United Nations COPUOS/LEGAL/T.680

Committee on the Peaceful Unedited transcriptUses of Outer SpaceLegal Subcommittee

680th MeetingThursday, 27 March 2003, 10 a.m.Vienna

Chairman: Mr. Kopal (Czech Republic)

The meeting was called to order at 10.20 a.m.

The CHAIRMAN: Good morning distinguished delegates, I now declare open the 680 th

meeting of the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

This morning, we will continue our consideration of agenda item 5, Information on the Activities of International Organizations Relating to Space Law, and agenda item 6, the Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space, and the Character and Utilization of the Geostationary Orbit.

I would also like to make a change to the schedule that was announced yesterday evening. The first meeting of the Working Group on Item 6(a), Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space, will not be held this morning. Instead, the Working Group’s first meeting will be held this afternoon. This change performed upon the recommendation of the Chairman of the Working Group.

Following this, the Working Group on Item 4 will hold its fifth meeting.

Information on the activities of international organizations relating to space law (agenda item 5)

Distinguished delegates, I would now like to continue consideration of item 5 of our agenda, Information on the Activities of International Organizations Relating to Space Law.

The first speaker on my list of speakers, and so far the only one, is the distinguished representative of Ukraine, Ms. Malysheva has the floor.

Ms. N. MALYSHEVA (Ukraine) (interpretation from Russian): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates. This is the third time in a row that we report to sessions of the Legal Subcommittee on the activities of the International Centre for Space Law which is one of the youngest recently created international organizations in the area of space law and the only specialized organization of this kind that exists in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

I would like to remind the distinguished delegates here that the Centre was set up in 1998 in the City of Kiev on the initiative of two space agencies of the Russian Federation and of Ukraine and enjoyed the support of two Academies of Sciences, Russian and Ukrainian. The four organizations signed an appropriate agreement at the time. The fact that the Centre was set up by these major Academies of Science of the Russian Federation and Ukraine and two important space agencies of the two countries became a decisive factor in defining the themes for scientific research and practical work to be carried out by the Centre. As a research organization and that as the official status of the Centre as it is registered in our country, it performs various types of work. It coordinates scientific research in the sphere of international and national space law, it trains personnel, it prepares and publishes research papers, reference books, carries out scientific and practical workshops, colloquia and symposia on various issues

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In its resolution 50/27 of 6 December 1995, the General Assembly endorsed the recommendation of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that, beginning with its thirty-ninth session, the Committee would be provided with unedited transcripts in lieu of verbatim records. This record contains the texts of speeches delivered in English and interpretations of speeches delivered in the other languages as transcribed from taped recordings. The transcripts have not been edited or revised.

Corrections should be submitted to original speeches only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned, within one week of the date of publication, to the Chief, Translation and Editorial Service, Room D0708, United Nations Office at Vienna, P.O. Box 500, A-1400, Vienna, Austria. Corrections will be issued in a consolidated corrigendum.

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relating to space law. Also it promotes awareness and knowledge of outer space law.

Every year, the Centre approves a new research programme. At present, we are working on the legal environmental aspects of space activities. This work will result, next year, in the publication of a joint monograph on these issues. The Centre has a post-graduate department which trains its own experts and it is my pleasure to report here that in the period since the last meeting of the Subcommittee, another thesis was approved and certified at the Centre. It dealt with the legal regulation of the world market in space services. Two additional theses have been prepared.

In terms of our publishing activities in the past year, we have been involved in preparing the publication of collected outer space legislation of all countries of the world. It is going to be published into two languages, Russian and English. Last year we published the first volume of this collection which included the national laws of 14 countries pertaining to States provision of outer space activities, such as licensing, registration, certification, State control and some other areas.

This year we published a second volume of those collected works. This one dealing with inter-State cooperation in the area of outer space activities. Of course, we could not encompass all the various existing entities in the world in this area. We dwelt on some of them, the Commonwealth of Independent States, European Union, Council of Europe and the European Space Agency. I would like to emphasize that most of the documents for the Commonwealth of Independent States were published in English for the first time ever. Likewise, most of the documents pertaining to the European Union, ESA and the Council of Europe were published in Russian for the first time. Each new section of the book is appended with analytical commentary in Russian. Furthermore, the second volume contains addenda to the first volume, additional national legal instruments of 10 countries in the area of space activities that have not been included in volume one. We plan to continue this work in the near future and we are going to make it even more sophisticated. The subsequent volumes of the collected works are going to include not the so-called purely outer space legal instruments but national laws and legislation that is applied in the sphere of space activities. That would include environmental laws, customs rules, laws on liability, insurance and some other areas.

The Centre is also involved in publishing reference books in the sphere of outer space law in the Ukrainian language for domestic consumption.

The work of the Centre is based on two major components, scientific and practical. And in that context, I would like to briefly inform the Legal Subcommittee on the activities of our Centre in the practical sphere, how it applies outer space law and helps develop it.

This past year we approved a plan for the legal support of bilateral cooperation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in the area of outer space activities. Under that plan, under the auspices of the Centre, a number of intergovernmental agreements will be prepared for the two countries, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, as applied to outer space activities.

The Centre also helps write draft laws for domestic purposes upon instructions of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. Last year, the Centre was involved in preparing rules for mandatory insurance in outer space activities, to quote but one important example.

Another important part of the work of the International Centre for Space Law is scientific and legal appraisal of various instruments. We provide that service, apply our expertise and publish analyses with regard to various commercial outer space contracts or various conflict situations that arise in terms of outer space activities where the domestic legislation of different countries, more than one country, needs to be applied. We do this kind of work about 10 times a year, as requested, and oftentimes, we have to analyze legal instruments, not only on the basis of the domestic legislation of Ukraine or Russia, but also the legal instruments enacted by third countries that are partners to Ukraine or Russia in space projects or programmes. The users of these appraisal studies are State bodies governing space activities, private companies and insurance companies involved in outer space activities.

At present, I would be justified in saying that the International Centre for Space Law has become an effective instrument to promote development within the Commonwealth of Independent States and on a broader international scale among spacefaring nations. Within the framework of the Centre, a highly effective working structure has emerged. The staff is small, only 14 individuals, half of whom are highly qualified scientists with doctorate degrees and masters degrees. The Centre is trying to establish creative and scientific ties with various other national and international organizations involved in the sphere of space law. We

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have become a member in many of these international organizations. We share information with them and participate in jointly organized conferences and symposia.

And one final aspect of what we do is training and education in the domain of space law. I have already mentioned the fact that the Centre is preparing experts for domestic purposes on the basis of a post-graduate department we operate. Last year, we also opened a department of space law, under the auspices of the Centre, at the Kiev International University for Civil Aviation. The Centre runs all the work and provides faculty for that department.

The head of the Ukrainian delegation speaking here has already suggested that the International Centre for Space Law be appointed Regional Centre on Education in Outer Space Law.

If other countries of our region, Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and maybe other regions as well, show an interest in joining such a Regional Centre, we would be prepared to look at great detail at the possible organizational structure and guidelines for its operation. Even now we are prepared to welcome creative young people, young scientists who are wishing to develop a thesis at our post-graduate department on outer space law.

