Property & Technology Forum, 111401, www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/
articles/content/1997111401.html, last accessed 19 April 2014, sub The Import-
ance and Unique Character of Services, referring i.a. to T.H.E. Stahl,
Liberalizing International Trade in Services: The Case for Sidestepping the
GATT, 19 Yale Journal of International Law (1994), 411, and quoting the
Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy Report

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International trade aspects of space services 827

Consequently,

the unique character of services create exceptional challenges to their

liberalization. By their nature, services often require the transfer across
borders of capital assets – such as construction equipment or telecommunica-
tions networks – and individuals. Such activity logically invites government
regulation. ‘The cross border projections of capital assets and individuals that
international trade in services usually entails often raise political concerns of
national autonomy and sovereignty … which in turn engender a high degree
of trade-inhibiting government regulation.’ An equally challenging aspect of
services is their difficulty to be accurately measured. Since services are less
tangible than goods, and ‘do not necessarily enter and exit countries as
discrete, quantifiable units at convenient customs ports,’ they are more
difficult to measure, which in turn makes negotiating the removal of trade
barriers more difficult. ‘When the values of reciprocal concessions cannot be
quantified or compared … negotiations may degenerate into irrational polit-
ical exercises not conducive to reciprocal reductions of comparable trade
barriers.’52

The fundamental conceptual difference between the two regimes con-

sequently has been summarized as: ‘GATT entails complete trade liber-
alization and applies to all products. Conversely, GATS involves a
positive list approach, whereby Members negotiate commitments to open
and keep open service sectors.’53 Nevertheless, at heart both the GATT
and the GATS, further to the role of the WTO as addressed, take the
same approach to such trade, and hence have most of their major legal
principles and concepts in common – even if not (always) applied to a
similar extent.54
To start with, trade liberalization is generally equated to firstly
breaking down trade barriers at national borders, most simply in the form
of import duties or quantitative trade barriers such as maximum import
quota,55 and secondly levelling the playing field within such national
borders. Increasingly then, it also encompasses more sophisticated instru-
ments to obstruct free trade such as taxes having equivalent effects or

OCDE/GD(95)107, International Telecommunications: A Review of Issues and

Developments, of 17 August 1995, at 14.
52
Senunas, supra n. 51, sub The Importance and Unique Character of
Services; the internal quotations are from Stahl, supra n. 51, 411–3.
53
Marsoof, supra n. 45, 294.
54
See further Marsoof, supra n. 45, 294–300, noting e.g. a major discrep-
ancy in approach as between the United States and the European Union.
55
Cf. already Art. XI, GATT 1947, supra n. 3.

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828 Handbook of space law

legislation using technological, operational, safety or security criteria to

provide obstacles to such free trade.56
A second key element is ‘non-discrimination’: the general conception
that international trade and, indeed, the international community would
be best served by the broad abolishment of favours for specific trade
partners and the introduction of a maximum achievable level of global
non-discrimination in this respect.57 A corollary of non-discrimination in
terms of nationality of producers, service providers and consumers is the
concept of ‘technical neutrality’, whereby the principled requirement not
to promote or favour in any manner one technology over another is
considered another key component of establishing a true level playing
field and a truly liberalized international trade environment.58
Still, as to non-discrimination strictly speaking, usually implicitly but
often explicitly, WTO member states are allowed to go further in the
direction of complete trade liberalization in their national measures
regulating international trade than is formally required under the GATT
and the GATS – these serve as minimum standards of liberalization.59
Indeed, regional and bilateral free trade agreements further developing
baseline GATT and GATS requirements to break down trade barriers
have flourished in the past two decades, now numbering over 400, such
that roughly half of world trade now occurs at preferential (that is better
than MFN) rates.60 This is important, for example, when addressing
regional arrangements effectively discriminating in their trade

56
See e.g. Stoll, supra n. 4, 972–3.
57
See e.g. Stoll, supra n. 4, 972; Krajewski, supra n. 11, 326–7; also
www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/26-gats_02_e.htm#anntel, last accessed 26
March 2014; at n. 15 specifically on telecommunications: ‘The term “non-
discriminatory” is understood to refer to most-favoured-nation and national
treatment as defined in the Agreement, as well as to reflect sector-specific usage
of the term to mean “terms and conditions no less favourable than those accorded
to any other user of like public telecommunications transport networks or
services under like circumstances”’.
58
See e.g. Marsoof, supra n. 45, 297–300.
59
Cf. also e.g. Art. XIX(4), GATS, supra n. 11, on ‘progressive liberaliz-
ation’ by way of the international trade negotiation rounds referred to supra,
§ 15.1.2.
60
See e.g. www.wto.org/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl46_e.htm, last accessed
26 March 2014.

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International trade aspects of space services 829

liberalization by allowing regional partners liberalized access to their

markets beyond that agreed on a global scale.61

15.2.2 The Key Substantive Elements of the GATT and GATS

Regimes

15.2.2.1 The most favoured nation (MFN) clauses

One of the cornerstones of international trade liberalization is the
treatment enshrined in MFN clauses, a specific economic form of
‘non-discrimination’ which imposes an obligation to treat any external
trade partner and its companies no worse than it treats its ‘most-favoured
nation’ and its companies.62 In the terminology of the GATT:

With respect to customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in

connection with importation or exportation or imposed on the international
transfer of payments for imports or exports, and with respect to the method of
levying such duties and charges, and with respect to all rules and formalities
in connection with importation and exportation, and with respect to all
matters referred to in paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article III, any advantage, favour,
privilege or immunity granted by any contracting party to any product
originating in or destined for any other country shall be accorded immediately
and unconditionally to the like product originating in or destined for the
territories of all other contracting parties.63

The trade liberalization of products under the GATT, in other words,

essentially operates per product or category of products, and what
products are subjected to which levels of, for example, maximum
allowable import and export duties, is to be further regulated in subse-
quent agreements and arrangements such as notably those arrived at
during the international trade Rounds.

61
This especially concerns the European Union, where in many respects,
including satellite communications, pro-free trade legislation has moved consid-
erably farther than on a global scale. See further supra, esp. § 4.3.2; cf. also
Jackson, supra n. 1, 99–109; Van den Bossche, supra n. 27, 23 ff.
62
The MFN principle is also found in the TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17;
see Art. 4. Further Senunas, supra n. 51, sub Multilateral Ideas in the GATS, on
the ‘free-rider problem’ which results from the unconditional application of the
MFN clause, i.e. also vis-à-vis states themselves not offering similar levels of
liberalized access.
63
Art. I(1), GATT 1947, supra n. 3. See further Jackson, supra n. 2,
157–73; Jackson, supra n. 1, 58–63; Benedek, supra n. 2, 316–7; Bhala, supra
n. 1, 321–48; Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3, 60–78; Guzman & Pauwelyn, supra
n. 3, 287–314.

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In the GATS this is phrased as follows: ‘With respect to any measure

covered by this Agreement, each Member shall accord immediately and
unconditionally to services and service suppliers of any other Member
treatment no less favourable than that it accords to like services and
service suppliers of any other country.’64 In other words, ‘Art. II GATS
prohibits the discrimination of services and service suppliers from
different foreign countries if they can be considered [a] “like” [ser-
vice]’.65
Exemptions from this straightforward regime are possible, but under
the GATT only if preferences as between various foreign states do not
exceed certain levels66 and under the GATS only as far as allowed by the
Annex on Article II Exemptions.67 Nevertheless, the latter present an
important deviation from the otherwise mandatory and unconditional
application of the MFN clause in the context of services.68
Both GATT and GATS provide further clauses on details of
implementation, such as distinguishing (prohibited) import duties from
(allowable) ‘fees or other charges commensurate with the cost of services
rendered’,69 exemption on local cross-border services,70 as well as more
general measures regarding transparency71 – necessary to allow consist-
ent monitoring of compliance with the GATT and GATS – or the
disclosure of confidential information which may sometimes be called
for.72

15.2.2.2 The National Treatment (NT) clauses

The second major substantive principle enshrined in the GATT and the
GATS (as well as the TRIPS Agreement73) is in essence going one step
further than the MFN clauses in applying non-discrimination: under the
concept of NT, discrimination between foreign providers of products or
services and national providers of the same goods and services respec-
tively is in principle now also outlawed. As this applies only once a
product, service or item subject to intellectual property has entered the

64
Art. II(1), GATS, supra n. 11. See also e.g. Marsoof, supra n. 45, 296.
65
Krajewski, supra n. 11, 326–7.
66
Cf. Art. I(2), (4), GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
67
See Art. II(2), GATS, supra n. 11; also Krajewski, supra n. 11, 327.
68
See Senunas, supra n. 51, sub Multilateral Ideas in the GATS.
69
Art. II(2) (c), GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
70
See Art. II(3), GATS, supra n. 11.
71
See Art. III, GATS, supra n. 11.
72
See Art. III bis, GATS, supra n. 11.
73
See Art. 3, TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17.

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national market, charging customs duties on importation as such does not

constitute a violation of NT even if locally produced products are not
charged an equivalent duty: it is after having entered a specific national
market that foreign goods are entitled to be treated equal to domestic
goods.
Under the GATT, this principle was applied nominally to internal
regulation:

The contracting parties recognize that internal taxes and other internal
charges, and laws, regulations and requirements affecting the internal sale,
offering for sale, purchase, transportation, distribution or use of products, and
internal quantitative regulations requiring the mixture, processing or use of
products in specified amounts or proportions, should not be applied to
imported or domestic products so as to afford protection to domestic
production.74

Its effect, in practice, essentially covered all opportunities for govern-

ments to try and favour domestic providers of products as against foreign
providers of the same or like products. Likewise also with respect to
taxation,

[t]he products of the territory of any contracting party imported into the
territory of any other contracting party shall not be subject, directly or
indirectly, to internal taxes or other internal charges of any kind in excess of
those applied, directly or indirectly, to like domestic products. Moreover, no
contracting party shall otherwise apply internal taxes or other internal charges
to imported or domestic products in a manner contrary to the principles set
forth in paragraph 1.75

Once again, the actual treatment of both domestic and foreign goods
under this regime depended upon further agreements and arrangements
dealing with specific (categories of) goods as per the various inter-
national trade Rounds.
Prima facie, the same approach was applied by the GATS to services,
as ‘each Member shall accord to services and service suppliers of any
other Member, in respect of all measures affecting the supply of services,
treatment no less favourable than that it accords to its own like services

74
Art. III(1), GATT 1947. See further Jackson, supra n. 2, 213–28;
Benedek, supra n. 2, 317; Bhala, supra n. 1, 373–414; Bhala & Kennedy, supra
n. 3, 90–105; Guzman & Pauwelyn, supra n. 3, 225–85.
75
Art. III(2), GATT 1947, supra n. 3.

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and service suppliers’.76 However, as compared to the GATT this

approach was actually prefaced by the phrase ‘[i]n the sectors inscribed
in its Schedule, and subject to any conditions and qualifications set out
therein’.77 This meant that NT was not a general obligation ipso facto
stemming from WTO and GATS membership but was dependent on
market access as per Schedules of Specific Commitments being offered
per sector.78
Once NT applies, WTO member states are allowed to deviate from
such an obligation of non-discrimination only by actually favouring
foreign service providers.79 Likewise, they are also in this context entitled
to do more in the direction of lowering of trade barriers than the
minimum required by the GATS: ‘Members may negotiate commitments
with respect to measures affecting trade in services not subject to
scheduling under Articles XVI or XVII, including those regarding
qualifications, standards or licensing matters.’80

15.2.2.3 Schedules of Concessions and Commitment

Since the GATT and the GATS posit the general principles of MFN and
NT to be applied in the context of obstacles to international trade without
specifying substantive liberalization measures to be taken in accordance
therewith for (categories of) products and services, this role falls to the
so-called ‘Schedules of Concessions’ (for the GATT) and ‘Schedules of
Commitment’ (for the GATS) respectively.81
The GATT Schedules of Concessions apply MFN treatment to (the
relevant categories of) products (‘commerce’) from other states by setting
maximum levels of allowable ‘ordinary customs duties’ and ‘all other
duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in connection with the
importation’.82
For the GATS, Schedules of Commitment determine the level of access
to foreign markets that service providers are to be allowed under the
MFN principle for specific service sectors, including lists of types of

76
Art. XVII(1), GATS, supra n. 11. See also e.g. Marsoof, supra n. 45,
295–6.
77
Art. XVII(1), GATS, supra n. 11.
78
See Krajewski, 326–9, supra n. 11.
79
See Art. XVII(2), (3), GATS, supra n. 11.
80
Art. XVIII, GATS, supra n. 11.
81
See again e.g. Krajewski, supra n. 11, 328 ff.; Bhala & Kennedy, supra
n. 3, 1256 ff.
82
Art. III(1)(b), (c), GATT 1947, supra n. 3.

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International trade aspects of space services 833

services where individual states can opt out of applying MFN treat-
ment.83 ‘Access to foreign markets’ here is then further subdivided along
the lines of the fourfold categorization of services into cross-border
supply, consumption abroad, commercial presence and presence of
natural persons, as per Article I(2) of the GATS.84
The GATS, however, also allows states to go one step further and
apply NT to the service sector by way of specific commitments: ‘With
respect to market access through the modes of supply identified in Article
I, each Member shall accord services and service suppliers of any other
Member treatment no less favourable than that provided for under the
terms, limitations and conditions agreed and specified in its Schedule.’85
Further liberalization is then to be achieved by way of additional and
specific commitments:

Each Member shall set out in a schedule the specific commitments it

undertakes under Part III of this Agreement. With respect to sectors where
such commitments are undertaken, each Schedule shall specify:
(a) terms, limitations and conditions on market access;
(b) conditions and qualifications on national treatment;
(c) undertakings relating to additional commitments;
(d) where appropriate the time-frame for implementation of such commit-
ments; and
(e) the date of entry into force of such commitments.86

Whilst it remains possible for sovereign states also to withdraw conces-

sions earlier agreed upon through the GATT, GATS and Schedules of
Concessions and Commitment, the treaties at least require an extended
procedure allowing other affected states to exert strong pressure, even use
arbitration in certain cases, to try and prevent a member state from taking
such a unilateral anti-liberalization measure.87

83
See Art. II(1) & (2) respectively, GATS, supra n. 11.
84
See also supra, text at n. 47.
85
Art. XVI(1), GATS, supra n. 11; see § (2) for detailed obligations for
compliance with NT in this respect.
86
Art. XX, GATS, supra n. 11; see also Arts. XVII, XVIII. See infra,
§ 15.4.3, for the specific example of commitments regarding telecommunica-
tions.
87
See esp. Art. XXI(2), (3), GATS, supra n. 11.

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834 Handbook of space law

15.2.2.4 Exceptions
With regard to application of MFN, exceptions are allowed within the
strict boundaries of the treaties.88 Such exceptions are made explicit,
especially in the GATT,89 as the basic commitment is to apply MFN
and/or NT across the board, whereas the Schedules of Commitment
under the GATS by their nature already allow for more individual
variation in the acceptance of certain obligations.90
Most importantly also from a space perspective, states can be parties to
(usually regional) free trade or economic integration agreements which
allow preferential conditions to goods produced within the member
states, thus discriminating against goods coming from third states.91 The
most ‘famous’ example is the European Union having developed out of
the European (Economic) Community and its core foundational concept
of the ‘Common Market’,92 but other notable free trade areas concern the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),93 the Latin American
Mercosur/Mercosul,94 the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA),95 the Com-
mon Market for Eastern and Central Southern Africa (COMESA),96 the

88
See Annex on Article II Exemptions, GATS, supra n. 11; also e.g. Bhala,
supra n. 1, 337–40; Senunas, supra n. 51, sub Multilateral Ideals in the GATS.
89
See esp. Arts. XIV, XX, GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
90
See Krajewski, supra n. 11, e.g. 331–2.
91
Cf. Benedek, supra n. 2, 317; S. von Schorlemer, Telecommunications,
International Regulation, in The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public Inter-
national Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IX (2012), 837–8.
92
See further supra, § 4.3. Actually, the European Union is the only one
among these organizations which has started (relatively recently) to become
substantively involved in issues of outer space and space activities.
93
North American Free Trade Agreement, San Antonio, done 17 December
1992, entered into force 1 January 1994; 32 ILM 289 (1993); see further
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement, last ac-
cessed 26 March 2014.
94
Treaty Establishing a Common Market between the Argentine Republic,
the Federal Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Paraguay and the Eastern
Republic of Uruguay, Asunción, done 26 March 1991, entered into force 29
November 1991; 30 ILM 1042 (1991); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Mercosur, last accessed 26 March 2014.
95
Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the
ASEAN Free Trade Area, Singapore, done 28 January 1992, entered into force
28 January 1992; 31 ILM 506 (1992); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
ASEAN_Free_Trade_Area, last accessed 26 March 2014.
96
Agreement Establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa (COMESA), Kampala, done 5 November 1993, entered into force 8

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International trade aspects of space services 835

Southern African Development Community (SADC)97 and the Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC).98 Also several special regimes, being
exempted from the general non-discrimination requirement of MFN,
allow for preferential trade agreements with (groups of) developing
states, often related to historical ties from the colonialist eras.99
More specific exemptions can be invoked when a state wishes to raise
barriers against products that are considered to be traded unfairly from
specific countries – called ‘dumping’;100 when national security issues
are at stake;101 in cases of serious threats to economic survival of
domestic producers;102 or in cases of severe balance of payment prob-
lems.103

15.2.3 GATT, GATS, the WTO and Outer Space Activities and
Applications

The international trade regime provided by GATT, GATS and WTO

summarily sketched above is generally applicable to all sectors of the
global economy, all goods and all services somehow brought within its
scope, through Plurilateral Trade Agreements or Schedules of Conces-
sions or Commitment. There is, thus, no inherent reason why space
activities, as long as not of (purely or overwhelming) politico-military-
strategic or scientific character, could not be subjected to this regime as
well104 – while it does, obviously, in the WTO framework require

December 1994; 33 ILM 1067 (1994); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Common_Market_for_Eastern_and_Southern_Africa, last accessed 26 March
2014.
97
Treaty of the Southern African Development Community, Windhoek,
done 17 August 1992, entered into force 30 September 1993; 32 ILM 116
(1993); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_African_Development_
Community, last accessed 26 March 2014.
98
As per the Charter establishing the Cooperation Council for the Arab
States of the Gulf, Abu Dhabi, done 25 May 1981, entered into force 11
November 1981; 26 ILM 1131 (1987); see further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Cooperation_Council_for_the_Arab_States_of_the_Gulf, last accessed 26 March
2014.
99
See e.g. Benedek, supra n. 2, 318, on the GATT.
100
Cf. also Art. VI, GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
101
Cf. Art. XXI, GATT 1947, supra n. 3; also Stoll, supra n. 4, 980.
102
Cf. Art. XIX, GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
103
See Art. XII, GATT 1947, supra n. 3; also Stoll, supra n. 4, 980–1.
104
Cf. again e.g. Venet, supra n. 13, 56 ff.; Walter, supra n. 13, 502–3.

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political will to arrive at a specific agreement to so include (a particular

sector of) space activities.
If economic size and international economic interdependency (of
markets, consumers and producers, and traders) are the key criteria for
becoming eligible for inclusion in the WTO’s international trade frame-
work regime, there would presently be at least four sectors of space
activities and closely related space applications where such a case could
be made (with a fifth possibly around the corner): launching, satellite
communications, satellite remote sensing and satellite navigation, plus
private commercial spaceflight. Yet, in only one of those has such an
inclusion taken place to any fundamental extent: the satellite communi-
cation sector. For a full picture of how international trade regimes
actually as well as potentially impact the space sector, however, it is still
interesting to address all five space sectors mentioned above.

15.3 LAUNCH SERVICES: INTERNATIONAL TRADE

REGIME ISSUES
15.3.1 The Commercialization of International Launch Services
and the TCI Case

As evidenced by such key events as the establishment in 1980 of

Arianespace in Europe, a private company mandated to market the Ariane
launch vehicle and offer launch services on a commercial basis,105 and
the enunciation of the first version of the Commercial Space Launch Act
in the United States in 1984,106 in the late 1970s to early 1980s prospects
arose for a global commercial market for launch services.107

105
As per the Statuts de la Société Arianespace, 26 March 1980; see further
supra, § 4.2.6.1. Cf. also C. Baudin, A Brief History of the Ariane Programme
and its Evolving Legal Infrastructure, 24 Air & Space Law (1999), 62–9; N.
Horsley, The Arianespace Monopoly, EU Competition Law, and the Structure of
Future European Launch Markets, 30 Air & Space Law (2005), 87 ff.; K.
Iserland, Ten Years of Arianespace, 6 Space Policy (1990), 341–3.
106
Commercial Space Launch Act, Public Law 98-575, 98th Congress, H.R.
3942, 30 October 1984; 98 Stat. 3055; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.III.3; see further supra, § 3.3.1.1; § 12.3.4.2.
107
See in greater detail supra, § 7.5.4. Also e.g. R.W. Scott, The Challenge
to Commercial Space Transportation in the 21st Century, 24 Journal of Space
Law (1996), 152 ff.; J. Scarborough, Free Trade and the Commercial Launch
Industry, 8 Space Policy (1992), 109–10; Venet, supra n. 13, 56–8, 64–5; Walter,
supra n. 13, 496–9.

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International trade aspects of space services 837

Almost immediately also a first dispute over fair trade in this area
arose: the US private launch services provider Transpace Carriers Inc.
(TCI) filed a complaint on 25 May 1984 against Arianespace, charging
the latter of being grossly subsidized by the European Space Agency
(ESA) and its member states.108 Notably, all research and development
costs for the Ariane vehicle were borne by the majority of ESA member
states as these participated in the Ariane programme.109
Vigorous opposition on the side of the ESA delegation in the ensuing
bilateral trade negotiations, backed by the Commission of the then-
European Communities, forestalled the application of stringent US meas-
ures under Section 301 of the US Trade Act.110 A major argument on the
European side referred to the closure of the US governmental satellite
market to anyone other than US launch service providers, providing US
private operators with a captive market and a major anchor tenant.111
Whilst there was a mirror-wise tendency on the side of the ESA member
states to favour ‘their’ Ariane rocket for any launch of a European space
object, contrary to the US case this was not legally mandatory – and the

108
See on this case e.g. extensively H.P. van Fenema, The International
Trade in Launch Services (1999), 79–86; J. Krige, The Commercial Challenge to
Arianespace: The TCI Affair, 15 Space Policy (1999), 87–94.
109
The Ariane programme was an optional programme under Art. V(1)(b),
Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Agency (ESA Conven-
tion), Paris, done 30 May 1975, entered into force 30 October 1980; UKTS 1981
No. 30; Cmnd. 8200; 14 ILM 864 (1975); Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
C.I.1. See further on this supra, §§ 4.2.2–4.2.5; also e.g. Horsley, supra n. 105,
98–107; B.C. Lai, National Subsidies in the International Launch Market, 9
Space Policy (1993), 23–5.
110
The US Trade Act, of 1974, as amended by the Trade Agreements Act of
1979; 19 U.S.C. 2411. Sec. 301, provides that the US President can ‘take all
appropriate and feasible action within his power’ to enforce the rights of the
United States under any trade agreement, or to respond to unreasonable or
discriminatory trade practices harmful to the United States. See further Van
Fenema, supra n. 108, 80–2; Krige, supra n. 108, 89–90; A. Hansson & S.
McGuire, Commercial Space and International Trade Rules: An Assessment of
the WTO’s Influence on the Sector, 15 Space Policy (1999), 203–4.
111
Cf. e.g. Horsley, supra n. 105, 99–100; Lai, supra n. 109, 19–23.
Interestingly, in aircraft manufacturing a similar dispute raged – and remains
essentially unsolved to this day: US manufacturers being protected by a strong
‘Buy America’ policy with the US government as exclusive anchor tenant; the
sole European competitor a multi-national effort with many research and
development costs defrayed by government subsidies.

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size of the European governmental satellite market was considerably

smaller than that of the US one at that.112
In the Memorandum of 17 July 1985 concluding this particular
dispute, the US President acknowledged the arguments brought forward
in defence by the European delegation. Yet, he reserved the right to
‘approach other interested nations and reach an international understand-
ing on guidelines for commercial satellite launch services at some point
in the future’.113 So, in spite of launch vehicles inter alia constituting the
closest thing to rockets and missiles, and consequently security issues
being very prominent and closely intertwined with more commercial
ones,114 the scene was set for approaching launch services as at least
partly a commercial business, as compared to its traditional character as a
government service.115 With the WTO and the GATS yet to be estab-
lished at the time, the services properly speaking could not even in theory
benefit from the global liberalization efforts in those contexts, but the
trade in launchers for the purpose of offering the services could – again,
at least in theory – have been made subject to a GATT approach in
conformity with the system discussed above, had key stakeholders been
willing to so consider.

15.3.2 Towards an International Trade Regime in Launch Services?

As long as the only competitors were a few US and one European launch
service providers, the general tensions referred to above could still be
solved through bilateral negotiations between two, in terms of economic
systems roughly comparable, economic powers. This, however, changed
fundamentally when China’s Great Wall Industrial Corporation (GWIC),
established in 1980 as a government entity, started to offer its launch
services to foreign satellite operators in 1985 and the Soviet Union fell
apart a few years later, causing the heritage of the Soviet space

112
Cf. Van Fenema, supra n. 108, 289–97; also supra, § 7.5.3.
113
Determination under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, Memorandum
for the U.S. Trade Representative of July 17, 1985; 50 Fed. Reg. 29631 (July 22,
1985); see also Van Fenema, supra n. 108, 82; Lai, supra n. 109, 25; Krige,
supra n. 108, 92–4.
114
Cf. also e.g. Venet, supra n. 13, 62–3; extensively H.R. Hertzfeld & R.L.
Jones, International Aspects of Technology Controls, in Outer Space in Society,
Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 638–59.
115
See e.g. Hansson & McGuire, supra n. 110, 200–3, on the role of
governments, including the issue of subsidies.

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International trade aspects of space services 839

programme, in particular in Russia and Ukraine, to start looking for

global – read largely Western – clients to remain in business.116
In both cases, with financing and control structures of the (former)
government operators being rather non-transparent and labour costs being
considerably below Western standards, fears arose in the Western world
that Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian launchers would undercut their
global market shares by offering services at a much lower price.117 As the
United States controlled the satellite manufacturing industry, the major
clients of the launch providers, and held the politico-economic power to
that extent whereas its private launch providers were suffering more in
this connection than Arianespace,118 it took the first steps to provide
‘rules of the road’ for establishment of a somewhat level playing field in
global launch services.
Noticeably – partly also because of the security aspects involved – the
United States did not try to achieve a multilateral regime along the lines
of what the GATS would achieve in 1994, but took an essentially
bilateral approach. Thus resulted a small series of bilateral launch service
agreements, whereby the US government used its competence to prohibit
export for launching purposes of satellites with US-manufactured com-
ponents – at the time usually considered indispensable for fruitful
satellite operations – to enforce its ideas on the three entrants into the
global marketplace with profound communist heritages.119

116
See e.g. L.F. Martinez, The Future Dimension of East-West Space
Markets, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercialization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa)
(1992), 2–9; H.P. van Fenema, Recent Parallel Developments in Aviation and
Space Launch Regulation, 22-I Annals of Air & Space Law (1997), 365–7; Lai,
supra n. 109, 25–9; on China, G. Pike, Chinese Launch Services: A User’s
Guide, 7 Space Policy (1991), 103–15; on Russia, J.L. Twigg, The Russian Space
Programme: What Lies Ahead?, 10 Space Policy (1994), 19–31; V. Zaborskiy,
Space Engagement with Russia and Ukraine: Preventing Conflicts and Prolifer-
ation, 4 Astropolitics (2006), 179 ff.
117
See also Pike, supra n. 116, 111–2; Lai, supra n. 109, 17 ff.; Q. He, Legal
Issues of China’s Entry into International Space Market, 40 Zeitschrift für Luft-
und Weltraumrecht (1991), 280–1; H.P. van Fenema, Cooperation and Com-
petition in Space Transportation, in The Highways of Air and Outer Space Over
Asia (Eds. C.J. Cheng & P.M.J. Mendes de Leon) (1992), 283 ff.
118
This was partly because of Arianespace’s success in capturing a 50–60%
share of the world market in its first ten years of existence; see e.g. Iserland,
supra n. 105, 341–3; H.P. van Fenema, Cooperation and Competition in Space
Transportation, 19 Air & Space Law (1994), 81.
119
See for a more extended analysis supra, § 7.5.4; also D.J. Burnett & D.
Lihani, U.S. National Space Policy and Bilateral Launch Service Agreements, in
Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1997),

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The agreements with China (concluded in 1989,120 renewed in

1995121), Russia (concluded in 1993,122 amended in 1996123), and with
Ukraine (concluded in 1996124) in general terms aimed at establishing
what the United States considered a level playing field for international
commercial launch services. Two limitations unilaterally imposed upon
the three targeted states in particular stood out as reflecting such aims:
the number of international commercial satellite launches (at least as far
as satellites with US components were concerned) they were allowed to
compete for (the ‘quota’) and the minimum prices they were allowed to
ask for such services, somehow defined in relation to Western commer-
cial prices.125

263–70; in great detail Van Fenema, supra n. 108, 183–301; further Van Fenema,
supra n. 117, 285–90; F.G. von der Dunk, Private Enterprise and Public Interest
in the European ‘Spacescape’ (1998), 78–84; C. Kohlhase & P.S. Makiol, Report
of the ‘Project 2001’ Working Group on Launch and Associated Activities, in
‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed.
K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 83–4; Scott, supra n. 107, 153–4; R.S. Jakhu, Legal
Issues Relating to the Global Public Interest in Outer Space, 32 Journal of Space
Law (2006), 66–8; Pike, supra n. 116, 110–4.
120
Memorandum of Agreement Between the Government of the United
States of America and the Government of the People’s Republic of China
Regarding International Trade in Commercial Launch Services, Washington,
done 26 January 1989, entered into force 16 March 1989; 28 ILM 599 (1989).
121
Memorandum of Agreement Between the Government of the United
States of America and the Government of the People’s Republic of China
Regarding the International Trade in Commercial Launch Services, done 27
January 1995, entered into force 13 March 1995; 1998 BDIEL AD LEXIS 12.
122
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of the Russian Federation regarding international trade in
commercial space launch services, Washington, done 2 September 1993, entered
into force 2 September 1993; Treaties in Force 1994, US Dept. of State.
123
Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of the Russian Federation to amend the ‘Agreement Between the
Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian
Federation Regarding International Trade in Commercial Space Launch Ser-
vices’, Washington, done 30 January 1996, entered into force 30 January 1996;
24 JSL 183 (1996).
124
Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and
the Government of Ukraine Regarding International Trade in Commercial Space
Launch Services, done 21 February 1996, entered into force 21 February 1996;
24 JSL 187 (1996).
125
See also D.J. Burnett & F.O. Schroeder, Development in US Bilateral
Launch Service Agreements, 19 Air & Space Law (1994), 326–7; von der Dunk,

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International trade aspects of space services 841

From a GATS perspective, such an approach of quantitative limits and

quotas is contrary to the normal approach, although GATS NT obliga-
tions and market access commitments (as giving rise inter alia to bans on
quantitative limits) only apply to the extent the sector is listed in a state’s
GATS Schedule and only to the extent no limits or exceptions are
included in that state’s Schedule.126
The unilateral character of these agreements notwithstanding, the result
of an embryonic global trade regime in launch services – in the place, as
it were, of any GATS/WTO-oriented approach – continued to shimmer
through. At the time, the United States explained the agreements with
China and Russia as part of an effort to establish a multilateral fair trade
agreement in which it also wanted to include Europe.127 Even more
tellingly, while Europe essentially had stood at the side lines when the
trade agreements were negotiated and had never reached similar agree-
ments itself,128 Arianespace in 1990 accused GWIC of dumping its
launch services on the market, basing this accusation upon a perceived
violation of the United States–China agreement of 1989, an agreement to
which it was not a party – which is a rather peculiar construction under
international law.129

15.3.3 A Role for the GATS/WTO in the Global Launch Services

Markets?

Conclusion of the WTO Agreement and the GATS in the mid-1990s thus
took place also in the middle of the era in which the United States,
closely watched and sometimes followed by Europe, tried to introduce
some general free trade principles into the international launch services
markets. Theoretically at least, rather than renewing the bilateral agree-
ments with China and Russia and adding one with Ukraine, efforts could
have been undertaken to arrive at an annex to the GATS concerning
launch services, causing such principles as transparency or the baseline

supra n. 119, 78 ff.; Van Fenema, supra n. 118, 85–6; Scott, supra n. 107, 154;
Lai, supra n. 109, 25–9; Zaborskiy, supra n. 116, 182–4; also supra, § 7.5.4.
126
Cf. Arts. XVI(1), XVII(1), GATS, supra n. 11.
127
Cf. Van Fenema, supra n. 118, 86. See also Martinez, supra n. 116, 6–7.
128
In June 1993 the Commission negotiated an agreement with Russia which
included a quota of seven geostationary launches and four LEO launches through
to the year 2000, coupled with some further requirements, but this agreement
never entered into force. See e.g. Scott, supra n. 107, 155.
129
See Van Fenema, supra n. 118, 87; cf. also Van Fenema, supra n. 117,
290–1; Lai, supra n. 109, 27.

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ban on state subsidies to become applicable (the prohibition on dumping,

by contrast, would only apply in the GATT context).130 However, for
several profound reasons that was indeed to remain theory.
Firstly, with a growing global market for satellite launches and
increasing East–West cooperation in commercial launch operations by
and large the political need to maintain or expand such an international
trade regime essentially dissipated – and indeed the bilateral agreements
were not renewed in the early 2000s. A Sea Launch consortium now
combined US, Russian, Ukrainian and Norwegian companies;131 Starsem
similarly was established as a joint venture of French/European and
Russian operators;132 the German company Eurockot started converting
the ‘swords’ of Russian SS-19 missiles into the ‘ploughshares’ of launch
vehicles;133 Lockheed Martin combined forces with Energia and
Khrunichev through International Launch Services (ILS);134 and the
Lockheed Martin Intersputnik (LMI) joint venture even brought together
a US company and a Russian-dominated intergovernmental organization
under a single corporate roof.135
Nevertheless, the question in theory remains and in practice might
come back on the table as more countries become involved in offering

130
Cf. e.g. Hansson & McGuire, supra n. 110, 201–3.
131
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Launch, last accessed 26 March
2014; also e.g. A. Kerrest de Rozavel, The Launch of Spacecraft from the Sea, in
Outlook on Space Law over the Next 30 Years (Eds. G. Lafferranderie & D.
Crowther) (1997), 217–33; E.A. Frankle & E.J. Steptoe, Legal Considerations
Affecting Commercial Space Launches From International Territory, in Proceed-
ings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2000), 300–2;
Kohlhase & Makiol, supra n. 119, 67–8; Scott, supra n. 107, 156; L.
Bzhilianskaya, Russian Launch Vehicles on the World Market: A Case-Study of
International Joint Ventures, 13 Space Policy (1997), 329–31; Zaborskiy, supra
n. 116, 191–2.
132
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starsem, last accessed 26 March 2014;
also Kohlhase & Makiol, supra n. 119, 65–6; Bzhilianskaya, supra n. 131,
327–9, 334–6.
133
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurockot_Launch_Services, last accessed
26 March 2014; also e.g. Bzhilianskaya, supra n. 131, 331–2.
134
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Launch_Services, last
accessed 26 March 2014; also e.g. Scott, supra n. 107, 155; Bzhilianskaya, supra
n. 131, 326–7, 335–6; Zaborskiy, supra n. 116, 197.
135
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersputnik, last accessed 26 March
2014; also e.g. V.S. Veschunov, Lockheed Martin Intersputnik (LMI) as a Form
of Commercialization in the Activity of the Intergovernmental Satellite Organ-
ization, in Proceedings of the Forty-Second Colloquium on the Law of Outer
Space (2000), 218–23.

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launch services on the global market (India, Japan, Brazil, South Korea
and others136) and in particular as more truly private operators become
active: could, should and/or would this sector have to be regulated under
GATS/WTO principles such as expounded above, and what would or
should the parameters be?
Secondly, however – and more profoundly – the inherent and inescap-
able security-related aspects of all launch activities continue to present a
formidable obstacle to serious consideration of using the WTO and
GATS regime for achieving a truly ‘liberalized’, truly ‘commercial’
market. The exceptions regarding security already available in a more
standard GATS context137 would effectively come to provide the baseline
rule rather than the exception, if ever the GATS regime were to be
applied to launch services as these are being offered today.
Thus, at present it does not seem likely that such a fundamental change
in the launching landscape will take place any time soon – that might
well require a multi-player and much more truly privatized environment,
perhaps only once private spaceflight has truly arrived at the level of
routine of international aviation. Still, once that would occur, the main
GATS/WTO principles and concepts would be the closest to inter-
nationally agreed trade and commerce principles available, and would
likely provide the point of departure, or at least point of reference, for
any such future regime.

15.4 THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE REGIME FOR

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
15.4.1 The Commercialization of Telecommunications and Satellite
Communications

With the general paradigm change in the late 1980s and early 1990s of
telecommunications at large becoming a commercial sector best run by
private operators instead of a public service typically for governments to
provide,138 satellite communications also increasingly became subject to

136
Cf. e.g. Venet, supra n. 13, 65; Van Fenema, supra n. 108, 6–23; further
supra, § 7.2.1.
137
Cf. e.g. Art. I(3)(b) & (c), GATS, supra n. 11.
138
See McCormick, supra n. 13, 1–14; J.N. Pelton, The Economic and
Social Benefits of Space Communication, 6 Space Policy (1990), 311–22; S.
Ospina, International Satellite Telecommunications: Regulation by States or by
Private Parties?, 25 Air & Space Law (2000), 273–80; Hansson & McGuire,

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844 Handbook of space law

pressure to liberalize the market environment and privatize formerly

governmental satellite operators. This was evidenced by such develop-
ments as the appearance on the scene of major private satellite communi-
cation service providers,139 the pressure to privatize the international
satellite operators,140 and the domestic liberalization of markets and
privatization of operators, such as in Europe as per the 1994 Satellite
Directive141 and in the United States ultimately as per the 2000 ORBIT
Act.142

supra n. 110, 199; R. Bender, Launching and Operating Satellites (1998),

105–50; Salin, supra n. 17, e.g. 9–10; S. Courteix, International Legal Aspects of
Television Broadcasting by Satellite, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercial-
ization (Ed. K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 102; R.S. Jakhu, International Regulation of
Satellite Telecommunications, in Legal Aspects of Space Commercialization (Ed.
K. Tatsuzawa) (1992), 97–8; Jakhu, supra n. 119, 69–72; Venet, supra n. 13, 56
ff., esp. 66–7; Walter, supra n. 13, 494–6.
139
See e.g. Salin, supra n. 17, 208–22, 374–6; P.A. Salin, An Illustration of
the Privatization Process of Outer Space, 50 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraum-
recht (2001), 220–2; S. Ospina, International Satellite Telecommunications: An
Assessment of Their Past and Future, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for
the Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 283 ff.
140
See e.g. McCormick, supra n. 13, 9–25; Mechanick, supra n. 13, 175–81;
U.M. Bohlmann, K.U. Schrogl & I. Zilioli, Report of the ‘Project 2001’ Working
Group on Telecommunication, in ‘Project 2001’ – Legal Framework for the
Commercial Use of Outer Space (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (2002), 216–20; J.N.
Pelton, Organizing Large Space Activities, 8 Space Policy (1992), 239 ff.; D.
Wright, Changing the Guard at the ISOs, 10 Space Policy (1994), 107–14; Salin,
supra n. 139, 218–32; Ospina, supra n. 139, 295–300; S. Ospina, International
Satellite Organizations: Their Evolution from ‘ISOS’ to ‘GSCS’, in Proceedings
of the International Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 338 ff.; F. Lyall & P.B.
Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 337–43, 349–55, 360–4, 368–75; also
Salin, supra n. 17, 101 ff.; D. Sagar, Mobile Satellite Communications: Chal-
lenging the Regulatory Barriers, 25 Journal of Space Law (1997), 150–5.
141
Commission Directive amending Directive 88/301/EEC and Directive
90/388/EEC in particular with regard to satellite communications (Satellite
Directive), 94/46/EC, of 13 October 1994; OJ L 268/15 (1994). See further e.g.
S. Le Goueff, Satellite Services Licensing in the European Union, 25 Space
Policy (1997), 40–4; S. White, S. Bate & T. Johnson, Satellite Communications
in Europe: Law and Regulation (1996), 166 ff.; Salin, supra n. 17, 353–4;
Bender, supra n. 138, 142–4; also supra, § 4.3.2.2.
142
Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecom-
munications Act (ORBIT Act), Public Law 106-180, 106th Congress, 17 March
2000. See further e.g. Walden, supra n. 35, 723–4; Ospina, supra n. 139, 292–5;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140, 341–2, 351.

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International trade aspects of space services 845

15.4.2 The GATS Baseline Regime on International Satellite

Communication Services

These developments also gave rise to the establishment of a global trade

framework regime for the provision of telecommunication services,
following the recent establishment of the GATS as one of the sectorial
regimes of the latter.143 The GATS Annex on Telecommunications, which
entered into force concurrently with the GATS itself, already provided for
some baseline obligations concerning transparency, general access to
infrastructure and markets, and public service-related conditions – with-
out, however, as yet applying the key principles of MFN and/or NT in
that context and thereby actually liberalizing those markets, as that was
made dependent on actual Schedules of Commitment.144
Within a few years, however, 54 WTO member states plus the
European Commission on behalf of the then-15 EU member states145
came to a more substantive agreement to liberalize the global markets for
basic telecommunication services. For the purpose of efficiency and
coherence, telecommunication services were classified in 15 categories;
and although that classification has been criticized as imperfect,146 it
unequivocally included several categories of satellite communication
services. At the time, these 69 states together accounted for more than 90
per cent of global telecommunications revenues.147

143
See P. Malanczuk, The Relevance of International Economic Law and the
World Trade Organization (WTO) for Commercial Outer Space Activities, in
International Organisations and Space Law (Ed. R.A. Harris) (1999), 305 ff.; S.
McGuire & A. Hansson, Regulating Commercial Space: Is the WTO the
Answer?, 16 Space Policy (2000), 8–9; Krajewski, supra n. 11, 330; Walden,
supra n. 35, 747 ff.; S. Lessard, International Trade in Telecommunications
Services: Towards Open Markets, 22-I Annals of Air & Space Law (1997),
405–7; Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3, 1289 ff.; Bender, supra n. 138, 147–9.
144
GATS Annex on Telecommunications, www.wto.org/english/docs_e/
legal_e/26-gats_02_e.htm#anntel, last accessed 26 March 2014. See further Von
Schorlemer, supra n. 91, 830–1; Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3, 1292–4; Walden,
supra n. 35, 750; Salin, supra n. 17, 72–4; Malanczuk, supra n. 143, 312–3.
145
See on the EU membership of the WTO in conjunction with its own
member states e.g. Van den Bossche, supra n. 27, 23 ff.; M. Hilf, Negotiating
and Implementing the Uruguay Round: The Role of EC Member States – The
Case of Germany, in Implementing the Uruguay Round (Eds. J.H. Jackson &
A.O. Sykes) (1997), 121 ff.
146
See Von Schorlemer, supra n. 91, 828–9.
147
See P. Malanczuk & H. de Vlaam, International Trade in Telecommuni-
cations Services and the Results of the Uruguay Round of GATT, in The Future

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846 Handbook of space law

The agreement to liberalize international telecommunication markets,

often referred to as the ‘Agreement on Basic Telecommunications’ or
‘Agreement on Basic Telecommunication Services’, formally comprised
the Fourth Protocol to the GATS148 plus the required individual Sched-
ules of Specific Commitments and a list of exemptions from Article II of
the GATS.149
To date, the number of WTO members having made such commit-
ments in their Schedules to allow international trade in telecommuni-
cation services within their territories has risen to 108.150 In addition, 82
WTO member states have now committed to the regulatory principles of
the WTO Reference Paper of 24 April 1996,151 the policy paper which
provided a major impetus to the establishment of the Fourth Protocol and
the attendant Schedules of Commitments.152
By way of the Fourth Protocol to the GATS these states agreed that

a Schedule of Specific Commitments and a List of Exemptions from Article II

concerning basic telecommunications annexed to this Protocol relating to a
Member shall, in accordance with the terms specified therein, supplement or
modify the Schedule of Specific Commitments and the List of Article II
Exemptions of that Member.153

of EC Telecommunications Law (Eds. C. Scott & O. Audéoud) (1996), 154; L.B.

Sherman, Introductory Note, in 36 International Legal Materials (1997), 354.
148
Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Trade and Services of 15
April 1994 (hereafter Fourth Protocol to the GATS), Geneva, done 15 April
1997, entered into force 5 February 1998; WTO Doc. S/L/20 of 30 April 1996
(96-1750); 2061 UNTS 209; ATS 1998 No. 9; 33 ILM 1167 (1994); 36 ILM 354
(1997). Quickly, the 69 governments were augmented by some nine further ones,
raising the percentage of global revenues in telecommunications covered under
the Fourth Protocol to slightly over 92. See Von Schorlemer, supra n. 91, 832–3;
Bhala & Kennedy, supra n. 3, 1296–300; Walden, supra n. 35, 750–4; also Salin,
supra n. 17, 81–4, 465–6; Bohlmann, Schrogl & Zilioli, supra n. 140, 220–1;
McGuire & Hansson, supra n. 143, 9.
149
See Von Schorlemer, supra n. 91, 831–2.
150
See www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_e.htm, last
accessed 26 March 2014.
151
Telecommunications Services; Reference Paper, Negotiating group on
basic telecommunications, 24 April 1996; at www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_
e/telecom_e/tel23_e.htm, last accessed 26 March 2014.
152
See e.g. Cowhey & Klimenko, supra n. 39, 7–8; Von Schorlemer, supra
n. 91, 831–2.
153
Art. 1, Fourth Protocol to the GATS, supra n. 148.

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International trade aspects of space services 847

This major effort at liberalization was hailed as a triumph, with the

services covered extending to almost every sector of the telecommunica-
tions sector, and liberalization enforced ‘not only in cross-border supply
of telecommunications, but also [allowing] for services to be provided
through the establishment of foreign firms, or commercial presence in
foreign countries, including “the ability to own and operate independent
telecom network infrastructure”’.154 Thus, ‘[t]his agreement combined
binding commitments on market access from its participants with a
statement of “procompetitive regulatory principles” that have rapidly
become the definition of the policy revolution under way in this
market’.155

15.4.3 The Schedules of Specific Commitments and Satellite

Communications

In terms of satellite communications, the Schedules of Specific Commit-

ments thus provided the substance of the liberalization achieved. In sum,
51 states (by way of 37 Schedules) committed themselves to allow
foreign operators to offer some or all types of mobile satellite services or
the related transport capacity in their national markets, while 50 states
(by way of 36 Schedules) did so with respect to fixed satellite services or
the transport capacity involved therein.156
The Schedules of Commitments were generally structured by way of a
matrix, with horizontal rows also encompassing other communication
services but ‘Telecommunication Services’ (Category 2.C) being the
relevant category here. Within Category 2.C a range of services are
further distinguished, of which for example, ‘public voice telephone
services’ under (a) may also implicitly involve satellite communications
whilst – if applicable – specific arrangements on, or explicit mentioning

154
Senunas, supra n. 51, sub Introduction, i.a. quoting Background Docu-
ment, The WTO Negotiations on Basic Telecommunications, of 17 February
1997.
155
Cowhey & Klimenko, supra n. 39, 3.
156
See Senunas, supra n. 51, sub The Success of the Agreement On Basic
Telecommunications, referring to The WTO Negotiations on Basic Telecommu-
nications: Informal Summary of Commitments and MFN Exemptions, of 6
March 1997, at 1. Note that the then-15 EU member states offered a joint
Schedule of Commitments courtesy of the European Commission. Cf. also e.g.
Malanczuk, supra n. 143, 314.

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of satellite services could be found either within specific boxes, or as a

subset of ‘other services’ under (o).157
The vertical columns of the matrix in turn, for each of the sectors and
subsectors as described above, refer to limitations on market access and
limitations on NT, as reflecting the main GATS principles applied
here,158 plus additional comments and notes as appropriate. Within each
‘box’ of the matrix then the relevant commitments are set out, subdivided
into the four generic modes of international service provision that the
GATS recognizes; cross-border supply, consumption abroad, commercial
presence and presence of natural persons.159 Finally, horizontal commit-
ments – that is, applicable not just to the communications sector, but to
all service sectors falling within the scope of the GATS – are referenced;
they pertain to such general aspects of appropriate corporate behaviour
and respect for local, sub-national or national law and regulations
applicable to economic operations and service provision on a broad range
of subjects.160
Without in any way attempting to provide a comprehensive overview
and analysis of these commitments, the following survey should provide
a clear understanding of the variety and complexity of the liberalization
process resulting from the Fourth Protocol to the GATS and the attendant
Schedules of Specific Commitments – noting moreover that in many
instances satellite services are not referenced explicitly but somehow
(partly or wholly) subsumed in other categories.161
Within the European Union, liberalization was quite comprehensive as
far as basic telecommunication services, including satellite services and
other services using those satellite networks, were concerned. ‘Domestic
and international services … using any network technology’ can be
provided without any limitations as such by non-EU service providers,
and this includes mobile and personal communication services and

157
See individual Schedules accessible via http://i-tip.wto.org/services/
ComparativeReports.aspx, last accessed 26 March 2014; choose ‘2 COMMUNI-
CATION SERVICES’ under ‘Select a sector’.
158
Note that the MFN principle is by definition applied under the GATS,
unless specifically exempted; cf. supra, § 15.2.2.1, § 15.2.2.4.
159
Cf. also supra, § 15.2.1.4.
160
Cf. these horizontal commitments as accessible through http://i-
tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157.
161
This survey is based on Senunas, supra n. 51, sub Region-by-Region
Analysis. For a full overview of the individual schedules of commitment in the
telecommunications realm, see Member/Sector Matrix Report, 2 COMMUNI-
CATION SERVICES, see supra n. 157; and www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_
e/telecom_e/telecom_commit_exempt_list_e.htm, last accessed 26 March 2014.

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International trade aspects of space services 849

systems. Even the major restrictions pertaining to allowable maxima of

foreign equity in EU member states such as Spain, Belgium, France and
Portugal have meanwhile been removed.162
The United States maintained the exclusivity of uplink rights of
Comsat with respect to the INTELSAT and INMARSAT satellite infra-
structure,163 and listed an indefinite MFN exemption for one-way satellite
transmission services, but otherwise allowed for a rather broadly liberal-
ized access to US markets for foreign satellite service providers for all
basic telecommunication services, including those that are satellite-based.
Foreign equity in national common carriers meanwhile remains limited to
20 per cent of direct ownership.164
Canada within a few years after the entry into force of the Fourth
Protocol to the GATS did away with the exclusive rights of Telesat on the
use of satellite facilities and ground stations serving them, as well as
derestricting all mobile and international fixed satellite services. Thus, for
example the erstwhile requirement that Canadian equity in mobile
satellite systems was to equal the levels of usage in Canada of such
systems was now removed.165
Australia conditioned satellite service provision in a number of areas
upon the use of state-owned satellite facilities for international traffic
purposes, thus maintaining direct government control over such activities,
but otherwise allowed for unrestricted competition in virtually all basic
telecom services including personal communication services, with no
limits on foreign equity for new carriers and a limitation to just two
primary suppliers in the satellite service sector being removed.166
The Russian Federation committed to phasing out its restrictions on
satellite services provided by foreign satellite operators to any juridical
person of the Russian Federation, first with respect to fixed satellite
services, a few years later also with respect to other satellite services.

162
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157.
163
See on those international satellite operators supra, §§ 5.4, 5.5.
164
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157.
165
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, last accessed 26 March 2014.
166
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.

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Restrictions on maximum foreign equity in operators within Russia were

also duly phased out.167
Japan did not single out satellite services anywhere in its Schedule of
Commitments, so that these commitments apply across all telecommuni-
cation subsectors including as relevant satellite communications. They
allow for open market access in all basic telecom services; the existing
major companies KDD and NTT henceforth the only ones being limited
to a maximum of 20 per cent foreign equity, whereas all their board
members must have Japanese nationality.168
The People’s Republic of China presented an interesting case as it had
not yet become a member of the WTO at the time of the discussions on
the Fourth Protocol to the GATS and the individual Schedules of Specific
Commitments. Thus, its commitments – such as allowing foreign service
providers in areas relevant from a satellite perspective into the Chinese
market only through joint ventures with Chinese operators – were all
made contingent upon its pending membership, usually aiming for
applicability within a few years of China’s formal entry into the WTO.169
India, by contrast, was a member of the WTO already at the establish-
ment of the organization. Also India did not make any specific reference
to satellite communications, to which therefore the same regime applies
under its commitments as applies to non-satellite telecommunications.
These commitments have meanwhile resulted in opening up all national
long-distance and international services within India to foreign com-
petition, although competitors to the national governmental operator are
to be licensed only as economic need for them arises. In addition, some
restrictions to foreign equity participation continue to apply.170
Indonesia likewise did not make specific reference to satellites, but
more generally committed itself to phase out the exclusivity for inter-
national telecommunication services, long-distance domestic services and
even local services – in that chronological order, the category last
mentioned by 2011. International traffic, however, is required to use the

167
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157.
168
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157.
169
Cf. http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157.
China’s membership eventually was formalized on 11 December 2001; see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization_accession_and_membership,
last accessed 26 March 2014.
170
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.

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International trade aspects of space services 851

networks of one of the two incumbent Indonesian satellite service

operators, PT Indosat and PT Satelindo. Foreign equity in any operators
servicing the Indonesian market is limited to 35 per cent, except for
personal communication services, which require a joint venture with a
state-owned company.171
Interestingly (as developing countries are usually somewhat wary of
allowing developed-world technology and services into their territories
without certain guarantees that the domestic economies will also benefit
and hence generally imposing certain constraints on free competition and
trade), Nigeria has no limitations as regards any foreign service provision
in the telecommunications sector largo sensu – except that under the
horizontal commitments foreign service providers are to incorporate or
establish their business locally in accordance with relevant provisions of
Nigerian law.172
South Africa committed itself to end the existing monopoly in a
number of telecommunication services including satellite-based services
and to aim at introduction of alternative suppliers to the incumbent ones,
whereby the provision of cross-border services requires using the net-
works of either of the two suppliers henceforth admitted in that subsector.
Foreign equity in satellite service providers active in South Africa
however remains limited to 30 per cent.173
Argentina offered a range of commitments on opening up the basic
telecommunication service sectors, including international and mobile,
for competition, differentiating essentially only time-wise between voice
telephony and other basic services. However, it exempted the supply of
fixed satellite services by geostationary satellites from its MFN obliga-
tions.174
In Brazil competition was henceforth allowed in satellite services,
subject to the requirement that satellites with orbital positions notified
and registered by Brazil following the relevant ITU obligations must be

171
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.
172
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.
173
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.
174
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.

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used unless their services were not equivalent to those of satellites

notified and registered by other states. Existing foreign equity limits of
49 per cent on satellite services were to be phased out as early as 1999;
and a further commitment was made to full competition in many
value-added services including satellite-related ones.175
Mexico finally, a Latin American country closely intertwined
economically with the United States and Canada through NAFTA,176
committed itself to gradually liberalize the telecommunications environ-
ment, for example raising the foreign equity maximum from 40 per cent
to 49 per cent and ending regional duopolies in cellular telephony. In the
satellite area, however, some restrictions remained; services other than
international long-distance requiring the use of satellites were to use
Mexican satellites until 2000, satellite broadcast transmissions were
specifically excluded, whereas Telecomm held the exclusive rights to
access to the INTELSAT and INMARSAT space segments (until those
two organizations were privatized less than a decade later177).178

15.4.4 The Role of the GATS/WTO in the Global Satellite

Communications Markets

In sum, over the past decades within the framework established by the
GATS and WTO regimes a largely liberalized international trade envir-
onment for satellite services has evolved encompassing the largest
economies of the world, including leading developing nations. At the
same time, the above summary testifies to a somewhat haphazard process
leaving many individual idiosyncrasies intact, due to the Specific Sched-
ules of Commitments and the fact that generally four modes of foreign
service provision are at issue.
Sometimes satellite communications are implicitly included in all or
most of such commitments to liberalize foreign access to national
markets, as per the MFN and NT principles, sometimes they are
expressly singled out. In the latter case, moreover, they are often subject
to specific but varying limitations concerning foreign equity in terms of

175
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.
176
See also supra, § 15.2.2.4, incl. n. 93.
177
See further supra, §§ 5.4.2, 5.5.2.
178
As per http://i-tip.wto.org/services/ComparativeReports.aspx, supra n. 157;
www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/telecom_e/telecom_highlights_commit_exempt
_e.htm, supra n. 165.

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International trade aspects of space services 853

commercial presence or obligatory use of national operators and/or

facilities. In many cases, therefore, only extended investigation and close
inspection and analysis of the relevant commitment in the light of general
GATS obligations allow for a final determination of the actual legal
situation concerning the rights of foreign satellite service providers to a
certain national market.
The situation is further complicated by the role which the ITU regime,
dealing with the key assets of frequencies and orbital slots or orbits,179
plays in underpinning an international legal framework for satellite
communications. Here, the considerable leeway for sovereign states to
control the use of these assets within their jurisdiction for security or
other public (policy) reasons may interfere with (and would sometimes
be abused for those purposes) an otherwise existing level playing field.
Specifically from a space perspective, furthermore, the involvement of
at least a minimum of satellite communications in other quasi- or
proto-commercial space sectors raises the issue of the extent to which
such other sectors would currently or could in the future be subsumed
under this generic GATS/WTO approach to satellite communications.
This notably concerns satellite remote sensing and satellite navigation,
and to a more limited extent private commercial spaceflight – which
brings analysis to those specific sectors of space activities, as (prospect-
ive) candidates for an international trade regime.

15.5 PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES FOR APPLICATION

OF THE GATS/WTO REGIME?
15.5.1 The Commercialization of Space Activities and Major Space
Applications

As seen, satellite communications and launch services so far constitute

the two sectors of space activities and applications where discussions on
an international regime for trade in services have reached a substantial
level of practicality. It may be noted that most goods themselves – such
as telecommunications equipment – are already subject to GATT com-
mitments, so the real question is indeed whether services could become
covered by the GATS. Interestingly, again GATS NT and market access
commitments only apply to sectors listed in a country’s Schedule and
only to the extent of any limitations quoted in such a schedule; in

179
See further supra, §§ 8.2.3, 8.2.4.

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854 Handbook of space law

contrast GATT NT and anti-quota obligations apply to all goods whereas

tariff limitations are done via scheduling.180
In the one case those discussions gave rise to inclusion of the sector in
the GATS/WTO regime, in the other to a more limited plurilateral
regime, which, moreover, lasted for a dozen or so years only. In addition,
however, three more such sectors deserve attention from the same
perspective, as a substantial measure of commercialization and privat-
ization has also taken place and is about to take place in those sectors:
satellite remote sensing,181 satellite navigation182 and private commercial
spaceflight183 – the latter in some ways an extension of launch services,
in others differing rather fundamentally therefrom so as to warrant
separate treatment also at this point.

15.5.2 Towards an International Trade Regime for Satellite Remote

Sensing?

15.5.2.1 Commercialization and privatization of satellite remote

sensing
For a proper understanding of possible application of any part of the
GATS/WTO regime to satellite remote sensing, it is firstly important to
understand the level and character of commercial and private develop-
ment in this sector of space activities – which was, like any other space
activity, originally very much a government endeavour with overriding
security- and other public interest-related overtones. Nevertheless, in the
1980s it was perceived that sufficient down-to-earth applications of
satellite data were developing for gradually ushering in commercial-
ization and privatization in this field.184

180
See further supra, § 15.2.2.
181
See in general on satellite remote sensing supra, Chapter 9.
182
See in general on satellite navigation supra, Chapter 10.
183
See in general on private commercial spaceflight supra, Chapter 12.
184
Cf. e.g. L.J. Levy & S.B. Chodakewitz, The Commercialization of
Satellite Imagery, 6 Space Policy (1990), 209–20; G. Harris, Global Remote
Sensing Programmes, Global Science, Global Change, 9 Space Policy (1993),
129–32; R. Mansell & S. Paltridge, The Earth Observation Market: Industrial
Dynamics and Their Impact on Data Policy, 9 Space Policy (1993), 286–91; J.I.
Gabrynowicz, The Promise and Problems of the Land Remote Sensing Policy
Act of 1992, 9 Space Policy (1993), 319–24; Hansson & McGuire, supra n. 110,
199; Walter, supra n. 13, 495–6.

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In the United States, the establishment of the 1984 Land Remote-

Sensing Commercialization Act185 presumed that non-military US gov-
ernment needs for remote sensing data could soon be provided by (a)
private operator(s),186 more generally established a licensing system for
licensing private commercial satellite remote sensing operators,187 and
awarded EOSAT a licence the next year as the first private downstream
commercialization company to market and sell the Landsat data.188 The
assumption was that gradually EOSAT and prospective other private
operators would be able to finance more and more parts of the entire
chain of satellite remote sensing, which ran from developing the satellite
itself to the marketing and sales of data and services to be provided
thereby.
Along similar lines, in Europe the private company SpotImage was
incorporated under French law in 1982 and established in Toulouse to
market and sell the remote sensing data collected by the SPOT satellites,
which at the time had yet to be launched by the French government, with

185
Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act, Public Law 98-365, 98th
Congress, H.R. 5155, 17 July 1984; 98 Stat. 451; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, E.III.4. See also supra, § 9.4.2.3.
186
Cf. Secs. 101(6), (8)–(12), 102(1), Land Remote-Sensing Commercial-
ization Act, supra n. 185; also M. Bourbonnière, A Critical Review of American
Regulations Pertaining to Commercial Remote Sensing Market Structures, in
22-I Annals of Air & Space Law (1997), 480; S. Johnston & J. Cordes, Public
Good or Commercial Opportunity? Case Studies in Remote Sensing
Commercialization, 19 Space Policy (2003), 23–6; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140,
437–8; S. Parisien, La commercialisation des activités de teledetection spatiale
aux États-Unis, in 20-II Annals of Air & Space Law (1995), 243 ff.
187
Cf. Secs. 401, 402, Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act, supra
n. 185; also e.g. Bourbonnière, supra n. 186, 461 ff.; M.A. Roberts, US Remote
Sensing Data from Earth Observation – Law, Policy and Practice, 22 Air &
Space Law (1997), 37 ff.; P.A. Salin, The Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of
1992, 42 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1993), esp. 265–8; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 140, 438–42.
188
See e.g. Johnston & Cordes, supra n. 186, 23–6; S. Zenker, Vertical
Integration in the Earth Observation Market Place, in Earth Observation Data
Policy and Europe (Ed. R. Harris) (2002), 81; E. Sadeh, Politics and Regulation
of Earth Observation Services in the United States, in National Regulation of
Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 448–9; P.A. Salin, LANDSAT Con-
tracts Signed by US Agencies with Foreign Ground Stations: Commercial
Remote-Sensing from NASA Scientific Experiments to EOSAT Private Endeav-
ours, 41 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (1992), 169–73; Gabrynowicz,
320–1; M. Bourély, Space Commercialization and the Law, 4 Space Policy
(1988), 140–1. Cf. further supra, § 9.4.2.3.

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some involvement of a few other European governments.189 SpotImage

collected the revenues from the foreign receiving stations involved in
SPOT operations, and operates the primary ground station of Toulouse
itself (and, through SSC Satellitbild, another in Kiruna) and processes
and markets the data received there.190 SpotImage was bestowed with a
monopoly in terms of marketing and selling SPOT data on the open
market, and in order to broaden its portfolio, also increasingly became
involved in acting as retailer for the data generated by other remote
sensing satellite systems.191
However, the gradual upstream coverage of operating costs which was
hoped for, to be funded by increasing revenues from increasing commer-
cial markets, never materialized to the extent originally envisaged.192
SpotImage, while gradually able to at least contribute to some of those
upstream costs, remains crucially dependent upon the French government
for developing, launching and operating the satellites, including finan-
cially, whereas in the United States EOSAT eventually folded and the
1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act193 had to ensure that in the
absence of private licensees the US government would not be stuck
without necessary satellite data.
Only following the more recent advent of private companies offering
very high-resolution data could a revival of more substantial commercial
interest in satellite remote sensing data be discerned, albeit that the
consolidation of various operators into now one – Digital Globe – and the
key role of the US government as anchor tenant continues to pose serious

189
See e.g. P. Achilleas, French Remote Sensing Law, 34 Journal of Space
Law (2008), 1–6; P.L. Meredith & G.S. Robinson, Space Law: A Case Study for
the Practitioner (1992), 26; M. Harr & R. Kohli, Commercial Utilization of
Space (1990), 39–41. SpotImage was created as a ‘Groupement d’Intérêt
Economique’ (GIE), subsidiary to CNES.
190
See e.g. Harr & Kohli, supra n. 189, 40.
191
See e.g. Zenker, supra n. 188, 81 ff.; M. Bourély, Legal Problems Posed
by the Commercialization of Data Collected by the European Remote Sensing
Satellite ERS-1, 16 Journal of Space Law (1988), 130, 145; Bourély, supra
n. 188, 141; further D. Rosenholm & R. Harris, Structural Analysis of the
Competitive Environment of the Earth Observation Industry, in Earth Obser-
vation Data Policy and Europe (Ed. R. Harris) (2002), 67 ff.; von der Dunk,
supra n. 119, 215–7. Cf. also supra, § 9.4.2.6.
192
Cf. e.g. L.R. Shaffer & P. Backlund, Towards a Coherent Remote Sensing
Data Policy, 6 Space Policy (1990), 48–9; Salin, supra n. 187, 269.
193
Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, Public Law 102-555, 102nd Congress,
H.R. 6133, 28 October 1992; 15 U.S.C. 5601; 106 Stat. 4163. See also supra,
§ 9.4.2.3.

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International trade aspects of space services 857

questions regarding the viability of a truly private and commercial market

in this area.194

15.5.2.2 Applying the GATT/GATS/WTO regime to satellite remote

sensing: The issues
Satellite remote sensing obviously presents a global environment. The
satellites concerned, normally not using the geostationary orbit with its
fixed positions above the equator but lower orbits allowing the generation
of more detailed sensing data, usually cover all or at least major parts of
the globe throughout their orbits, and in principle could generate data on
any part of the earth’s surface thus overflown. In order to operate such a
system at least a handful of ground stations scattered over the globe
would be desirable, if not indeed required. Also, in view of the limited
size of the overall markets, commercial satellite operators would have a
basic interest in selling their data and value-added products to as many
customers in as many countries as possible, calling for a global market
place.
Such elements could well conspire to call for a regime guaranteeing a
certain amount of trade liberalization, as the application of GATS and the
WTO regime could achieve.195 It may be noted that the UN Remote
Sensing Principles, though not at all concerned as such with commercial
remote sensing operations and market issues, provide for access for the
so-called sensed states ‘on a non-discriminatory basis and on reasonable
cost terms’ to data concerning their own territory.196

194
See e.g. M. Bonazountas, High Resolution Satellite Imagery and Earth
Observation Data Policy, in Earth Observation Data Policy and Europe (Ed. R.
Harris) (2002), 95–100; A. Ito, Legal Aspects of Satellite Remote Sensing (2011),
11–5. Cf. also Sadeh, supra n. 188, 454–8; Johnston & Cordes, supra n. 186,
23–9.
195
Note that under prevailing definitions, data itself would constitute a
service; only if imbedded on a CD or similar information carrier could it be
qualified as a product subject to the GATT regime; cf. Bhagwati, supra n. 45,
855, on (non-)storability; also Marsoof, supra n. 45, 292–4; Mortelmans, supra
n. 45, 600–1.
196
Princ. XII, Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer
Space (hereafter Remote Sensing Principles), UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3 December
1986; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43; 25 ILM 1334 (1986); see further
supra, § 9.4.1.2. For example, the reference to ‘reasonable cost terms’ might
seem to echo concerns with ‘dumping’, but in truth tried to achieve exactly the
opposite effect: that operators of remote sensing satellites would not require
unreasonably high fees for their data, in particular from respective sensed states.

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However, it will also be clear from the above that commercialization

and privatization in the satellite remote sensing sector have remained of a
rather partial, even peculiar character. With the exception now of Digital
Globe, the satellites, their operations and the assorted ground infrastruc-
ture involved all continue to remain largely a matter of governmental or
intergovernmental responsibility and control. Only in the downstream
parts of marketing and selling the data as well as more value-added
information products have (a handful of) private companies carved out
their own independent position. It should be reiterated here that the
GATS does not apply respectively to ‘services supplied in the exercise of
governmental authority’ or to ‘any service which is supplied neither on a
commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more service sup-
pliers’.197
In addition, satellite remote sensing is also a space sector with many
security-related aspects. In particular in the United States the erstwhile
‘shutter control’ policy, allowing the US government for security reasons
to limit the opportunities for commercial satellite operators to market and
sell remote sensing data of a certain resolution or concerning a particular
area (such as Israel198), has shown that security reasons may constantly
interfere with any prospective liberalized trade regime – albeit not so
much by hindering others from competing, but rather by hindering one’s
own companies from competing on a level playing field.199
In the end, both this limited and rather special extent to which satellite
remote sensing could be said to have been commercialized and privatized
and the continuing security-related elements of this type of space
activities make it fairly unlikely that it will in the short term become
subject to an international trade regime under the auspices of the WTO
and/or the GATS. Any such discussion, furthermore, would first have to

197
Art. I(3)(b), (c), GATS, supra n. 11.
198
Cf. a 1998 Amendment to the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act by way of
the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, Pub. L. 104-201, div. A, title X, Sec. 1064, Sept.
23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2653, providing that: ‘(a) Collection and Dissemination. – A
department or agency of the United States may issue a license for the collection
or dissemination by a non-Federal entity of satellite imagery with respect to
Israel only if such imagery is no more detailed or precise than satellite imagery
of Israel that is available from commercial sources. (b) Declassification and
Release. – A department or agency of the United States may declassify or
otherwise release satellite imagery with respect to Israel only if such imagery is
no more detailed or precise than satellite imagery of Israel that is available from
commercial sources.’
199
Cf. also Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140, 437–42; Sadeh, supra n. 188,
452–5.

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International trade aspects of space services 859

solve the issue to what extent international marketing and sales of remote
sensing data would concern goods so as to fall within the scope of the
GATT, or services so as to fall within the scope of the GATS. As
indicated above,200 these terms have not been defined by the GATT or the
GATS respectively for their own purposes.
Generally, goods are seen as something tangible and easily measure-
able in quantities, whereas services are essentially intangible – even if
often involving tangible goods or using tangible infrastructure – and
measured more often in indirect quantities, such as hours or monetary
values.201 The discussion as far as relevant for remote sensing forms part
of the broader discussion regarding software, which remote sensing data
essentially amount to – which may qualify only as goods to the extent of
their physical storage on information carriers such as CD-ROMs or USB
sticks.202
Whilst the activity of remote sensing itself could well be envisaged to
qualify as a service – a service of information, more precisely – these
activities as indicated are generally outside of the scope so far of any
commercial and private activity (with the sole exception of Digital
Globe). Consequently, the focus of analysis should be on the results of
that service, the remote sensing data. The UN Remote Sensing Principles
provide for some definitions in this respect as follows:

(b) The term ‘primary data’ means those raw data that are acquired by
remote sensors borne by a space object and that are transmitted or
delivered to the ground from space by telemetry in the form of
electromagnetic signals, by photographic film, magnetic tape or any other
means;
(c) The term ‘processed data’ means the products resulting from the process-
ing of the primary data, needed to make such data usable;
(d) The term ‘analysed information’ means the information resulting from
the interpretation of processed data, inputs of data and knowledge from
other sources.203

Likely the first, and at least in terms of terminology also the second
definition would indeed give rise to consideration of remote sensing

200
See supra, § 15.2.1.4.
201
See also supra, § 15.2.1.4.
202
See extensively Marsoof, supra n. 45, 291–2, ff., also separating ‘the
intellectual property aspect of software … from the physical medium containing
the software, which brings it within the ambit of goods’ (at 301, quoting V.R.
Hallikeri, Taxation of Software: Tackling the Issue of Software as ‘Goods’ in
India, 36 Intertax (2008), 132).
203
Princ. I, Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 196.

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activities as essentially delivering a ‘product’ even if of a sui generis,

electronic and intangible nature.204 With the ‘information resulting from
the interpretation’ of data such a conclusion would already be consider-
ably more equivocal in any event. More generally, however, to the extent
commercial practice would provide subscribers on a continuing basis
with access to certain databases, rather than selling individual data sets,
one should probably start viewing such a continuing delivery of elec-
tronic ‘products’ as provision of a service. If a desire to start applying
(parts of) the international trade regime as per the GATT and/or the
GATS were ever to arise, this issue of course would have to be solved.
Finally, an interesting point from the WTO angle concerns intellectual
property rights, in view of the great importance of such rights for
commercial remote sensing operators to develop a viable commercial
business205 – as well as the focus of intellectual property rights on the
‘contents’ of data (the service in essence being provided) instead of its
‘carrier’ (a physical product).206 It may be noted for instance that the
European Union enunciated a specific Database Directive207 to ensure
protection of electronic databases to the extent that ‘normal’ copyrights
could not provide the desirable level of protection, and this protection
notably includes satellite remote sensing databases if electronic in nature.
With regard to such intellectual property rights issues of course the
TRIPS Agreement becomes relevant, under which WTO member states
are required to apply its provisions regardless of whether any goods (or
services) subject to such intellectual property rights would (also) fall
under the GATT (respectively the GATS).208 Once the TRIPS Agreement
applies under its own terms, WTO member states first of all have to
apply NT to intellectual property right protection:

204
Cf. however Marsoof, supra n. 45, 291–4, 300–7.
205
See e.g. T. Brisibe, Outer Space Activities and Intellectual Property
Protection in Nigeria, 32 Journal of Space Law (2006), 241–5; J.D. Cromer,
How on Earth Terrestrial Laws Can Protect Geospatial Data, 32 Journal of Space
Law (2006), esp. 257–60, 269 ff.; M. Mejía-Kaiser, Copyright Claims for
Meteosat and Landsat Images under Court Challenge, 32 Journal of Space Law
(2006), 293–317, on two leading cases.
206
See again Marsoof, supra n. 45, 301.
207
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal
protection of databases (hereafter Database Directive), 96/9/EC, of 11 March
1996; OJ L 77/20 (1996). See further e.g. Cromer, supra n. 205, 282–4; also
supra, § 4.3.2.3; infra, § 18.2.1.
208
See Art. 1(1), TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17.

