MIND THE GAP: LEGISLATING FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE ACTIVITIES

摘要

Regulatory tools are a necessary corollary tonational and regional space programmes andpolicies and there has been a noticeable increase inthe legislative moves by states interested indeveloping their commercial space sector. Somenational statutes already serve as regulatoryprototypes, providing an insight into issues such asrisk regulation. Now, the surge in space technologyappears to be lessening the traditional dividebetween old and new space faring nations.Emerging space countries can now focus on newspace markets that are driven by technology itself.Choosing the appropriate regulatory form to coverthe breadth of space-related activities, from humanspace flight through to earth observation andsatellite-based navigation services, to name but afew, could become a challenge: technology willcontinue to push the limits of the application andinterpretation of relevant space laws, and theinternational rules in particular. Building bridgesbetween the law regulating space activities andother areas may then become necessary. Suborbitalspace flight and GNSS are examples of areas wherelegal certainty can be achieved through such bridgebuilding between related regulatory environments.This paper addresses the bifurcation that has beenemerging over the past years within the lawgoverning space activities. Whereas earlierdomestic space laws often took on the form ofgeneral statutes, as expressions of national legal andadministrative culture, recent space activities andtools reflect the growing interaction between abroader spectrum that ranges from (internationaland domestic) space law through to legal rules ofprivate and public law, includingtelecommunications. The paper addresses whetherthe growing division between terrestrially-basedand outer space-related activities might impact onthe future scope of space law. It also emphasises theimportance of maintaining consistency betweenregulation at national and international level, andthe need to maintain the concepts of internationalstate responsibility and international state liabilityalready anchored in international space law. Thesecan be critical to the commercial space sector.