This current session of the Legal Subcommittee shows that interest is growing among States in a codification of international space law through the development of a comprehensive universal convention. This idea has its advocates and its opponents and some States are yet to define their position. This has to do with the lack of a scientific concept underlying the idea of such a convention. We are prepared to consider using our Centre to set up an ad hoc creative or research team with a view to developing such a concept as a doctrine to underline the codification of outer space law.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate our wish and readiness to continue developing creative cooperation with national and international organizations working in the sphere of outer space law. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN (interpretation from Russian): Thank you Professor Malysheva for your statement under agenda item 5 and for the information you have provided to the Legal Subcommittee on the activities of the International Centre for Space Law in Kiev. Thank you again.

(Continued in English) Ladies and gentlemen, are there any other delegations? Yes, I recognize Professor Monserrat Filho who will speak on behalf of Brazil.

Mr. J. MONSERRAT FILHO (Brazil): Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to use this opportunity to congratulate the people and the institutions responsible for the great success of the Symposium on Capacity-Building on Space Law held in The Hague in November last year. I had the privilege to participate in this event and I testified the high level of this Symposium. It was indeed an excellent example of a productive, updated, useful and well-organized meeting.

I would like to congratulate in particular the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the Government of the Netherlands and especially Professor Frans von der Dunk for the quality of The Hague Symposium.

I am sure that the second symposium in the Republic of Korea later this year would follow the same way.

We, in Brazil, will make our best efforts to be present in Korea as well and give our contribution to the success of this second symposium. And we strongly hope that the third symposium will be held in Latin America and we are ready to study this possibility, together with other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much Professor Monserrat for your statement on behalf of the delegation of Brazil concerning the activities of international organizations and including also a proposal or suggestion to consider holding the Third Workshop on Capacity-Building in Space Law in a Latin American country.

Ladies and gentlemen, is there any other delegation wishing to speak now? I recognize the distinguished Ambassador of Chile.

Mr. R. GONZÁLEZ ANINAT (Chile) (interpretation from Spanish): Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. My delegation would like to make a brief statement on item 5 of the agenda. We think it is an extraordinary relevant topic and we have noted that the documents circulated by the Secretariat, there is an indication of a great deal of activity and I am referring

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to document L.239 which keeps us abreast of current events in this area.

I would like to present two situations that have arisen. One goes back a year or more. In Chile, there is an agency called the Chilean Space Agency. It was created with a logical structure in place and it was founded based on the model of the United Nations space community. There were two subsidiary bodies beneath it. One to focus on the scientific and technical recommendations and trying to adapt them then to our reality in Chile. And the other one which looks at legal issues and we have even had a representative from Chile from that meeting to this meeting and then we, as I said, look at the issues and attempt to turn that into relevant legislation that is in keeping with the recommendations here in a given subject area.

Thus, what we wish to do now is to express our most explicit and clear support to the Legal Subcommittee specifically on this item of the agenda that we are currently discussing.

Secondly, Mr. Chairman, we have in front of us L.239 and I get the impression that, at this session specifically, we have had a perfect opportunity to get information from other centres, such as the University of Mississippi. Maybe what we need to do is include the McGill University’s activities, I do not see any details on that here. I think it might be helpful to establish a sort of commitment whereby all universities in the world, in The Hague and elsewhere, that work in this area, all these universities, located in different parts of the world, particularly in developed countries, might want to disseminate information, more information about what is going on, so that we in the Legal Subcommittee can be aware of what is happening but also so that we can be aware of the new standards in international law being drafted both at the theoretical level and at the practical level, which are very important for our discussions here. For example, here I see there is no indication about the University of McGill which has an aeronautical space programme, and at one point in time, every year, they produced a very significant and rather large document. The first part was on aeronautical legislation and the second part on base activities, the second part was on international space law. And I think it would be useful for at least the library of the Office for Outer Space Affairs have a copy of this kind of report for reference purposes. And I think it would be helpful if we could be informed as to whether or not this can take place as quickly as possible because the more information we have on this subject, the more legal conceptual meat we can give to the legal principles for space and international space law.

So those are some of the comments I had on this item although, of course, we do very much support the work being done in the Working Group presided over by the distinguished delegate of Greece. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much distinguished Ambassador for Chile for your comments on item 5, particularly on the document L.239 including some interesting and important suggestions.

Ladies and gentlemen, are there any other speakers who might wish to speak on item 5 at this session of the Subcommittee? I see none.

We have no longer any representatives of States Members of the Subcommittee. Greece still wants to speak? I have not seen you.

Mr. V. CASSAPOGLOU (Greece) (interpretation from French): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good morning to all. I do not know if this is the appropriate time to do this but I would like to present the report of the Government Experts Working Group on the type of space activities that have been the subject of COMEST recommendations. Last year we had approved the idea of presenting them in the context of this item on the agenda. So if you wish me to make the report immediately, I would be happy to do so or I can, of course, wait for the interventions from our observer colleagues.

The CHAIRMAN (interpretation from French): As you wish Sir.

Mr. V. CASSAPOGLOU (Greece) (interpretation from French): If you wish to proceed I would be happy to go ahead with the report.

So, Mr. Chairman, as you will recall, last year we had decided to establish a small group of government experts. These experts were designated by their governments in order to draft a report of comments on the substance of recommendations issued by COMEST and the World Commission on Science and Technology, UNESCO, presented two years ago here in this very room.

Unfortunately, the Experts Group is not made up of all representatives. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding with regard to how countries would be represented. In other words, we had not asked the respective governments to appoint experts that would be philosophers or whatever but rather specialists in space activities. And this small group had very few

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participants, notwithstanding the fact it did work over the course of the year in order to collect contributions from various government experts and from scientific organizations and specialized agencies. Unfortunately, we only received contributions from the European Space Law Centre and I should make a special reference to them and a special mention for its President, Mr. Lafferanderie, who really very much helped us with his ideas and remarks and so forth. His assistance helped us to draw our conclusions and so I would like to publicly thank him for his assistance and I am convinced that what I say reflects the feelings of the other members of the group with regard to the European Centre and its President.

Now we have before us official document A/AC.105/C.2/L.240. This document, according to a Secretariat note you have as an annex text, this is the report itself and has two chapters, Chapter I and Chapter II, which provides historical background on the matter. You also have our conclusions in Chapter II.

In this regard, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make first a remark on Chapter I of the document. For some fairly obvious reasons, there were some small flaws in the drafting of the text so I requested the Secretariat to replace these little mistakes and so I would like to ask, through you, if I may, that this text be replaced by the text in the document which was just distributed, which is A/AC.105/C.2/2003/CRP.8. Now in this text, you will find the authentic text of our report. Of course, the text is in English. I made a significant effort to draft it in English. Unfortunately, we did not have the time to translate it into the other official languages of the United Nations. However, I prefer proceeding in that manner, given the costs of re-drafting document L.240/Rev.1. So I would ask, through your kind intermediary, to all colleagues present here to have the willingness to take a look at document CRP.8. And I would also ask the interpreters in the booth, to whom I would also like to say hello, I would ask them to look at the text of CRP.8 and not to use document L.240.

Now, having provided you with those introductory remarks on the documents themselves, I just have a couple of words with regard to Part I and then on the substantive parts of the report, there are a couple of ideas that I would like to underscore for you.

First, I think I will switch to English, if I may, and I apologize, first and foremost, to all for any mistakes in grammar or syntax in my English. Of course, I have not had the good fortune of studying Shakespeare’s language.

(Continued in English) … COMEST recommendation is that they lead to a revival and rediscovery of the ethical principles of permanent value. The relevance in the conduct of any human action in any location and in this particular case for the conduct of human activities in the exploration and exploitation of outer space.