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International trade aspects of space services 861

Each Member shall accord to the nationals of other Members treatment no

less favourable than that it accords to its own nationals with regard to the
protection209 of intellectual property, subject to the exceptions already pro-
vided in, respectively, the Paris Convention (1967),210 the Berne Convention
(1971),211 the Rome Convention212 or the Treaty on Intellectual Property in
Respect of Integrated Circuits.213, 214

Similarly, with a few exceptions mentioned,215 member states would have

to apply MFN: ‘With regard to the protection of intellectual property, any
advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by a Member to the
nationals of any other country shall be accorded immediately and
unconditionally to the nationals of all other Members.’216
Finally, with respect to copyrights it is inter alia provided:

Compilations of data or other material, whether in machine readable or other

form, which by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents
constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such. Such protection,
which shall not extend to the data or material itself, shall be without prejudice
to any copyright subsisting in the data or material itself.217

This provision is less far-reaching than the protection accorded under the
EU Database Directive to electronic databases, as the latter does not

209
‘Protection’ is defined in a footnote to Art. 3(1), TRIPS Agreement, supra
n. 17, as ‘includ[ing] matters affecting the availability, acquisition, scope,
maintenance and enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as those
matters affecting the use of intellectual property rights specifically addressed in
this Agreement’.
210
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 20 March
1883 as revised (Paris Convention), Stockholm, 14 July 1967, entered into force
19 May 1970; 828 UNTS 305; TIAS 6923, 7727; 24 UST 2140; UKTS 1970 No.
61; Cmnd. 3474; ATS 1972 No. 12; 6 ILM 806 (1967).
211
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
(Berne Convention), September 9, 1886, as revised, Paris, done 24 July 1971,
entered into force 15 December 1972 / 10 October 1974; 1161 UNTS 3; 102
Stat. 2853; ATS 1978 No. 5.
212
International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of
Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, Rome, done 26 October 1961,
entry into force 18 May 1964; 496 UNTS 43; UKTS 1964 No. 38 (Cmnd. 2425);
ATS 1992 No. 29.
213
Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits, Wash-
ington, done 26 May 1989, not yet entered into force; 28 ILM 1484 (1989).
214
Art. 3(1), TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17; internal quotations added.
215
See Art. 4 sub (a)–(d), TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17.
216
Art. 4, TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17.
217
Art. 10(2), TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17.

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require ‘intellectual creation’ but merely a demonstration ‘that there has

been qualitatively and/or quantitatively a substantial investment in either
the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents to prevent
extraction and/or re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part,
evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that
database’ for the sui generis right of protection under the Directive to
apply.218 Yet, following the terms of Article 10(2) of the TRIPS Agree-
ment as quoted, to the extent ‘intellectual creation’ is involved also
satellite remote sensing databases would fall within the scope of that
regime, read the holders of intellectual property rights with respect to
such databases would enjoy the applicability of NT and MFN to that
extent.

15.5.3 Towards an International Trade Regime for Satellite

Navigation?

15.5.3.1 Commercialization and privatization of satellite navigation

Commercialization and privatization of satellite navigation itself is, at
best, an issue for the future.219 As compared to the case of satellite
remote sensing, involvement of private parties in the upstream segments
of satellite navigation – the development, launch, operation and mainten-
ance of the satellite system and the supporting ground infrastructure – is
totally absent currently, and likely not to be expected soon.
The two systems presently operational, the US GPS and the Russian
GLONASS systems, are both owned, operated and completely controlled
by the respective military establishments of the two states concerned.220

218
Art. 7(1), Database Directive, supra n. 207. Note that Art. 3, Database
Directive, also provides protection under copyright under essentially identical
terms as Art. 10(2), TRIPS Agreement, supra n. 17, i.e. to those databases that
meet the ‘intellectual creation’ requirement.
219
See also in general on satellite navigation supra, Chapter 10. Cf. further
W. von Kries, Thoughts on European GNSS Options, 14 Space Policy (1998),
211–3; N. Frischauf, Satellite Navigation, in Outer Space in Society, Politics and
Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 124–33; Venet, supra n. 13, 66–9;
Walter, supra n. 13, 495.
220
See e.g. B.M. Orschel, Assessing a GPS-Based Global Navigation Satel-
lite System Within the Context of the 2004 U.S. Space-Based Positioning,
Navigation, and Timing Policy, 70 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2005),
611–7; P. Hartl & M. Wlaka, The European Contribution to a Global Civil
Satellite Navigation System, 12 Space Policy (1996), 167–8; Frischauf, supra
n. 219, 124–30; Salin, supra n. 17, 86–90; Jakhu, supra n. 119, 81–2; Lyall &
Larsen, supra n. 140, 391–5; also supra, § 10.2.2.1 and § 10.2.2.2.

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As neither of the two systems moreover has more than a consultative

structure in place with respect to civil and commercial usages,221 where
the timing, positioning and navigation services are essentially offered for
free and without any contractual relationship, this is not likely to change
either.
The downstream commercial operators using such services – who do
indeed currently comprise a considerable, and growing, industry –
consequently would be on their own in regulating any market access for
their services in other states, which could involve both products (receiv-
ers and assorted application technologies) and services (such as fleet
management or road sector services), although the latter currently
compromise a minor element of the markets in view of the fundamental
absence of guarantees and warranties as regards the (quality of the)
signals offered by the GPS and GLONASS systems.
The same general analysis would very likely also apply to the
prospective satellite navigation systems and the signals to be produced
thereby currently being developed by China,222 India,223 and Japan.224 All

221
Cf. for the US case Orschel, supra n. 220, 609 ff., esp. 616–7, 624; S.
Pace, The Global Positioning System: Policy Issues for an Information Tech-
nology, 12 Space Policy (1996), 265 ff., esp. 275; W. von Kries, Some Comments
on the U.S. Global Positioning System Policy, 45 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht 45 (1996), 407–10; P.B. Larsen, Regulation of Global Navigation
and Positioning Services in the United States, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 460–2; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140, 393–4;
L. Bond, The GNSS Safety and Sovereignty Convention of 2000 AD, 65 Journal
of Air Law & Commerce (2000), 445 ff.
222
This concerns the Beidou system; see supra, § 10.2.2.4, § 10.2.3.1;
further e.g. N. Peter, Developments in Space Policies, Programmes and Tech-
nologies Throughout the World and Europe, in Yearbook on Space Policy
2007/2008 (Eds. K.U. Schrogl, C. Mathieu & N. Peter) (2009), 99; W. Rathgeber
& C. Venet, Developments in Space Policies, Programmes and Technologies
Throughout the World and Europe, in Yearbook on Space Policy 2008/2009 (Eds.
K.U. Schrogl et al.) (2010), 134; R. Du, Shaping Legal Framework for Compass
– Regulating GNSS in Chinese Context, in Proceedings of the International
Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 63–8; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140, 399.
223
This concerns the IRNSS & GAGAN systems; see supra, § 10.2.3.3,
§ 10.2.6.4; further e.g. R. Kaul, Legal Regime for GNSS for CNS/ATM for
India: Application of Articles VI and VII Outer Space Treaty to the GAGAN
SBAS, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012),
349–58; Peter, supra n. 222, 99–100; Rathgeber & Venet, supra n. 222, 135;
Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140, 401.
224
This concerns the QZSS & MSAS systems; see supra, § 10.2.3.2,
§ 10.2.6.3; see further e.g. H. Shiroyama, Recent Development of Japan’s Space

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of these are (going to be) government-owned and government-operated,

with no discernible private input other than perhaps in the manufacturing
of component parts and the downstream uptake of any free signals by
commercial enterprises to develop further non-critical applications, such
as is already happening with GPS signals.225
The only case where the original approach is rather different, that of
the European Galileo system currently being brought into operation with
the intention to provide certain guaranteed services in return for user
fees,226 has also suffered from a lack of commercial interest. At least for
the time being the original PPP-approach, whereby a private concession-
aire would operate the system and sell its services under the auspices of
a public supervisor, has been shelved, and on behalf of the combined
member states of the European Union and ESA the European Commis-
sion is currently in charge of the development of the system, financially
and otherwise.227

Policy: The Quasi-Zenith Satellite Programme and the Space Policy Making
Process, in Yearbook on Space Policy 2010/2011 (Eds. P. Hulsroj, S. Pagkratis &
B. Baranes) (2013), 207–21; also Peter, supra n. 222, 99; Rathgeber & Venet,
supra n. 222, 135.
225
Cf. e.g. Hartl & Wlaka, supra n. 220, 169–70; Orschel, supra n. 220,
614–8; Pace, supra n. 221, 269 ff.; W.F. Blanchard, Achieving GPS-Galileo
Interoperability: The Challenges Ahead, 19 Space Policy (2003), 96–7; Von
Kries, supra n. 221, 407–10.
226
See e.g. L. Mantl, The European Union, in Outer Space in Society,
Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 420–1; Orschel, supra
n. 220, 612–3; Frischauf, supra n. 219, 130–2; Lyall & Larsen, supra n. 140,
395–6; also F.G. von der Dunk, Liability for Global Navigation Satellite
Services: A Comparative Analysis of GPS and Galileo, 30 Journal of Space Law
(2004), 145–50. See also supra, § 4.4.4.1 and § 10.2.2.3.
227
See also Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
setting up the European GNSS Agency, repealing Council Regulation (EC)
No 1321/2004 on the establishment of structures for the management of the
European satellite radio navigation programmes and amending Regulation (EC)
No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, No. 912/2010/EU,
of 22 September 2010; OJ L 276/11 (2010). Further e.g. Mantl, supra n. 226,
423–6; S. Pagkratis, Developments in Space Policies, Programmes and Tech-
nologies Throughout the World and Europe, in Yearbook on Space Policy
2009/2010 (Eds. K.U. Schrogl, S. Pagkratis & B. Baranes) (2011), 159–60; M.
Ferrazzani, Recent Legal Developments of GNSS in Europe, in Proceedings of
the International Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 359–63; L. Boureghda,
The Galileo Programme Framework, in Proceedings of the International Institute
of Space Law 2011 (2012), 364–7.

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15.5.3.2 Applying the GATT/GATS/WTO regime to satellite

navigation: The issues
Like satellite remote sensing, satellite navigation would be a global
business: the satellite systems – which largely operate or are planned to
operate in medium earth orbits – cover the whole globe and would in
principle be able to provide receivers anywhere on earth with timing,
positioning and navigation signals, and require a number of ground
stations spread across the earth for operating and controlling purposes.
Tellingly, however, efforts at establishing an international regime, even if
only embryonic, have so far been confined to discussions on frequency
use and interference in the context of the ITU,228 giving rise only to a
bilateral treaty-like agreement between the United States and the Euro-
pean Union on GPS and Galileo,229 as well as a few intra-European
regulations on Galileo.230
At the same time, satellite navigation also gives rise to some distinct
security-related issues, as intentional temporary degradation or unavail-
ability of GPS signals by the US authorities for security-related reasons
have evidenced in recent years.231 Also, again the non-applicability of the
GATS to what would qualify as governmental services should be
reiterated.232 This, however, predominantly plays out at the level of the
upstream satellite operations. Since, moreover, to date the downstream
commercial development has remained largely confined to the manufac-
turing of various sorts of receivers, which already would seem to fall
under the GATT rules to the extent they cover such electronic receiving

228
See e.g. Orschel, supra n. 220, 622–4, 631–2.
229
Agreement on the Promotion, Provision and Use of Galileo and GPS
Satellite-Based Navigation Systems and Related Applications, U.S.-E.C., done 26
June 2004; see further in great detail M. Dodge, The GPS-Galileo Agreement
and Treaty Law, 38 Journal of Space Law (2012), 227–87; also Orschel, supra
n. 220, 634; Blanchard, supra n. 225, 95–9. In addition, Orschel, 633–4, refers to
joint US–Russia and US–Japan statements of a policy nature.
230
Cf. Regulation No. 912/2010, supra n. 227; also, earlier, Council Regu-
lation on the establishment of structures for the management of the European
satellite radio-navigation programmes, No. 1321/2004/EC, of 12 July 2004; OJ L
246/1 (2004); Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
further implementation of the European satellite navigation programmes
(EGNOS and Galileo), No. 683/2008/EC, of 9 July 2008; OJ L 196/1 (2008).
231
See further e.g. Orschel, supra n. 220, 609–10, 624–30; Von Kries, supra
n. 221, 409.
232
See again Art. I(3) (b) & (c), GATS, supra n. 11.

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and transmitting devices as these constitute essentially telecommunica-

tions equipment,233 only occasionally could security exceptions be
invoked to limit international trade in such devices.234
With service provision – adding technology to provide true tracking,
routing, fleet management and other value-added services on top of the
straightforward determination of positions in time – the situation is more
complicated however. Whilst many states would be inclined, at least in
principle, to allow the use of such timing, positioning and navigation
devices on their territory because of the obvious benefits these would
bring to their populations and economies, it might well be preferred to
limit possibilities to provide actual services using such technology to
national operators for both security and economic reasons. Hence, the
interest in considering such services to become subject to a GATS regime
of MFN and/or NT will not likely be very widespread any time soon.
Nevertheless, this may of course change. There may be just a few
economies which operate their own satellite navigation systems, these
being the US and Russian, and soon European, Chinese, Indian and
Japanese ones; this does concern most of the world’s largest economies.
If Galileo were to manage to push the envelope of downstream
commercialization of satellite navigation services even further, by creat-
ing and growing new markets out of its own direct business interests,
there might well be a point where discussion of application of the GATS
regime would be undertaken in earnest. After all, satellite navigation
from a technical and operational standpoint is not much more than a
specific subset of satellite telecommunications largo sensu, and as the
latter has been generally subjected to a trade liberalization regime under
GATS/WTO principles, it should be relatively easy to extend the scope of
that regime to satellite navigation services – if only by simply allowing
inclusion thereof in Specific Schedules of Commitments.235
For the purposes of the GATS Annex on Telecommunications, for
example, ‘telecommunications’ is defined as ‘the transmission and recep-
tion of signals by any electromagnetic means’.236 So far, the liberaliz-
ation process has been restricted to so-called basic telecommunication

233
Cf. P.A. Salin, Impact of Recent US Legislation and Regulations on
International Satellite Communication Regulations, 48 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (1999), 51–2.
234
Cf. also supra, § 15.2.2.4, referencing Art. XXI, GATT 1947, supra n. 3.
235
See supra, §§ 15.4.2, 15.4.3.
236
Art. 3(a), GATS Annex on Telecommunications, supra n. 144. Cf. further
again the discussion at Orschel, supra n. 220, 622–4, 631–4, on ITU involvement
and interference issues.

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services, but as these more or less comprise ‘voice telephony, data

transmission, telex, telegraph, facsimile, private leased circuit services
(resale), fixed and mobile satellite systems and services, cellular
telephony, mobile data services, paging, and personal communications
services (PCS)’,237 the term ‘basic’ seems to have been interpreted rather
broadly. There would be no inherent reason why satellite navigation
services could not be added to that list relatively simply – once political
will and/or economic necessity pushed for such developments.

15.5.4 Towards an International Trade Regime for Private Manned

Spaceflight?

15.5.4.1 The impending commercialization and privatization of

manned spaceflight
The international trade environment for launch services has already been
addressed above,238 and assessed as to the application and possible
applicability of an international trade regime as per the GATS/WTO –
which turned out to be rather unlikely. Even such private commercial
launch activities as currently stimulated by the US authorities to serve the
International Space Station, notably by SpaceX and Boeing, would not
change this conclusion.239
Whilst the support for those activities through NASA by way of the
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme240 cer-
tainly amounts to government subsidies for private operators and private
operations in the broad sense of the word, the unique character of those
operations, including their security-related aspects, makes it rather dif-
ficult to fathom that such government subsidization would become

237
Senunas, supra n. 51, sub Introduction.
238
See supra, § 15.3.
239
See in general M.J. Kleiman, J.K. Lamie & M.V. Carminati, The Laws of
Spaceflight (2012), 51 ff.; also T. Brannen, Private Commercial Space Transpor-
tation’s Dependence on Space Tourism and NASA’s Responsibility to Both, 75
Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2010), 647 ff., esp. 650, 660–8; G.P. Smith &
A.D. Thompson, Creating a Sustainable Manned Orbital Spaceflight Industry, 10
Astropolitics (2012), esp. 69.
240
Cf. for further details e.g. T.B. Dickerson, Patent Rights under Space Act
Agreements and Procurement Contracts: A Comparison by the Examination of
NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), 33 Journal of
Space Law (2007), 342–8; R.D. Launius & D.R. Jenkins, Is It Finally Time for
Space Tourism?, 4 Astropolitics (2006), 271–2; Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati,
supra n. 239, 53.

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subject to an international trade regime which, at least in the abstract,

would not condone such support.
Currently, the GATS regime does not yet address subsidies but does
foresee negotiations on the topic;241 also the GATS provides that MFN,
NT and market access obligations do not apply to government procure-
ment. However, the Agreement on Government Procurement (albeit
endowed with a much more limited number of states parties than the
GATT and the GATS) does apply to trade in services – but only by listed
entities, and of course it has a security exception as well.242
Interestingly, moreover, with the exception of China (and perhaps
India, Brazil and Ukraine) the states possibly most worried because of
their own launch services – Russia, the major European spacefaring
nations and Japan – are themselves on board the ISS project with the
United States,243 and hence agree with NASA’s replacing the previously
available shuttle flights with other means to travel to and from the ISS
rather than thinking of protesting at any behaviour potentially considered
anti-competitive.
The one development that could possibly fundamentally change these
paradigms would be that of manned commercial sub-orbital space-
flight.244 Notably, companies like Virgin Galactic and XCOR/SXC seem
to be on the verge of flying dozens of paying ‘space tourists’ in
hyperbolical arcs extending just above the (informal) boundary of air
space and outer space at 100 km.245
Virgin Galactic, originally a British company, has relocated to the
United States inter alia for ITAR-related reasons, and will fly with US
technology (a two-stage-to-space vehicle developed by The Space Com-
pany) from spaceports in the United States, and later probably also
elsewhere.246 SXC, originally a Dutch company but meanwhile relocated

241
Cf. Art. XV, GATS, supra n. 11.
242
See Art. XXIII(1), Agreement on Government Procurement, supra n. 20.
243
See further supra, §§ 11.2, 11.3.
244
See further supra, Chapter 12. Cf. also in a broader context S.H.
Bromberg, Public Space Travel – 2005: A Legal Odyssey into the Current
Regulatory Environment for United States Space Adventurers Pioneering the
Final Frontier, 70 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2005), 639 ff.; also Brannen,
supra n. 239, 639–68; Venet, supra n. 13, 69–70; Walter, supra n. 13, 498–502.
245
See on the boundary issue e.g. supra, § 2.3.1.3.
246
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Passing the Buck to Rogers: International
Liability Issues in Private Spaceflight, 86 Nebraska Law Review (2007), 405–7;
F.G. von der Dunk, Space Tourism, Private Spaceflight and the Law: Key
Aspects, 27 Space Policy (2011), 147–8; Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati, supra
n. 239, 48–50; M. Gerhard, Space Tourism – The Authorisation of Suborbital

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to the Caribbean island of Curacao, will similarly start flying soon with a
single-stage-to-space vehicle developed, operated and maintained by the
US XCOR company, presumably from Curacao but possibly also from
elsewhere.247 Slightly less articulate plans involve other US companies,
and even non-US locations and projects.248
While thus very much focused on US technology and business
entrepreneurship, it is presumed that the actual flights will soon become
available in other parts of the world. For the time being, as sub-orbital
hops of short duration and returning to the same site from where take-off
took place, these flights will likely not give rise to much discussion on an
international trade regime – although it should already be noted that
under the GATS, foreign service provision includes consumption
abroad.249 To the extent lawyers are discussing these impending opera-
tions, the focus is on safety, security, liability, certification and other
technology-related issues, not on commercial ones.250

Space Transportation, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der
Dunk) (2001), 263–4; R.S. Jakhu & Y.O.M. Nyampong, International regulation
of emerging modes of space transportation, in Space Safety Regulations and
Standards (Eds. J.N. Pelton & R.S. Jakhu) (2011), 217–20; cf. also Brannen,
supra n. 239, 656–9; M.C. Mineiro, Law and Regulation Governing U.S.
Commercial Spaceports: Licensing, Liability, and Legal Challenges, 73 Journal
of Air Law & Commerce (2008), 763–5, 800–2.
247
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, Sun, Sea, Sand … and Space: Launching
Tourists into Outer Space from the Dutch Caribbean, in Proceedings of the
International Institute of Space Law 2010 (2011), 349–50; also Kleiman, Lamie
& Carminati, supra n. 239, 50; cf. also Mineiro, supra n. 246, 763–5, 800–2;
Brannen, supra n. 239, 656–9.
248
See further e.g. Kleiman, Lamie & Carminati, supra n. 239, 50–1;
Brannen, supra n. 239, 654–6; T.L. Masson-Zwaan, Regulation of Sub-orbital
Space Tourism in Europe: A Role for EU/EASA?, 35 Air & Space Law (2010),
263–4.
249
As per Art. I(2)(b), GATS, supra n. 11; see further supra, § 15.2.1.4, text
at n. 47.
250
See J.N. Pelton, The International Challenges of Regulation of Commer-
cial Space Flight, in Space Safety Regulations and Standards (Eds. J.N. Pelton &
R.S. Jakhu) (2011), 289–300; Jakhu & Nyampong, supra n. 246, 215–38; S.N.
Menon, Space Tourism and Aerospace Vehicle: Re-tracing the Boundary between
Air Space and Outer Space, in Space Law in the Era of Commercialization (Ed.
S. Bhat) (2010), 47–55; M. Walker, Suborbital Space Tourism Flights: An
Overview of Some Regulatory Issues at the Interface of Air and Space Law, 33
Journal of Space Law (2007), 397–404; for Europe, Masson-Zwaan, supra
n. 248, 269–72.

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However, whilst the special character of this impending new economic

sector may even cause applicability of concepts such as ‘launch’ and
‘outer space’ into question, precisely for that reason many of the
‘classical’ security- and public service-related constraints would be
absent, or at least have a fundamentally different effect in this area, so as
to make it potentially less sensitive to open up international trade, for
example along the lines of the GATS/WTO regimes. In particular, it may
be noted that several of the impending operators intend to evolve their
sub-orbital flight capabilities from point-A-to-point-A ‘sensation experi-
ence’ flights to point-A-to-point-B transportation,251 at which point an
international market may start to develop in this context – and discus-
sions thereof in a GATS/WTO context would not seem so outrageous
anymore.

15.5.4.2 Applying the GATS/WTO regime to private manned

spaceflight: The issues
Such an evolution towards A-to-B transportation also would essentially
transform sub-orbital spaceflight into a kind of aviation, merely involving
flights higher and faster than normal aviation could offer – and quite
likely of course much more expensive as well. Here, it may be noted that
within the GATS context an Annex on Air Transport Services has
provided already for a first measure of trade liberalization of international
aviation in the WTO/GATS context.252
This Annex provides:

1. This Annex applies to measures affecting trade in air transport services,

whether scheduled or non-scheduled, and ancillary services. It is confirmed
that any specific commitment or obligation assumed under this Agreement
shall not reduce or affect a Member’s obligations under bilateral or

251
See e.g. F.G. von der Dunk, The Integrated Approach – Regulating
Private Human Spaceflight as Space Activity, Aircraft Operation, and High-Risk
Adventure Tourism, 92 Acta Astronautica (2013), 200, 208; also von der Dunk,
Passing the Buck, supra n. 245, 403.
252
See further D. Kreymborg, Developments Relevant to International Air
Transport in the World Trade Organization (WTO), 28 Annals of Air & Space
Law (2003), 477–81; L. Tomas, Air Transport Agreements, Regulation of
Liability, in The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R.
Wolfrum) Vol. I (2012), 244; U. Balasubramaniam, Market Access and the GATS
Air Transport Annexure: Possible Approaches for India, 72 Journal of Air Law &
Commerce (2007), 45 ff., esp. 54–60; Y. Zhao, Air Transport Services and WTO
in the New Epoch, 50 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2001), 48–67.

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multilateral agreements that are in effect on the date of entry into force of the
WTO Agreement.
The Agreement, including its dispute settlement procedures, shall not apply to
measures affecting:
(a) traffic rights, however granted; or
(b) services directly related to the exercise of traffic rights,
except as provided in paragraph 3 of this Annex.
The Agreement shall apply to measures affecting:
(a) aircraft repair and maintenance services;
(b) the selling and marketing of air transport services;
(c) computer reservation system (CRS) services.
The dispute settlement procedures of the Agreement may be invoked only
where obligations or specific commitments have been assumed by the
concerned Members and where dispute settlement procedures in bilateral and
other multilateral agreements or arrangements have been exhausted.
5. The Council for Trade in Services shall review periodically, and at least
every five years, developments in the air transport sector and the operation of
this Annex with a view to considering the possible further application of the
Agreement in this sector.
6. Definitions:
(a) ‘Aircraft repair and maintenance services’ mean such activities when
undertaken on an aircraft or a part thereof while it is withdrawn from
service and do not include so-called line maintenance.
(b) ‘Selling and marketing of air transport services’ mean opportunities for
the air carrier concerned to sell and market freely its air transport
services including all aspects of marketing such as market research,
advertising and distribution. These activities do not include the pricing of
air transport services nor the applicable conditions.
(c) ‘Computer reservation system (CRS) services’ mean services provided by
computerised systems that contain information about air carriers’ sched-
ules, availability, fares and fare rules, through which reservations can be
made or tickets may be issued.
(d) ‘Traffic rights’ mean the right for scheduled and non-scheduled services
to operate and/or to carry passengers, cargo and mail for remuneration or
hire from, to, within, or over the territory of a Member, including points
to be served, routes to be operated, types of traffic to be carried, capacity
to be provided, tariffs to be charged and their conditions, and criteria for
designation of airlines, including such criteria as number, ownership, and
control.253

253
GATS, Annex on Air Transport Services, www.wto.org/english/docs_e/
legal_e/26-gats_02_e.htm, last accessed 26 March 2014.

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Much of this would be easily transferable or translatable into a sub-

orbital space transportation environment serving, just like international
aviation, pairs of cities on earth. As such types of sub-orbital space
transportation essentially would compete with ‘classical’ civil aviation,
states would presumably wish to control and negotiate foreign service
provision opportunities also regarding such a new mode of international
transport and somehow ‘integrate’ those transport services into any
existing international legal regime for air transportation.254
Needless to say, however, such a development would still be something
for – at the earliest – the medium term. As long as the sub-orbital space
tourism industry has not really established itself and technologies,
operations, markets and regulation have not yet proven their maturity it is
consequently unlikely that application or applicability of such GATS
principles to sub-orbital spaceflight would come to be extensively
discussed.

15.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS

The context of international trade and competition offers excellent
illustrations of space law lato sensu being a conglomerate of more
specific legal regimes, some of which have never focused – at least
originally – on space activities and/or their major applications, rather
than a somehow monolithic (international) regime. It also represents the
best illustration of how this is particularly true for the paradigm change
taking place in the space arena over the past several decades, with private
industries gradually and with different intensity in various space sectors
but nevertheless substantially and seemingly unstoppably moving into the
space realm.255

254
Obviously, in view of the basic negation in this respect of Art. 1(a),
GATS, Annex on Air Transport Services, supra n. 253, considerable doubt exists
as to whether the GATS through these clauses actually covers any traffic rights,
and if so, what that would mean; cf. Tomas, supra n. 252, 244; Zhao, supra
n. 252, 58–60; also Balasubramaniam, supra n. 252, 55–8; V.J. Vissepó, Legal
Aspects of Reusable Launch Vehicles, 31 Journal of Space Law (2005), 173,
189–91.
255
See for further analyses of this phenomenon F.G. von der Dunk, As Space
Law Comes to Nebraska, Space Comes Down To Earth, 87 Nebraska Law
Review (2008), 500–12; cf. also V.S. Vereshchetin, Legal Regulation of Space
Activities: Which Way Will It Advance Further?, 18 Journal of Space Law
(1990), 11–8; B. Cheng, The Commercial Development of Space: The Need for
New Treaties, 19 Journal of Space Law (1991), 17–21.

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International trade aspects of space services 873

As liberalization and privatization make headway into the various

space sectors, certain groups of space products and services are no longer
by definition carved out from the normal politico-economic forces of the
market – and as soon as that happens, the international trade regime as
represented most prominently by GATT, GATS and the WTO becomes
relevant.
This occurred earliest and most forcefully in the context of satellite
communications, as by far the most commercialized and privatized of the
space arenas in which a basic legal regime has now arisen under the
GATS. In the context of launch services and remote sensing, where
privatization is haphazard, far from complete and fraught with
sovereignty-related issues, yet commercialization of one type or another
is at issue, at best the GATT may be applied. For launching, however, a
meanwhile aborted effort at essentially unilateral, US-led regulation of
the world market place in services resulted, whereas for remote sensing
the principled carve-out of governmental services under the GATS, the
security aspects of the sector and the likely characterization of the core of
remote sensing as providing services rather than products make appli-
cation of the GATS/WTO regime quite unlikely for the near future. For
satellite navigation and private commercial spaceflight, the one on the
brink of some level of privatization by dint of the European Galileo
system, the other by all accounts taking off in 2015, there are similar
arguments why application of the GATS/WTO regime might, perhaps, be
desirable, but not likely to happen in the short run. Nevertheless, if the
long march of commercialization and privatization of specific sectors of
space activities and their major applications is going to continue,
inevitably these and similar issues will be brought to the table, and
require appropriate solutions.

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16. Financing space ventures

Mark Sundahl

16.1 INTRODUCTION
The construction, launch and operation of satellites and other space
objects require tremendous financial resources. The construction and
launch of a single telecommunications satellite, for example, can easily
run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The value of a single
transponder on a satellite can range from five to 20 million dollars.1
Given the capital-intensive nature of the space industry, financing is
invariably a critical component of a successful venture.
The types of transactions involved in financing space ventures vary.
Equity finance, secured and unsecured lending, and project finance
structures have all been utilized to raise capital. Equity finance refers to
the raising of funds by the sale of a company’s shares of stock. This
stock can be sold through public offerings in a stock exchange or through
private offerings to individuals or companies. Funds can also be raised by
borrowing money from a bank or a syndicate of banks. Such loans can be
unsecured so that banks have no right to the borrower’s assets if the
borrower fails to repay or, more typically, the loans can be secured on the
assets of the borrower in order to provide the banks with some protection
in the event of default.
Project finance is a more complicated method of financing capital-
intensive ventures in which the lenders financing the project rely on the
revenue generated by the project for repayment of the debt obligations
without recourse to the company sponsoring the project. This structure
appeals to companies because it limits the company’s potential losses to
the value of the assets involved in the project. In the case of satellite
finance, lenders would look to the income generated from transponder
leases and other revenue streams flowing to the satellite operator.
Because the lender does not have recourse to other assets of the operator
if the operator defaults on the loan obligation, the lender will demand a
first-priority security interest in the satellite since this collateral is the

1
See P.D. Nesgos, Satellites and Transponders, in Equipment Leasing (Ed.
B.A. Dubin) (2012), § 30.02.1.

874

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Financing space ventures 875

lender’s only protection in the event that the expected revenue streams do
not materialize.2 Although satellite operators typically have their satellites
built to their specifications, satellites have also been sold or leased to a
new operator while on orbit.3 Individual transponders on a satellite are
also commonly sold and leased.4 In some cases, a company will simply
purchase or lease a transponder from the satellite operator, while in other
cases a company may utilize a sale/leaseback structure to acquire the
long-term use of a transponder.5
The legal environment in which these transactions take place is a major
factor in ensuring that the transactions can be structured in a manner that
reduces costs and risks to a level that is acceptable to the parties
involved. In particular, the laws applicable to the enforcement of security
interests are critical in a financing involving secured debt and the laws
governing leasing and sales will affect the success of these types of
transactions. This chapter explores the complexities of financing space
ventures and describes the current legal landscape as well as recent legal
reform efforts.

2
For a thorough treatment of the complexities of project finance see E.R.
Yescombe, Principles of Project Finance (2002).
3
A representative example of a satellite leasing took place in 2002 when
the company SES S.A., a Luxembourg company, leased the Astra-1B satellite to
the Swedish company Nordic Satellite AB. See M. Gerhard, Transfer of
Operation and Control with Respect to Space Objects – Problems with Respons-
ibility and Liability of States, 51 Zeitschrift für Luft- und Weltraumrecht (2002),
573. For additional examples of satellite leases see F.G. von der Dunk, The
Illogical Link: Launching, Liability and Leasing, in Proceedings of the Forty-
Sixth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1994), 349.
4
Transponders are more commonly subject to leases than satellites as a
whole due, in part, to the fact that the operation of a transponder alone is not
subject to licensing requirements. See Nesgos, supra n. 1, §§ 30.02.1, 30.06.1.
5
Sale/leaseback financings involve the initial purchase of a transponder
from the satellite operator by the company, which then resells the transponder to
a bank. The bank then leases the transponder to the company. For an example of
a Transponder Purchase Agreement, see J. Hermida, Transponder Purchase
Agreement, in International Business Transactions: Standard Forms and Docu-
ments (Ed. D. Campbell) (2007); Suppl. 55 (May 2012).

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16.2 THE NATURE AND CHALLENGES OF

FINANCING SPACE VENTURES
At the outset of the space age, governments funded their own space
activities.6 When private industry entered the satellite telecommunica-
tions field, the companies were able to finance their operations with their
own funds or by borrowing money from financial institutions that did not
require that these loans be secured on the companies’ space assets. These
were blue-chip companies with triple-A ratings and significant assets on
the ground, such as AmeriCom (a subsidiary of RCA), SES and DirecTV
(a joint venture of RCA and Hughes Electronics). Given their financial
stability, these companies had little difficulty receiving loans on the basis
of their creditworthiness.
Due in part to the deregulation of satellite communications and the
opening of domestic markets to foreign satellite operators through the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in the 1990s,7 new
entrants into the satellite telecommunications industries began to
emerge.8 More recently, a new cadre of space entrepreneurs have
launched companies in the field of both manned and unmanned space
flight. For example, companies such as SpaceX, SpaceHab, Rocketplane
Kistler, PlanetSpace, and SpaceDev are participating in NASA’s Com-
mercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which was

6
For an overview of the government funding of space activities see I.H.P.
Diederiks-Verschoor, The Development of Financing of Spacecraft, in Proceed-
ings of the Fortieth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1998), 212.
7
General Agreement on Trade in Services, Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994,
entered into force 1 January 1995; UKTS 1996 No. 58; Cm. 3276; ATS 1995 No.
8; cf. also the Agreement on Telecommunications Services, Geneva, done 15
February 1997, entered into force 5 February 1998; ATS 1998 No. 9; 36 ILM
354 (1997).
8
See F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A Treatise (2009), 443; S.A.
Davis, Unifying the Final Frontier: Space Industry Financing Reform, 106
Commercial Law Journal (2001), 457. In 1996 the conclusion of the Fourth
Protocol to the GATS opened the domestic telecommunications industry of
participating member states to foreign market entrants on a ‘Most-Favoured
Nation’ basis; Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Trade and Services
of 15 April 1994, Geneva, done 15 April 1997, entered into force 5 February
1998; ATS 1998 No. 9; 33 ILM 1167 (1994); 36 ILM 354 (1997). See, generally,
S.M. Meisner, Global Telecommunications Competition a Reality: United States
Complies with WTO Pact, 13 American University International Law Review
(1998), 1345.

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created to enable NASA to utilize private companies for cargo and crew
delivery services in low earth orbit.9
Unlike the established behemoths of the space industry, these new
companies do not have a long history of creditworthiness or the vast
assemblage of assets on the ground. These start-up companies bring a
new level of risk for financiers that extend loans to finance their
operations – and the assets available as collateral are limited to the
company’s space assets. These smaller companies will therefore have no
choice but to use their space assets as collateral. As a result, the ability of
financial institutions to acquire an enforceable security interest in these
space assets will be essential to attract financing.10
In addition, developing countries seeking the benefits of space may not
have access to the capital required to build and launch satellites and these
countries may therefore benefit from the ability to leverage their space
assets as collateral to attract private funding.11 Governmental need for
external financing also exists to some extent in the industrialized world
when public funds are scarce or a government sees a benefit in seeking
external financing.12
While secured debt has been used to finance space ventures, loan
obligations have been generally secured on more easily accessible,
immobile and marketable terrestrial collateral.13 In order to comprehend

9
Regarding the COTS programme, see NASA Commercial Crew & Cargo
Program Office Homepage, www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/home/index.html, last
accessed 9 February 2014. Sub-orbital space tourism companies, including Virgin
Galactic and XCOR Aerospace, have also entered the field of spaceflight.
10
See e.g. N. Hazan, The UNIDROIT Preliminary Draft Protocol on
Matters Specific to Space Assets, 28 Annals of Air & Space Law (2003), 222;
M.J. Stanford & A. de Fontmichel, Overview of the Current Situation Regarding
the Preliminary Draft Space Property Protocol and Its Examination by COPUOS,
6 Uniform Law Review (2001), 62; P.B. Larsen & J.A. Heilbock, UNIDROIT
Project on Security Interests: How the Project Affects Space Objects, 64 Journal
of Air Law & Commerce (1999), 707.
11
See A.F. dos Santos, Financing of Space Assets, 19 Space Policy (2003),
127; R. Lochan, Cape Town Convention & Space Protocol: A Critical Analysis,
in Conference Proceedings of the ISRO/IISL Space Law Conference 2005:
Bringing Space Benefits to the Asian Region, (Eds. V. Gopalakrishnan & R.
Lochan) (2006), 6-39, 6-40; O.M. Ribbelink, The Protocol on Matters Specific to
Space Assets, 12 European Review of Private Law (2004), 38.
12
See e.g. Larsen & Heilbock, supra n. 10, 737; Comments by the Cosmic
Space Agency of the Russian Federation, UNIDROIT 1996, Study LXXII – Doc.
26, 1.
13
One example of a satellite finance structure utilizing a security interest in
the satellite involved the APSTAR satellite. See D.A. Panahy & R. Mittal, The

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878 Handbook of space law

why this is the case, the basic theory of an efficient system of secured
credit must be understood. A predictable and efficient law of secured
transactions reduces the cost of borrowing money because banks will
charge a lower interest rate when they face a lower risk of financial loss.
Without a predictable law of secured transactions, a creditor will not have
this confidence and will be reluctant to release funds or, if the loan is
issued, the bank will charge a higher interest rate. At the most basic level,
an efficient law of secured transactions will contain the following four
features:

1. the ability of the creditor to easily acquire a non-possessory

security interest without burdensome formalities;
2. clear priority rules coupled with a publicly searchable registration
system to clarify the priority positions of competing claimants;
3. the ability of the creditor to unilaterally exercise remedies in the
event of the debtor’s default without the need to seek a court order;
and
4. the ability of a secured creditor to exercise remedies against the
debtor’s assets even in the context of the debtor’s insolvency.

In addition to having the protections of the proper legal environment,

banks also need to have confidence that the collateral securing their loans
will be easily marketable so that the bank can quickly dispose of the
collateral and realize the proceeds needed to cover its losses.14
A security interest in immobile terrestrial assets that are held in a state
with an efficient and creditor-friendly law of secured transactions, such
as the United States, provides lenders with a highly reliable security
package. In contrast, lenders may lack confidence in security interests in
space assets for a number of reasons.
First, the patchwork of domestic laws that may be implicated in the
course of creating and enforcing a security interest in space assets can

Prospective UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equip-

ment as Applied to Space Property, 4 Uniform Law Review (1999), 305.
ProtoStar Ltd. also granted security interests in its satellites to an affiliate of
Credit Suisse Group AG in connection with the financing of its venture. See
M. Bathon, ProtoStar Wins Court Approval of Liquidation Plan, www.bloom
berg.com/news/2010-10-06/protostar-wins-court-approval-of-sale-plan-resolving-
creditors-disputes.html, last accessed 9 February 2014.
14
For more detailed explanation of the benefits of security interests see G.
McCormack, Secured Credit Under English and American Law (2004), 1–38.

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result in legal uncertainty and can increase transactional costs.15

Although some states, such as the United States, Australia and New
Zealand, have adopted progressive, creditor-friendly secured transactions
statutes, many jurisdictions around the world retain an approach to
secured transactions that fails to incorporate the above-mentioned funda-
mental principles of asset-backed finance.
For example, German law does not generally provide for the public
registration of security interests for purposes of establishing priority and
giving notice to prospective creditors of existing security interests.16
Instead, priority in Germany is given to competing secured parties in
order of the time of the creation of their security interests.17 This can
result in hidden liens if the debtor does not disclose existing security
interests to a prospective lender since there is no public record of existing
security interests.
In India, although judge-made law gives creditors the nominal right to
enforce a non-possessory security interest without a court order, the
reality is that a court order is still generally required and the ensuing
litigation can cause sufficient delay so as to destroy the practical value of
a security interest.18 This difficulty in creating and enforcing security
interests in personal property is a problematic area of commercial law not
only in India, but in many other developing countries as well.19
In addition, although there is a general movement towards allowing
parties to choose the law that governs their transaction (and thereby avoid

15
See H.L. Buxbaum, Unification of the Law Governing Secured Trans-
actions: Progress and Prospects for Reform, 8 Uniform Law Review (2003),
323–4; P.B. Larsen, Creditors’ Secured Interests in Satellites, in Proceedings of
the Thirty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (1992), 236. Regarding
the complexities of cross-border secured transactions see also R.C.C. Cuming,
Study of International Regulation of Aspects of Security Interests in Mobile
Equipment, 1 Uniform Law Review (1990), 63.
16
See R. Hesdahl & A. Lange, Germany, in International Secured Trans-
actions (Ed. D. Campbell) (2012), § 15:23.
17
See ibid., § 15:25.
18
Cf. H. Jayesh et al., Bank Finance and Regulation Multi-Jurisdictional
Survey: India, Enforcement of Security Interests in Banking Transactions, IBA
(2010), 12–3, www.ibanet.org/LPD/Financial_Services_Section/Banking_Law/
BankinglawSurveyApril2010.aspx, last accessed 19 April 2014.
19
See, generally, N. de la Peña, Reforming the Legal Framework for
Security Interests in Mobile Property, 4 Uniform Law Review (1999), 347. See
also Panahy & Mittal, supra n. 13, 305 (citing, as an example, the uncertainty of
Indonesian law regarding the use by Asia Cellular Satellite of its Garuda satellite
as security for debt which was effected by the transfer of the satellite to a
security agent by means of a fiduciary transfer agreement).

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inimical laws), parties that are competing for the priority of their security
interests in a space asset will not have entered into any agreement in
which they would have chosen applicable law. In this case, the conflicts
of law rules of the forum where the competing claimants appear in court
will determine the applicable law.
The conflicts of law rule that generally applies to issues regarding the
priority of security interests will, in many jurisdictions, call for the
application of the law of the place where the collateral is located (lex rei
sitae).20 This rule is particularly problematic in the case of satellites and
other space assets since assets in space are not located within the territory
of any state.21 The law applied by the court in this situation may result in
a secured party unexpectedly losing priority.
Moreover, even if the parties to a dispute have chosen the governing
law or the choice of law rules of the forum generally call for the
application of the law of a jurisdiction other than that of the forum,
certain mandatory rules of the forum (for example rules regarding the
procedure for enforcing security interests) may still be applied by the
court.22 In addition to creating legal uncertainty that could harm a
secured party’s interests, this uncertainty increases transactional costs due
to the expense of engaging local counsel in multiple jurisdictions to
ensure that the requirements for a valid security interest, and the
perfection of that security interest, are met.23

20
In the United States, Sec. 301 of the 2001 version of Art. 1, Uniform
Commercial Code (hereafter UCC), provides for parties to choose the applicable
law in general, but requires that the law of the location of the collateral governs
issues of priority; see infra, § 16.3. The UCC was drafted by the American Law
Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
and is available in various hard copy statutory supplements as well as online at
the Cornell University Legal Information Institute, www.law.cornell.edu/ucc, last
accessed 19 April 2014. Each of the 50 US states has adopted the UCC, with
only minor variations across the states.
Another example of the application of the lex rei sitae is found in Italian law
which requires that in rem rights in movable assets be governed by the law of the
jurisdiction in which the assets are located; see U. Nunziante, Italy, in Inter-
national Secured Transactions (Ed. D. Campbell) (2012), § 20:42 (referencing
Art. 51, Law No. 218/1995).
21
See infra § 16.3.
22
See e.g. Nunziante, supra n. 20, § 20:42 (referencing Art. 9, Regulation of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law
applicable to contractual obligations, No. 593/2008/EC (Rome I); OJ L 177/6
(2008), which permits EU member states to enforce ‘mandatory rules’ that
safeguard critical public interests).
23
See Hazan, supra n. 10, 223.

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Second, the lack of a centralized international registry of security

interests to establish clear priority of competing claimants creates uncer-
tainty for creditors regarding the priority of their security interests.24
Some states even have separate registries for each of their territorial units
(as is true in the United States).25 Given the multiple registries around the
world, compounded by the different priority rules for each jurisdiction,
creditors cannot easily determine their priority position with respect to
competing creditors and claimants.26
Third, repossession of a satellite in orbit is virtually impossible and
therefore specialized approaches to the enforcement of security interests
are required in order to allow the creditor to gain control of the asset in
the event of default (such as the cooperation of states where ground
stations that control satellites are located).27
Finally, a satellite is of limited value to a creditor due to (1) the
restrictions on the transfer of satellites under domestic laws;28 (2) the
difficulty of transferring licences required for the operation of a satellite
to a new owner (such as licences to use the needed orbital positions and
radio frequencies for communication satellites);29 and (3) the difficulty of
repositioning and repurposing a satellite for the use of another owner
(since the technical requirements of a satellite may differ for the new
owner/operator and the use of on-board fuel for repositioning will reduce
the lifespan of the satellite).
Even in this challenging legal environment, practitioners can structure
a transaction to minimize the risks posed by existing law. Since the
priority of a security interest will likely be governed by the law of the

24
See Larsen, supra n. 15, 236.
25
Regarding the registration of security interests in the United States, see
infra § 16.3.
26
See S. Ospina, The Concepts of Assets and Property: Similarities and
Differences, and Their Applicability to Undertakings in Outer Space, in Proceed-
ings of the Forty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2003), 21 and
n. 17.
27
See Davis, supra n. 8, 459; Hazan, supra n. 10, 223.
28
As discussed below, restrictions on the transfer of space assets may arise
in the context of export controls; see infra § 16.4.3.
29
As an example of domestic legal restrictions placed on the transfer of
licences for the operation of satellites, US federal law prohibits the transfer or
assignment (including the grant of a security interest) of any licence granted by
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to a satellite operator without
the permission of the FCC; 47 U.S.C. § 310(d). However, some courts have
upheld the creation of security interests in the proceeds of an FCC licence; see
Nesgos, supra n. 1, § 30.06.1.

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state in which the asset is located and the enforcement of a security

interest may depend on the cooperation of the courts where a satellite is
located (or where the stations controlling a satellite are located), it is
critical that the transaction be structured so that states with inhospitable
laws are avoided.
The practitioner must also examine the laws of those jurisdictions
where the space asset may be located (or from where it will be
controlled) to ensure that any legal requirements for the recognition and
enforcement of the security interest have been met under the laws of each
jurisdiction. This may require certain contractual elements and the filing
of certain documents with state agencies (such as the filing of a financing
statement with the appropriate state office under state law in the United
States). Any control codes or other information needed to gain control of
a satellite when enforcing a security interest should also be placed in
escrow in a state that will allow for the easy enforcement of an
agreement calling for the release of this information to the creditor upon
the default of the debtor. In order to facilitate the transfer of any licences
required for the operation of a satellite to a new owner when enforcing a
security interest, the creditor should obtain the consent of the debtor for
such transfer in the transactional documents and an assurance that the
debtor will take all necessary actions to effect such transfer. Agreements
ancillary to the operation of a satellite should also be assigned to the
creditor, such as transponder leases, transponder service agreements, or
tracking, telemetry and control agreements.

16.3 SECURED TRANSACTIONS UNDER ARTICLE 9

OF THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE
The following section describes the operation of Article 9 of the Uniform
Commercial Code (UCC),30 which has been implemented in all 50 of the
US states and is frequently chosen as the applicable law for those
satellite finance transactions involving a US party. Article 9 is a creditor-
friendly law of secured transactions which facilitates secured lending by
allowing for the easy creation of a security interest, clear priority rules,
and low-cost enforcement of the security interest. However, as discussed
in greater detail below, Article 9 is only one of a multiplicity of domestic
laws that a court may decide to apply to a dispute arising out of the
financing of a space asset that may cross borders prior to being launched

30
Supra, n. 20.

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or have connections to multiple jurisdictions due to the location and

activities of the parties. Even if Article 9 is chosen in the transaction
documents, parties cannot be certain that their choice of law will be
respected by a court with jurisdiction over the matter.
A security interest can be created under Article 9 of the UCC against
any type of space asset including satellites, space stations, launch
vehicles and space planes. This interest can be created in favour of a
lender upon the mere execution of a security agreement that grants a
security interest in the asset.31 The security interest can encompass the
asset in its entirety or be restricted to particular components of the asset,
such as the individual transponders of a communications satellite. Secur-
ity interests can also be created in intangible property, such as launch
licences or licences to use a particular radio frequency in orbit, as well as
other property related to the space asset, such as transponder leases that
the debtor has entered into with third parties.32
In order to ensure the priority of its security interest, the secured party
will perfect the security interest by filing a financing statement with the
Secretary of State’s office in that state where the debtor is located. The
secured party that is first to file a financing statement (or otherwise
perfect a security interest) has priority over competing secured parties.33
A perfected secured party will also have priority over other competing
claimants, such as parties holding a judgment against the debtor and who
have converted that judgment into a lien against the debtor’s assets
(known as a ‘lien creditor’ in the parlance of Article 9).34
If the debtor is a corporation, the debtor is located (and a financing
statement must be filed) in the state of incorporation.35 If a debtor is a
foreign corporation and its headquarters are located in a jurisdiction
‘whose law generally requires information concerning the existence of a
non-possessory security interest to be made generally available in a
filing, recording, or registration system as a condition or result of the

31
The creation of a security interest under Art. 9 requires that (1) value be
given by the secured party to the debtor (typically in the form of a loan), (2) the
debtor has rights in the collateral, and (3) a security agreement describing the
collateral be signed by the debtor; Sec. 9-203(b), UCC, supra n. 20.
32
A licence falls into the catch-all category of ‘general intangibles’ under
Art. 9; Sec. 9-201(a)(42), UCC, supra n. 20. A transponder lease would be
characterized as an ‘account’; Sec. 9-201(a)(2), UCC, supra n. 20. However, see
supra, n. 29, regarding restrictions on the transfer of certain licences.
33
See Sec. 9-322(a), UCC, supra n. 20.
34
See Sec. 9-317(a), UCC, supra n. 20.
35
See Sec. 9-307(e), UCC, supra n. 20.

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security interest’s obtaining priority over the rights of a lien creditor’, the
secured party must file in that foreign jurisdiction.36
If the law of the corporation’s jurisdiction does not provide for such a
filing system, the debtor will be deemed located in the District of
Columbia.37 In order to avoid any risk arising from the uncertainty as to
whether a foreign corporation will be deemed located where it has its
headquarters or in the District of Columbia a secured party would be well
advised to both perfect its security interest under the law of the foreign
jurisdiction and file a financing statement in the District of Columbia.
The state registries containing financing statements are indexed by the
name of the debtor and can be searched, frequently online, by the general
public. Prospective lenders can therefore quickly discover whether there
may be other competing secured parties with priority by searching the
UCC registry in that state where the debtor is located.
Potential problems could arise for a secured lender under the UCC if
the collateral is located outside of the United States when the time comes
to enforce the security interest. The UCC provides that the law of the
jurisdiction in which the collateral is located governs priority issues.38
When an asset is located in one of the 50 US states, the secured party
will benefit from the clear priority rules of Article 9. However, when an
asset is located in a foreign jurisdiction, the priority rules of that foreign
jurisdiction will apply. This could result in the secured party’s loss of
priority depending on the nature of the foreign priority rules.
For example, as discussed above, German law grants priority to the
security interest that was created first.39 Although the secured party may
have had priority under Article 9’s ‘first-to-file-or-perfect’ rule, the

36
See Sec. 9-307(c), UCC, supra n. 20. To restate this rule, perfection will
be governed by the law of a foreign jurisdiction if the headquarters of a foreign
corporation is located in a jurisdiction that requires the filing of a document
(similar to the filing of a financing statement in the United States) in order for
the secured party to gain priority over a competing lien creditor – which would
include, e.g., a party who won a court judgment against the debtor and converted
it to a lien against the debtor’s assets. Whether or not a foreign jurisdiction
qualifies under Art. 9, UCC, can be a difficult question. A helpful analysis of this
question can be found in A.S. Rosenberg, Classification of Foreign Filing
Systems, in Practice Under Revised Article 9 (Ed. S. Sepinuck) (2008), 105.
37
See Sec. 9-307(c), UCC, supra n. 20.
38
See Sec. 9-301(3) (C), UCC, supra n. 20.
39
See supra, § 16.2.

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secured party may have nevertheless created its security interest subse-
quent to the creation of another security interest in favour of another
secured party – and would therefore lose priority under German law.40
This issue becomes more complicated when an asset is in orbit since
an object in space is located outside the jurisdiction of any of the 50 US
states and, as a result, the Article 9 rule applying the law of location of
the collateral to priority issues creates uncertainty about the applicable
law governing priority.41 When faced with this situation, a court would
have to fall back on a general choice-of-law analysis. The general UCC
choice-of-law rule states that if ‘a transaction bears a reasonable relation
to [the state where the court sits] and also to another state or nation’, the
parties can choose the law of any of those jurisdictions.42
If the court finds that the chosen law does not ‘bear a reasonable
relation’ to the transaction, the court will apply the UCC in force in the
state where the court sits if the transaction ‘bears an appropriate relation’
to that state.43 Either of these standards will likely be satisfied if one of
the parties to the transaction has a connection to the state or if any of the
transactional activity occurs within the state at issue. A number of states,
such as New York, will apply their law if chosen in the transactional
documents even if the transaction has no connection to that state.44
In practice, the result of this choice of law analysis will not matter
provided that the law of one of the 50 US states is determined to apply
since Article 9 has been adopted in all states and, as a result, the priority
rules in all states are uniform. However, if a court determines that the

40
Under the UCC (supra, n. 20) ‘first-to-file-or-perfect’ priority rule, Bank
A can have priority over Bank B even if Bank B created its security interest first
if Bank A filed a financing statement first (a practice known as ‘prospective
filing’).
41
Art. II, Outer Space Treaty (Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities
of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and
Other Celestial Bodies, London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January 1967,
entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST 2410;
UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967))
establishes outer space as an international commons, similar to the high seas, by
providing that ‘[o]uter space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is
not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty’. See further supra,
§ 2.3.1.2.
42
See e.g. the applicable provisions under the laws of California and New
York; Cal. Com. Code §1301 & N.Y. U.C.C. Law §1105 respectively.
43
See again e.g. for California and New York; Cal. Com. Code §1301 &
N.Y. U.C.C. Law §1105 respectively.
44
Cf. N.Y. Gen. Obl. Law § 5-1401.

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applicable law regarding priority is the law of a jurisdiction outside the

United States, the outcome of a priority question between competing
claimants would be settled under that law. To the extent to which there is
uncertainty under the UCC regarding the applicable law governing
priority, this flaw would be remedied by the Cape Town Convention,45
which, if broadly ratified, would provide a single set of rules to govern
the financing of space ventures.
In addition to providing clear priority rules, Article 9 allows the
secured party to enforce its security interest quickly and at low cost.
Upon the default of the debtor, a secured party has the right to repossess
the asset and dispose of the asset (by way of sale, lease, licence or other
manner).46 The secured party may pursue these remedies without a court
order, which reduces the expenditure of time and money in connection
with enforcing these remedies. The only restriction on the debtor’s
disposition of the collateral is that the debtor must proceed in a
‘commercially reasonable’ manner.47
When the assets are located in the United States or are controlled by
parties based in the United States, enforcement will generally proceed
without significant obstacles. However, the enforcement of a security
interest may prove problematic if the cooperation of foreign courts or
officials is required. For example, if a US bank needs to enforce a
security interest in a satellite while the satellite is awaiting launch beside
a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the bank may
need a local court in Kazakhstan to issue an order allowing for an agent
of the bank to take possession of the satellite.
Whether the Kazakh court will issue such an order is unpredictable.
The bank could seek an order from a US court requiring the satellite
operator to relinquish possession, but the ability of the court to compel
the operator to do so would require the court’s personal jurisdiction over
the operator and would also depend on the effectiveness of the court’s
threat of sanctions in compelling the operator to comply with the court
order. Personal jurisdiction will likely be found if the operator has been
engaging in financial transactions with the US bank. But the operator
may nevertheless choose to go ahead with the launch of the satellite in
violation of the order of the US court. In that case, the cooperation of the
Kazakh courts and local officials would be needed to stop the launch and

45
Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (hereafter
Cape Town Convention), Cape Town, done 16 November 2001, entered into
force 1 April 2004; ICAO Doc. 9793; see further infra, § 16.4.
46
See Secs. 9-609(a), 9-610(a), UCC, supra n. 20.
47
See Sec. 9-610(b), UCC, supra n. 20.

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deliver the satellite to the bank since a US court has no authority to

enforce its orders abroad.48
An additional feature of Article 9 that serves to protect the interests of
the secured party is the ability of the secured party to enforce its security
interest even after the debtor has entered insolvency. Article 9 achieves
this by giving a secured party priority over the trustee in bankruptcy
provided that the secured party is perfected before the debtor enters
insolvency.49 This protection of the secured party’s interests is also
recognized under US federal bankruptcy law, which allows the secured
party relief from the automatic stay that is placed on all actions against a
bankrupt party’s assets so that the secured party may enforce its security
interest against the relevant collateral.50

16.4 THE UNIDROIT CONVENTION ON

INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS IN MOBILE
EQUIPMENT AND THE SPACE ASSETS
PROTOCOL
The harmonization and modernization of the law governing secured debt
and lease transactions would improve the ability of new market entrants
and other parties engaged in asset-backed finance to attract capital under
beneficial terms for space ventures. The Convention on International
Interests in Mobile Equipment, which was drafted under the auspices of
UNIDROIT, promises such improvement by establishing an international
legal regime governing the asset-backed financing of space assets (in
addition to aircraft and rolling stock).51 This Convention was concluded

48
The enforcement of US court orders abroad can indeed be problematic.
For example, Russian law does not provide for the enforcement of a foreign
court order unless a treaty is in place between the Russian Federation and the
state where the order was issued; see W.D. Morriss et al., Russian Federation, in
International Secured Transactions (Ed. D. Campbell) (2012), § 27:94.
49
See Sec. 9-317(a), UCC, supra n. 20. A trustee in bankruptcy is
characterized as a type of ‘lien creditor’ under Art. 9 which allows for the
application of the general priority rule governing contests between secured
parties and lien creditors upon the insolvency of the debtor.
50
Sec. 362(d), Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C., allows for the automatic stay to
be lifted upon motion by a perfected secured creditor.
51
Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45; www.unidroit.org/instruments/
security-interests/cape-town-convention, last accessed 19 April 2014.

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in 2001 at a diplomatic conference held in Cape Town, South Africa, and

is therefore commonly referred to as the Cape Town Convention.
The Space Assets Protocol to the Cape Town Convention was con-
cluded and opened for signature in Berlin on 9 March 2012.52 Provided
that the Protocol enters into force and is broadly ratified, space com-
panies and their creditors will no longer have to navigate a host of
domestic laws of questionable efficacy, but will be able to rely on a
single set of rules that govern their transaction.53 This uniformity will
eliminate the uncertainty of the existing patchwork of domestic laws and
the increased transactional costs that result therefrom.
The Convention and Protocol provide for a transparent method for
ensuring a creditor’s priority over competing claimants and allow credi-
tors to easily enforce remedies that are tailored to the special nature of
space assets. As a result, financial institutions will be able to more easily
rely on gaining recourse to a debtor’s space assets in the event of the
debtor’s default. This will enable space companies with limited terrestrial
assets to seek the benefits of asset-backed finance which will, in turn,
reduce the cost of borrowing money – and will even make debt financing
available where it would not have been possible prior to the Convention
and Protocol.
This effect of reducing the cost of money was concretely illustrated
when the Aircraft Protocol to the Cape Town Convention54 entered into
force and the Export-Import Bank of the United States reduced by

52
Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equip-
ment on Matters Specific to Space Assets (hereafter Space Assets Protocol),
Berlin, done 9 March 2012, not yet entered into force; UNIDROIT Doc.,
DCME-SP–Doc. 43; also www.unidroit.org/english/workprogramme/study072/
spaceprotocol/conference/documents/dcme-sp-43-e.pdf, last accessed 10 Febru-
ary 2014. For a more detailed analysis of the Cape Town Convention and the
Space Assets Protocol see R. Goode, Convention on International Interests in
Mobile Equipment and Protocol Thereto on Matters Specific to Space Assets:
Official Commentary (2013); M.J. Sundahl, The Cape Town Convention: Its
Application to Space Assets and Relation to the Law of Outer Space (2013).
53
The provisions of the Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45, and the Space
Assets Protocol, supra n. 52, will apply to a transaction if (1) the debtor/lessee is
located in a state that is a party to the Convention and Protocol when the
international interest is created and (2) the state in which the international
interest is being enforced is a party to the Convention and Protocol (or the courts
of the state agree to apply the provisions of the Convention and Protocol under
their choice of law rules); see Art. 3, Cape Town Convention.
54
Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equip-
ment on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment (Aircraft Protocol), Cape Town,
done 16 November 2001, entered into force 1 April 2004; ICAO Doc. 9794.

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one-third its exposure fee on the export financing of certain commercial

aircraft for buyers in states party to the Convention.55 The improvements
to the law of secured transactions will also be beneficial to project
finance structures which rely on a strong security package. Two commen-
tators have also predicted that the Space Assets Protocol will have a
positive impact on leveraged buyouts in the space industry which involve
the acquisition of satellite operators with borrowed funds.56 The Conven-
tion also applies to the leasing and sale of space assets and promises to
provide greater clarity and uniformity in these areas of the law as well.57
As described in the following paragraphs, the Cape Town Convention
contains all of the features needed to facilitate asset-backed transactions
and, in fact, echoes many of the provisions of Article 9 of the UCC. In
addition, the Convention is particularly well suited to transactions
involving space assets because the Space Assets Protocol contains rules
that are tailored to the idiosyncratic needs of the space industry. The
special issues that arise in the context of the space industry include the
various licensing requirements involved in the operation and transfer of
satellites and launch vehicles (such as licences for the use of orbital slots
and radio frequencies and the licences for the transfer of space tech-
nology under export control laws) and the need to implement safeguards
to protect against the interruption of public services that rely on satellite
services (such as air traffic control systems).

16.4.1 The Scope of the Cape Town Convention and the Nature of
an ‘International Interest’

The Cape Town Convention governs ‘international interests’ in ‘space

assets’.58 Although the term ‘international interest’ is of new coinage, it is

55
For studies regarding the economic impact of the Cape Town Convention
with respect to the aviation industry, see A. Saunders & I. Walter, Proposed
UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment as
Applicable to Aircraft Equipment Through the Aircraft Equipment Protocol:
Economic Impact Assessment, 23 Air & Space Law (1998), 339; A. Saunders et
al., The Economic Implications of International Secured Transactions Law
Reform: A Case Study, 20 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International
Economic Law (1999), 309.
56
See S. Kozuka & F. Taniguchi, The Economic Assessment of the Space
Assets Protocol to the Cape Town Convention, in Proceedings of the Inter-
national Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 409.
57
See Art. 2(2)(c), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45; Art. IV(1), Space
Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
58
See Arts. 1(o), 2(2), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.

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a composite of three familiar types of interests: a security interest, the

interest held by the conditional seller under a title reservation agreement,
and the interest of a lessor.59 The natures of these interests are distinct,
but they share features that justify their treatment in the same legal
regime as ‘international interests’. In addition to their common purpose
of financing the acquisition of space assets (either through a true sale
with a security interest, a conditional sale or a lease), each of these
transactions requires remedies that will enable the seller, chargee or
lessor to retrieve or resell the equipment in the event of default. In other
words, each of these transactions provides for recourse to the underlying
asset – thus allowing all of these transactions to be characterized as
‘asset-backed’ transactions.
Briefly stated, a security interest arises when a debtor (the ‘chargor’)
takes a loan from a creditor (the ‘chargee’) – or otherwise incurs a
monetary obligation to the creditor by, for example, purchasing an item
on credit – and then grants the creditor recourse to the debtor’s property
in the event that the debtor defaults on the repayment of the obligation.
The debtor’s property serves as collateral for the obligation, thus pro-
viding assurance to the creditor that even in the event of default the
obligation will be repaid (since the creditor will have the right to sell the
collateral or otherwise realize upon its value).60
A conditional sale is closely related to a security interest that arises in
the context of a credit sale. However, whereas a seller that takes a
security interest in collateral does not have title to the collateral, a
conditional seller retains title in the sold item until final payment is made
(and other conditions of the sale are fulfilled).61 In the event of default,
the conditional seller takes back the item that was sold and is thus
protected from financial loss. A conditional sale is documented by a title
reservation agreement.
Leases were also included in the Cape Town Convention because the
lease is a common method employed by airlines to acquire the use of
aircraft – as well as being a common way for companies to acquire the
use of satellite transponders. The basic nature of a lease is familiar to
most. The lessor provides the use of its equipment for a certain period of
time (the ‘term’ of the lease) in exchange for periodic payments. Title
remains with the lessor during the term of the lease, and when the term

59
See Art. 2(2), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
60
See Art. 1(ii), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
61
See Art. 1(ll), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.

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expires the lessee has no further right to use the equipment and must
return it to the control of the lessor.
The definition of ‘space asset’ must also be considered to determine
whether a transaction comes within the ambit of the Cape Town
Convention. Although the term ‘space asset’ is mentioned in the Conven-
tion, it is defined only in the Space Assets Protocol.62 Pursuant to the
rather complicated definition of space asset, not every object in space can
treated as a space asset that is subject to the Convention. Instead there are
a number of requirements that must be met before a transaction involving
the object will be governed by the Convention.
First, the object must be ‘man-made’.63 An asteroid or minerals mined
from the moon or another celestial body will not qualify as a space asset.
Second, the object must be ‘uniquely identifiable’.64 This ability to
identify the specific asset is essential to the registration of the space asset
in the International Registry (since the registry will be indexed by the
specific asset that is subject to an international interest). Third, the object
must either be ‘in space or designed to be launched into space’.65 This
allows for the creation of an international interest not only in an object
that is already in space, but also for a space object that has not yet been
launched. Fourth, in order to come within the scope of the Convention
the asset must be a ‘spacecraft’, a ‘payload’, or a part of a spacecraft or
payload. Fifth, the asset must be separately registrable pursuant to the
regulations governing the registration of international interests in space
assets.66 If these five requirements are met, an international interest can
attach to the asset in question and the Convention and Protocol will
extend to all parts or equipment ‘installed, incorporated or attached’ to
the space asset as well as to ‘all data, manuals and records relating
thereto’.67

16.4.2 Formation of an International Interest

With regard to the formation of an international interest in a space asset,

the Cape Town Convention takes a minimalist approach that greatly
benefits the parties to the transaction. The formalities for the creation of

62
See Art. I(2)(k), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
63
See ibid.
64
See Art. 2(2), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45; Art. I(2)(k), Space
Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
65
Art. I(2)(k), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
66
See Art. I(2)(k)(ii) & (iii), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
67
Art. I(2)(k), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.

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an international interest are few and these few formalities are themselves
rather flexible. This allows parties to easily grant an international interest
while minimizing the risk to the creditor that the international interest
will be invalidated due to the failure to adhere to transactional formal-
ities.
There are three basic requirements for the creation of an international
interest: (1) an agreement in writing;68 (2) the power of the debtor to
dispose of the asset;69 and (3) proper identification of the asset in the
agreement.70 In the case of a security interest, the Cape Town Convention
imposes the additional requirement that the security agreement ‘enables
the secured obligations to be determined, but without the need to state a
sum or maximum sum secured’.71

16.4.3 Remedies

The Cape Town Convention also provides for the efficient exercise of
remedies by generally allowing the creditor recourse to the asset without
a court order.72 Different remedies are provided under the Convention for
chargees as opposed to lessors and conditional sellers. This is due to the
fact that lessors and conditional sellers retain title to the asset involved in
the transaction. Therefore, while the core remedy of the lessor and
conditional seller is to regain possession of the asset, the chargee’s
remedies provide a mechanism for the chargee to generate money
through the disposition of the asset – although under some circumstances

68
See Arts. 1(a) & 7(a) with chapeau, Cape Town Convention, supra
n. 45.
69
See Art. 7(b), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
70
See Art. 7(c), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45; see also Art. VII(1),
Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
71
Art. 7(d), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
72
It should be noted that a state has the option of making a declaration
requiring a court order for any of the remedies contained in the Cape Town
Convention, supra n. 45, or Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52; see Art. 54(2),
Cape Town Convention. Practitioners and parties should be aware of any such
declarations limiting the ability of the creditor to exercise remedies in relevant
states prior to entering into a transaction under the Convention. In the event that
the creditor would like the assistance of the courts in the exercise of a remedy,
the creditor is permitted to seek a court order under the Convention; see Arts.
8(2), 10(b), Cape Town Convention. A creditor may want such assistance if the
debtor is uncooperative and threatens to create obstacles to the efficient exercise
of a remedy.

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the chargee may itself take title to the asset to satisfy the debtor’s
obligation.
When pursuing a remedy under the Cape Town Convention, the
creditor must comply with only a few technical requirements set out in
the text of the Convention. However, there is also a general requirement
that all remedies must be carried out in a ‘commercially reasonable
manner’.73 The meaning of this standard will be left to the court which
will likely look at customary industry practices when making its deter-
mination. The Space Assets Protocol creates a ‘safe harbour’ for satisfy-
ing the requirement of commercial reasonableness by stating that the
standard is met if the remedies are carried out in accordance with a
provision of the parties’ agreement, unless the provision is ‘manifestly
unreasonable’.74 In the event that the enforcement of a remedy has been
delayed due to litigation, a creditor may apply to a court for interim relief
pending the resolution of the issue before the court.75 The type of interim
relief granted may be of any type that the court sees fit, including
preservation of the asset and its value, possession or control of the asset,
or lease of the asset.76
Upon default, the chargee has a right to take possession of the
collateral, sell or lease the collateral, and collect income from the
continued use of the collateral.77 The chargee can only pursue these
remedies if the chargor has agreed in advance.78 This requirement would
appear to create a significant obstacle to the efficient enforcement of a
security interest – and render the security interest of little, if any, value.
However, this apparent obstacle can be easily removed by requiring the
chargor to agree in the security agreement that upon default the chargor
will have the right to pursue all remedies provided by the Cape Town
Convention and Space Assets Protocol.
The chargee’s right to collect ‘any income or profits arising from the
management or use of’ the asset does not provide the chargee with
the right to take control of the asset and operate it for profit.79 Instead,
the chargee only has the right to any income stream that flows from the
operation of the asset. For a telecommunications satellite, this income
might take the form of payments on transponder leases. Income related to

73
Art. XVII(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
74
See Art. XVII(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
75
See Art. 13(1), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
76
See Art. 13(1), (4), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
77
See Art. 8(1), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
78
See ibid.
79
See Art. 8(1)(c), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.

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remote sensing satellites might include payments made by third parties

for photographs or other sensed data. This remedy provides a valuable
option to a chargee in the event that the sale or lease of the asset is not
possible or must be postponed due to market conditions or other reasons.
A further remedy that is available to the chargee upon the debtor’s
default is for the chargee to take title to the collateral in satisfaction of
all, or part, of the underlying obligation.80 However, the debtor’s interest
in the collateral may vest in the chargee only if other parties holding a
security interest and other ‘interested persons’, as defined in the Conven-
tion, agree to the vesting.81
The remedy for a lessor or for a conditional seller upon default is a
simple one: terminate the agreement and either (1) retake possession of
the asset or (2) take control of the asset.82 Restoring title to the lessor or
conditional seller is not necessary because title was never lost. If the
debtor resists repossession, the lessor or conditional seller can choose to
seek a court order to allow for the lessor or conditional seller to take
possession or control of the asset.83
The Space Assets Protocol provides for special remedies upon the
insolvency of the debtor, but only if the state with ‘primary insolvency
jurisdiction’ has made a declaration to provide for such remedies.84 In its
declaration, the state can choose to apply one of the two optional sets of
insolvency remedies. If the state of ‘primary insolvency jurisdiction’
chooses not to make a declaration, its existing domestic law will govern
the insolvency proceedings.
The first set of remedies that a state may choose to adopt, referred to
as ‘Alternative A’ in the Protocol, is the more creditor-friendly of the two
options. The core obligation under this option is that the debtor (or
insolvency administrator) must give possession or control of the collat-
eral to the holder of an international interest no later than the earlier of
(1) the end of the ‘waiting period’ which has been established by the state
with primary insolvency jurisdiction in its declaration or (2) the date on
which the creditor would have received possession or control under other
applicable law if no declaration regarding the waiting period had been
made.85

80
See Art. 9(1), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
81
See ibid.
82
See Art. 10, Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
83
See ibid.
84
See Art. XXI(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
85
See Arts. XXI Alternative A(2), XXI Alternative A(4), Space Assets
Protocol, supra n. 52.

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Under the second option, Alternative B, a state may choose a signifi-

cantly less creditor-friendly set of remedies. The core remedy under this
alternative only requires the debtor or insolvency administrator, upon the
occurrence of an ‘insolvency-related event’ (and following the request of
the creditor), to notify the creditor within the time period established by
the state in its declaration that either (1) all defaults, other than the
initiation of an insolvency proceeding, will be cured and that all
obligations will be performed or (2) the creditor will be permitted to take
possession of or control over the space asset in accordance with other
applicable law.86
The difference between Alternative A and Alternative B is stark.
Although there is still a time limit by which the debtor or insolvency
administrator must act under Alternative B, control over the asset need
not be transferred by the expiration of the time limit. Instead, the debtor
or insolvency administrator need only give notice by the end of the time
period. When possession and control are actually transferred is a matter
of other applicable law.
The Space Assets Protocol places certain limitations on the enforce-
ment of remedies in order to protect against the improper transfer of
technology that may have military applications. The potential military
value of space technology has resulted in the close supervision of the
transfer of such technology by many states – and particularly by those
states that participate in the Wassenaar Arrangement.87 The laws of a
particular state may require a licence prior to the export of a space asset
or the transfer of a space asset to a foreign national. The drafters of the
Protocol ultimately decided to allow states to retain the control over the
transfer of such technology regardless of a creditor’s right to effect a
transfer under the Convention by allowing a state’s courts to refuse to
enforce an international interest if such enforcement would conflict with

86
See Art. XXI Alternative B(2), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
87
Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement), Wassenaar, done
19 December 1995, effective 12 July 1996; www.wassenaar.org/, last accessed 10
February 2014; see further supra, § 6.6.2, also §§ 7.5.1.2, 7.5.2.1. States partici-
pating in the Wassenaar Arrangement impose controls on the transfer of military
and dual-use to foreign nationals. For example, the transfer of most space
technology is controlled in the United States under the International Traffic in
Arms Regulations (ITAR) which require a licence from the Department of State
prior to the export of such technology. See, generally, M.J. Sundahl, Space
Tourism and Export Controls: A Prayer for Relief, 75 Journal of Air Law &
Commerce (2010), 581 ff.

