RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SPACE-RELATED LAW AND POLICY WITHIN THE POST-SOVIET AREA

摘要

Nowadays the regulation of space activities within the post-soviet area gets new impulse. At the current stage when most space-faring countries of this region developed their basic space acts the major emphasis is done on those areas that previously were not granted the appropriate enshrinement at the legislative level. Therefore, such satellite applications as remote sensing, navigation and telecommunication only now are on the way of acquiring their legislative scope. The National Space Programmes for the next few years are being elaborated, negotiated or even approved. The approval according to the existing practice of ex-soviet countries is done in form of law, thus granting those programmes the legislative status. In certain countries the regulations of space agencies, as the legal fundamentals governing their activities, have seen some changes. For improvement of administration system in the local space arena Ukraine considers a possible split of the space agency into two separate authorities - one that designs space policy and another that implements it, whereas the Russian Federation is paying more attention to restructuring of the space sector and creating large integrated structures. The major soviet space-power, the Russian Federation, continues playing the key role within this region and indirectly takes under its umbrella most of small or non-space-faring countries by concluding bilateral programmes on cooperation in specific domains. Thus the paper will investigate the recent legal trends within the area of space activities in post-soviet countries, will focus on new directions and practices when shaping legal framework and consider actual approaches that guide the countries in giving the national space legislation the proactive or not role.