After that, we had some discussions about the definition of the ethics, its meaning and its relation with the law and it is generally accepted that any national policy, any human action has to be based on ethical considerations which afterwards are transformed into legal, mandatory, customary or written rules and that at their turn they will be influenced by the implementation of these legal rules. And we proceed in the kind of definitions saying that ethic is the preliminary must, [inaudible] in German, for the foundation of obligations and then transformation into lowering relations and also for a campaign on the development of new activities.

After this essay of the definition, we make an assessment on the existing situation saying that we dispose an important legal masterpieces of international law governing the outer space activities which are completed by the Declaration and the principles for the direct broadcasting, remote sensing and nuclear power sources and space benefits.

After these remarks, we say that it is unfortunate that the COMEST recommendations, there is a vacuum there, do not mention and analyze these notable facts. Of course, interrogating on the ethical content of these facts. I mean treaties as well as recommendation facts [inaudible], etc. Also it is inconvenient that COMEST does not demonstrate a sufficient knowledge of the current achievement of the Committee and its two Subcommittees. Concerning, for instance, the S & T (Scientific and Technical Subcommittee) studies regarding space debris, the use of nuclear power, the disaster management, etc., as well as the Legal Subcommittee’s outcome in relation to the definition of the concept of the launching State, the arrangements made on the delicate issue of the geostationary satellite orbit, the review of the status and application of the five United Nations treaties, and so on.

We then say that will COPUOS, which is established forty-six years ago by the United Nations General Assembly, was and still remains not only the founder of space law but also the work forum par excellence, for the promotion of international cooperation in the peaceful use of outer space. And

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afterwards we make reference to many ethical principles which are already transformed into binding legal rules in the main treaty and the other four treaties.

We assume that these entire provisions, complemented by those of additional specific agreements and also principles and declarations are providing an extraordinary network leading, encouraging to knowledge-sharing based on fundamental ethical principles. Some examples of them are particularly the issues of the environmental protection of the planet Earth, the question of the life and the work of astronauts in outer space, particularly on board the International Space Station and future settlements on the Moon and maybe on Mars. Certain new achievements which are calling for more in-depth ethical considerations for some specific activities coming from the commercialization and privatization of outer space activities and, of course, not the outer space, such as the protection of intellectual property rights acquired or using the outer space, the protection of astronomical observations, space tourism, etc. The better and cheaper access to and the use of scientific and environmental data, particularly no longer available are tied together with the access to technical tools and to adequate training.

The need of reinforcing the promotion of space law by various means, as, for example, international or regional symposia on complete themes, setting up of appropriate teaching methods in the schools and universities, etc., in view of the fact that a better understanding of space law, its raison d’être, etc., would facilitate the accession of States to the treaties on outer space.

And the final point we raised is the future of the United Nations COPUOS. The view was expressed that in the light of the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea may be opportune at the later stage to set up a kind of authority for outer space activities. But it was commented that the way should be long to reach this target if the international community, of course, considered this goal as a valid one. The role of the United Nations COPUOS should be reinforced not only as the guardian of the five United Nations treaties on outer space in force but also as the authority par excellence on space law in its meaning and its development. That requires an involved dialogue with all involved governmental and non-governmental actors, mainly the other pertinent U.S. specialized agencies and international bodies like UNESCO, ITU, WIPO, UNIDROIT, etc., as well as the private sector and the civil society.

Currently this dialogue is quite weak and should be strengthened. Meetings ad hoc and similar events on specific scientific, technical, legal, socio-economic and even cultural and humanitarian items could be a solid way of working. A very promising example is the annual Inter-Agency High-Level Meetings on Space Activities. The development and adequacy of the space law should certainly benefit from the pivotal role of the United Nations COPUOS.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Group of Government Experts recommends the continuation and improvement of close contacts between COPUOS and UNESCO in the preparation by the latter of documents on space activities and space law to be submitted in the next Autumn to its General Conference.

And last but not least, the Group of Experts expressed its gratitude personally to Gabriel Lafferanderie, President of the European Centre of Space Law, for his constant and invaluable scientific and intellectual contribution to success of its work without, of course, a meeting to make a special attribute for the very helpful support to the Office for Outer Space Affairs and especially to Madam Rodrigues and also the colleagues from the Division of the Ethics of Science and Technology of UNESCO and the Executive Secretariat of the European Centre of Space Law. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you distinguished representative of Greece for your thorough information on the report of the Group of Experts on the Ethics of Outer Space and on the activities of this particular group. As you may know, last year we promised to you that you will be given the opportunity to make such a statement during this year’s session of the Legal Subcommittee.

If I am permitted to do so, I would also like to say one particular comment. When speaking about principles and norms of space law, we also have some sources of this law. It means we know that some important principles are inserted in the United Nations space treaties in the United Nations sets of principles and also important principles and norms are included in other international instruments, particularly those which have been adopted by international specialized organizations.

On the other hand, it is difficult to find the sources of ethical principles and norms. We speak about them and we perhaps also analyze the content of such principles and we propose them to be implemented in legal principles and norms, as it is stated in this document, but where to find these sources

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and who creates, who establishes the principles and norms of ethics. This is, for me, rather unclear. Could you explain it?

Mr. V. CASSAPOGLOU (Greece) (interpretation from French): Thank you Mr. Chairman. I do appreciate your comment very much but let me say the following. In the text, we are not talking about some kind of ethic principles, we are talking about some very basic things. The source of inspiration, if you will, for the actors in outer space activities from the very beginning, even documents issued by the Ad Hoc Committee which pre-existed COPUOS within the United Nations. Even at that time, reference was made to certain rules, certain norms. It comes out of the depths of the history of international cooperation and these rules were later introduced in the form of resolutions, declarations and so forth. We are going to mark the fortieth anniversary this year of the beginning of all of that. But it started out spontaneously, if you will. It was in a very natural and spontaneous way that States gave birth to certain rules of conduct inspired by deeper, bigger principles that existed in the history of humanity. And in the history of the human race, consciousness grew over centuries and it transpired at the time that space activities began at the benefit of all space activities should be shared by all, by all humanity. I do not really know of a similar example of spontaneously emerging rules, consensus, as to the need to share benefits of man’s activity. I do not know if that applies to man’s activities on Earth but it certainly applies to man’s activities in outer space. And this is something, these are the type of principles that need to be upheld.

In the practical activities of spacefaring nations, situations arise every day that need to be addressed on the basis of these principles. Of course, we have the five treaties and the various addenda thereto but the implementation, the realization, the practical application, whatever word you care for, of these treaties has to be governed by ethical and humanitarian principles. That is my approach, dear colleague. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much distinguished representative of Greece. I have received an application of the observer for the European Space Agency, the European Centre for Space Law, Dr. Lafferanderie. Though he is an observer and not a delegate, so I believe that it would be wise to give him the opportunity to speak now because it certainly relates to the issue of the ethical principles and norms. Yes, you have the floor Sir.