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its export controls or national security laws.88 Even when a court is not
involved with the enforcement of a remedy that results in, for example,
the sale of a controlled space asset to a foreign purchaser, the Convention
should not be interpreted to permit this transfer without the procurement
of the required licences. Such an interpretation would eviscerate export
control laws and would allow controlled military technology to fall into
dangerous hands.
The Space Assets Protocol also explicitly preserves a state’s right to
regulate (1) the ‘launch or operation of space assets’, (2) the provision of
services that rely on the use of space assets, such as telecommunications
services, (3) the use of orbital positions and frequencies, and (4) the
placement of command codes.89 As a result, if a creditor sells a debtor’s
communications satellite to a new operator following the debtor’s default,
the purchaser’s use of that satellite could be contingent on the granting of
a licence by the state that has the right to regulate the operation of the
satellite. Moreover, the Protocol preserves a state’s right to place limita-
tions on the transfer of any ‘licences, approvals, permits or authorisa-
tions’ that may be held by the debtor relating to the use of the space asset
as well as the use of an orbital position or radio frequency.90
Another feature unique to the Space Assets Protocol concerns the
limitations placed on the enforcement of remedies that might have a
deleterious effect on public services, such as communications, naviga-
tion, air traffic control, tele-medicine, tele-education, natural disaster
monitoring, and disaster management. For example, consider a scenario
in which a debtor owned and operated a satellite subject to a security
interest that played an integral role in a state’s air traffic control system
and the debtor defaulted. The creditor might sell the satellite to another
operator who could decide to move the satellite to another orbit and thus
disrupt the operation of the air traffic control system. This concern was
so significant among the drafters that a provision was drafted to prevent
creditors, under certain conditions, from enforcing remedies against
space assets used in the provision of public services.91 This stay of the
enforcement of remedies will only take effect if a ‘public service notice’

88
Cf. Art. XXVI(3), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
89
Art. XXVI(1), (2)(b) & (2)(c), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
90
Arts. I(2)(e), XXVI(2)(a), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
91
For a discussion regarding limiting remedies with respect to assets that
impact public services see Lochan, supra n. 11, 6–49; Y. Zhao, Revisiting
Selected Issues in the Draft Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on Matters
Specific to Space Assets, 76 Journal of Air Law & Commerce (2011), 805.

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is registered in connection with the registration of the international

interest concerning the relevant space asset.92
The public service notice describes the nature of the services that have
been contracted for between the public services provider and the debtor
(in addition to any other requirements imposed by the registration
regulations).93 If a public service notice is registered, a creditor cannot
enforce any remedy against a space asset if the enforcement of that
remedy would render the space asset ‘unavailable for the provision of the
relevant public service’ until (1) the creditor registers a notice with the
Registry stating that the creditor may take action to enforce remedies if
the debtor fails to cure the default before the expiration of a stated cure
period and (2) the cure period elapses without the default being cured.94
The cure period will be a period of time (between three and six months
in length) that has been established in a declaration by the state utilizing
the public service.95 If the default is not cured within that applicable
period, the creditor is free to pursue the remedies under the Cape Town
Convention and Space Assets Protocol. In the meantime, the creditor, the
debtor and the public services provider are required to cooperate in good
faith to find a commercially reasonable way to enable the continuation of
the public service (whether such solution involves the use of the space
asset or not).96

16.4.4 Registration and Priority

As stated above, the extent to which a law of secured transactions

provides the assurance needed by financiers to bring down the cost of
financing also depends largely on the clarity of its priority rules. If a
bank cannot be assured a first-priority security interest in the debtor’s
collateral, that bank will either be unwilling to lend money or will do so
at a high rate of interest in order to protect itself against losses following
a default.
The Cape Town Convention excels in this respect by adopting a simple
‘first-to-file’ priority rule that utilizes an online centralized international

92
See Art. XXVII(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
93
See Art. XXVII(2)(a), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
94
Art. XXVII(3) & (4), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
95
The length of the cure period must by declared by all states upon
ratification, acceptance, approval of, or accession to the Protocol; see Art.
XXVII(4), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
96
See Art. XXVII(7)(a), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.

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898 Handbook of space law

registry.97 Under this rule, priority is determined simply by the date of

registration, which results in a priority system that is predictable and not
easily challenged. This centralized online registry, together with the clear
priority rules contained in the Convention, will give banks the needed
confidence in the priority of their security interests because a bank can
easily search online to determine whether any other creditor has regis-
tered an international interest relating to a specific asset. If no such
registration is found, the bank can register its international interest
through the online system and thus establish its first-priority right to
foreclose on the asset in the event of default.
In addition to being a single, centralized registry that will eliminate the
need for parties to search multiple domestic registries, the registry is
accessible online at all times so that parties can receive instantaneous
information about existing registrations 24 hours a day.98 This allows
transactions to move forward with greater efficiency than would be
possible if multiple domestic registries had to be searched and search
results were only available by less efficient means (for example, by mail).
The Convention and Protocol call for the appointment of a Supervisory
Authority to create an International Registry that will contain the
registrations and recordings of the covered interests and then appoint
(and supervise) a Registrar to manage the registry.99 During the
Diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the Protocol, the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) was invited to serve as the Supervisory
Authority.100 At the time of writing, the ITU has not yet decided
whether to accept the invitation, discussing the question at its October
2014 Plenipotentiary Conference.101 The Supervisory Authority also

97
The ‘first-to-file’ priority rule is also a feature of certain domestic secured
transactions laws, such as the Civil Code of Japan; see H. Kojima et al., Japan, in
International Secured Transactions (Ed. D. Campbell) (2012), § 21:27. Alter-
native methods of determining priority include granting priority to the security
interest that was created first, as is true under German law; see supra, § 16.2. A
hybrid approach is found in the UCC, which gives priority to the party that is
either the ‘first-to-file-or-perfect’ its security interest; see supra, § 16.3.
98
See Art. XXXII(5), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
99
See Arts. 16 & 17, Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45; Art. XXVIII,
Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
100
For a general discussion of the ITU and its functions see supra, § 8.2.
101
See P. de Selding, ‘Space Protocol’ Widely Opposed by Industry Is on
Agenda for ITU Meeting in Korea, Space News, 14 October 2014; http://www.
spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/42185%E2%80%98space-protocol%E2
%80%99-widely-opposed-by-industry-is-on-agenda-for-itu, last accessed 27
October 2014.

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promulgates the regulations that govern the operations of the registry,

including the processes for registering interests and searching the regis-
try.102
The successful creation of an international interest gives the secured
party, the conditional seller and the lessor the right to avail themselves of
the remedies set forth in the Convention and Protocol in the event of
default. It is not necessary to register the international interest in order to
take advantage of these remedies. However, it is necessary to register the
international interest in order to ensure the priority of the secured party,
conditional seller or lessor over other competing claimants to the space
asset.

16.4.5 Assignment of ‘Debtor’s Rights’

The Space Assets Protocol expands its scope of application in a way that
is not found in either the Aircraft Protocol or the Rolling Stock
Protocol103 by providing for the assignment of so-called ‘debtor’s
rights’.104 Debtor’s rights are defined as ‘rights to payment or other
performance due or to become due to a debtor by any person with respect
to a space asset’.105 In other words, the Protocol provides for the
assignment by a debtor of any income stream payable to the debtor that
is related to a space asset.
For example, the owner of a telecommunications satellite who has
granted a security interest in the satellite to a bank can also assign to the
bank the owner’s right to collect lease payments from a television
broadcaster. However, the definition of ‘debtor’s rights’ is worded
broadly so as to include not only payment rights, but the rights to any
other obligation owed to the satellite owner in connection with the
satellite. The concept of a ‘rights assignment’ is also broadly drawn to
include not only the assignment of such debtor’s rights for purposes of
security, but to also include the assignment of an ownership interest in
the debtor’s rights.106

102
See Art. 17(2)(d), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
103
Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equip-
ment on Matters Specific to Railway Rolling Stock (Rolling Stock Protocol),
Luxembourg, done 23 February 2007, not yet entered into force, www.
unidroit.org/english/conventions/mobile-equipment/railprotocol.pdf, last accessed
10 February 2014.
104
See Art. II(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
105
Art. I(2)(a), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
106
See Art. I(2)(h), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.

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900 Handbook of space law

This expansion of the Protocol into the assignment of debtor’s rights

brings within the ambit of the Protocol classes of property that are not
contemplated by the Cape Town Convention. Instead of being narrowly
applicable to transactions involving space assets, the Protocol applies to
transactions involving accounts receivable, payment instruments, and any
number of other forms of performance obligations that could be owed to
the owner of a space asset.
However, there are some criteria that must be met in order for these
transactions to be governed by the Protocol. For a rights assignment to
come within the scope of the Protocol, the debtor’s rights related to a
particular space asset must be assigned in order to secure, reduce or
discharge an obligation that is already secured on (or otherwise associ-
ated with) the same space asset.107 For example, a debtor’s assignment of
satellite lease payments to a creditor will be governed by the Protocol if
the debtor has already granted a security interest in the same satellite to
the creditor. In contrast, if the debtor assigns as security this income
stream by itself (without a separate international interest existing in the
satellite), the Protocol will not apply.
The formal requirements for the documentation of an assignment of
debtor’s rights are kept to a minimum, as is true for the creation of an
international interest.108 First, there must be a written agreement that
enables (1) the debtor’s rights to be identified and (2) the space asset
related to the debtor’s rights to be identified.109 An additional require-
ment for a rights assignment is imposed when debtor’s rights are
assigned to secure an obligation.110 When making an assignment by way
of security, the writing documenting the assignment must also provide
information that enables the secured obligation to be determined. The
Protocol also provides for a creditor who has been assigned debtor’s
rights to reassign those rights (or a portion thereof), which is referred to
as a ‘rights reassignment’.111 Subsequent assignments of the same rights
can also take place.112 Such reassignments are subject to the same
provisions of the Protocol that apply to original assignments of debtor’s
rights.113

107
See ibid.
108
See Art. IX, Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
109
See Art. IX(a), (b), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
110
See Art. IX(c), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
111
See Arts. I.2(i), XV, Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
112
See Art. I.2(i), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
113
See Art. XV(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.

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In order to ensure an assignee’s priority, the assignee must ‘record’ the

assignment by adding a record of the assignment to the registration of the
related international interest.114 The assignee can add this record of
the assignment at the time of registration or anytime afterwards by
amending the registration.115 This record of the rights assignment need
not specifically describe the nature of the debtor’s rights. A mere
statement that the debtor has assigned all or some of the debtor’s rights
(or that the holder of the related international interest has acquired such
rights) is sufficient since it places the public on notice that the holder of
the international interest has an interest in the debtor’s rights – leaving it
to the third party to inquire further of the debtor regarding the particular
rights that have been assigned or otherwise acquired.116 This recording of
a rights assignment is otherwise treated in the same manner as the
registration of an international interest. A search for the recording of a
rights assignment can be carried out by searching for the particular space
asset related to the assigned rights.

16.4.6 Sales

The Space Assets Protocol extends the operation of the Convention to the
sale of space assets.117 The Convention operates to clarify which party
has better title to a space asset in the event that multiple parties make
competing claims and, as a result, can ensure a buyer that its title is
secure. For example, a buyer of an on-orbit satellite can ensure, by
registering its sale first, that it has superior title to the satellite in the
event that the prior owner subsequently sells the satellite to another buyer
– just as a creditor with a security interest in a satellite can ensure that it
has priority over a competing claimant that later acquires a security
interest in the same satellite by registering first.
The mechanics of registering the sale of a space asset are the same as
when registering an international interest. For example, the asset must be
described in the same way that the asset would be described when
registering an international interest. Prospective registrations are also
permitted so that a buyer can ensure its priority before releasing funds.

114
See Art. XII(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52. The reassignment of
debtor’s rights by the creditor (the original assignee) can only be recorded on the
registration of the assignment of the international interest to that subsequent
assignee; see Art. XV(2).
115
See Art. XII(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
116
See ibid.
117
See Art. IV, Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.

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16.4.7 The Cape Town Convention’s Relation to the UN Space

Treaties and ITU Instruments

The Cape Town Convention’s application to satellites and other space

assets through the Space Assets Protocol raises a number of issues that
spring from the intersections between these instruments and the existing
body of the law of outer space. International space law is primarily
embodied in five treaties that were created in the 1960s and 1970s under
the auspices of the United Nations. These treaties address a multiplicity
of issues from national sovereignty, liability, and jurisdiction to the
militarization of space, the duty to return errant spacecraft to the
launching state, and the requirement to register space objects. They are
the Outer Space Treaty,118 the Rescue Agreement,119 the Liability Con-
vention,120 the Registration Convention,121 and the Moon Agreement.122
In addition to these treaties, the Constitution and Convention of the
International Telecommunication Union comprise a body of international
law that governs the use of orbital positions and radio frequencies – a
regulatory system that is central to the orderly operation of the global
telecommunications industry.123

118
Supra, n. 41. See in general on the Outer Space Treaty supra, § 2.3.1.
119
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 Decem-
ber 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56;
Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968). See in general on the Rescue
Agreement supra, § 2.3.2.
120
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29
March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971). See in general on the Liability Convention supra, § 2.3.3.
121
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January 1975, entered
into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS
1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975). See in general
on the Registration Convention supra, § 2.3.4.
122
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979). See in general on the Moon Agreement supra, § 2.3.5, also
§ 14.4.2.2.
123
Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union (hereafter
ITU Constitution), Geneva, done 22 December 1992, entered into force 1 July

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The Cape Town Convention differs from the earlier space treaties in
that it is concerned with private international law and, as a result, governs
private transactions rather than governmental activity.124 This stark differ-
ence in the subject matter of the Convention in contrast to the existing
space treaties results for the most part in an absence of conflicts between
the treaties.125 Nevertheless, some intersections do arise and must be kept
in mind by practitioners and courts that are involved in the application of
the Convention. In some cases, these intersections of the Cape Town
Convention with existing space law create potential conflicts that may be
problematic to the practitioner. Where there are true conflicts between the
Cape Town Convention and existing UN space treaties (including the
ITU instruments), Article XXXV of the Protocol explicitly establishes
the primacy of the existing treaties. In other cases, the interaction
between these different systems of law creates new synergies that may
result in the more effective operation of the law.
Some of the issues that arise are not new. For example, the fact that
liability for damage caused by a satellite remains with the ‘launching
State’ even if the satellite has been sold to a company incorporated in
another state has been a controversial issue ever since satellites were first
bought and sold among private parties.126 The liability imposed by the
treaties on a ‘launching State’ is perpetual, with only a few narrow

1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final
Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 1;
regularly amended since; cf. www.itu.int/pub/S-CONF-PLEN-2011/en, last
accessed 19 February 2014; and the Convention of the International Tele-
communication Union (hereafter ITU Convention), Geneva, done 22 December
1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS 1996 No. 24; Cm.
2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional Plenipotentiary Conference,
Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 71; regularly amended since; cf. www.itu.int/pub/S-
CONF-PLEN-2011/en, last accessed 19 February 2014. See in general on the
role of the ITU supra, § 8.2.
124
See P.B. Larsen, Critical Issues in the UNIDROIT Draft Space Protocol,
in Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2003),
4 ff.
125
See H.P. van Fenema, The UNIDROIT Space Protocol, the Concept of
‘Launching State’, Space Traffic Management and the Delimitation of Outer
Space (Report of the 41st Session of the UN COPUOS Legal Subcommittee), 27
Air & Space Law (2002), 275; Larsen, supra n. 124, 3. For the views of the UN
COPUOS Legal Subcommittee see Report of the Legal Subcommittee on its
Forty-first session, U.N. Doc A/AC.105/787 (2002).
126
See e.g. von der Dunk, supra n. 3, 351; M. Chatzipanagiotis, Registration
of Space Objects and Transfer of Ownership in Orbit, 56 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (2007), 230; R.J. Lee, Effects of Satellite Ownership Transfers on

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exceptions. For example, if State X launches a satellite, sells the satellite

five years later to State Y, and, due to State Y’s negligence, the satellite
reenters the atmosphere and causes extensive damage on the surface of
the Earth, State X will bear absolute liability for the damage under the
Liability Convention.127
Although this issue is not new, the Cape Town Convention places
greater stress on those areas of space law that do not accommodate the
realities of private transactions because the Convention will only serve to
increase the number of the commercial transactions that create these
stress points in the law. In other cases, the Cape Town Convention has
created new points of tension in the fabric of existing space law. For
example, certain provisions in the Convention regarding jurisdiction have
the potential to create new conflicts with the jurisdictional rules under the
Outer Space Treaty and the Registration Convention. More specifically,
the Outer Space Treaty may affect the jurisdictional provisions of the
Convention and the Protocol since Article VIII of the Treaty provides that
the country ‘on whose registry an object launched into outer space is
carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object’.128
The answer to this question depends on how ‘jurisdiction’ is inter-
preted in the Outer Space Treaty – a question that has been the subject of
considerable academic debate. One interpretation of Article VIII is that
only the state of registry has jurisdiction of any kind over a space object,
including both prescriptive and adjudicative jurisdiction. In other words,
the state of registry has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the space object
and exclusive jurisdiction to hear a case involving the object.129 If this

the Liability of the Launching States, in Proceedings of the Forty-Third Collo-

quium on the Law of Outer Space (2001), 151.
127
State X may not be liable in this scenario if the damage occurred within
the territory of State Y due to the negligence of State Y pursuant to Art. VI(1),
Liability Convention, supra n. 120, which exonerates a state from liability if the
damage to the claimant state was due ‘wholly or partially from gross negligence
or from an act or omission done with intent to cause damage on the part of [the]
claimant State’.
128
Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 41.
129
See e.g. S. Aoki, In Search of the Current Legal Status of the Registration
of Space Objects, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law
2010 (2011), 248 (stating that ‘[j]urisdiction arising from the registration shall be
comprehensive, and a State of registry is supposed to hold legislative, judicial
and, above all, enforcement jurisdiction’). Also M. Chatzipanagiotis, The Legal
Status of Space Tourists in the Framework of Commercial Suborbital Flights
(2011), 48; Lee, supra n. 126, 150–1; P.B. Larsen, The Draft Space Protocol and
Jurisdiction over Commercial Space Assets, in Proceedings of the International

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approach is adopted, then Article VIII would trump all jurisdictional

provisions of the Cape Town Convention and Space Assets Protocol and
would permit only the state of registry to issue orders regarding the
enforcement of remedies and other matters arising under the Convention.
There are commentators who argue for a narrower interpretation of
Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty. The concept of ‘jurisdiction’ in
Article VIII can be more narrowly read in at least two respects. First,
even if Article VIII is read as granting jurisdiction of every form to the
state of registry, it can be interpreted as a non-exclusive grant of
jurisdiction – thus enabling other states to assert jurisdiction when
appropriate under other sources of domestic and international law.130
Second, Article VIII can be narrowly interpreted as only granting
prescriptive jurisdiction to the state of registry over a space object (as
well as any activity taking place on board the object) and not adjudicative
jurisdiction.131 Under this interpretation, Article VIII of the Outer Space
Treaty would not affect the application of the Cape Town Convention
provisions regarding jurisdiction.
When considered in the broader context of Article VIII of the Outer
Space Treaty, this interpretation limiting the grant of jurisdiction to
prescriptive jurisdiction is likely the proper interpretation. The Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties requires that the terms of a treaty be
interpreted in accordance with their ‘ordinary meaning in their context

Institute of Space Law 2011 (2012), 487–8. In the end, Larsen concludes that
there is uncertainty as to whether the grant of jurisdiction under Art. VIII, Outer
Space Treaty, supra n 41, is exclusive. Ibid., at 499.
130
See Chatzipanagiotis, supra n. 129, 50 (stating that ‘[i]t has been
accepted that the State of registry does not have exclusive jurisdiction’). Bin
Cheng’s writings on jurisdiction also support the reading of Art. VIII, Outer
Space Treaty, supra n 41, as a grant of non-exclusive jurisdiction; see B. Cheng,
The Extra-Terrestrial Application of International Law, 18 Current Legal Prob-
lems (1965), 132.
131
See B. Schmidt-Tedd & S. Mick, Article VIII, in Cologne Commentary on
Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U. Schrogl) Vol. I (2009), 159
(stating that ‘[t]he legal consequence of jurisdiction and control is the applic-
ability of the national law of the State of registry for the object launched into
outer space’). See also M. Gerhard & K. Gungaphul-Brocard, The Impact of
National Space Legislation on Space Industry Contracts, in Contracting for
Space (Eds. L.J. Smith & I. Baumann) (2011), 64 (explaining that the grant of
jurisdiction to the state of registry ‘defines the law applicable to space objects’).

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906 Handbook of space law

and in the light of [the treaty’s] object and purpose’.132 When deter-
mining the meaning of the term ‘jurisdiction’ in Article VIII, consider-
ation should be given to its context in the phrase granting the state of
registry ‘jurisdiction and control’ over the space object. This combination
of the words ‘jurisdiction and control’ suggests that the type of juris-
diction intended was the prescriptive jurisdiction that would give the state
the right to regulate the space object which, in turn, would enable the
state to control the object.
One instance in which existing space law could work in tandem with
the Cape Town Convention to the benefit of a creditor arises in
connection with the operation of the Rescue Agreement. The Rescue
Agreement could help financiers recover, for example, a space plane that
has landed under distress in a state that is not a party to the Cape Town
Convention. This would occur by virtue of one of the core duties
imposed on states by the Rescue Agreement, namely the duty of a state to
return a space object to the state that has launched the object, termed the
‘launching authority’.133 The benefit of this duty to return errant space
objects is not as significant if both the finding state and the launching
authority are parties to the Cape Town Convention and the Space Assets
Protocol. In this case, even if the finding state did not return the asset to
the launching authority, the creditor could proceed to enforce its inter-
national interest against the asset in the courts of the finding state under
the Cape Town Convention – and should be able to enforce a security
interest by gaining possession and shipping the asset back to where the
auction of the asset will be held.
However, in a situation where, for example, a space plane takes off
from State X, which is a party to the Cape Town Convention, and is
forced down in State Y, which is not a party to the Cape Town
Convention (but is a party to the Rescue Agreement), the creditor could
benefit from the duty of State Y to return the space plane. The creditor
with an international interest in the space plane would not be able to
proceed against the space plane under the Cape Town Convention in
State Y. However, State Y would be required under the Rescue Agreement
to return the space plane to State X, which would then allow the creditor
to proceed under the Cape Town Convention in State X to repossess the
space plane and pursue other remedies.

132
Art. 31(1), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, done 23
May 1969, entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS 331; UKTS 1980
No. 58; Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969).
133
See Art. 5(3), Rescue Agreement, supra n. 119.

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Financing space ventures 907

While the preceding scenario envisions the Rescue Agreement aiding

the creditor, some scenarios may arise in which a state’s obligation under
the Rescue Agreement could lead to a result that is contrary to the
interests of a creditor. For example, a spacecraft might be returned to a
state that is not friendly to the financier and not a party to the Cape Town
Convention – which may, in turn, impede the exercise of the creditor’s
remedies under the Convention.

16.4.8 Entry into Force

The Cape Town Convention will only enter into force with respect to
space assets when the Space Assets Protocol has entered into force.134
There would be no benefit in having the Convention enter into force
without the Protocol also entering into force since the Convention cannot
operate on its own and, by its terms, only applies to those assets covered
by a protocol. Thus, the Convention will enter into force with respect to
space assets when the Space Assets Protocol enters into force, which will
occur after the tenth state ratifies the Protocol and the Supervisory
Authority deposits a certificate confirming that the International Registry
is operational.135 Transactions involving space assets will only be subject
to the Convention with respect to a particular state if that state is party to
both the Convention and the Protocol.

16.4.9 Criticism of the Cape Town Convention

Although representatives of a number of leading companies in the space

industry were actively involved from the beginning in the drafting of the
Space Assets Protocol, industry organizations later expressed vigorous
opposition to the adoption of the Protocol.136 The general concern of
industry is that the existing models of space finance are sufficient and

134
See Art. 49(1), Cape Town Convention, supra n. 45.
135
See Art. XXXVIII(1), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
136
Representatives from the following companies were present at the meet-
ings of the UNIDROIT Space Working Group: Alcatel, Alenia Spazio, Ariane-
space, Astrium, the Boeing Company, DirecTV, EADS, FiatAvio, GE American
Communications, Hughes Electronics Corporation, Lockheed Martin Global
Telecommunications, Motorola Satellite Communications Group, PanAmSat
Corporation, Space Systems/Loral, SpaceVest, Telecom Italia, and Telespazio.
See Report of the UNIDROIT Committee of Governmental Experts for the
Preparation of a Draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in
Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Space Assets, UNIDROIT 2004,
C.G.E. Space Pr./1/Report rev, App. III.

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908 Handbook of space law

that the Protocol ‘adds an unnecessary supra-national layer of law’ to the

financing of space assets.137 Other concerns raised by some segments of
the space industry included the vagueness of the definition of ‘space
assets’, the priority rights of parties having an interest in components of
space assets, the public service exemption from remedies, the treatment
of insurers’ salvage rights, and the need for existing owners of satellites
to register their interest.138
These concerns were taken into account in the course of finalizing the
text of the Protocol and many of the issues raised by members of the
satellite industry were resolved in the final text of the Protocol. For
example, insurers’ salvage rights were protected in the final version by a
clear statement in the Protocol that such interests would not be affected
by the Convention.139 The concern about the need for existing owners to
register in order to protect their interests was also resolved by the
drafters’ decision to exempt pre-existing interests from the operation of
the Convention.140
This debate about whether the Space Assets Protocol will ultimately
benefit the space industry cannot be settled here. However, the weight of
experience and economic theory indicate that a harmonized, transparent
and creditor-friendly law of secured transactions will facilitate the
financing of space ventures. The fact that the drafters resolved certain
concerns raised by the space industry also suggests that the industry’s
fears should dissipate. Although change to the practice of documenting
the covered transactions always entails some initial costs as the industry
accustoms itself to the new system, the new system in this case promises

137
Statement of the Satellite Industry Association on the Revised Preliminary
Draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment
on Matters Specific to Space Assets (hereafter SIA 2010 Statement), of 18
October 2010, www.esoa.net/upload/files/news/unidroit/20101018sia.pdf, last
accessed 10 February 2014.
138
See Global Satellite Industry Denounces Unidroit Protocol, Brussels, 9
March 2012, www.esoa.net/upload/files/news/20120309_PR_UNIDROIT.pdf,
last accessed 10 February 2014; SIA 2010 Statement, supra n. 137, 2–4;
Continuing Issues of Concern Regarding the Unidroit Draft Space Protocol to the
Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, 16 April
2010, www.esoa.net/upload/files/news/unidroit/20100416industry.pdf, last
accessed 10 February 2014; S. Mosteshar, Financing Space Assets: The Unidroit
Solution Examined, www.esoa.net/upload/files/news/unidroit/analysisoflegal
issues.pdf, last accessed 10 February 2014.
139
See Art. IV(3), Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.
140
See Art. XL, Space Assets Protocol, supra n. 52.

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to be an improved system that will bring new certainty and efficiency to

space transactions.

16.4.10 The Future of the Space Assets Protocol

Since the Space Assets Protocol was opened for signature in 2012, four
states have signed the Protocol141 (indicating an intention to become a
party to the Protocol or, at a minimum, to not take any actions which
would ‘defeat the object and purpose’ of the Protocol142). However, no
states have yet ratified the Protocol.
At this point in time, it appears that ratification will proceed slowly
and, given the high threshold of ten ratifications before the Protocol will
enter into force, the Protocol is unlikely to enter into force in the near
future. However, as the space industry evolves to include new business
models and new market entrants that will rely on their space assets to
secure funding, support for the Protocol may grow. The existing industry
opposition may also soften upon reconsideration of the final version of
the Protocol, which addresses a number of previous industry concerns.
If the Protocol does enter into force, momentum for broad ratification
is likely to grow in order to ensure harmonization of law and avoid
uncertainty regarding the application of the Protocol to a given trans-
action. In the meantime, space companies and their financiers will have
to rely on existing methods of finance and take precautions to avoid
inimical domestic laws and minimize the complexities of financing space
ventures under a patchwork of local laws.

141
These states are Burkina Faso, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe;
see Status of the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile
Equipment on Matters Specific to Space Assets, www.unidroit.org/status-2012-
space, last accessed 19 April 2014.
142
Art. 18, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 132, explains
that by signing a treaty, a state ‘is obliged to refrain from acts which would
defeat the object and purpose of a treaty’.

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17. Insurance in the context of space activities

Cécile Gaubert

17.1 INTRODUCTION
There is a multiplicity of actors and associated risks for space activities.
For the different phases of risks, manufacturing, storing, transportation,
launching, satellite operations and suchlike, identified and specific liabil-
ities exist for these actors, with which insurance solutions are associated
– and in some cases have been specifically set up to take care of.
Space insurance developed while the commercial use of launchers and
satellites was growing. This development concerned not only the insur-
ance covering damages to the satellite or launcher on the ground and in
outer space but also insurance covering the liability of the space operator.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of space insurance: one covering
first-party property insurance and the other dealing with third-party
liability insurance. The first one is a ‘launch and in-orbit’ insurance that
protects the owner or operator of the impacted satellite in the event of
loss or damage to the satellite during launch or in-orbit operation. The
second is designed to address third-party liability of a launching agency
or satellite operator/owner whose launcher, satellite or part thereof is
considered accountable for damages caused to third parties during the
space operation.
Originally, satellite insurance only covered risks of damage to third
parties or to the satellite itself only before launch, while the satellite was
on the ground. The insurance market, at that time, did not intend to
insure such a commensurate risk as space activities. The first insured
satellite, Early Bird (Comsat), benefited from a very limited insurance
cover in 1965. This satellite was only covered for risks occurring on the
ground, specifically excluding space activities.1 It was in 1972 that full
space property damage insurance (from launch up to the end of in-orbit

1
See Tracking Take-off of Space Insurance, interview with B. Pagnanelli,
Insurance Day, 28 November 2007.

910

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Insurance in the context of space activities 911

commissioning) was subscribed to for the first time, for the Westar-1 and
-2 satellites of the Western Union Company.2
The purpose of property damages insurance is to enable the satellite
operators among others to obtain the financial capacity to re-launch a
satellite if it is lost or if it could not nominally fulfil its mission due to a
loss of operational capacity. With respect to development of space
third-party liability insurance, this is mainly linked to the evolution of
national space legislation (the first one being the US Commercial Space
Launch Act3) that set up a liability regime applicable to space operators
(read the launch agency) and imposed an insurance obligation or finan-
cial guarantee on said operator. Nowadays, there are several pieces of
national space legislation setting up a liability regime and imposing
similar insurance obligations on space operators.4
Today, the topic of space insurance is mastered rather well, in terms of
damage to space objects as well as in terms of third-party liability of
space operators. There is an insurance market dedicated and adapted to
space activities. There are ‘space insurers’ that offer insurance cover in
case of damage occurring to space objects and ‘aviation insurers’ that are
offering specific insurance cover for space third-party liability. Space
insurers are those having a specific portfolio and capacity for coverage of
space objects in case of damage occurring to them,5 whilst aviation
insurers have a specific aviation risks portfolio and capacity but will also
undertake to cover space third-party liability.6

2
See C. Gaubert & S. Moysan, L’assurance spatial, 57 Revue Française de
Droit Aérien et Spatial (2003), 249.
3
Commercial Space Launch Act, Public Law 98-575, 98th Congress, H.R.
3942, 30 October 1984; 98 Stat. 3055; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.III.3; now codified as Subtitle VII, 51. U.S.C. See further supra, § 3.3.1.1.
4
See also further supra, § 3.2.3 as well as the various national laws
discussed in § 3.3.
5
Cf. The Satellite Insurance Market and Underwriting Cycles – presenta-
tion at American Risk and Insurance Association Annual Meeting, Quebec City,
5–8 August 2007.
6
See Gaubert & Moysan, supra n. 2, 252; A.S. Branger & C. Derache,
L’application de la garantie d’assurance dans le temps en matière spatial, 66
Revue Française de Droit Aérien et Spatial (2012), 369; G. Catalano Sgrosso,
Insurance for Commercial and Industrial Activities in Outer Space, in Inter-
national Space Law (2011), 471–503; F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A
Treatise (2009), 114–6; A. Soucek, International Law, in Outer Space in Society,
Politics and Law (Eds. C. Brünner & A. Soucek) (2011), 344–6.

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This chapter will address in some detail the existing space insurances
to cover third-party liability7 and property damage to space objects.8
Specific attention will also be paid to the space debris issue.9 Dedicated
insurances applicable to astronauts will be briefly addressed.10 Finally, a
few words will be spent on the insurance broker’s mission.11

17.2 THIRD-PARTY LIABILITY INSURANCE

Basically, there are two main types of liability for participants in space
operations: third-party liability for space operations including launch
activities and satellite operation in orbit, and space products’ liability
further to the manufacturing of a satellite or launch vehicle or any part
thereof. These two main liabilities can today be covered by specific
insurance policies under certain conditions. Before detailing these insur-
ance policies and their associated insurance market, the space liability
regime will be briefly reviewed once more,12 which will help understand
the basis of liability insurance.

17.2.1 The Legal Environment

As a matter of fact, international law, national space laws, common law

and contractual practices together comprise the liability regime applic-
able to space industries.

17.2.1.1 International law

At the international level, the Outer Space Treaty13 and the Liability
Convention14 have first established a liability regime applicable to
spacefaring states to the extent qualifying as ‘launching States’ (states

7
See further infra, § 17.2.
8
See further infra, § 17.3.
9
See further infra, § 17.4.
10
See further infra, § 17.5.
11
See further infra, § 17.6.
12
See in more detail, however, supra, § 2.3.1.1, and § 2.3.3.
13
Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27 January
1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347; 18 UST
2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386 (1967).
14
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29

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Insurance in the context of space activities 913

which launch or procure the launch of a space object or from whose

territory or installation a space object is launched15). States parties to the
Treaty and Convention are thus internationally liable for damage caused
by such space objects (whether operated by governmental agencies or
not) on the earth, in air space or in outer space.16
The Liability Convention has set up a regime of joint and several
liability resting upon the states parties to other states for damage caused
by a space object for which they each qualify as ‘launching State’.17 This
is a key issue for multinational programmes, as the respective liability of
participating countries can be difficult to determine. The liability in
respect of damages caused to third parties as per the Liability Convention
is divided into two parts: a fault-based liability for damage to other
spacecraft occurring in space and non-fault-based liability and an abso-
lute liability for damage to third parties occurring on earth or in air
space.18 In either case, the ‘launching State’ is liable to other states for all
such damage caused by its space object, though in the former case only
to the extent of its fault. The Liability Convention has not foreseen any
liability time bar; therefore, the liability of the ‘launching State’ will
survive for ever, even for derelict objects.
The remedies provided by the Liability Convention are available solely
between states and stipulate procedures within a diplomatic context.19 It
does not apply to damage caused in the ‘launching State(s)’ and does not
preclude injured parties from pursuing other judicial remedies.20 This
liability regime is coupled for the states with a responsibility regime,
under which the states whose national activities in outer space are at

March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971).
15
See Art. I(c), Liability Convention, supra n. 14.
16
Cf. Arts. III resp. II, Liability Convention, supra n. 14.
17
Art. VII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 13, provides: ‘Each State Party to
the Treaty that launches or procures the launching of an object into outer space,
including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and each State Party from whose
territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally liable for damage to
another State Party to the Treaty or to its natural or juridical persons by such
object or its component parts on the Earth, in air or in outer space, including the
Moon and other celestial bodies.’ See further Arts. I(c), II, III, Liability
Convention, supra n. 14.
18
See respectively Art. II & Art. III, Liability Convention, supra n. 14.
19
Cf. Art. IX, Liability Convention, supra n. 14.
20
Cf. respectively Art. VII(a) & Art. XI(2), Liability Convention, supra
n. 14.

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issue bear a responsibility of surveillance and control of the space

activities carried by entities falling under their responsibility.21
At this stage, there is no insurance obligation imposed by either the
Outer Space Treaty or the Liability Convention. Still, many states have
developed a regime under which it is illegal to conduct space operations
without a licence. The required licence may be issued subject to the
imposition of a ‘hold-harmless’ provision in favour of the state. The state
may also require satisfactory evidence of adequate insurance or financial
guarantee, but it is important to bear in mind that the amount of
insurance required should not be seen as automatically limiting liability.

17.2.1.2 National laws

As far as relevant here all national laws relating to space activities
provide the legal and regulatory framework relevant to individuals and
entities carrying out space-related activities.22 The scope of individual
national liability varies from one country’s legal regime to another and
does not always follow the approach set out by the Liability Convention.
For example, an operator’s liability may be limited in time or to a
minimum amount of insurance; this minimum amount being in some
cases a protection above which the state will step in and guarantee on an
unlimited basis or up to a specified amount.23

17.2.1.3 From third-party liability to third-party liability insurance

The national space liability regimes are not identical, and the liability
imposed will consequently differ on various grounds. For some laws,
the liability may be imposed on the launch operator only and not
on the in-space operator (such as the US Commercial Space Launch
Act24) whilst for some others, the liability will lay with all
space operators (such as is the case with the Dutch,25 UK26 and

21
See Art. VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 13, referring to ‘authorization
and continuing supervision’.
22
See again further supra, Chapter 3.
23
Note that Art. XII, Liability Convention, supra n. 14, basically provides
for unlimited liability.
24
Cf. Sec. 50904, Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3; further supra,
§ 3.3.1.1, also supra, § 12.3.4.2.
25
See Sec. 1(b), Law Incorporating Rules Concerning Space Activities and
the Establishment of a Registry of Space Objects (hereafter Dutch Space Law),
24 January 2007; 80 Staatsblad (2007), at 1; Nationales Weltraumrecht/National
Space Law (2008), at 201; further supra, § 3.3.3.3.
26
See Sec.1, Outer Space Act (hereafter UK Outer Space Act), 18 July
1986, 1986 Chapter 38; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at

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French27 laws). The type of liability may differ as well, following the
fault or no-fault basis regime set up by the 1972 Liability Convention or
not. Some laws have implemented a limit to liability, in terms of time
(liability ends after launch28 or after a certain period of time29) or in
terms of amount.30 Finally, national laws may have implemented a
state’s guarantee for its space operator (for example the US Commercial
Space Launch Act and the French Law31), applicable in particular to
national third-party liability claims (as the unlimited liability at the
international level makes the state liable for any damage caused by the
operator above any limit in any event).
All legal regimes effectively exclude claims from third parties for
direct and indirect damage arising out of signal defect. For instance, the
Dutch Space Law provides that the licence holder is liable for damages
caused by its space activities,32 such space activities being defined as ‘the
launch, the flight operation or guidance of space objects in outer space’33
– so not including any damages caused by signal defect. The same intent
has been expressed by the French Law on Space Operations, which even
explicitly excludes from its scope any damage that is the consequence of
the signal use of a space object.34

293; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, E.I; 36 Zeitschrift für Luft- und
Weltraumrecht (1987), 12; further supra, § 3.3.2.3.
27
See Art. 1(3), Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux opérations
spatialise; hereafter French Law on Space Operations); Loi n° 2008-518 du 3
juin 2008; unofficial English version 34 Journal of Space Law (2008), 453:
further supra, § 3.3.3.1.
28
Further to Sec. 50901(a), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3, at a
lower level the mandatory insurance coverage is limited to the launch phase as
defined by Sec. 440.11, 14 C.F.R.; see also A. Kerrest de Rozavel & F.G. von der
Dunk, Liability and Insurance in the Context of National Authorisation, in
National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von der Dunk) (2011), 146–7.
29
See Art. 13, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27; cf. also
Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk, 160.
30
Cf. Sec. 50914, Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3; Arts. 14, 15,
French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27.
31
Cf. Sec. 50915, Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3; Art. 15,
French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27. See further e.g. on France P.
Achilleas, Regulation of Space Activities, in National Regulation of Space
Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 112.
32
Cf. Sec. 12, Dutch Space Law, supra n. 25.
33
Sec 1(b), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 25.
34
See Art. 1(1), French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27.

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17.2.1.4 The US launch licensing regime and third-party liability

insurance
The very first national space law to be enacted to specifically and
substantially address launching and the liabilities associated therewith
following the Liability Convention is the aforementioned US Commercial
Space Launch Act.35 This Act has established several principles to be
applied when an entity undertakes launch operations. Some other national
laws have followed these principles.
Under this Act, as said, only launching activities are subject to the
liability regime.36 The liability is attributed to the launch operator and
complemented by a waiver of recourse and hold-harmless clauses.37 To
this liability is attached an insurance obligation or financial guarantee,38
fixed at a certain amount that will vary from one launch to another, but
cannot exceed the amount of US$ 500 million for claims from third
parties (or US$ 100 million for governmental claims, essentially of an
inter-party liability character since applicable in a context where the
launch operator uses government launch facilities).39 Above that fixed
amount of insurance or financial guarantee, the United States promises
indemnification up to a determined maximum, being US$ 1.5 billion
(which, however, only refers to national liability claims, as the United
States remains internationally liable without any limit under the Liability
Convention).40
Under the Commercial Space Launch Act the launch licensee is
required to provide third-party liability insurance for launch plus 30
days.41 Under this Act, the Department Of Transportation (DOT) can
require extended in-orbit third-party liability insurance if a problem has

35
Supra, n. 3; more generally P.A. Vorwig, Regulation of Private Launch
Services in the United States, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed.
R.S. Jakhu) (2010), 405–15; V. Kayser, Launching Space Objects: Issues of
Liability and Future Prospects (2001) 90–134.
36
See supra, text at n. 3.
37
See discussion infra, § 17.2.1.9.
38
See Sec. 50914, Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3.
39
See Sec. 70112(3), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3.
40
Cf. Sec. 50915(a)(1), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3. Note
that this is in 1988 US$; at the time of writing this actually amounts to some
3.0 billion US$.
41
Further to Sec. 50901(a), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3, in
conjunction with Sec. 440.11, 14 C.F.R.; see also Kerrest de Rozavel & von der
Dunk, 146–7, supra n. 28.

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occurred during the launch.42 For licensed launches that include

de-orbiting and return to earth of the launch vehicle, the in-orbit
third-party liability insurance can also be extended, although this is not
satellite-specific.43
There is a distinction between low earth orbit satellites that are
de-orbited to meet their controlled destruction in the atmosphere and low
earth orbit spacecraft intended for re-entry to safely return to earth. Thus,
on the one hand there is no requirement under Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) licensing for third-party liability insurance for low
earth orbit satellites in operation or while being de-orbited to destruction
in the atmosphere. On the other hand, however, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) does license intentional re-entry to return to earth
for commercial spacecraft. Future regulation of low earth orbit spacecraft
is under discussion as a possible inclusion in revisions to the US
Commercial Space Launch Act, as announced at a 2013 FAA COMSTAC
meeting.44
This being said, there are exceptions for certain objects in low earth
orbit. If the satellite is subject to US Department of Defense government
contract/indemnity provisions, those indemnity provisions will require
underlying third-party liability insurance that could apply to a de-orbit
activity. If the launch is a failure and leaves the satellite in an unintended
low earth orbit and the launch is still within the FAA licence period
(usually 30 days after launch) the FAA can require that third-party
liability insurance will be maintained for on-orbit and re-entry under the
original launch licence.45 This is usually done through extension of the
launch liability insurance policy but purchased separately by the satellite
owner if the launch liability insurance has lapsed. If the space vehicle is
returning to earth and is operating under a US licence, the FAA re-entry
licence requires underlying third-party liability insurance to be carried by
the licensee for re-entry activities beginning at de-orbit burn.46 It must be

42
Further to Sec. 50901(a), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3, see
Sec. 440.11, 14 C.F.R.
43
See Ibid.
44
The meeting took place on 9 and 10 October, 2013. For further
information, see www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/house-hearing-reveals-faa-
comstac-rift-on-learning-period-for-commercial-human-spaceflight, last accessed
19 April 2014; www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/37428industry-faa-look-
to-stay-one-step-ahead-of-congress-with-draft-safety, last accessed 19 April
2014.
45
See Sec. 440.11, 14 C.F.R.
46
See Sec. 440.12, 14 C.F.R.

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borne in mind that the US government requires owners of satellites to

register and comply with, and file, de-orbit plans as part of their FCC
licensing requirements.47 Indeed, most satellite owners already comply
with this requirement.

17.2.1.5 Other national launch licensing regimes and third-party

liability insurance
Certain national laws have implemented a third-party insurance require-
ment as a condition precedent to obtaining a licence.48 The scope of the
insurance obligation varies from one regime to another in terms of the
minimum amount of insurance required, which parties must be added as
additional insured, and the limit of liability in respect of time. Regarding
the amount of insurance, the national space law may not specify a precise
amount, as is the case for the Dutch Space Law, which refers to
‘maximum possible cover’,49 with a limitation that the insurance amount
shall be in line with what is reasonably available. It is understood that the
Dutch authorities will determine the amount of insurance needed taking
into account the customary practice and the space activity to be licensed,
in order to impose said maximum possible cover.
Some other national space laws state a specific insurance amount, such
as the French Law on Space Operations as per a Loi de finances,50 which
stipulates an amount of insurance between €50 million and €70 million.
As compared to the US Commercial Space Launch Act, French law also
gives private operators the choice to purchase insurance or alternatively
demonstrate they have the financial capacity to pay a potential victim.51

47
See Appendix A to Part 440, 14 C.F.R.
48
See e.g. Sec. 3(4), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 25; Art. 6, French Law on
Space Operations, supra n. 27; Sec. 5(f), UK Outer Space Act, supra n. 26.
49
Sec. 3(4), Dutch Space Law, supra n. 25.
50
See Art. 119, Loi n° 2008-1443 du 30 décembre 2008 de finances
rectificative pour 2008; further e.g. C. Gaubert, Insurance in the Context of
National Authorisation, in National Space Legislation in Europe (Ed. F.G. von
der Dunk) (2011), 168; also Kerrest de Rozavel & von der Dunk, supra n. 28,
160.
51
See Art. 6(I), French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27: ‘Any
operator subject to authorization in accordance with this law must, for as long as
it may be held liable therefore in the conditions provided for in Article 13 and up
to the amount mentioned in Articles 6 and 17, be covered by an insurance policy
or have another financial guarantee approved by the competent authority’.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 919

17.2.1.6 Product liability in the context of space activities

The liability regime applicable to space manufacturers is rather different
from the liability discussed above applicable to space operators (whether
launching agencies or satellite operators). The participants in a space
operation may have their liability called into question on both these
different grounds. With respect to satellite manufacturers at any tier,
including services providers, they can carry liability based on the space
product or on service default. Hereunder, the product liability regimes of
the United States and the European Union will be briefly addressed.

17.2.1.7 US product liability

In the United States, even as there is not one single federal product
liability regime, but one for each individual state, the product liability
grounds may be summarized as follows. The first is based on the concept
of negligence, under which the manufacturer is liable for damages caused
by its employee’s negligence in not having used reasonable care in the
manufacturing of the product.52 Another concerns the breach of warranty
(expressed or implied) of the manufacturer. This liability is usually
applicable if there is a contractual link between the manufacturer and the
injured person.53
The last ground of liability is ‘strict liability’,54 that is a form of
non-fault liability. The defendant will have to prove that there was a
defect in the product, that said defect existed when the product was
delivered, and that the defect has caused the damage. There are three
types of defect:55

1. The manufacturing defect, meaning that the product has not been
manufactured in accordance with applicable specifications and
becomes dangerous.
2. The design defect. Most tribunals will generally conclude that if the
advantages of the design are not higher than the risks or if the
product is in practice more dangerous than what a consumer could
expect, then there is a design defect.

52
See for the historic decision Mac Pherson v. Buick Motor Co. in
conjunction with §1(a), Restatement of the Law (Third) Torts: Product Liability,
American Law Institute, 1998.
53
See Art. 2, Uniform Commercial Code, as adopted by each state; further
on this topic, R.A. Mann & B.S. Roberts, Business Law (14th edn., 2008), 467.
54
See Restatement of the Law (Third) Torts: Product Liability, supra n. 52.
55
Cf. also Sec. 402A, Second restatement of Law of Torts, American Law
Institute, 1964.

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3. The warning and instructions defect. This will apply when the
manual or instructions do not clearly indicate the risks.

17.2.1.8 EU product liability

At the European level, product liability was originally dealt with by
Directive 85/374 of 25 July 1985,56 now amended by Directive 1999/34
of 10 May 1999,57 which has unified EU member states’ regulations. The
regime set up by this Directive is a non-fault liability regime of the
producer (being the manufacturer of a finished product) by way of safety
default of the product in service.58 Therefore, the producer liability
resides in the fact that its product has caused damage to a victim and the
victim will only have to prove a link between the product and the
damage.59 The defect of the product is appreciated relative to the default
safety of use which the user of the product can expect.
To this liability there are possible exculpation clauses for the producer.
For example, he can prove that the defect did not exist in the product at
the time of its delivery, or that the product was not delivered or the
product was not designed to be distributed.60 It is, however, important to
note that this special EU regime of product defect liability is not
exclusive and that the victims may also act on the ground of contractual
or non-contractual liability or on the ground of ‘hidden defect’.61
This regime was not fundamentally changed by Directive 1999/34,
which essentially redefined the concept of ‘products’ as meaning ‘all
movables even if incorporated into another movable or into an immov-
able’, and including electricity.62

56
Council Directive on the approximation of the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective
products (hereafter Product Liability Directive), 85/374/EEC, of 25 July 1985;
OJ L 210/29 (1985).
57
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending
Council Directive 85/374/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations and
administrative provisions of the member states concerning liability for defective
products (hereafter Product Liability Directive as amended), 1999/34/EC, of 10
May 1999; OJ L 141/20 (1999).
58
See Arts. 1, 6, Product Liability Directive, supra n. 56.
59
See Art. 4, Product Liability Directive, supra n. 56.
60
See Art. 7, Product Liability Directive, supra n. 56.
61
See Art. 13, Product Liability Directive, supra n. 56.
62
Art. 1(1), Product Liability Directive as amended, supra n. 57.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 921

17.2.1.9 Contractual practices

In order to mitigate the liability of any participant to a space operation,
the parties to a contract may negotiate limits of liability or exemptions of
liability. A ‘limitation of liability’ or ‘waiver of recourse’ clause permits
contracting parties to reduce or eliminate the potential recourse for direct,
consequential, special, incidental and indirect damage should there be a
breach of contract.63 In some cases, a cap on damage type may be used.
Another way to limit the liability is to use a ‘hold-harmless’ clause. This
is a clause in an agreement by which one party agrees to hold the other
free from the responsibility for any liability or damage that might arise
out of the transaction involved.64
On the insurance side, the said limits to or exemptions from liability
have an important consequence as they limit the insurer’s exposure and
its loss record as well, when the limit to or exemption from liability is in
favour of its insured. On the other hand, the said limit to liability or
exemption may increase the insurer’s exposure if the insurer cannot
exercise its right of subrogation against the entity responsible for a loss
that it has indemnified, due to the fact that the insured had previously
accepted contractually to limit or exempt the said entity’s liability. Where
a satellite is damaged due to a product fault, the property damage
insurers covering the satellite will indemnify the value of the satellite. If
the property damage insurance contains no waiver of subrogation rights
on the insurer’s part or in case of gross negligence of the manufacturer,
the insurer, having indemnified the damaged satellite, would be entitled
to recourse against the manufacturer of the product. But if in the contract
between the insured and the manufacturer the insured has agreed not to
have recourse against the manufacturer then the insurers will not be able
to have recourse against the manufacturer. Therefore, the exposure of the
insurer is increased because of the impossibility of recourse against the
manufacturer.
The validity of such limitations of liability may vary from one legal
regime to another. Under certain legal regimes, the waivers of recourse or
‘hold-harmless’ clauses are illegal and can be rescinded by a judge. For
instance, in France, in the absence of applicability of the French Law on
Space Operations, limitation to or exemption from liability clauses is not

63
See M. Fontaine & P. De Ly, Drafting International Contracts – An
Analysis of Contract Clauses (2009), 369 ff.
64
See Fontaine & De Ly, supra n. 63, 356; for more examples of
‘hold-harmless’ clauses, see L. Ravillon, Les télécommunications par satellites,
Aspects juridiques (1997), 227–8.

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922 Handbook of space law

valid for professionals that do not have the same business specialty.65 The
French courts have already ruled that limits to or exemptions from
liability afforded by a party to a contract that does not have the same
business specialty as the other party having the benefit of such limit to or
exemption from liability are invalid.66
More generally, for states that have enacted specific space law,
sometimes that law requires that this limit to/exemption from liability is
included in the contracts.

17.2.1.10 The US case

The Commercial Space Launch Act is the first national space law to
impose an obligation on the licensee or transferee to enter into a
reciprocal waiver of claims with the participant in the launch or re-entry
operation, including the customer. In this case, by way of this waiver,
each party agrees not to have recourse against another involved party for
any damage (property or bodily injury) it has sustained (including
sustained by its employees).67
As a counterpart to this cross-waiver the Secretary of Transportation
agrees to the reciprocal waiver of claims for any damage the US
government or a US executive agency sustains (property or bodily injury)
resulting from an activity carried out by the licensee.68 This being said,
the Secretary of Transportation may also decide not to claim against the
licensee or transferee if the insurance is not available due to the
application of an exclusion contained in the insurance contract.69 This
can be seen as a strong protection of the licensee or transferee in case
there is an applicable exclusion.

17.2.1.11 The French case

The French Law on Space Operations has specifically validated the
standard practice of launch services contracts containing waivers of
recourse and ‘hold-harmless’ clauses as between the participants to a
space operation. This validation is effected by way of two articles that
have a direct impact on the manufacturer’s liability and any participant to
a space operation.
On the one hand, Article 19 states that further to the indemnification of
a third party that has sustained damage due to a space operation, the

65
See C. Cass ch. civile, 19 March 2013, 11-26566.
66
See ibid.
67
See Sec. 50914(b)(1), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3.
68
See Sec. 50914(b)(2), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3.
69
See Sec. 50914(b)(1), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3.

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entity having participated in this operation or in the production of the

space object cannot have its liability invoked by another entity having
participated in the said operation.70 This applies only in the case where
the mandatory insurance or the financial guarantee has been exhausted,
with the further exception of wilful misconduct of the liable entity.
Therefore, the aim of this Article is to attribute the liability to the space
operator (as defined by the law), at least for damages on the ground or in
airspace, and as a consequence gives a certain protection to the suppliers
and subcontractors.
On the other hand, Article 20 provides that waivers of recourse are
mandatory between the participants in a space operation or in the
manufacturing of a space object, for any damage caused between them,
unless there is a specific provision to the contrary in the contract relating
to the satellite manufacturing or unless the exception of wilful mis-
conduct applies.71 This provision generalizes the waiver of recourse
between the contracting parties that already exists within the launch
contractual chain. This waiver of recourse is a simple translation of the
current practice of launch services contracts, a practice that has flowed
down to subcontractors at any tier of this contractual chain.72 However,
with respect to the satellite contractual chain, the ‘waiver of recourse’
practice is not systematic and one may find liability provisions of the
satellite manufacturer or the subcontractors in the procurement contracts
and subcontracts respectively.

70
Art. 19, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27, provides: ‘When
the insurance or financial guarantee mentioned in Article 6 as well as, if
necessary, the governmental guarantee have been laid out to indemnify a third
party, one of the persons having taken part in the space operation or in the
production of the space object which caused the damage cannot be held liable by
another of these persons, except in case of a wilful misconduct.’
71
Art. 20, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27, provides: ‘In the
case of a damage caused by a space operation or the production of a space object
to a person taking part in this operation or in that production, any other person
taking part in the space operation or in the production of the space object having
caused the damage and bound to the previous one by a contract cannot be held
liable because of that damage, unless otherwise expressly stipulated regarding
the damage caused during the production phase of a space object which is to be
commanded in outer space or during its commanding in orbit, or in case of a
wilful misconduct.’
72
For an example of such provision in Arianespace launch contracts, see L.
Ravillon, supra n. 64, 225.

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17.2.1.12 Contractual issues

These limits to/exemptions from liability can also be the consequence of
manufacturing/launch service contract negotiations. In launch service
contracts, on a standard basis ‘reciprocal no-fault, no-subrogation, inter-
party waivers of liability’ are applied as between participants, by which
each party agrees to waive its right of recourse against its contractor
(respectively subcontractors at any tier) in case of damage caused to its
property and bodily injury or property damage to its employees, includ-
ing that sustained by its contractual partners in relation to the execution
of the launch services agreement.73 By way of these clauses the
co-contractors avoid any recourse between them, and allocate in advance
the liabilities for damage to third parties. These reciprocal waivers of
recourse and ‘hold-harmless’ clauses are generally complemented with a
‘flow down’ obligation with respect to the subcontractors.
Usually, under the satellite chain of contracts, the rights of recourse are
preserved between the participants to this contractual chain, during any
phases (notably assembly, integration and tests phase; launch phase; and
in-orbit phase), subject to application of relevant national law. The space
insurance policies covering damage caused to satellites (during the
launch or in-orbit phases) traditionally include a waiver of subrogation
rights from the insurer in favour of the participants in the satellite
contractual chain. It means that the insurers contractually agree not to use
their right of recourse against the party responsible for the damage to the
satellite, after having indemnified the insured for its loss, except in case
of gross negligence of the responsible party.74
These different liability regimes and contractual practices obviously
can have a substantial impact on the insurances to be underwritten. That
is why it is important to understand the legal context of space activities
and the various roles of relevant actors in order to draft the most
appropriate insurance policy wording.

17.2.2 Available Insurance

The insurance policy must meet the demands of the international treaties
(in particular, as discussed, the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability
Convention) as well as respond to any national statutory or licensing

73
Cf. e.g. Art. 18.1, General Clauses and Conditions of the ESA contracts
(as adopted in 2010).
74
See Art. 18.1.3 & 18.1.6, General Clauses and Conditions of the ESA
contracts (as adopted in 2010).

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Insurance in the context of space activities 925

requirements, the applicable conventional liability regime at the location

and relevant contractual obligations.

17.2.2.1 Insurance for space operators (‘space third-party liability

insurance’)
Space third-party liability insurance covers the financial consequences of
the liability of the insured in case of damage caused to third parties due
to insured space operations. Such insurance is available, under the
present insurance market conditions, up to a cover of US$ 750 million.
This amount corresponds to the maximum available insurance market
capacity for this type of risks. The amounts generally subscribed are
between US$ 50 million and US$ 500 million, depending on the phase of
risks (launch or in-orbit) and on the applicable legal regime which can
prescribe a specified (minimum) amount of insurance.75
For example, as seen, the ‘maximum maximum’ amount of insurance
required by the US Commercial Space Launch Act is US$ 500 million76
– in theory, as in practice the amounts will vary between a few million
US$ and US$ 261 million, so far the highest amount ever included.77 The
French Law on Space Operations stipulates an amount of insurance
between €50 million and €70 million, which is usually translated into the
insurance policy as coverage up to €60 million.78 The insurance amount
required by the UK Space Agency is now established at € 60 million.79
The period of insurance may vary from a few days to a maximum of
one year after launch for the launch phase, and for the in-orbit phase
from a few days (for specific activities, such as drift manoeuvres) to a
maximum of one year after inception of the insurance policy. Multi-
annual coverage was available a few years ago, but the market only offers
single-year coverage today, with for some insured a possibility to renew

75
See further supra, § 17.2.1.4, § 17.2.1.5.
76
See Sec. 50914(a)(3)(A)(i), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3;
further supra, § 3.3.1.1 and § 12.3.4.2.
77
See also supra, § 12.3.4.2, esp. at n. 91.
78
Cf. Arts. 14–16, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27, in
conjunction with the Loi de finances, supra n. 50, also supra, § 17.2.1.5,
§ 3.3.3.1.
79
A reduction of the compulsory insurance requirement from £100 million
to €60 million was announced by the UK Minister for Universities and Science
on 4 July 2011. See Reform of the Outer Space Act 1986, Consultation
Document, UK Space Agency, of 31 May 2012, 4.

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the policy on the same terms, conditions and rates, subject to no loss
having occurred during the policy period.80
Basically, the insured are the launch operator for the launch phase and
the satellite operator for the in-orbit phase. Traditionally, it is not only
these operators that are insured under the third-party liability insurance,
but also the launching states and any participants in the space operation
at whatever level (including manufacturers and their subcontractors and
other suppliers):81 they will all be named as additional insured. This
means that they will benefit from all provisions of the insurance and will
have their liability covered by the policy as if they were the insured under
the policy.
This additional insurance provision is sometimes the consequence of a
legal obligation. The US Commercial Space Launch Act requires that the
United States and the participants in the launch operation shall be named
additional insured to the policy subscribed by the launch operator.82 The
French law also requires that the French state, the national space agency,
the European Space Agency and all the participants in the space
operation shall have the benefit of the third-party liability insurance
subscribed to by the space operator.83

17.2.2.2 Triggering third-party liability insurance

On the international insurance market, the different triggers which can be
used are ‘occurrence’ and ‘damageable facts’; both of them having their
advantages and inconveniences. With respect to the ‘occurrence’ trigger,84
it is necessary that such an occurrence takes place during the period of
insurance, that is: between attachment of risks and termination of risks.
The application of this notion to space activities leads to some problems:
indeed there might be an important gap between the moment of the
incident or accident and the effective damage to the third party. An
example thereof is the case where a non-controlled satellite collides with

80
This option is included in insurance contracts, usually not uniformly
worded; the precise terms moreover constitute proprietary information.
81
See Gaubert, supra n. 50, 170.
82
See Sec. 50914(a)(4), Commercial Space Launch Act, supra n. 3.
83
See Art. 6, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27.
84
Definition of ‘occurrence’ as per the international standard from Lloyd’s
AVN 98: ‘Occurrence means an accident or incident (other than a Grounding) or
a continuous or repeated exposure to conditions occurring during the Policy
Period which arises out of the Products Hazard and causes Bodily Injury or
Property Damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the
Insured. All damages arising out of exposure to substantially the same general
conditions shall be deemed to arise out of one Occurrence.’

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Insurance in the context of space activities 927

another satellite ten years after such loss of control.85 In this case, the
loss of control can be interpreted as the accident or incident at the origin
of the collision (the damage to the third party). As the insurance is
offered on an annual basis and as it is necessary that the occurrence takes
place during the annual period of insurance, one might face a situation in
our example where the insurance cannot cover the damage because ten
years have elapsed between the moment of the incident/accident and the
effective occurrence of damage to the third party.
For some insurance markets, ‘occurrence’ is understood as the moment
when the damage to the third party occurs, whatever the date of the
accident or incident at the origin of the damage.86 The question with this
interpretation is that if an incident occurs to a satellite leading to a partial
loss of control of the said satellite, the insurers might require that any
damage to a third party that is the consequence of the loss of control be
excluded, or require a premium increase to cover specifically the
consequences of the loss of control.87
Lastly, the notion of ‘occurrence’ can be interpreted in the light of
French insurance law which offers the possibility to have the insurance
triggered by the ‘damageable fact’, being the accident or incident at the
origin of the third-party damage, whatever the date of the third-party
damage and its claim (even if the damage or claim occurs ten, twenty or

85
It should be noted that the Liability Convention, supra n. 14, does take
such considerations into account: whilst Art. X(1) provides that ‘A claim for
compensation for damage may be presented to a launching State not later than
one year following the date of the occurrence of the damage or the identification
of the launching State which is liable’ (emphasis added); Art. X(2) adds: ‘If,
however, a State does not know of the occurrence of the damage or has not been
able to identify the launching State which is liable, it may present a claim within
one year following the date on which it learned of the aforementioned facts;
however, this period shall in no event exceed one year following the date on
which the State could reasonably be expected to have learned of the facts through
the exercise of due diligence’, whereas Art. X(3) further adds: ‘The time limits
specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article shall apply even if the full extent of
the damage may not be known. In this event, however, the claimant State shall be
entitled to revise the claim and submit additional documentation after the
expiration of such time limits until one year after the full extent of the damage is
known.’
86
This conclusion can be drawn from experience of the author with
insurers; for proprietary reasons, more specific information can not be provided
here.
87
This conclusion can be drawn from experience of the author with
insurers; whilst this has happened in the past, for proprietary reasons more
specific information can not be provided here.

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more years after the ‘damageable fact’). For example if an incident (loss
of control of a satellite) occurs in 2015 and that lost satellite causes
damage to a third party (when returning to earth) in 2030, the applicable
insurance will be the one in force in 2015. However, the unknown factor
is the existence of the same insurance market in 2030 as in 2015 – and
some insurers may also have disappeared – but at least there will be
insurance in force, even if partial. One has to bear in mind that this
trigger basis is specific to French insurance law and does not follow the
standard international practice. Furthermore, using this trigger in an
insurance policy may be subject to a higher premium than the ‘occur-
rence’ basis because of its long-term application. This is one of the
reasons why this trigger is not commonly used by the space liability
policies.

17.2.2.3 Insurance for manufacturers at any tier (‘space product

liability insurance’)
As seen above, the space manufacturer may carry product defect liability
based on general product liability, not specific to space activities. As
such, in the event of damage caused to third parties or to a contractor, the
space manufacturer, at any tier, may have its liability called into question.
Therefore, the available insurances for such exposure will be detailed
here.
Space product liability insurance covers the financial consequences of
the liability of an insured, typically a manufacturer, subcontractor or
supplier, in case of damage to third parties caused by an accident or
incident due to a flawed space product after its delivery. Several
conditions have to be met in order to trigger this coverage. There must be
damage to a third party or contractual party; such damage must be the
result of an accident or incident due to a product default; and the space
product must have been delivered, meaning that it must not be in the
care, custody or control of the insured. Today on the insurance market
mainly two types of space product liability insurance can be found, the
so-called ‘space endorsement’ and the European Space Products Liability
Scheme (ESPLS).88
‘Space endorsement’ constitutes an extension of coverage of aviation
product liability insurance by way of an endorsement that will extend the
cover for aviation products to space products. The amount of insurance
will be determined as an aggregate amount, meaning that the amount of

88
See T. Justice, Parole à un membre, 14 Le Bulletin d’I-Space-Prospace
(January 2006).

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Insurance in the context of space activities 929

insurance is a combined single limit for the period of cover (for both
property damage and bodily injury).89 This amount of insurance will be
the one of the aviation product liability cover to which the endorsement
is attached. To this aggregate amount, sub-limits are applicable, after
arrival of the space product at the launch site, of US$ 250 million for
damage to satellites in which the space product is incorporated and
US$ 125 million per satellite in case of a multiple launch respectively.
These sub-limits are understood as per event and in the annual
aggregate. As an example, if during the period of insurance, damage to a
satellite in which the space product is incorporated leads to an insurance
indemnification of US$ 250 million, the limit of insurance will thereby
be exhausted. Consequently, there will be no cover available during the
same period of insurance if another satellite (in which the product is
incorporated) is damaged, unless the amount of insurance has been (fully
or partially) reinstated subject to an additional premium. In case of
damage to third-party satellites on the ground or in orbit (subject to the
operational life of the third-party satellite not having expired) and to
bodily injury, the full limit of insurance will apply.90 Often space
endorsements require that the insured must have waivers of recourse,
limitations to liability or ‘hold-harmless’ clauses in its favour included in
the contracts with its customers. However, as seen above, this is not often
the case within the satellite contractual chain.
The ESPLS coverage offers an amount of insurance up to a maximum
of US$ 300 million per event and in the annual aggregate, without
distinguishing between ground products, launcher products or satellite
products.91 The particularity of this insurance is that it is specifically
drafted for space risks, contrary to space endorsements which follow the
terms and conditions of the aviation product liability insurance. For
example, the aviation product liability insurance is triggered by the

89
See infra, Appendix 1, for an example of an aviation endorsement.
90
See ibid.
91
Example of space products definition: ‘SPACE PRODUCT means a
completed GROUND EQUIPMENT and/or any article forming part of, or
supplied and/or integrated and/or to be integrated for installation in, or for use in
connection with, a LAUNCH VEHICLE or a SATELLITE or a GROUND
EQUIPMENT.
The word “article” as used here above means not only any sub-system,
equipment, component, software, spare part, tooling, ground handling or test or
support equipment but also any service or labor associated with and/or related to
a SATELLITE or LAUNCH VEHICLE, or GROUND EQUIPMENT such as
training aids, the drafting of specifications or manual blueprints, drawings or
other data, engineering, survey and advice.’

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occurrence of an accident or an incident at the origin of the damage to

the (third-party or other) satellite or bodily injury to persons. However,
the main risk in space is that of failure of the satellite without an accident
necessarily occurring (for example the loss of power or the loss of a solar
array). The ESPLS will provide specific coverage in case of failure of the
satellite to complete its mission without the occurrence of physical
damage to the satellite – always subject to terms, conditions and
exclusions of the policy. Lastly, this coverage does not require the
existence of a waiver of recourse or ‘hold-harmless clause’ in favour of
the insured in the procurement contract or subcontracts, which is often
the case for space endorsements.
Both types of insurance policy are generally subscribed to for a
maximum of one year.

17.3 PROPERTY DAMAGE INSURANCE

Further to the above analysis of the third-party liability regime and
applicable insurance with regard to space actors, property damage
insurance will now be discussed as underwritten in order to indemnify
the insured in case of damage to its space object.
Contrary to third-party liability insurance, as far as is known, no
insurance obligations resting upon the space operator or manufacturer
exist under international or national law. The decision to insure space
property, being elements of the launcher on the ground or the satellite or
any part on the ground or in space, entirely rests with the manufacturer,
the operator or their clients, or alternatively with the financial institutions
wishing to have their loan guaranteed by the insurance proceeds.
When talking about space property damage insurance, three periods of
risks,92 being the pre-launch, launch and in-orbit period, should be
identified. These will be discussed in further detail below.

17.3.1 Typology of Property Damage Insurances

17.3.1.1 Pre-launch insurance

The pre-launch insurance phase starts at the signing of the satellite
procurement contract and ends at the launch of the launcher, more

92
See Commercial Space and Launch Insurance: Current Market and
Future Outlook, Launch Report, Fourth Quarter 2002, FAA; see www.faa.gov/
about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/q42002.pdf, last accessed 19
April 2014.

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precisely when the launch becomes irreversible.93 During this period, one
may further sub-divide the risks into three phases.
The first period within the pre-launch phase concerns assembly,
integration, test and potential storage of the satellite at the manufacturer
or test centre’s premises. During this period, payload and platform,
including solar arrays, which are generally manufactured by different
manufacturers, are assembled, integrated and tested in order to actually
construct the satellite. Following such assembly, integration and test, the
second period starts when the satellite has to be transported to the launch
site. The end of this second period is heralded by the launch campaign,
understood as the third period of risks, which is when the satellite is
being integrated with the launcher and all the pre-launch tests are being
performed, with checks, amongst other things, regarding whether the
satellite has not been damaged during its transport to the launch site or
that it will not itself damage the launcher.
The amount of insurance for the pre-launch phase is generally between
€50 million and €80 million, but depending upon the type of satellite,
this amount may be even higher.
The insurance policy covers damage to the insured assets that are due
to different causes. Damage due to causes external to the satellite or part
of the launcher (like collision or fall) will be covered, as well as damage
due to causes internal to the satellite or part of the launcher (like fire or
electrical short-circuit) and damage due to human error, noting that in the
latter case wilful misconduct of the employees acting within the scope of
their missions is always covered, this not being the case for wilful
misconduct of directors or officers of the insured.94 The cover will, of
course, be subject to the specific terms, conditions and exclusions of the
insurance policy. Generally, such pre-launch insurance coverage is
offered by maritime cargo insurers, in contrast with launch and in-orbit
insurance, which are normally offered by dedicated space insurers.95

93
Each launch contract states its own definition of an ‘irreversible launch’.
For instance, Ariane-5 launch contracts define it as ‘the ignition of first stage
engines’.
94
The standard exclusion refers to ‘wilful or intentional acts of the directors
and officers of the named insured acting within the scope of their duties designed
to cause loss or failure of the insured property. This exclusion does not apply to
the employees of the Named Insured.’
95
See e.g. P. Daouphars, L’assurance des risques spatiaux, in Exploitation
commerciale de l’espace, droit positif, droit prospectif (Ed. P. Kahn) Vol. 15
(1992), 262; O. Schöffski & A.G. Wegener, Risk Management and Insurance

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17.3.1.2 Launch insurance

To avoid any lack or overlapping of guarantees, it is important that
pre-launch insurance ceases to have effect when the launch insurance
starts. The inception of the launch insurance coverage phase is when the
launch is deemed irreversible, that is when it cannot be stopped as per the
definition provided by the applicable launch services agreement. Such
definition differs from one launcher to another one and will depend on its
technical context: it can be at intentional ignition or when the clamps
open to release the launcher.96
During the launch phase, only the satellites at issue are covered by the
insurance policy. The launchers are not directly insured in case of loss or
damage because, on the one hand, the launcher is destroyed once it has
performed its launch service and its value is included in the launch
services costs and, on the other hand, launch services agreements
generally provide that the launch service is deemed performed upon
ignition of the launcher.97
Generally, the launch insurance policy ends one year after launch,
meaning that the launched satellite can be covered during its first year in
orbit via the launch insurance. In actual fact, the duration of the launch
insurance policy thus varies from ‘launch plus few days’ to ‘launch plus
one year’. Today the majority of space insurers offers launch insurance
policies for a period of one year after launch, policies which have to be
renewed at the end of the year under in-orbit insurance.98 Some insurers
today propose multi-annual policies with adapted premiums.
The satellite property damage insurance policy is systematically
offered on the basis of ‘all risks’ coverage. This means that the insurance
covers any loss or damage to the satellite, whatever the cause, except for
the causes specifically excluded in the policy.99 This notion is opposed to

Solutions for Space and Satellite Projects, 24-2 Geneva Papers on Risk and
Insurance (April 1999), 204–5.
96
See supra, n. 93.
97
For more details, see e.g. C.A. du Parquet, Specific Clauses of Launch
Services Agreements, in Contracting for Space (Eds. L.J. Smith & I. Baumann)
(2011), 386–7.
98
An example of such a ‘Policy Period’ wording would read: ‘The Policy
Period is the period commencing on TBD 2013 and terminating on TBD 2014
(one year later) both dates at 00.01 hrs local time at the Named Insured’s
Address (the “Period”).’
99
An example of such an ‘All Risks’ cover would read: ‘Subject to all the
terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions of the Policy, the Insurer shall
indemnify the Named Insured up to the Sum Insured for all risks of loss
occurring during the Policy period.’

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Insurance in the context of space activities 933

the notion of a policy based on ‘named perils’, by which the insurers will
only cover loss or damage specifically enumerated in the policy.100
The importance of the distinction between these two concepts lies in
knowing upon which party (insured or insurer) the burden of proof rests.
Under an ‘all risks’ policy the insurer will have to prove that an exclusion
is applicable to deny its cover. The insured will only have to demonstrate
that a loss or damage has occurred to its satellite. By contrast, under a
‘named perils’ policy the insured will have to prove that a peril covered
by its insurance policy has occurred. Furthermore, the scope of cover of
an ‘all risks’ policy is wider (covering essentially all causes) than a
‘named perils’ policy (covering only specific enumerated causes). So, it
is clearly to the benefit of the insured that its satellite property damage
insurance be subscribed on the basis of an ‘all risks’ wording.
In general, the insured determines the amount of insurance represent-
ing the maximum amount of coverage, to be included in the insurance
policy. This amount corresponds either to the manufacturing costs of the
satellite (including development costs) or to the remanufacturing costs of
an identical satellite. It may include the launch services costs – except if
a ‘launch risk guarantee’ (LRG) has been included in the launch services
agreement – as well as the insurance premium or the in-orbit positioning
costs.101
Launch service providers sometimes offer an LRG to their clients by
which they propose, in case of launch failure, either a re-launch or a
financial indemnification for the loss of the launched satellite. This LRG
will provide for the full (or partial) cost of another launch if the satellite
fails to reach its intended orbit or is destroyed, or if its functions are
impaired as a result of a launch vehicle malfunction.102 In this case, the
insurance needs of the insured are lowered because of this existing
guarantee. Specific insurances can be subscribed to cover this LRG.
The insured amount is commonly referenced in the insurance policy as
being at an ‘agreed value’.103 By using this ‘agreed value’ notion,

100
An example of such a ‘Named Perils Cover’ would read: ‘Subject to all
the terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions of the Policy, the Insurer shall
indemnify the Named Insured up to the Sum Insured for the following listed
losses occurring to the insured asset during the Policy period.’
101
For more details on launch insurance coverage and underwriting process,
see B.R. Elbert, Introduction to Satellite Communication (3rd edn., 2008), 363.
102
See Insurance Market for Space Activities, in The Space Economy at a
Glance 2011, OECD (2011).
103
Further on the concept of ‘agreed value’, see P. Montpert, Space
Insurance, in Contracting for Space (Eds. L.J. Smith & I. Baumann) (2011), 287.

