THE RIGHT TO SATELLITE REMOTE SENSE DATA: IMPACT OF MULTILATERAL COOPERATION ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW

摘要

Access to satellite remote sense data has been problematic since the advent of satellite remote sense activity. The demands for a right to access have taken numerous forms and are expressed in a number of multilateral and regional arrangements dealing with remote sensing. The 1986 United Nations Principle On Remote Sensing declares an open, non-discriminatory access to remote sense data. However, the practice of remote sensing States and nongovernmental has been a restrictive approach to access. Increasingly, there are restrictions to access based on issues of national security and foreign policy obligations. Yet there is determined effort by non-sensing States to ensure access to such data. This efforts manifest in the technological advances by developing countries not only to enter into multilateral arrangements to acquire satellite data, but in these countries launching and operating their own systems. These efforts provide an impetus to re-evaluating the current international regime for remote sensing.