Mr. G. LAFFERANDERIE (European Space Agency) (interpretation from French): Thank you very much Mr. Chairman for making this exception and giving me the floor at the present time. Having heard the comments made here by the previous speaker and the various distinguished representatives of governments present in this room, I have asked to speak for two reasons. First to thank Professor Vassilios Cassapoglou for having had the kindness to mention my name and the role of the European Centre for Space Law specifically, in the context of reflections that have been discussed here today, the work that has been submitted to this Subcommittee. I think my colleague is too kind, too generous. I really do not know what to say. I do appreciate his comments but I do not think, Mr. Chairman, that the work I have done really merits or warrants such compliments. I have only done my job. I feel strongly about these things. I do not think I deserve any special thanks from delegations or from the Subcommittee for having done something that is absolutely normal to me to try and help this work in any way I can. I do that as an individual, a human being you might say who cannot do otherwise. If I can in any way contribute ideas or improve on the wisdom that has been accumulated in this sphere, it is just the most natural thing for me to do. And it is not just myself, anybody would have done the same kind of work, given the opportunity, and, of course, I am very grateful to Mr. Cassapoglou for his words but I do not think official thanks are warranted in this situation. I do not think we should go that far.

Also, since I have the floor, Mr. Chairman, I would like to supplement what has already been said with regard to this Working Group on Ethics to try and clarify the conditions under which we conducted our work and maybe add a couple of reflections on the outcome.

First of all, I would like to recall and to draw your attention to the appendix to document L.240. It is on the Appendix that we should be focusing. These are recommendations of this Working Group established by COMEST on the ethics of outer space. This was signed, approved by Professor Alain Pompidou on 22 July of last year and this is a truly important document. It is on the basis of this document that we are going to proceed.

This document was produced by this Working Group of COMEST. I almost said COMEX but that is a different organization altogether. This was produced by COMEST which is a World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology established by UNESCO and I would like to urge you

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to start reading these recommendations, if you have not done so already. Before you read the actual report of the Group of Experts, start with the Appendix.

I also wanted to draw your attention to another additional document, which I do not have in front of me unfortunately which contains the reflections of various experts that have contributed to this work who have submitted their personal views and their research to the Group of Experts for the benefit of the Legal Subcommittee of COPUOS. And if you read that document, you will find answers to a great number of your questions and the questions that you have just formulated yourself, Mr. Chairman, namely where are those norms and principles? Who worked out those ethical norms and principles? Where are the sources of the ethical law, if I may call it that, that should govern outer space activities? Let me say, Mr. Chairman, with all respect and all admiration that I have for you and your wisdom, there are no such sources. Ethics has existed since activity, since time immemorial, forever, on this Earth. There is no specific compendium of ethical norms or principles. There is no ethical law. You will find ethics in every legal instrument, national or international, at least I hope you will find ethics in all of them. That should be the case.

And beyond legal instruments, you will find ethical norms and principles in the big international charters, such as the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other texts like that, be it text generated by the United Nations or various specialized agencies, you will find a reflection of ethical norms and principles in all of those and this document contains some of the considerations, some of the reflections submitted by experts on this subject.

Mr. Chairman, we did not want to confine ourselves in our report to a very specific appeal on very precisely defined ethical principles. Obviously we rely on the competence of UNESCO and COMEST. We start to refer to COMEST but I will refer to UNESCO at large. COMEST has its mandate from UNESCO. It is a group established by UNESCO and that reports to the Director-General of UNESCO. I regret that there is no representative of UNESCO here today who could substantiate my words but, Mr. Chairman, it is to UNESCO that the recommendations signed by Professor Alain Pompidou, which is the Appendix to this document L.240, were sent to the UNESCO Director-General and it is UNESCO that holds the supreme competence in the field of ethics, not only with regard to outer space activities but other types, other areas, all areas of human endeavour, in fact, in whatever sphere they might occur.

We would be happy, Mr. Chairman, to respond to any questions. We would not want to go beyond our mandate, which is a UNESCO mandate, but you must be aware, Mr. Chairman, that the mandate that we were given was to work closely with COMEST and UNESCO itself. And I think we are happy to report today that this work conducted in close cooperation by a Group of Experts with close links to COMEST and UNESCO has been reasonably successful. We have had a number of working meetings, attended by representatives of UNESCO. I think there is total understanding among us and I think UNESCO is in a position to truly benefit from this work and as soon as a UNESCO representative comes here, he will surely confirm what I have just said.

Mr. Chairman, we do not want to proceed along parallel tracks or start a parallel procedure, as it were, but I do hope that if there are parallel tracks, what you are doing here at COPUOS and what UNESCO is doing within its own context, will, as soon as possible, converge and flow into each other and reinforce each other. A General Conference of UNESCO is going in the near future to discuss matters of ethics. The agenda of the next conference has an item that is entitled “Ethics and Human Beings”. And there is another item specifically “Ethics and Outer Space Activities”. The General Conference of UNESCO will study this report, submitted by COMEST and by the Director-General of UNESCO. It will be on the table of the General Conference of UNESCO, available, accessible to all the delegates and I am not in a position to say what the UNESCO General Conference will make of these recommendations or how it will act upon them but they will be on the table of this General Conference that will take place in autumn of this year.

But, as far as we are concerned, Mr. Chairman, the important point is that everything we have done, every step of the way has been done with close cooperation and in close interaction with COMEST and with UNESCO at large and if a similar process happens here, running parallel to what we do, but towards the same objective, then, of course, there should be synergy. The competence of the two organizations should be combined and the wisdom should be combined. It is not COMEST, it is not UNESCO who is responsibility for State law, it is you, Mr. Chairman, it is COPUOS, it is within the mandate of COPUOS. So the recommendations of the COMEST Group of Experts on Ethics can be very helpful to you in your work, especially once they are endorsed by the UNESCO Director-General and hopefully the General Conference of UNESCO because everything that is done with regard to space

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law lies solely and exclusively within the competence of COPUOS and we are aware of that.

And there are certain things pursued by this Working Group that truly touch on things that go beyond its competence that fall within the domain of your competence, COPUOS, this Legal Subcommittee, and it is up to you, Mr. Chairman, to be the guardian of the competence, the mandate and the scope covered by the work of your entity here and UNESCO should be receiving all information from you with regard to developments in outer space law and in turn provide feedback to the extent of our ability.

This, Mr. Chairman, is what I wanted to say essentially in addition to the report made here by Mr. Vassilios Cassapoglou. Again, please, if you have not already done so, look at the recommendations dated 22 July 2002, then read the report, work is well underway. There will be a follow-up to these recommendations. We have done our best within our mandate, within the competence of UNESCO. We have done our best also to respect the competence of COPUOS. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN (interpretation from French): Thank you distinguished observer for the European Centre for Space Law. Thank you for your intervention and the explanation you have provided on the document prepared by the Group of Experts on the Ethics of Outer Space and some of the points touched upon in the course of our discussion here. I particularly appreciate your respect for the competence of this Committee, the United Nations Committee on Outer Space and its Legal Subcommittee.

(Continue in English) The next speaker on the list of speakers from among the delegations, it means to the distinguished Ambassador of Colombia.

Mr. C. ARÉVALO YEPES (Colombia) (interpretation from French): Thank you Mr. Chairman. I am going to try and speak in French because the speaker who preceded me speaks French and it is on the subject that is very dear to my heart, the matter of ethics. I would like to start by saying that the attitude presented here by Mr. Lafferanderie is truly an ethical attitude. I think this is a position that provides proof of the great sense of responsibility one talks about the work accomplished by the Group of Experts on Ethics.

I also wanted to thank Mr. Vassilios Cassapoglou for his very comprehensive and very wise comments. I think this is truly essential for our Subcommittee.

Mr. Lafferanderie mentioned the fact that ethics pre-dates law. It is right. But also there is no law without ethics. There is no law without ethics. It is very important to be aware of that and it is the responsibility of this Subcommittee to proceed on that basis, on the basis of an ethical underpinning of any law and I will conclude my statement in Spanish.