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934 Handbook of space law

contestation of the value of the satellite at the time of a loss can generally
be avoided. The insured and the insurer have determined the insured
value on an a priori basis before inception of the policy, without the
possibility to effectively change this value. The covered risks are
essentially threefold.
Firstly, there is the ‘total loss’ of the satellite, being generally defined
as the destruction of the satellite, the loss of the satellite (meaning
the satellite cannot be controlled by ground stations), or the inability of
the satellite to reach its orbital position within a pre-defined delay in the
policy.104 In case of total loss of a satellite, the insurers will indemnify
the insured with the full value of the insurance amount.
Secondly, there is the ‘constructive total loss’, corresponding to a
reduction of the lifetime or operational capacity of the insured satellite
below a threshold, being traditionally between 70 per cent and 90 per
cent.105 This threshold is called ‘loss quantum’ and is defined as being
the actual capacity compared to the nominal (contractual) capacity of the
satellite. This capacity is evaluated as per the technical specifications of
the satellite. If the actual capacity is below the nominal capacity, then the
percentage of the capacity that the satellite has lost will be calculated. If
the percentage of this loss quantum is between 70 per cent and 90 per
cent, meaning that the operational capacity remaining for this satellite is
between 10 per cent and 30 per cent, it will be declared a ‘constructive
total loss’. The satellite is deemed a constructive total loss when the loss
quantum is higher than the threshold indicated in the policy, in which
case the satellite will be totally indemnified by the insurers, as if the
satellite indeed had been totally lost.
As a counterpart to such full indemnification of a constructive total
loss a salvage provision has been introduced in the insurance policies. By
application of this provision, upon receipt of the full indemnification of
its loss, the insured undertakes to use its best efforts to save the satellite.
The insurers will then be entitled to have the sole right to the maximum
benefit of salvage.106 Of course, the salvage amount that can be received
by the insurers is limited to the indemnification amount paid to the

104
A common example of a ‘Total Loss’ definition would read: ‘the satellite
is totally lost or destroyed or cannot reach its intended orbital position within xxx
months’.
105
A common example of a ‘Constructive Total Loss’ definition would read:
‘a satellite shall be declared Constructive Total Loss if the loss quantum relating
to the operational capability of the satellite is of more than 75%’.
106
A common example of a salvage clause would read: ‘After a Claim
Payment has been made for a Constructive Total Loss or a Total Loss, the

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Insurance in the context of space activities 935

insured. In no event may the insurers gain a profit from the application of
salvage. Furthermore, under the hypothesis that the insurers have indem-
nified the insured against a total loss or a constructive total loss, they can
request the right to take title to the satellite.107 On the practical side, this
transfer of property is difficult to put in place, as there is not only the
transfer of the satellite to be dealt with, but also the transfer of licences,
authorizations, orbital positions, frequencies and suchlike.
Thirdly, ‘partial loss’ of the satellite corresponds to a partial reduction
of the lifetime or operational capacity of the satellite below the threshold
used for the determination of the constructive total loss. In this case, the
amount of indemnification will correspond to the actual loss of capacity
or lifetime sustained by the satellite. To calculate the indemnification of a
partial loss, the same ‘loss quantum’ notion as for the ‘constructive total
loss’ will be used. If the percentage of the loss quantum is less than the
threshold defined in the policy, then the satellite will be declared a
‘partial loss’, and the insurers will indemnify only the amount of
insurance corresponding to the percentage of loss. It is possible to add a
salvage clause in the insurance policy by which after a claim payment,
the insured agrees to do all things reasonably practicable to maximize
salvage opportunities for the affected part of the satellite.108 In such a
case, in the same way as for ‘total loss’ and ‘constructive total loss’, the
amount of salvage received by the insurers shall be limited to the
indemnification paid by the insurers.

17.3.1.3 In-orbit insurance

In-orbit insurance will start at the expiry of the launch insurance and end,
at the latest, at the end of the in-orbit life of the satellite.109 Today, as for
launch insurance, the market offers an insurance policy on an annual
basis (except for a few markets that can offer up to two, three or even
five years of coverage, with associated premiums) to be renewed at each
anniversary date of the policy. Each year, at renewal, the insured has to
provide the insurers with a health status report of the insured satellite. On
the basis of this health status report, the insurers will decide to renew the

Insurers have the sole right to the maximum benefit of salvage including the right
to take title to the Satellite.’
107
See supra, n. 106.
108
For an example of salvage, see A.J. Gould & O.M. Linden, Estimating
Satellite Insurance Liabilities, CAS Forum, Fall 2000, 57.
109
See M. Spagnulo, R. Fleeter & M. Balduccini, Space Program Manage-
ment – Methods and Tools (2013), 167; also B.R. Elbert, The Satellite Communi-
cation Applications Handbook (2nd edn., 2004), 107.

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936 Handbook of space law

policy on the same terms and conditions, to exclude specific risks or not
to renew the policy, for example if the satellite is not in good enough
shape.
The amount of insurance corresponds, at the choice of the insured, to
the value of the satellite, the cost of a replacement satellite or the amount
of loans. Some satellite projects are financed by financial institutions, in
which case the amount of insurance will correspond to the amount of the
loan in order to secure the financing.110 Generally, the amount of
insurance decreases linearly to end at zero at the end of life of the
satellite or at the end of the corresponding financing agreement.
The covered damages are total loss, constructive total loss or partial
loss of the satellite, for the same causes and on the same bases as
discussed above for the launch insurance policy.

17.3.1.4 Exclusions
The main standard exclusions of such insurances relate to damage caused
by war risks and other perils, damage caused by radiation or nuclear
effects, and damage caused by wilful misconduct of the insured, with the
exception of employees acting within the scope of their duties.111
Specific exclusions may also be added in the policy, for example
excluding damages caused by specific components (known as defective
or unimproved new components).112

17.3.2 Property Damage Insurance Market

The space insurance market is an international market with a handful of

actors. These insurers are considered ‘space’ insurers in contrast to the
third-party liability insurers, which are essentially aviation insurers as
seen above. Because of the high amount of insurance for space risks it is
necessary to approach the insurers on an international basis and not only
on a national one. Today, around 20 insurers in the world offer such type
of coverage for a total capacity of around US$ 668 million per launch for

110
Further on space projects financing, see F. Martin, Le financement des
projets de télécommunications spatiales, in Exploitation commerciale de
l’espace, droit positif, droit prospectif (Ed. P. Kahn) Vol. 15 (1992), 245–51; also
supra, Chapter 16.
111
See infra, Appendix 2, for an example of an exclusion.
112
Here, specific provisions are inserted depending on technical specificities;
unfortunately the precise terms constitute proprietary information.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 937

the launch phase risk (depending on the type of launcher) and a total
capacity of around US$ 549 million per satellite for in-orbit risks.113
As of today, this capacity is sufficient and meets the insured’s needs.
For the last several years in a row this type of insurance is beneficial and
new actors have emerged to add to the overall coverage available. This
has led to an increase of the total capacity per launch alternatively per
satellite, and to more competition between these actors.

17.4 SPACE DEBRIS IN THE CONTEXT OF

INSURANCE
Finally, the issue of space debris, already discussed more generally
above,114 will be assessed from the specific perspective of insurance. The
number of particles constituting space debris has increased considerably
in the past decade – and actually has almost doubled over the last 20
years. This continued growth of the amount of space debris also as of
today raises the question of what the response from the insurance sector
would be to damage caused by the said debris to other spacecraft or on
earth.
Historically, the insurers, especially with respect to the geostationary
orbit, have considered space debris risks to be very low.115 However,
taking into account that the duration of exposure can be very long for
space debris, insurers generally refuse to cover space debris under
third-party liability insurance, as they do not want to be exposed to very
long-term risks. Therefore, only a small minority of insurers offer cover
for space debris and that, in addition, only on a short-term basis (usually
one year).
Such third-party space debris liability must be distinguished from the
issue of first-party property insurance; that is where owners of spacecraft
would wish to insure their property in space against damage caused by
space debris, in particular if no state or other entity can be held liable for
such damage.

113
These figures come from Marsh, see 2013 Space Market Capacity.
114
See supra, § 13.2.1.
115
See M.W Taylor, Orbital Debris: Technical and Legal Issues and
Solutions (2006), 33; also Orbital Debris – A Call to Action, International Space
University SSP 2012, 13.

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17.4.1 Space Debris Liability

Liability for space debris is an important issue in that space debris may
cause damage in orbit, but also on earth (whether on the ground, at sea or
in airspace) for a long time after the launch of the original space object.
In case of damage caused by space debris, would there be insurance
coverage available to the owner/operator of the spacecraft at the origin of
the debris?
With respect to space debris regulation, the related issue of application
of the Outer Space Treaty and the following space conventions is not
within the scope of this chapter. At this stage it may simply be noted that
after several years of coordination, at national and international level, a
consensus has been reached on space debris mitigation measures.116 All
these measures have in common that they constitute guidelines for space
operators, not binding regulation. This is an important element to be
considered when referring to insurance in case of damage caused by
space debris. How can the liability of the space operator be assessed in
order to be able to apply adequate insurance cover?
The main issue is that space third-party liability insurance will cover
the financial consequences of the liability of the insured in the event of
damage caused to third parties and caused by the space activity of the
insured.117 Therefore, in the absence of liability, no insurance will offer
its guarantee. That is the reason why it is important, when damage
occurs, to know whether the space operator bears liability or not. Even
though ‘launching States’ may bear liability in case of damage caused by
their space debris under international regulation,118 this does not auto-
matically lead to availability of third-party liability insurance coverage
for such liability.
Third-party liability insurance is underwritten on the basis of a fixed
duration up to a maximum of 12 months, and must be renewed each year.
If a space object becomes space debris and causes damage to third parties

116
This concerns such key work as undertaken by the Inter-Agency Space
Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), UN COPUOS, and the European Code
of Conduct; see supra, §§ 13.3.2.1, 13.3.2.2, 13.4.
117
Further on this issue, see P. Manikowski, Examples of Space Damages in
the Light of International Space Law, 6 Poznan University of Economics Review
(2006), 54–68.
118
Cf. also the discussion of ‘space object’ as relevant for the determination
of applicability of the Liability Convention (supra n. 14), supra, § 2.3.3.3, also
2.3.3.9; and § 13.3.1.2.

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while the third-party liability insurance is in force (for example, follow-

ing a launch failure, debris falls down on earth and causes damage to
facilities or following loss of control of a satellite, that satellite collides
with another satellite), then such insurance should cover the financial
consequences of the liability of the space operator, unless some exclu-
sions apply.
At the end of the launch or in-orbit third-party liability insurance, the
space operator will either decide to renew its insurance, following a legal
requirement or of its own will (the latter being quite rare), or decide not
to renew its insurance. In the first case, if there is some space debris to be
insured, there is a small and specific insurance market that can offer a
dedicated cover for space debris at a specific premium rate. In the second
case, if there is no insurance cover in force to cover space debris after
expiry of the previous insurance policy, in most cases there will be no
compensation available on the part of the insurance provider if space
debris causes damage. However, it must be borne in mind that depending
on the insurance trigger, some insurance policies can afford coverage for
damage caused by space debris. Indeed, using the ‘damageable fact’
trigger119 permits coverage of damage caused by space debris after expiry
of the third-party liability insurance policy if the damageable fact has
occurred during the period when the insurance policy was in force.120
As of today, there are a few examples of collision on orbit with space
debris or of space debris falling back to earth. With regard to space
debris falling back to earth, there is the well-known Cosmos-954, which
crashed in the Canadian Arctic in 1978 following its loss of control,
leading to a transaction between Canada and the USSR.121 In this case,
insurance was not subscribed at the time of re-entry of the satellite;
therefore, there has been no insurance indemnification.
Another notable event occurred on 23 December 2011 when the launch
of the Meridian-5 satellite terminated a few seconds after launch. Debris
fell over the Novosibirsk Oblast in Siberia and one piece of debris even
fell through the roof of a house in Cosmonaut Street in the village of
Vagaitsevo. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. In this case, even
though Soyuz launches are always insured under third-party liability
insurance as this is a legal requirement, there has been no indemnifica-
tion under any third-party liability insurance.

119
See supra, § 17.2.2.2.
120
See ibid., also for limits of application of such trigger.
121
See e.g. L.H. Legault & A. Farand, Canada’s Claim for Damage Caused
by the Soviet COSMOS 954 Satellite, Paper at the ABA Forum Committee on Air
and Space Law, Orlando, 24 February 1984; also further supra, § 2.3.3.9.

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Recently, there have been collisions on orbit that may question the
application of third-party liability insurance cover, if any was under-
written. In 2009 there was a collision between an operational satellite of
the Iridium constellation Iridium-33 and a Russian Cosmos-2251 defunct
satellite. Another recent event occurred in January 2013 when a small
Russian satellite, BLITS, was hit by a piece of space debris generated by
the destruction by means of an anti-satellite missile of the Fengyun-1C
Chinese satellite back in 2007. For both cases, the question of liability of
the Russian Federation in the first example and of the People’s Republic
of China in the second one may be discussed at length.122 On the
third-party liability insurance side, the debris of the Fengyun-1C satellite
and Cosmos-2251 defunct satellite were not insured for damage caused
to third parties at the time of respective collision, so third-party insurance
has not been involved in these cases.
Therefore, a dedicated regulation on space debris mitigation leading to
allocation of liability for damage caused by space debris such as has been
enacted by way of some national space laws,123 may have the conse-
quence of providing comfort to space insurers by setting up specific
liability allocation rules and may influence the development of dedicated
third-party liability insurance for space debris. It would also lead to
adaptation of current insurance policies to such regulation. In this case,
the insurance policy would refer to applicable liability and may offer
specific space debris liability insurance adapted to the liability and
conditions set up by said regulation.

17.4.2 Space Debris and Property Damage Insurances

In case of damage caused to a spacecraft by space debris, the basic

question is whether there would be insurance coverage available to the
owner/operator of the damaged spacecraft. In this case, one is not
referring to liability of the (former) operator of the space debris but to
damage caused to an operating satellite by a piece of space debris and
how space property damage insurance would apply to that.
As discussed earlier, the standard property damage coverage is drafted
as an ‘all risks’ insurance, which means that this insurance will compen-
sate any damage sustained by a satellite unless a specific exclusion in the
policy applies. To date, as far as is known, space property damage

122
Cf. also further supra, § 13.2.1.
123
Cf. e.g. Art. 5, French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 27.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 941

insurance policies do not exclude damage caused by space debris.124

Therefore, such policies will cover the total loss, constructive total loss or
partial loss of an insured spacecraft including if caused by space debris.
This assumes that the launching state(s) actually liable for such damage
could not be identified, somehow, as otherwise those states would have to
compensate – and both identifying the ‘launching State’ and proving fault
can be difficult in an in-orbit environment.
Alternatively, the owner of the insured satellite may seek indemnifica-
tion from its property insurers, which would be easier to do than to
establish a ‘launching State’s’ liability and go through the diplomatic
process of arranging for compensation therefrom.125 Then, the property
insurers may have their state try to take recourse against the ‘launching
State’ (to the extent, of course, such rights of recourse exist under the
Liability Convention126).
Of course, this is the situation in respect of coverage of space debris as
of today. The insurance market perception of this risk may evolve in the
future, for example in the event of increase of damage caused by space
debris, and as a consequence the conditions of coverage may evolve as
well.

17.5 ASTRONAUTS’ INSURANCE

With respect to astronaut activities, two alternative situations should be
taken into consideration from a liability and insurance perspective: either
the astronaut is the origin of damage caused to someone else, or the
astronaut has sustained such damage him/herself (to his/her property or
by way of bodily injury). For both situations, the insurances actually in
place will be briefly addressed.

17.5.1 Damage Caused by Astronauts

Regarding the case where astronauts cause damage to space objects,

either the launch vehicle or, for instance, any module of the International

124
Further on this topic, see the discussion in Daouphars, supra n. 95,
289–93; also Space Debris, Postnote no. 355, UK Parliamentary Office of
Science and Technology, March 2010, 4.
125
Cf. further supra, § 2.3.3.7 on the procedural provisions of the Liability
Convention, supra n. 14.
126
Cf. further supra, § 2.3.3.6 on the provisions of the Liability Convention,
supra n. 14, regarding the right to claim.

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942 Handbook of space law

Space Station, the liability and the repairs process are generally deter-
mined and ruled through agreements between the launch agencies and
agencies providing the astronauts. As an example, the Intergovernmental
Agreement relating to the International Space Station127 states that there
will be no recourse between the partners when a partner causes damage
to the assets of another partner, except when otherwise stated in the
Intergovernmental Agreement.128 Due to the cross-waivers between the
partners and the astronauts contained in the applicable clause, no
third-party liability insurance needs to be underwritten.

17.5.2 Bodily Injury or Property Damage Sustained by Astronauts

By contrast, there is some insurance in place for damage sustained by

astronauts while in mission. Such accidents suffered by astronauts during
their professional mission, that is before, during and after the space
mission, can be covered via a specific insurance programme named
‘personal accident’ (PA) programme.
This PA insurance may be subscribed to by the employer of the
astronaut and will indemnify him/her or his/her legal successors in case
of death or permanent invalidity following an accident. This insurance
will provide its cover without seeking any liability of any potentially
accountable person.129 The major interest of this insurance is to permit
rapid indemnification of the victim or its legal successors. The astronaut
is covered for injury that he/she may sustain, but there are obviously
applicable exclusions, such as (damage caused by) suicide, alcohol, drugs
or war and terrorism.130
In the space sector, there is no legal obligation for the employer to
subscribe to PA insurance on behalf of its employees; such a decision
remains entirely with the employer. In some cases, the employer may
want to have the benefit of the indemnification and be indemnified
himself for the training or investment costs in the project, and thereby be

127
Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member
States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government
of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States of America
concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station (hereafter
Intergovernmental Agreement), Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered into
force 27 March 2001; TIAS No. 12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, D.II.4; see further infra, § 11.3.2 ff.
128
See Art. 16(3)(d), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 127.
129
As per the PA insurance policy itself.
130
Note, that the war and terrorism exclusion may be covered under certain
conditions and with application of an additional premium.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 943

able to replace the injured astronaut. In this case, the PA insurance may
be replaced by an insurance named ‘key man’, the purpose of which is to
cover a company in the event of unavailability of one of its employees.131
Certain conditions are applicable to this type of insurance. For example,
in France the said insurance is valid only if the employee has agreed to it.
If the employee has not given its agreement, the indemnification will not
be paid to the company but to him or its legal successors.

17.6 THE ROLE OF THE INSURANCE BROKER

Finally, a few words on the mission and status of the insurance broker, as
he plays a major role in the space insurance for several reasons – the size
of the coverage and capacity of the individual insurers, the technical
expertise available, and the international character of space activities.
To place its space insurance risks, the space operator (launch agency or
satellite operator) or space products manufacturer will usually call upon
the services of specialized space insurance brokers. The insurance broker
is the intermediary between the insured (the entity wishing to subscribe
an insurance coverage) and the insurers. The broker is mandated by the
client and represents the latter’s interests. From the moment the client
wishes to insure its risks up to the expiry of the insurance contract or
claims settlement, if any, the broker will accompany the insured, by
determining with him the risks to be insured and the best insurance
solutions, by drafting the policy and, as said, by negotiating and settling
claims. This being said, in no case may the broker act as an insurance
provider, as he does not have the approval to act as an insurance
company, therefore he cannot be liable in lieu of any insurance provider,
for instance in case of bankruptcy. In such a situation, the insured will be
indemnified for the aggregate insured sum minus the part which was the
responsibility of the failed insurance provider.132

131
As per the PA insurance policy itself.
132
Further on the role of the insurance broker in the space activities industry,
see Elbert, supra n. 101, 363; also Commercial Space and Launch Insurance:
Current Market and Future Outlook, supra n. 92, 9. For a more general
perspective on the broker’s role, see J.W. Stempel, Stempel on Insurance
Contracts (3rd edn., 2006) Vol. 1, ch. 6.

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944 Handbook of space law

17.7 CONCLUSION
To conclude, traditional space activities are today well known and
handled in terms of risk management and insurance, but some new
activities may impact the standard insurances, such as sub-orbital flights
activities. These sub-orbital flights are different from space tourism as
their goal is to organize a short flight in weightless conditions and not a
more or less long stay in outer space; such flights will ask a few
questions with respect to the legal liability regime that can be applicable
(air, space, common law, or specific regulation?)133 and the insurance
obligations that may stream down.

133
Cf. further supra, e.g. § 12.3.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 945

APPENDIX 1: SPACECRAFT COVERAGE

ENDORSEMENT
Notwithstanding Exclusion TBD of this policy it is hereby agreed that
Product liability coverage of this policy shall apply in respect of Property
Damage to:

(1) any spacecraft, satellite or spaceship and any article or Aircraft

Product furnished for, used in connection with, relating to, or
installed in any spacecraft, satellite or spaceship whether partially
or wholly completed, and
(2) any spacecraft, satellite or spaceship belonging to a third party
whether partially or wholly completed,

until the Operational Life of such spacecraft or satellite or spaceship has

expired
provided that:

(A) in the event of Property Damage to two or more satellites on the

same launch occurring after completed integration of the satellites
on board the Launch Vehicle, until the actual physical separation
from the Launch Vehicle, this policy shall pay such sums which the
Insured shall be legally obligated to pay as damages in respect of
Property Damage to a satellite subject to the applicable policy limit
or USD 125,000,000, whichever the lesser, any one satellite, or
(B) in the event of Property Damage to a satellite occurring other than
as stipulated in (A) above, this policy shall pay such sums which
the Insured shall be legally obligated to pay as damages in respect
of Property Damage to such a satellite subject to the applicable
policy limit or USD 250,000,000, whichever the lesser. However, if
Property Damage is caused to another satellite the Operational Life
of which has not expired, this policy shall provide coverage up to
the applicable policy limit.

For the purpose of the coverage afforded by this endorsement the term
Operational Life shall be defined as follows:
OPERATIONAL LIFE
Operational Life of a complete spacecraft, satellite or spaceship is
deemed to be the period of time such spacecraft, satellite or spaceship is
designated to perform by the manufacturer as stated in the original sales
contract.

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946 Handbook of space law

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
It is further understood and agreed that the inclusion of this endorsement
shall not operate to increase the total liability of the Insurers beyond the
limits stated in Item 5 of the Declarations.

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Insurance in the context of space activities 947

APPENDIX 2: EXAMPLE OF PRE-LAUNCH

INSURANCE EXCLUSIONS
This insurance does not apply to loss, damage or failure caused by or
resulting from:

1. War, invasion, hostile or warlike action in time of peace or war,

including action in hindering, combating or defending against an
actual, impending or expected attack by:
(a) any government or sovereign power (de jure or de facto); or
(b) any authority maintaining or using a military, naval or air
force; or
(c) a military, naval, or air force; or
(d) any agent of any such government, power, authority or force.
2. Any anti-satellite device, or device employing atomic or nuclear
fission and/or fusion, or device employing laser or directed energy
beams.
3. Insurrection, strikes, labour disturbances, riots, civil commotion,
rebellion, revolution, civil war, usurpation, or action taken by a
government authority in hindering, combating or defending against
such an occurrence, whether there be declaration of war or not.
4. Confiscation, nationalisation, seizure, restraint, detention, appropri-
ation, requisition for title or use by or under the order of any
government or governmental authority or agent (whether secret or
otherwise and/or whether civil, military or de facto) or public or
local authority or agency.
5. Nuclear reaction, nuclear radiation, or radioactive contamination of
any nature, whether such loss or damage be direct or indirect,
except for radiation naturally occurring in the space environment.
6. Electromagnetic or radio frequency interference, except for physical
damage to the Satellite directly resulting from such interference and
from interference coming directly from the Satellite.
7. Wilful or intentional acts of the Named Insured designed to cause
loss or failure of the Satellite designed to cause loss or failure of
the Satellite; however, this exclusion does not apply to actions of
any employees, contractors or subcontractors of the Named Insured
while acting outside their authorised responsibilities.
8. Any act of one or more persons, whether or not agents of a
sovereign power, for political or terrorist purposes and whether the
loss, damage or failure resulting therefrom is accidental or inten-
tional.

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948 Handbook of space law

9. Loss of revenue, incidental damages, consequential loss or extra

expenses, other than expressly covered under this insurance.
10. Third Party Liability.

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18. Intellectual property rights in the context

of space activities
Catherine Doldirina

18.1 INTRODUCTION
Intellectual property (IP) has become ever more important in the infor-
mation age of the societal development in various countries, and its
protection often becomes a cornerstone in engagement and progress in
various activities. This is true for many types of space activities that are
at the edge of the technological development and produce results that
require granting and enforcement of IP rights (IPR).
There is, however, one major challenge to effective application of IP
protection to the results of space activities, and this analysis focuses
precisely on this interesting issue. IP protection, in particular the proced-
ures for granting and enforcing it, is per se territorially limited: it
encompasses territory of single states, sometimes of groups of states, and
existing international IP law instruments1 recognize IPR legitimately
existing in one jurisdiction in countries that are party to the same relevant
treaties.
In a nutshell, an owner of IPR over eligible subject-matter in one
jurisdiction may only protect it in other jurisdictions if the latter
recognize them by virtue of the so-called national treatment provisions
embodied in relevant international law instruments, or if the owner

1
This principle is fundamental to any IP protection regime, be it patent,
copyright or trademark law. See Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary
and Artistic Works (hereafter Berne Convention), Berne, done 9 September 1886,
entered into force 5 December 1887; 828 UNTS 221; 331 UNTS 217; ATS 1901
No. 126; as last revised Paris, 24 July 1971, 1161 UNTS 30; the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (hereafter WIPO
Copyright Treaty), Geneva, done 2 December 1996, entered into force 6 March
2002; UKTS 2011 No. 30; Cm. 8161; 36 ILM 65 (1997); and the Convention for
the Protection of Industrial Property as Modified by Additional Act of 14
December 1900 and Final Protocol (hereafter Paris Convention), Paris, done 20
March 1883, entered into force 6 July 1884; 828 UNTS 305; USTS 379; UKTS
1907 No. 21; ATS 1907 No. 6.

949

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950 Handbook of space law

decides to register his IPR in those jurisdictions where the protection and
its enforcement may be sought.
What is, on the contrary, inherent in many space activities is their
international nature: they are either conducted in an international envir-
onment, outer space, that is declared a province of mankind by the Outer
Space Treaty,2 or often are the result of cooperation between different
countries, or actors incorporated in different jurisdictions,3 hence the
limitation of the IP protection to the territory of a single state or even a
group of states may not be effective.4 This fundamental feature of space
activities constitutes a major challenge to the effective legal protection of
IPR in space-related5 or space-generated6 subject-matter, and often will
necessitate specific regulatory arrangements in order to secure its protec-
tion. One of the most cited and well-known examples in this regard is the
legal regime regarding patentable inventions made on board the Inter-
national Space Station, which needed to be clarified in the Inter-
governmental Agreement concluded by the participating states.7

2
Hence they are not subject to claims of sovereignty or territoriality (see
Arts. I, II, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27
January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347;
18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386
(1967)): the exploration and use of outer space for the benefit of mankind and
the non-appropriation of outer space by any nation are fundamental principles
under international space law. See further R. Abeyratne, The Application of
Intellectual Property Rights to Outer Space Activities, 29 Journal of Space Law
(2003), 1.
3
This is the consequence of the scope and financial dimensions of space
activities.
4
In general, see Intellectual Property and Space Activities, Issue paper
prepared by the International Bureau of WIPO, April 2004; see www.wipo.int/
export/sites/www/patent-law/en/developments/pdf/ip_space.pdf, last accessed 26
January 2014. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was estab-
lished by means of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) (hereafter WIPO Convention), Stockholm, done 14 July
1967, entered into force 26 April 1970; 828 UNTS 3; TIAS 6932; 21 UST 1749;
UKTS 1970 No. 52; Cmnd. 3422; ATS 1972 No. 15; 6 ILM 782 (1967).
5
This concerns IP produced as a result of space activities.
6
This concerns IP produced in outer space.
7
Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member
States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government
of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States of America
concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station (hereafter

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IP rights in the context of space activities 951

Several main areas that require (regulatory) action in order to provide

adequate IP protection of the subject-matter in question include prin-
ciples regarding the creation of IP, in particular its location, registration
(for example regarding appropriate jurisdiction for the patentable inven-
tions made in outer space) and enforcement mechanisms, especially
when protection is sought worldwide. These principles or mechanisms
should effectively address IP produced on the earth (space hardware like
rockets or satellites), in outer space for terrestrial needs (like remote
sensing data), as well as in outer space for space needs, when utilization
of IP subject-matter, for instance patents, is carried out in outer space
itself. This snapshot of issues reveals the complexity of the potential
solution and points out the need for a comprehensive international regime
that would specifically address them,8 for example by harmonizing
relevant national approaches and regulations.
The principle of state jurisdiction over space activities under Article
VIII of the Outer Space Treaty is used as a basis for securing quasi-
territorial protection of space-generated IP subject-matter.9 This requires
the creation of an IP management regime suited to the particular project
or programme.10
The following sections address the two most important fields of IP
protection – copyright and patent – and lay down the main international
mechanisms governing them, as well as reflecting on their incorporation
in national law. They point out the issues that are seen as obstacles to
achieving the necessary level of protection and the ability to effectively
enforce it, in particular based on the international dimension of space
activities and the territoriality of IP protection. In conclusion, they
attempt to identify possible solutions for treating these interesting,
challenging and potentially far-reaching issues.

Intergovernmental Agreement), Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered into

force 27 March 2001; TIAS No. 12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, D.II.4.
8
This necessity was already indicated 20 years ago by the participants of
the WIPO workshop on Intellectual Property Rights in Outer Space, Madrid, 26
May 1993.
9
For a discussion on current approaches to the bases for exercising
jurisdiction by states that go beyond the traditional interpretation of territoriality,
see H.L. Buxbaum, Territory, Territoriality, and the Resolution of Jurisdictional
Conflict, 57 American Journal of Comparative Law (2009), 631.
10
This applies to the use of remote sensing data – the same data sets can be
effectively utilized in different jurisdictions; data from several providers can also
be combined to make one geographic information product.

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952 Handbook of space law

18.2 COPYRIGHT

18.2.1 Characteristics of Protection

Copyright is one of the oldest forms of IP protection and has enjoyed

substantial attention both at the international level and in the domestic
legislation of states. The oldest and the most adhered-to international
source of law that harmonizes principles of copyright protection and
codifies rules to overcome the hurdles of its territoriality is the Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.11 Other
instruments, which do not conflict with the provisions laid down in the
Berne Convention or even complement them, include the Universal
Copyright Convention,12 the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement)13 and the WIPO Copy-
right Treaty.14 This analysis concentrates on the provisions codified in the
Berne Convention and the WIPO Copyright Treaty as the most widely
accepted.

11
Supra, n. 1.
12
Universal Copyright Convention of 6 September 1952, as revised (here-
after Universal Copyright Convention as revised), Paris, done 24 July 1971,
entered into force 10 July 1974; 943 UNTS 178; TIAS 7868; 25 UST 1341;
UKTS 1975 No. 9; Cmnd. 4905; ATS 1978 No. 2; including Protocols 1 and 2.
The Convention is not applicable between the Contracting States of the Berne
Convention, supra n. 1; see Art. XVII, Universal Copyright Convention as
revised. For the original version, see Universal Copyright Convention, Geneva,
done 6 September 1952, entered into force 16 September 1955; 216 UNTS 132;
TIAS 3324; 6 UST 2731; UKTS 1957 No. 66; Cmd. 8912; ATS 1969 No. 9.
13
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(hereafter TRIPS Agreement), Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement (Agreement
Establishing the World Trade Organization, Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994,
entered into force 1 January 1995; 1867 UNTS 154; UKTS 1996 No. 57; ATS
1995 No. 8; 33 ILM 1125, 1144 (1994)), Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered
into force 1 January 1995; 1869 UNTS 299; UKTS 1996 No. 10; Cm. 3046; ATS
1995 No. 38. An earlier version of TRIPS had been included in 1986 in the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Geneva, done 30 October 1947, entered
into force 1 January 1948; 55 UNTS 194; TIAS 1700; ATS 1948 No. 23), then
concluded as a separate agreement. The instrument covers many areas of IP and
requires World Trade Organization members to comply with the Berne Conven-
tion, supra n. 1.
14
Supra, n. 1. Concluded in 1996 as a special agreement pursuant to Art.
20, Berne Convention, supra n. 1, it introduced specific provisions to regulate
exploitation of works in on-line and digital environments.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 953

The Berne Convention established the fundamental principles of copy-

right protection. The first one is laid down in its Article 2 as the so-called
‘creator’s doctrine’, according to which only works that are intellectual
creations of their authors are eligible for copyright protection. The
traditional interpretation of this principle excludes protection of subject-
matter, generation, collection or making of which required a lot of time,
labour or financial resources,15 but not the required creativity.16 The
second most important principle of copyright protection declares that
only the ‘mode or form of expression’ of a work and not ideas on which
it is based are protected.17 In line with this principle, ideas, processes,
methods of operation, mathematical concepts, as well as data and
material are explicitly18 excluded from the scope of copyright protection,
because the protection they require would have to cover their content.
The third principle, often omitted in today’s practice, is that of fixation of
the work on a certain medium.19 This omission is particularly true for the
digital environment, where the works never materialize as such, like
books, CDs and other works tangibly fixated.
Copyright is the most ‘liberal’ of the types of IPR and does not require
registration or any other formal recognition: its protection covers the
eligible work as soon as it is created.20 The lists of examples of protected
works that a number of copyright protection legal instruments contain21
are long and encompassing, but never exhaustive, to allow currently
non-existent yet eligible future works to be protected by the regime.

15
This interpretation often results in the fact that remote sensing data fall
short of qualifying for copyright protection because of methods and modes of
generation and further processing. See e.g. the extended discussion in C.
Doldirina, The Common Good and Access to Remote Sensing Data (2011),
39–52.
16
Instead of ‘creativity’, often terms like ‘originality’ and ‘sweat of the
brow’ are used, and interpreted differently in various jurisdictions.
17
See e.g. (implied) Art. 2(1), Berne Convention, supra n. 1; (expressed)
Art. 2, WIPO Copyright Treaty, supra n. 1.
18
See Art. 5, WIPO Copyright Treaty, supra n. 1.
19
See Art. 2(2), Berne Convention, supra n. 1.
20
There are some minor exceptions that exist in some jurisdictions, usually
of procedural character, such as registration of the work with a designated
authority that may be used as the proof of authorship if contested, or in case of
other infringements.
21
The Berne Convention (supra n. 1), the US Copyright Act of 1976 as
amended, 17 U.S.C., and the German Copyright Law (‘Urheberrechtsgesetz’), 9
September 1965, BGBl. I S. 1273, as amended (hereafter German Copyright
Law) serve as good illustrations.

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The essence of copyright is that it grants the author of the work that is
his personal creation exclusive economic rights to reproduce, disseminate
and otherwise utilize it.22 Along with these economic rights, in a number
of jurisdictions, it also has a moral side – the right to be recognized as
the author of the work. Copyright protection, like other forms of IPR, is
granted for a limited period of time, and expires after 50 years,23 when
protected works enter the so-called public domain. Today many juris-
dictions opt for longer periods of protection: for example in the United
States and the European Union it comprises 75 years. Any or all rights24
comprising a copyright protection regime can be transferred or waived
while the work is still protected.
The mechanism that aids the implementation of the principle that only
expression is protected is embodied in exceptions to the economic rights
of authors.25 They allow users of works to utilize them without permis-
sion or without remuneration.26 Exceptions are an integral part of the
copyright protection regime for a number of reasons. Most of the
exceptions relate primarily to not-for-profit or socially beneficial acts:
research, archiving of works by libraries, teaching and news reporting.
National legislation across jurisdictions contains principles or scenarios
regarding when such ‘free’ use of protected works is permitted.27
Copyright protection can be granted to databases28 if they fulfil the
same criteria as eligible individual works, meaning that a database has to

22
See Arts. 8, 9, 11, 12, Berne Convention, supra n. 1; Art. 8, WIPO
Copyright Treaty, supra n. 1.
23
See Art. 7, Berne Convention, supra n. 1. The term of protection usually
starts from the year following the publication of the work.
24
This depends on the will of the author or rights holder, or alternatively
applicable legislation (e.g. with regard to moral rights).
25
The concept is known as ‘fair use’ in the common law jurisdictions; cf.
Sec. 107, US Copyright Act.
26
As per Arts. 10, 10bis, Berne Convention, supra n. 1; cf. also e.g. Sec. 29,
Canadian Copyright Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-42.
27
E.g. in the European Union the choice was made in favour of a long but
closed list of specific exceptions in Art. 5, Directive of the European Parliament
and of the Council on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and
related rights in the information society (hereafter Information Society Direct-
ive), 2001/29/EC, of 22 May 2001; OJ L 167/10 (2001). In Canada and the
United States the exceptions are dealt with through the concepts of ‘fair dealing’
(Canada) and ‘fair use’ (United States) respectively, which serve as guidelines
enabling the assessment as to whether a particular act of using the work can be
considered as an exception to author’s rights.
28
This is important especially for the protection of geospatial data, includ-
ing remote sensing data.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 955

be an intellectual creation, and be fixed in a material form.29 According

to both international and national legal norms, separate materials, data
sets and works contained in a database do not have to be original works
under the Berne Convention,30 as the eligibility for protection of a
database does not depend on whether its content as such is protected by
copyright. Therefore, databases that contain factual information are not
automatically precluded from copyright protection, and will be subject to
it if the selection and arrangement of their content meets the creativity
criterion. At the same time, protection granted to the author of a database
does not cover any parts of its content,31 as an interpretation that allows
such a scenario would exceed the traditional scope of copyright protec-
tion.
The necessity for databases to be creatively arranged precludes appli-
cation of copyright protection to a lot of databases that are arranged, for
example, following the basic principles of alphabetic order, numbered
list, or any other utilitarian or functional basis. This fact results in a
situation where a lot of today’s databases, particularly electronic data-
bases, fall short of qualifying for copyright protection. They are often,
however, a source of substantial revenues for the companies who develop
and maintain them. Hence, the question as to how best protect them
arises.
One of the few jurisdictions that opted for introducing a special type of
protection for unoriginal databases is the European Union. In 1996 it
introduced sui generis database protection for databases the making of
which required substantial investment. The Database Directive32 lays
down the requirements regarding the substantial investment33 and codi-
fies the right of the database maker to prevent extraction or re-utilization
of substantial parts of the contents of the protected database.34 The
protection is granted for 15 years and can be prolonged an unlimited

29
See Art. 2(5), Berne Convention, supra n. 1; Art. 5, WIPO Copyright
Treaty, supra n. 1; Sec. 10, US Copyright Act, supra n. 21; Art. 4(1), German
Copyright Law, supra n. 21.
30
See Art. 2(5), Berne Convention, supra n. 1.
31
I.e. they are protected separately, as separate intellectual creations;
database protection is not suitable to protect the content or information databases
contain.
32
Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal
protection of databases (hereafter Database Directive), 96/9/EC, of 11 March
1996; OJ L 77/20 (1996). See also e.g. supra, § 4.3.2.3.
33
See Art. 7(1), Database Directive, supra n. 32.
34
See Art. 7(1), (2), Database Directive, supra n. 32.

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number of times provided that the contents of the database are substan-
tially changed before the 15-year protection expires.35
The scope of protection, however, is unclear and even the authoritative
interpretation of some provisions of the Database Directive by the
European Court of Justice did not bring the desired necessary clarifi-
cation.36 The Database Directive was also reviewed by the European
Commission.37 However, the revision did not identify any substantial
economic benefits of having the Directive in force.38 Nevertheless, taking
into account overall positive feedback regarding the new codified data-
base right, the decision to keep the Directive in force was made.39
Overall, it seems, the Database Directive represents ‘lessons learned’
rather than a ‘best practice’, primarily because it introduces a type of IP
protection that is hardly recognized and codified by any other states, and
is not clear enough both in terms of criteria for protection and of scope.
This potentially creates more problems in the rights’ enforcement phase
as it distorts the internationally agreed principles of copyright and IP
protection.
In addition to the substantive provisions regarding the conditions and
scope of copyright protection, the Berne Convention establishes rules
regarding protection of foreign works in the territory of its contracting
states. The basic principle is the ‘national treatment’ approach: authors
who are not nationals of a contracting state enjoy the same protection in
the country of origin as authors who are nationals of that state.40 In such
cases protection is governed by the domestic law of the state where the

35
See Art. 10, Database Directive, supra n. 32.
36
See ECJ, British Horseracing Board Ltd and others v. William Hill
Organisation Ltd, C-203/02 [2004] OJ C 6 (08.01.2005); ECJ, Fixtures Market-
ing Ltd v Organismos prognostikon agonon podosfairou AE, C-444/02 [2004] OJ
C 6 (08.01.2005).
37
See First evaluation of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of
databases, of 12 December 2005, http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/
docs/databases/evaluation_report_en.pdf, last accessed 27 January 2014.
38
See First evaluation of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of
databases, supra n. 37, 22–3, 24.
39
Out of the four policy options for the future of the Database Directive,
supra n. 32, proposed in First evaluation of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal
protection of databases, supra n. 37, 25–7, the most preferred options were not to
change the Directive at all, and to clarify its scope, http://ec.europa.eu/internal_
market/copyright/prot-databases/index_en.htm#maincontentSec2, last accessed
27 January 2014.
40
See Art. 5(3), Berne Convention, supra n. 1.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 957

protection is sought or rights are exercised.41 However, in order to

minimize the differences, particularly in the scope of protection and the
enforcement mechanisms available to the author or the owner of the
protected work, the Berne Convention specifies that the minimum level
of protection regarding the rights granted, and their duration, shall be
ensured by the contracting states in line with the ‘minimum standard’
approach. Still, the Berne Convention allows states to adopt higher
standards of copyright protection. These principles are important for the
practical enforcement of copyright in protected works, particularly when
they are placed on foreign markets, located in a state other than that of
the first publication of the work.
In conclusion, it is appropriate to emphasize that copyright, like other
forms of IPR, is an artificial construct that exists solely within the
boundaries and the framework of the legal norms that create it. This
means, most importantly, that the owner of copyrighted works cannot
enjoy more rights than those granted by law. It is an important and
equally fundamental aspect of IP protection across the world and should
be applicable to the case of protecting results generated by space
activities by virtue of this regime. Whether this is achieved in practice is
addressed over the next paragraphs, which analyse applicability of
copyright protection to the results of space activities. The most relevant
example to illustrate in this respect is remote sensing data.

18.2.2 Case Study: Satellite Remote Sensing Data and Copyright

Satellite remote sensing activities are vital to the overall space sector and
are becoming more widespread, with growing participation of the private
sector, as well as an increasing range of uses of remote sensing data and
information products. Copyright protection may be a suitable mechanism
for remote sensing data and information for several reasons. They represent
immaterial goods that copyright traditionally protects. Many remote
sensing information products fulfil the criterion of creativity, in particular
due to its flexibility,42 and thereby fall under copyright protection.43

41
See Art. 5(1), Berne Convention, supra n. 1.
42
The creativity principle is generic enough to have a quite broad interpret-
ation, while for instance principles of patent protection have much more precise
formulation and interpretation.
43
Cf. C. Doldirina, The Impact of Copyright Protection and Public Sector
Information Regulations on the Availability of Remote Sensing Data, in Evidence
from Earth Observation Satellites: Emerging Legal Issues (Ed. R. Purdy) (2012),
293–313.

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Some technical aspects of generating satellite remote sensing data need

to be briefly mentioned here as well. Primary remote sensing data44 are
generated by an automated process built into the satellite sensors and
then sent to the receiving stations on the ground by means of telemetry.
Remote sensing data reflect the geographic reality. Without some degree
of processing, primary remote sensing data are not comprehensible for
the human mind. All of these factors should be taken into account when
application of copyright to remote sensing data is considered.
International law does not have a specific (binding) instrument that
regulates satellite remote sensing activities, the only relevant document
being the United Nations Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the
Earth from Outer Space.45 It is a UN Resolution and does not have
binding effect on states unless and to the extent it contains provisions that
are considered norms of customary international law.46 In addition, the
UN Remote Sensing Principles do not contain any provisions regarding
protection of remote sensing data. For this reason, the norms of copyright
protection mechanisms such as the Berne Convention or the WIPO
Copyright Treaty as described above47 remain relevant and applicable
provided the criteria they set forth are fulfilled. In the analysis of whether
remote sensing data are works in the sense of copyright law, the
distinction made within the UN Remote Sensing Principles of primary
data, processed data and analysed information is useful and is followed.48
Probably the most problematic nexus between copyright protection and
the results of remote sensing activities is fulfilment by remote sensing
data and information of copyrightability criteria.49 However, when a
particular data(set) or remote sensing information product is eligible for

44
Cf. Princ. I(b), Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from
Outer Space (hereafter UN Remote Sensing Principles), UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3
December 1986; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43; 25 ILM 1334 (1986),
using precisely this terminology.
45
Supra, n. 44.
46
Cf. also the analysis supra, § 9.4.1.2.
47
See further supra, § 18.2.1, esp. (text at) nn. 14–19.
48
See Princ. I(b), (c), & (d) respectively, UN Remote Sensing Principles,
supra n. 44.
49
A number of researchers agree that the lack of creativity or originality is
indeed the biggest problem with regard to copyrightability of remote sensing
data. See L.A.W. Lockridge, Comment: Intellectual Property in Outer Space:
International Law, National Jurisdiction, and Exclusive Rights in Geospatial Data
and Databases, 32 Journal of Space Law (2006), 337; J. Cromer, How on Earth
Terrestrial Laws Can Protect Geospatial Data? 32 Journal of Space Law (2006),
275–81.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 959

protection, their owners should face few or no enforcement problems

while exercising their exclusive rights.50 This is different from the
situation with patent protection as discussed further below,51 as both the
‘minimum treatment’ and the ‘national treatment’ approaches sufficiently
streamline copyright protection and its enforcement in various juris-
dictions, regardless of whether the protected subject-matter concerns a
novel or a map. What causes problems with trans-boundary use of remote
sensing data and information are different licensing conditions according
to which data are made available by their providers from different
countries for further use. Often they result in various data(sets) being
legally non-interoperable, which prevents the user from combining data
from different sources to produce own information products or dissemin-
ating them. This important issue is discussed further below.52
As was mentioned earlier, the WIPO Copyright Treaty53 explicitly
excludes data from the scope of the copyright protection. The definitional
distinction that the UN Remote Sensing Principles make between pri-
mary and other types of remote sensing data may be interpreted as an
implicit recognition of the obligation not to protect data under copyright
rules.54
Primary remote sensing data that were subject to initial mandatory or
auxiliary processing55 should be considered as not fulfilling the creativity
criterion of copyright protection. If the terminology of the UN Remote
Sensing Principles is adopted, processed remote sensing data may be
seen as a transition category between non-protectable primary remote
sensing data and analysed information eligible for protection. It is

50
Such issues, however, may still persist if remote sensing data are used in
the digital environment, especially on-line. See the analysis of general issues
with jurisdiction on the internet in O. Bigos, Jurisdiction over Cross-Border
Wrongs on the Internet, 54 International & Comparative Law Quarterly (2005),
592–619.
51
See further infra, § 18.3.
52
See further infra, § 18.2.3.
53
Supra, n. 1. The WIPO Copyright Treaty is referred to here for the same
reason as the Berne Convention, supra, n. 1: both the United States and the
European Community/Union (in its own capacity) are parties to it.
54
The same approach is adopted in the US Land Remote Sensing Policy Act
(Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, Public Law 102-555, 102nd Congress, H.R.
6133, 28 October 1992; 15 U.S.C. 5601; 106 Stat. 4163). In other jurisdictions,
e.g. in EU member states (such as Germany and France) this distinction is not
explicitly articulated.
55
This refers only to the processing that has been the primary purpose of
enabling further processing and analysis of the data.

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probably the most difficult category for the application of copyright

protection, because its eligibility will be conditioned by the processing
applied (and its creativity), as well as by the value of processed data as
such and not as an element for producing analysed information.
The latter cannot be determined without reference to the specific use
for which the remote sensing data in question are required. This is so
because the same data sets can be used for totally different applications,
and depending on the level of expertise of the users: for some, primary or
processed remote sensing data could be the final product they need, while
for others, the same data will be useless or just an element of producing
another, more analysed, information product.
Analysed information most certainly falls under the copyright protec-
tion, as it is a result of human and computerized analysis of the primary
data,56 which also includes use of data and information from other
sources. Application of knowledge from a number of different scientific
and computing fields to the produced remote sensing information prod-
ucts may be sufficiently creative. In addition, the definition of a copy-
rightable work57 includes maps and images, and thereby also analysed
information generated through human creativity from primary remote
sensing data.58
Another important issue is whether databases that contain satellite
remote sensing data and information can be protected by copyright. Its
significance is obvious, since nowadays most of the remote sensing data

56
For a reference as to what processed data and analysed information
include, see Sec. 4204(4), Land-Remote Sensing Commercialization Act (Land
Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act, Public Law 98-365, 98th Congress,
H.R. 5155, 17 July 1984; 98 Stat. 451; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
E.III.4; repealed by the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act): ‘conclusions, manipu-
lations, or calculations derived from [unenhanced remote sensing] signals or film
products or combination of the signals or film products with other data or
information’. Cf. Princ. I(c), (d), UN Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 44,
which establish the criterion of usability for processed data and the requirement
of interpretation of remote sensing data with ‘inputs of data and knowledge from
other sources’ to reach the status of analysed information.
57
As per the Berne Convention, supra n. 1, and the WIPO Copyright Treaty,
supra n. 1, as well as various national regulations.
58
See J.R. West, Copyright Protection for Data Obtained by Remote
Sensing: How the Data Enhancement Industry Will Ensure Access for Develop-
ing Countries, 11 Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business (1990),
403, referring to the US submission at the UN COPUOS stating that enhanced
data being the product of the analyser should be considered his property. See
Report of the Scientific and Technical Sub-Committee on the Work of its 15th
Session (1978), U.N. Doc. A/AC.105/216, at 8.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 961

received from the satellites in digital form are stored in electronic

databases. Databases that contain remote sensing data and information
will only be eligible for protection if they fulfil the creativity criterion.59
However, many such databases are set up following more utilitarian than
creative principles,60 which should result in non-availability of copyright
protection for them as such.61 This means that a lot of database makers
outside of the European Union are left with the traditional tools of
licensing and trade secrets to protect their assets.
Some consider the inapplicability of copyright protection to primary
remote sensing data as negative and an impediment to the development of
this economic activity, because data-generating companies (satellite own-
ers or operators) may be forced to engage in value-adding activities in
order not to lose control over their own data.62 Supporters of this
viewpoint suggest that copyright is nevertheless applied to improve the
position of companies that are mainly engaged in the generation of
primary remote sensing data. However, economic position and strength of
one group of market participants alone should not be seen as a reason
sufficient to justify artificial stretching of the traditional scope of
copyright protection, also because the market is comprised of other
participants as well.63

59
Cf. for an opposite view P.A. Salin, Proprietary Aspects of Commercial
Remote-Sensing Imagery, 13 Northwestern Journal of International Law &
Business (1992), 349, n. 45, referring to L. Faugérolas, L’accès international à
des banques de données (1989), and arguing that as soon as primary remote
sensing data are archived the copyright protection should be automatically
granted.
60
Some of the key features of a geographic information database are
expandability, comprehensibility and shareability. See S. Guo & Y. Guan, Data
Standardisation for the Chinese Resources and Environment Remote Sensing
Database, in Proceedings of Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IEEE
International) (Vol. 7 (2004)), 4428–31.
61
Cf. also supra, § 18.2.1, and the discussion on the Database Directive,
supra n. 32, on how a database which complies with the creativity criterion
differs from a database which does not.
62
So e.g. Salin, supra n. 59, 372, referring to the practices set up by
SpotImage, and to L. Keesey, Value-Added Firms Eye Geographic Sector
Growth, Space News (3–9 December 1990), 8.
63
See the discussion regarding the disparities in the development of the
European and the US markets of remote sensing data, as well as the figures that
reflect it, in B. van Loenen & J. Zevenbergen, Assessing Geographic Information
Enhancement, 5 International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures (2010),
245.

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Non-availability of copyright protection for primary satellite remote

sensing data gives a chance to companies that have the capabilities and
the knowledgeable personnel to produce value-added information prod-
ucts,64 even if they would never be able to launch their own satellites.
Taking into account the trend of vertical integration of the remote sensing
market,65 availability of data to such value-adding companies should be
seen as positive and a factor contributing to further development of the
market. In addition, the aim of treating any type of remote sensing data
as copyrightable, which extends the traditional scope of copyright
protection to the content of works, distorts the very foundational prin-
ciple of copyright to protect original expression only. If, or rather since,
the protection of the actual content66 of remote sensing data is of the
utmost importance for their generators – and usually this is the case –
other forms of protection should be developed or adopted instead.

18.2.3 Licensing

In practice the use of exclusive rights granted by copyright protection

occurs through licensing. It is the most common mechanism used by
authors or other owners of copyrighted works to authorize third parties to
use them. This situation is no different from the framework for the use of
other IPR granted by patents or trademarks. The main issue with
licensing practices is that licensing conditions can vary across juris-
dictions and make trans-boundary use of satellite remote sensing data

64
As for example in the weather forecast services sphere.
65
See e.g. the forecasts made by S. Galant, Can EO-based Businesses
Expand Profitably in Europe?, paper presented at the European Association of
Remote Sensing Companies workshop, April 2008, www.eomag.eu/file_
download/1/Paper+EARSC+Galant+07+04+08.pdf, last accessed 28 January
2014; Business in Earth Observation, Report, May 2008, www.google.com/
url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.
earsc.eu%2Ffile_download%2F43%2FBusiness%2Bin%2BEarth%2BObservation
%2BeoVOX080508.pdf&ei=2AVrTI_gFIL68AbGyPCKBQ&usg=AFQjCNFQPk
gCV6Tt8e7D7Mr6GoYDjPlt7g, last accessed 1 February 2011; A. Keith & S.
Bochinger, The New Earth Observation Market: Expansion & Private Sector
Development, 111 Satellite Finance (13 March 2008), 31–4.
66
The substance (content) of information and raw data is often much more
valuable than their expression: this was recognized by the European Commission
as early as 1988. See Green Paper on Copyright and the Challenge of Tech-
nology – Copyright Issues Requiring Immediate Action, COM(1988)172 final, of
7 June 1988, at 207, http://ec.europa.eu/green-papers/pdf/green_paper_copy
right_and_chanllenge_of_thecnology_com_(88)_172_final.pdf, last accessed 20
April 2014.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 963

problematic or unclear from the legal perspective. International law

instruments like the Berne Convention or the WIPO Copyright Treaty
leave the regulation of this field to the individual states that, in accord-
ance with the principle of territorial protection, are responsible for
enforcement of copyright.
However, it is imperative that these licences comply with the funda-
mental principles of copyright protection, as otherwise declaring it as a
relevant basis for granting the licence becomes questionable. Not all
clauses of the licences used today are compatible with the principles of
copyright law. The inconsistencies are highlighted in the next few
paragraphs. They result in the unfounded recourse to copyright as the
basis for licences. It is important here to remember that copyright exists
only within the legislative framework that created it,67 which means that
the licensor who introduces ‘new’ rights in his licence, may not state that
they are backed up by the quasi-proprietary copyright.
The rules regarding licensing of remote sensing data and information
products are also determined by national governments through regu-
lations or policies, and sometimes even by private actors themselves. The
patterns of licensing often used today illustrate the trend of trying to
stretch copyright protection to include the content of licensed works that
was briefly described earlier. All private companies that generate or
distribute remote sensing data set up their relationships with the users
through licensing agreements, which have to be accepted by the licensees
in order to get a remote sensing data(set) or an information product. The
most important licensing clauses include permitted uses of the licensed
products, ownership, and categorization and status of the derivative
products made by the licensee.
In practice the ownership over licensed satellite remote sensing data or
information products is retained by the licensor. As a result, solely the
non-transferable, non-exclusive limited rights to use the remote sensing
data or information are granted to the licensee.68 Granting limited rights

67
On this characteristic of IP protection and the issues of jurisdiction over
IP issues see e.g. K. Lipstein, Intellectual Property: Jurisdiction or Choice of
Law?, 61 Cambridge Law Journal (2002), 295 ff., esp. 296–7; see also supra,
§ 18.2.1, text at nn. 64–66.
68
See e.g. § 2.1, SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery
Products, January 2011, www2.astrium-geo.com/files/pmedia/public/r1931_9_
spot_generalsupplyconditions_jan2011.pdf, last accessed 20 April 2014; § 2.1,
eGEOS Standard Terms and Conditions of Licence, May 2010, www.e-geos.it/
terms/e-GEOS%20Std%20Terms%20and%20Conditions%20of%20License_May
_2010.pdf, last accessed 20 April 2014; Sec. 4, GeoEye Data Single or Multiple

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resembles clauses of non-exclusive licences that retain certain rights of

the owner over a copyrighted work, and in itself is compatible with the
relevant provisions of the copyright protection regime.
However, retaining the ownership over licensed copies of remote
sensing data or information products physically transferred to the licen-
see by the licensor69 is incompatible with the rules of international law
regarding copyright protection. Traditionally, copyright does not vest in
the ownership of the actual physical copies of the work (with the
exception for works of art), but in the rights regarding the original
expression. The WIPO Copyright Treaty explicitly states that such use of
copyrighted works only occurs ‘through sale or other transfer of owner-
ship’.70 Some national laws, such as in the United States, expressly
incorporate the distinction between rights in a work and rights in the
copy of the work.71 In other jurisdictions the distinction is implicit.72
Transfer of data under a licence is therefore a form of exercising the
distribution right that is one of the recognized rights of authors that must
occur within the scope granted to it by law. As a result, if the licensor
wishes to remain under the umbrella of copyright protection, he may not
alter the essence and the pattern of use of the rights as laid down in the
relevant legal rules.
The wording of most licences used for remote sensing data manifests
the uncertainty as to whether the licensed subject-matter can be effect-
ively protected by copyright, because attempts are made to safeguard the
licensed data otherwise, by for instance declaring them trade secrets, and

Organization Licence, www.americaview.org/sites/default/files/importedFiles/

GeoEye_SingleOrganization_license.txt, last accessed 20 April 2014.
69
Cf. e.g. SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery Products,
supra n. 68: ‘No CLIENT shall be able to claim an exclusive right of use on the
PRODUCT.’
70
Art. 6(1), WIPO Copyright Treaty, supra n. 1. In the European Union the
European Court of Justice had a chance to interpret the distribution right under
the Information Society Directive, supra n. 27, and confirmed transfer of
ownership as its constitutive element. See Peek & Cloppenburg v Cassina
C-456/06 [2008] OJ C 142/7 (07.06.2008).
71
See Sec. 202, US Copyright Act, supra n. 21, Ownership of copyright as
distinct from ownership of material object.
72
See § 17, German Copyright Law, supra n. 21, which allows further
distribution of the copies of works that were legitimately authorised for distribu-
tion without additional consent of the rights holder.

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obligating the licensee to protect their status as such.73 In the

European Union reference to the sui generis database protection is
made.74
Whether and to what extent these regimes are applicable to the
licensed data should ideally be assessed on a case-by-case basis by
courts or other appropriate authorities. In addition, differentiation
between primary satellite remote sensing data and analysed information
is usually omitted in the licences despite the fact that some states75
recognized it within their national regulations. In practice this allows the
owners of remote sensing data to treat both primary remote sensing data
and analysed information as protected by copyright. This claim, together
with the stipulation that the licensee unconditionally agrees with the
terms of the licence, leads to the recognition by the licensee of
something that the statutory copyright law does not accept or even, quite
to the contrary, prohibits. Therefore, enforceability of such licences
becomes questionable, at least when copyright remedies are being
invoked as the basis for such enforcement. As a result, the licensor no
longer asserts or relies on quasi-proprietary copyright in data it licenses.
The licence, like a regular contract, only binds its parties, while a fully
fledged copyright owner has a right of redress/recovery vis-à-vis any
third party.
‘Permitted uses’ that the licences refer to represent an exhaustive list of
actions the licensee is allowed to perform with regard to the licensed
subject-matter, and this constitutes another type of clause that is poten-
tially incompatible with copyright law. Often use is limited to the
licensee’s internal purposes,76 and include installation and copying of the

73
Cf. § 2.2, SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery Products,
supra n. 68; § 2.4, eGEOS Standard Terms and Conditions of Licence, supra
n. 68.
74
See also the discussion on the Database Directive (supra n. 32) supra,
§ 18.2.1. The situation mirrors the practice of the European Space Agency to
mention all mechanisms that theoretically protect information as applicable to
remote sensing data.
75
E.g. i.a. the United States.
76
Cf. § 4(b) (d), GeoEye Data Single or Multiple Organization Licence,
supra n. 68; § 2.1(c), (e), SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery
Products, supra n. 68; § 2.1, eGEOS Standard Terms and Conditions of Licence,
supra n. 68.

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licensed products on different computers of the licensee,77 as well as use

of imagery contained in the licensed products.78
Licences permit production and distribution79 of derivative works.
Availability of the distribution right over products that the licensee makes
depends on whether they contain imagery from the licensed data. If they
do, the licensee is not allowed to freely distribute the derivative works
produced.80 If one goes back to the terminology used by the UN Remote
Sensing Principles,81 the derivative works should be regarded as either
processed data or analysed information and therefore will in most cases
fall under the copyright protection. However, variation in the terminology
used in the licences makes it difficult to judge what products would be
considered derivative and thus free for further distribution.
Prohibitions on distributing derivative works may go against current
legislation regarding copyright protection if the licensee creates his own
copyrightable works on the basis of the licensed data. According to the
copyright rules,82 derivative works are subject to copyright protection that
is independent from the copyright in the original work provided that the
authorization to make derivative works was granted,83 and the author of
the original work is acknowledged. A derivative work, being an author’s
own creation, is usually based on one or more pre-existing works, and
may be created through different acts, such as translation, arrangement,
reproduction or any other form in which a work may be transformed or
adapted.

77
Cf. § 4(b), GeoEye Data Single or Multiple Organization Licence, supra
n. 68; § 2.1 (a), (b), (c), SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery
Products, supra n. 68; § 1 (Definitions, Use), (a), (b), (d), eGEOS Standard
Terms and Conditions of Licence, supra n. 68.
78
Cf. § 4(d), GeoEye Data Single or Multiple Organization Licence, supra
n. 68; § 2.1(g), (h), SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery
Products, supra n. 68; § 1 (Definitions, Use), (c), eGEOS Standard Terms and
Conditions of Licence, supra n. 68.
79
Limitations apply depending on how processed the licensed data in the
derivative product is.
80
Cf. § 2.1(e), SPOT General Supply Conditions of Satellite Imagery
Products, supra n. 68; § 2.2, eGEOS Standard Terms and Conditions of Licence,
supra n. 68; 4(e), GeoEye Data Single or Multiple Organization Licence, supra
n. 68.
81
See also discussion supra, § 18.2.2.
82
E.g. according to Arts. 31–42, German Copyright Law, supra n. 21; Secs.
90–96, UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (c. 48).
83
See e.g. the definition of ‘adaptation’, Sec. 20, UK Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, supra n. 82; ‘Bearbeitungen’ in Art. 23, German Copyright Law,
supra n. 21; ‘derivative work’ in Secs. 101, 103, US Copyright Act, supra n. 21.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 967

Restrictive licensing clauses create an additional layer of problems for

users working with remote sensing data and information products by
often rendering combination (or other similar use) of data from various
sources practically impossible. For example, if for a production of a new
derivative work a user needs data or information from several providers,
he will only be in a position to carry out planned activity if all data come
with exactly the same restrictions on use. However, even when the
production of derivative works is allowed, licences of different data
providers interpret the notion of derivative work differently. This reduces
or eliminates legal interoperability of data and as a result negatively
affects possibilities of re-use of remote sensing data. Yet, the wide range
of applications for which remote sensing data are essential necessitates
use of such data from different sources to develop new useful products or
services. In addition, this legal non-interoperability often unreasonably
hinders development and success of international and regional remote
sensing data open access and sharing initiatives that pursue important or
even vital goals of societal well-being and growth.

18.2.4 Initiatives to Promote Sharing of Satellite Remote Sensing

Data

A number of projects regarding free and open access to geographic data,

including satellite remote sensing data, have been launched in recent years.
Some of the most notable include free and unrestricted access to and use of
US Landsat84 data, the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites (CBERS),85

84
For the history and other information about the programme, see e.g.
http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/history.html, last accessed 28 January 2014.
Further e.g. supra, §§ 9.3.2, 9.3.3, 9.4.2.3; also e.g. J.I. Gabrynowicz, The Perils
of Landsat from Grassroots to Globalization: A Comprehensive Review of US
Remote Sensing Law With a Few Thoughts for the Future, 6 Chicago Journal of
International Law (2005), 65–6; F.G. von der Dunk, Non-discriminatory Data
Dissemination in Practice, in Earth Observation Data Policy and Europe (Ed. R.
Harris) (2002), 46–7; K. Mukhija & Y. Goyal, An Analysis of Issues Arising
from the Commercialization of Remote Sensing Activities, in Proceedings of the
Forty-Ninth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (2007), 237–52.
85
This programme was initiated in 1998, by way of the Framework
Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the
Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil on Cooperation in the Peaceful
Applications of Outer Space Science and Technology, Beijing, done 8 November
1994, entered into force 29 June 1998; 2036 UNTS 335. See for the data policy
as of June 2004, www.obt.inpe.br/cbers/documentos/appl_07_2004.pdf, last
accessed 28 January 2014. Cf. also e.g. J. Monserrat, Regulation of Space

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968 Handbook of space law

the European INSPIRE Directive86 and Copernicus,87 as well as the

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) led by the Group
on Earth Observations (GEO).88 All of them are aimed at maximizing
access to geographic data and facilitating their re-use for various societal
benefit areas. For example, GEOSS is designed to become a global
network of data, information and other geographically referenced content
from multiple providers, offering ‘an extraordinary range of infor-
mation’.89 This system of systems aims at offering ‘decision-support
tools to a wide variety of users’90 by linking together national and

Activities in Brazil, in National Regulation of Space Activities (Ed. R.S. Jakhu)

(2010), 69; J. Monserrat & A. F. dos Santos, Chinese–Brazilian Protocol on the
Distribution of CBERS Products, 31 Journal of Space Law (2005), 247–70; with
regard to IPR clauses C. Doldirina, Are Intellectual Property Laws an Impedi-
ment to the Development of Collaborative Earth Observation Missions? Part 2, in
Proceedings 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009 (2010), 2175 ff.
86
See Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing
an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE),
2007/2/EC, of 14 March 2007; OJ L 108/1 (2007). Cf. also e.g. C. Doldirina,
INSPIRE: A Real Step Forward in Building an Interoperable and Unified Spatial
Information Infrastructure for Europe?, ESPI Perspectives (March 2009),
www.espi.or.at/images/stories/dokumente/Perspectives/espi%20perspectives%20
20%20doldirina.pdf, last accessed 20 April 2014.
87
Cf. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) and its initial operations (2011
to 2013), No. 911/2010/EU, of 22 September 2010; OJ L 276/1 (2010); see
further on GMES/Copernicus supra, § 4.4.4.2. Regulation 1159/2013 (Commis-
sion Delegated Regulation supplementing Regulation (EU) No 911/2010 of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the European Earth monitoring
programme (GMES) by establishing registration and licensing conditions for
GMES users and defining criteria for restricting access to GMES dedicated data
and GMES service information, (EU) No. 1159/2013, of 12 July 2013; OJ L
309/1 (2013)) has meanwhile supplemented the existing one; recently Regulation
911/2010 is repealed by Regulation of the European Parliament and of the
Council establishing the Copernicus Programme and repealing Regulation (EU)
No 911/2010, No. 377/2014/EU, of 3 April 2014; OJ L 122/44 (2014); see the
European Commission’s proposal, www.copernicus.eu/pages-principales/library/
policy-documents/?no_cache=1&cHash=b537b7aba03c64288a16f9e66140d6f2,
last accessed 20 April 2014.
88
See www.earthobservations.org/about_geo.shtml, last accessed 28 January
2014.
89
See ibid.
90
See Description of GEOSS, www.earthobservations.org/geoss.shtml, last
accessed 28 January 2014 (emphasis added).

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IP rights in the context of space activities 969

international earth observation satellites and systems, as well as other

sources of information about the earth.91
The 2007 GEO Cape Town Ministerial Summit agreed on the three
overarching principles applicable to exchange and use of data provided
through GEOSS.92 Data, metadata and products should be shared on a
‘full and open’ basis,93 they should be accessible with ‘minimum time
delay and at minimum cost’, and data for research and education
purposes should be provided ‘free of charge or at no more than cost of
reproduction’.94 These principles are given authoritative interpretation in
the Implementation Guidelines for the GEOSS Principles95 and are
recommended to be adhered to when GEO members contribute data to
GEOSS. The current Work Plan 2012–201596 envisages the increased
cooperation of the experts and users as a cornerstone of GEOSS
success,97 and the focus on making GEOSS more accessible should be a
priority.98

91
For a more thorough analysis see C. Doldirina, Implementation of
GEOSS Data Sharing Principles: Relationship with the Regional and National
Data Access Initiatives, in Proceedings 63rd International Astronautical Con-
gress 2012 (2013), 2958 ff.
92
See GEO, Report on Progress (Beijing Summit: Observe, Share, Inform,
5 November 2010), at 15, www.earthobservations.org/documents/geo_vii/geo7_
report_on_progress.pdf, last accessed 28 January 2014.
93
The implementation thereof is limited by restrictions imposed by ‘rele-
vant international instruments and national policies and legislation’.
94
GEO, Implementation Guidelines for GEOSS Data Sharing Principles, at
3, www.earthobservations.org/documents/geo_vi/07_Implementation%20Guide
lines%20for%20the%20GEOSS%20Data%20Sharing%20Principles%20Rev2.pdf,
last accessed 28 January 2014.
95
See GEO-VI, 17–18 November 2009, www.earthobservations.org/
documents/geo_vi/07_Implementation%20Guidelines%20for%20the%20GEOSS
%20Data%20Sharing%20Principles%20Rev2.pdf, last accessed 28 January 2014.
96
See www.earthobservations.org/documents/work%20plan/GEO%202012-
2015%20Work%20Plan_Rev1.pdf, last accessed 28 January 2014.
97
See Work Plan 2012–2015, at 21: ‘Foster GEOSS applications and
societal benefits: Broker connections between experts and users. Identify best
practices in applications, and enable GEO efforts to document societal benefits.’
98
See Work Plan 2012–2015, at 22: ‘Show the benefits of Earth observation
and information through the identification and dissemination of success stories in
language that can be understood by all, specifically decision- and policy-makers.’

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Resources from national and regional initiatives mentioned above (in

particular Landsat,99 and certain data from CBERS100 and Copernicus101)
and others were declared to be shared through GEOSS according to its
Data Sharing Principles.102 However, the issue of legal interoperability
regarding satellite remote sensing data and information products made
available through GEOSS has been identified as one of the most serious
problems that users may face and which may jeopardize full success of
the initiative. A dedicated sub-group within the GEO Data Sharing
Working Group is working on potential approaches to enhancing legal
interoperability, in particular by suggesting adoption and use of licences
that facilitate re-use of the data in question. These licences should not
contain clauses described in the licensing section above.
The operational phase of the European Copernicus initiative came with
the challenge of how to introduce the most favourable regime for
unrestricted use of Sentinel data that will be available through the
system, also taking into account the connection between Copernicus and
GEOSS as officially declared by the European Commission. Regulation
1159/2013103 lays down the basic principles regarding access to and use
of Copernicus dedicated data and information services. These are made
available under conditions of full and open access. However, subsequent
rules on licensing need to be developed to establish a framework for
handling data from contributing missions.
Success of full and open access to and use of satellite remote sensing
data and information in part depends on the correct interpretation of the
principles of copyright protection, particularly those that allow use of
copyrighted works without permission. If copyright applies to remote
sensing data and information products, or rather when it is applicable, the
exceptions to exclusive rights of authors or owners over protected works
should also be made use of. The copyright protection should be applied
coherently, without twists and stretching licensing mechanisms often
used for privately generated or distributed remote sensing data today.

99
See GEO announces free and unrestricted access to full Landsat archive,
Press release, 20 November 2008, www.earthobservations.org/documents/
pressreleases/pr_0811_bucharest_landsat.pdf, last accessed 28 January 2014.
100
See www.earthobservations.org/geoss_ta_cb_ph.shtml, last accessed 28
January 2014.
101
See Regulation 1159/2013, supra n. 87, recital 28.
102
See Sec. 5.4, GEOSS 1-Year Implementation Plan, adopted 16 February
2005, www.earthobservations.org/documents/10-Year%20Implementation%20
Plan.pdf, last accessed 20 April 2014.
103
Supra, n. 87.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 971

18.2.5 Suggestions Regarding Use of Copyright to Protect Satellite

Remote Sensing Data

Copyright protection is flexible and provides interpretation open enough

to encompass eligible subject-matter generated as a result of space
activities. Absence of any formalities for the recognition of copyright, as
well as overall sufficient approximation of principles and main rules
governing the regime at the international level, and their acceptance by
the majority of countries that are involved in space activities or at least
govern them are positive developments. Even enforcement of rights in a
state different from the one where the author is based or where the work
was first published as a rule is enabled through the adherence of the vast
majority of the jurisdictions to the national treatment principle of the
Berne Convention.104 This translates into the availability of the same
remedies that the authors from the state where the infringement occurs
can make use of according to the domestic laws and regulations.
However, some problems exist.
One of the major issues regarding protection of remote sensing data is
that often it is not the expression that is intended to be protected, but the
actual content. Copyright, however, conceptually is ill-suited for such
demands (even if they are a necessity) as it explicitly protects only the
original expression of the author. Copyright even acquired its name
because historically the primary right granted to authors or other rights
holders was to prohibit literal copying of their works, hence precisely the
way in which their ideas were written down or otherwise fixed. Efforts to
the contrary result, for example, in the restrictive licences that are used to
tailor statutory protection to the needs that go beyond the protection
granted by international law and domestic regulations, as described
above.
To overcome this inherent problem, it is recommended that rights
holders avoid claiming applicability of copyright protection to the
content. Licences as such are a viable mechanism to protect whatever one
aims to protect, once the agreement is realized (for example when licence
conditions are accepted by the user). This mechanism lacks the features
of a negative right that copyright confers on its owner, but at least binds
the parties involved to follow the agreed conditions of behaviour.105
Another way out is to reform copyright, which is however unlikely,
particularly on the level of international law, or to introduce new forms of

104
See supra, § 18.2.1.
105
See supra, § 18.2.3.

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protection that fit the purpose. Attempts in this regard were made,
specifically with regard to database protection. The European Union
introduced a sui generis protection of the content of databases that were
made through substantial investment106 in 1996. However, the legislation
appeared to be ineffective: a finding that was supported even by the
internal evaluation of the Database Directive.107 This experience shows
how careful and well balanced changes and additions to the current body
of law governing IP protection in general should be.108

18.3 PATENT

18.3.1 International Law Instruments on Patent Protection

Patent constitutes another type of IP protection that is used to protect

industrially applicable or otherwise usable inventions. Due to the specifi-
cities of space activities, in particular their high-tech and innovation
aspects, as well as the cost and prices for hardware used to conduct them,
adequate patent protection is vital for the development of this field of
economic activity. A patent regime is based on more formalized and
stringent criteria for protection than those required by a copyright regime,
as well as a special procedure for granting or registering patents, which is
as a rule carried out by designated public authorities.

