WHERE IS PARADISE? THE EU'S NAVIGATION SYSTEM GALILEO - SOME COMMENTS ON INHERENT RISKS (OR PARADISE LOST)

摘要

The European Union's Global Navigation Service Galileo is currently undergoing its operational testing phase (IOV), estimated to become fully functional in 2012. Establishing a regulatory structure for Galileo has been a challenge from the outset. In the preparatory process, a few imponderables were strategically postponed, of which risk is but one. It comes as no surprise that the risk dimension of Galileo services is now attracting attention. Space-related technological products and services all carry a degree of risk by their very nature and Galileo is no exception. Constructing a liability regime that adequately responds to potential operative dysfunction, constitutes a viable financial model for the various stake holders involved and meets the level of prestige and public responsibility which the project acclaims for itself, is the immediate challenge for regulators and industry alike. This paper discusses Galileo's risk potential in the light of various types of existing international liability regimes with a view to providing a measure of damage predictability and protection within the space and public communities that it serves. It examines the legal relations between parties involved in the satellite navigation programme and identifies contractual and tort liability issues that could otherwise arise in the absence of an adequate liability scheme. The paper concludes with an appreciation of recent initiatives behind a liability proposal for Galileo satellite navigational services that could serve as the basis for a liability scheme, at least within Europe.