(Continued in Spanish) Just to use Spanish with regard to the first two speakers who took the floor before me and in doing so, I would like to emphasize the importance of UNESCO and COPUOS. I think that it is vital that they work together. UNESCO is, no doubt, the body which looks at the issue as a whole and an overarching manner, but here in COPUOS is where there is jurisdiction and competence to look at the issue of ethics in space. Once again, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and say that I think this is a vital part of the work done here in this Subcommittee. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you distinguished Ambassador for Colombia for your contribution to our discussion. The next speaker on my list is the distinguished representative of Greece.

Mr. V. CASSAPOGLOU (Greece) (interpretation from French): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have an editorial comment with regard to the first part of our report, paragraph 12. I have here before me both the English and the French texts and there is a correction to be made. I think it is an important correction. I am going to read in English.

(Continued in English) The document and title, before the word “document” please put “the COMEST document” just to clarify for what document we speak of. And in the second line, after the third word “its final version”, delete the rest of the line and the first seven words of the third line until the word “was” in order that the text be as follows.

“In the COMEST document entitled “Recommendations on the Ethics of Outer Space in its final version was signed by Alain Pompidou …”, etc. This is the correction I would like to make in the English text.

(Continued in French) And in the French document, the same thing. In the second line, starting with the word “dans”, strike the rest of the line up to the last word of the third line and instead the text should read “the COMEST document entitled “Recommendations …”, etc., “was published after being signed by Professor Alain Pompidou”. So that

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should be inserted. “… was published after being signed by Alain Pompidou”.

Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. This was my editorial comment with regard to this document.

Now, as regards the discussion that has taken place here, I would like to associate myself with the comments made by my friend and colleague, the Ambassador of Columbia, in regard to the ethical attitude, the ethical position of our friend and our colleague, Mr. Lafferanderie, and his modesty. I have to say he is one of the pioneers of international outer space law in Europe and he has made a tremendous contribution, not only using his scientific knowledge but also his humanism, his humanitarian principles, he is a humanist, first and foremost.

That is the remark concerning the modesty of my colleague and friend, Mr. Lafferanderie.

As regards the role that this Subcommittee and this Committee should undertake in the weeks to come in connection with the coming General Conference of UNESCO which is its supreme body, here again, I associate myself with the comments of my friend, the Ambassador of Colombia. We have a lot of work to do for the following reasons, both for the Subcommittee and for the plenary at a world level in fora which perhaps are not aware of our activities and not to be too self-centred the activities of the Committee for the last forty-six years. And thus, we can then contribute to the creation of resolutions and recommendations for the subject of ethics in space for UNESCO. So we need to enthusiastically prepare for this and make every effort to prepare for it before the General Conference of UNESCO in September. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN (interpretation from French): Thank you distinguished representative of Greece for your contribution and the explanations of the text of document 240. You also touched upon a number of issues of substance.

(Continued in English) The next speaker on my list is the distinguished Ambassador of Chile.

Mr. R. GONZÁLEZ ANINAT (Chile) (interpretation from Spanish): Thank you Mr. Chairman. First and foremost, I have an observation with regard to procedure. My delegation is actually rather surprised at the lack of enthusiasm and participation demonstrated by delegations, given the importance and relevance of this subject. Perhaps it is

just a technique in negotiations that promotes introversion. It is, however, a key issue. That was clearly indicated by the distinguished Ambassador of Colombia and he also demonstrated his bilingual capacity. He speaks French as well as he does English. But more important than his linguistic abilities, he underscored some important issues in keeping with the efforts made by my friend and distinguished delegate, the representative of Greece, and Mr. Lafferanderie said, they all pointed to the importance of this issue and the distinguished delegate of Colombia used a sentence with which I fully agree in that ethics precedes law.

And if I may, I would add one more element to that concept. Ethics also precedes science and to the extent that science is sky-rocketing forward, there are some areas that are enabled rights and thus States cannot renounce them, concepts that are fundamental. And thus, we need to clearly adapt within these principles to positions taken by private law in keeping with commercialization and privatization of space law and the changes we have seen related thereto and this saga must be in benefit of States and not to their detriment. We all know that technology is a double-edge sword. It has both positive and negative sides and the dual use of technology is space is clearly known to all of us. But we need to do this within an ethical framework otherwise we run the risk of developing legislation which is not adapted to this kind of consideration.

I would also, if I may, add the correlation that there are some general principles in international relations which are applicable to space law and this is not just my imagination but these are enshrined in the space treaties which says that this should be applied, taking into account the United Nations Charter and international law. And, not only, as I said, does it reference international law, it includes the Charter of the United Nations. So in that context, the illusion to the United Nations Charter no doubt includes in Article 38, the International Charter of Justice, in subparagraph (c), it says that the general principles of law, acknowledged by civilized nations. Now, in parentheses, this was the subject of a lot of debate at the time of drafting. What is meant by “civilized nations”? That is a useful subject. Are there some nations that are more civilized than others? From my delegation’s point of view, no. All nations are equally civilized. So then it is an issue of access to available technology in order to acquire more knowledge to increase the socio-economic development of a given nation. But clearly there is pre-judgement in terms of value that we do not share here. We have to bear in mind the fact that the International Court of Justice is

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enshrined in this Charter and was the fruit of negotiations so that this text would be included in the Charter and it was clearly imposed by the great powers of the time. It was a rather special situation at that time.

Now this is a subject which should be taken into account but moreover, with regard to what we are discussing right now, ethics, ethics need to be adapted to a scientific situation and the reality of all nations but it also goes beyond that. Ethics are a compass for us to guide ourselves by and this is clearly indicated in subparagraph 2 of Article 38 which says that this does not limit options to settle a [inaudible] bono dispute, Article 38. So based on this, a court or a judge can decide to favour the weakest, not necessarily based on a literal interpretation of this text. For that reason, specific situations need to take into account ethical principles. In other words, ethics provide a compass for space activities and even the spacefaring nations were the ones that were behind these words and the original treaty in 1967 on space activity. It is a treaty which has a great deal of ethical content to it.

Furthermore, the Moon Agreement which has been referred to by a number of delegations, whether we like or not, it is there in Article 11 which says that one or other celestial bodies are common heritage of all mankind or Article 1 which is linked to this in the Space Treaty which says that space activities incumbent upon humanity.

Regardless of the wording you give it, or the formulation to express this, underlying all of this is clearly an ethical component which is then enshrined in the legal texts in the provisions and in the measures taken so there is significant work to be done in this area.

Now looking at this from an operational point of view, purely speaking, I think that it would be good to ask the Secretariat to take this on. I think it is a very useful effort. Now, of course they have an excessive amount of work already on their shoulders and I see my friend, Dr. Camacho, looking at me with a certain amount of concern in his eyes when I talk about more work but I think the idea here is to stimulate UNESCO, encourage them to provide us with information on this matter. And I would even say, and I am now presenting this as a proposal so that it will be reflected in the report that a formal institutional mechanism be developed for ties between COPUOS and UNESCO so that at some point, we can look at areas of common endeavours, such as education. Education is essential, of course, to UNESCO’s mission. It was created as a cultural and educational body and year after year, the

General Assembly adopts resolutions with regard to the peaceful exploration and use of space and there is always a paragraph in there on distance learning. And I remember a very long time ago, UNESCO took a look at it but I must say sincerely there was very little international collaboration in that area. I think most countries have probably not received specific information in this regard and this really points to the crux of the issue in international relations. In other words, there is a lack of information which prevents progress and impedes socio-economic development and the development of mankind. Without access to knowledge, one is out of the loop on this planet and there is no way of reversing the deep-seated inequities which are affecting the world today.