106
Cf. the Database Directive, supra n. 32, as discussed i.a. supra, § 18.2.1.
107
See First evaluation of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of
databases supra n. 37, as discussed supra, § 18.2.1.
108
This concerns also regulation that does not affect the scope of copyright
or IP protection itself. An interesting example is inclusion in the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea, Montego Bay, done 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November
1994; 1833 UNTS 3 and 1835 UNTS 261; UKTS 1999 No. 81; Cmnd. 8941;
ATS 1994 No. 31; 21 ILM 1261 (1982); S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-39) of the
provision regarding jurisdiction of states over unauthorized broadcasting from
the high seas that allowed capture of persons involved in the high seas by a
number of states responsible or affected. This norm was quite heavily criticized
despite having been included in the body of the Convention. For a detailed
analysis of the issue see H.B. Robertson, The Suppression of Pirate Radio
Broadcasting: A Test Case of the International System for Control of Activities
Outside National Territory, 45 Law & Contemporary Problems (1982), 71. For
possible parallels between jurisdiction in the high seas and activities on the
internet, see S.R. Swanson, Google Sets Sail: Ocean-Based Server Farms and
International Law, 43 Connecticut Law Review (2010–2011), 709.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 973

On the international level the basic principles governing patent protec-

tion are laid down in the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property,109 which is accepted worldwide.110 The Paris Convention
codifies the national treatment principle,111 as well as the rules on
priority of filing the invention and on the enforcement principles to be
adopted and followed by all contracting parties. In addition, the Paris
Convention regulates protection of ‘utility models, industrial designs,
trademarks, service marks, trade names, indications of source or appella-
tions of origin, and the repression of unfair competition’.112
Unlike, for example, the Berne Convention and the WIPO Copyright
Treaty, the Paris Convention does not contain the criteria for patentability
of inventions – this matter is left to the domestic law of the contracting
parties. Therefore, universal criteria of patentability do not exist and may
substantially differ in various jurisdictions in the absence of relevant rules
adopted and accepted internationally. Such an approach to regulating
patents on the international level makes patent protection even more
territorially limited or dependent than copyright. In the context of space
activities this status quo translates into the necessity to regulate patent-
related issues either through national laws or through separate ad hoc
agreements, in order to successfully carry out a given project or mission,
in particular when international participation is envisaged.
Article 2 of the Paris Convention lays down the national treatment
principle. The meaning and purpose of this principle in a nutshell is that
it establishes that inventors from any state party to the Convention enjoy
the same rights in any other such state as its own nationals, and that
application for a registration of a patent in any such state domicile or
establishment may not be required. At the same time the Convention
emphasizes the territorial/jurisdictional character of patent protection by
declaring in Article 4bis that patents granted for the same invention in
different jurisdictions are independent from each other. The effect of this
principle is such that a patent holder with rights registered in one
jurisdiction may not dispute registration and use of patent rights over
essentially the same invention in other countries. Filing a patent in one of

109
Supra, n. 1.
110
Currently, the Paris Convention has 175 contracting states; see
www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/wipo_treaties/parties.jsp?treaty_id=2&group_id=1, last
accessed 28 January 2014.
111
See Art. 2, Paris Convention, supra n. 1. Cf. also Art. 5, Berne
Convention, supra n. 1.
112
Art. 1(2), Paris Convention, supra n. 1.

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the contracting states only gives the person the right of priority to file for
the same patent in other such states within a period of 12 months.113
Another important provision that by analogy could be applicable to
patented inventions and technology carried on spacecraft and other
hardware is Article 5ter of the Paris Convention.114 It exempts vessels,
aircraft or land vehicles registered under the flag of a certain jurisdiction
passing the territory of a different one while carrying technology that
might infringe patent rights registered in the jurisdiction of the state of
passage. In this case, such vessels and vehicles retain their right of free
movement115 and may not be accused of a patent infringement. This
provision, however, relates to the enforcement of patent rights, not to the
issues of patentability.
In addition to the principles and rules established by the Paris
Convention, there is another international law instrument – the Patent
Cooperation Treaty,116 which was drafted and adopted to simplify the
priority filing principle of the Paris Convention and make its implementa-
tion more effective.117 It is administered by WIPO and provides rules and
a dedicated system for international filing of patents that may result in
simultaneous protection in several designated jurisdictions, for all of
which the patent is filed with one single application. Article 3(1) of the
Patent Cooperation Treaty allows for filing of ‘applications for the
protection of inventions in any of the Contracting States’ as international

113
See Art. 4A(1), Paris Convention, supra n. 1.
114
See further on the applicability of this provision to space activities infra,
§ 18.3.3.
115
In any state of the Union that the Paris Convention, supra n. 1,
established the following shall not be considered as infringements of the rights of
a patentee: (1) the use on board vessels of other states of the Union of devices
forming the subject of his patent in the body of the vessel, in the machinery,
tackle, gear and other accessories, when such vessels temporarily or accidentally
enter the waters of the said state, provided that such devices are used there
exclusively for the needs of the vessel; (2) the use of devices forming the subject
of the patent in the construction or operation of aircraft or land vehicles of other
states of the Union, or of accessories of such aircraft or land vehicles, when
those aircraft or land vehicles temporarily or accidentally enter the said state.
116
Patent Cooperation Treaty, Washington, done 19 June 1970, entered into
force 24 January 1978; 1160 UNTS 231; TIAS 8733; 28 UST 7645; Cmnd.
4530; UKTS 1978 No. 78; ATS 1980 No. 6; 9 ILM 978 (1970); as amended on
28 September 1979, and last modified on 3 October 2001.
117
For an overview of its system see K. Lapenne, Patent Cooperation Treaty,
92 Journal of Patent & Trademark Office Society (2010), 192 ff.; also J. Erstling
& I. Boutillon, The Patent Cooperation Treaty: At the Center of the International
Patent System, 32 William Mitchell Law Review (2006), 1583–1601.

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applications. This is a procedural treaty, and the question of the patent-

ability of the filed invention is decided by the responsible national
authority.
The procedural character of the major international treaties regarding
patent protection led to adoption of regional patent conventions, some of
which contain substantial provisions regarding patentability, like the
European Patent Convention118 or the Eurasian Patent Convention.119 It is
therefore clear that criteria for patentability cannot be adequately
analysed and presented without recourse to the relevant regional and
national law. Notwithstanding the fact that relevant or widely accepted
international standards in this regard do not exist, it should be noted that
in essence patentability criteria in most jurisdictions are similar to each
other, and it is mostly the details of specific regulations that differ.
However, sometimes even the slightest details may cause discrepancies in
filing inventions for patents or using the granted rights. Several examples
are discussed below.

18.3.2 Characteristics of Protection

Subject matter of patent protection is an eligible invention. An ‘inven-

tion’ includes any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or
composition of matter,120 or anything new in any field of technology that
is industrially applicable.121 European legislators often include a list of
subject matter that cannot be considered inventions: discoveries, scien-
tific theories and mathematical methods, aesthetic creations, schemes,

118
Convention on the Grant of European Patents (hereafter European Patent
Convention), Munich, done 5 October 1973, entered into force 7 October 1977;
1065 UNTS 199; UKTS 1982 No. 16; Cmnd. 8510. The Convention is also often
known as the Munich Convention, and was revised on 9 November 2000; 1065
UNTS 254, Part II Chapter I.
119
Eurasian Patent Convention, Moscow, done 9 September 1984, entered
into force 12 August 1995; 12 Int. Trade Rep. (BNA) No. 30, at 1289;
www.eapo.org/en/documents/norm/convention_txt.html, last accessed 20 April
2014.
120
See e.g. Sec. 2, Canadian Patent Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-4; Sec. 101, US
Patent Act, 35 U.S.C.
121
See e.g. Art. 52(1), European Patent Convention, supra n. 118; Art. 1(1),
German Patent Law of 16 December 1980 (BGBl. 1981 I S. 1), last amended 10
October 2013 (BGBl. I S. 3830); Sec. 1(1), UK Patents Act of 29 July 1977
(1977 Chapter 3), last amended October 2013.

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rules and methods, programs for computers,122 and presentation of

information.123 It is important that the inventor adds something extra that
in fact makes the invention work, and cannot be found by itself in nature
(or performing such an action or function). The three fundamental criteria
for an invention to be eligible for patent protection are ‘novelty’,
‘non-obviousness’ and ‘usefulness’.
‘Novelty’ means that the invention is not part of the prior art.124
Novelty is destroyed by a single, publicly available source (available or
published anywhere in the world according to Canadian and EU law, and
until recently available or published in the United States according to US
law125) that describes the existence of the invention in a manner sufficient
for a person skilled in the art to make it when using this information.
‘Non-obviousness’ or ‘inventive step’ signifies that a person skilled in the
art would not find out easily the way in which the invention works
without additional information about it.126 The test for non-obviousness
involves the assessment made by ‘the skilled but unimaginative
worker’,127 in light of his common general knowledge128 and awareness
of prior art, which, however, does not allow him to understand the
invention easily. Finally, the invention needs to be ‘useful’, that is
practically applicable. This notion also has slightly different interpret-
ations across jurisdictions. In Canada it is interpreted as actual and
ultimate utility129 and in the United States as specific, substantial and

122
However, computer programs are patentable according to the US Patent
Act, supra n. 120. For a discussion regarding the effect on the protection of IP
caused by the differences in various domestic laws see P. Samuelson, Intellectual
Property Arbitrage: How Foreign Rules Can Affect Domestic Protections, 71
University of Chicago Law Review (2004), 223 ff.
123
See e.g. Art. 52(2), European Patent Convention, supra n. 118; Art. 1(3),
German Patent Law, supra n. 121; Sec. 1(2), UK Patents Act, supra n. 121.
124
See Art. 54, European Patent Convention, supra n. 118; Art. 3, German
Patent Law, supra n. 121.
125
This was changed by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act that came into
force on 16 March 2013; H.R. 1249.
126
See Art. 56, European Patent Convention, supra n. 118; Art. 4, German
Patent Law, supra n. 121; Sec. 103, US Patent Act, supra n. 120.
127
This is usually defined in patent legislation across jurisdictions as a
‘person skilled in the art’.
128
This refers to knowledge that practitioners may be expected to have as a
part of their technical capability.
129
This interpretation is based on case law; see e.g. X v Canada (Commis-
sioner of Patents) (1981), 59 CPR (2d) 7, [1981] FCJ No 1013; Apotex Inc v
Wellcome Foundation Ltd, 2002 SCC 77, [2002] 4 SCR 153.

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credible utility,130 whereas in Europe it is conceived of as industrial

applicability.131
Patent rights can only be recognized and enforced if a formal filing
procedure is successfully completed by the inventor. This is another,
perhaps the major, difference between patents and copyright, which
legitimately exists and is enforceable without any formal recognition or
registration. There are two distinct systems for filing inventions: respec-
tively the first-to-file and first-to-invent systems.132 In the latter, the date
and place of the invention can be crucial for the decision as to issuance
of patent. The relevant changes to the patent in the United States recently
came into force,133 making the first-to-file system the most used one
worldwide.134
After the invention is made (but not disclosed) the formal procedure of
granting a patent needs to be initiated and completed. This step of
obtaining enforceable patent rights in the invention in general requires
the following:

+ filing of application with patent office (disclosure and claims),

+ examination of patent,
+ opposition proceedings (if foreseen by law),135 and
+ issuance of patent.

In terms of procedure, the list and requirements regarding the submitted

documents are quite stringent. Independent from the jurisdiction where
an application is filed a patent application needs to have a description,136

130
This interpretation is based on case law; see e.g. Bedford v. Hunt, 3 F.Cas.
37 (C.C. Mass. 1817); Newmann v. Quigg, 877 F.2d 1575 (Fed. Cir. 1989).
131
Cf. Art. 57, European Patent Convention, supra n. 118; Art. 5, German
Patent Law, supra n. 121.
132
For an overview of the differences between the two patent filing systems,
see WIPO, The Importance of Intellectual Property Rights for the Protection of
Inventions in Relation to Space Activities, in Intellectual Property Rights in
Outer Space, ECSL Workshop, 19–20.
133
See www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/index.jsp, last accessed 28 Janu-
ary 2014.
134
For a discussion on differences in the context of the US patent law
reform, see R. Maier, House Passes Leahy-Smith America Invents Act; US
Poised to Move to a First-Inventor-to-File System, Adopt Other Changes to
Patent Laws, 23 Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal (2011), 13–7.
135
In cases where such a procedure is not foreseen, invalidity of a patent has
to be argued in court.
136
See Art. 5, Patent Cooperation Treaty, supra n. 116.

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will have to indicate where the invention is disclosed (so that others can
use the new state of the art to further improve technology) and should
claim in a clear and concise manner what protection is sought.137 Both
are important as they determine the scope of the application of patent
rights and determine the precise protected subject matter in each case.
The relevant national and indicated regional instruments also lay down
the scope of patent protection. Being an IPR, patent is a negative right of
its owner – the exclusive right to make, use or import the invention, as
well as to sell it to others to be used.138 The European Patent Convention
prescribes that the scope of right granted by the European patent is equal
to the rights conferred by a national patent granted in each nation state
member of the European Union.139
The term of patent protection is limited, and is significantly shorter
than that of copyright. This is most often explained by the risk of slowing
down innovation when the term of protection is too long. Currently the
rights are granted for a period of 20 years from the date of filing the
patent.140 Similar to copyright, the negative right of patent protection also
has exceptions, for instance when governments reserve the right to use
the invention for certain goals, usually beneficial to society at large,141 or
when other compulsory licences are prescribed.142 Another instance is the
exception regarding the use of patented inventions for non-commercial
experimentation and research. However, ‘non-commercial’ means differ-
ent things in different jurisdictions. Also, sometimes it is hard to
distinguish pure research from applied research, because the former may
also lead to use of the results in industry as useful or commercially viable
applications.143

137
See Art. 6, Patent Cooperation Treaty, supra n. 116.
138
See Sec. 42 Canadian Patent Act, supra n. 120; Sec. 154, US Patent Act,
supra n. 120; Arts. 9–10, German Patent Law, supra n. 121; patent as personal
property per Sec. 30, UK Patents Act, supra n. 121.
139
See Art. 64, European Patent Convention, supra n. 118.
140
See Sec. 44, Canadian Patent Act, supra n. 120; Sec. 154, US Patent Act,
supra n. 120; Art. 16, German Patent Law, supra n. 121; Art. 63, European
Patent Convention, supra n. 118.
141
See e.g. Art. 13, German Patent Law, supra n. 121.
142
See e.g. Sec. 48, UK Patent Act, supra n. 121.
143
In addition, differences in the drafting and interpretation of the research
exception may lead to the ‘migration’ of companies to states that recognize this
exception in a broader way from those states where this is not the case. For an
analysis of this issue in the field of biomedical research, see J.M. Mueller, No
‘Dilettante Affair’: Rethinking Experimental Use Exception to Patent Infringe-
ment for Biomedical Research Tools, 76 Washington Law Review (2001), 37 ff.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 979

Infringement of patent rights can be literal, when exact copies of the

invention are made by third non-authorized parties, as well as non-literal,
when changes made are not significant (for example, substituting one
type of metal for another in a component when the change does not affect
the operation of the invention). Again, any type of legal action against the
alleged infringers can be made before relevant authorities of the state
where the patent was issued.
The principles and rules outlined above are a very rough description of
the basics of patent protection, which is a quite complex field of law,
particularly procedurally. However, this overview enables the analysis of
their applicability to inventions made in outer space or otherwise in the
course of space activities.

18.3.3 Challenges to Patentability of Space-Related Inventions

The starting point is, as identified earlier, to assess whether and if so

what aspects (or rather, types) of space activities that result in patentable
inventions may be problematic from the point of view of applying
existing patent law and regulations. Some authors maintain that if only a
handful of companies/ventures have access to space and conduct experi-
ments for the purpose of inventing patentable subject matter, they might
in fact have no need to acquire a patent because nobody else but them
will have the ability to conduct research in outer space and to come up
with alternatives to their inventions.144 Such a scenario might be true
today, but may very well change with time when more actors will have
affordable access to outer space. Therefore, the questions regarding
patentability of space inventions will come up and will need to be
resolved at some point in the future, or for some actors even today.
It seems only logical that inventions made in the course of producing
space-utilized hardware, such as satellites, their sensors or rockets, are
treated in accordance with the regulations and procedures that are

144
See G. Ghidini, Inventions in Outer Space: Licensing Related Problems,
in Intellectual Property Rights in Outer Space. ECSL Workshop, 53. The same
author suggested a contrario that when patents granted for inventions made in
outer space tend to distort competition on the relevant market, they should either
be patented with reservations (e.g. regarding compulsory licensing), or the
patents themselves should be modified and either be made of shorter term or of
narrower scope. For an interesting overview of the first practice in this regard in
the United States, see R.F. Alnutt, Patent Policy for Communication Satellites: A
Unique Variation, 46 Marquette Law Review (1962), 63–78.

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adopted within the jurisdictions where inventions are made or appli-

cations are filed for the patent. However, the nexus to outer space may
complicate otherwise clear situations. As for the inventions made in outer
space itself, a number of issues can be identified, and they are addressed
in this section. With regard to the enforcement of patent rights when the
use of the subject-matter or their infringement occurs in outer space, it is
necessary to determine the responsible or otherwise appropriate juris-
diction, according to the rules of which remedies should be established
and applied.
The first type or range of problems relates to the applicability of the
patentability criteria of novelty, non-obviousness and usefulness or func-
tionality to ‘space’ inventions. For example, when micro-gravity is the
most important element based on which an invention is made, it is
extremely difficult to prove its functionalities on the ground. If such a
problem arises the patent may not be granted for inventions of the kind
made in outer space. In addition, in cases where the functionality of an
invention is based on micro-gravity, there is a risk that no novelty or
non-obviousness can be found in such an invention, and hence a patent
may not be issued, as this is one of the mandatory criteria for patent
protection.145
The second problem refers to the issue of jurisdiction, namely the state
where patentable inventions should be filed to acquire rights if an
invention is made in outer space. This may be particularly problematic in
a situation where space activities are carried out by partners that are
nationals of several different states. In such cases, rules determining the
appropriate jurisdiction and the persons entitled to file inventions for
patent protection should be established. Without such a step, these
questions may remain unclear or even controversial, and hence difficult
to resolve once inventions are made.
Once the appropriate jurisdiction is established and the invention is
filed for patent, the inventor may face the risk of an early disclosure,
namely, before the patent application is filed, or when specific terms set
in the national legislation are not adhered to. This risk may be higher in
outer space than on earth because of greater attention being paid to what
is happening on, for instance, the International Space Station (ISS).146
Information released about the invention might be enough for meeting
the criteria of disclosure if, for instance, photographs from its modules
are published or broadcasts are made. Early disclosure of sufficient

145
See e.g. WIPO, supra n. 132, 21.
146
See on the ISS in general supra, §§ 11.2–11.6.

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information about the invention transfers it into the field of prior art and
renders it non-patentable. In relation to prior art, granting patents for
inventions made in outer space will lead to further expansion of prior art
and further complicate its assessment when other, new inventions are
filed for patent protection. This issue, however, is not solely a problem
for space activities, but for any activities, wherever they are carried out,
which produce patentable inventions, since all of them if or when
patented expand the prior art. Ultimate caution regarding the information
about the invention that is disclosed is most likely the most effective
mechanism to keep it secret until the filing of the patent.
A potentially wider range of difficulties lies within the field of
enforcement of patent rights. This is linked to the territoriality of patent
protection and the characteristic of outer space as being a ‘province of all
mankind’.147 When a patent is issued by a state, or even in accordance
with the international filing procedure as per the Patent Cooperation
Treaty, and the protection covers several states, it remains unclear
whether or where precisely potential infringements that happen in outer
space itself can be prevented or ceased, and where remedies can
effectively be sought. Also, depending on the regulatory differences
among states, companies involved in space activities that may produce
patentable inventions may establish contractual arrangements and deter-
mine the state where protection is initially sought. This may in turn lead
to complications stemming from ‘forum shopping’ or ‘flags of conveni-
ence’ practices,148 neither of which is considered an optimal path to
follow.
Another example of problems with the enforcement of patent rights is
absence of clarity as to applicability to space activities of the exception
laid down in Article 5ter of the Paris Convention regarding passage of
ships, aircraft and land vehicles carrying potentially infringing equipment
through territories of states where such equipment or its parts are subject

147
Cf. Art. I, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 2; see further on this subject e.g.
supra, § 2.3.1.2.
148
The essence of the two practices is either to register the patent in a
jurisdiction that has the most favourable rules regarding enforcement, or to try
and contractually arrange that any disputes will be resolved by a specific (again,
the most favourable) jurisdiction; see D. Loftus, International Patent Protection:
Time for a fully EU Functioning Supra-National Patent Mechanism, 6 Journal of
International Commercial Law & Technology (2011), 180 ff. For the context of
the internet see J.C. Ginsburg, Copyright without Borders? Choice of Forum and
Choice of Law for Copyright Infringement in Cyberspace, 15 Cardozo Arts &
Entertainment Law Journal (1997), 153 ff.

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to patent protection. The wording of the Convention may not allow for an
interpretation that includes space equipment from one state that, for
example, is moved to a state where the launch site is situated. Such
(restrictive) interpretation is confirmed in the WIPO IP and Space
Report149 with the argument that, since the Convention explicitly refers to
‘vessels, aircraft or land vehicles’,150 space objects are excluded from the
application of this provision and their temporary presence in a foreign
territory (for instance for the purpose of launching or return) may not
automatically be exempted from patent infringement.151 This exception,
however, is important for space activities, in particular due to the fact that
there is only a limited number of launching sites and a vast number of
states or companies have to transport their satellites to and through the
territories of other states to have them launched into outer space.

18.3.4 Regulatory Responses to Challenges

Patentability of inventions made in outer space can be confirmed through

explicit legislative provisions that extend application of a patent protec-
tion regime to such inventions. This practice was initiated by the United
States when an amendment introduced to the US Patent Act in 1990152
explicitly laid down that inventions made in outer space are included in
its scope. The US Patents in Space Act provides that ‘any invention
made, used, or sold in outer space on a space object or component
thereof under the jurisdiction or control of the United States shall be
considered to be made, used or sold within the United States for the
purposes of this title’.153 It also makes exceptions to this rule to
the extent these are introduced by an international agreement to which
the United States is a party, as well as allowing treatment of foreign
inventions on the same footing as those registered in the United States if
an international agreement so prescribes. The wording of the provision

149
Intellectual Property and Space Activities (hereafter WIPO IP and Space
Report), WIPO Issue paper, April 2004, 20, www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/
patent-law/en/developments/pdf/ip_space.pdf, last accessed 29 January 2014.
150
Art. 5ter, Paris Convention, supra n. 1.
151
Cf. the discussion regarding the doctrine of temporary presence and its
applicability to spacecraft in the United States and France in R. Oosterlinck, The
Evolution of the Temporary Presence Exception to Patent Infringement in
Relation to Space Applications and the French Space Act of 2008, 34 Annals of
Air & Space Law (2009), 913–26.
152
See Sec. 1(a), US Patents in Space Act (Patents in Outer Space Act,
Public Law 101-580, 15 November 1990; 35 U.S.C. 10; 104 Stat. 2863).
153
Sec. 105(a), US Patents in Space Act, supra n. 152.

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clearly identifies the basis for introducing such provision – Article VIII of
the Outer Space Treaty prescribing that states retain jurisdiction and
control over the objects they launch into outer space.154
Another state that followed the approach of creating quasi-territorial
jurisdiction for the application of patent law is France. The 2008 French
Law on Space Operations155 introduced some amendments to the French
Patent Act, including a provision similar to that in the US Patents in
Space Act.156 In addition, two other states have provisions that can be
useful for this matter. Article 16 of the Russian Law on Space Activ-
ities157 contains a renvoi to the IP-relevant provisions of its Civil Code as
applicable to protection of IP ‘resulting from development of space
technology and equipment’.158 The wording does not explicitly state that
this technology and equipment is produced in outer space, but neither
does it rule out such a possibility. Germany, by virtue of signing the
Intergovernmental Agreement on the ISS,159 also modified160 its patent
law so that it is applicable to inventions created on board an ESA-
registered module.161 A similar approach was adopted by Italy.162 Apart
from the examples cited, the national patent laws of other states do not

154
Art. VIII, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 2, provides in relevant part: ‘A
State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is
carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any
personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body.’
155
French Law on Space Operations (Loi relative aux opérations spatiales);
Loi n° 2008-518 du 3 juin 2008; unofficial English version 34 Journal of Space
Law (2008), 453.
156
See Art. 22(I), French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 155; cf. also
supra, n. 153. Further also Oosterlinck, supra n. 151, 928.
157
Law of the Russian Federation on Space Activities (hereafter Russian
Law on Space Activities), No. 5663-1, 20 August 1993, effective 6 October
1993; National Space Legislation of the World, Vol. I (2001), at 101; the most
recent amendment is of 21 November 2011.
158
Art. 16, Russian Law on Space Activities, supra n. 157; author’s
translation.
159
Cf. Art. 21, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 7; see also supra,
§§ 11.3.2.5, 11.4.2.
160
See German Act on the Ratification of the Intergovernmental Agreement
of 13 July 1990, 1988 BJBL. II, 637.
161
However, under Art. 6, German Patent Law, supra n. 121, the place of
discovery of the invention is irrelevant, so long as the invention is filed for patent
protection in Germany.
162
See supra, § 11.3.2.5, (text at) n. 77.

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contain provisions that would make national patent law applicable on

board a spacecraft.163
An attempt to extend verbatim applicability of patent law to inventions
made in outer space was made at the European Union level through the
proposed Community Patent Regulation in March 2003.164 Its Article 3
explicitly included patentable inventions created or used in outer space,
including on celestial bodies or on spacecraft that are under the juris-
diction and control of one or more EU member states.165 The draft
proposal was, however, withdrawn in 2012 as obsolete. Another Regu-
lation, implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of
unitary patent protection, was adopted instead. It aims at ensuring
unitary,166 affordable167 and autonomous168 patent protection within the
European Union, but does not declare applicability of its provisions to
inventions made in outer space.
Another widely cited example of how IP in general and patent in
particular are regulated in the context of space activities is the ISS
Intergovernmental Agreement, which lays down rules applicable to IP in
its Article 21. It is interesting to note that the understanding of the term
‘IP’ in the Intergovernmental Agreement is the same as in the WIPO

163
See A.M. Balsano & A. de Clercq, Community Patent and Space Related
Inventions, 30 Journal of Space Law (2004), 3.
164
Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent, of 8 March
2004; Interinstitutional File 2000/0177 (CNS); 7119/04 PI 28, http://
register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/04/st07/st07119.en04.pdf, last accessed 29
January 2014. Note that already in 1989 an attempt had been made to arrive at a
Community Patent; Agreement relating to Community Patents (89/695/EEC),
Luxembourg, done 15 December 1989, not yet entered into force; Cm. 1452; OJ
L 401/1 (1989).
165
See Art. 3(2), Proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community
patent, supra n. 164: ‘This regulation shall apply to inventions created or used in
outer space, including on celestial bodies or on spacecraft, which are under the
jurisdiction and control of one or more Member States in accordance with
international law.’
166
See Art. 3, Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent
protection, No. 1257/2012/EU, of 17 December 2012; OJ L 361/1 (2012).
167
See Chapter V (‘Financial provisions’), Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of
the creation of unitary patent protection, supra n. 166.
168
See Art. 7, Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent
protection, supra n. 166.

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Convention.169 This step, however small, also serves harmonization of the

approaches to regulate IP. Article 21(2) of the Intergovernmental Agree-
ment in effect partitions the ISS (or its elements) into various quasi-
territories that belong to the states (or organization, in case of ESA) on
whose registry the elements are present.170 This creates quasi-territorial
effect for the application of national IP laws on the modules (for instance
the law of the United States on the US module). A more complex
approach is established for ESA-registered elements: any participating
ESA member state may claim that its law is applicable to any activity
that results in a patentable invention. Article 21(4) and (5) further
codifies rules applicable to ESA-registered elements and potentially
complex relationships that may develop among European participating
states, in particular with regard to the recognition of the rights to exercise
IPR (which should always be the case), and to recovery of damages from
infringing activities (which should occur only once, in one European
partner state).
In addition to the general rule, Article 21(2) contains another provision
that may be interpreted as an exception to it. It prescribes that carrying
out activities in a foreign element does not affect the jurisdiction over
them, which suggests that the state of the element’s registry has the
jurisdiction.171 The interpretation of this rule suggests that if an ISS
partner wishes to retain jurisdiction rights over activities that are carried
out not on or in its elements, it should conclude a separate agreement
with the partner under whose jurisdiction that element is. This provision
seems to be quite complex, particularly in the context of potential ISS
use by commercial entities, which might not necessarily be comfortable
with the fact that the law applicable to their activity on the ISS is not that
of the state where they are incorporated.
The rule of Article 21(3), however, obliges participating states to not
apply their laws concerning secrecy of inventions to enable filing of the

169
Supra, n. 4.
170
Cf. Art. 5(1), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 7, providing ‘each
Partner shall register as space objects the flight elements listed in the Annex
which it provides’ and Art. 5(2), providing ‘each Partner shall retain jurisdiction
and control over the elements it registers in accordance with paragraph 1 above
and over personnel in or on the Space Station who are its nationals’; further
supra, § 11.3.2.3.
171
The relevant clause provides that ‘participation by a Partner State, its
Cooperating Agency, or its related entities in an activity occurring in or on any
other Partner’s Space Station flight element shall not in and of itself alter or
affect the jurisdiction over such activity provided for in the previous sentence’;
Art. 21(2), Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 7.

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patent application by a foreign national or resident who made the

invention on or in its (that state’s) element. The wording172 suggests that
the jurisdiction over the inventive activity is independent from the
jurisdiction over the ISS elements. This seems to contradict the second
rule of Article 21(2) described immediately above. Thus, if, for instance,
a US astronaut invents something on board the Japanese module, Japan
would not be entitled to obstruct him in trying to achieve patent
protection in the US by applying Japanese secrecy-related laws provided
that the relevant US legislation provided for similar secrecy requirements.
This, however, suggests that the astronaut can use US patent jurisdiction
in the first place, which seems to run counter to the basic rule that in this
case only Japanese patent law would apply (with a patent under it to be
granted to the US astronaut). The more likely correct interpretation
therefore would be that US law on secrecy of inventions may not stand in
the way of a US astronaut claiming patent protection under Japanese law,
unless the latter were dissimilar.
Without doubt, the Intergovernmental Agreement is an important
example of handling IP-related issues in a project with multiple states
and stakeholders involved. Whether it will remain the best option, or the
practice will lead to the development of better or clearer rules, remains to
be seen. However, in only one article the Agreement covers a wide
variety of crucial aspects related to IP protection, such as ownership,
jurisdiction, infringement and enforcement. Any agreement that strives to
provide for the principles or guidelines regarding IP should follow this
approach – to comprehensively regulate as many elements of IP protec-
tion as possible and realistic in given circumstances.
When one turns to the stage of enforcing granted patent rights, one
aspect that directly affects a lot of space hardware while on the surface of
the earth (but in different jurisdictions) is that of how to deal with the
instances of temporary presence of spacecraft and other hardware on the
territory of a third state (for instance from where the launch is organized)
when the technology they carry might be infringing patent rights regis-
tered in that third state. The essence of this issue was described above,
while in this section regulatory approaches to resolve it are highlighted.

172
The relevant clause here provides: ‘In respect of an invention made in or
on any Space Station flight element by a person who is not its national or
resident, a Partner State shall not apply its laws concerning secrecy of inventions
so as to prevent the filing of a patent application (for example, by imposing a
delay or requiring prior authorization) in any other partner State that provides for
the protection of the secrecy of patent applications containing information that is
classified or otherwise protected for national security purposes’.

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The examples, again, include legislation of the United States and France,
as well as the relevant provision of the Intergovernmental Agreement.
The temporary presence doctrine is codified in the US Patent Act,173
and its application to space vehicles was extended through an amendment
of the National Aeronautics and Space Act that reads ‘any object
intended for launch, launched, or assembled in outer space shall be
considered a vehicle for the purpose of section 272 of title 35’.174 In
addition, it prescribes that ‘the use or manufacture of any patented
invention incorporated in a space vehicle launched by the United States
Government for a person other than the United States shall not be
considered to be a use or manufacture by or for the United States’ for the
purposes of patent infringement cases.175 Thereby any foreign person
would avoid liability for patent infringement while on US territory.176
The French Law on Space Operations introduced the temporary
presence doctrine into its domestic patent legislation by prohibiting
extension of patent rights to ‘objects intended to be launched in outer
space brought onto the French territory’.177 The ISS Intergovernmental
Agreement also provides for special rules in Article 21(6) with regard to
the resolution of the issue of the temporary presence. According to this
provision,

temporary presence in the territory of a Partner State of any article, including

the components of flight elements, in transit between any place on Earth and
any flight element of the Space Station registered by another Partner State or
ESA should not in itself form the basis for any proceedings in the first Partner
State for patent infringement.

Based on this, transportation of equipment or other hardware of one

Partner State to or from the space station through a launching site in

173
See Sec. 272, US Patent Act, supra n. 120.
174
Sec. 20135(k), National Aeronautics and Space Act, 18 December 2010,
124 Stat. 3328.
175
Sec. 20135(k), National Aeronautics and Space Act, supra n. 174. A
related case where the court had to adjudicate on the issue of infringement of
patent rights registered in the US by foreign equipment destined to be launched
from the US territory is Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States (1993) 29 Fed. Cl.
197, 240. This case in fact pushed these amendments to the US patent legislation.
176
For a discussion of this matter, see T. Ro, M.J. Kleiman & K.H.
Hammerle, Patent Infringement in Outer Space: Following the White Rabbit
down the Rabbit Loophole, 17 Boston University Journal of Science & Tech-
nology Law (2011), 202 ff.
177
Art. 22(II), French Law on Space Operations, supra n. 155; see also
Oosterlinck, supra n. 151, 928.

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another Partner State does not infringe patents granted and enforceable in
the latter state.
These are the major issues that have found their regulatory solution in
at least some jurisdictions (Germany, France, Russia, the United States)
or within a specific cooperative space project (ISS). There is a need,
however, for such regulatory practice to be followed by other states, in
particular because outer space is an international environment, meaning
in the first place that space actors are nationals of many different states,
and that a lot of space projects are and will be carried out in cooperation
that involves international178 actors.
In the absence of detailed and all-encompassing international rules
applicable to patentable space inventions this reality requires more
attention. The situation can and should be improved through streamlining
national laws that are relevant for space activities and IP protection of the
results they produce. Such practice will reduce the risk of conflicts,
which should facilitate further development of space activities, in particu-
lar those carried out by private entities.

18.3.5 Suggestions to Ensure Patent Law is Applicable to Inventions

Made in the Course of Space Activities

The absence of a properly harmonized international law approach to

patent protection (namely on criteria and applicability to ‘space’ inven-
tions) without doubt has an influence on the development and the course
of space activities that may result in production of patentable inventions.
However desirable, harmonization of substantive patent law at the
international level in the form of a treaty is far from becoming a
reality.179
Given these circumstances other options should be pursued, in particu-
lar to clarify and extend the applicability of patent law principles to
inventions made or used in outer space. It may be argued that Article VIII
of the Outer Space Treaty, mentioned earlier, can be used to extend

178
Here the term is intended to cover both international organizations, and
actors incorporated in different states.
179
For example, WIPO introduced a draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty in
2000; see historical overview of the work process, www.wipo.int/patent-law/en/
draft_splt.htm, last accessed 20 April 2014; however, the draft is nowhere near
close to finalization: currently it is not included in the work plan of the Standing
Committee on the Law of Patents, which was responsible for these discussions;
see www.wipo.int/patent-law/en/news_events/scp_agrees_on_future_work_plan.
html, last accessed 29 January 2014.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 989

jurisdiction regarding patent protection of states into outer space, or their

space objects in outer space.180 Therefore, the states that do not have
specific IP provisions applicable to space activities may not need to adopt
them. In practice this is the approach that most spacefaring nations or
their subjects will have recourse to in the absence of relevant provisions
and rules on the national level. However, inaction in this regard may lead
to unnecessary complications when carrying out space activities that
result in patentable inventions or use of patented technology and hard-
ware.
Introduction into the national regulations of clauses that specifically
bring this subject-matter under their respective patent law regime is a
viable and effective course of action181 that all states conducting or
supervising space activities should pursue. It definitely resolves at least
some issues regarding patentability and protectability of inventions made
in outer space or in the course of space activities in general, as it
establishes differences between approaches in various jurisdictions less
pronounced and enables challenges regarding application of patent law to
‘space’ inventions to be bypassed. Another beneficial practice to follow
would be to conclude special agreements that lay down principles of
addressing patent law issues where space activities are being conducted
internationally, as in the case of the ISS. This practice serves two
important purposes: it clears potentially controversial issues ad hoc for
the given project, and potentially may serve as an example of harmonized
rules that in the future will be followed by (former) partners of that
project in other space activities they conduct.

18.4 CONCLUSIONS
IP protection is vital for the development of space activities, as it is
useful in safeguarding many of their outcomes, particularly when data
and information are generated by satellites, or new patentable inventions
are made. It is also widely recognized that not everything with regard to
application of IP protection regimes to space-related or -generated
subject-matter is clear and non-problematic. According to the conclusions
and proposals of the Workshop on Space Law in the Twenty-First
Century organized by the International Institute of Space Law within
UNISPACE III, many aspects of existing space law need to be revisited

180
As per its clause allowing for the exercise of jurisdiction over a registered
space object; see supra, n. 154.
181
Cf. e.g. the opinion of Balsano & de Clercq, supra n. 163, 4.

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in view of the privatization or commercialization of space activities. In

fact, this suggestion is valid not only for space law: some adjustments
should be made to regulations within other fields of law. This includes
IPR and technology transfer regulations that may be subject to amend-
ments ‘for global uniformity in practice’,182 which as this chapter has
shown, is not always the case today. There are difficulties in interpreting
norms of both copyright and patent regulations when subject-matter
resulting from space activities is involved, equally at the stage of
determining applicability of the two regimes and of enforcing the rights
with which they provide the IP owners. Some of these difficulties vary
between copyright and patent, while others are common to both.
Copyright, or rather the traditional and correct interpretation of its
scope, purpose and aim, is currently under extreme pressure, not only due
to the development of space activities, but more generally due to current
technological developments broadly speaking. The protection that the
regime of copyright traditionally offers either does not apply to certain
subject matter such as data or other non-creative intellectual products, or
does not offer protection suitable to or desired by their owners.
Despite these ‘inadequacies’ of copyright protection, copyright as a
negative right against all third parties is often invoked in transactions
with satellite remote sensing data, since it may offer better protection
than, for example, a contractual relationship that only concerns the
parties to the contract or a licence. Reference to copyright (or the claim
to be entitled to the protection this regime grants) by producers of remote
sensing satellite data often results in stretching the protection to fit
purposes to which the copyright regime does not apply, in particular to
protect the content of licensed data. Due to the fact that the criteria,
scope, duration, limitations and enforcement of copyright exist only
within the legislative framework that set it up, this development cannot
be deemed positive as it creates a lot of confusion and distorts the
boundaries of the current regime. Instead, where copyright is inapplic-
able, other ways to protect valuable subject matter should be developed
and used.
One of the most problematic issues for inventions resulting from space
activities is their patentability – the very fundamental decision as to

182
UNISPACE III, Report of the Conference, UN GA A/CONF.184/6, 18
October 1999, 128, www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/reports/unispace/ACONF184_
6E.pdf, last accessed 29 January 2014. Due to the importance of this UN
document for the development and in particular regulation of space activities,
quite a few observations made here are based on or supported by findings and
recommendations made therein.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 991

whether they may be granted patent protection. In addition, and very

much unlike copyright, another outstanding problem with the applic-
ability of patent law of a nation state to space-related inventions is that of
jurisdiction. This is particularly true for the inventions that are made in
outer space itself: there is a need for a clear rule to determine whether
and whose national patent law applies to them. The main reason for this
is that while substantive principles of copyright protection are harmon-
ized on the international level and are widely adhered to, comparable
norms with regard to criteria and scope of patent protection do not exist
or are of limited nature. For this reason some states have introduced
provisions in their national space or patent laws to explicitly allow
application of their patent protection regime to the inventions made in
outer space. Unfortunately this practice is not shared by many space-
faring nations.
Both copyright and patent face issues regarding enforcement of the
rights they grant and protect. The main reason is the territoriality of IP
protection on the one hand, and on the other the use of equipment and
products related to space activities that goes beyond boundaries of one
state or even the entire earth itself.183 The extra-territoriality and inter-
national character of space activities should be adequately reflected in IP
regulations in order to provide the IP owners with the real, enforceable
ability to use their rights and to bar infringing activities of third parties.
The strategy of adopting an international basis for determining the
responsible jurisdiction that is recognized and not contested would be an
important step in facilitating generation of IP in outer space and
otherwise as part of space activities.
A possible example could be adoption of a protocol to an existing
relevant convention based on good practice and coordinated law-making
efforts of states. Such an update or an improvement is much less
cumbersome than a new treaty, and potentially not as difficult or
controversial to agree upon due to its ultimately procedural character and
its sole purpose to resolve the conflict of laws in this field. Such a
protocol could be adopted within WIPO, potentially with the active
involvement of UNIDROIT. The preparatory work could greatly benefit
from, for example, the relevant work of the European Max Planck Group

183
See e.g. the analysis in the WIPO IP and Space Report, supra n. 151, 10:
protection of IP is governed by an applicable territorial legal framework. The
international treaties have achieved a certain level of harmonization of such
frameworks, but ‘considerable differences among national/regional intellectual
property laws which lead to a different level of intellectual property protection in
the territory of each country (region)’ still exist.

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for Conflict of Laws in Intellectual Property, which developed Principles

for Conflict of Laws in Intellectual Property.184 Unfortunately, in the light
of so far failed attempts to regulate substantive IP (especially patent)
issues, due to the lengthy and ineffective process of international
law-making, a ‘bottom-up’ approach of regulating at the national and
regional level seems a more suitable and realistic option to implement.
Regulation on the national level and in an ad hoc fashion for
cooperative projects is necessary, and the cases of regulatory response to
the issues of IP protection and space activities highlighted in this chapter
should serve as examples for nations who are considering adopting
relevant legislation. The current analysis, as well as the overview of
literature and the recommendations of UNISPACE III show that the most
important rules or principles developed and adopted should encompass
applicability of national IP legislation in outer space, ownership and use
of IP developed in the course of conducting space activities, as well as
licences. In addition, these legal rules should strike the right balance
between various interests by taking into account the rationale and goals
of both IP protection regimes and the principles governing space activ-
ities, particularly those codified in the Outer Space Treaty.185
As pointed out earlier, IPR, including patents and copyright, essentially
aim at protecting and encouraging creativity, while ensuring that society
at large benefits from the results of such creativity by publication,
distribution or disclosure of the protected subject-matter. Therefore, any
modifications or special arrangements regarding existence, exercise and
enforcement of IPR in outer space should be carried out taking these
objectives into account. In addition, the special regime applicable to outer
space as per the Outer Space Treaty should inevitably influence the
choices made within the national regulations. Its most important prin-
ciples are quite widely accepted by spacefaring nations,186 and would
make a solid basis for at least some of the relevant amendments in the IP
laws and regulations, as for instance in the case of the US Patent Act

184
See Principles on Conflict of Laws in Intellectual Property, European
Max Planck Group on Conflict of Laws in Intellectual Property (CLIP), of 1
December 2011, www.cl-ip.eu/files/pdf2/Final_Text_1_December_2011.pdf, last
accessed 29 January 2014.
185
Such a holistic approach was proposed in UNISPACE III Report of the
Conference, supra n. 182, at 137 stating ‘protection and enforcement of IPRs
should be considered together with the international legal principles developed
by the UN, such as those relating to principles of non-appropriation of outer
space’.
186
See on the Outer Space Treaty (supra, n. 2) in general supra, § 2.3.1.

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IP rights in the context of space activities 993

using the notion of jurisdiction and control to determine applicability of

the US law to inventions made in outer space.
In the sphere of use and dissemination of satellite remote sensing data,
any rules should at the same time preserve the principle of non-
discriminatory access to remote sensing data, and accommodate the
interests of the growing commercial providers of remote sensing data.187
The trends of providing access to, and enabling sharing and use of
remote sensing data without restrictions should also be taken into
account, in particular when a country participates in initiatives like
GEOSS or Copernicus.188
Outer space, however, is not the only area the international character of
which may negatively affect development of space activities because of
posing hurdles or inconsistencies as to the applicability of IP protection
to space-related subject-matter due to the differences in national regu-
lations and absence of sufficiently unified and harmonized international
law provisions in this field. There are other territories or spaces where
regulation of economic activities poses challenges to the legislator, those
in charge of law enforcement, and ultimately those who carry them out or
benefit from them.
One of them is the internet: its seemingly borderless nature often poses
jurisdictional challenges, especially when enforcement of IPR is at stake.
No adequate approach to regulate the issues regarding acquisition, and
most importantly use of IPR has yet been found, particularly due to the
jurisdictional problems involved in the governance of activities in this
‘space’.189 Despite the lack of substantial regulatory success,190 the
relevant research, as well as available case law may be relevant and
useful in the context of regulating space activities. Another field that
could give some guidance in searching for the optimal regulatory choices
for effective IPR regimes, in particular patents, are offshore zones and

187
See UNISPACE III Report of the Conference, supra n. 182, 129.
188
See supra, § 18.2.4.
189
For an overview and analysis of the major issues involved, see T. Scassa,
New First Principles? Assessing the Internet’s Challenges to Jurisdiction, 42
Georgetown Journal of International Law (2011), 4.
190
This lack of result is partially caused by the necessity to match interests
of IPR holders that are rooted in the traditional principle of territorial jurisdiction
and the apparent need to adopt conceptually new mechanisms for the activities
that take place in and around internet. For an interesting overview of the issues
involved, see A. Lester, The Implications of the Google Books Search Dispute
for the Private International Law of Intellectual Property, 16 Journal of Tech-
nology Law & Policy (2011), 121 ff., incl. references to further useful reading.

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rules applicable to economic activities conducted in them.191 The analogy

between the internet, offshore zones, the high seas and outer space would
allow learning about and consideration of the regulatory experience,
which may be helpful when elaborating on the solutions for the intellec-
tual results of space activities and their effective protection by virtue of
IPR.

191
See, for a note which highlights some judicial practice in the United
States in this regard, J. Galvin & M.N. Subjeck, Does Offshore Mean Off-
Limits? Courts Address the Geographic Scope of Patent Laws, New York Law
Journal, 7 January 2013.

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19. Dispute resolution regarding space

activities
Maureen Williams

19.1 THE BACKGROUND – THE LAW IN FORCE:

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW/SPACE LAW
So far there are no binding dispute settlements mechanisms in the UN
treaties on outer space except for the 1972 Liability Convention,1 which
envisages the setting up of a Claims Commission which, as will be seen
later, never managed to come into operation. Be that as it may, the
awards of this Commission are merely recommendatory unless the
parties to the dispute have previously agreed to the contrary.2
One of the main reasons accounting for this situation was that, at the
time of the drafting of these treaties in the 1960s and 1970s, the rapid
progress of science and technology was not foreseen in its proper
dimensions. In those days only two space powers dominated the field
where space activities were conducted. Nowadays, by contrast, space
technologies are being accessed by a large part of the developing world
on the basis of cooperation agreements and, moreover, the commercial
sides of space activities are growing on an unprecedented scale. Indeed
the activity of non-space actors in outer space is constantly increasing;
the possibility of disputes became greater and the available mechanisms
of public international law threatened to become less effective.
At the same time the new political settings were changing, for example
in the field of earth observation from space where a non-binding
instrument – the UN Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth

1
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space
Objects (hereafter Liability Convention), London/Moscow/Washington, done 29
March 1972, entered into force 1 September 1972; 961 UNTS 187; TIAS 7762;
24 UST 2389; UKTS 1974 No. 16; Cmnd. 5068; ATS 1975 No. 5; 10 ILM 965
(1971). See further infra, § 19.1.3.
2
Cf. Art. XIX(2), Liability Convention, supra n. 1.

995

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from Outer Space adopted in 19863 – provided a number of guidelines of

a general nature. Remote sensing activities were defined as ‘the sensing
of the Earth’s surface from space by making use of the properties of
electromagnetic waves emitted, reflected or diffracted by the sensed
objects, for the purpose of improving natural resources management, land
use and the protection of the environment’.4
Some of these Principles were controversial at the time, notably
Principle XII, on the right of access of the ‘sensed State’ to the data
concerning its territory coupled with claims from the developing coun-
tries ‘that they were being spied on by the space-faring countries’. This
provision triggered sharp confrontations between the developing world
and states having the technology to observe the earth from space. At this
point in time, however, that antagonistic attitude has lost momentum as a
result of developing countries gradually accessing the modern tech-
nologies and becoming ‘sensing’ states as well.5 In this context the
significant commercial aspects of space activities also had an important
part to play.
As indicated earlier, these are the major reasons leading the inter-
national community to think of more agile dispute settlement procedures
in the field of space activities in which private parties could participate as
well. This objective clearly reflected a reality of the times. In fact, the
first step in this direction was given by the International Law Association
(ILA) with the adoption of what is seen as one of the first examples of
rules to govern the new situation, namely the ‘Convention on the
Settlement of Space Law Disputes’ (1984)6 and a Revised Final Text
entitled ‘Convention on the Settlement of Disputes Related to Space
Activities’ (1998).7 Both these texts carried a provision on the possibility
of non-governmental actors being parties to the procedures on dispute
settlement laid down by the draft Conventions.8

3
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space
(hereafter Remote Sensing Principles), UNGA Res. 41/65, of 3 December 1986;
UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 43; 25 ILM 1334 (1986).
4
Princ. I(a), Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 3.
5
The term ‘sensing State’ is common shorthand for terms such as ‘State
carrying out remote sensing activities’, ‘State participating in remote sensing
activities’ and ‘State operating a remote sensing satellite’, as they are used by the
Remote Sensing Principles, supra n. 3; see e.g. Principles V, VII, X–XIV.
6
See ILA Report of the Sixty-First Conference, Paris, 1984, 325–55.
7
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth Conference, Taipei, 1998, 239–75.
8
Art. 10 of both Conventions reads as follows: ‘1. All the dispute
settlement procedures specified in this Convention shall be open to Contracting
Parties. 2. The dispute settlement procedures specified in this Convention shall

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 997

In this light, and supported by a general opinion showing concern

regarding the lack of effective means for dispute settlement related to
outer space activities, where private parties were not considered, the
Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) embarked on the drafting of
Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space
Activities, Rules on Outer Space Disputes for short, with the objective of
covering those gaps in the law. The Rules became effective on 6
December 2011.9
With the adoption of the 1979 Agreement governing the Activities of
States on the Moon and other Celestial Bodies10 the United Nations,
having moved away from the classic principles and solutions of inter-
national law applicable on earth, closed a unique phase of progressive
development of international law.11 In the first place, sovereignty claims
were ruled out whether based on use or occupation, or by any other
means.12
The treaty-making stage of the United Nations began with the adoption
of the 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other
Celestial Bodies, also known as the Outer Space Treaty. It was followed
shortly by the 1968 Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return
of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space,13 the

be open to entities other than States and international intergovernmental organ-

isations, unless the matter is submitted to the International Court of Justice in
accordance with Article 6.’ The latter article refers to the choice of procedure.
9
See Fifty-first session of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee, 19–30
March 2012, Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/2012/CRP.17.
10
Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other
Celestial Bodies (hereafter Moon Agreement), New York, done 18 December
1979, entered into force 11 July 1984; 1363 UNTS 3; ATS 1986 No. 14; 18 ILM
1434 (1979).
11
See also supra, §§ 1.1, 2.2.1.1, 2.2.1.2.
12
See Art. II, Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies (hereafter Outer Space Treaty), London/Moscow/Washington, done 27
January 1967, entered into force 10 October 1967; 610 UNTS 205; TIAS 6347;
18 UST 2410; UKTS 1968 No. 10; Cmnd. 3198; ATS 1967 No. 24; 6 ILM 386
(1967).
13
Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the
Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (hereafter Rescue Agreement),
London/Moscow/Washington, done 22 April 1968, entered into force 3 Decem-
ber 1968; 672 UNTS 119; TIAS 6599; 19 UST 7570; UKTS 1969 No. 56;
Cmnd. 3786; ATS 1986 No. 8; 7 ILM 151 (1968).

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1972 Liability Convention,14 the 1975 Convention on Registration of

Objects Launched into Outer Space15 and, as pointed out earlier, the 1979
Moon Agreement.16 These are the five binding international instruments
relating to space law today. They all enshrine rules of customary law and
general principles of law but, at the same time, they are introducing new
features which, in no uncertain terms, are rules of progressive develop-
ment of the law.
In 1982 a new era began. States appeared reluctant to get involved in
treaty obligations of which the implications in the years to come were
uncertain.17 Consequently, in the following ten years, three sets of UN
Principles dealing with rather sensitive matters were adopted, as follows:

1. Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites

for International Direct Television Broadcasting (1982);18
2. Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer
Space (1986);19 and
3. Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer
Space (1992).20

Finally, in 1996, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the

Benefits Declaration, that is the Declaration on International Cooperation
in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the

14
Supra, n. 1.
15
Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(hereafter Registration Convention), New York, done 14 January 1975, entered
into force 15 September 1976; 1023 UNTS 15; TIAS 8480; 28 UST 695; UKTS
1978 No. 70; Cmnd. 6256; ATS 1986 No. 5; 14 ILM 43 (1975).
16
Supra, n. 10.
17
See ILA Report of the Seventieth Conference, New Delhi, 2002, 14–6; S.
Hobe, The Relevance of the Current International Space Treaties in the 21st
Century, 27 Annals of Air & Space Law (2002), 340.
18
Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for
International Direct Television Broadcasting (hereafter Direct Broadcast Prin-
ciples), UNGA Res. 37/92, of 10 December 1982; UN Doc. A/AC.105/572/
Rev.1, at 39.
19
Supra, n. 3.
20
Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space
(hereafter NPS Principles), UNGA Res. 47/68, of 14 December 1992; UN Doc.
A/AC.105/572/Rev.1, at 47.

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 999

Interest of All States, taking into Particular Account the Needs of

Developing Countries.21
Unlike the UN space treaties, the Principles and UN Declarations are
not binding in themselves unless they are declaring rules of customary
international law. In this case the Principles would become binding on
the basis of international custom in accordance with Article 38 of the
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969.22
It would now be opportune to provide an overview, in chronological
order, of the dispute settlement procedures embodied in the above-
mentioned UN international instruments.

19.1.1 The Outer Space Treaty

Two sections on dispute settlement are enshrined in the Outer Space

Treaty, namely Article III and Article IX. One of the major points of
disagreement in the course of the negotiation stage was the firm rejection
by the Soviet bloc of the US proposal on conferring obligatory juris-
diction to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)23 for disputes concern-
ing the interpretation and application of the treaty.24 The Soviet Union,
for the resolution of disputes, would not go beyond direct negotiations.
The first-mentioned clause provides that

States Parties to the Treaty shall carry on activities in the exploration and use
of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, in accordance
with international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in the
interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting inter-
national cooperation and understanding.25

21
Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of
Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of all States, Taking into
Particular Account the Needs of Developing Countries (hereafter Benefits
Declaration), UNGA Res. 51/122, of 13 December 1996; UN Doc. A/RES/51/
122.
22
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, done 23 May 1969,
entered into force 27 January 1980; 1155 UNTS 331; UKTS 1980 No. 58;
Cmnd. 4818; ATS 1974 No. 2; 8 ILM 679 (1969).
23
The ICJ can only entertain disputes between states which have, in one of
a few specific ways, accepted its jurisdiction; cf. Art. 36, Statute of the
International Court of Justice, San Francisco, done 26 June 1945, entered into
force 24 October 1945; 156 UNTS 77; USTS 993; 59 Stat. 1031; UKTS 1946
No. 67; ATS 1945 No. 1.
24
See B. Cheng, Studies in International Space Law (1997), 270.
25
Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 12.

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It follows that any dispute over the interpretation and application of this
provision should be resolved by traditional means of public international
law, namely negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration,
judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies and arrangements, or other
peaceful means of their own choice, as listed in Article 33 of the UN
Charter.26 In other words, this is an underlying obligation to submit
disputes in accordance with the principle of free choice of means, but not
to resolve the controversy.
Customary international law is at the root of the Vienna Convention on
the Law of Treaties. It applies, as such, to disputes over the interpretation
and application of treaties. Article 31 contains guidelines on the matter in
which the right of the parties to the choice of means is duly respected. In
principle, a treaty should be applied in good faith, in accordance with the
ordinary meaning of its terms and in the light of its object and purpose.27
These provisions follow a functional (or teleological) school of thought,
with a slight inclination to the intention of the parties. However, in

26
Charter of the United Nations (hereafter UN Charter), San Francisco,
done 26 June 1945, entered into force 24 October 1945; USTS 993; 24 UST
2225; 59 Stat. 1031; 145 UKTS 805; UKTS 1946 No. 67; Cmd. 6666 and 6711;
CTS 1945 No. 7; ATS 1945 No. 1.
See further on these various forms of dispute settlement e.g. C.H, Bower,
Arbitration, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. I
(2012), 531 ff.; N. Butler, Arbitration and Conciliation Treaties, in Encyclopedia
of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. I (2012), 549 ff.; J.P. Cot,
Conciliation, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol.
II (2012), 576 ff.; R. Wolfrum, Cooperation, International Law, in Encyclopedia
of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. II (2012), 783 ff.; E.J.
Roncati, Diplomacy, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R.
Wolfrum) Vol. III (2012), 97 ff.; R. Lapidoth, Good Offices, in Encyclopedia of
Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. IV (2012), 528 ff.; A. Pellet,
Judicial Settlement of International Disputes, in Encyclopedia of Public Inter-
national Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VI (2012), 526 ff.; F. Orrego Vicuna,
Mediation, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol.
VII (2012), 45 ff.; L. Boisson de Chazournes & D. Campanelli, Mixed
Commissions, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum)
Vol. VII (2012), 301 ff.; K. Hapaka, Negotiation, in Encyclopedia of Public
International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol. VII (2012), 588 ff.; A.L. Daverede,
Negotiation, Secret, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R.
Wolfrum) Vol. VII (2012), 595 ff.; A. Pellet, Peaceful Settlement of International
Disputes, in Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Ed. R. Wolfrum) Vol.
VIII (2012), 201 ff.
27
See Art. 31(1), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 22.

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practice, some conflict has arisen on the application of these schools of

thought, particularly in ICJ case law.28
Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty, for its part, mainly focuses on
damage to the earth environment.29 It does no more than establish a duty
of international cooperation and mutual assistance on the states parties to
this treaty and indicates, for instance, that states shall pursue studies of
outer space, the moon and other celestial bodies so as to avoid harmful
contamination or adverse changes in the environment of the earth
resulting from the introduction of extra-terrestrial matter. Moreover,
where necessary, they shall adopt appropriate measures and if there is
reason to believe that any activity or experience carried out in those areas
would cause potential harmful interference with activities of other states
parties in outer space they should undertake international consultations.
The weakness of this clause is clearly manifest as being quite limited in
scope.30 Nowadays, states, international organizations and private entities
are fully immersed not only in the exploration but also in the exploitation

28
Interesting, for their implications, are some ICJ Advisory Opinions, such
as Namibia, ICJ Reports 1971. See i.a. J. Dugard, A Commentary, 59 Nether-
lands International Law Review (2012), 305, reviewing The Vienna Conventions
on the Law of Treaties (Eds. D. Corten & P. Klein) (2011).
29
Art. IX, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 12, provides in full: ‘In the
exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial
bodies, States Parties to the Treaty shall be guided by the principle of
cooperation and mutual assistance and shall conduct all their activities in outer
space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, with due regard to the
corresponding interests of all other States Parties to the Treaty. States Parties to
the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the Moon and other
celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful
contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting
from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt
appropriate measures for this purpose. If a State Party to the Treaty has reason to
believe that an activity or experiment planned by it or its nationals in outer space,
including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful
interference with activities of other States Parties in the peaceful exploration and
use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, it shall
undertake appropriate international consultations before proceeding with any
such activity or experiment. A State Party to the Treaty which has reason to
believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer
space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially
harmful interference with activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer
space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, may request consultation
concerning the activity or experiment.’
30
See F. Vallat, The Outer Space Treaties, 73 Journal of the Royal
Aeronautical Society (1969), 755; also M. Williams, Derecho Internacional

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1002 Handbook of space law

and use of outer space. Actors include both industrialized and developing
countries.
In fact, Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty was open to question from
the very beginning of the adoption of that treaty and became a target for
severe criticism by the doctrine.31 Many of the key words in Article IX
remain open to interpretation with the uncertainties and dangers this
situation may entail. For example, when should contamination be ‘harm-
ful’, or ‘adverse’ changes considered such? Who is going to determine
whether the measures taken were indeed ‘necessary’? Furthermore, to
speak of states having ‘reason to believe’ is a subjective requirement left
entirely to the discretion of states.
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is not too clear on these
points either. In fact, Article 66 on procedures for judicial settlement,
arbitration and conciliation provides that any party to a dispute concern-
ing the application or interpretation of any of the articles in Part V of the
Convention32 may set in motion a procedure envisaged in the Annex to
the Convention33 by submitting its request to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations. This does not apply to Articles 53 and 64 – dealing with
peremptory norms of general international law – and where the ICJ is to
decide.34
The Annex provides that a list of conciliators, consisting of qualified
jurists, shall be drawn up and maintained by the Secretary-General of the
United Nations who, upon request, shall refer the dispute to a Concilia-
tion Commission.35 This Commission shall make proposals to the parties
to the dispute with a view to reaching an amicable settlement and report
to the Secretary-General who, in turn, shall transmit it to the parties

Contemporáneo (1990), 107–22, reflecting moreover the current general opinion

in the ILA Space Law Committee.
31
See Vallat, supra n. 30, 705.
32
It should be borne in mind that, unlike other sections of the Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 22, Part V on Invalidity, Termination
and Suspension of the Operation of Treaties does not, in general, reflect
customary international law and that Art. 66, containing procedures for judicial
settlement, arbitration and conciliation, was adopted with the lowest number of
affirmative votes required for that purpose.
33
The Annex is attached to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
supra n. 22; 1155 UNTS 353.
34
See on the latter Art. 66, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
supra n. 22.
35
See paras. 1, 2, Annex, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra
n. 22.

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 1003

involved.36 Neither the Commission’s report nor its conclusions are

binding on the parties but merely of a recommendatory nature.37 There-
fore, dispute settlement mechanisms for the interpretation of Article IX
of the Outer Space Treaty by means of the Annex to the Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties are hardly of any use at this point in
time.

19.1.2 The Rescue Agreement

The Rescue Agreement is, essentially, of a humanitarian nature. Address-

ing dispute settlement procedures in this context would go beyond the
scope of this analysis as no specific rules are included in this instrument.
Hence the general rules of Article III and Article IX of the Outer Space
Treaty would apply.38
Moreover, this topic is today linked to issues surrounding space traffic
management and ‘space tourism’ and, in some measure, to the 1998
Intergovernmental Agreement concerning cooperation on the civil Inter-
national Space Station (ISS)39 to which a limited number of states are
parties. Dispute settlement is addressed, in this framework, in Article 23
listing consultations, conciliation, mediation or arbitration as possible
means.40 This is largely a political solution agreed by the parties to this
Agreement, namely Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United
States and the European Space Agency (ESA).41

36
See paras. 5, 6, Annex, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra
n. 22.
37
Cf. para. 6, Annex, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra
n. 22.
38
See further supra, § 19.1.1.
39
Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member
States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government
of the Russian Federation, and the Government of the United States of America
concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station (hereafter
Intergovernmental Agreement), Washington, done 29 January 1998, entered into
force 27 March 2001; TIAS No. 12927; Cm. 4552; Space Law – Basic Legal
Documents, D.II.4.
40
The list of Art. 23, Intergovernmental Agreement, supra n. 39, is not
exhaustive but simply mentions the most frequently used means; freedom of
choice remains the general principle.
41
ESA is the ISS Partner on behalf of 11 ESA member states, qualifying as
Partner States; see further supra, §§ 11.3, 11.4.

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19.1.3 The Liability Convention

The Liability Convention was an important step forward in the field.

However, like any human construction, it has merits and also flaws.
Among the merits – which largely outnumber the flaws – is the important
progress on the legal personality of international organizations42 and the
inclusion of the principle of integral compensation for damage.43 Further-
more the Convention envisages a review possibility44 and includes
nuclear damage as a source for compensation.45 Overall the greatest
merit was reaching consensus for adoption in the middle of the Cold War
and in a field where political ambitions did not easily give way.46

42
Cf. Art. XXII, Liability Convention, supra n. 1; see further supra,
generally Chapter 5, also § 2.3.3.8.
43
Cf. Art. XII, Liability Convention, supra n. 1, which provides in full: ‘The
compensation which the launching State shall be liable to pay for damage under
this Convention shall be determined in accordance with international law and the
principles of justice and equity, in order to provide such reparation in respect of
the damage as will restore the person, natural or juridical, State or international
organization on whose behalf the claim is presented to the condition which
would have existed if the damage had not occurred.’
44
Cf. Art. XXVI, Liability Convention, supra n. 1, which inter alia provides
that ‘the question of the review of this Convention shall be included in the
provisional agenda of the United Nations General Assembly in order to consider,
in the light of past application of the Convention, whether it requires revision’.
45
Art. I(a), Liability Convention, supra n. 1, defines damage as ‘loss of life,
personal injury or other impairment of health; or loss of or damage to property of
States or of persons, natural or juridical, or property of international inter-
governmental organizations’. On the inclusion of nuclear damage in this context,
see e.g. S. Gorove, Studies in Space Law: Its Challenges and Prospects (1977),
140; B. Cheng, Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by
Space Objects, in Manual on Space Law (Eds. N. Jasentuliyana & R.S.K. Lee)
Vol. I (1979), 115; W.F. Foster, The Convention on International Liability for
Damage Caused by Space Objects, 10 Canadian Yearbook of International Law
(1972), 155–7.
46
As observed by Brisibe, while the liability regime for damage caused on
earth is no doubt an exception to the general reluctance of states towards rules
imposing strict liability, other aspects of liability and responsibility for injurious
consequences of outer space activities depend on the establishment of fault, in
respect of which neither is fault defined nor are there binding guidelines for
standards of care or provisions for imputing negligent conduct to others or for
the attribution of vicarious liability; see T.C. Brisibe, The International Norma-
tive System and a Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, in Decoding the
International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities (Ed. A. Lele) (2012),
128–9. See further, on this point, The Role of Arbitration in Settling Disputes

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 1005

The weaknesses of the Liability Convention concern mainly the

dispute settlement mechanisms. In fact, the recommendatory nature of
the awards of the Claims Commission – a body to be set up when the
dispute fails to be settled by direct negotiation – remains a matter of
concern and is hardly consistent with today’s international context where
swift technological development is a sign of the times. In perspective, the
solutions provided by the Liability Convention for dispute settlement are
understandable given the political winds blowing in all directions during
those early days. However, they are hardly appropriate in today’s
international scenarios.
At the 69th Conference of the International Law Association (held in
London, 2000) the ILA Space Law Committee became involved in a
‘Review of the Space Law Treaties in View of Commercial Space
Activities’. The point of departure was Article VI of the 1967 Space
Treaty which covered – and continues to cover – most possibilities of
private activities in space that, in accordance with the state of the art, are
viable and commercial, and their consequences. The principle underlying
this Article is freedom of action of private enterprises under the respons-
ibility of the state concerned.47
Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty – today seen as part of customary
international law48 – imposes direct responsibility on states for national

Relating to Outer Space Activities, 120 Financier Worldwide (Dec. 2012), 48–50,
www.financierworldwide.com/login.php?url=article.php%3Fid%3D10036, last
accessed 21 April 2014.
47
Cf. also Arts. I, VI, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 12; further Statement by
the Board of Directors of International Institute of Space Law on Claims to
Property Rights Regarding the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,
www.iislweb.org/docs/IISL_Outer_Space_Treaty_Statement.pdf, last accessed 31
January 2014; also e.g. V. Kayser, Launching Space Objects: Issues of Liability
and Future Prospects (2001), 34; J. Hermida, Legal Basis for a National Space
Legislation (2004), 7.
48
These are conclusions reached in different ILA Reports; see e.g. ILA
Report of the Seventieth Conference, New Delhi, 2002, 194–6, 219, 222; ILA
Report of the Seventy-First Conference, Berlin, 2004, 4. Cf. further e.g. C.
Chaumont, Orientation actuelle du droit de l’espace, 28 Revue Générale Air et
Espace (1965), 8; M. Lachs, The Law of Outer Space: An Experience in
Contemporary Law-Making (1972), 139 (‘It was … declaratory, confirming in
treaty language the principles and rules already adopted and accepted as law’).
Not only is the codification of existing customary international law in a
subsequent treaty recognized in international law (cf. Art. 38, Vienna Convention
on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 22); the jurisprudence of the ICJ also considers
that customary law can evolve from treaty law; see e.g. Nottebohm Case (Second
Phase) (Liechtenstein v. Guatemala), International Court of Justice, 6 April 1955,

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activities in outer space, whether carried on by governmental agencies or

by non-governmental entities. The latter require authorization and con-
tinuing supervision by the appropriate state party to the Treaty. In the
case of activities carried on by an international organization the respons-
ibility shall be borne by the international organization and the states
under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, as well as for liability
purposes by those which are parties to the Liability Convention and
member states of the organization.49
Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty establishes a real duty for states
to authorize and supervise all private national activities in space, making
them responsible to that effect. This provision is a clear example of
indirect state responsibility.50
Coming back to the Liability Convention, it should be borne in mind
that Article III thereof considers damage caused elsewhere than on the
surface of the earth – such as the collision between Iridium-33 and
Cosmos-2251 on 9 February 200951 – where liability based on fault is
applicable. Article VI of this Convention, for its part, is the only
provision addressing exclusion or exemption from liability thus softening
the very strict rule of absolute liability contained in Article II of the
Liability Convention.52
Next, specific areas of the Liability Convention which relate to dispute
settlement should be addressed in order to establish their consistency in

I.C.J. Rep. 1955, 22–3. Further K. Doehring, Gewohnheitsrecht aus Verträgen, in

36 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (1976), 82; R.
Baxter, Treaties and Custom, 129 Recueil Des Cours (1970 I), 25; R.J. Lee,
Reconciling International Space Law with the Commercial Realities of the
Twenty-first Century, 4 Singapore Journal of International & Comparative Law
(2000), 203.
49
Cf. again Art. XXII, Liability Convention, supra n. 1.
50
See Cheng, supra n. 24, 644.
51
See further on this e.g. M. Mejia-Kaiser, Collision Course: 2009 Iridium–
Cosmos Crash, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2009
(2010), 274–84; R.S. Jakhu, Iridium–Cosmos Collision and its Implications for
Space Operations, in Yearbook on Space Policy 2008/2009 (Eds. K.U. Schrogl et
al.) (2010), 254–75; F.G. von der Dunk, Too-Close Encounters of the Third-Party
Kind: Will the Liability Convention Stand the Test of the Cosmos 2251–Iridium
33 Collision?, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2009
(2010), 199–209.
52
See F. Tronchetti, L.J. Smith & A. Kerrest de Rozavel, The 1972
Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects, in
Cologne Commentary on Space Law (Eds. S. Hobe, B. Schmidt-Tedd & K.U.
Schrogl) Vol. II (2013), 148–9.

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today’s world. These are Article XII on the applicable law and Article
XIX on dispute settlement.
Article XII, when dealing with the compensation for damage to be
paid by the launching state, refers to international law and the principles
of justice and equity in order to provide such reparation in respect of the
damage as will restore the person, natural or juridical, state or inter-
national organization on whose behalf the claim is presented to the
condition which would have existed if the damage had not occurred
(which amounts to restitutio in integrum53).
This provision was, in fact, one of the most controversial within the
Legal Sub-Committee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space (COPUOS) and ultimately the result of a compromise among the
delegations holding conflicting views on the matter.54 However, it is fair
to say that, under extremely difficult circumstances, the Liability Conven-
tion succeeded in imposing an obligation to restore the victim of damage
to the status quo ante.
During the negotiation of the Liability Convention within the Legal
Sub-Committee of COPUOS the pressure to include a mention of the law
of the place where the damage had occurred (the so-called locus regit
actum) or, alternatively, the law of the claimant state, was persistent but
unsuccessful in the end.55 The nitty-gritty of the question seemed to be
the fear of many delegations that their own nationals, if injured, would
receive token compensation depending on the way the principle of
reciprocity was interpreted. There seemed to be a great deal of confusion
surrounding the application of public international law and not a few

53
This provision is based in the joint proposal to the COPUOS Legal
Subcommittee made by Belgium, Brazil and Hungary (Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/L-79,
of 21 June 1971) on restitutio in integrum which spoke of restoring the victim to
a condition ‘equivalent’ to that which would have existed if the damage had not
occurred. In the adopted text of Art. XII the word ‘equivalent’ was left out which
was seen with favour by many delegations, i.a. the Argentine one, as the
obligation to restore would be weakened should the word ‘condition’ be qualified
(cf. Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/SR 163, 10, of 24 June 1971). See Williams, supra n. 30,
23–4; also Cheng, supra n. 24, 341, particularly as regards the positions of the
various delegations to the Legal Sub-Committee concerning limitation of liabil-
ity.
54
See Cheng, supra n. 24, 332, also 340; further also ILA Report of the
Sixty-Ninth Conference, London, 2000, 574–5.
55
See Cheng, supra n. 24, 332, also 340. Cheng mentions that some
delegations remained unsatisfied as the lex loci was not included: i.a. India,
Sweden, Japan, Austria, India, and Iran (see Cheng, at n. 297). See further also
ILA Report of the Sixty-Ninth Conference, London, 2000, 574–5.

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delegations to the COPUOS Legal Sub-Committee fell into a maze of

theoretical discussion surrounding the issue of conflict of laws.56
In fact, there is nothing vague – or obscure – in the drafting of
Article XII of the Liability Convention, as sometimes pointed out by the
doctrine at the time57 and even in more recent years. A clear illustration
was the comments by some PCA delegates during the drafting of the
Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space
Activities in 2011.58 Indeed it is hard to see ‘international law’ in the
context of Article XII as abstract or too general. Quite the contrary,
international law encompasses treaty law, customary international law
and general principles of law, as listed in Article 38 of the ICJ Statute.59
And whenever international tribunals were called upon to give a decision
in accordance with international law, the task was never a great chal-
lenge.
As to the ‘principles of justice and equity’, they seem clear enough
today to ensure, as declared in the Preamble of the Liability Convention,
‘the prompt payment … of a full and equitable measure of compensation
to victims’.60 Some of the classic case law on this question shall be
highlighted as follows.61
In 1922, for example, the PCA based its decision in the Norwegian
Ship Owners Case on ‘principles of justice and equity’ and described
these principles as ‘general principles of justice’.62 Of special interest in
this case is the recognition of the objective existence of these principles
which were seen, at the same time, as independent from the national

56
This follows from a thorough analysis of the records of the Legal
Sub-Committee; see ILA Report of the Sixty-Ninth Conference, London, 2000,
574–5; also Cheng, supra n. 24, 332–41.
57
See e.g. a discussion of the different views of the doctrine in S. Gorove,
Dispute Settlement in the Liability Convention, in Settlement of Space Law
Disputes (Ed. K.H. Böckstiegel) (1980), 43–50.
58
Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space
Activities (hereafter Rules on Outer Space Disputes), The Hague, 6 December
2011, www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1188, last accessed 2 February
2014. More recently the question was reviewed by the present author in answer
to the questions raised by the Republic of Belarus on the then PCA Draft
Optional Rules; document on file with the author (2011).
59
Supra, n. 23.
60
4th para., Preamble, Liability Convention, supra n. 1.
61
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Ninth Conference, London, 2000, 574–5; also
Williams, supra n. 30, 23–34.
62
Norwegian Shipowners’ Claims, Norway v. USA, 13 October 1922; Vol.
XI, Reports of International Arbitral Awards (RIAA).

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legal systems and common to all civilized nations. Indeed, the PCA has
used the terms ‘law’, ‘justice’ and ‘equity’ as synonyms.63 In a more
recent context some authors consider that if a decision is given in
accordance with ‘law and equity’ this would lead the tribunal to choose
principles widely recognized and precise enough to serve in the given
case, or else to give an ex aequo et bono decision to fill gaps in the law.64
The law of the sea provides a good illustration of the way ‘inter-
national law and the principles of justice and equity’ were being applied
by international courts and tribunals following the entering into force of
the Liability Convention. In 1982 the ICJ decided on the delimitation of
the continental shelves between Libya and Tunisia and, faithful to the
principle that the land dominates the sea, the Court considered that
delimitation should not advance on, or overlap with, the opposite coastal
areas of the parties. The equitable principles applied were grounded on
the principle of proportionality and, in an effort to define the scope of the
principles on which it was instructed to decide, the Court held that equity
sprang directly from justice and was a principle to be applied ipso jure.
Hence the Court took into account the existence of oil wells and the
conditions underlying the exploitation concessions. In this way the Court
– in spite of the acid criticisms made by four of its judges in their
dissenting opinions – evaluated the situation, including an element of
equity to the other available documentation.65
Also interesting, for their implications, were the Gulf of Maine Case66
decided by a Special Chamber of the ICJ in 1984 and the Guinea-Bissau
arbitration67 concluded in 1986. In the first case the Court gave its
decision in accordance with ‘the rules and principles of international
law’, making a distinction between ‘rules of customary international law’

63
See Reports of International Arbitral Reports, 1922; also B. Cheng,
Justice and Equity in International Law, in Current Legal Problems (Eds. G.W.
Keeton & G. Schwarzenberger) (1955), 185 ff.
64
See e.g. S.W. DeVine, Polyconnotational Equity and the Role of Epieikeia
in International Law, 24 Texas International Law Journal (1989), 149 ff.
65
See ICJ Reports 1982; also M.B. Feldman, The Tunisia-Libya Continen-
tal Shelf Case: Geographical Justice or Judicial Compromise? 77 American
Journal of International Law (1983), 219–38.
66
See ICJ Reports 1984.
67
See Maritime delimitation dispute between Guinea Bissau and Senegal
(Guinea Bissau vs. Senegal); Arbitral Award of 31 July 1989 (Guinea-Bissau v.
Sen.), 1991 I.C.J. 53 (Nov. 12); 25 ILM 251 (1986).

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and ‘principles of law’.68 This meant, in practice, the application of

different criteria to a specific question as the Court found that customary
international law did not provide criteria applicable to all delimitations of
maritime areas. In Guinea-Bissau the arbitral tribunal was instructed to
give its award in accordance with the ‘rules of international law’, which
meant identifying ‘equitable’ and ‘objective principles’.69 The tribunal
decided that each state should control, as best as it could, the maritime
area opposite its coastline and in its vicinity with due respect for the
delimitations already carried out in the region.
The foregoing analysis reflects a few samples of the dimension in
which the international courts and tribunals have been interpreting and
applying international law and the principles of justice and equity over
the years since the adoption of the Liability Convention. These pre-
cedents – in addition to the weight they carried given their thorough
examination by judges and arbitrators – were clearly showing a trend
towards pragmatic solutions which would inspire generations of space
lawyers.
The net conclusion is that Article XII of the Liability Convention
should be maintained in its present reading and be seen as one of the
greatest achievements of the Liability Convention. It is a rule of public
international law proper which raises no questions of conflict of laws.70
Indeed, public international law has its own rules of private international
law.71 Moreover, this provision is totally compatible with the most recent
development in the field of dispute settlement, namely the 2011 PCA
Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities.72

68
See Case Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf
of Maine Area, Judgment of 12 October 1984, www.icj-cij.org/docket/
index.php?sum=346&p1=3&p2=3&case=67&p3=5, last accessed 31 January
2014.
69
See 25 ILM 251 (1986).
70
During the drafting of the Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58,
some PCA member states underlined the need for the Rules ‘to be refined’ in
order to prevent a conflict of laws. The present author answered along the lines
expressed in the above text when addressing Art. XII, Liability Convention,
namely that the article raises no issue of conflict of laws and that it is a rule of
public international law.
71
See Cheng, supra n. 24, 336.
72
See Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58; also Permanent Court of
Arbitration, Arbitration Rules (2012), www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_
id=1188, last accessed 31 January 2014. See for the 2011 Rules on Outer Space;
also Fifty-first session of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee, 19–30 March
2012, A/AC.105/C.2/2012/CRP.17.

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These Rules on Outer Space Disputes are of a procedural nature and will
be examined at a later stage in this analysis.73
Turning to Article XIX of the Liability Convention, it should be read
together with Articles I, XIV, XVI and, of course, Article XII, which sets
the tone for the whole dispute settlement system. Article XIV establishes
a system of direct negotiation by diplomatic channels for compensation
claims. If no settlement is reached within one year Article XIV envisages
the establishment of a Claims Commission at the request of either party.
All decisions and awards of the Commission, according to Article XVI,
shall be by a majority vote and, as Article XIX states, they shall be final
and binding if the parties have so agreed; otherwise the Commission shall
render a final and recommendatory award, which the parties shall
consider in good faith.
Here is where the greatest failure of the Liability Convention lies, that
is to say, taking an exception as a general rule. Despite the fact that a
number of delegations to the Legal Sub-Committee of COPUOS were
favouring a system of binding decisions, the harsh facts of politics made
this impossible at the time of adoption of the text of this Convention. At
first sight a valid conclusion would be that if and when the Convention is
revised, the principle embodied in Article XIX, third paragraph, should
be reversed.74
Be that as it may, 40 years of the dispute settlement mechanisms of the
Liability Convention have not managed to prove their effectiveness. The
crash of the Soviet Cosmos-954 satellite, equipped with a nuclear reactor,
left radioactive fragments in Canada. The case was settled by direct
negotiations between the parties.75 The Soviet Union argued that the

73
See infra, § 19.3.
74
As observed by the Argentine delegate to the Legal Subcommittee (Doc.
A/AC.105/C.2/SR, 163, of 24 June 1971, 12), in most legal systems the rule was
that awards be binding. However, in the case of the Liability Convention, supra
n. 1, this became the exception instead of the rule. Thus, the principle par in
parem non habet imperium was falling to pieces. The Austrian delegation at the
1998 session of the Legal Sub-Committee actually proposed, supported by other
delegations, ‘to consider measures for obtaining a binding dispute settlement
system particularly under the Convention on International Liability for Damage
Caused by Space Objects’; cf. e.g. ILA Resolution No. 13/2000, Space Law, § 2;
www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ve
d=0CEAQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ila-hq.org%2Fdownload.cfm%2Fd
ocid%2FC9859BBD-F2C3-412C-90A25EEE26A1D7FE&ei=-5eKUs_xC4Xr2A
W6z4CQCg&usg=AFQjCNGmcTMvgMUB9l4T1sdfobRxbevSAA, last accessed
31 January 2014.
75
See also supra, § 2.3.3.9.

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Liability Convention did not apply to the situation given that no personal
injuries or property damage had occurred. As pointed out by an American
author, the records relating to the settlement suggest that US assistance in
this case was provided in return for potential access to intelligence data.76
It is pointed out that the Liability Convention has had little use and that,
following the Cosmos-954 accident, there has been ‘no further occasion
for exploring the efficacy of the liability regime’.77
At this point in time it seems reasonable to support the application of
more agile procedures on this matter. In this sense, the PCA Optional
Rules on Arbitration of Disputes Regarding Outer Space Activities,
effective since 6 December 2011, will be seen to set a striking example,
even present a watershed.

19.1.4 The Registration Convention

There is not much to be said about dispute settlement procedures

concerning the interpretation and application of the Registration Conven-
tion.78 However so, given the case, Article III of the Outer Space Treaty
would apply, leading to Article 33 of the United Nations Charter.79

19.1.5 The Moon Agreement

Article 15 of the Moon Agreement lays down the pillars for dispute
settlement which are based on the principles of international cooperation
and free choice of means. Its drafting style is reminiscent of Article IX of
the Outer Space Treaty. The Agreement envisages a system of consult-
ations when states parties have reason to believe that another state party
is not fulfilling the obligations incumbent upon it pursuant to the
Agreement. Should consultations not result in a mutually acceptable

76
See M.J. Peterson, International Regimes for the Final Frontier (2005),
262.
77
Peterson, supra n. 76, 123.
78
Supra, n. 14; in general on the Registration Convention, supra n. 15,
further supra, § 2.3.4.
79
Art. III, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 12, provides that ‘States Parties to
the Treaty shall carry on activities in the exploration and use of outer space,
including the Moon and other celestial bodies, in accordance with international
law, including the Charter of the United Nations, in the interest of maintaining
international peace and security and promoting international cooperation and
understanding.’

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settlement, any state party may seek the assistance of the Secretary-
General of the United Nations to resolve the controversy.80
As may be seen the Moon Agreement fails to cover the gaps left by the
Outer Space Treaty in the field of dispute settlement and there is no
progressive development of the law in this respect. Having in mind the
weak support for this Agreement by the international community,81 the
issues arising in the field of dispute settlement do not become a matter of
deep concern at the time and are anyway covered by the obligations
embodied in the Outer Space Treaty and the UN Charter.

19.1.6 The UN Principles on Outer Space Adopted by the General

Assembly

The three sets of UN Principles adopted so far by the General Assembly

include similar provisions on dispute settlement, as follows.
Principle E of the 1982 Principles on Direct Television Broadcasting,82
addressing the peaceful settlement of disputes, states that any inter-
national dispute arising from activities covered by these Principles should
be settled through the established procedures for the peaceful settlement
of disputes agreed upon by the parties to the dispute in accordance with
the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.83
Principle XV of the 1986 Principles on Remote Sensing84 provides that
any dispute arising from the application of these Principles shall be
resolved through the established procedures for the peaceful settlement of
disputes.85
Principle 10 of the 1992 Principles on the Use of Nuclear Power
Sources in Space86 states that any dispute arising from the application of

80
Cf. Art. 15, Moon Agreement, supra n. 10. See in general on the Moon
Agreement further supra, §§ 2.3.5 and 14.4.2.2.
81
To date, the Moon Agreement has been ratified by 15 states and signed
but not ratified by four more, except for France and India none of them major
spacefaring nations; see www.unoosa.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/treatystatus/index.html,
last accessed 31 January 2014.
82
Supra, n. 18.
83
Cf. Art. 33, UN Charter, supra n. 26; Art. 38, Statute of the International
Court of Justice, supra n. 23.
84
Supra, n. 3.
85
Cf. again Art. 33, UN Charter, supra n. 26; Art. 38, Statute of the
International Court of Justice, supra n. 23.
86
Supra, n. 20.

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these Principles shall be resolved through negotiations or other estab-

lished procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes, in accordance
with the Charter of the United Nations.87
The conclusion on dispute settlement within the UN Principles is that
the lowest common denominator would be the principle of free choice of
means embodied in Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations,
coupled with the obligation to negotiate in good faith.88
Briefly, neither the five space treaties nor the three sets of Principles
adopted under the auspices of the United Nations contain dispute
settlement procedures consistent with today’s international settings.
These international instruments, inasmuch as dispute settlement proced-
ures are concerned, were missing out on fundamental developments as
they only considered subjects of public international law as parties and
did not grasp the growth of non-governmental activities in outer space.
The growing commercial aspects of space activities and privatizations
were not envisaged at that stage of development of international space
law within the United Nations. So far, only subjects of public inter-
national law have been taken into account in dispute settlement proced-
ures designed, and not the slightest indication has been provided of other
possibilities. It was only the ILA in Paris in 1984 with the first
Convention on the Settlement of Disputes Related to Space Activities that
included the famous Article 10 (also appearing in the Final Text of 1998),
which provided a clear departure from the former – intergovernmental –
models.89 In brief: the UN space treaties carried the seeds of frustration.

19.2 THE LANDMARKS AND PRECEDENTS FOR

PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAW
Having made reference to the various dispute settlement procedures in
public international law embodied in the UN outer space treaties and
Principles, a few landmarks may be distinguished in hindsight. The main
reason to give dispute settlement procedures a more realistic spin was the

87
Cf. once again Art. 33, UN Charter, supra n. 26; Art. 38, Statute of the
International Court of Justice, supra n. 23.
88
See further Art. 38, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra
n. 22, which clarifies that neither the UN dispute settlement systems nor the UN
Principles in themselves are binding, unless they are declaring customary
international law, that is to say they may become binding by force of an
extraneous factor.
89
See supra, n. 8.

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growing number of actors getting involved in space activities. For a

glimpse of the way opinion was moving in those days some of the closest
precedents will be looked at in the next paragraphs.
Indeed, at the time of adoption of the above-described UN instruments,
disputes over the interpretation and application thereof were mainly of an
academic nature. Besides, the commercial sides of space activities were
not yet envisaged in their proper dimensions. Hence the lack of effective
means of dispute settlement was not too serious a problem in the early
stages of the space era.
Yet those initial phases of exploration and academic activity were –
unnoticed perhaps – opening the door for a stage of exploitation and use
of outer space to move in fast. In this sense the increasing use of remote
sensing technologies and the coming into force of the INTELSAT
Agreements90 provided a first example. It is not surprising that, now-
adays, satellite communications should be applying the GATS and WTO
dispute resolution methods.91
These landmarks reflect the efforts of the international community to
give a more precise legal meaning and agility to the existent procedures
for dispute settlement with a view to having simple, prompt and amicable
mechanisms to be applied in the changing international scenarios. Among
the various steps taken to this end some precedents have been chosen as
indicative of their strong influence on the drafting of the new 2011 PCA
Rules on Outer Space Disputes which is one of the most recent
developments on the matter. Some of these precedents, leading to the
adoption of these PCA Rules, are based on the personal experience of the
present author.

19.2.1 The 1971 INTELSAT Agreements

As expressed, none of the UN international instruments on outer space is

suitable today for the settlement of space law disputes for the simple

90
See infra, n. 94.
91
See Arts. XXII, XXIII, General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS),
Marrakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995; 1869 UNTS
183; UKTS 1996 No. 58; Cm. 3276; ATS 1995 No. 8; Art. IV(3), Agreement
Establishing the World Trade Organization (hereafter WTO Agreement), Mar-
rakesh, done 15 April 1994, entered into force 1 January 1995; 1867 UNTS;
UKTS 1996 No. 57; ATS 1995 No. 8; 33 ILM 1125, 1144 (1994); further supra,
§ 15.2.1.3.

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reason that only states and – to some extent92 – international inter-

governmental organizations can be parties thereto.
The Interim INTELSAT Agreement of 196493 stands out, in the early
phases of the regulations of communication satellites, as a realistic
illustration of dispute settlement procedures. These arrangements worked
well and hardly gave rise to complaints. They were followed in the next
decade by the (definitive) 1971 INTELSAT Agreement and Operating
Agreement, which entered into force on 12 February 1973.94 Like their
predecessors, the 1971 Agreements were developed outside the UN
system and focused entirely on the practical sides of the use of outer
space for satellite communications. They were of a highly technical
nature; one reason, no doubt, for being able to move forward on dispute
settlement procedures given the limited field of space activities
addressed.
In short, as far as dispute settlement was concerned the system worked
as follows. The 1971 INTELSAT Agreement carried an Annex C on the
settlement of disputes,95 which should be read together with Article

92
Cf. also e.g. supra, § 2.3.3.8.
93
Agreement Establishing Interim Arrangements for a Global Commercial
Communications Satellite System, and Relative Special Agreement (hereafter
Interim INTELSAT Agreement), Washington, done 20 August 1964, entered into
force done 20 August 1964; 514 UNTS 25; 15 UST 1705; TIAS 5646; 1966
UKTS 12; 3 ILM 805 (1964); see e.g. F. Lyall & P.B. Larsen, Space Law – A
Treatise (2009), 326–7. Also one part of the Interim INTELSAT Agreement was
intergovernmental and the other – usually referred to as the Special Agreement –
envisaged the participation of private parties as well.
94
Respectively Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunica-
tions Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) (hereafter INTELSAT Agreement),
Washington, done 20 August 1971, entered into force 12 February 1973; 1220
UNTS 21; TIAS 7532; 23 UST 3813; UKTS 1973 No. 80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS
1973 No. 6; 10 ILM 909 (1971); Operating Agreement Relating to the Inter-
national Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) (hereafter
INTELSAT Operating Agreement), Washington, done 20 August 1971, entered
into force 12 February 1973; 1220 UNTS 149; TIAS 7532; 23 UST 4091; UKTS
1973 No. 80; Cmnd. 4799; ATS 1973 No. 6; 10 ILM 946 (1971); see M.
Williams, Telecomunicaciones por Satélites (1981), Pt. II, Solución de Contro-
versias, 51–85; also further supra, § 5.4.1.
95
Annex C, Provisions on Procedures Relating to Settlement of Disputes
Referred to in Article XVIII of this [INTELSAT] Agreement, supra, n. 94 and
Article 20 of the [INTELSAT] Operating Agreement, supra, n. 94.

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XVIII of the Agreement96 (among governments, parties to this Agree-

ment) and Article 20 of the Operating Agreement97 (to which private
entities were parties as well). Compulsory arbitration was extensively
debated during the drafting of the 1971 arrangements and ultimately only
accepted for legal disputes among governments parties to the Agreement
or between governments and the INTELSAT organization if not settled
within a ‘reasonable’ time.98
The INTELSAT negotiations did not agree to a system of compulsory
arbitration for disputes involving governments and Signatories to the
Operating Agreement (which, as pointed out, could be private entities),
so arbitration remained optional. Binding arbitration was adopted for
disputes involving rights and obligations under the Agreement or the
Operating Agreement between Signatories, or between the organization
and one or more Signatories unless settled within a ‘reasonable’ time by
negotiation or other means short of arbitration.99
These arrangements have been open to criticism insofar as they left a
good number of questions unanswered. For instance, who was to
determine whether a ‘reasonable’ time had, in fact, elapsed? Furthermore,
what was the reach of the terms ‘negotiation or other means short of
arbitration’? Did it encompass the exhaustion of local remedies as well?
Ultimately what the petitioner needed to prove was his compliance with
the obligation to negotiate in good faith. And this remains, over time, a
matter largely open to interpretation.
However so, the 1971 INTELSAT Agreements were breaking new
ground and should be seen as an important contribution to the develop-
ment of international law in the thorny field of dispute settlement relating
to space activities. As noted earlier, an important development to be
highlighted in this field was the fact that dispute settlement mechanisms
envisaged in the GATS/WTO rules could be applicable to issues concern-
ing satellite communications. The WTO continues to operate on its
GATT-based experience and dispute settlement continues its relative
success under a system of majority ruling in panels and the Appellate

96
Art. XVIII, INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 94, referred all disputes
between states parties, between a state party and signatories and/or the organ-
ization itself to arbitration in conformity with Annex C to the Agreement,
provided the parties to the dispute so agreed.
97
Art. 20, INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n. 94, referred all
disputes between signatories and/or the organization itself to arbitration in
conformity with Annex C to the Agreement.
98
See Art. XVIII(a), INTELSAT Agreement, supra n. 94.
99
See Art. 4(iii), Annex C, Operating Agreement, supra n. 94.

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Body. This dispute settlement body has the exclusive possibility of

setting up special groups of experts to examine the dispute and accept or
reject the conclusions of those special groups or the results of appeal
procedures.100 The principle of ‘reverse consensus’ no longer allows a
losing party to block the adoption of the report.101
Overall, the doctrine has at times severely criticized the difficulties and
lack of effectiveness in the implementation of the GATT and GATS
Rules, which is probably due to the absence of an international obligation
making the Panel decisions effective.102 Thus, the binding nature of the
decision may only be grounded in state practice.103 In fact, nowadays
states are increasingly reluctant to engaging in binding agreements with
uncertain emerging obligations. As acutely observed with reference to the
conditions governing international rule-making, the perceived need on the
part of the states concerned, the propitious political will, and the due
representation of the dominant section of international society are not to
be found.104
Essentially similar systems of dispute settlement focusing on arbitra-
tion as a default option could be found in the constitutive documents of
the two other international satellite organizations with formal partici-
pation of (originally public) telecommunication operators as signatories
of Operating Agreements. This concerned respectively INMARSAT,
notably Article 31 of the INMARSAT Convention,105 Article XVI of the
INMARSAT Operating Agreement106 and the Annex attached to the

100
See Art. 2, Annex 2, WTO Agreement, supra n. 91.
101
See ILA Report of the Seventy-Fourth Conference, The Hague, 2010, 614.
102
See WTO, Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settle-
ment of Disputes, 55; www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/utw_chap3_
e.pdf, last accessed 31 January 2014; also W.J. Davey, Dispute Settlement in
Gatt, 11 Fordham International Law Journal (1987), 81–90.
103
See on this point O. Marzorati, Derecho De Los Negocios Internacionales
(2007) Vol. 1, 241–2.
104
See Cheng, supra n. 24, 666.
105
Convention on the International Maritime Satellite Organization
(INMARSAT) (hereafter INMARSAT Convention), London, done 3 September
1976, entered into force 16 July 1979; 1143 UNTS 105; TIAS 9605; 31 UST 1;
UKTS 1979 No. 94; Cmnd. 6822; ATS 1979 No. 10; 15 ILM 1052 (1976). See
on INMARSAT in general also supra, § 5.5.1.
106
Operating Agreement on the International Maritime Satellite Organization
(INMARSAT) (hereafter INMARSAT Operating Agreement), London, done 3
September 1976, entered into force 16 July 1979; 1143 UNTS 213; TIAS 9605;
31 UST 1; UKTS 1979 No. 94; Cmnd. 6822; ATS 1979 No. 10; 15 ILM 233,
1075 (1976).

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INMARSAT Convention;107 and EUTELSAT, notably Article XX of the

EUTELSAT Convention,108 Article 20 of the EUTELSAT Operating
Agreement109 and Annex B to the EUTELSAT Convention.110
After INTERSPUTNIK, the formerly communist international satellite
organization, changed its structure in 2002 so as to also include an
Operating Agreement,111 it also introduced a dispute settlement mechan-
ism, which deviated considerably from the approach taken by INTEL-
SAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT. It provided for four stages: (1)
Notice of existence of a dispute, (2) Bilateral consultations, (3) Examin-
ation by the Operations Committee established by Article 3 of the
Operating Agreement, and (4) Arbitration using Russia’s International
Commercial Arbitration Court.112
After INTELSAT’s privatization, giving rise to a private operator
Intelsat under the aegis of a much-reduced intergovernmental overseer
ITSO,113 the dispute settlement system also was simplified, as per the

107
Annex on Procedures for the Settlement of Disputes Referred to in Article
31 of the Convention and Article XVI of the Operating Agreement.
108
Convention Establishing the European Telecommunications Satellite
Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT Convention), Paris, done 15
July 1982, entered into force 1 September 1985; UKTS 1990 No. 15; Cm. 956;
Cmnd. 9069; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.II.1. See on EUTELSAT in
general also supra, § 5.6.1.
109
Operating Agreement Relating to the European Telecommunications
Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT Operating Agree-
ment), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September 1985; UKTS
1990 No. 15; Cm. 956; Cmnd. 9154; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents,
C.II.2.
110
Annex B, Arbitration Procedure.
111
INTERSPUTNIK Operating Agreement (Operating Agreement of the
INTERSPUTNIK International Organization of Space Communications, entered
into force 4 February 2003, as most recently amended 15 November 2011;
INTERSPUTNIK D.B./D.C./XXXIX/13-OC/7-2011-1; www.intersputnik.com/
userfiles/files/protocol_annex_7_operating_agreement.pdf, last accessed 31 Janu-
ary 2014); following the Protocol on the Amendments to the Agreement on the
Establishment of the ‘INTERSPUTNIK’ International System and Organization
of Space Communications, done November 1996, entered into force 4 November
2002; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.VIII.2. See on INTERSPUTNIK
in general also supra, § 5.7.1.
112
See Art. 12, esp. (2)–(5), INTERSPUTNIK Operating Agreement, supra
n. 111.
113
Cf. Agreement Relating to the International Telecommunications Satellite
Organization (ITSO) (hereafter ITSO Agreement), Washington, done 20 August
1971, entered into force 12 February 1973, as amended 13 November 2000,
amended version entered into force 30 November 2004; Cm. 5092; Space Law –

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new Article XVI and Annex A,114 but still called for arbitration as the
preferred means of dispute resolution. Essentially the same could be said
of the new IMSO and Inmarsat succeeding INMARSAT115 and the new
EUTELSAT IGO and Eutelsat.116

19.2.2 The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

At this point a word on the International Telecommunication Union

(ITU)117 seems opportune, having in mind the importance of this
institution in the field of satellite communications. It is a UN specialized
agency with a membership of 193 states and more than 700 private
entities and academic institutions.118 It is responsible for the allotment of
frequencies in the geostationary orbit (GEO) and, in so doing, keeping

Basic Legal Documents, C.V.1; the INTELSAT Operating Agreement, supra n.

90, ceased to be operative. See further on this supra, § 5.4.2.
114
See Annex A, Provisions on Procedures Relating to Settlement of
Disputes.
115
Cf. Art. 15, Convention on the International Mobile Satellite Organization
(hereafter IMSO Convention), London, done 3 September 1976, entered into
force 16 July 1979, as amended 1998, amended version entered into force 31
July 2001; ATS 2001 No. 11. See further on this supra, § 5.5.2.
116
Cf. Art. XV, Convention Establishing the European Telecommunications
Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT) (hereafter EUTELSAT Convention as
amended), Paris, done 15 July 1982, entered into force 1 September 1985, as
amended 20 May 1999, amended version entered into force 28 November 2002;
Cm. 4572; Space Law – Basic Legal Documents, C.II.1. See further on this
supra, § 5.6.2.
117
The ITU is a UN specialized agency with a membership of 193 states and
over 700 private (non-governmental) organizations and academic institutions. Its
headquarters are in Geneva. It is currently based on the Constitution of the
International Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU Constitution), Geneva,
done 22 December 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS
1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional
Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 1; and the Convention of
the International Telecommunication Union (hereafter ITU Convention), Geneva,
done 22 December 1992, entered into force 1 July 1994; 1825 UNTS 1; UKTS
1996 No. 24; Cm. 2539; ATS 1994 No. 28; Final Acts of the Additional
Plenipotentiary Conference, Geneva, 1992 (1993), at 71; as repeatedly amended
since 1992. See further supra, § 8.2.
118
See www.itu.int/en/about/Pages/default.aspx, last accessed 31 January
2014.

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the other orbital positions and orbits in mind.119 The prime task of the
ITU as far as GEO is concerned is the coordination of frequencies in
GEO which is, so far, the ideal position for satellite communications on
account of its very wide coverage of the earth. In this framework states
may apply for the use of frequencies and, in doing so, shall indicate
which orbital slots they intend to use, either directly or on behalf of a
private entity operating within their jurisdiction.120 This is obviously
linked to questions of interference with other applications, a question
leading to negotiation.
Hence, the ITU has a master role in the field of satellite communica-
tions and coordination thereof, which implies a responsibility in avoiding
potential disputes or, at least, settling them in their initial phases.121
Consequently, the ITU dispute settlement procedure should be briefly
assessed here. It provides for a choice between negotiation, applicable
‘procedures established by bilateral or multilateral treaties concluded’
between parties or ‘any other method mutually agreed upon’.122 If none
of those methods were adopted, recourse to arbitration as per the ITU
Convention or the Optional Protocol on the Compulsory Settlement of
Disputes Relating to this Constitution, to the Convention, and to the
Administrative Regulations would be open to member states.123

19.2.3 The Munich International Colloquium, the Córdoba Round

Table on Dispute Settlement and Beyond

The year 1979 stands out as a year of important contributions, in

different latitudes, to the progressive development of the topic of
reference. In the light of the current, relatively immature state of dispute
settlement options and law in the context of space activities, these
illustrate in an excellent manner the various key issues at play, as well as
the various options to address them, and may thus provide helpful
pointers of the direction in which dispute settlement in space law may be

119
Strictly speaking, the ITU is not allotting orbital positions or orbits but
frequencies, and in doing so keeps the orbital positions and orbits respectively in
mind. See further infra, § 8.2.3, esp. § 8.2.3.4.
120
Cf. e.g. F. Lyall, The Law and Space Telecommunications (1989), 381–96.
121
See F.G. von der Dunk, Private Enterprise and Public Interest in The
European ‘Spacescape’ (1998), 95 ff.; also supra, § 8.2.
122
Art. 56(1), ITU Constitution, supra n. 117.
123
See Art. 56(2), (3), ITU Constitution, supra n. 117; Art. 41, ITU
Convention, supra n. 117.

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going. Among others, an international Colloquium in Munich, Germany,

and a Round Table in Córdoba, Argentina, will be highlighted.
On 13–14 September 1979 the Institute of Air and Space Law of the
University of Cologne, in cooperation with the Space Law Committee of
the ILA, the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and the German
Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics, organized an International
Colloquium on ‘The settlement of space law disputes – The present state
of the law and perspectives of future development’.124
The Colloquium covered a wide range of topical questions surrounding
the deficiencies of dispute settlement procedures in current international
law and, particularly, space law. The emerging conclusions were in line
with the views registered in other meetings of the time, such as the
Córdoba Round Table held a couple of months earlier.125 The recurrent
notes were compulsory jurisdiction, binding decisions and certainty of
execution.126 The following conclusions were drawn, as far as relevant
here:127

1. If progress is to be achieved in the development of procedure for

the peaceful settlement of disputes in space law, most of the time
not enthusiastic recommendations, but rather a pragmatic endeavour
to choose the settlement method best fitted and most acceptable to
states for a given type of case or a specific area of space law seems
the wise approach. A number of specific criteria might be taken into
account in the deciding process.
2. The method finally required for at least certain practically relevant
areas of space law, in order to assure peaceful cooperation or at
least coexistence of the international community in space activities,
will be compulsory third-party settlement.

124
See Settlement of Space Law Disputes (Ed. K.-H. Böckstiegel) (1980).
125
See further infra, esp. text at n. 128.
126
The programme of the Cologne Colloquium consisted of four sections
covering (1) dispute settlement in public international law, (2) rules for dispute
settlement in present space law, (3) rules and experiences in comparable fields of
law, and (4) perspectives for further development of space law. The speakers
came from different parts of the world representing public and non-governmental
institutions involved in space law, academies and universities. The conclusions
were summarized by the then Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law of
the University of Cologne, Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel.
127
See Settlement of Space Law Disputes, supra n. 124, 199–200.

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3. States can only be expected to be willing to accept this latter

method for those areas of space law where a reasonable certainty as
to the applicable rules exists, not, however, for highly controversial
areas.
4. A greater number of states may be found ready to accept compul-
sory third-party settlement if they are given a choice between
adjudication and arbitration.
5. Where such a combined system is considered not fit or too
complicated for a limited area such as space law, a settlement by
the more flexible method of arbitration will normally be more
effective and more easily acceptable to states than the jurisdiction
of a permanent international court.
6. Space lawyers have the responsibility to elaborate further criteria
and alternative solutions in this field, which states may then draw
upon.
7. Most probably, if progress is to be achieved in state practice at all,
it may be in limited areas of space law, especially in the law of
space communications and other such fields, where the functioning
of the system is in the interest of all states concerned and depends
on disputes being settled without delay.

In July of that same year in Córdoba, Argentina, a Round Table on The

Settlement of Space Law Disputes128 brought together the specialists of
the region in what was seen as a dress rehearsal for the Munich
International Colloquium. A number of conclusions were drawn at this
regional meeting in preparation for what was further discussed in
Munich.129 The need for binding procedures for dispute settlement was a
recurrent note at this meeting. The sessions included a debate on the need
for appropriate procedures in positive space law and possible solutions to
this problem. It was agreed that the responsibility to work out alternatives
to confront this situation in realistic terms was in the hands of inter-
national lawyers.130 Both the 1964 and the 1971 INTELSAT Agreements
were considered inspiring examples in that they envisaged the establish-
ment of a tribunal composed of experts whenever a controversy indicated
this need. The view was expressed that agreements designed for specific
space law disputes – such as those underlying communication satellites –

128
See Consejo de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados (Council of
Advanced International Studies), Córdoba, Argentina, Solución de Controversias
en Derecho Espacial/Settlement Of Space Law Disputes (1981).
129
See Consejo de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados, supra n. 128.
130
See again in general ibid.

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1024 Handbook of space law

should include compulsory jurisdiction and also provide the means to

ensure that awards and decisions be recognized and executed.131

19.2.4 The Contribution of the International Law Association

19.2.4.1 Montreal 1982: Resolution of the ILA Sixtieth Conference

Following a Working Paper discussed at the ILA Fifty-Ninth Conference
held in Belgrade,132 the Space Law Committee was entrusted with the
drafting of a convention on this subject. It was considered that, at that
point in time, there was extensive documentation and material available
from the previous meetings (Munich 1979, Córdoba 1979, and the
Belgrade Conference in 1980), and that agreement should be reached on
certain basic principles for a draft convention.
The first step was a set of six questions addressed to the members of
the Space Law Committee.133 It was generally thought that, inter alia, a
line should be drawn between compulsory jurisdiction and the binding
nature of decisions, on the one side, and the question of the certainty of
enforcement on the other. It was further considered that the latter term
suggested the idea of an execution of the debtor’s property and was thus
inadmissible in public international law.134
The Conference Resolution recommended that the Space Law Com-
mittee start the formulation of a Draft Convention on the Settlement of
Space Law Disputes incorporating the following basic principles:

1. The Convention should provide states with a choice for its appli-
cation to (a) all space law disputes with other states parties,
(b) specific areas of space law as may be dealt with in specific
bilateral or multilateral treaties, and/or (c) a certain category of
disputes or certain sections of the Convention, subject to such
exceptions that the state may wish to claim.
2. The Convention should in one section provide for non-binding
settlement methods including recommendatory awards, but should
in another section provide for binding methods of settlement upon
application by one of the parties, if the other party does not agree to
the conclusions of such non-binding methods.
3. The Convention should provide states with a choice among differ-
ent settlement methods which, for binding settlement, should

131
See ibid., 42, 79–80.
132
See ILA Report of the Fifty-Ninth Conference, Belgrade, 1980, 188–97.
133
See ILA Report of the Sixtieth Conference, Montreal, 1982, 510–7.
134
See ibid.

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include adjudication by the ICJ as well as administered and ad hoc

arbitration.
4. The Convention should provide that states parties have to select one
method for binding settlement within the choice given according to
principle 3.
5. The Convention should stress that states parties have an obligation
to fulfil decisions of the tribunal chosen under principle 4.
6. In the Convention or as an annex thereto a ‘dispute settlement
clause’ should be drafted which could serve as a model to be
included into future bilateral or multilateral treaties on space law.135

19.2.4.2 Paris 1984: First ILA Draft

On these bases and terms of reference the ILA Space Law Committee
embarked on the formulation of a draft Convention on the Settlement of
Space Law Disputes and a Model Clause.136
The initial text took as an example the procedures on dispute settle-
ment embodied in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea137 and its Annex138 and made slight adaptations for consistency with
the special characteristics of the new fields addressed. For example – and
unlike the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea139 – the
suggested ‘International Tribunal for Space Law’ only appears as an
option for the parties if and when, at a later stage, such a tribunal were to
be set up.140
In the first draft, from the very beginning an overall realistic approach
was taken, namely that the rules designed should be of a strictly
procedural nature.141 This approach was maintained in the Revised Text

135
See ibid., 12–3.
136
See for the text of the Draft Convention and comments, ILA Report of the
Sixty-First Conference, Paris, 1984, 326–55.
137
See Part XV, Arts. 279–299, United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, Montego Bay, done 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November
1994; 1833 UNTS 3 and 1835 UNTS 261; UKTS 1999 No. 81; Cmnd. 8941;
ATS 1994 No. 31; 21 ILM 1261 (1982); S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-39.
138
Annex V, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, supra
n. 137, entitled ‘Conciliation’, provided for the details of the conciliation
procedure, including compulsory submission to it as appropriate.
139
Cf. Art. 287(1) and Annex VI, United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, supra n. 137.
140
See ILA Report of the Sixty-First Conference, Paris, 1984, 327.
141
See ILA Report of the Sixty-First Conference, Paris, 1984, 325 ff. The
report was prepared by Professor Böckstiegel, then Rapporteur of the Committee,
in consultation with members of the Committee.

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of the Draft Convention (1998)142 and followed – albeit with greater

flexibility and simplicity – in the new PCA Rules on Outer Space
Disputes adopted in 2011, to be addressed further below.143
The Paris Draft Convention consisted of a Preamble, seven sections
and an Annex containing a Model Dispute Settlement Clause, as fol-
lows:144

+ Section I: Scope of Disputes Settled under this Convention, Articles

1–2;
+ Section II: Non-binding Settlement Procedures, Articles 3–4;
+ Section III: Binding Settlement Procedures, Articles 5–13;
+ Section IV: Conciliation Procedure, Articles 14–23;
+ Section V: Arbitration Procedure, Articles 24–36;
+ Section VI: International Tribunal for Space Law, Articles 37–68;
+ Section VII: Final Provisions, Articles 69–76; and
+ Annex: Dispute Settlement Clause.

The Model Dispute Settlement Clause, also incorporated as an Annex to

the Revised Text of this Draft Convention in 1998 and to the ILA Buenos
Aires International Instrument on the Protection of the Environment from
Damage Caused by Space Debris145 in 1994, reads: ‘Any dispute arising
in connection with this Treaty shall be settled in accordance with the
Convention on the Settlement of Space Law Disputes which is hereby
made an integral part of this Treaty. Ratification of the Treaty is therefore
also to be considered as a ratification of that Convention. The instrument
of ratification will therefore be also deposited with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations.’146
One of the striking features of the 1984 Draft was the introduction of
Article 10 providing that all dispute settlement procedures specified in
the Convention shall be open to entities other than states unless the

142
See Art. 10, Final Text.
143
See infra, § 19.3.
144
See ILA Report of the Sixty-First Conference, Paris, 1984, esp. 334,
generally 326–55.
145
Hereafter Buenos Aires International Instrument on Space Debris; see ILA
Report of the Sixty-Sixth Conference, Buenos Aires, 1994, 7–13; also supra,
§ 13.3.2.4.
146
ILA Report of the Sixty-First Conference, Paris, 1984, 355.

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matter is submitted to the ICJ in accordance with Article 6 of the

Convention (on the choice of procedures).147

19.2.4.3 Buenos Aires 1994: The ILA International Instrument on

Space Debris
The ILA International Instrument on Space Debris was the outcome of
the work of the Space Law Committee during 1990–94 over three
Biennial Conferences, notably Queensland, Australia, in 1990;148 Cairo,
Egypt, in 1992;149 and Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994, where it was
adopted, without dissent, by the Sixty-Sixth Conference of the ILA.
Unlike the Paris Draft on Dispute Settlement, most of its provisions are
substantial.150
In accordance with the line of thought followed by the ILA Space Law
Committee in Paris in 1984 in the sense that a more precise legal
meaning should be given to dispute settlement in international law, this
Instrument provides, in its Article IX, that where the interpretation and
application of the Instrument is concerned any dispute shall be subject to
consultation at the request of any of the parties thereto with a view to
reaching a prompt and amicable settlement. Failing this, if the parties
have not agreed on a means of peaceful settlement within 12 months the
dispute shall be referred, at the request of any of the parties, to arbitration
or adjudication in which case the ILA Model Clause (adopted in 1984 in
Paris) shall be applicable unless one of the parties to this Instrument has
excluded such application, in part or in full.
The Article of reference envisages the possibility, for the parties to this
Instrument, of declaring that they accept any of the non-binding or
binding settlement procedures laid down in the Annex. The prescription
of interim measures is likewise considered in this Article to prevent
serious damage to the environment, or persons or objects.151

147
See Art. 10, 1984 and 1998 Conventions; ILA Report of the Sixty-First
Conference, Paris, 1984, 338; also ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth Conference,
Taipei, 1998, 252.
148
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Fourth Conference, Queensland, 1990,
154–80.
149
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Fifth Conference, Cairo, 1992, 142–62.
150
For the full text of this Instrument, with comments and caveats by its
author, and the report of the working session in Buenos Aires, see ILA Report of
the Sixty-Sixth Conference, Buenos Aires, 1994, 305–25.
151
Art. 1(e), International Instrument on Space Debris, provides: ‘“Damage”
means loss of life, personal injury or other impairment of health, or loss of or
damage to property of States or of persons, natural or juridical, or property of
international intergovernmental organisations, or any adverse modification of the

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Interesting is the fact that Article IX of the Instrument established a

12-month limit for consultation – unlike the ILA Conventions on Dispute
Settlement of 1984 and 1998 which chose the term ‘expeditiously’152 –
after which any of the parties to the disputes may resort to arbitration or
adjudication. This would go a long way in avoiding unending consult-
ations with sometimes very serious damage to the environment. As often
occurs in environmental treaties, the obligation to negotiate in good faith
is a common denominator to the provisions of the Instrument which, in
Article 5(e), provides that among the obligations of the parties is that of
negotiating in good faith.153 Good faith, naturally, means not only
holding consultations or talks but also pursuing them with a view to
reaching a solution.154

19.2.4.4 The 1996 ILA Helsinki Conference as pre-stage to the

adoption of the 1998 Revised Text of a Convention for the
Settlement of Disputes related to Space Activities
Following the Buenos Aires Conference the ILA Space Law Committee
became involved in analysing the most recent stages in the development
of dispute settlement procedures and discussing the need for changes to
the 1984 Draft Convention. A Report on these matters was submitted by
the Committee to the Helsinki Conference and adopted thereby.155 This
Report is the closest precedent of the 1998 Revised Text to be addressed
under the present heading.
So far Article 10 of the Paris Draft Convention has been seen with
favour by the doctrine.156 Thus, whatever course of action were to be
chosen for the future it was clear that this provision – enabling private
entities to use the mechanisms laid down in the Paris Draft Convention
for Dispute Settlement – should remain intact.

environment of areas within or beyond national jurisdiction or control.’ See ILA

Report of the Sixty-Sixth Conference, Buenos Aires, 1994, 10; cf. also 118,
237–42, 311–7, 322–4. The idea was to include damage under a wide interpret-
ation; for this reason the concept of ‘damage’ was not qualified in order to avoid
restrictive interpretations.
152
See Art. 5 of both texts.
153
See Art. 26, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra n. 22, for
the basic obligation of pacta sunt servanda in good faith.
154
See also ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth Conference, Taipei, 1998, 358.
155
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Seventh Conference, Helsinki, 1996, in
particular with reference to the working session held in that framework, 457–76.
156
This was the conclusion of the Space Law Committee; see ILA Report of
the Sixty-Seventh Conference, Helsinki, 1996, 459–66.

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The Committee’s Report to the Sixty-Seventh Conference and the

Helsinki working session gave priority to discussing the position of
private enterprises in the field.157 The objective was to establish whether
the existing rules and institutions for international commercial arbitration
provided a sufficient framework for dispute settlement arising from space
activities. The underlying opinion was that private entities already had
acceptable legal mechanisms for that purpose but possibly needed some
adjustment for consistency with the specific field of space law.158
To sum up, the majority considered that the 1984 Paris Draft provided
a useful and realistic starting point from which to make the slight
adjustments demanded in today’s world and agreed that it should not
carry substantive rules on liability, the appropriate place being the 1994
Buenos Aires Instrument on Space Debris.159 Moreover, prompt proced-
ures and simpler language were essential if the amendment of the Paris
Draft were to be decided. On this point a Committee member suggested
as a model the 1992 PCA Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to
Natural Resources and/or the Environment.160 Accordingly the mandate
from the Sixty-Seventh ILA Conference was to elaborate a Revised Draft
Convention on the Settlement of Disputes Related to Space Activities and
submit that Draft with commentary to the Sixty-Eighth Conference in
1998.
Work ahead of Helsinki consisted of adjustments and minor changes to
the Paris Draft. This meant rough edges had to be ironed out and that a
balanced interplay of freedom and regulation were crucial to keep pace
with developments recorded during 1984–98. The use of outer space had
grown beyond belief and it was reasonable to presume that risk of
disputes in this field would be increasing as well.
On general lines the 1998 Revised Text stands as an example of
simplification and updating. Yet, none of the changes to its predecessor
are substantial in nature. Inter alia, the term ‘High Contracting Party’ has
been replaced throughout the text with ‘Contracting Party’. There is a
departure from the rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea in order to ease the application of the 1998 Revised Text to this

157
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Seventh Conference, Helsinki, 1996, 471–6.
158
Ibid., 468–70.
159
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Sixth Conference, Buenos Aires, 1994;
Annex, Buenos Aires International Instrument on the Protection of the Environ-
ment from Damage Caused by Space Debris, 7–13.
160
This was Professor Peter Malanczuk; see ILA Report of the Sixty-Seventh
Conference, Helsinki, 1996, 470.

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1030 Handbook of space law

new field of international law.161 The wording was simplified as well, the
number of independent judges on the ‘International Tribunal for Space
Law’162 brought down from 21 to 15 and, thus, a quorum of nine is now
required.163 The terms of office of the members of the Tribunal was
reduced to five years.164 In addition, Article 69 of the Paris Draft, dealing
with signature, was shortened in the Revised Text to make it consistent
with the present times. It now simply states that the Convention shall be
open for signature by states, including partly self-governing states,165
which have internal and external competence on the matter and inter-
national intergovernmental organizations.
The scope and implications of the term ‘private space activities’ were
discussed at the 1998 working session of the ILA Conference. These
terms concerned procedural questions whilst ‘commercial space activ-
ities’ was related to substantive law. Commercial space activities could
also be undertaken by public entities (that is subjects of public inter-
national law acting in a private capacity).166
There was not much to be argued about disputes between subjects of
public international law during the 1998 revision of the Paris Draft. The
ILA Space Law Committee was aware that binding procedures were
hardly welcome for disputes involving states and international inter-
governmental organizations which frequently surrounded sensitive polit-
ical issues. Hence, during the 1998 revision it seemed unrealistic to go
further than an obligation to settle the dispute, coupled with a free

161
Essentially, both ILA Draft Conventions (of 1984 and of 1998) are of a
more procedural nature than the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea: the former contain rules of a procedural nature but almost nothing of
substance unlike the latter where rules of substance are quite frequent, such as in
Part II when defining and laying down the applicable law to the different
maritime areas (territorial sea and so forth).
162
The setting up of an International Tribunal for Space Law was seen as a
possibility for the future. At the working session of the Sixty-Eighth Conference
(see ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth Conference, Taipei, 1998, 273–7), voices
were raised for and against this possibility which in the end prevailed. Similarly
the idea of a special chamber within the ICJ was suggested but discarded in light
of the discouraging precedent that, so far, the special chamber for the environ-
ment was not being selected.
163
See Arts. 38, 49, Revised Text.
164
See Art. 41(1), Final Text ILA Convention.
165
This was a formula taken from the Paris Draft, having in mind cases such
as Hong Kong, the PLO/Palestine and Curacao; see ILA Report of the Sixty-
Eighth Conference, Taipei, 1998, 244–5.
166
See ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth Conference, Taipei, 1998, 277.

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election of the means, and some reasonable time limitation to avoid

conflicts being prolonged indefinitely. To go beyond was a jump into the
void.167
The Sixty-Eighth Conference of the ILA thus adopted by consensus
the 1998 Revised Convention on the Settlement of Disputes Related to
Space Activities.168

19.3 REDESIGNING THE SYSTEM: THE

INDISPENSABLE REFORM

19.3.1 Introduction to the PCA Rules

In fact, none of the UN instruments is consistent with today’s world for

the simple reason that only states and international intergovernmental
organizations can be parties to dispute settlement procedures. Moreover,
commercial activities have grown at unprecedented speed and an increas-
ing number of developing countries are gradually accessing the latest
space technology by means of agreements based on international
cooperation.
In the aftermath of the Sixty-Eighth ILA Conference, both the 1994
Buenos Aires Instrument on Space Debris and the 1998 Revised Conven-
tion on Dispute Settlement continued under permanent review by the
Space Law Committee. The Committee Reports for the following Con-
ferences always carried a word on these topics and their consistency in
the present world scenarios. The Space Law Committee’s Report to the
Seventy-Fifth Conference of the ILA (Sofia, 2012),169 for its part,
contained a detailed analysis of the PCA Optional Rules on Arbitration of
Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities, effective from 6 December
2011.170

167
This reflects the general conclusion on this issue of the working session
and exchange of letters before the 1998 ILA Conference.
168
For the final text of this Convention see ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth
Conference, Taipei, 1998, 249–67.
169
See ILA Report of the Seventy-Fifth Conference, Sofia, 2012, 281–320,
also 40–8. Cf. further UN Doc. A/AC.105/C.2/103 and A/AC.C.2/2013//CRP.6
where the ILA Sofia Report is introduced to the Legal Sub-Committee of
COPUOS.
170
Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58. See e.g. Pt. I by the Chair of
the Space Law Committee, Sec. B, 11–5; ILA Report of the Seventy-Fifth
Conference, Sofia, 2012.

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1032 Handbook of space law

One outstanding feature of the new Rules on Outer Space Disputes is

their great flexibility. They are, indeed, reflecting a sign of the times and
filling the gaps left by the UN outer space treaties and general inter-
national law, particularly as regards dispute settlement mechanisms.
Moreover, they are enabling an effective management of sophisticated
technical evidence. In fact, two essential elements in dispute settlement
procedures have remained intact over the years, namely free choice of
means and flexibility. These are the pillars on which an effective
instrument on dispute settlement should be built. Furthermore, a strong
current of thought considers that no substantive rules on liability should
be included in any instrument on dispute settlement.171
With these premises in mind, in 2009 the PCA opened the way for the
indispensable reform.

19.3.2 The Drafting History of the PCA Rules on Outer Space

Disputes

A brave decision was taken in 2009 by the PCA when embarking on the
drafting of the Optional Rules on Arbitration of Disputes Relating to
Space Activities. This was a realistic follow-up to its nearest precedent,
that is the 1992 Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to
Natural Resources and/or the Environment (the PCA Environmental
Rules).172 Both sets of Rules are procedural and have close resemblances
between them. They were elaborated in the framework of an international
intergovernmental institution to which 115 states are parties today.173

171
This was the general opinion as per the ILA Report on the Seventy-Fifth
Conference, Sofia, 2012, and also the consensus of the Advisory Group at The
Hague when discussing the need for having new PCA Rules during the drafting
of these Rules (see exchange of letters and responses to questionnaires circulated
by Judge Pocar; on file with the author).
172
Optional Rules on Arbitration for Disputes Relating to Natural Resources
and the Protection of the Environment (hereafter Environmental Rules), Perma-
nent Court of Arbitration, The Hague 1992. See www.pca-cpa.org/show
page.asp?pag_id=1188, last accessed 1 February 2014.
173
The PCA was established in 1899 by the Convention for the Pacific
Settlement of International Disputes, The Hague, done 29 July 1899, entered into
force 4 September 1900; ATS 1901 No. 130; as an intergovernmental organ-
ization providing a variety of dispute resolution services to the international
community; see further www.pca-cpa.org, last accessed 1 February 2014.

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The examples set by the Hague Conventions on the Peaceful Settle-

ment of Disputes of 1899 and 1907174 – by extending their application to
private parties – were already indicating the way opinion was moving.
The approach of the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes, particularly
regarding the possibility of private entities participating in the adopted
procedures, is mindful of the ILA stance in both its 1984 Draft
Convention and 1998 Final Text of a Revised Convention on the
Settlement of Disputes related to Space Activities.175
The project was set in motion in 2009 by the PCA Secretary-General,
Christiaan M.J. Kröner, motivated by the number of gaps in the current
dispute settlement procedures in international space law. Besides the
serious limitations in the personal and material scope of classic proced-
ures, these lacunae conspired against their effectiveness. The Rules were
developed by the International Bureau of the PCA in conjunction with an
Advisory Group of leading experts in the field176 chaired by Judge Fausto
Pocar.
The drafting stage unfolded during 2010–11, taking as a model the
1992 PCA Environmental Rules and the 2010 UNCITRAL Arbitration
Rules.177 The new rules departed, however, from this pattern for reasons
of specificity and consistency with the new international scenarios and
had in mind the distinctive features of space law. A final meeting of the
Advisory Group was held at the Peace Palace on 5–6 December 2011
when the 184th Administrative Council of the PCA adopted the Rules.

174
Respectively Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Dis-
putes, The Hague, done 29 July 1899, entered into force 4 September 1900; ATS
1901 No. 130; and Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International
Disputes, The Hague, done 18 October 1907, entered into force 26 January 1910;
ATS 1997 No. 6.
175
Both texts contain an Art. 10 whereby private parties may avail them-
selves of the mechanisms of the Convention envisaged for subjects of public
international law. See further ILA Report of the Sixty-Eighth Conference, Taipei,
1998, 239–77.
176
The acting members were Tare Brisibe, Frans von der Dunk, Joanne
Gabrynowicz, Ram Jakhu, Armel Kerrest de Rozavel, Justine Limpitlaw, Francis
Lyall, V.S. Mani, José Monserrat, Haifeng Zhao, Stephan Hobe and Maureen
Williams.
177
The 2010 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, as revised in 2010, were based
on UNGA Resolution 31/98, of 15 December 1976, A/RES/31/98; recommend-
ing the use of the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in the settlement of disputes arising in the
context of international commercial relations, particularly by reference to the
Arbitration Rules in commercial contracts.

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1034 Handbook of space law

In line with the ILA approach, the PCA Rules on Outer Space
Disputes apply to disputes between states, international inter-
governmental organizations and private parties.178 The inclusion of
non-governmental entities was vital. It eased the way for new mechan-
isms and minimized the risk of disruption procedures by unexpected
claims based on sovereign immunity.

19.3.3 The Structure of the New Rules

19.3.3.1 General comments

In addition to the 1992 PCA Environmental Rules, the ILA models and
other contributions from the doctrine,179 the new PCA Rules on Outer
Space Disputes had in mind the example of the 2010 UNCITRAL
Arbitration Rules. As explained by the PCA, some adjustment was
needed in the event of the latter being given the special features of space
activities so that they:

(i) reflect the particular characteristics of disputes having an outer space

component involving the use of outer space by States, international
organisations and private entities;
(ii) reflect the public international law element that pertains to disputes that
may involve States and the use of outer space, and international practice
appropriate to such disputes;
(iii) indicate the role of the Secretary-General and the International Bureau of
the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague;
(iv) provide freedom for the parties to choose an arbitral tribunal of one, three
or five persons;
(v) provide for the establishment of a specialised list of arbitrators mentioned
in article 10 and a list of scientific and technical experts mentioned in
article 29 of these Rules; and
(vi) provide suggestions for establishing procedures aimed at ensuring con-
fidentiality.180

The comments on the Rules by PCA member states were valuable both
in essence and form and worthy of the deep consideration given to them,
all of which was reflected in the responses by the Advisory Group.181
Some of these comments, however, suggested the addition of further

178
Art. 1(1), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58, simply refers to
‘parties’ in this respect.
179
See e.g. L.F. Castillo Argañarás, Comercio, Espacio y Telecomunicaciones
Satelitales. Responsabilidad internacional y solución de controversias (2008).
180
See Introduction to the Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58.
181
Relevant documents are on file with the author.

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details which, in general, the Advisory Group decided not to include,

mainly for practical reasons and also due to the special traits of the topic
addressed.182 As experience has often shown, flexibility and general
principles are usually less brittle and more likely to survive than detailed
regulation. This supports the idea of beginning at a low level of
compulsion and leaving for a later stage the possibility of moving
forward by means of international standards or guidelines aimed at giving
a more precise meaning to the provisions included in the PCA Rules on
Outer Space Disputes.

19.3.3.2 Specific comments

A few reflections based on comments made by PCA members to the
Draft Rules on Outer Space Disputes will follow hereunder.

19.3.3.2.1 Multiple languages During deliberations at The Hague the

idea of importing the language of Article 39 of the ICJ Statute was
introduced.183 This meant, in practice, adding to Article 34 of the Draft
Rules a sentence to the effect that, in the event of multiple languages, the
award must indicate which language shall be considered as authoritative.
The Advisory Group, after some discussion, decided against the proposal
based on the differences between inter-state proceedings before the ICJ
and ad hoc arbitration under the Draft Rules. Furthermore, such inclusion
could weaken the main objective of the Rules, namely the role to be
played by private parties in the field.184 This approach eased the way to
dispute settlement procedures between private parties.
In both the 1984 and 1998 ILA Conventions Article 10(b) states, in no
uncertain terms, that the dispute settlement procedures specified in that
instrument shall be open to entities other than states and international
intergovernmental organizations unless the matter is submitted to the ICJ

182
Relevant documents are on file with the author.
183
Art. 39, Statute of the International Court of Justice, supra n. 23,
provides: ‘1. The official languages of the Court shall be French and English. If
the parties agree that the case shall be conducted in French, the judgment shall
be delivered in French. If the parties agree that the case shall be conducted in
English, the judgment shall be delivered in English. 2. In the absence of an
agreement as to which language shall be employed, each party may, in the
pleadings, use the language which it prefers; the decision of the Court shall be
given in French and English. In this case the Court shall at the same time
determine which of the two texts shall be considered as authoritative. 3. The
Court shall, at the request of any party, authorize a language other than French or
English to be used by that party.’
184
Relevant documents are on file with the author.

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1036 Handbook of space law

in accordance with Article 6 (on the choice of procedure). The PCA Draft
Rules followed this example closely.
These provisions should be read together with Article VI of the 1967
Outer Space Treaty concerning the international responsibility of states
for national activities in outer space, the moon and other celestial bodies
which entails their obligation to authorize and supervise the activities of
non-governmental entities in those areas.

19.3.3.2.2 Scope of application Article 1(1), as part of Section I,

Introductory Rules, provides that a dispute need not be labelled as
relating to space activities to come under the jurisdiction of the Rules on
Outer Space Disputes. The flexibility involved in this provision is
notable: as it currently reads it goes a long way in meeting one of the
main objectives of the Advisory Group, namely that as many disputes
should be settled in accordance with the Rules as the parties wish.
Article 1(2) provides another example of flexibility of the Rules on
Outer Space Disputes.185 It goes a long way in facilitating procedures and
avoiding the frustration of arbitration agreements in case of omission of
an explicit waiver of sovereign immunity.

19.3.3.2.3 Notice of arbitration As noted in previous comments on

the Rules, Article 3(3)(d) is an interesting example of progressive
development of the law and goes further than the PCA Environmental
Rules.186 In addition, the language is clearer than in the 2010 Arbitration
Rules. In fact, this provision widens the sources of law and makes clear
that a contract, or compromise, is not the only valid basis for arbitration.

19.3.3.2.4 Appointing authority Article 6 on the appointing authority

is yet another example of a wise move towards easing the procedure, as it
refers to the Secretary-General of the PCA. This at least was the general

185
Art. 1(2), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58, reads in full:
‘Agreement by a party to arbitration under these Rules constitutes a waiver of
any right of immunity from jurisdiction, in respect of the dispute in question, to
which such party might otherwise be entitled. A waiver of immunity relating to
the execution of an arbitral award must be explicitly expressed.’
186
Art. 3(3)(d), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58, provides that
the notice of arbitration shall include ‘[i]dentification of any rule, decision,
agreement, contract, convention, treaty, constituent instrument of an organization
or agency, or relationship out of, or in relation to which, the dispute arises’.

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view within the Advisory Group.187 It also stands out for simplification.
The Advisory Group thought it unnecessary to include, as did the 2010
UNCITRAL Rules on Arbitration, a provision similar to that of Article
6(6) of the 2010 Rules.188 In fact, under Articles 3(1) and 4(1) of the
PCA Rules on Outer Space the Secretary-General of the PCA, as
appointing authority, will be duly informed of the initiation of the process
and notice of arbitration by the claimant and, within the following 30
days, of the response to that notice.

19.3.3.2.5 Appointment of arbitrators Article 9 of the Rules on Outer

Space Disputes handles the appointing of arbitrators. The Advisory
Group supported the idea of including in the Rules, from the initial stages
and for practical reasons, the possibility of setting up a panel of five
arbitrators. Thus, Article 9 provides that if five arbitrators are to be
appointed, the two party-appointed arbitrators shall choose the remaining
three arbitrators and designate one of those three as the presiding
arbitrator of the tribunal. The Advisory Group thought it pertinent to
include the possibility of a five-member tribunal at that stage.
With reference to the expertise of the arbitrators, the parties and
Secretary-General are free to designate persons who are not members of
the PCA.189 Article 10(4) further facilitates the task of the parties which
are also by no means bound to accept an expert from the list of persons
qualified in the subject matter of the dispute provided to the parties by
the Secretary-General, which is merely of a recommendatory nature.
The general principle underlying the Rules on Outer Space Disputes is
due respect of the will of the parties which, if they so wish, may agree on
a tribunal composed of a number other than the one laid down in the
Rules.190

19.3.3.2.6 Disclosures and challenges Articles 12(4) and 14(2) of the

Rules on Outer Space Disputes handle disclosures by and challenge of
arbitrators. The provisions laid down in these Articles are in the interest

187
Relevant documents underpinning this conclusion are on file with the
author.
188
This clause provided: ‘When the appointing authority is requested to
appoint an arbitrator pursuant to Articles 8, 9, 10 or 14, the party making the
request shall send to the appointing authority copies of the notice of arbitration
and, if it exists, any response to the notice of arbitration.’
189
See Art. 10(4), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58.
190
Cf. Art. 10(2), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58.

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1038 Handbook of space law

of simplification, on which there was early consensus within the Advis-

ory Group and not much discussion.191 Briefly, these Articles establish
that when one arbitrator fails to participate on a three- or five-person
panel, the other members of the tribunal shall decide on the continuation
of proceedings, unless the parties agreed otherwise. The tribunal may
also declare the seat vacant and appoint a substitute arbitrator.
The powers given in this context by the Rules to the ‘remaining
arbitrators’ are notable.192 This was agreed by the Advisory Group on the
basis that the tribunal was better suited for a decision of the kind than the
Secretary-General. It aims at protecting the parties’ right to due process
whenever the evaluation of the particular case so indicates.
The solutions adopted in Articles 12(4) and 14(2) mean a clear
departure from the 2010 UNCITRAL Rules on Arbitration, enlarging the
powers conferred to the ‘remaining arbitrators’ who will have the power
in their sole discretion to continue the arbitration and to make any
decision, ruling or award without the participation of an arbitrator.193

19.3.3.2.7 Exclusion of liability With respect to the exclusion of

liability, other suggestions, in line with the 2010 UNCITRAL Rules on
Arbitration, favoured a reference to ‘intentional wrongdoing’ in Article
16 of the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes. The Advisory Group
thought long about this and finally decided to leave it out. The reason
was that to include this suggestion would be likely to unchain a string of
accusations of the wrongdoing being ‘intentional’ and open the door
widely for such accusations.
This Article now deals with the a priori waiving by the parties, to the
fullest extent permitted under the applicable law, of any claim against the
arbitrators and any person appointed by the arbitral tribunal based on any
act or omission in connection with the arbitration. In moving away from
the 2010 UNCITRAL Rules on Arbitration, and deciding against the
inclusion of the words ‘intentional wrongdoing’, the PCA Rules on Outer
Space Disputes stand as an example of progressive development of the
law. A waiver of sovereignty should not include, therefore, ‘intentional
wrongdoing’.

191
Relevant documents underpinning this conclusion are on file with the
author.
192
Cf. Art. 12(4), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58.
193
As for the 2010 UNCITRAL Rules on Arbitration, Arts. 8–10 handle the
appointment of arbitrators; e.g. Art. 8(d) provides that ‘if for any reason the
appointment cannot be made according to this procedure, the appointing author-
ity may exercise its discretion in appointing the sole arbitrator’.

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19.3.3.2.8 Applicable law and ‘amiable compositeur’ With respect to

the issues of applicable law and ‘amiable compositeur’, the Advisory
Group examined a few proposals. For example, it was suggested that
Article 35(1) should be supplemented by a reference to the ‘international
conventions in force’. The provision currently states that in resolving the
dispute the arbitral tribunal shall apply the law designated by the parties
or, in the absence of such designation, the national and/or international
law it determines appropriate. On this suggestion the Advisory Group
believed that the term ‘applicable law’ encompassed treaty law, custom-
ary international law and general principles of law, in accordance with
Article 38(1) of the ICJ Statute,194 which would make any further
addition superfluous.

19.3.3.3 Other general comments on the Rules

First, the compatibility of the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes with
the public international law system was another issue of stimulating
debate during the drafting of the Rules, particularly as regards Article XII
of the 1972 Liability Convention195 addressing the applicable law. It was
observed that indeed the Rules should be compatible with the inter-
national public law system of liability embodied by that Convention and
that, in order to prevent the conflict of laws, the Rules should be refined.
In fact, Article XII, like most of the provisions underlying the Liability
Convention, is one of substance. It does not raise an issue of conflict of
laws.196 It provides that the compensation which the ‘launching State’
shall be liable to pay for damage shall be determined in accordance with
international law and the principles of justice and equity. This Article,
rather, embodies a rule of public international law totally compatible with
the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes.

194
Art. 38, Statute of the International Court of Justice, supra n. 23, is
widely regarded as presenting the major sources of public international law,
referring in particular to treaties, customary international law and general
principles of law.
195
Art. XII, Liability Convention, supra n. 1, provides: ‘The compensation
which the launching State shall be liable to pay for damage under this
Convention shall be determined in accordance with international law and the
principles of justice and equity, in order to provide such reparation in respect of
the damage as will restore the person, natural or juridical, State or international
organization on whose behalf the claim is presented to the condition which
would have existed if the damage had not occurred.’
196
The question was thoroughly discussed by the ILA, see ILA Report of the
Sixty-Ninth Conference, London, 2000, 571–603; also supra, § 19.1.3.

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Hence the conclusion that the Liability Convention – which lays down
rules of substance – together with the Rules on Outer Space Disputes
which are procedural in nature and do not include provisions of sub-
stance, appear an appropriate and clear set of applicable legislation for
dealing with dispute settlement arising from space activities and dissipate
the risk of double recovery or forum shopping. When Article XII of the
Liability Convention refers to international law this clearly includes
treaty law, customary international law and general principles of law as
stated in Article 38 of the Statute of the ICJ. In the absence of precise
rules within the first two sources it seems reasonable to look for solutions
in the third, under which the principles of justice are no doubt included.
It is a well-known fact that whenever international tribunals were called
upon to give a decision in accordance with international law the task
raised no great problems.
Second, as to ‘classified information’ and ‘confidentiality’, a question
raised with some frequency in the comments from delegations, the
Advisory Group fully supported the flexible stand taken by the Rules on
Outer Space Disputes in Articles 17(7) and 17(8) to ensure appropriate
protection.197 In fact:

The idea of a ‘confidentiality adviser’ [as now included in Article 17(8) of the
Rules] hardly raised problems during the drafting stage of the Rules (2010–
2011). In general, it was considered as an interesting innovation to be tried
out by the parties to a dispute, if they so decided, bearing in mind the
flexibility of the new set of Rules. Confidentiality issues were, in fact, raised
with some frequency during the drafting phases but no stumbling block stood
in the way regarding this somewhat unique figure.198

The question continued under discussion among the members of the ILA
Space Law Committee, in preparation for the ILA Seventy-Sixth Confer-
ence held in Washington, DC, in April 2014 and remains on the
Committee’s agenda.
This issue is generally viewed by the ILA Committee as a creation of
an abstract nature given that a role of the kind has no clear precedents.
However, the question is likely to prompt an interesting debate over

197
These clauses provide for the potential to have information classified as
‘confidential’, and even for a ‘confidentiality adviser’ who can report on the basis
of such information without disclosing it as such to the tribunal or the other
party, let alone the outside world.
198
ILA Space Law Committee, Draft Conference Report Washington 2014,
available at www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/29, last accessed 21
April 2014, 6.

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 1041

subtleties involving confidential aspects. In this context it is necessary

not to lose sight of the fact that the Rules stand out for their flexibility
and have a potential – and, hopefully, important – part to play in covering
lacunae left by the UN space treaties on dispute resolution procedures to
which private parties, in those contexts, have no access. It is precisely
that feature – flexibility – which enables parties to a dispute to accept the
confidentiality adviser’s services or leave them out when they feel that
the confidential sides of the dispute will not be protected fairly. Indeed,
the space left to the autonomy of the parties is at the very root of the
PCA Rules.
Third, the Advisory Group could not agree with a general statement
made by a delegation during the drafting stages of the Rules in the sense
that they did not strengthen the UN treaties on outer space. Conversely,
the Group considered they did from the moment they were striking a
realistic balance among the various interests involved and reflected in
those treaties. No doubt the UN treaties were – and still are – in need of
procedural provisions for dispute settlement. In the case of the Liability
Convention, in particular, the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes would
contribute to its effectiveness.
Indeed, as Judge Pocar noted during deliberations, the Rules on Outer
Space Disputes will not conflict with the existing obligations arising
from the UN space treaties but, rather, enhance the dispute settlement
system embodied in the Liability Convention as the Rules could be
adopted by the Claims Commission envisaged by the Liability Conven-
tion. In fact, there is nothing to preclude this possibility, which is highly
recommendable and would go a long way in revitalizing the UN treaties
and, at the same time, provide a test of effectiveness for the newly
adopted Rules. As pointed out earlier, compatibility between the PCA
Rules on Outer Space Disputes and the UN space treaties is unquestion-
able in this field.
Fourth, another issue concerned interim measures. Doubts were
expressed as to whether Article 26(2) of the Rules199 addressing this
possibility would be restricted by the provisions in Article V of the 1967

199
Art. 26(2), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58, provides: ‘An
interim measure is any temporary measure by which, at any time prior to the
issuance of the award by which the dispute is finally decided, the arbitral tribunal
orders a party, for example and without limitation to: (a) maintain or restore the
status quo ante pending determination of the dispute; (b) take action that would
prevent, or refrain from taking action which is likely to cause, (i) current or
imminent harm or (ii) prejudice to the arbitral process itself; (c) provide a means

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1042 Handbook of space law

Outer Space Treaty200 laying down a general humanitarian principle

relating to assistance to astronauts and Article 8 of the Rescue Agreement
dealing with amendments.201 The Advisory Group understood that, in the
absence of agreement by the parties to the application of the Rules, they
would have no effect upon those treaties. Moreover, should the parties to
those treaties decide that disputes be solved under the Rules on Outer
Space Disputes, these could be modified accordingly.
Fifth, as to transparency and confidentiality, the flexibility of the Rules
on Outer Space Disputes enables the conclusion of agreements for the
application of stricter measures and the drawing up of international
standards for protection in this field. The Rules, in their present reading,
do not preclude this possibility in any way, because of their extreme
flexibility in full respect of the autonomy of the will of the parties. This
is a recurrent note in the PCA Rules throughout their various sections.
Sixth, some proposals favoured, as an Annex to the Rules on Outer
Space Disputes, the drafting of a model for the waiver of immunity. This
idea seemed realistic. Yet, the suggested model could be prepared in a
second phase if and when the drafting of guidelines or international
standards becomes necessary.

of preserving assets out of which a subsequent award may be satisfied; or (d)

preserve evidence that may be relevant and material to the resolution of the
dispute’.
200
Art. V, Outer Space Treaty, supra n. 12, states: ‘States Parties to the
Treaty shall regard astronauts as envoys of mankind in outer space and shall
render to them all possible assistance in the event of accident, distress or
emergency landing on the territory of another State Party or on the high seas.
When astronauts make such a landing, they shall be safely and promptly returned
to the State of registry of their space vehicle. In carrying on activities in outer
space and on celestial bodies the astronauts of one State Party shall render all
possible assistance to the astronauts of other States Parties. States Parties to the
Treaty shall immediately inform the other States Parties to the Treaty or the
Secretary-General of the United Nations of any phenomena they discover in
outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, which could
constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts.’
201
Art. 8, Rescue Agreement, supra n. 13, states: ‘Any State Party to the
Agreement may propose amendments to this Agreement. Amendments shall enter
into force for each State Party to the Agreement accepting the amendments upon
their acceptance by a majority of the States Parties to the Agreement and
thereafter for each remaining State Party to the Agreement on the date of
acceptance by it.’

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 1043

Finally, the Advisory Group discussed the need for practical guidelines
to address further details. The prevailing view supported addressing this
at a later stage.202

19.3.3.4 Closing comments

The Chair of the PCA Advisory Group introduced the Rules on Outer
Space Disputes to the United Nations at the Fifty-first Session of the
Legal Sub-Committee of COPUOS on 29 March 2012. He summed up
the main reasons for arbitration being particularly indicated in the field of
space law disputes in the following terms:203

+ Arbitration is open to all parties active in the field, both public and
private.
+ As reflected throughout the Rules, arbitration is a voluntary mech-
anism based on the consent of all parties, which can be provided by
insertion of an arbitration clause in the legal instrument that defines
the parties’ relationship; as clearly apparent in Article 1(1) of the
Rules.204
+ This is of particular importance where states are concerned, as they
may be better prepared to agree to a binding dispute resolution
under discrete agreements than to enter into a new significant
multilateral treaty.
+ Arbitration results in final and binding decisions, as set forth in
Article 4(2) of the Rules, in contrast with the recommendatory
nature of decisions under, for example, the 1972 Liability Conven-
tion.

202
Relevant documents supporting this statement are on file with the author.
203
See F. Pocar, An Introduction to the PCA’s Optional Rules for Arbitration
of Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities, 38 Journal of Space Law (2011),
171 ff.
204
Art. 1(1), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58, states: ‘Where
parties have agreed that disputes between them in respect of a defined legal
relationship, whether contractual or not, shall be referred to arbitration under the
Permanent Court of Arbitration Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes
relating to Outer Space Activities, then such disputes shall be settled in
accordance with these Rules subject to such modification as the parties may
agree. The characterization of the dispute as relating to outer space is not
necessary for jurisdiction where parties have agreed to settle a specific dispute
under these Rules.’