My delegation has perhaps been more fortunate in that when you realize that a large portion of mankind on the planet lives with less than $2 a day, you realize how fortunate we are and it is absurd, you cannot live with that amount of money, $2 a day. But then, you cannot even survive much less live. So in order to emerge from this deep inequity, which is very much related to ethics and which guides, in our case, international space law, when you look at that you have to realize the importance of access to knowledge. So a formal institutional mechanism for ties between UNESCO and COPUOS is vital.

And if I may, Mr. Chairman, I would like to conclude my remarks with a rather unusual, absolutely unusual reflection. My knowledge of French is rather fragile and the distinguished Ambassador of Colombia, I do not know that if at one point in time he referred to the Agreement on Celestial Bodies. If that is what I understood correctly, I would like to join in the tribute that he paid. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much distinguished Ambassador for Chile for your remarks and contribution to our discussion on this particular point.

Distinguished delegates, are there any other delegations wishing to speak on item 5 of our agenda, it means on information on the activities of international organizations relating to space law? Or are there any other delegations wishing to put some questions to the issues that have been raised during the discussion or to answer such questions?

I see none.

So we have now a number of observers for international organizations which inscribed on the list of speakers on this item. I now give the floor to the

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representative of the International Organization of Space Communications, INTERSPUTNIK. You have floor.

Ms. V. D. STOVOUN (International Organization of Space Communications): Thank you Mr. Chairman. The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications was established in 1971 by the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Establishment of the Intersputnik. The goal of establishing INTERSPUTNIK was to ensure cooperation and coordination of efforts of member countries in the design, establishment, operation and development of satellite communications system. At present, INTERSPUTNIK has 24 member countries.

In the beginning of the 1990s, INTERSPUTNIK entered into the third phase of establishing an international satellite communications system, that is the commercial operation of the communications system. In this connection, the Organization faced the necessity to radically change its principles of activity as well as the strategy of its development so that it could carry out its operation more efficiently and obtain the maximum profit.

At the regulatory level, the above challenge was met by elaborating and adopting a Protocol on Amendments to the Agreement on the Establishment of INTERSPUTNIK and an Operating Agreement of INTERSPUTNIK. The Protocol on Amendments entered into force on 4 November 2002 after it had been approved two thirds of the members of the Organization. And this is the reason why I would like to dwell upon the main changes introduced in the INTERSPUTNIK legal structure by the Protocol on Amendments and the Operating Agreement.

First of all, I would like to note that the effective amendments are binding only on those members of the Organization which ratified the Protocol on Amendments. The members of the Organization which did not approve this Protocol will continue to abide by the original version of the Agreement on the Establishment of INTERSPUTNIK, both in their relations with other members of the Organization and among themselves.

As the Protocol on Amendments is taking effect, the parties thereto are in the process of nomination of the signatories which are to sign the Operating Agreement so that it also comes in to force. It is expected that all the signatories will be nominated before next session of the INTERSPUTNIK Board so that it could announce the initial composition of the

new INTERSPUTNIK body, the Operations Committee.

The main changes introduced by the Protocol on Amendments and the Operating Agreement in the INTERSPUTNIK structure activities are as follows.

Along with a variety of ownership of the space segment INTERSPUTNIK may lease it not only from its members but from any other country or legal entity.

A new body of the Organization, namely the Operations Committee is set up for the purpose of prompt consideration and decision-making with regard to the Organization’s activity and the structure of the Organization’s administration and financing is changed respectively, as will be shown below.

An institute of signatories, telecommunications entities or Telecommunications Administration appointed by members of the Organization is introduced providing that one member of the Organization may appoint several signatories.

The main changes in the structure of the Organization’s governing bodies are as follows. As it was said above, a new body of the Organization, the Operations Committee, is set up. The Committee will be composed of 17 members including 13 members of the Committee each representing a signatory or a group of signatories which have the greatest investment share in the share capital of the Organization and four members of the Committee are elected by the Board, irrespective of their investment share, in order to observe the principle of fair geographic representation. Any signatory that is not a member of the Committee may participate in sessions of the Committee as an observer.

Each member of the Committee shall have a weighted vote equal to the investment share or investment shares contributed to the share capital. The voting share of a member of the Committee may not exceed 25 per cent of the total number of weighted votes. The Committee shall seek consensus in its decision-making. Should it be impossible to achieve consensus, decisions will be made by a qualified majority of votes or by a simple majority of votes subject to the importance of the issue in question. The Operations Committee has wide authority on decision-making on different issues related to the Organization’s activity. This role provides for an open list of its functions. In particular, the Operations Committee examines and approves issues related to the construction, procurement or lease as well as operation

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of the space segment. It approves plans for the development and improvement of the communications system of the Organization. It also makes decisions on all financial issues and supervises the activity of the Directorate.

The INTERSPUTNIK Board’s functions cover mainly the definition of its strategic goals and fulfilment of its international legal functions. It is worth noting that the Board reviews and approves the Operations Committee’s activities. The list of the Board’s functions is closed.

The Chief Executive of the Organization, the Director-General, is jointly elected by the Board and the Operations Committee that may, if necessary, recall him from his post. Accordingly, he will be responsible both to the Board and the Operations Committee.

As it was mentioned above, the Operations Committee makes decisions on all financial issues including investment shares and their re-distribution. The Operations Committee determines the size of the share capital. In case a signatory fails to fulfil its financial obligations in respect of the Organization, the Operations Committees has the right to suspend its right both under the Agreement on Establishment of INTERSPUTNIK and the Operating Agreement.

It is important to note that in some cases the signatories are financially liable for the Organization’s obligations.

So it is evident that in the process of the transformation of the INTERSPUTNIK legal basis, new problems may arise but it is also evident that the entry into force of the Protocol on Amendments for the INTERSPUTNIK Establishment Agreement and the Operating Agreement is a serious positive step in INTERSPUTNIK evolution. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you distinguished observer for the International Organization of Space Communications, INTERSPUTNIK, for your statement.

The next speaker on my list is the observer for the International Law Association, ILA.

Mr. N. HEDMAN (International Law Association): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is a true pleasure seeing you presiding over our work and I can assure you of our full support and cooperation.

Mr. Chairman, the Seventieth Conference of the International Law Association was held in New Delhi from 2 to 7 April 2002. The Space Law Committee submitted its final report on the review of space treaties in view of commercial space activities, which had been prepared by the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Maureen Williams. Professor Williams hold the Chair of Public International Law at the University of Buenos Aires and is a career scientist of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina. Professor Stephan Hobe of the German Branch, Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law of the University of Cologne, is succeeding Professor Williams as the Committee’s General Rapporteur.

The working session in New Delhi was chaired by Professor Ove Bring of the Swedish Branch, who presented the results of the work of the Committee and the concrete proposals regarding possible amendments of, as well as possible supplements to, the United Nations space law instruments in view of commercial space activities that had been prepared in pursuance of the mandate of the Sixty-Ninth Conference of ILA to the plenary session of the Seventieth Conference.

The session focused on the following four major space treaties, the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and the Moon Agreement. The analysis of those treaties was carried out with a view to establishing their consistency with the present international context and was entrusted, respectively, to Professors Stephan Hobe, Maureen Williams, Vladimir Kopal of the Czech/Slovak Branch, that means you, Mr. Chairman, and Dr. Frans von der Dunk of the Netherlands Branch.