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1044 Handbook of space law

+ Arbitral awards are internationally recognized and enforceable in

all signatory states of the New York Convention,205 currently 146.
+ Parties to arbitration choose their own decision makers. Unlike in a
court, parties in arbitration have the option of selecting arbitrators
with specialized competences in the relevant fields, which may be
as diverse as economics, cutting-edge space technology, and a
tangle of related scientific branches.
+ Arbitral procedure is flexible and can be modified by agreement of
the parties, as provided in Article 1(1) of the Rules.
+ Arbitration can serve to preserve the confidentiality of sensitive
information. Hearings need not be public and awards need not be
published, as provided in Articles 28(3) and 34(5) of the Rules.206

Another reason for supporting the advisability of using the PCA Rules
for disputes relating to space activities is that national judges are
normally limited by the provisions of their own national law, both from
the procedural standpoint and on the merits, which means that the
autonomy of the parties – as established by Article 35 of the PCA Rules
– would be restricted. Even though, in many cases, national laws do
respect that autonomy and favour self-regulation, national laws may
contain certain barriers which cannot be bypassed. Moreover, it should be
borne in mind that, usually, national judges are allocated randomly (by
extracting the names from a bag or other container) but not ratione
materiae. Therefore it is likely that the judge called upon to decide is not
fully seized of the points in question and perhaps unfamiliar with the
specific area of space law or the scope of the ‘outer space component’

205
Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral
Awards (New York Convention), New York, done 10 June 1958, entered into
force 7 June 1959; 330 UNTS 3; TIAS 6997; 21 UST 2517; UKTS 1976 No. 20;
Cmnd. 1515; ATS 1975 No. 25; 7 ILM 1046 (1968).
206
Art. 28(3), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, supra n. 58, provides:
‘Hearings shall be held in camera unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral
tribunal may require the retirement of any witness or witnesses, including expert
witnesses, during the testimony of such other witnesses, except that a witness,
including an expert witness, who is a party to the arbitration shall not, in
principle, be asked to retire.’ Art. 34(5), Rules on Outer Space Disputes, states:
‘An award may be made public with the consent of all parties or where and to the
extent disclosure is required of a party by legal duty, to protect or pursue a legal
right or in relation to legal proceedings before a court or other competent
authority.’

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Dispute resolution regarding space activities 1045

underlying the dispute, as stated sub (i) of the Introduction to the PCA
Rules.207
Following the presentation of the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes
to the Legal Sub-Committee of COPUOS they were introduced to a
number of institutions, public and private, in different countries, such as
the Seventy-Fifth Conference of the ILA (in Sofia, Bulgaria, August
2012), the Fifty-Fourth Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space (in
Naples, Italy, October 2012), the Fiftieth Congress of the Ibero-American
Institute of Air and Space Law (in Cádiz, Spain, October 2012), the
UN/Argentina Workshop on Space Law (in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
November 2012) and other institutions, academies, universities and law
firms in different parts of the world.

19.4 THE CONCLUSIONS SO FAR: SPARKLES OF

HOPE
There is much to be said for the great flexibility of the 2011 PCA Rules
on Outer Space Disputes and their strictly procedural nature. Therefore,
rather than weakening the force of the dispute settlement clauses embod-
ied in the UN space treaties and Principles, the new Rules should play a
constructive role in revitalizing and enriching the existing procedures.
A cursory glance at the Rules on Outer Space Disputes’ nearest
precedent, that is the Environmental Rules, also procedural, reveals that
the subject matter of the latter is very close to that of space activities.
They essentially comprise ‘sister’ sets of Rules. Hence, a fruitful inter-
action between both sets of Rules seems desirable and is expected before
too long. For example, both sets of Rules would be referring to each
other and, thus, helping each other to be more widely applied and
accepted. Then, uniform practice in the application of both may possibly
start reflecting a general practice coupled with an opinio juris generalis,
leading to the formation of rules of customary international law.
Both areas are highly influenced by technological development of
which glaring examples are the use of satellites for monitoring compli-
ance with international agreements, particularly concerning the manage-
ment of water resources, climate change and the protection of the ozone
layer.

207
See also G. Duberti, Normas de Arbitraje Aplicables a Controversias
Relativas a Actividades Espaciales, III Seminario sobre Actividades Espaciales y
Derecho (2013), 177–88.

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1046 Handbook of space law

Both areas, environmental law and space law, are highly and closely
intertwined as well. In the latter example – protection of the ozone layer
– space technologies, because of their extreme precision, are a powerful
tool in establishing the alterations in stratospheric ozone in different parts
of the stratosphere and at any time of the year. The figures provided by
earth observation satellites – in Dobson units – are showing that the
international agreements in force are proving successful. It follows that
the dimension of this problem can now be measured with precision by
means of space technology. And when a problem can be measured the
way to realistic solutions is eased.208
Furthermore, these Rules might prove useful for dispute settlement in
new specific areas such as the value of satellite data in international
litigation, the use of space technologies in robotics and other ‘remote
presence’ applications which are being developed at the moment.
The general opinion concurs that the time is right for having proced-
ural rules on dispute settlement relating to outer space activities and that,
possibly in the medium term, the PCA Rules on Outer Space Disputes
would provide an excellent tool for the settlement of disputes arising
from exploration and use of outer space and celestial bodies, as well as
from the exploitation of those areas.

208
See ILA Report of the Seventy-Fifth Conference, Sofia, 2012, Part I (by
the present author), 15.

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Index
absolute liability 7, 87–9, 586, 628, 731, of states 4–5, 27, 131, 520–1, 782,
734, 904, 913 997
accidents 405, 579, 584, 612–14, 652, ultra-hazardous 89, 732, 764
926–8, 930, 942 actors 21, 23, 126–8, 187, 910, 936–7,
accuracy 543, 546, 556, 559, 565, 568, 979, 988
570, 604 non-governmental 128, 525, 553
Act Concerning Limited Liability for private 20, 26, 127, 138, 181, 185,
Spaceflight Activities 693 526, 530
Act on Space Activities 151–2 ad hoc agreements 227, 973
active debris removal (ADR) 734–5, ad hoc arbitration 1025, 1035
739, 757–8, 766 adjudication 1023, 1025, 1027–8
activities adjudicative jurisdiction 904–5
commercial 257, 520, 639, 641–2, administrative due diligence 483, 487
1031 ADR see active debris removal
data handling 520, 524 AEB (Brazilian Space Agency) 177,
economic 5, 267, 961, 972, 993–4 203
exploitative 769, 786–7, 797, 806, aeronautical mobile-satellite service
811–12 478
exploration and development 807 aerospace and propulsion 421, 423
extra-vehicular 627, 666, 722, 732 aerospace objects 389
extraterrestrial mining 660, 775, 788, affiliated entities 549–50
791 Africa 9, 208, 301, 311, 469, 481, 491,
governing remote sensing 507, 513, 835
529, 538, 541 African Space Agency 207
harmful space 59, 718, 729 AFTA see ASEAN Free Trade Area
human 1, 8, 37, 125, 618–19, 627, Agreement on Government
717, 720 Procurement 820, 868
launch 166, 393, 396, 405, 443, 450, air carriers 570, 871
686, 688 air flight 67, 615
launch vehicle 638 air launches 86, 679
lunar 786–7 air law 1, 4–5, 62–4, 388–9, 651, 672–3,
mandatory 215–16 676, 682–3
manned space 56, 722 applicability 673–7
mineral 803, 807–9 application of international 676
mining 660, 793–4, 809 liability conventions 606–7
non-governmental 131–2, 153, 516, national 74, 408, 676
543, 1014 and space law 672–3
operational 219, 227, 321 Air Navigation Service Providers
in outer space 320–1, 706 (ANSP) 605
private 82, 131, 628, 680, 859, 1005 air space see airspace
remote sensing 501, 505–8, 511, air traffic 4, 409, 415, 569, 602–3
513–24, 526–7, 531–2, 541–2, air traffic control (ATC) 414–15, 889,
957–8 896

1047

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1048 Handbook of space law

air traffic controllers 415, 602 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty 16, 49,
air traffic management 347–8
and launches 409–12 anti-satellite weapons 18, 337–8, 341,
to space traffic management 412–17, 344, 346–7, 358, 721, 940
713, 715 test, China 344–5, 377, 379, 405
air traffic management agencies, applicability 354, 357–8, 516, 675–8,
national 408, 413, 417 680–1, 979–81, 988, 990–3
air transport services 870–1 applicable law 87, 363, 581, 880, 882,
aircraft 72, 74–7, 401, 408–10, 412–17, 885–6, 894–5, 1038–9
599, 651, 673–9 application
definition 388, 411 environmental 509, 547, 717
experimental 64, 72 scope of 50, 85, 134, 146, 152, 160,
issue 674–5 162–3, 180
operations 64, 410, 675 unconditional 830
repair 871 appropriate State 133–4, 136, 680
aircraft operators 413, 606, 676 appropriation of outer space 627,
Aircraft Protocol 888, 899 779–81, 792
airlines 400–1, 415, 611, 692, 871, 890 APRSAF (Asia-Pacific Regional Space
airspace 61, 64, 70–5, 408–13, 415, Agency Forum) 207
671–2, 674, 676–8 APSCO (Asia-Pacific Space
foreign 72–3, 77, 405 Cooperation Organization) 207
international 415–17, 715 ARABSAT 109–11, 283, 305–7, 312,
issue 673–4 494
upper 74–5, 77 arbitral tribunals 1010, 1034, 1038–9
airspace users 415 arbitration 184, 1000, 1002–3,
all risks policy 933 1017–21, 1023, 1027–8, 1036–8,
allocation 465–7, 469, 471, 476, 639, 1043–4
656, 799–800, 802–3 ad hoc 1025, 1035
allotment 275, 285, 304, 327, 465–6, compulsory 1017
472–4, 477, 487 arbitrators 308, 1010, 1034, 1037–8
of frequencies 275, 465, 473, 1020 Argentina 527, 851, 1022–3, 1027,
altitudes 61, 64–6, 70–3, 413–14, 503, 1045
669–71, 678–9, 712–13 Ariane 231, 391, 440, 442, 449
lowest 65, 68 launch vehicle 218, 231, 386, 391,
minimum 65, 67, 669, 750 836
amateur-satellite services 479 launches 231, 440
amount of insurance 914, 918, 925, preference declaration see fly Europe
928–9, 931, 933–6 policy
analysed information 504, 523–4, 859, programme 228, 230–2, 441, 837
958–60, 965–6 Arianespace 228–32, 385–6, 391–3,
annual declarations 346, 427 402, 443–4, 447–9, 451–2, 836–7
ANSP (Air Navigation Service Convention 231
Providers) 605 Declaration 230–1
Antarctic environment 806, 809 operations 119, 230
Antarctic Treaty 339, 654, 803–6 armed conflicts 20, 316, 358–9, 371,
Antarctica 60–1, 770, 803–10 499
legal status 805 arms 338, 365, 370, 422, 424, 430–1
Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems 16, 347 control 15–20, 332, 335, 343

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Index 1049

exports 371–2, 422, 424 auctioning of frequencies 487–8

race 3, 18–20, 35, 378, 381 augmentation systems 556, 569–70,
artificial satellites 35, 478, 502, 998 599, 601, 616
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) 208, Ground-Based 569, 573
834 MTSAT Satellite 575
ASEAN Space Organization 207 Satellite-Based 569, 573
Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Australia 138, 166–8, 183, 185, 197,
Forum (APRSAF) 207 211, 375, 414
Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Space Activities Act 166–8, 414
Organization (APSCO) 207 Space Activities Regulations 166–7
Assembly of Parties 287, 298
Austria 11, 164–6, 183, 185, 196, 224
asset-backed finance 879, 887–8
Law on Space Activities 165
asset-backed financing 887
asset-based financing 124 authenticity of data 512, 543
assets 550, 874, 877, 880–6, 890–5, authority 188, 190, 193, 375, 785–7,
898, 901, 906–7 793–4, 811, 947
insured 931 international 811
space see space assets authorization 158–9, 165–7, 192–4,
assignees 901 196–8, 202–4, 375–6, 515–16,
assignment 275, 285, 304, 465–6, 807–8
473–5, 488, 648, 710 authorization of space activities 24, 182,
of debtor’s rights 899–901 593
temporary 648 authorization procedure 24, 146, 169,
assorted ground infrastructure 259, 858 180–1
asteroids 100, 659–60, 774–5, 891 automated systems 611–12
near-earth 772, 774 Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) 624,
astronauts 6, 79–81, 648–50, 652, 703, 626
708–10, 941–2, 997 automatic systems 610–11
bodily injury or property damage autonomous driving systems 610–13
sustained by 942–3 autonomous systems 610, 612, 617
damage caused by 941–2 aviation 123–4, 409, 412–13, 565, 570,
guest 703, 711 574, 667, 672–4
insurance 941–3 aviation insurers 911, 936
professional 710–11 aviation product liability insurance
status 78, 652 928–9
traditional 649 aviation regulations 201, 670, 688
ATC (air traffic control) 414–15, 889, avoidance manoeuvres 723
896 awards 995, 1005, 1010–11, 1024,
Athens Convention 609 1035, 1038, 1042, 1044
atmosphere 13–14, 65, 264, 343–4, 410,
651–2, 724, 917 Baikonur 117–18, 150–1, 229, 402, 699
atmospheric drag 744–5 Ball Lens in the Space (BLITS) 940
attacks 336, 352–6, 358–9, 418, 443, ballistic missiles 346–7, 360, 362–3,
485 366, 419, 426–7, 431
armed 352, 355 intercontinental 337, 383, 681
cyber 355–6 balloons 87, 502
ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) 624, bankruptcy 887, 943
626 banks 874, 878, 886–7, 897–9

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1050 Handbook of space law

barriers, trade 423, 815, 827, 832 Brussels Convention 498, 581
barter 639–40, 701 BSS see broadcasting-satellite
basic orbital parameters 97, 630, 737 services
basic principles 9, 177, 300, 320–1, 334, Buenos Aires Instrument on Space
955–6, 970, 973 Debris 1027, 1029, 1031, 1045
basic space laws 176–8 buy European policy 221–2
basic telecommunication services bystanders, innocent 591, 733
845–6, 848–50
Beidou 565–7, 573 California 613, 693–4
Belarus 303–5 Canada 93–4, 174–5, 200–1, 212,
Belgium 160–2, 183, 185, 194, 209–11,
507–8, 531–4, 542, 623–4
224, 597, 849
government 511, 532–3
Space Law 160–2
benefits 8–10, 111–12, 121, 490–1, 781, remote sensing 531–4
784–5, 787, 906–8 Remote Sensing Space Systems Act
public 543, 553 531, 533
Benefits Declaration 42, 103, 998 Remote Sensing Space Systems
benefits of space activities 330 Regulations 175
Berne Convention 123, 861, 952–3, Space Agency see CSA
955–8, 963, 971, 973 Space Agency Act 174
Bigelow 369, 665, 672, 705 capacity 304, 444, 459, 764, 911,
bilateral agreements 3, 16, 107, 119, 934–5, 937, 943
150, 531, 539, 841–2 operational 657, 911, 934–5
bilateral launch trade relations 443–52 Cape Town Convention 125, 886–909
binding decisions 274, 1011, 1022, assignment of debtor’s rights
1043 899–901
binding settlement procedures 1026–7 criticism 907–9
biosphere, Earth’s 748 entry into force 907
biota 344 formation of international interest
BLITS (Ball Lens in the Space) 940 891–2
BNSC (British National Space Centre) registration and priority 897–9
155, 193 relation to UN space treaties and ITU
Boeing 386–7, 867
instruments 902–7
borders 148, 380, 413, 826–7, 882
remedies 892–7
boundary of outer space 50, 60–73, 87,
273, 322, 335, 669, 990–1 sales 901
Brazil 116–18, 177, 183, 203, 396, 402, scope 889–91
539, 625 capital 243, 303, 306, 874, 877, 887
Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) 177, CARS (Center for Automotive
203 Research at Stanford) 612
British National Space Centre (BNSC) causation 51–2, 591–2, 601, 616
155, 193 CBERS (China-Brazil Earth Resources
broadcasting 157, 456, 496, 498–500, Satellites) 539, 967, 970
798 CCDev (Commercial Crew
direct 78, 103, 122, 234, 457, 493–4 Development) 703
broadcasting-satellite services (BSS) CCL (Commerce Control List) 369
477–8, 481, 494 CD (Conference on Disarmament)
brokering 374, 414, 422 18–20, 378–9

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Index 1051

celestial bodies 56–9, 337–8, 340–2, liability for navigational aids and
654–5, 659–61, 769–72, 775–80, development of CNS/ATM
782–3 systems 602–7
legal status 770, 777–92 Civil International Space Station 656–7,
Center for Automotive Research at 1003
Stanford (CARS) 612 civil purposes 334, 428, 506–7, 519,
Centre Spatial Guyanais see CSG 607
certification 594, 599–601, 604–5, 611, civil remote sensing programmes 506,
686–7, 691, 710, 712 508–9
authorities 599–601 civil space activities 155
civilian space programmes 360–1
process 599, 604
Claims Commission 91, 93, 995, 1005,
certified products 504
1011, 1041
CGEA (Community General Export classified information 645, 719, 1040
Authorisation) 375 clients, foreign 392, 394, 432–3, 448
CGWIC (China Great Wall Industry CLIP (Conflict of Laws in Intellectual
Corporation) 394 Property) 992
chargees 890, 892–4 CNES (Centre National d’Etudes
chargors 890, 893 Spatiales) 158, 193, 214, 228, 548
Charter of the United Nations 76, 274, CNSA (China’s National Space
350, 354, 999, 1013–14 Administration) 175, 773
Chemical Weapons Convention 423 coastal States 75–6
Chicago Convention 4, 278, 409, COCOM (Coordinating Committee on
602–4, 673 Multilateral Strategic Export
China 394–5, 430–4, 444–6, 448–9, Control) 364
538–9, 658, 773–4, 840–1 codes of conduct 9, 370, 372, 381, 422,
ASAT test 344–5, 377, 379, 405 450, 759, 768
bilateral launch relations with United collateral 124, 874, 877–8, 880, 884–6,
States 444–6 890, 893–4
COSTIND (Commission of Science, collateral damage 358–9
Technology and Industry) 175, collision avoidance 714, 722, 744, 752,
201–2 758
government 444, 539, 566–7, 774 collision risks 380, 734
launches 430, 444 collisions 380, 406, 586–7, 590, 720–3,
commercial 433 734, 737, 939–40
National Space Administration Colombia 62, 177, 183, 305, 541
(CNSA) 175, 773 Colorado 693–4
Outer Space Ordinance for the Hong COMESA (Common Market for
Kong region 178 Eastern and Southern Africa) 208,
space programmes 11, 378 834
territory 444, 539 Commerce Control List see CCL
China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites commercial activities 257, 520, 639,
(CBERS) 539, 967, 970 641–2, 1031
China Great Wall Industry Corporation commercial applications 249, 437, 500
(CGWIC) 394 commercial communications satellites
circular orbits 557, 798 368, 428–9
civil aircraft 821 Commercial Crew Development
civil aviation 174 (CCDev) programme 703

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commercial distribution 501, 538, 825 of telecommunications and satellite

commercial entities 156, 547, 985 communications 843–4
commercial interests 323, 368, 485, Commission of Science, Technology
488, 543, 864 and Industry (COSTIND) 175,
commercial launch operations 388, 412, 201–2
842 Committee on Radio Frequencies
commercial launch services 166, 437, (CRAF) 480
444–5, 448–9, 838 Committee on Space Law 181, 184
commercial launches 412, 434, 443 Committee on Space Research see
commercial markets 257, 440, 528, 843, COSPAR
857 Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
commercial operators 142, 250, 488, Outer Space see COPUOS
588, 593, 860, 863 commodities 76, 359–60, 368, 771
Commercial Orbital Transportation commodity jurisdiction requests 369
Services see COTS common European interest 267
commercial practice 111, 588, 860 common heritage of mankind 41, 57–8,
commercial purposes 127, 330, 797, 75, 782–8, 793, 795–7
807, 809, 811, 817 and Moon Agreement 101–3
commercial remote sensing 506, Common Market for Eastern and
508–11, 526, 530–1, 857, 860 Southern Africa see COMESA
satellites 526 commons, global 55, 58–60, 68, 100,
commercial satellite launch services 476, 622, 627, 790–71
449, 838 communication purposes 286, 458, 802
commercial satellite operators 588, 593, communication services 234, 554, 615,
857–8 847
commercial satellites 358, 369, 435–6, personal 848–9, 851
531, 775 communications 188–9, 263–4, 349,
Commercial Service see CS 351, 451, 456–7, 461, 478
Commercial Space Act 439, 640, 687 communications satellites 375, 429,
commercial space activities 139, 182, 431, 433–4, 881, 883, 1016, 1023
437, 1005, 1030 commercial 368, 428–9
Commercial Space Launch Act 387, communist ideologies 814–15
390, 683, 685, 687–91, 694, Community General Export
704–6, 916 Authorisation (CGEA) 375
Commercial Space Launch Company Eutelsat S.A. 300, 321
Amendments Act 142, 687–8, 711 compensation 84–5, 172, 194–5, 325–6,
Commercial Space Launch Policy 437 589–90, 606, 732, 734
commercial space launches 141 claims 187, 1011
commercial space operations 415 competences 240–5, 250–1, 254,
commercial use 631–2, 638–40, 653, 256–8, 270–2, 274–5, 282, 307
661, 770, 776, 788–90, 797 exclusive 33, 256, 597
commercial users 541, 545–6, 644, 648 competing claimants 878, 880–1, 883,
commercialization 25–6, 490–1, 528, 886, 888, 899, 901
640, 642, 854, 862, 873 competition 2–3, 244, 248, 412,
and privatization of satellite 417–52, 528, 851–2, 858
navigation 862–4 fair 243, 265–6, 268, 300, 324
space activities and major space principles 257, 267
applications 853–4 regimes 258, 312

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Index 1053

rules 298–9 prior 78, 496–9, 519, 522–3, 640

competitors 383, 434, 448, 663–4, 838, Consolidated Operations and
850 Utilization Plan (COUP) 641
international 436 constitutive documents 111, 269–70,
compliance 154–6, 158, 160, 346, 348, 282, 313, 1018
350, 705, 751–2 constitutive treaties 110–11, 285, 307
components 94, 347, 361–2, 421, constructive total loss 934–6, 941
423–5, 435, 438, 629–30 consultation clause 730
manufacturers or suppliers of 694–5 consultations 182, 322, 341, 496–7,
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban 730–1, 754, 1012, 1027–8
Treaty 17, 345
consumers 591, 828, 836, 919
comprehensive space Acts 139, 395–6
contamination 755–6, 766, 1002
European 156–66
outside Europe 166–71 harmful 729, 756, 782, 1001
compromises 7, 111, 131, 158, 472, nuclear 717, 723–4
495, 497, 537 of outer space 155, 355
compulsory insurance 149, 164, 609 continuing supervision 131, 133, 138
compulsory jurisdiction 1022, 1024 Continuously Operating Reference
computer reservation system (CRS) Stations see CORS
services 871 contract law 156, 515
Comsat 284, 319, 849, 910 contractors 235, 638, 645, 686, 690,
conciliation 205, 1000, 1002–3 694–5, 924, 928
procedure 1026 contracts 221–2, 238, 580, 588, 591,
conditional sellers 890, 892, 894, 899 631, 644, 921–4
conditions 152–4, 171, 182, 184–5, contractual chain 923–4, 929
529–30, 832–3, 928–31, 1007 contractual duties/obligations 582, 588,
imposition of 642 616
licensing 549–50, 959, 962, 971 contractual liability 235, 707
market 523, 894, 925 contractual parties 686, 690, 928
preferential 546, 834 contractual partners 221, 593, 924
conduct of space activities 144, 170–1 contractual relationships 405, 588, 863,
Conference on Disarmament see CD 990
confidence 47, 426, 878, 898 contributions 216–17, 222, 266, 272,
confidence-building measures 346, 426 303, 311–12, 625, 631
confidential information 645, 830 contributors, largest 306
confidentiality 645–6, 1034, 1040, control 198–202, 364–6, 431–3, 525–8,
1042, 1044 532–3, 611–12, 893–5, 927–8
adviser 1040 governmental 526, 528, 537–8
conflict of laws 991, 1008, 1010, 1039 national 276, 364, 371
conflicts 14, 19, 226, 231, 316, 581, shutter 529, 542, 545, 858
880, 903 controlled items 364, 374–5, 419, 421,
armed 20, 316, 358–9, 371, 499 429
confusion 50, 65, 72, 96, 102, 990, 1007 convenience, flags of 128, 187, 695–6
consensus, international 59, 614, 755 convention law 614, 616
consent 310, 550, 691, 882, 1043 Convention on International Civil
informal 691, 708 Aviation 570
informed 143, 691–2, 694, 696, 704, Convention on International Interests in
711 Mobile Equipment 887

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Convention on Registration of Objects corporations 142, 167, 200, 328, 883

Launched 998 Unicom Satellite 487
conventional arms 364, 371–2, 414, corpus juris spatialis internationalis 37,
420–1, 429 118
Cooperating Agencies 624, 629, 631–2, nature 43–9
638, 640, 644–5 CORS (Continuously Operating
cooperation see international Reference Stations) 571
cooperation cosmonauts 80, 147, 709
cooperative space projects 226, 417, COSPAR (Committee on Space
988 Research) 742, 754–6
Coordinating Committee on Planetary Protection Policy 754, 763
Multilateral Strategic Export COSPAS-SARSAT Agreement 116
Control see COCOM cost terms, reasonable 523, 543, 857
coordination 59, 144, 211, 251, 304, COSTIND (Commission of Science,
327, 476–7, 1021 Technology and Industry) 175,
of international frequency usage for 201–2
international satellite services costs 216–17, 311, 540, 542, 545–6,
482–4 758–9, 776, 888
process 411, 473–5, 482 marginal 523, 543–6, 548
extended 473–4 reasonable 142, 547
Copernicus 218, 263–4, 268, 377, 546, transactional 879–80, 888
968, 970, 993 COTIF Convention 614
COPUOS (Committee on the Peaceful COTS (Commercial Orbital
Uses of Outer Space) 10–12, 36–8, Transportation Services) 703, 867,
41, 43, 103–6, 274, 718, 741–2 876
Guidelines 745–6, 756 Council for Trade in Goods 822
Legal Sub-Committee 11–12, 24–5, Council for Trade in Services 822, 871
61–2, 179, 181, 745–6, 1007–8, COUP (Consolidated Operations and
1043 Utilization Plan) 641
STSC (Scientific and Technical court orders 878–9, 886, 892, 894
Sub-Committee) 11, 37, 742–3, courts 489, 580, 599–600, 880, 882–3,
745–6, 762 885–6, 893, 1009–10
work beyond space treaties 103–5 domestic 589–90
copyright 237, 249–50, 277, 498–9, European Court of Justice 240, 242,
550, 951–73, 977–8, 990–2 595, 956
characteristics of protection 952–7 international 505, 1009–10
enforcement 957, 963, 990 International Court of Justice (ICJ)
licensing 962–7 307–8, 518–19, 997, 999,
principles 952–3, 963, 970 1001–2, 1009, 1025, 1035
quasi-proprietary 963, 965 United States 489, 555, 685, 886–7
and remote sensing data 957–62 coverage 194–6, 928, 930, 933, 935–7,
initiatives to promote sharing 939, 941, 945
967–70 CRAF (Committee on Radio
protection suggestions 971–2 Frequencies) 480
scope 953, 955–6, 961–2 creativity 249, 955, 957, 959–61, 992
copyrighted works 957, 962, 964, 970 creditors 878–9, 881–2, 888, 890,
Córdoba Round Table on Dispute 892–8, 900–1, 906–7
Settlement 1021–4 lien 883–4

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Index 1055

creditworthiness 876–7 data

crew 36, 645, 648, 650, 688, 691, 708, authenticity 512, 543
710–12 collection 512, 522, 526–7
criminal jurisdiction 77, 632–4, 660, distribution 528, 531, 533, 536–8,
677 541–2, 545, 549–50, 553
cross-border disputes 581 earth observation 509, 547
cross-border supply 833, 847–8 generators 512, 524, 543–4, 547,
cross-waivers 237, 286, 292, 638, 702, 550–3
707, 922, 942 geographic 967–8
CRS (computer reservation system) handling activities 520, 524
Landsat 528, 544–5, 855
services 871
licensed 964–6, 990
cruise missiles 362, 419
misuse 512, 522–3, 551
CS (Commercial Service) 260, 565, 575 ownership 550, 644
CSA (Canadian Space Agency) 174, policies 501, 512–13, 524, 527, 530,
201, 531, 545, 632 543–53
CSG (Centre Spatial Guyanais) 232, access and pricing 544–9
441–2 relevance 543–4
cube-sats 127, 161, 163, 165 primary 504, 520, 523, 859, 958, 960
Curacao 163, 178, 664, 869 providers 174, 512, 525, 535, 544,
customary international law 30–1, 33, 967
38, 41–3, 71–3, 595–6, 999–1000, raw 175, 504, 532–3, 551, 859
1008–10 remote sensing see remote sensing
and ESA 225–6 data
and IGOs 309–17 requests 535–6
customary law 27, 107, 111, 225, 307, rules 521, 523
310, 317, 330 sales 509, 528–9, 855
customs duties 829, 831–2 satellite 123, 547–9, 854, 1046
cyber attacks 355–6 suppliers 513, 543, 549–51
technical 366–8, 425
damage 51–4, 84–92, 583–93, 606–7, trajectory 414–15
731–7, 919–25, 927–33, 936–42 unenhanced 504, 528, 530
collateral 358–9 weather 236–7, 333
compensation 325, 692 Database Directive 237, 249–50, 268,
definition 584 860, 955–6, 972
direct 262, 736 databases 250, 484, 860–2, 954–6,
indirect 84, 753, 915, 921 960–1, 972
physical 48, 585, 930, 947 remote sensing 277, 860, 862
potential 517, 721, 736, 754 sui generis protection 250, 955, 965,
relevant 84, 707, 764 972
risk of 137–8, 736 daughter entities 227, 296
victims of 52, 732, 734, 1007 DDTC (Directorate of Defense Trade
damageable facts 926–8, 939 Controls) 362, 369
damages 53, 85 de facto parties 92, 99–100, 326
dangerous military items 360 de-orbiting 646, 699, 750, 917–18
dangerous space debris see debris debris 717–24, 733–6, 738–9, 741–2,
dangers 18, 75, 164, 416, 596, 694, 712, 744–5, 753–4, 756–8, 937–41
1002 fragmentation 720, 737

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1056 Handbook of space law

and insurance 937–41 developing countries 8–10, 464, 481,

mission-related 720 494–5, 785–7, 793–6, 800–1, 996
mitigation 133–4, 404, 406, 743–4, development of space law 37, 103
749, 751–2, 754, 766–7 first three phases 37–43
particles 721, 735 devices 614–15, 866, 947
radioactive 93, 723–4 DGPS (Differential GPS) 569, 573
removal 758–9, 764 Differential GPS (DGPS) 569, 573
surviving atmospheric drag 409 digital environment 249, 953
debtors 878–9, 882–4, 886–8, 890, 892, Digital Globe 510, 545, 549, 856, 858–9
894–7, 899–901 diplomatic negotiations 91, 93, 629
assets 878, 883, 888 direct broadcasting 78, 103, 122, 234,
property 890, 1024 457, 493–4
rights, assignment 899–901 satellites 41, 78, 494
decision-making mechanisms 795, 797, direct damages 262, 736
808 direct negotiations 999, 1005, 1011
deep seabed resources 785, 794, 796 direct reception 478–9, 494, 499
deep space probes 96, 457, 681 Direct-To-Home (DTH) services 494
defects Directive on Competition in
design 919 Telecommunications Services 248
inherent 590–1 Directive on Terminal Equipment 248
manufacturing 919 Directorate of Defense Trade Controls
warning and instructions 920 (DDTC) 362, 369
defence 76, 145–6, 191, 194, 369–70, disarmament 18–19, 343, 347, 379
372, 413, 559–60 disasters 263, 524, 547–8, 709–10
articles 366–7, 424, 430–1, 434 disclosure 143, 645, 830, 977, 980, 992,
national 175, 533, 537, 656 1037
services 366–7, 424 discretion 95, 153, 171, 222, 256, 376,
delegation agreement 563 434, 643
multi-annual 564 sovereign 33, 219, 257, 365, 701, 820
delegations 186, 585, 1007–8, 1011, discrimination 57, 358, 815, 830
1040–1 dispute resolution see dispute
delimitation 62, 411, 414, 504, 669, settlement
1009–10 dispute settlement 500, 824, 995–1046
delivery systems 362, 365, 419, 427 background and law in force
demilitarization 341, 653–4 995–1014
Department of Commerce 425, 435 clauses 1025–6, 1045
Department of Defense see DOD conclusions 1045–6
Department of Space 540, 568 ILA contribution 1024–31
Department of State 366, 369 and INTELSAT Agreements
Department of Transportation see DOT 1015–20
deployment of weapons 3, 16, 333, 345, and ITU (International
347, 379, 381, 426 Telecommunication Union)
derivative works 966–7 1020–1
design 15, 148, 190, 634, 638, 740, landmarks and precedents for
743–4, 748 development of law 1014–31
defects 919 and Liability Convention 1004–12
destruction, intentional 355, 380, 743–4 mechanisms 91, 93, 273, 1003, 1005,
developed states 103, 481, 793–6, 805 1011, 1017, 1019

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Index 1057

and Moon Agreement 1012–13 dual-use items 362–5, 369–70, 374–6,

Munich International Colloquium, 414, 420–5, 429, 431, 433–5
Córdoba Round Table and dual-use satellites 358, 435, 520
beyond 1021–4 due diligence 762–4
and Outer Space Treaty 999–1003 dumping 444, 449, 835, 841–2
procedures 821–4, 871, 1012, 1014, Dutch Space Law see Netherlands,
1016, 1026, 1031–2, 1035 Space Law
reform 1031–45 duties 181, 515–17, 580–4, 588–90,
and Registration Convention 1012 652, 822, 831–2, 906
and Rescue Agreement 1003 contractual 582, 588, 616
and UN Principles 1013–14
customs 829, 831–2
Dispute Settlement Body see DSB
export 829
disputes 999–1000, 1002, 1013–19,
1026–31, 1033–4, 1036–7, general 583, 589, 592
1039–42, 1044–6 import 827, 830
cross-border 581 public 322, 329
peaceful settlement of 1013–14, 1022
see also dispute settlement EADS Astrium 393
dissemination 173–4, 200, 226–7, 520, EARC (Extra-ordinary Administrative
523, 526–7, 534, 642 Radio Conference) 477, 481
of data 174, 511, 517, 520, 524, 540 EARs (Export Administration
distress 75, 79–80, 316, 349, 650, 652, Regulations) 363, 425, 431
709, 711 earth environment 717, 754, 1001
distribution 512–13, 528, 538–40, earth exploration-satellite service 479
542–3, 547, 549–50, 552–3, 966 earth observation 127, 253, 510, 534,
commercial 501, 538, 825 995
of data 528, 531, 533, 536–8, 541–2, data 509, 547
545, 549–50, 553 satellites 262, 510, 969, 1046
geographical 222, 238, 254, 312 earth orbit 95–6, 98, 669, 672, 720, 722,
of remote sensing data 173, 537, 540, 725, 737–8
542 geostationary 61–2, 284–5, 457–9,
distributors 494, 512, 535–6, 549, 553 476–7, 480–1, 726–7, 798–800,
diversity 17, 26, 103, 184, 187 802
DOD (Department of Defense) 385, low 337, 394, 460, 503, 619, 646,
556–8 720, 877
domestic courts 589–90 medium 460, 566, 757, 865
domestic jurisdictions 241–2 Earth Resource Satellite (ERS)-1 508
domestic laws 127–8, 132–3, 542, earth satellites 479
791–2, 881–2, 914–16, 973, 1044 earth stations 234–5, 356, 359, 478–9,
domestic products 831 502, 504, 507, 571–3
DOT (Department of Transportation) mobile 478
385, 557, 571, 916 earth’s surface 87, 502, 504, 551, 674,
downlink 477 798, 857, 996
Dragon Spacecraft 626 EASA (European Aviation Safety
DSB (Dispute Settlement Body) 823, Agency) 408, 599, 601, 675
1018 EC see European Community
dual-use export controls 370, 374, 429, ECAC (European Civil Aviation
444 Conference) 605

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1058 Handbook of space law

economic activities 5, 267, 961, 972, of copyright 957, 963, 990

993–4 of patent rights 974, 980–1
economic incentives 767, 796, 808, 811 of remedies 895–6, 905
economic interests 220, 791, 794–5, of security interests 875, 879–81
803 ENMOD Convention 344–5
economic necessity 867 entities 142, 390, 521, 540–1, 545–6,
economic order, international 785–6 638, 914, 923
economic powers 205, 838 affiliated 549–50
economic rights 954 commercial 156, 547, 985
economics 195, 268, 282, 536, 834, governmental 385, 451, 517, 531, 838
1044 legal 55, 158, 241
economies of scale 214, 266, 287 liable 86, 735, 764, 923
economies of scope 214 non-governmental 24, 26, 46–7, 127,
ECSL (European Center for Space Law) 131, 515, 521, 525
25 private 509–11, 515–16, 519–21,
ECSS (European Cooperation for Space 547–8, 769–70, 779–80, 791–2,
Standardization) 752, 756 1017
edge of outer space 663, 710 public 324, 790, 1030
EEC (European Economic Community) entry into force, formal 114, 209, 299
206, 210 environment 167–8, 184–6, 188–90,
effectiveness 105, 268, 281, 427–8, 194–5, 377, 520, 729, 1026–9
1011, 1018, 1033, 1041 Antarctic 806, 809
efficient and economic use 480–1 digital 249, 953
EGAS (European Guaranteed Access to global 112, 857
Space) 229 legal 5, 258–9, 277, 875, 878, 881,
EGNOS (European Geo-stationary 912
Navigation Overlay System) privatized 322, 330, 843
258–61, 573–5, 595, 601, 605 environmental applications 509, 547,
and Galileo risk management 597–8 717
ELDO (European Launcher environmental aspects of space
Development Organisation) 113, activities 717–68
208–12, 228, 390 environmental consequences of space
electronic databases see databases activities 718
elliptical earth orbits 68 environmental damage 753–4
ELVs (expendable launch vehicles) 385, environmental harm 505, 731
412, 419 environmental hazards 717, 719–25,
emergencies 536, 542, 652, 709 735
emergency position-indicating environmental impact assessments 184,
radiobeacon stations 478 717
employees 702, 704, 922, 924, 931, environmental information 547
936, 942–3, 947 environmental law 761, 1046
employers 942 environmental management of space
end-users 373, 375, 512–13, 544, 548, activities 767
551–2, 573, 582 environmental modification techniques
endorsement 928–9, 945–6 344–5
Energia 387, 392, 658, 842 environmental monitoring 145, 218,
enforcement 882, 886, 893, 895–7, 507, 547
949–50, 959, 965, 971 environmental perspective 725, 740

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Index 1059

environmental pollution 244, 723 role in formation of customary

environmental principles 762–3 international law 225–6
environmental problems 717–19, 724, and space law 223–8
736–7, 741–2, 759, 761, 765–6 space programmes 214–19
environmental protection 151, 377, 511, escape velocities 672
550, 727, 730, 765–6, 804–5 ESF (European Science Foundation)
Environmental Rules 1045 480
Envisat 218, 545 ESOC (European Space Operations
equator 61, 117, 402, 458, 469, 798, 857 Centre) 219, 237–8
equatorial states 61–2, 493 ESPLS (European Space Products
equipment 144, 146, 374, 376, 639–40, Liability Scheme) 928, 930
694, 890–1, 983 ESRO (European Space Research
equity 85, 800, 1007–10, 1039 Organisation) 113, 208–12, 216,
foreign 849–52 391
ERS (Earth Resource Satellite) 508 Convention 210
ESA (European Space Agency) 113–15, ESSP (European Satellite Services
210–16, 219–21, 229–34, 253–5, Provider) 260, 575, 605
265–8, 310–15, 440–2 establishment of military bases 15, 313,
contracts 221–2, 312 335, 654
Convention 49, 114, 211–12, 221, ETG (European Tripartite Group) 259
226, 230, 311, 314 EU see European Union
and general legal framework EU-ESA Framework Agreement 253–4
211–14 EUMETSAT (Exploitation of
cooperation with European Union Meteorological Satellites) 81, 92,
251–2 99, 112–13, 236–8, 245, 263, 268
Council 215–16, 252, 441, 452 Eurasian Patent Convention 975
creation of daughter entities for Eurocontrol (European Organisation for
practical space applications the Safety of Air Navigation) 259,
227–8 408, 575
daughters 228–38 European Aviation Safety Agency see
Director General 441 EASA
framework 216, 223, 227, 254 European Centre for Space Law (ECSL)
‘geographical distribution’ and ‘fair 25
return’ 222–3 European Civil Aviation Conference
and industrial policy 219–23 (ECAC) 605
and intellectual property rights 226–7 European Commission 240, 246, 424,
launchers 211, 391, 440–2 429, 451–2, 563, 575, 594–5
member states 222–4, 230, 441, 449, European Community see European
625, 633, 636–7, 837 Union
in operation 214–19 European comprehensive space Acts
partisanship to UN space treaties 156–66
223–5 European Cooperation for Space
as possible generator of joint state Standardization see ECSS
practice 310–11 European Court of Justice 240, 242,
preference for European industry 595, 956
221–2 European Economic Community see
programmes 215, 222, 312 EEC

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1060 Handbook of space law

European Geo-stationary Navigation competence 254, 256, 371

Overlay System see EGNOS competition regime 265–6
European GNSS Supervisory Authority Constitutional Treaty to Treaty of
260, 563 Lisbon 255–8
European Governments 856 cooperation with ESA 251–2
European Guaranteed Access to Space EU-ESA Framework Agreement
(EGAS) 229 253–4
European Launcher Development export controls regime 421–4, 429
Organisation see ELDO export controls regime and military
European launchers 211, 391, 440 uses of outer space 369–77
European legal order 239, 241, 243, 281 law 241–3, 247, 258, 264, 595–6, 637
European Organisation for the Safety of legal foundations for involvement in
Air Navigation see Eurocontrol space 239–44
European Partner 633–4, 636 level 251, 256–7, 605
European Partner States 634, 636–7, member states 210, 212, 250, 299,
643, 656 371–3, 376, 424, 429
European Patent Convention 643, 975, organs 243–4
978 product liability 920
European Satellite Services Provider regime 266–7, 376, 920
see ESSP as regulatory IGO 281–2
European Science Foundation (ESF) regulatory integration of space
480 activities 239–50
European Space Agency see ESA and satellite communications 246–9
European Space Conference 208, 211 and satellite remote sensing 249–50
European space law 119, 205–68, 458 Single European Act and space
European Space Operations Centre see research and development 244–5
ESOC space competence 255–8
European space organizations 112–13, EUTELSAT (European
208–38 Telecommunications Satellite
European space policy 252, 254–5, 440, Organization) 109–13, 232–7,
451 283, 295–302, 311–12, 317,
European Space Products Liability 319–29, 1019–20
Scheme (ESPLS) 928, 930 Convention 111, 296, 1019
European space programme 220, 254–6 Interim 233
European Space Research Organisation member states 296–7, 299
see ESRO Operating Agreement 296, 1019
European space strategy 252 prior to privatization 295–6
European Tripartite Group (ETG) 259 privatization 297–301
European Union Code of Conduct on exchange of information 100, 179, 421,
Arms Exports 422 745, 754
European Union (EU) 22–3, 239–42, exchange of letters 360
256–7, 267–8, 369–72, 421–3, exclusive rights 324, 528, 807, 849, 852,
563, 594–7 959, 962, 970
Code of Conduct 23, 371, 373 exclusively peaceful purposes 313–17,
Code of Conduct on Arms Exports 340, 377, 729
371 exclusivity 227, 849–50
collaborative space flagship projects exemptions 266, 430, 830, 835, 846,
258–65 921–2, 1006

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Index 1061

expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) 385, Extra-ordinary Administrative Radio

412, 419 Conference (EARC) 477, 481
experimental aircraft 64, 72 extra-territorial jurisdiction 728
experimental satellites 283, 562 extra-vehicular activities 627, 666, 722,
expertise 191, 209, 211, 238, 623, 824, 732
960, 1037 extraction 250, 659, 661, 769–70,
experts 5, 63, 186, 333, 1018, 1023, 776–7, 793, 797, 813
1033, 1037 extraterrestrial mining 770, 772–7, 782,
legal 30, 604 791–2, 796–7, 799, 802–3, 811
exploitation 7–8, 57–8, 101–2, 785–6, extraterrestrial properties 779, 781
792–3, 796–7, 805–6, 810–11
extraterrestrial resources 660, 769–70,
of extraterrestrial resources 786–8,
777, 787–8, 790–1, 813
792, 796–7, 799, 808–12
of lunar resources 789, 810 exploitation 786–8, 792, 796–7, 799,
of outer space 761, 770 808–12
private 791, 810 legal status 788–92
Exploitation of Meteorological legla regime for exploitation 809–12
Satellites see EUMETSAT
exploitative activities 769, 786–7, 797, FAA/AST see FAA Office of
806, 811–12 Commercial Space Transportation
exploration 57, 204, 659, 772–3, 778, FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)
781–2, 806–7, 997–9 142, 415, 571, 669–71, 687–90,
manned 658–9 694–6, 703–6, 917
scientific 35, 48, 169 FAA-licensed launches 703–5
and use of outer space 127, 130, 138, FAA Office of Commercial Space
407, 659, 661, 778, 781 Transportation (FAA/AST) 386–8,
exploration and development activities 412
807 facilities 82, 135, 137, 341, 397, 401–2,
explosions, nuclear 336, 343, 345 638–9, 694
Export Administration Regulations production 361, 419
(EARs) 363, 425, 431 facts, damageable 926–8, 939
export authorization 367, 374–6, 423 fair competition 243, 265–6, 268, 300,
export controls 360, 362–5, 369–70,
324
374, 414, 417–28, 431, 436
fair return 222–3, 238, 265–7, 312
dual-use 370, 374, 429, 444
international 425 FANS (Future Air Navigation Systems)
ITAR 433 602
multilateral regimes 363, 420 fault 158, 585–7, 597, 601, 606, 734–5,
satellite technologies 428–9 913, 915
export duties 829 fault-based liability see fault liability
export licences 367, 373, 422, 432, fault liability 87–8, 138, 580, 586, 606,
444–5 731, 733, 735
export of satellites 429–32, 446 FCC (Federal Communications
export purposes 421–2, 431, 433 Commission) 143, 706, 751, 917
exporters 364, 366, 371, 375, 433 Federal Aviation Administration see
exports 364–7, 370–2, 374–6, 419, FAA
421–2, 425, 428–32, 436 Federal Communications Commission
extended coordination process 473–4 see FCC

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1062 Handbook of space law

Federal Republic of Germany see fly Europe policy 440–3

Germany fly US policy 437–41
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) 544 FMCT (Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty)
filing 477, 882–3, 973–4, 977–8, 981, 19
985 FMOP (Federal Mission Oriented
final products 512, 960 Program) 560
finance 167, 494, 855, 876–7, 909, 918 FMS (Foreign Military Sales) 367
asset-backed 879, 887–8 FOC (Full Operational Capability) 562
financial contributions 220, 222, force majeure 75, 587
310–11, 645 foreign airspace 72–3, 77, 405
financial guarantees 160, 911, 914, 916, right of innocent passage through 50,
923 72–8, 713
financial institutions 876–7, 888, 930, foreign equity 849–52
936 foreign jurisdiction 884
financiers 877, 897, 906–7, 909 foreign launch clients 392, 448
financing 258, 261, 292, 874–5, 877–8, foreign launch vehicles 390, 438
882, 890, 897 foreign launches 402–3, 432, 441
external 877 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) 367
of space assets 125, 908 foreign nationals 89, 369, 535, 732
of space ventures 280, 874–909 foreign organizations, space activities
nature and challenges 876–82 of 146, 394
secured transactions under Art 9 of foreign persons 367–8, 425, 987
the Uniform Commercial foreign policy 134, 160, 168, 173, 244,
Code 882–7 418, 527, 529
UNIDROIT Convention on foreign satellite operators 838, 849, 876
International Interests in foreign service providers/provision 832,
Mobile Equipment and Space 849–53, 869
Assets Protocol 887–909 foreign systems 538
see also Cape Town Convention formal entry into force 114, 209, 299
systems 292, 302, 574 formalities 829, 878, 891–2, 971
financing statements 882–4 fortifications 15, 313, 335, 341, 654
first-come, first-served 477, 480–2, 800 fragmentation debris 720, 737
first-party property insurance 910, 937 France 157–60, 183, 185, 193–4,
first-priority security interests 874, 897 208–10, 225, 228–32, 325–7
first-to-file-or-perfect rule 884 CNES (Centre National d’Etudes
first-to-file principle 643, 977 Spatiales) 158, 193, 214, 228,
first-to-file priority rule 897 548
Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) government 157, 159, 528, 855–6
19 insurance law 927–8
fixed-satellite services see FSS Law on Space Operations 157–60,
flags of convenience 128, 187, 695–6 230, 232, 536–8, 915, 918,
flexibility 222, 469, 957, 1026, 1032, 921–2, 925–6
1035–6, 1040–2, 1045 remote sensing 536–8
flight elements 634–6, 987 Space Agency CNES 214, 548
flight operations 160, 163, 666–7, 710, third-party liability insurance and
915 contractual practices 922–3
flights see spaceflight free-market approach 244, 786, 795
Florida 613, 692, 694, 696 free markets 257, 382

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Index 1063

free trade 457, 827–8, 834, 841 GAGAN (GPS-Aided Geo Augmented
freedom 7, 10, 57–60, 74–5, 407, Navigation) 573, 576–7
495–8, 514, 793 Galileo 218–19, 260–2, 377, 561–6,
of exploration and use 55, 407 594–7, 605, 615–16, 864–6
fundamental freedoms 57–8, 74 EU framework for 594–5
of information 495, 544 GNSS 562, 592, 594, 596, 615
of overflight 416 Joint Undertaking (GJU) 260
of remote sensing 497, 521 navigation system 562, 564
frequencies 327–8, 457–8, 464–6, system 563, 596, 605
469–77, 480–4, 486–7, 490–1, GATS (General Agreement on Trade in
798–803
Services) 817–19, 825–8, 830–5,
allotment 275, 465, 473, 1020
845–6, 848–50, 857–60, 868–9,
satellite 304, 484, 487, 490–2
space 275, 457 873
standard 479 Annex on Air Transport Services
frequency allocation 870–1
and Radio Regulations 467–70 Annex on Telecommunications 845,
Table of Frequency Allocations 467, 866
470–1, 473, 801 Baseline Regime on International
frequency allotment and Radio Satellite Communication
Regulations 472–3 Services 845–7
frequency assignments 291, 484 GATS/WTO regime 854, 870, 873
and Radio Regulations 473–4 prospective candidates for
frequency bands 467, 469–73, 480, 482, application 853–72
484, 487, 800 and satellite communications 817–18
allocation 328, 467 GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs
frequency spectrum 275, 349, 463–5, and Trade) 122, 815–19, 825,
472–3, 477, 798, 800 827–35, 859–60, 868, 873
Friendly Relations Declaration 345 and international trade rounds
FSS (fixed-satellite services) 285, 302, 815–17
477–8, 482, 802, 847, 849, 851 GBAS (Ground-Based Augmentation
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 544 Systems) 569–73, 576
Full Operational Capability (FOC) 562 GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) 208,
functional immunities 270, 822 835
functionalism 87 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
functionality 556, 719, 980 see GATT
functions 14, 170, 178, 651, 657, 705, General Agreement on Trade in
713, 821 Services see GATS
general 97, 342, 630, 737 General Assembly 8, 10–13, 26–7,
operational 248, 704 179–80, 274, 378, 739, 766–7
fundamental freedoms 57–8, 74 Resolution on national space
fundamental principles 111, 242, 358, legislation 179–81
627, 660, 879 Resolutions 9, 11, 19, 181, 378,
of copyright protection 953, 963 518–19
fundamental rules 350, 521, 673, 777–8 general budgets 213, 238, 561
Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) General Clauses and Conditions for
602 ESA Contracts 644
future of space law 26–8 general duties 583, 589, 592

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1064 Handbook of space law

general international law 59, 134, 1002, Global Earth Observation System of
1032 Systems see GEOSS
general principles 42, 60, 220, 247, 495, Global Maritime Distress and Safety
597, 1035, 1037 System see GMDSS
of law 30, 998, 1008, 1039–40 global market 434, 538, 843, 845
general public interests 323, 684 Global Mobile Personal
general public international law 32, 46, Communications by Satellite
273, 329, 331, 350 (GMPCS) 488
generators 310–11, 962 Global Monitoring for Environment and
Geneva Protocols 359 Security see GMES
Global Navigation Satellite System see
Geneva system 357–8
GNSS
GEO (Group on Earth Observations)
Global Positioning System see GPS
337, 726–7, 744, 750, 757, 968, global trade regime 822, 841
1020–1 GLONASS (Global Navigation
satellites 738, 752 Satellite System) 559–62, 572,
Geo-stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle 576, 616
(GSLV) 396 GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and
geographic data 967–8 Safety System) 294–5, 300
geographical boundary between GMES/Copernicus 262–4, 315
airspace and outer space 62, 64–5 GMES (Global Monitoring for
geographical distribution 222, 238, 254, Environment and Security) 218,
312 263–4, 377, 520
GEOSS (Global Earth Observation GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal
System of Systems) 263, 377, Communications by Satellite) 488
968–70, 993 GNP (Gross National Product) 210, 215
geostationary orbit 61–2, 284–5, 457–9, GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite
476–7, 480–1, 726–7, 798–800, System) 554, 556, 577–8, 592–3,
802 599–601, 604, 607–8, 611–17
as limited natural resource 798–9 applicable law and forum 579–81
geostationary satellites 576, 727, 800, applications 554, 570, 588
851 augmentation systems 568–9
geostationary slots 301, 475–6, 799, current systems 556–77
801 EU framework for Galileo 594–5
Geostationary Transfer Orbit see GTO failures 577–9, 583, 613
geostationary weather satellites 507 feasibility of UNIDROIT GNSS
Germany 172–3, 222, 225, 534–5, 542, Convention 614–15
545, 572, 600 Galileo see Galileo
Act on Satellite Data Security 174, as global public systems 578–9
534–6 legal aspects of use in transport sector
Aviation Code 174, 411 577–94
government 534, 536 liability 583–4, 588, 598, 614
law 173, 534, 879, 884–5 and augmentation 601
remote sensing 534–6 basis 581–8
GJU see Galileo. Joint Undertaking and certification 599–601
global agreement 20, 41, 86 EU primary and secondary law
global commons 55–60, 68, 100, 476, 595–7
622, 627, 678, 790–1 insurance 593–4

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Index 1065

obligations in tort and contract as GPS (Global Positioning System) 260,

alternative basis 588–9 556–8, 562, 569, 571–3, 576–7,
third-party 591–3 588–90, 598
limitations to claims based on see also GNSS
manufacturer’s and product differential 569, 573
liability 589–91 signals 259, 557, 569, 571, 573, 575,
malfunctions 577, 581, 583 864–5
and maritime transport 607–9 tracking devices 555
operations 554, 582, 592, 601, 616 under US law 598
rail transport sector 613–14 Gross National Product (GNP) 210, 215
Regional 576, 578, 592 gross negligence 88, 232, 693, 700, 921,
services 570, 577, 579, 582, 588–9, 924
592, 605, 616 Ground-Based Augmentation Systems
Supervisory Authority see GSA see GBAS
systems 555–6, 578, 582, 589, 594, ground infrastructure 116, 259, 319,
602, 605, 616 545, 858, 862
technical aspects 556–9 ground stations see earth stations
and third-party liability 591–3 Group on Earth Observations see GEO
GOJ see Government of Japan GSA (GNSS Supervisory Authority)
good faith 523, 754, 897, 1000, 1011, 260, 563, 594–5
1014, 1017, 1028 GSLV (Geo-stationary Satellite Launch
Good Samaritan principle 552 Vehicle) 396
goods 646, 815, 817, 825–7, 830–1, GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit)
834–5, 853–4, 859–60 392, 394, 442
controlled 421 guarantees
transfers of conventional arms and financial 160, 911, 914, 916, 923
dual-use 364 state 159–60
government agencies 21–2, 131, 328, guest astronauts 703, 711
384–5, 437, 528–9, 543–4, 546 Guiana Space Centre 402
government contractor defence 598 guidance of space objects 163, 194–5,
government immunity 578, 582, 600 915
Government of Japan (GOJ) 632 guidelines 184, 418–19, 540, 609, 641,
government payloads 390, 439–40, 443 741–5, 749–51, 1042–3
government procurement 417, 451, IADC 133, 741–2, 749–51, 763
820–1, 868 Guinea-Bissau 1009–10
governmental authorities 487, 543, 826, Gulf Cooperation Council see GCC
858, 947 GWIC (Great Wall Industrial
governmental claims 142, 916 Corporation) 838, 841
governmental control 526, 528, 537–8
governmental entities 385, 451, 517, H-II Transfer Vehicle 626
531, 838 Hague 181, 357, 1033–5
governmental services 865, 873 Hague Code of Conduct 425–8
governmental space agencies see Hague Conventions 677, 1033
government agencies Hague system 358
GPS-Aided Geo Augmented hardware 385, 591, 616, 666, 972, 974,
Navigation see GAGAN 986–7, 989

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1066 Handbook of space law

harmful contamination 729, 756, 782, IAEA (International Atomic Energy

1001 Agency) 746
harmful interference 341, 349, 356, ICAO (International Civil Aviation
465–6, 469–70, 473, 477, 730 Organization) 277–8, 408–9, 411,
harmonization 244, 255–6, 276, 640, 570, 602, 604, 607, 668
642, 645, 985, 988 Council 411, 417
hazards 596, 718, 721, 723, 729, 734, standards 409, 570, 574
741, 750 ICBMs 337–8, 348, 383–4
HCOC see Hague Code of Conduct ICD (Interface Control Document) 566
health 147, 196–7, 649, 724 ICG (International Committee on
impairment 84, 587, 735 GNSS) 560
public 155, 158, 167, 188, 190, ICJ see International Court of Justice
193–4, 200, 244 ICOC (International Code of Conduct
Helium-3 771–2 against Ballistic Missile
HEOs (highly elliptical orbits) 460, 567 Proliferation) 346–7
heritage of mankind, common 41, 57–8, identification of space objects 98, 713
75, 101, 782–8, 793, 795–7 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and
high-grade earth 173–4 Electronics Engineers) 471–2
operation of 173, 535 ignition 932
High Precision (HP) signals 561 IGOs (inter-governmental
high resolution data 534, 542, 856 organizations) 269–72, 282–3,
high resolution satellites 510, 532, 291–4, 302–5, 307, 317–20,
545–6 323–30, 629–30
highlights 279, 527, 615, 796 classical 110, 462, 492
highly elliptical orbits (HEOs) 460, 567 and customary international space
history of space law 1–28 law 309–17
hold-harmless clauses 916, 921–2, 924, former 322, 324
929–30 IGO law and sources of international
host states 285, 320, 328–9, 474 (space) law 307–9
hostile use 344–5 legal assessment of involvement in
hotel operations, orbital 697, 705–6 space law 307–17
hotel operators 707–8 regulatory 271–81
hotels 665, 668, 706–8 satellite see satellite IGOs
orbital 665, 697, 705–7 as possible generators of joint state
HP (High Precision) signals 561 practice 311–13
human activities 1, 8, 37, 125, 618–19, IGS (Information Gathering Satellite)
627, 717, 720 541
human rights 205, 371 IISL see International Institute of Space
humanitarian law 357–8 Law
Huygens module 215 ILA (International Law Association)
hydrosphere 344 25, 129, 186–7, 741, 753, 996,
hyperbolic flights 669, 671 1022, 1031
Committee on Space Law 181–4,
IAA (International Academy of 186, 1040
Astronautics) 71, 407 Conferences 184, 1024, 1028–31,
IADC see Inter-Agency Space Debris 1040
Coordination Committee and dispute settlement 1024–31

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Index 1067

Draft Convention on Space Debris Regional Navigation Satellite System

753–4 (IRNSS) 568
and environmental aspects of space Space Research Organization see
activities 753–4 ISRO
International Instrument on Space indirect damage 84, 753, 915, 921
Debris 1027 individual member states 92, 234, 240,
Space Law Committee 25, 753, 1005, 256–8, 265–6, 422, 429, 440
1022, 1024–5, 1027–8, 1030–1, Indonesia 60, 433, 850–1
1040 industrial policy 213, 219–21, 254, 258
ILS (International Launch Services) industrialized countries 9, 418, 785–6,
796
393, 836, 842
INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) 16
image-processing wholesalers 512
informal consent 691, 708
imagery/images 501–4, 510, 523–4, information 483–4, 498–9, 501–5, 550,
529–30, 532, 538–9, 960, 966 737–9, 957–61, 967–70, 980–1
immunities 213, 285, 320, 595, 600, additional 78, 98, 471, 976
693–5, 822, 829 analysed 504, 523–4, 859, 958–60,
functional 270, 822 965–6
government 578, 582, 600 classified 645, 719, 1040
waiver of 1042 confidential 645, 830
IMO (International Maritime environmental 547
Organization) 277, 279–80, 290, exchange of 100, 179, 421, 745, 754
295, 607–9 freedom of 495, 544
Assembly Resolutions 607–8 products 957, 959–60, 963–4, 967,
impairment of health 84, 587, 735 970
implementing regulations 387, 425, 684 remote sensing 957–8
import duties 827, 830 value-added 858, 962
imports 243, 366, 829, 831–2, 978 relevant 78, 171, 287, 375, 524
imprisonment 185, 192, 194, 197–9, sensitive 533, 640, 1044
201–2, 204, 534, 536 Information Gathering Satellite (IGS)
IMSO (International Mobile Satellite 541
Organization) 110, 293–5, 316, informed consent 143, 691–2, 694, 696,
319–21, 326, 329 704, 711
in-orbit insurance 593, 910, 931–2, Infrared Space Observatory 215
935–6 infrastructure 189, 292, 312, 330, 457,
in-orbit operations 405, 408, 706, 910 562, 572, 708
in-orbit phase 924–6 existing 124, 826
in-orbit third-party liability insurance ground 116, 259, 319, 545, 858, 862
916–17, 939 satellite 120, 285–6, 289, 291, 312
In-Orbit Validation see IOV space 123, 252, 279, 314
incentives, economic 767, 796, 808, 811 inherent defects 590–1
income streams 893, 899–900 injuries 52–3, 609, 694, 939, 942
incorporation 328, 390, 570, 883, 951 bodily 638, 922, 924, 929–30, 941–2
indemnification 159, 188, 190–2, 194, personal 84, 587, 686, 735, 1012
196, 198, 934–5, 941–3 INMARSAT (International Maritime
amounts 934–5 Satellite Organization) 109–12,
India 176, 183, 185, 396, 540, 773, 850, 283, 291, 293–300, 316–17,
879 321–3, 325–9, 1018–20

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1068 Handbook of space law

Convention 316, 1018–19 market 170, 910–12, 926–8, 939, 941

Operating Agreement 1018 obligations 166, 182, 698, 707, 911,
prior to privatization 290–3 914, 916, 918
privatization 293–5 personal accident 942–3
innocence 75–6 policies 417, 912, 924–5, 928, 930–5,
innocent bystanders 591, 733 939–41
innocent passage, right of 50, 72–8, 713 pre-launch 930–2
insolvency 878, 887, 894–5 exclusions 947–8
administrators 894–5 property damage 921, 930–7, 940
Inspectors 171, 202, 533, 535 providers 939, 943
INSPIRE Directive 547
satellite property damage 932–3
installations 14–15, 59, 76, 158, 335,
and space debris 937–41
337, 341, 349
command 173 space endorsements 928–30
military radio 349, 467 for space operators 925–6
Institute of Air and Space Law 1022 space product liability 928
Institute of Electrical and Electronics space property damage 910, 930, 940
Engineers (IEEE) 471 spacecraft coverage endorsement
institutional frameworks 808–9, 818 945–6
institutional requirements 607–8 third-party liability 170, 593, 910–30,
institutional structure 212, 223, 227, 937–40, 942
237, 252, 463, 607, 821 voluntary 147
institutionalization 251, 269, 281, 817, insured satellites 910, 934–5, 941
822 insurers 908, 911, 921, 924, 927–8,
institutions 22, 140, 171–2, 807, 809, 932–7, 940, 943
1020, 1029, 1045 aviation 911, 936
financial 876–7, 888, 930, 936 integration 205–7, 223, 245, 254–5,
instructions 173, 200, 551, 750, 822, 268, 638, 924, 931
920 vertical 962
insurance 142, 147, 151–2, 164–7, intellectual creations 861–2, 953, 955
193–8, 406, 593, 910–48 intellectual property rights see IPR
amount of 914, 918, 925, 928–9, 931, INTELSAT (International
933–6
Telecommunications Satellite
astronauts 941–3
Organization) 109–10, 283–93,
bodily injury or property damage
sustained by astronauts 942–3 302, 311, 317, 319, 321–2, 325–9
brokers 943 see also ITSO
companies 147, 405–6, 943 Agreement 286–7, 1015–17, 1023
compulsory 149, 164, 609 and dispute settlement 1015–20
contracts 147, 922, 943 Interim Agreement 1016
coverage 593, 613, 938, 940, 943 member states 234, 289, 328
damage caused by astronauts 941–2 Operating Agreement 1020
in-orbit, third-party liability 916–17, operations 235, 323, 326
939 prior to privatization 283–7
launch 405, 593, 932–6 privatization 287–90
law, France 927–8 intentional destruction 355, 380, 743–4
liability see liability insurance intentions 352–3, 486–7, 528, 530, 651,
for manufacturers at any tier 928–30 659, 794, 801

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Index 1069

Inter-Agency Space Debris international civil air routes 478

Coordination Committee (IADC) international civil aviation 278, 396,
43, 225, 741, 749–52, 756, 766–7 410, 413, 570, 603
Guidelines 133, 741–2, 749–51, 763 International Civil Aviation
Inter-governmental Agreement 113, Organization see ICAO
633, 642, 702, 950 International Code of Conduct against
inter-governmental organizations see Ballistic Missile Proliferation see
IGOs ICOC
inter-party liability 232, 685, 690 International Code of Conduct for Outer
inter-satellite service 478 Space Activities 759
interests 19–20, 186–90, 194–6, 226–7,
international commercial launch market
521–3, 552–5, 890, 907–8
386, 393–4, 433, 446–7, 452
common European 267
economic 220, 791, 794–5, 803 International Committee on GNSS
key 79 (ICG) 560
particular 216–17 international consensus 59, 614, 755
Interface Control Document (ICD) 566 international cooperation 115–16, 120,
interference 406, 410, 413, 469, 473–5, 207–9, 214, 417, 419, 618–20,
799, 801, 947 658–60
harmful 341, 349, 356, 465–6, agreements 223, 261
469–70, 473, 477, 730 international cooperative space projects
Intergovernmental Agreement on the 441
ISS 113–14, 624–5, 631–3, International Court of Justice (ICJ)
635–40, 653, 656, 700–2, 983–7 307–8, 518–19, 997, 999, 1001–2,
intergovernmental organizations see 1009, 1025, 1035
IGOs international courts 505, 1009–10
Interim INTELSAT Agreement 1016 international direct television
interim measures 1027, 1041 broadcasting satellite service
Interim Regulation of Deep Sea Bed 496–7
Mining 794 international economic order 785–6
intermediaries 582, 943 international environmental law 505,
Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) 16 761
internal markets 249, 258, 267–8 international export controls 425
International Academy of Astronautics international humanitarian law rules
see IAA 357–8
international air law 74 International Institute for the
applicability and application 676–7 Unification of Private Law see
international air navigation 603 UNIDROIT
international airspace 415–17, 715 International Institute of Space Law
international areas 770, 785–6, 797, (IISL) 25, 590, 989, 1022
804, 808, 811 international instruments 14, 754,
International Atomic Energy Agency 998–9, 1014–15
(IAEA) 746 international inter-governmental
international authorities 811 organizations 84, 735, 1016, 1030,
international character of space 1034
activities 330, 943, 991 international interests 887, 889–92,
International Charter for Space and 894–5, 897–901, 906
Major Disasters 548, 552 formation 891–2

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1070 Handbook of space law

international intergovernmental International Registry 493, 891, 898,

organizations 23, 81, 92, 440, 443, 907
452, 1030–1, 1035 international regulation 278, 412, 443,
partisanship 92 674, 718, 749, 809–10, 938
international launch industry 383 international responsibility 46, 50–1,
international launch market 395, 418, 77, 82, 84, 748, 753, 762
432, 448 international satellite communications
International Launch Services see ILS 283, 329
international law 1–2, 57, 76, 273–4, international satellite operators 108–12,
354–5, 656–7, 1007–9, 1039–40 844
international satellite organizations 246,
current 765, 1022
458, 1018–19
customary see customary
international seabed mining 792–8
international law international services 327, 848, 850
general 59, 134, 1002, 1032 international space activities 121, 317,
general public 32, 46, 273, 329, 331, 554
350 International Space Company (ISC) 393
principles 76, 332, 514, 657, 731 international space law 26–7, 29–126,
progressive development of 10, 997 271, 321, 329–31, 595–6, 648–50,
public see public international law 680–1
requirements 130–9 applicability and application 680–2
International Law Association see ILA as branch of public international law
international liability 50, 82, 84, 89, 29–32
100, 159, 551, 586 focus on scientific and military usage
claims 167, 235, 684 of outer space 44–5
International Maritime Organization genesis 34–7
see IMO key characteristics 37–49
International Maritime Satellite lato sensu 113–14
Organization see INMARSAT main parameters and paradigms 43–4
international markets 13, 396, 440, 448, and national space law 32–4
870, 936 and remote sensing 513–25
International Mobile Satellite UN space treaties 49–105
Organization see IMSO International Space Station see ISS
international obligations 155–6, 158, international standards 449, 673, 741,
160, 166, 168, 170, 525, 529 751, 763, 975, 1035, 1042
International Organization for International Telecommunication
Standardization 741, 752–3 Union see ITU
international organizations 9–10, 12, international third-party liability 229,
20–1, 54, 107, 269–330, 718, 231–2, 702
1006–7 international trade 814–15, 817–19,
international participation 623, 809, 973 821, 823–9, 831–3, 845–7, 865–7,
international peace 10, 273, 314, 345, 869–73
350–2, 354 international trade context 488, 872
maintenance of 111, 274, 314, 345, international trade environment,
350, 999 liberalized 828, 852
international public service 490–1 international trade regime 814–18,
international register 97–8, 105, 135, 835–6, 842–3, 853, 858, 860,
137, 630 867–9, 873

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Index 1071

background 814–15 ISRO (Indian Space Research

international trade rules 488 Organization) 176, 396, 508, 568,
International Traffic in Arms 576
Regulations see ITARs ISS (International Space Station)
International Tribunal for Space Law 113–16, 619–27, 630–42, 644–9,
1025–6, 1030 653–60, 662–3, 699–704, 710–12
international use 463–4, 472, 476, 747 criminal jurisdiction 634
international waters 75, 390, 797 European modules 115, 633–4,
internet 301, 513, 539, 542, 550, 779, 636–7
993–4 future 657–8
interoperability 561, 600 intellectual property rights 634–7,
interpretation 335–42, 352–6, 377, 641–6
397–8, 789–90, 905, 999–1000, Intergovernmental Agreement
1002–3 113–16, 624–5, 631–3, 635–40,
new 788, 796–7 653, 656, 700–2, 983–7
of processed data 859 legal framework 626–38
INTERSPUTNIK 21, 108, 110–11, liability 637–8, 699–702
283, 298, 301–5, 312, 494 and Liability Convention 628–9
Agreement 111, 302 military uses of outer space 653–7
dispute on Notifying Administration as model for future cooperation
303–5 659–61
evolution of system 301–3 and Outer Space Treaty 627–8
Operating Agreement 302 Partners 623, 635, 638, 640, 648,
inventions 123, 277, 634–6, 641–5, 656–7, 700, 985
972–84, 986, 988–91, 993 registration and jurisdiction 632–3
secrecy 985–6 and Registration Convention 629–30
space 979–80, 988–9 Italy 172, 183, 199, 209–11, 225, 418,
inventors 973, 976–7, 980 507, 636
investment 123, 226, 249, 277, 296, ITAR-free satellites 434, 437
787, 796, 811 ITARs (International Traffic in Arms
shares 286–7, 292 Regulations) 363, 366–9, 424,
substantial 250, 862, 955, 972 429–31, 434
investors 775–6, 792 items 361–2, 364, 366–8, 371, 373–6,
potential 808, 812 419, 422–3, 890
IOV (In-Orbit Validation) 562 dangerous military 360
IPR (intellectual property rights) 226–7, ITSO (International
276–7, 550–2, 631–2, 634–8, Telecommunications Satellite
641–3, 860–2, 949–94 Organization) 290, 319–22, 326,
copyright 952–72 328–9
and ESA 226–7 see also INTELSAT
patents 972–89 ITU (International Telecommunication
Iran 346–7, 396, 454 Union) 21, 23, 275–6, 304–6,
Iraq 316 327–8, 726–7, 799, 898, 1020–1
Iridium 293, 447, 480, 1006 basics 460–4
IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation and Cape Town Convention 902–7
Satellite System) 568 Constitution 275, 328, 461, 463–4,
ISC (International Space Company) 393 466, 480, 486, 800
Israel 346, 363, 396, 454, 529, 858 Convention 462–4, 1021

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1072 Handbook of space law

and dispute settlement 1020–1 personal 56, 134, 148, 152–3, 158,
and international frequency 180, 633–4, 886
management 464–7 prescriptive 905–6
member states 327, 349, 461, 467–8, primary insolvency 894
474, 483 quasi-territorial 983
regime/system 302, 304, 327, 471, territorial 56, 69, 77, 134, 152, 416,
474, 483–5, 487–90, 492 633
allocation of orbit/spectrum jus cogens 33, 59–60
resource 799–802 jus standi 90
challenges in the context of justice 85, 633, 1007, 1009–10,
satellite communications 1039–40
484–92 and equity 85, 1007–10, 1039
as example for extraterrestrial
mining legal regime 802–3 Kazakhstan 70, 117–18, 148, 150–1,
and privatization 327–8 183, 191, 402, 886
and satellite communications 458–93 Law on Space Activities 150–1
and space services 475–80 Khrunichev 392–3, 842
Korea
Japan 204, 395, 507–8, 538, 540–1, North 303, 346–7
623–4, 640, 773 Space Development Promotion Act
Basic Space Law 177, 395, 541, 568 168–70
government 567, 576 Space Liability Act 168, 170
Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) Kourou 213, 219, 228–9, 232, 402
541
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) land-locked States 74–5
576 land observation for civil purposes
JAXA see Japan Aerospace Exploration 506–8
Agency Land Remote Sensing Policy Act 141,
JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) 509, 528–30, 856
576 land vehicles 974, 981–2
joint state practice 309–11, 313 landings 75–6, 571, 652, 658, 660, 664,
666, 674
joint ventures 229, 303, 387, 393, 485,
landmarks 297, 1014–15
796, 842, 850–1
Landsat 509, 527–9, 970
juridical persons 89, 91, 165, 534–5, data 528, 544–5, 855
537–8, 731, 733, 736 large-scale projects 113–18
jurisdiction 523–6, 632–3, 635–6, lasers 356, 359, 421, 947
879–86, 904–6, 949–50, 973–8, Latin America 207, 311, 539, 834, 852
982–6 launch activities 166, 393, 396, 405,
adjudicative 904–5 443, 450, 686, 688
compulsory 1022, 1024 launch agencies 911, 942–3
domestic 241–2 launch capabilities 209, 440, 766
exclusive 904 launch capacity 386, 394, 451
extra-territorial 728 launch companies 404, 418, 437, 443
multiple 880, 883 foreign 390
national 180, 784, 792, 795, 799 non-governmental 404
on-orbit 689, 706 launch contracts 390–1, 397–8