Mr. Chairman, the Outer Space Treaty was considered flexible enough to meet the legal requirements underlying the activities of private entities in outer space and only minor changes were called for in connection with Article VI, on the authorization and supervision of space activities carried out by non-governmental entities, and Article VIII, on registration. To that end, the Special Rapporteur proposed a brief separate protocol to the Treaty.

The Special Rapporteur on the Liability Convention concluded that the moment was not propitious for introducing substantial changes. The recommendation was to retain the Convention in its current form and encourage States Parties to make a declaration accepting the compulsory nature of decisions and awards stemming from the Claims Commission in accordance with Article XIX of the

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text. That recommendation was similar to the view expressed by some delegations to the Legal Subcommittee of COPUOS in 1998 following a proposal made by the Austrian delegation.

The Registration Convention, in the view of the Special Rapporteur, needed some technical and other clarification in order to facilitate the identification of a space object causing damage, which could be done by means of a separate instrument such as a General Assembly resolution without introducing amendments to the original Convention. The need to agree on certain definitions in the current international context, including space object and launching State, was emphasized.

Mr. Chairman, the Moon Agreement was found to be in need of substantial changes, given the low number of ratifications to date. The Special Rapporteur suggested a number of amendments, in particular concerning the establishment of an international regime, as envisaged in the 1979 text, to govern the exploitation of the natural resources of the Moon as this was about to become feasible. The words “common heritage of mankind” contained in Article XI were open to interpretation and, after a lively discussion at this session with numerous contributions from the floor, it was decided to keep as it read, albeit on the basis of a compromise text drafted by Professor Stephan Hobe and agreed by the working session. The report and draft resolution were adopted without dissent by the working session and subsequently also by the plenary meeting of the Conference. Both documents reflected the major points made during the Committee’s work of the previous four years and contained concrete proposals regarding the consistency of the space treaties in force with the present world scenario and state of the art.

In that way, at the end of the four years’ work from the Sixty-Eighth to the Seventieth ILA Conferences, the Space Law Committee concluded its discussion on the topic “Review of space law treaties in view of commercial space activities: concrete proposals” and would move on to the study of the legal aspects of the privatization and commercialization of space activities, with special reference, in the first stage, to remote sensing and the force of satellite data as evidence in national and international tribunals as well as national space legislation. A first report on the topic would be submitted to the Seventy-First ILA Conference to held in Berlin in August 2004.

In concluding, Mr. Chairman, the Chairman of the Space Law Committee, Professor Williams, and the General Rapporteur, Professor Hobe, intend coming to

COPUOS in June this year to submit a more detailed report on the ILA Space Law Committee activities. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much distinguished representative of Sweden, who serves at the same time as the observer for the International Law Association, for your report on the Seventieth Conference of the International Law Association which was held last year in New Delhi, India. I also thank you for your kind words addressed to me and particularly for your mentioning me under paragraph 3 of your report.

The next speaker on my list will be the distinguished observer of the International Astronautical Federation and particularly on the work of the International Institute of Space Law. But, of course, we have already heard one statement of the IAF during the general exchange of views but this will be information relating to item 5, it means on the activities of international organizations relating to space law. You have the floor.

Mr. B. L. SMITH (International Astronautical Federation): Thank you Mr. Chairman. I would first like to take this opportunity to thank you for the interest which you manifest for space law activities occurring outside this august forum of the Legal Subcommittee, as demonstrated by your repeated invitations to observers to take the floor concerning agenda item 5.

I would like to draw the attention of the Legal Subcommittee to an important evolution of international intellectual property law and its application to space objects and space activities.

Indeed, the Council of Ministers of the European Union has approved, only last Friday, the Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on the European Community Patent. This represents the culmination of decades of negotiations and hesitations, primarily fuelled by questions related to national sovereignty issues, in particular the jurisdiction of national courts and the languages into which the Community Patent must be translated in order to have a unitary effect on the entire territory of the European Community.

The first step in this process was the Luxembourg Convention of 1975, which, in fact, was never ratified by the signatory States for the reasons I have just mentioned. It was then only about 20 years later that the European Commission revived the

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dormant idea of the Community Patent and issued a Green Paper for comments from all interested parties.

It was at this critical moment that the European space industry, with impetus and support from the European Space Agency, submitted the idea that the European Community Patent should be explicitly applicable to space objects under jurisdiction and control of one or more Member States, including natural and legal persons.

A similar provision exists already in US patent law since a number of years, reflecting earlier case law from the famous dispute, Hughes Aircraft Company versus the US Government. But until now, the US was the only country in the world to have explicitly extended the territory of their patent law into outer space.

The European Parliament voted in favour of including a new Article 3 in the Commission’s proposal for a Council Regulation which has now been approved.

The Commission now has to task to draft the implementation and transitional provisions, which could take several months or a year but we soon shall have a new legal instrument with explicit effect in outer space, for space objects and space activities of European nationals.

While awaiting that the Legal Subcommittee shall perhaps someday examine the question of the exercise of intellectual property rights in outer space, as has been suggested in the conclusions and recommendations of the UNISPACE III Conference, and has also been suggested by the Ambassador of France to this distinguished audience a few years ago, in the thirty-ninth session of the Legal Subcommittee, I would humbly submit that the national delegations which are currently considering or maybe even drafting their own national space legislation, should think about including specific provisions on the applicability of their patent law to their own space activities and space objects when in outer space.

To conclude, I should also like to mention that France has announced about two weeks ago the content of its new space legislation which is under preparation by the Ministry of Research to be submitted to the French legislators. After lobbying from the French space industry, a similar provision may be found in the Minister’s proposal, extending the effect of French patent law into outer space, for French space objects and activities. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you distinguished observer for the International Astronautical Federation for your contribution to our discussion during which you mentioned very important steps that have been done by the Council of Ministers of the European Union by its approval of the proposal for a regulation on the European Community Patent.

The next speaker on my list is now the observer for EUMETSAT. You have the floor, Mr. Hulsroj.

Mr. P. HULSROJ (EUMETSAT): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Let me first say how pleased we are to see you again in the Chairman’s chair. We know that we are in safe hands, so this is good. Let me also congratulate Mr. Camacho on his appointment as Director of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, again I believe we can be sure that we are in safe hands.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Director, EUMETSAT has been an active user of space during the past year. In addition to three satellites in orbit, EUMETSAT launched the first satellite of its new geostationary series, MSG, on 28 August 2002. This launch, and the ensuing satellite positioning, was notified to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in pursuance of EUMETSAT’s obligations under the Registration Convention. The new satellite should, after commissioning, start to provide an operational service in the second half of 2003.

The data policy applicable to the new service is similar to the policy of the current Meteosat series and a large number of licences will have to be issued to users within the footprint of the satellite.

Due to technical problems affecting the dissemination capabilities of the satellite, it is highly likely that, for the first satellite of the series, EUMETSAT will have to disseminate MSG data via third party telecommunications satellites. EUMETSAT is, however, intent on trying to reach all users that in nominal circumstances would have received data directly from the MSG satellites, and is hence seeking to cater for the needs both of its Member States and of non-Member States, particularly in Eastern Europe and Africa.

The MSG satellite will be positioned in the orbital slot also used by the predecessor spacecraft and will use frequencies duly notified to the ITU.

EUMETSAT’s actual space law activities in 2002 were related to ensuring that frequencies needed for meteorological activities would continue to be

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given appropriate priority in the ITU. In this context, EUMETSAT stumbled over an issue which is now resolved, but of potential interest to the members of COPUOS.

The general assumption is that since frequencies and orbital slots go hand-in-hand in the ITU system, then ITU practically is the forum for resolving potentially conflicting orbital needs and that reliance can be had on ITU’s coordination mechanisms to achieve sensible results.

Yet this is only true if a closeness of orbital positions would lead to radio-frequency interference problems. If, however, two satellites operate in entirely different frequency bands, and no interference problem hence arises, then ITU’s coordination mechanisms are not available, even if the two satellites would aspire to the same satellite slot, with the inevitable risk of collision.

In these cases, the “free use” provisions of the Outer Space Treaty apply, but do not necessarily provide for a sensible solution and the current space law system does not offer mechanisms for bringing the two operators together, with a view to finding such a sensible solution.

I stress that EUMETSAT’s practical problems are resolved, yet it might be worthwhile contemplating whether the ITU should be given an explicit mandate to regulate orbit slots, at least on the geostationary ring, or whether some other coordination or conciliation mechanisms should be developed. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much distinguished observer for EUMETSAT and I also thank you for your kind words addressed to the Chair and to the Director of the Office and I can assure him that, indeed, he is in safe hands.

Ladies and gentlemen, this has exhausted my list of speakers for this morning on item 5, Information on the Activities of International Organizations Relating to Space Law.

Are there any other delegations or observers who would wish to speak on this item? I see none.

Therefore, we will, therefore, continue our consideration of agenda item 5, Information on the Activities of International Organizations Relating to Space Law, this afternoon.

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 International Telecommunications Union (agenda item 6)

Distinguished delegates, I would now like to continue consideration of item 6 of our agenda, 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 International Telecommunication Union.

The first speaker on my list on this particular item is the distinguished representative of the United States of America. You have the floor Sir.

Mr. S. MATHIAS (United States of America): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this standing agenda item is a welcome opportunity to present my Government’s general views on matters relating to the definition and delimitation of outer space and to 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 International Telecommunication Union.

With respect to matters relating to the definition and delimitation of outer space, I would like to express our appreciation for the efforts of the Working Group on this agenda item, and in particular the efforts of its former Chairman, Mr. Manuel Alvarez. The Working Group is performing a valuable service by gathering and utilizing information on this important topic. At this time, the United States remains convinced that there is no need to seek a legal definition or delimitation for outer space. Activities in outer space and in airspace are flourishing and have raised no practical need for a definition or delimitation between the spheres. In the absence of a real need, any attempt to develop a definition would be ill-advised as there would be no experience to call upon in agreeing upon any particular definition or delimitation. The current framework has served us well and we should continue to operate under the current framework until there is a demonstrated need and a practical basis for developing a definition or delimitation. Throughout its history, the Legal Subcommittee has made its most significant contributions when it pursued pragmatic rather than academic topics. The Legal Subcommittee

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should pursue such a strategy with respect to this issue as well.

With respect to the geostationary orbit, or GSO, I would like to recall this Subcommittee’s April 2000 Report on this issue. The April 2000 Report, agreed at this Subcommittee’s thirty-ninth session, addressed the principles of equitable access and the rational, efficient and economic use of the GSO in a constructive manner that remains the appropriate way forward on this issue. My Government remains committed to equitable access to the GSO by all States, including satisfaction of the requirements of developing countries for GSO use and satellite telecommunications generally. As a legal matter, the GSO is part of outer space and its use is governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, as well as the ITU’s treaties. Article I of the Outer Space Treaty provides that “outer space 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”. Article II of this Treaty further states that outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation or by any other means. From these articles, it is clear that a party to the Outer Space Treaty cannot appropriate a position in outer space, such as an orbital location in the GSO, either by claim of sovereignty or by means of use, or even repeated use, of such an orbital position.

I would like to note some of the actions the United States is taking to further the use of the geostationary orbit, and other uniquely situated orbits, as part of the province of all mankind. The United States makes its Global Positioning System, GPS, freely available to other nations and their citizenry. Furthermore, the United States provides, free of charge, a variety of weather and warning data from its meteorological satellites. Information from NOAA’s polar satellites is available globally, while data from GOES geostationary MetSats are available within those satellites footprints, roughly from Western Europe and Africa to Eastern Australia. Anyone with a receiver can access this data and the United States does not require users to register, so their precise number and locations are unknown. These satellites’ transmissions include information about hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and effluent flooding, droughts and related environmental matters and storm tracking data.

Finally, the United States, in cooperation with Russian, France and Canada, operates the international satellite-aided search and rescue programme known as COSPAS-SARSAT, to provide means for ships, aircraft and others in distress to signal their need for help and their locations. The United States,

specifically the US National Weather Service, in coordination the US Federal Aviation Administration, also provides data to the global aviation community to promote safety of flight, pursuant to arrangements developed under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization. These data distributions are supplemented in the Western Hemisphere by the mutual exchange of weather data and forecasts produced by a number of administrations.

At the present time, the ITU Constitution, Convention and Radio Regulations, as well as the current procedures under those authorities for international cooperation among countries and groups of countries, fully take into account the interests of States in the use of the geostationary orbit and related radio frequencies. We note that the Legal Subcommittee continues to have jurisdiction over this issue, should further issues arise that are appropriate for resolution in this United Nations body.

We appreciate your consideration of our views on this important agenda item. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN: Thank you distinguished representative of the United States for your statement on item 6 of our agenda.

Are there any other delegations wishing to speak on this agenda item at this morning’s meeting? I see none.

We will, therefore, continue our consideration of agenda item 6, Matters Relating to Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space and the Character and Utilization of the Geostationary Orbit, this afternoon.

Distinguished delegates, I will now adjourn this meeting of the Subcommittee for the fifth meeting of the Working Group on Agenda Item 4, Status and Application of the Five United Nations Treaties on Outer Space.

Before doing so, I would like to inform delegates of our schedule of work for this afternoon. We will reconvene here this afternoon promptly at 3.00 p.m. At that time, we will continue consideration of agenda item 5, Information on the Activities of International Organizations Relating to Space Law, and agenda item 6, the Definition and Delimitation of Outer Space and the Character and Utilization of the Geostationary Orbit. Following the Subcommittee plenary, if necessary, the Working Group on Agenda Item 4 may holds its sixth meeting. Following this, the Working Group on Agenda Item 6(a), the Definition

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and Delimitation of Outer Space, will hold its first meeting under the chairmanship of Ambassador Taous Feroukhi of Algeria.

Are there any questions or comments on this proposed schedule? I see none.

Finally, I would like to make an announcement about our schedule of work for next week. Yesterday, we suspended discussion in the Subcommittee plenary on agenda item 4, Status and Application of the Five United Nations Treaties on Outer Space, pending the results of deliberations in the Working Group under this item. However, I have since received requests from a few delegations to re-open this agenda item early next week. If it is acceptable to the Subcommittee, we will re-open agenda item 4 early next week for discussions in the Subcommittee plenary.

If there are no objections. It is so decided.

I am now pleased to give the floor to the Chairman of the Working Group on Agenda Item 4, Status and Application of the Five United Nations Treaties on Outer Space, for the Working Group’s fifth meeting.

This meeting is now adjourned until 3.00 p.m. this afternoon.

The meeting closed at 12.22 p.m.