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Index 1073

launch customers 384, 397–401 foreign 390, 438

launch facilities 150, 165, 167, 170, reusable 388, 687
176, 384–5, 396, 401–2 Russian Proton 393
launch failures 396, 432, 933, 939 launchers 3, 229, 253, 348–9, 441–2,
investigations 432 910, 930–2, 937
launch licences 167, 169, 685, 883, 917 ESA-developed 211, 391, 440–2
launch licensing regimes and Soyuz 391, 441–2
third-party liability insurance Launchers Exploitation Declaration 441
916–18 launches 82–4, 165–7, 390–3, 395–401,
launch market 444, 450 403–9, 686–91, 915–17, 930–3
international 395, 418, 432, 448 and air traffic management 409–12
international commercial 386, 393–4, bilateral launch trade relations
433, 446–7, 452 443–52
launch operations 118, 166, 916, 926 FAA-licensed 703–5
commercial 388, 412, 842 first 391, 395
launch operators 387, 390, 393, 765, foreign 402–3, 432, 441
914, 916, 926 licensing 175, 395
launch permits see launch licences multiple 929
launch phase 325, 406, 408–9, 717, national 230, 402–3, 441
924–6, 932 non-commercial 443
launch platforms 401, 409, 416 private 83, 385, 685
launch providers 383–97, 420, 428, 439, space launch vehicle 346, 427
443, 686, 839, 933 through international airspace
launch risk guarantee (LRG) 933 415–17
launch safety 405–17 through national airspace 413–15
launch services 382–453, 836, 838, 841, vertical 415
843, 853–4, 867–8, 932 launching activities 54, 321, 916
agreements/contracts 922–4, 932–3 launching agencies 910, 919
commercial 166, 437, 444–5, 448–9, launching authorities 81, 224, 318, 323,
838 652, 906
costs 932–3 launching facilities see launch facilities
government procurement 437–43 launching states 88–90, 95, 133–8,
international trade regime issues 397–9, 516–17, 628–9, 731–5,
836–43 740–1
possible role for GATS/WTO 841–3 definition 82–4
regulatory framework 403–5 law of outer space 5, 28, 128, 583, 589,
Launch Services Purchase Act 437, 439 595, 735, 760
launch sites 142, 388, 394, 401–2, 409, law of treaties 335, 905, 999–1000,
684–5, 929, 931 1002–3
launch trade agreements 393, 430, 445, LCO (Lifeline Connectivity Obligation)
449, 452 289–90, 300
launch vehicle operations 411 LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation
launch vehicle operators 428, 447 and Sensing Satellite) 772
launch vehicle orbital stages 743–4 leadership 113, 253, 282, 527
launch vehicles 167–9, 361–3, 388, global 529
410–13, 415–19, 423–8, 439–40, leasing 303, 486, 875, 889
669–70 legal bases 160, 417, 541, 543, 577, 603,
Ariane 218, 231, 386, 391, 836 616, 627

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1074 Handbook of space law

legal entities 55, 158, 241 letters, exchange of 360

legal environment 5, 258–9, 277, 875, level playing field 121, 128, 257, 324,
878, 881, 912 442, 828, 839–40, 858
legal frameworks 144, 147, 329, 331–3, lex ferenda 619
513, 542–3, 604, 619–20 lex fori 580
comprehensive 51, 150, 156, 177, lex generalis 118–19, 637
262, 332 lex lata 619
existing 128, 381, 553, 792, 809 lex loci commisi 579
ISS (International Space Station) lex loci delicti 579
626–38 lex rei sitae 580, 880
regulating military uses of outer lex specialis 118–19, 586, 626, 637
space 334–59, 381 liability 50–2, 583–4, 595–602, 614–16,
remote sensing activities 513–53 696–700, 912–16, 918–26,
legal obligations 13, 21–2, 25, 72, 572, 938–42
580, 582, 926 absolute 7, 87–9, 586, 628, 731, 734,
international 33, 46, 133 904, 913
legal orders 240, 242, 244, 265 claims 48, 142, 232, 587, 590, 696
European 239, 241, 243, 281 international 167, 235, 684
legal personality 22, 561, 596, 822, international third-party 229, 232
1004 national third-party 915
legal persons 34, 150–1, 170, 172–3, third-party 684
695, 783 clauses 921
legal precision 487, 552 contractual 235, 707
legal principles 4, 7–8, 130, 268, 494, cross-waivers see cross-waivers
577, 818 EU primary and secondary law 595–7
legal regulation 2, 10, 50, 139, 343, 555, fault 87–8, 138, 580, 586, 606, 731,
614 733, 735
legal status 50, 56, 103, 388–9, 647, fault-based 580, 606, 913
782–3, 788, 804–5 inter-party 232, 685, 690
of Antarctica 805 international see international
of celestial bodies 770, 777–8, 781, liability
788 ISS 637–8, 699–702
of extraterrestrial natural resources issues 167, 262, 265, 306, 608, 698,
770, 809, 812 703, 707
of space tourists 26 limitation 616, 921, 946, 1007
legal uncertainty 637, 879–80 limited 142, 329
legality 242, 316, 323, 331, 333–4, 340, manufacturers 590, 920, 922
381, 408 non-contractual 594, 597, 920
legitimacy 27, 358 non-fault 913, 919–20
legitimate rights 522 see also liability, absolute
lenders 874–5, 878, 883 operator 590, 616, 914
prospective 879, 884 operators 914
secured 884 passenger 690, 692
LEO (low earth orbits) 337, 394, 406, personal 700
460, 480, 503, 720–1, 744 product 589–90, 610, 919–20
less-developed states 553, 784, 800, 802 product defect 920, 928
lesser-developed states 289, 499 regimes/systems 82, 90, 138, 610–11,
lessors 890–2, 894, 899 911–13, 916, 919, 924

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Index 1075

risk 551 licences 146–50, 167–71, 173–5, 325,

state 47, 55, 137, 156, 163, 384, 586, 530–5, 549, 810–11, 963–7
627–8 export 367, 373, 422, 432, 444–5
strict 590, 606, 609, 919 launch 169, 685, 883, 917
third-party see third-party liability licensed data 964–6, 990
unlimited 84, 585, 915 licensed products 963, 966
waivers 115, 692 licensed subject-matter 964–5
Liability Convention 50–3, 82–95, licensees 142–3, 171, 529–30, 533–4,
323–6, 583–7, 731–3, 912–16, 549, 684–6, 922, 963–6
1004–12, 1039–41 private 711, 856
prospective 533
absolute v fault liability 87–9
licensing 146, 189, 526, 528, 532,
application 93–4
540–1, 682, 707
damage and compensation authorities 182, 364, 594, 683, 686–7
definitions 84–6 conditions 549–50, 959, 962, 971
diplomatic negotiations and Claims copyright 962–7
Commission 91–2 mechanisms 176, 540, 970
and dispute settlement 1004–12 process 588, 611, 706
environmental aspects 731–6 regimes/systems 83, 105, 141, 155,
international v national liability 230, 232, 532, 759
89–90 requirements 146, 516, 529, 685, 889
and ISS 628–9 licensors 533, 549, 963–5
launching State definition 82–4 lien creditors 883–4
partisanship of international Lifeline Connectivity Obligation see
intergovernmental organizations LCO
92 limitation of liability 616, 921, 946,
and privatization of IGOs 323–6 1007
right to claim 90–1 limited liabilities 142, 329
space object and launch definitions limited liability company 392
86–7 limited natural resources 466, 476, 727,
liability insurance 169, 593–4, 701, 912 798, 802–3
aviation product 928–9 links, satellite-to-satellite 478
compulsory service operator 578 lis alibi pendens 580
dedicated third-party 940 Lisbon 299, 561
limited commercial 594 lithosphere 344
maximum 142 LKEI (Lockheed Khrunichev Energia
liable entities 86, 735, 764, 923 International) 393
liberalization 13, 246, 281, 814–15, LMCLS (Lockheed Martin Commercial
826–9, 833, 844–8, 852 Launch Services) 387
process 848, 866 LMI (Lockheed Martin Intersputnik)
trade 122–3, 276, 288, 815–16, 303, 842
827–9, 857, 870 loans 874, 876–8, 890, 930, 936
liberalized international trade Local Area Augmentation System
environment 828, 852 570–1
Liberia 401 local remedies 90, 1017
Libya 306, 1009 localization 554, 556
licence fees 549 information 570
licence holders 164, 195, 530, 915 location of launch 97, 516, 630, 737

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1076 Handbook of space law

Lockheed Khrunichev Energia mandatory programmes 112, 210, 238

International (LKEI) 393 mandatory transfer of technology 102,
Lockheed Martin 303, 386, 842 786, 796
Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch mankind
Services (LMCLS) 387 common heritage of 41, 57–8, 75,
Lockheed Martin Intersputnik (LMI) 101, 782–8, 793, 795–7
303, 842 province of all 57, 100, 661, 781, 791,
Long March 394, 430, 444, 873 950, 981
loopholes 17, 98, 486, 523–4, 779 manned exploration 658–9
loss 579, 586–8, 590, 599–600, 616, manned flights 668, 702
manned moon landings 103, 774
930, 932–5, 947
manned space activities 56, 722
of control 927–8, 939
manned space stations 620, 623
partial 927, 935–6, 941 manned spacecraft 457
quantum 934–5 manned spaceflight 73, 618, 666, 672,
of revenue 53, 948 681–3, 690, 697, 712
total see total loss impending commercialization and
low earth orbit satellites 712, 917 privatization 867–70
low earth orbit spacecraft 917 private see private manned
low earth orbits see LEO spaceflight
lower boundary of outer space 72, 682 public see public manned spaceflight
lowest perigee rule 68, 72, 96 manoeuvrability 74, 414, 706
LRG (launch risk guarantee) 933 manoeuvres 153, 192, 380, 705
lunar activities 786–7 drift 925
Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing military 15, 313, 335, 341
Satellite (LCROSS) 772 manufacturers 582, 589–91, 610,
lunar projects 773 694–5, 919–21, 926, 928, 930–1
lunar resources, exploitation 789, 810 liability 590, 920, 922
lunar surface 771, 773 satellite see satellite manufacturers
Luxembourg 210, 260, 297, 398 manufacturers or suppliers of
components 694–5
Madrid Protocol 805 manufacturing 145, 366, 370, 864–5,
maintenance services 871 910, 912, 919, 923
major space powers 9, 12, 17, 60, 225, defects 919
381, 619 know-how 367
major space projects 107, 267, 653 process 590
major spacefaring nations 41, 79, Manufacturing License Agreement
101–2, 104, 106, 111, 114, 118 (MLA) 367
malfunctioning 235, 556, 587, 607 Marine Observation Satellite (MOS)
man-made objects 3–4, 87, 720 508
management 140, 747, 752, 792–3, maritime communications 218, 290,
795–6, 799–800, 802, 811 316
fleet 863, 866 maritime mobile-satellite services 478
natural resources 504, 519–20 maritime sector 279, 607
schemes 807–8 maritime transport 278
structures 556–7 and GNSS 607–9
mandatory activities 215–16 market access 288, 404, 417–52, 832–3,
mandatory benefit-sharing 102 847–8, 850, 863

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Index 1077

commitments 841, 853 Metop 218

market conditions 523, 894, 925 Mexico 347, 852
marketing 393, 395, 855–6, 858, 871 MFN (most favoured nation) 276, 815,
markets 289, 382–3, 509, 835–6, 844–5, 829–30, 832, 834–5, 845, 861–2,
855–8, 871–3, 935 868
commercial 257, 440, 528, 843, 857 micro-gravity 253, 620, 980
common 243, 371, 834 militarization of outer space 333
free 257, 382 military actions 351–2, 355
global 434, 538, 843, 845 military activities 314, 331, 333, 335,
internal 249, 258, 267–8 339–41, 355, 359, 653–4
international 13, 396, 440, 448, 870, military applications 332, 428, 507,
936 520, 653–4, 657, 759, 895
national 831, 847, 852–3 military bases, establishment of 15, 313,
open 793, 796, 856 335, 654
Mars 658–60, 756, 774 military confrontations 345, 381, 618
Mars Express 215 military equipment 371, 373
mass destruction 3, 14–15, 335–8, military manoeuvres 15, 313, 335, 341
342–3, 348, 417, 419, 427 military necessity 358
delivering weapons of 418, 426 military operations 315, 331, 358, 653
Master Control Center (MCC) 576 military personnel 313, 335, 341–2, 655
Master Control Station see MCS military purposes 21, 45, 331–2, 335,
Master International Frequency 338–9, 342, 653, 655–7
Register 474–5, 484, 493, 801 military radio installations 349, 467
maximum benefit of salvage 934–5 military satellites 337–8, 349, 537
maximum probable loss see MPL military sensitivities 72, 431
MCB (Multilateral Control Board) 641 military uses of outer space 17–18, 36,
MCC (Master Control Center) 576 59, 314, 331–81, 506, 653–4
MCS (Master Control Station) 557, 566 and EU export controls regime
mediation 1000, 1003 369–77
medium earth orbits see MEOs and exceptions to prohibition on the
Memoranda of Understanding see use of force 350–9
MOUs ISS 653–7
MEOs (medium earth orbits) 294, 460, legal frameworks regulating 334–59,
566, 757, 865 381
Mercosur/Mercosul 207 militarization v weaponization 333–4
meteorological purposes 228, 236, 282, and Moon Agreement 342
479, 798 and MTCR 360–3
Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC) and Outer Space Treaty 335–41
576 recent developments 377–81
meteorological-satellite services 479 and UN space treaties 334–42
meteorological services, national 112, and US International Traffic in Arms
236–7 Regulations 366–9
meteorology 112, 121, 145, 236, 504, and Wassenaar Arrangement 363–6
621 mineral activities 803, 807–9
Meteosat-1 218, 236 mineral resources 48, 125, 775, 805–7
Meteosat programme 237–8 minerals 56, 103, 772, 775–6, 802, 891
Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) miners 125, 799, 811
238 mining 774–6, 790–1, 797, 806, 810

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1078 Handbook of space law

activities 660, 793–4, 809 legal status of Moon and its resources
extraterrestrial 770, 772–3, 775–7, 782–8
782, 791–2, 796–7, 799, 802–3 and military uses of outer space 342
operators 808–9 moon water 772
Minneapolis 463 MOS (Marine Observation Satellite)
MirCorp 646–7 508
misconduct, wilful 638, 923, 931, 936 most favoured nation see MFN
missile technology 363, 390, 426, 428 MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding)
Missile Technology Control Regime see 115, 210, 488, 631, 638–9, 641,
MTCR 704
MPL (maximum probable loss) 142,
missiles 346, 361, 363–4, 397, 417, 419,
167
422, 426–8
MSAS (MTSAT Satellite Augmentation
anti-satellite 358, 940 System) 575–6
ballistic see ballistic missiles MSC (Meteorological Satellite Center)
cruise 362, 419 576
export 424, 426 MSG (Meteosat Second Generation)
mission-related debris 720 238
missions 657–9, 740–1, 744, 747, MSS (mobile satellite services) 291,
749–50, 755, 773–4, 942–3 477–8, 482, 847
space NPS 747 MTCR (Missile Technology Control
misuse of data 512, 522–3, 551 Regime) 125, 365, 375, 418–23,
mitigation, debris 133, 743–4, 749, 752, 426–9, 433
754, 760, 763, 767 Guidelines 361–2, 419, 425
mixed agreements 632 and military uses of outer space
MLA (Manufacturing License 360–3
Agreement) 367 partners 363, 425
MLM (Multipurpose Laboratory MTSAT (Multifunctional Transport
Module) 658 Satellites) 575–6
mobile earth stations 478 MTSAT Satellite Augmentation System
mobile satellite communications 277 see MSAS
mobile satellite services see MSS multi-annual delegation agreement 564
Model Dispute Settlement Clause 1026 Multifunctional Transport Satellites
model laws 129, 181–2, 184, 577, 616 (MTSAT) 575–6
modular space station 622, 657–8 multilateral agreements 150, 443, 450,
modules 621, 658, 701, 941, 980, 985 498, 625, 871
monitoring, environmental 145, 218, on specific realms of space activities
507, 547 118–19
monopolies 283, 634, 856 Multilateral Control Board see MCB
Montreal Convention 606 multilateral export control regime 363,
Montreal Protocol 676 420
moon 15, 56–9, 99–103, 340–2, 654–5, multilateral international agreement 77
771–4, 782–3, 786–7 Multilateral Trade Agreements 819–20,
Moon Agreement 5–8, 12–13, 15, 40–1, 822
99–103, 342, 782–9, 797 multilateral treaties 17, 116, 1021,
and common heritage of mankind 1024–5
101–3 Multipurpose Laboratory Module
and dispute settlement 1012–13 (MLM) 658

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Index 1079

Munich International Colloquium national meteorological services 112,

1021–3 236–7
munitions 362, 365, 370, 376, 421, 429, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
431 Administration see NOAA
national policies 257, 364, 438, 507,
NAFTA see North American Free Trade 542, 547
Agreement national registers 95–8, 135, 153, 155,
named perils policies 933 180, 404, 737
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space national registry 137, 161, 165, 171–2,
Administration) 140, 437, 622, 397, 427, 630, 737
national regulatory frameworks 180,
625, 644–5, 700–1, 703–6, 867–8
184
astronauts 704–5
national rules 24, 403, 405, 473, 501,
national access rights 487 580
national activities 46, 52–4, 82, 84, 131, national security 155–6, 158, 168–70,
322, 515, 680–1 380–1, 431–2, 526–9, 536, 542–3
private 515, 1006 national sovereignty 33, 207, 474, 487,
National Aeronautics and Space Act 23, 902
140, 987 national space activities 6, 131, 180,
National Aeronautics and Space 184, 515, 525, 584, 593
Administration see NASA national space agencies 13, 139, 148,
national air traffic management 150, 176–7, 749, 752, 926
agencies 408, 413, 417 National Space Based PNT
national airspace 71, 77, 409, 413, 415, management structure 558
673, 676, 680 national space laws/legislation 23–4,
launches through 413–15 70, 83–4, 127–204, 404, 525–6,
national appropriation 5, 56, 275, 407, 680–1, 911–12
778–80, 789, 793 examples 139–78
national borders 396, 452, 579, 796–7, international initiatives 179–84
827 and international space law 32–4
national defence 175, 533, 537, 656 national space policies 14, 139, 150,
National Defense Authorization Act see 175–6, 254, 363, 438, 558
NDAA national space programmes 214, 220,
national export controls 419, 425 362, 419
national exports 421 National Supervisory Authority (NSA)
National Geodetic Survey (NGS) 571 601, 605
national industries 230, 265–6 national territory 33–4, 401, 409, 413,
national interests 165–6, 170, 389, 430, 415
531, 537 national treatment see NT
national jurisdiction 180, 784, 792, 795, nationality 134, 158, 195, 230, 265,
799 326, 384, 634
national launch industry 437, 443 planning 128
national launches 230, 402–3, 441 state of 232, 325, 328
national laws see domestic laws nationals 188, 190, 192–4, 196–202,
national legislation 126, 129, 179–81, 204, 633–4, 779–81, 861
399, 403, 414, 418, 682–3 foreign 89, 369, 535, 732
national liability claims 685, 916 Nationwide Differential GPS System
national markets 831, 847, 852–3 (NDGPS) 571

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1080 Handbook of space law

natural persons 165, 783, 826, 833, 848 NGS (National Geodetic Survey) 571
natural processes 344, 771 Nicaragua 303, 352
natural resources 5, 7–8, 102, 659–60, Nigeria 60, 541, 851
769–71, 776–7, 782–3, 786–92 no cause theory 578–9
exploitation of extraterrestrial 786, no fly zones 415–17
797, 809, 811 NOAA (National Oceanic and
legal status of extraterrestrial 770, Atmospheric Administration) 439,
809, 812 528, 706, 751
limited 466, 476, 727, 798, 802–3 noise pollution 724
management 504, 519–20 non-appropriation
navigation 75, 121, 127, 554, 556, 602, of celestial bodies 783
608–9, 615 of outer space 62
satellite see satellite navigation non-appropriative nature of outer space
navigational aid systems 602–4, 607, 778
612 non-binding instruments 513, 756, 760,
NAVSTAR GPS 556–7 995
NDAA (National Defense non-binding principles 24, 43
Authorization Act) 368, 435, 529 non-commercial launches 443
NDGPS (Nationwide Differential GPS non-contractual liability 594, 597, 920
System) 571 non-discrimination 300, 802, 828–30,
near-earth asteroids 772, 774 832
Near Earth Objects (NEOs) 100 non-discriminatory access, principle of
near-earth space 146, 752 507, 523, 993
necessity 143, 353, 403–4, 426, 682, non-fault liability 913, 919–20;
715–16, 971, 973 see also absolute liability
economic 867 non-functional space objects 719, 726
military 358 non-governmental activities 131–2,
negligence 515, 580, 587–8, 590, 595, 153, 516, 543, 1014
600, 606–7, 919 non-governmental actors 128, 525, 553
gross 88, 232, 693, 700, 921, 924 non-governmental entities 24, 26, 46–7,
negotiations 18–19, 450–1, 631–2, 127, 131, 515, 521, 525
784–6, 805, 820–1, 1017, 1021 activities 131, 780, 1036
diplomatic 91, 93, 629 non-governmental organizations
direct 999, 1005, 1011 (NGOs) 25, 102, 269, 783
NEOs (Near Earth Objects) 100 non-interference, principle of 16, 304
Netherlands 162–4, 178, 183, 185, non-market economies 432, 444, 451
195–6, 209–10, 915, 918 non-obviousness 976, 980
Space Law 163–4, 178, 915, 918 non-parties 60, 292, 401
Netherlands Antilles 163 non-Partners 639–40
Nevada 613 non-possessory security interests
new branches of space law 20–6 878–9, 883
New Mexico 693, 695 non-satellite communication
NewYork Agreement 103, 788, 792, intergovernmental organizations
795–7 112–13
NewYork Convention 1044 non-scheduled operations 400
New Zealand 375, 879 North American Free Trade Agreement
NGOs see non-governmental (NAFTA) 207, 834, 852
organizations North Korea 303, 346–7

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Index 1081

Norway 151–2, 183, 185, 191, 212, 375, Office for Outer Space Affairs see
428, 632 OOSA
NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) 415 Office of Commercial Space
notifications 305, 428, 522, 537, 549, Transportation see OCST
640, 740 omissions 88, 305, 338, 516, 606–7,
Pre-launch 346, 427 953, 1036, 1038
of space objects 737–8 on-orbit delivery 404
Notifying Administrations 285, 303–6 on-orbit jurisdiction 689, 706
novelty 976, 980 on-orbit satellite servicing see OOS
NPS (nuclear power sources) 8, 42, OOS (on-orbit satellite servicing)
757–8, 766
723–6, 732, 734, 739–42, 745–8,
OOSA (Office for Outer Space Affairs)
768
37, 105, 737
NPS Principles (Principles Relevant to open access policy 545–6
the Use of Nuclear Power Sources open market 793, 796, 856
in Outer Space) 726, 739–41, 746, Open Service (OS) 260, 565, 571, 575,
748–9, 766, 998 827
NSA (National Supervisory Authority) operating agencies 328
601, 605 operation
NT (national treatment) 815, 830–4, of remote sensing systems 175, 501,
860, 862, 866, 868, 971, 973 526, 542, 544, 553
nuclear contamination 717, 723–4 of spacecraft 303, 478, 757
nuclear damage 1004 operational activities 219, 227, 321
nuclear explosions 336, 343, 345 operational capacity 657, 911, 934–5
nuclear power sources see NPS operational functions 248, 704
nuclear proliferation 360, 362 operational IGOs 271, 282–3, 307
nuclear reactors 740, 1011 operational integration of space
Nuclear Suppliers Group 375, 423 activities 208–38
nuclear weapons 3, 14–15, 149, 335–8, operational issues 458
342–3, 348, 360, 363 operational life 625, 929, 945
delivery systems 361–2 operational phases 217, 743, 970
operational responsibilities 238, 623
objects 94–5, 152–3, 502–3, 516, 669, operational satellites 219, 306, 559,
737–9, 891, 904–6 562, 721, 940
aerospace 389 operational space applications systems
man-made 3–4, 87, 720 214, 340
obligations 30–2, 131–3, 193–7, 497–8, operations
523–5, 729–30, 754, 890 active debris removal 734–5, 739,
general 320, 523, 754 758
registration 98, 158, 427, 681 aircraft 64, 410, 675
treaty 309, 998 in-orbit 405, 408, 706, 910
observers 43, 257, 307, 491, 798 non-scheduled 400
occupation 56, 327, 778–9, 997 normal 743–4, 752
ocean floor 770, 792 remote sensing 460, 501, 521, 537,
oceans 126, 264, 505, 508 542
OCST (Office of Commercial Space rescue 505, 548, 553, 652
Transportation) 142–3, 385 satellite 294, 298, 300, 408, 492, 584,
offences 77, 197, 533–4, 536, 677 910, 912

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1082 Handbook of space law

telecommunication 319, 489 legal character 697–8

operator liability 590, 616, 914 and liability 698–702
operators 137–8, 158–60, 165–6, 474, orbital space tourists 662, 699, 707
691–4, 800–1, 807–8, 886 orbital trajectories 162, 668, 712
aircraft 413, 606, 676 orbital velocities 65, 67, 665
commercial 142, 250, 488, 588, 593, orbiting space hotels 705–6
860, 863 Organization for Security and
GNSS 588, 593–4, 605 Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
hotel 707–8 371
satellite see satellite operators organizational structures 279, 285, 555,
tour 400–1 564, 785
opinio juris 31, 69, 105, 108, 111, OS see Open Service
308–9, 313, 519 OSC (Orbital Sciences Corporation)
optional activities 216, 311 387
optional programmes 113, 210–11, 213, OSCE (Organization for Security and
216, 218–19, 221, 223, 238 Co-operation in Europe) 371
Optional Rules for Arbitration of outer space
Disputes Relating to Outer Space activities 51, 53, 379–81, 583, 587,
Activities 997, 1008 589, 997, 1008
OrbImage 510 activities in 320–1, 706
orbit 337–8, 458–60, 475–7, 585–8, appropriation 627, 779–81, 792
668–9, 706–7, 712–13, 720–3 contamination 155, 355
earth see earth orbit definition revisited 667–72
geostationary 61–2, 284–5, 457–9, edge 663, 710
476–7, 480–1, 726–7, 798–800, exploration and use 127, 130, 138,
802 407, 659, 661, 778, 781
geostationary-satellite 275, 476–7, as a ‘global commons’ and freedom
727, 800 of exploration and use 55–60
highly elliptical 460, 567 issue 678
ORBIT Act 288, 324, 844 legal framework regulating military
orbit/spectrum resource 799–802 uses of 332–4, 342, 350, 381
orbital hotels 665, 697, 705–8 lower boundary 72, 682
orbital parameters, basic 97, 630, 737 militarization 333
orbital positions 275, 477, 738, 802, military uses see military uses of
851, 896, 902, 934–5 outer space
Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) non-appropriation 62
387 non-appropriative nature 778
orbital service flights 697, 702–5 objects 20, 378–80
legal character 702–3 peaceful exploration and use 24, 129,
legal issues of flying 341
government-employed sustainable use 131, 133
astronauts on private vehicles weaponization 333, 377–9
703–5 Outer Space Act 151, 154
orbital slots 304, 327, 477, 713, 798–9, Outer Space Ordinance for the Hong
801–3, 853, 889 Kong region 178
orbital space tourism 646, 648, 697–9, Outer Space Treaty 5–8, 39–41, 46–80,
702, 705 131–7, 337–43, 652–5, 777–83,
development 646–7 788–92

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Index 1083

boundary question 60–72 paying 400, 647, 649, 663, 710

and dispute settlement 999–1003 patentability 973–5, 989–90
environmental aspects 727–31 of space-related inventions 979–82
international responsibility and patentable inventions 951, 979–81, 985,
international liability 50–5 988–9
and ISS 627–8 patents 277, 643, 951, 962, 972, 972–92
and military uses of outer space applicability suggestions 988–9
335–41 applications 977, 980, 986
outer space as a ‘global commons’ creation of unitary protection 984
and freedom of exploration and infringement 974, 982, 987
international law instruments 972–5
use 55–60
laws 123, 635–6, 983–4, 989, 991
and privatization of IGOs 322–3
national 635, 983–4, 991
right of innocent passage through Patent Cooperation Treaty 643, 974,
foreign airspace 72–8 981
and safe and responsible behaviour in patentability of space-related
launching 406–7 inventions 979–82
overflight, freedom of 416 protection characteristics 975–9
owner/operators 404–6, 549, 938, 940 regulatory responses to challenges
owners 595–6, 634, 637, 644, 899–900, 982–8
949, 957, 970–1 rights 489, 634, 973–4, 977–9, 987
satellite 390, 899, 917–18, 961 enforcement 974, 980–1
ownership 146–7, 188, 190, 192, 596, patents scope of protection 978, 991
642, 727–8, 963–4 paying passengers 400, 647, 649, 663,
of data 550, 644 710
payloads 349, 383, 400, 408, 419, 638,
Pacific Ocean 387, 398, 401, 409 670, 891
Pakistan 69, 346 government 390, 439–40, 443
paper satellites 483, 801 scientific 667
Paris Convention 4, 123, 643, 861, payments 286, 391, 829, 893–4,
973–4, 981 899–900
Paris Draft Convention 1026–30 PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration)
PAROS issue 19 26, 92, 184, 824, 997, 1008–9,
Partial Test Ban Treaty 14, 26, 336, 1032–4, 1036–7
343–5 Environmental Rules 1032–4, 1036
partisanship 92, 110, 116, 118, 223, Rules 1010, 1015, 1026, 1029,
268, 293, 302 1031–5, 1038–9, 1041–2,
Partner States 624, 631, 634, 637–8, 1044–6
646, 659, 700–1, 987–8 drafting history 1032–4
partners 418, 619, 623–4, 632, 639–41, structure of new rules 1034–45
656–7, 942, 985 PCS (personal communications
bilateral 444, 625 services) 848–9, 851, 867
contractual 221, 593, 924 PDD-23 see Presidential Decision
passage 64, 73, 75–6, 974 Directive 23
passenger claims 609 peace 75–6, 274, 350–1, 498–9, 947
passenger liability 690, 692 regional 365, 372
passengers 400, 614, 663, 676, 691–2, Peace of Westphalia 34
702, 704, 707–8 peaceful activities 341, 655, 765

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1084 Handbook of space law

peaceful exploration and use of outer PLN (pre-launch notifications) 346,

space 24, 129, 179–81, 341, 730 427–8
peaceful purposes 19, 214, 313–14, Plurilateral Trade Agreements 819–21,
316–17, 335, 338–41, 653–4, 835
656–7 Poland 541
exclusively 313–17, 340, 377, 729 Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
for 47, 654, 656 396
peaceful settlement of disputes political overview 1–9
1013–14, 1022 polluter pays principle 764
peaceful use of outer space 655 pollution 76, 244, 505, 590, 723, 727,
PECS (Plan for European Cooperating 736
States) 212 Portugal 849
Pegasus 86, 387, 401, 416, 679 potential damage 517, 721, 736, 754
penalties 188, 201, 368 powers 140, 155, 287, 351, 460, 563,
People’s Republic of China see China 752, 1038
peremptory norms 350, 1002 economic 205, 838
perigee 68, 72, 75, 97 politico-economic 839
Permanent Court of Arbitration see veto 354
PCA PPPs (public–private partnerships) 261,
permanent space station 622, 631 510, 534, 544, 562, 567, 594, 864
permission 64, 152, 361, 519, 533, 536, PPS (Precise Positioning Service)
549, 810 558–9
prior 529 pre-emptive self-defence 353
personal accident insurance 942–3 pre-launch insurance 930–2
personal communications services exclusions 947–8
(PCS) 848–9, 851, 867 pre-launch notifications see PLN
personal injury 84, 587, 686, 735, 1012 precautions 407, 762, 764, 909
personal jurisdiction 56, 134, 148, precedents 75, 304–5, 620, 808, 1010,
152–3, 158, 180, 633–4, 886 1014–15, 1028
personal liability 700 Precise Positioning Service see PPS
personnel of a spacecraft 79–80, 648, precision 329, 569, 601, 753, 1046
650, 709 legal 487, 552
see also crew predictability 27, 372
physical damage 48, 585, 930, 947 preferential access 523, 785
pilots 44, 264, 602, 663 preferential conditions 546, 834
placement of weapons 336–7, 341, 355, prescriptive jurisdiction 905–6
377–8 Presidential Decision Directive 23
Plan for European Cooperating States (PDD-23) 529–30
(PECS) 212 Presidential Directive on National
planetary protection 742, 755–6, 768 Space Policy 386
Planetary Resources 659, 775 pressures 287, 296–7, 484, 489, 493,
planned space activities 407, 730 844, 1007
platform interrogation 479 prevention 18–19, 158, 378, 754
platinum 771–2 prices 395, 444, 451, 512, 528, 541,
Plenipotentiary Conferences 463, 481, 545–7, 662–3
898 pricing 451, 512, 544–5, 871
Plesetsk 229, 402 policies 543, 547–8, 551

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Index 1085

primary data 504, 520, 523, 859, 958, private licensees 711, 856
960 private manned spaceflight 662–716
primary insolvency jurisdiction 894 application of GATS/WTO regime
primary remote sensing data 958–61, 870–2
965 towards an international trade regime
Principles Declaration 38–9 867–72
principles of justice and equity 85, v space tourism 666–7
1007–10, 1039 private manned sub-orbital spaceflights
Principles on Direct Television 73–4, 682
Broadcasting 1013 private operators 289–90, 300, 316–18,
Principles Regarding Processes and
324–6, 328–9, 791–2, 810, 812–13
Criteria for Selection 710
private parties 862, 903, 996–7, 1033–5,
Principles Relating to Remote Sensing
996, 998 1041
Principles Relevant to the Use of private persons 241, 600, 667, 784
Nuclear Power Sources in Outer private remote sensing systems 141,
Space see NPS Principles 528, 530
prior consent 78, 496–9, 519, 522–3, private satellite operators 83, 328, 398,
640 404
a priori planning regime 480, 485–6, private sector 141, 148, 330, 489, 511,
801 528, 534, 639
priority access 512, 526, 533, 536, 545 private space activities 24, 26, 105, 127,
priority rules 881, 884–5, 897 134–5, 149, 176, 178
clear 878, 882, 884, 886, 898 private spaceflight 369, 666, 672, 697,
private activities 82, 131, 628, 680, 859, 843
1005 participants 652
private actors 20, 26, 127, 138, 181, working definition 702, 705
185, 526, 530 private sub-orbital flights 64, 70, 650,
private claims 780 672–96, 712
private commercial spaceflight 73, United States 682–96
695–6, 818, 836, 853–4, 873 private subjects 779, 788, 790
private companies 322, 407, 409, private users 512, 546, 592, 645
659–60, 683–4, 823–4, 856, 858 privatization 246, 248, 276–7, 490–1,
private company Sea Launch 398, 401 844, 854, 862, 873
private enterprise 84, 117, 138, 245, EUTELSAT 297–301
330, 500, 1005, 1029 INMARSAT 293–5
private entities 509–11, 515–16, INTELSAT 287–90
519–21, 547–8, 769–70, 779–80, process 285, 301, 312, 319, 323–4,
791–2, 1017 329–30
private exploitation 791, 810 satellite IGOs 317–29
private industry 182, 226, 631, 666, 872, privileges 12, 213, 270, 285, 366, 822,
876 829, 861
private international law 26, 280, 903, probes, deep space 96, 457, 681
1010 procedures
private investors 770, 809, 811–12 binding settlement 1026–7
private launch companies 443, 448 conciliation 1026
private launches 83, 385, 685 established 643, 1013–14
private law 32, 280, 541, 614 ordinary legislative 255

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1086 Handbook of space law

processed data 504, 523, 551, 859, 958, proof 48, 60, 212, 294, 301, 590, 601,
960, 966 606
interpretation 859 properties, extraterrestrial 779, 781
processed remote sensing data 959–60 property damage 686, 912, 924, 929,
processing 512, 532, 535, 825, 831, 945, 1012
859, 958, 960 insurance 937
procurement 140, 155, 303, 397, 401, exclusions 936
442, 605, 733 in-orbit insurance 593, 910, 931–2,
agencies 219, 254 935–6
contracts 923, 930 launch insurance 405, 593, 932–6
government 417, 451, 820–1, 868 market 936–7
product defect liability 920, 928 pre-launch insurance 930–2
product liability 589–90, 610 exclusions 947–8
European Union (EU) 920 typology 930–6
insurance, space 928–30 property rights 26, 543, 644, 783, 790,
and third-party liability insurance 810, 813
919–20 proportionality 242–3, 256–7, 353–4,
United States 919–20 356, 358, 811, 1009
production 231, 380, 450, 560, 724, propulsion 336, 361, 425, 749
923, 967, 988 systems 374, 421, 423–4
facilities 361, 419 prospective lenders 879, 884
products 511–13, 549–50, 553, 825–7, Protected Space Operations 638, 700
829–32, 859–60, 919–21, 966–7 Protocol on Environmental Protection
certified 504 805
derived 504, 512, 538, 546 providers
domestic 831 data 174, 512, 525, 535, 544, 967
final 512, 960 foreign 830–1
licensed 963, 966 insurance 939, 943
remote sensing 501, 505–6, 509, 512, launch 383–4, 390, 396–7, 420, 428,
524–5, 532, 547, 552–3 439, 443, 839
remote sensing-derived 553 service see service providers
value-added 504, 549, 857–8, 962 province of all mankind 57, 100, 661,
professional astronaut/cosmonaut 648 781, 791, 950, 981
professional astronauts 710–11 PRS (Public Regulated Service) 260–1,
profits 486, 587, 660, 732, 893, 935 565
programmes 214–20, 222–3, 238, PSA (Public Services Agreement) 289,
256–8, 310–11, 563, 623–5, 703 294–5, 320
civilian 360–1 PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)
optional 113, 210–11, 213, 216, 396
218–19, 221, 223, 238 PTOs (Public Telecom Operators) 286,
Progress spacecraft 626 292, 296, 298–9, 312, 318
progressive development of law 10, 22, public benefits 543, 553
26, 997–8, 1013–14, 1021, 1036, public duties 322, 329
1038 public entities 324, 790, 1030
progressive weaponization of outer public goods 490
space 378 public health 155, 158, 167, 188, 190,
project finance 874, 889 193–4, 200, 244

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Index 1087

public interest 143, 165, 182, 227, radionavigation-satellite service 479

687–8 ratification 13, 101–2, 518, 782, 909,
general 323, 684 1026
public international law 29–31, 126–8, process 518, 805
130, 270–2, 350, 1010, 1014, 1030 raw data 175, 504, 532–3, 551, 859
general 32, 46, 273, 329, 331, 350 re-entry 182, 388, 412, 415, 688–91,
international space law as branch of 704, 709, 917
29–32 vehicles 142, 388, 419, 423, 669
public manned spaceflight 618–61 re-export 367, 373
Public Regulated Service see PRS re-utilization 250, 862, 955
public safety 168, 704 reasonable cost terms 523, 543, 857
public service obligations 294 receivers 556, 569–70, 573–4, 599, 609,
public services 300, 490, 547, 843, 889, 863, 865
896–7 reciprocal waiver of claims 686, 922
international 490–1 Reciprocating States Regime 794–5
Public Services Agreement see PSA reciprocity 59, 1007
Public Telecom Operators see PTOs recommendations 133, 136, 179–81,
270, 272, 718, 747, 750–1
quasi-proprietary copyright 963, 965 reconnaissance 314, 333, 338, 340,
quasi-territorial basis 622, 627 501–2, 504, 506
quasi-territorial jurisdiction 983 recourse 351, 353, 501, 874, 888,
Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) 921–2, 924, 941–2
567–8 waivers of 593, 916, 921–3, 929–30
quotas 243, 815, 840–1 recovery of damages 329, 985
QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System) reentry see re-entry
567–8 regime, particular 820
Regional Satellite Navigation Systems
radiation 215, 502, 723, 936, 947 see RNSS
radio astronomy 467, 480, 491 regional space organizations 207, 751
radio frequencies see frequencies registered space objects 97, 115, 427,
radio-frequency spectrum see 738
frequency spectrum registering space objects 133, 136
Radio Regulations 300, 350, 463, registers, international 97, 105, 135,
465–72, 475–6, 478, 484, 494 137, 630
Board 473, 483 registration 146, 151–2, 629–30, 632–5,
and frequency allocation 467–70 713–15, 737–9, 897–8, 901
and frequency allotment 472–3 numbers 97, 630, 737
and frequency assignment 473–4 obligations 98, 158, 427, 681
radio services 328, 349–50, 476, 603 preliminary 169
radio stations 465, 474, 477 of security interests 714
radio waves 37, 456, 459, 467, 475, 480 of space objects 95, 135, 168, 172,
radioactive debris 93, 723–4 175, 182, 395, 526
Radiocommunication Bureau 304–5, state of 77, 627, 632–3, 642
801 Registration Convention 94–9, 135,
radiocommunication services 465, 153, 516–17, 628–30, 632–3,
477–9, 494, 800 713–14, 737–8
radiodetermination-satellite service 479 and dispute settlement 1012
radiolocation-satellite services 479 environmental aspects 737–9

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1088 Handbook of space law

international register 97–8 policies 543–53

and ISS 629–30 primary 958–61, 965
national register 95–7 processed 959–60
and privatization of IGOs 326–7 regarding protection of 958, 971
Registry of Space Objects 162 regional 967
regulators 239, 578, 689, 726 space-based 277, 537
regulatory frameworks 157, 176, 180, usefulness 507, 510, 553
615, 716, 914 databases 277, 860, 862
regulatory IGOs 271–81 and European Union (EU) 249–50
regulatory principles 846–7 France 536–8
reimbursement 167, 187, 701, 707 Germany 534–6
relevant information 78, 171, 287, 375, information products 957–8
524 and international space law 513–25
reliability 173, 441–2, 501, 505, 512, land observation for civil purposes
543, 546, 555 506–8
remedies 886, 888, 890, 892–7, 899, national regulations 525–43
906, 908, 980–1 operations 460, 501, 521, 537, 542
Cape Town Convention 892–7 operators 501, 504, 519, 526, 535,
enforcement 895–6, 905 541, 855
local 90, 1017 products 501, 505–6, 509, 512,
remote sensing 236, 249–50, 501–53, 524–5, 532, 547, 552–3
853–8, 862, 957–8, 962–3, 970–1 for reconnaissance and weather
activities 501, 513–24, 526–7, 529, forecast purposes 506–7
531–2, 541–2, 551, 957–8 Remote Sensing Principles 497, 504,
current environment 511–13 517–25, 542–3, 857, 859, 958–9,
evolution 505–13 995–6
legal framework 513–53 Remote Sensing Space Systems Act
application of GATT/GATS/WTO 531
regime 857–62 Remote Sensing Space Systems
applications 504–5 Regulations 531
Canada 531–4 satellites 505, 507–8, 515–16, 534–5,
commercial 506, 508–11, 526, 537, 539–41, 551, 553
530–1, 857, 860 operation 526, 542
commercialization and privatization operators 553
854–7 systems 117, 173–4, 249, 528, 533–4
data 503–5, 509–10, 539–40, 542–3, operation 175, 501, 526, 542, 544,
858–9, 957–65, 967, 993 553
access and pricing 544–9 private 141, 528, 530
and copyright 957–62, 967–72 technologies 118, 502, 502–3, 1015
dissemination 512, 540 towards an international trade regime
distribution 173, 537, 540, 542 854–62
distribution and rights of suppliers United States 527–31
and users 549–53 workings 503–4
generators 513, 525 remote sensing-derived products 553
initiatives to promote sharing remotely sensed data see remote
967–70 sensing, data
non-protectable primary 959 removal of space debris 758–9, 764
owners 512, 965 removal operations 734

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Index 1089

reparation 52, 85, 326, 764, 1007 property 26, 543, 644, 783, 790, 810,
rescue, operations 505, 548, 553, 652 813
Rescue Agreement 6, 39–40, 78–81, sovereignty 778–9
650, 652, 708–11, 725–6, 906–7 traffic 871
crew and spaceflight participants risks 371–2, 591–3, 595–6, 722–4,
710–12 925–6, 930–2, 943, 980
and dispute settlement 1003 collision 380, 734
personnel of a spacecraft 79–80 of damage 137–8, 736
and privatization of IGOs 323 of interference 275, 476
space objects and launching RNSS (Regional Satellite Navigation
authorities 81
Systems) 566–9
research 189–90, 245, 251–2, 545–6,
road 121, 123, 270, 272, 309, 406, 448,
638–9, 641, 643–5, 978
resources 102, 771–3, 775–7, 784–6, 451
788, 790, 792–3, 807 rules of the 405, 443, 450, 839
deep seabed 785, 794, 796 rocket bodies 719–20
exploitation 796–7, 799 rocket technology 1, 117, 443
limited 770, 792, 799, 803, 811 rockets 1, 174, 361–2, 366, 383–4, 412,
technical 107, 112, 214, 808 418–19, 423–4
responsibility 50–2, 54–5, 136–7, Rome Convention 606–7, 676, 861
406–7, 410–11, 597–8, 603–4, Roscosmos 144, 146, 189, 229, 560,
610–11 632, 699–700
differentiated 765 RSA see Roscosmos
international 46, 50–1, 77, 82, 84, rules of the road 405, 443, 450, 839
748, 753, 762 Rules on Outer Space Disputes 26, 184,
operational 238, 623 824, 997, 1011, 1036–7, 1040–3
single-state 322 Russia 116–18, 144–8, 392–4, 402,
state 46, 51, 53, 131–2, 384, 521, 583, 443–5, 448–52, 622–4, 700–2
680 bilateral launch relations with Europe
retransfer 367 451–2
return 64, 94, 167, 323, 433, 787, 906, bilateral launch relations with United
917 States 446–8
fair 222–3, 238, 265–6, 312
GLONASS see GLONASS
return of space objects 167
launch facilities 402, 699
reusable launch vehicles 388, 687
revenues 45, 48, 226, 234, 316, 640, Law on Space Activities 146–7, 394,
660, 856 983
rights 29–32, 523–5, 543–4, 549–50, Roscosmos 144, 146, 189, 560, 632
899–901, 956–7, 963–4, 990–1 Soyuz see Soyuz
assignment 899–901 Space Agency (RSA) see Roscosmos
to claim 90–1
economic 954 SADC see Southern African
exclusive 324, 528, 807, 849, 852, Development Community
959, 962, 970 safety 188–90, 193–5, 197–8, 411–13,
human 205, 371 609, 611, 688–9, 747–8
of innocent passage 50, 72–8, 713 of aviation 408, 413, 673
legitimate 522 nuclear 739, 748
procedural 92 of space objects 344–5, 378

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1090 Handbook of space law

Safety Framework for Nuclear Power mobile 277

Source Applications in Outer services 122, 248, 257, 276, 281, 294,
Space 747–8 845
Safety-of-Life Service (SOL) 260, 565, trade aspects 488–9
575 UN regime on direct broadcasting by
sale 404, 549, 874–5, 886, 890, 894, satellite 493–9
896, 901 satellite components 394, 429, 432,
conditional 890 445–6
data 509, 528–9, 855 satellite constellations 559, 764
of space assets 889, 901 satellite data 123, 547–9, 854, 1046
SALT I Treaty 16 Satellite Directive 123, 246–7, 288,
SALT II Treaty 18, 348 298–9, 844
salvage 758, 935 satellite earth observation 251
clauses 935 satellite exports 432
maximum benefit of 934–5 satellite frequencies 304, 484, 487,
rights 908 490–2
Samara Space Centre 229 satellite IGOs 287, 312–13, 319, 321–4,
SAPOS (Satellite Positioning Service) 328–9
572 original satellite IGOs and
SARPs (Standards and Recommended international space law status
Practices) 409, 675 318–19
satellite applications 123, 279 as possible generators of joint state
Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems practice 311–13
see SBAS privatization 317–29
satellite broadcasting 176, 302, 481 net results in terms of international
beyond UN Principles 498–9 space law 321–9
direct 41, 78, 494, 498 transition from operational to
satellite capacity 292 supervisory IGOs and space law
satellite communications 287–8, 296–7, 319–21
456–500, 843, 847, 852–3, satellite images 505, 546, 549, 551
1015–17, 1020–1 Satellite Industry Association see SIA
challenges to ITU regime 484–92 satellite infrastructure 120, 285–6, 289,
commercialization 843–4 291, 312
coordination of international satellite launches 432, 445, 842
frequency usage for satellite manufacturers 404, 434, 447,
international satellite services 919, 923
482–4 satellite navigation 251, 259, 278–9,
definitions 456–8 554–617, 853–4, 862, 865–6, 873
and European Union (EU) 246–9 application of GATT/GATS/WTO
general characteristics 458–60 regime 865–7
international 283, 329 commercialization and privatization
as international public good or 862–4
international public service services 866–7
490–2 systems 315, 482, 576, 602, 866
international trade regime 843–53 towards an international trade regime
and IPR 489–90 862–7
and ITU 458–93 satellite operators 386, 511, 874–5, 886,
law 276, 490 889, 911, 919, 926

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Index 1091

commercial 588, 593, 857–8 transfer 881, 889

foreign 838, 849, 876 weather see weather satellites
international 108–12, 844 Saudi Arabia 306
private 83, 328, 398, 404 SBAS (Satellite-Based Augmentation
satellite orbits 349, 477, 493, 800 Systems) 569, 573–7
satellite owners 390, 899, 917–18, 961 Schedules of Commitments 832–5, 847,
Satellite Positioning Service see 852, 866
SAPOS Schedules of Concessions 832–3, 835
satellite property damage insurance Schedules of Specific Commitments,
932–3 and satellite communications
satellite remote sensing see remote 847–52
sensing science fiction 1, 475, 648
satellite services 321, 482, 848–52, 889 Scientific and Technical
fixed 285, 477–8, 802, 847, 849, 851 Sub-Committee see STSC
satellite signals 499, 616 scientific research 313, 335, 341, 627,
satellite systems 294, 296–7, 303, 321, 653, 655, 806
323, 482–3, 532, 534 scientific space research 145, 148
global navigation 559, 607–8 scientificspace 189–90
mobile 849, 867 scientists 44, 67–8, 502, 648, 774, 807,
satellite technology 116, 377, 432, 511, 816
541 sea 1, 5–6, 74–5, 77, 102–3, 416–17,
satellite-to-satellite links 478 790, 1009
satellites high 56, 61, 64, 74–5, 79, 415–17,
appropriate export control status of 789–91, 793
435 territorial 75–6, 413
commercial 358, 369, 435–6, 531, Sea Launch 125, 386–90, 409, 842
775 Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act,
communications see communications Deep 794, 797
satellites secondary EU law 241–3, 258
cube-sats 127, 161, 163, 165 secrecy of inventions 985–6
dual-use 358, 435, 520 Secretary-General 9, 98, 741, 1002,
earth 479 1013, 1026, 1034, 1036–8
Eutelsat 301, 325 secured parties 880, 883–7, 899
experimental 283, 562 secured transactions, law of 878, 882,
export 429–32, 446 889, 897, 908
geostationary 576, 727, 800, 851 secured transactions under Art 9 of the
Inmarsat 574 Uniform Commercial Code 882–7
insured 910, 934–5, 941 security 75–7, 188–90, 195–7, 273–4,
ITAR-free 434, 437 314–15, 350–2, 377, 899–900
low earth orbit 712, 917 security agreement 883, 892–3
navigation 262, 358 Security Council 274, 351–2, 354
operational 219, 306, 559, 562, 721, security interests 877–87, 890, 892–4,
940 896, 898–901, 906
paper 483, 801 enforcement 875, 879–81
primary 962, 965 enforcing 879–80
SPOT 538, 855 first-priority 874, 897
telecommunications 516, 893, 899 non-possessory 878–9, 883
third-party 929 registration of 714

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1092 Handbook of space law

security issues 261, 370, 377 SES (Société Européenne des Satellites)
self-defence 315–16, 340, 351–6, 381 297–8, 876
actions 353–5 shared competence 23, 256–7
collective 315 short-duration flights 706–7
pre-emptive 353 shutter control 529, 542, 545, 858
sellers, conditional 890, 892, 894, 899 SIA (Satellite Industry Association) 434
sensed states 521–3, 525, 530, 542–3 Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) 665
sensing see remote sensing Signal in Space see SiS
sensing states 522–5, 543, 996 signals 494, 498, 561, 574, 577, 584,
sensitive information 533, 640, 1044 587, 863
service consumer 825–6 Single European Act 245
service providers 248, 295, 615, 828, space research and development
832 244–5
foreign 832, 849–53, 869 single-stage-to-space vehicle 665, 869
foreign satellite 849, 853 single-state space stations 620–6
service provision 294, 848, 866, 896 SiS (Signal in Space) 577, 584, 587,
foreign 851–2, 869 591, 616
service sectors 832–3, 848 SLASO (Space Licensing and Safety
service suppliers 825–6, 830–3, 858 Office) 168
services 466–70, 472–4, 477–80, SNC (Sierra Nevada Corporation) 665
825–7, 830–3, 851–3, 858–60, 871 SNS (Space Network Systems) 484
authorized 566–7 Société Européenne des Satellites see
basic telecom 849–50 SES
broadcasting-satellite 477–8, 494 soft law 25, 27, 30, 132, 347, 378–9,
earth exploration-satellite 479 453
EGNOS Data Access 575 software 371, 374, 419, 635, 666
fixed satellite see FSS Software and Technology Annex 361
governmental 865, 873 SOL (Safety-of-Life Service) 260, 565,
inter-satellite 478 575
international 327, 848, 850 SOLAS Convention 295, 608
international direct television SOP (Systems Operations Panel) 641
broadcasting satellite 496–7 South Africa 170–1, 541, 851, 888
maintenance 871 Space Affairs Act 170, 669
mobile-satellite 478 Southern African Development
open 260, 565, 571, 575 Community (SADC) 208, 835
operational 219, 264 sovereign airspaces 72, 401
primary 469–70 sovereign discretion 33, 219, 257, 365,
radio 328, 349–50, 476, 603 701, 820
radiocommunication 465, 477–9, sovereign member states 240, 269, 274,
494, 800 309, 821
radiodetermination-satellite 479 sovereignty 31, 34, 47, 62, 64, 76,
radionavigation-satellite 479 495–7, 522
satellite see satellite services claims 56, 778, 804, 997
secondary 469–70 national 33, 207, 474, 487, 902
space-based 586, 817 rights 778–9
telecommunications 247–8, 286, 296, state 5, 317, 491, 673, 820
465, 472, 800, 845–7, 851 territorial 805

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Index 1093

Soviet Union 2–3, 93–4, 144, 205–6, space communications 457, 475, 477,
301–3, 314, 382–4, 621–2 482, 1023
see also Russia space cooperation 10, 14, 21, 114
Soyuz 215, 392–3, 400, 402, 625, 697, Space Council 253
699 space debris see debris
launcher 391, 441–2 Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines 43,
launches 402, 939 104, 742–4, 746, 756, 760, 763,
SP (Standard Precision) 561 766
space accidents 168–70 space endorsements 928–30
space activities 120–2, 143–57, 160–6, space environment 16, 344–5, 356, 744,
180–2, 273–7, 729–37, 759–68, 754, 757, 778, 791
988–96 space exploitation 255, 717
benefits of 330 space exploration 168, 420, 724
civil 155 space facilities 149, 705
environmental consequences of 718 Space Flight Informed Consent Act 693
environmental management of 767 Space Flight Liability and Immunity
of foreign organizations 146, 394 Act 692
international 121, 317, 554 space flights see spaceflight
international character of 330, 943, space frequencies 275, 457
991 see also satellite frequencies
licensing 166, 170 space hotels see hotels
national 6, 131, 180, 184, 515, 525, Space Imaging 510
584, 593 space industry 125, 220, 266, 874, 877,
non-governmental 131–2, 153, 516 889, 907–9, 912
operational integration 208–38 space infrastructures 123, 252, 279, 314
planned 407, 730 space insurance see insurance
space actors see actors space inventions 979–80, 988–9
Space Adventures 647 space launch services see launch
space agencies 80, 115, 144, 405, 548, services
648, 701, 703 space launch vehicles see launch
governmental 21–2, 508, 543, 546, vehicles
666, 700 space launches see launches
national 13, 139, 148, 150, 176–7, space law
749, 752, 926 applicability 678–82
public 702, 705 disputes 996, 1015, 1022–6, 1043
space applications 22, 61, 124, 214, history 1, 26–7
227, 245, 340, 381 implementation of international 184,
space arms control 14–20 187
space assets 354, 876–8, 880, 882–3, Japanese Basic 568
887–91, 895–7, 899–902, 907–9 lato sensu 106–8, 126
financing 125, 908 state-oriented character 50
sale 889, 901 Space Law Committee 25, 753, 1005,
Space Assets Protocol 280, 493, 887–9, 1022, 1024–5, 1027–8, 1030–1,
891, 893–6, 899, 901–2, 906–9 1040
see also Cape Town Convention space lawyers 50, 66, 125, 388, 413,
future 909 1010, 1023
space-based remote sensing data see space legislation
remote sensing, data comprehensive national 138, 168

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1094 Handbook of space law

enacted national 152, 154, 157 space-related cooperation 119

Space Licensing and Safety Office space-related inventions 991
(SLASO) 168 patentability 979–82
space manufacturers see manufacturers space research 22, 113, 161, 209, 214,
space missions, see missions 244–5, 340, 754
Space Network Systems (SNS) 484 scientific 145, 148
space NPS 749 services 479
see also nuclear power space resource utilization 769–813
applications 747–9 Moon and other celestial bodies
missions 747 771–2
space objects 85–90, 135–8, 158–65, space risks 929, 936
167–9, 583–7, 678–81, 731–3, space services 475, 477–8, 481–2, 484,
735–41 815, 817, 819, 821
guidance 163, 194–5, 915 international trade aspects 814–73
identification 98, 713 and ITU (International
intentional destruction 380, 744 Telecommunication Union)
issue 678–9 475–80
launched 88, 158 Space Shuttle 385–9, 415, 437, 448–9,
notification 737–8 622, 625, 702–3
re-entry 182 space stations 478–9, 618, 621–2,
register 165, 902 629–30, 633–4, 655–8, 701, 987
registered 97, 115, 427, 738 Bigelow 369
registration 95, 135, 168, 172, 175, Civil International see ISS
182, 395, 526 manned 620, 623
safety 344–5, 378 modular 622, 657–8
space operations 157–9, 189–90, 412, permanent 622, 631
732, 910, 912, 921–3, 926 single-state 620, 622
protected 638, 700 Space Surveillance Network (SSN)
space operators 910–11, 914–15, 919, 720–1
923, 925–6, 930, 938–9, 943 space sustainability see sustainability
space organizations 211, 548 space technology 20, 26, 145, 148, 330,
regional 207, 751 332, 368–9, 1046
space planes 883, 906 space third-party liability insurance
space powers 10, 45, 60, 214, 274, 330, 925–6
344, 660 space tourism 64, 68, 142, 640, 646–7,
major 9, 12, 17, 60, 225, 381, 619 662, 666–7, 944
space product assurance 756 orbital see orbital space tourism
space product liability insurance sub-orbital 646, 648, 664, 682, 872
928–30 v private manned spaceflight 666–7
space products 873, 912, 919, 928–9 space tourists 80, 125, 148, 646,
space programmes see programmes 648–51, 698–9, 701–2, 710–12
space projects 113, 267, 440, 618, 988 legal status 26, 647–52
cooperative 226, 417, 988 orbital 662, 699, 707
financing 280 space traffic management 389, 405–17,
international cooperative 441 587, 713, 715, 768
major 107, 267, 653 issues 712–15
space-related activities 170, 251, 394, launch phase 408–9
914 space transportation 382–453

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Index 1095

regulatory framework 403–5 SPS (Standard Positioning Service)

space treaties see United Nations, space 558–9
treaties Sputnik-1 35–6, 44, 122, 144, 273, 275,
space vehicles 59, 94, 374, 408, 410–11, 475
413–15, 650–1, 987 SSG (Secretariat Study Group) 604
see also launch vehicles; spacecraft SSN (Space Surveillance Network)
returning 409, 414 720–1
space ventures, financing see financing, stakeholders 279, 407, 489, 605, 768,
of space ventures 823–4, 986
space weapons 70 Standard Positioning Service see SPS
spacecraft 86–7, 650–2, 721–2, 733–4, Standard Precision (SP) 561
743–5, 937–8, 945, 984 standards 24, 111, 501, 505, 603, 735,
see also space vehicles 741, 751–2
Dragon 626 developing 675, 752
low earth orbit 917 international 449, 673, 741, 751, 763,
manned 457 975, 1035, 1042
operation 303, 478, 757 regulatory 491, 687
personnel 79–80, 648, 650, 709 technical 574, 587
sub-orbital 676, 680–1 Standards and Recommended Practices
spacecraft coverage endorsement 945–6 see SARPs
spacefaring nations/states 405, 407, Starsem 229, 842
411–12, 417, 770, 772, 989, 992 state aid 243, 266–7, 324
major 41, 79, 101–2, 104, 106, 111, state-centricity 45–50, 90
114, 118 State Department see United States,
traditional 139 Department of State
spaceflight 384, 411, 413, 647–8, 652, state guarantees 159–60
671–2, 680, 683 state liability 47, 55, 137, 384, 586,
activities 693–4 627–8, 698, 733
manned see manned spaceflight state of launch 64, 78
operators 694 see also launching states
participants 80, 143, 648–50, 688, state of nationality 232, 325, 328
690–1, 693–4, 710–11 state of registration 77, 627, 632–3, 642
private 652 state of registry 94–5, 133, 187, 516–17,
private see private spaceflight 622, 629, 636, 904–6
private human 674, 677, 681 state practice 105, 108, 111, 133–4, 136,
private manned sub-orbital 73–4, 682 308, 310, 313
Spacelab 211, 218 joint 309–11, 313
spaceports 117, 384, 401–2, 415, 868 state responsibility 46, 51, 53, 131–2,
SpaceShipTwo 651, 663 384, 521, 583, 680
SpaceX 387, 625, 664, 867, 876 state sovereignty 5, 317, 491, 673, 820
Spain 171, 183, 185, 199, 209, 225, 632, statements, financing 882–4
849 stationing 14, 336–8, 343, 654, 729
spatial information 547 stations 327, 466, 469, 623, 625, 646,
spatial resolution 503–4, 545–6 653, 657–9
spatialism 87 see also space stations
SPOT satellites 538, 855 earth 143, 235, 478–9
SpotImage 509, 538, 856 relay 475, 569

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1096 Handbook of space law

status 305, 307, 492–3, 615–16, long-term 27

649–52, 790, 963, 965 sustainable development 372, 761–2
of astronauts 78, 652 sustainable use of outer space 131, 133
legal 50, 56, 103, 388–9, 647, 782–3, Sweden 152–4, 183, 185, 192, 209, 632
788, 804–5 Act on Space Activities 153
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty Decree on Space Activities 153
(SALT I) 16, 348 Switzerland 209–10, 212, 375, 390, 632
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty Systems Operations Panel (SOP) 641
(START I) 17
Strom Thurmond Act 431, 433–4, 446 TAA (Technical Assistance Agreement)
STSC (Scientific and Technical
367
Sub-Committee) 11, 37, 742–3,
Table of Frequency Allocations 467,
745–6, 762
sub-orbital flights 87, 161–2, 649, 651, 470–1, 473, 801
668, 670–2, 675, 677–8 TCI Case 836
manned 691 Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA)
private 64, 70, 650, 672, 675, 681–2, 367
690, 712 technical data 366–8, 425
sub-orbital hops 74, 95, 650–2, 869 technical/operational criterion 96
sub-orbital space tourism 646, 648, 664, technical resources 107, 112, 214, 808
682, 872 technologies 165–6, 169–70, 198,
sub-orbital spacecraft 676, 680–1 359–65, 419–24, 428–9, 435,
sub-orbital trajectories 87, 669, 688 774–6
sub-orbital vehicles 78, 95, 97, 389, relevant 418, 424–5, 444, 494
650, 652, 675, 681 tele-education 492, 896
subcontractors 549, 638, 686, 694–5, tele-medicine 492, 896
923–4, 926, 928, 947 telecommunication operations 319, 489
subjects of public international law 127, telecommunications 297–8, 475,
130, 1014, 1030 481–2, 798, 800, 843, 845, 866
subsidiarity 242–3, 256–7 commercialization 843–4
substantial investment 250, 862, 955, purposes 109, 470, 485
972 satellites 516, 893, 899
subsurface 102, 775, 783, 802 services 247–8, 286, 296, 465, 472,
sui generis database protection 250, 800, 845–7, 851
955, 965, 972 basic 845–6, 848–50
superpowers 2–3, 35, 39, 45, 506 telemetry 219, 457, 859, 882, 958
supervision 131, 133, 161, 163, 180–2, terrestrial infrastructures 286, 292
188, 190, 320–2 territorial integrity 47, 76
continuing 131, 133, 138 territorial jurisdiction 56, 69, 77, 134,
suppliers 513, 543–4, 549, 552, 851, 152, 416, 633
923, 926, 928 territorial sea 75–6, 413
data 513, 543, 549–51 territorial sovereignty 805
supply, cross-border 833, 847–8 territorial waters 33, 69, 77, 673
support military operations 333, 381 territoriality 951–2, 981, 991
surveillance 333, 340, 914 territory 77–9, 81–3, 200, 355–6,
suspension 18, 304, 430, 445, 533–4, 401–2, 515–17, 522–3, 825–6
538 national 33–4, 401, 409, 413, 415
sustainability 23, 406, 757, 761–2, 767 Thales Alenia Space 433

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Index 1097

third parties 158–9, 524–5, 549–52, sub-orbital 87, 669, 688

583, 591–3, 614–15, 913, 924–8 trajectory data 414–15
third-party damage 167, 593, 606, 927 transactional costs 879–80, 888
third-party liability 170, 235, 262, 591, transactions 639, 874–5, 879, 881–2,
614, 616, 910–12, 914 885, 887–92, 898, 900
claims 684 transfer 192–8, 361–2, 364–5, 373,
international 229, 231–2, 702 640–1, 882, 895–6, 935
third-party liability insurance of ownership 180, 639
available insurance 924–30 of satellites 881, 889
contractual issues 924 of technology, mandatory 102, 786,
and contractual practices 921–3
796
France 922–3
transferees 686, 922
United States 922
insurance for space operators 925–6 transit 75, 78, 337, 374, 415, 422, 638,
international law 912–14 987
and launch licensing regimes 916–18 transition 78, 178, 283, 319, 326–7,
legal environment 912–24 369, 415, 432
national laws 914 transparency 24, 47, 364–5, 372, 426–8,
and product liability 919–20 542, 841, 845
space 925–6 transponders 303, 874–5, 882–3, 893
triggering 926–8 transport conventions 592, 617
and US launch licensing regime transport sectors 277–8, 577, 613, 615
916–18 transportation 188, 557–8, 668, 672,
third-party satellites 929 674, 676, 870, 922
threats 15, 350–1, 353–4, 378–9, 412, treaty interpretation 335, 404
534, 536, 717–18 treaty negotiations 585
perceived 345, 447 treaty obligations 309, 998
tickets 400, 663, 687, 871 Treaty of Lisbon 22, 255–7
title reservation agreement 890 Treaty on European Union 561, 595
Tokyo Convention 677 Treaty on Intellectual Property 861
Tongasat 485–7, 492 Treaty on Principles Governing the
tort 515, 580, 588, 590, 592, 595, 610, Activities of States in the
616 Exploration and Use of Outer
total loss 721, 934–6, 941 Space 5, 521, 997
constructive 934–6, 941 tribunals 53, 590, 692, 1009–10, 1023,
tour operators 400–1 1025, 1030, 1037–8
tourism see space tourism Tripartite Agreement 259–60
trade 370–1, 417–18, 443, 816–18, 822, TRIPS Agreement 819, 830, 860–2, 952
824–5, 827–8, 870–1 Turkey 64
trade agreements 841
multilateral 819–20, 822 UCC (Uniform Commercial Code)
trade barriers 423, 815, 827, 832 882–6, 889
trade liberalization 122–3, 276, 288, Ukraine 117–18, 148–9, 190, 444–5,
815–16, 827–9, 857, 870 448–9, 451, 454, 839–41
trademarks 635, 962, 973 bilateral launch relations with United
traffic rights 871 States 446–8
trajectories 87, 342, 668, 674, 679, 689 Law on Space Activities 149
orbital 162, 668, 712 National Space Agency 148

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1098 Handbook of space law

Ukraine on Space Activities 148 Convention on the Law of the Sea

ultra-hazardous activities 89, 732, 764 (UNCLOS) 77, 103, 784–6, 788,
UN see United Nations 792–5, 797, 1025, 1029
uncertainty, legal 637, 879–80 COPOUS see COPUOS
UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 1033–4 General Assembly see General
UNCITRAL Rules on Arbitration Assembly
1037–8 Institute for Disarmament Research
UNCLOS see United Nations (UNIDIR) 759
Convention on the Law of the Sea new majority and space law 9–10
UNCOPUOS (UN Committee on the OOSA (Office for Outer Space
Affairs) 37, 105, 737
Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) 12,
Principles on Direct Television
25, 129, 186, 384, 762
Broadcasting by Satellite 493–8
and environmental aspects of space regime on direct broadcasting by
activities 742–9 satellite 493–9
Understanding on Rules and Procedures Remote Sensing Principles 504,
Governing 819 517–25, 542–3, 857, 859, 958–9,
unenhanced data 504, 528, 530 966, 995
Unicom Satellite Corporation 487 Secretary-General 95, 97–8, 737–8,
UNIDIR (UN Institute for Disarmament 741, 1002, 1026, 1034, 1036–8
Research) 759 Security Council 315, 340, 354
UNIDROIT (International Institute for and space law 10–14
the Unification of Private Law) space treaties 49–105, 334–5, 342–3,
124, 280–1, 614, 887, 991 407, 583–4, 726, 765–6, 1041
Convention on International Interests and Cape Town Convention 902–7
in Mobile Equipment 887–909 environmental 725
see also Cape Town Convention environmental aspects 725–41
GNSS Convention, feasibility and ESA 223–5
614–15 and remote sensing 514–17
Space Assets Protocol 26, 279, 493, United Space Alliance 387
714, 887–909 United States 13–16, 139–44, 362–4,
see also Cape Town Convention 382–5, 387–90, 431–3, 443–5,
Uniform Commercial Code see UCC 448–50
UNISPACE III 989, 992 Air Force see USAF
unitary patent protection 984 bilateral launch relations with China
United Kingdom 151, 154–6, 205, 208, 444–6
322, 325–7, 389, 625 bilateral launch relations with Europe
Outer Space Act 155–6, 178 448–51
Space Agency 925 bilateral launch relations with Russia
United Launch Alliance 387 446–8
United Nations 6–11, 18, 273–5, 492–4, bilateral launch relations with
997, 999, 1002, 1013–15 Ukraine 446–8
Charter 47, 100, 186, 315, 332, Commercial Space Launch Act 160,
338–40, 345, 350–5 439, 640, 687, 914–18, 925–6
and military uses of outer space companies 222, 439, 449, 489, 842,
350–4 869
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of courts 489, 555, 685, 886–7
Outer Space see UNCOPUOS Department of State 366–7, 529

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Index 1099

Department of Transportation 142, users 508–9, 511–12, 539–40, 544–7,

571, 574 549–54, 638–9, 959–60, 967–71
export controls 424–5, 429–36, 687 private 512, 546, 592, 645
fly US policy 437–41 USML (United States Munitions List)
government 142, 366–9, 385–8, 366–9, 424, 431
528–30, 683–4, 690–1, 774, 856 USTR (United States Trade
International Traffic in Arms Representative) 445, 449, 451
Regulations 125 utilization 10, 62, 331, 442, 501, 512,
and military uses of outer space 660, 788–90
366–9 commercial 638–40
jurisdiction 528, 686 rights 639–40
launch industry 386, 439, 447
launch licensing regime and validity 28, 274, 339, 594, 921
third-party liability insurance value-added products 504, 549, 857–8,
916–18 962
law 527, 598, 708, 715, 976, 986, 993 value-adding 512, 961–2
Munitions List see USML vehicles 64–5, 437–8, 609, 611–12,
Patent Act 982, 987, 992 651–2, 670–1, 687, 694–5
Patents in Space Act 982–3 see also space vehicles
private sub-orbital spaceflight land 974, 981–2
682–96 reentry 388, 669
product liability 919–20 single-stage-to-space 665, 869
remote sensing 527–31 velocities 77, 459
satellite manufacturers 368, 394, 430, escape 672
432, 434, 436 orbital 65, 67, 665
satellites 394, 431–2, 436, 445 Venezuela 304–5, 307
export 430, 446 verification 16, 121, 189, 347, 504–5,
secured transactions under Art 9 of 520, 862
the Uniform Commercial Code vertical departure/take-off 86, 664, 679
882–7 vertical integration 962
states 71, 692, 695–6, 882, 884–5 victims of damage 52, 732, 734, 1007
territory 387, 683–4, 686, 987 Vienna Conference on the Exploration
third-party liability insurance and and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
contractual practices 922 9
Trade Representative see USTR Vienna Convention on Road Traffic 612
Universal Copyright Convention 952 Vienna Convention on the Law of
universality 27, 380 Treaties 335, 905, 999–1000,
unlimited liability 84, 585, 915 1002–3
UOP (User Operations Panel) 641 Virgin Galactic 400, 649, 651, 664, 678,
uplink 475, 477 688, 868
Upload Stations 566 Virginia 71, 393, 692–4
Uruguay Round 816, 820 voice telephony 851, 867
USAF (US Air Force) 385 von Kármán Line 65, 69
usefulness 507, 510, 553, 976, 980 voting 12, 286, 292
user communities 512, 555, 592
user elements 639–40, 656 WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation
User Operations Panel (UOP) 641 System) 573–4

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1100 Handbook of space law

waivers Wellington Convention 805–8

explicit 692, 1036 as example for extraterrestrial mining
of immunity 1042 regime 808–9
of liability 115, 692 Wide Area Augmentation System
of recourse 593, 916, 921–3, 929–30 (WAAS) 573–4
of subrogation rights 921, 924 wilful misconduct 638, 923, 931, 936
WARCs (World Administrative Radio WIPO (World Intellectual Property
Conferences) 464, 467, 473, 477, Organization) 276–7, 974, 984,
481–2 991
Warehouse and Distribution Agreement Copyright Treaty 952, 958–9, 963–4,
(WDA) 367 973
warning and instructions defects 920 World Administrative Radio
warranties 590, 863, 919 Conferences see WARCs
Warsaw Convention 606 World Intellectual Property
Wassenaar Arrangement 125, 375, 414, Organization see WIPO
420–3, 429, 433, 895 World Radio Conferences see WRCs
and military uses of outer space World Trade Organization see WTO
363–6 World-Wide Radio-Navigation System
WDA (Warehouse and Distribution 608
Agreement) 367 WRCs (World Radio Conferences)
weaponization of outer space 333, 463–4, 467–8, 473, 482
377–9 WTO (World Trade Organization) 276,
weapons 14–15, 333, 335–8, 341–5, 488, 491, 817–18, 820–4, 835–6,
359–60, 377–9, 419, 654 838, 850
anti-satellite 18, 337–8, 341, 344, Agreement 818–21, 823, 841, 871
346–7, 358, 721, 940 dispute settlement procedures
conventional 337–8, 369, 381 822–4
of mass destruction 3, 14–15, 335–8, dispute settlement regime 823–4
342–3, 348, 417, 419, 427 institutional aspects 821–2
nuclear see nuclear weapons member states 816, 820, 828, 832,
weather data 236–7, 333 845–6, 860
weather forecasting 127, 505, 507
weather satellites 440, 507 X-Prize contest 663, 665, 687–8

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