International Law Association (pp.9-13)

MAUREEN WILLIAMS

Naciones Unidas A/AC.105/C.2/L.261

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Viena

Lugar: Viena-Nueva York; Año: 2006 p. 9 - 13

45th SESSION OF THE LEGAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF COPUOS 3-13 April 2006 (LS COPUOS - 45th Session) Activities of international organisations relating to space law* INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION A. The background The International Law Association (ILA) -originally known as the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations- was founded in Brussels in 1873. Its objectives, still valid in the present time, are the study, elucidation and advancement of international law, public and private, the study of comparative law, the making of proposals for the solution of conflicts of law and for the unification of law, and the furthering of international understanding and goodwill. The headquarters of the International Law Association, which is composed of around fifty national branches, are in London. Lord Slynn of Hadley is the chairman of the Executive Council of this institution and Professor Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel is the World President of the Association following the Berlin ILA Conference in August 2004. The Space Law Committee of the ILA began its activities in 1958 in New York in the course of its 48th International Conference. From then on the Committee has permanently reported its work and findings to the biennial Conferences of the Association. Since 1996 the ILA Space Law Committee has the status of Permanent Observer to Copuos and reports annually thereto on the progress of its activiities on different space law matters. During the nineties the Committee was chaired by Professor Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel with Professor Maureen Williams as General Rapporteur. The present officers are Professor Maureen Williams (University of Buenos Aires / Conicet) as Committee Chair, and Professor Stephan Hobe (University of Cologne) as General Rapporteur thereof. The last ILA Conference was held in August 2004 in Berlin (71st Conference). On this occasion the Space Law Committee reported on the Legal Aspects of the Privatisation and Commercialisation of Space Activities with special reference to Remote Sensing and National Space Legislation, where a number of conclusions and suggestions were discussed. In this way, the Committee took forward its terms of reference along the lines set forth in the New Delhi Report and ensuing Conference Resolution on the Review of Space Treaties in View of Commercial Space Activities. Reference was made to these international meetings and their results in our previous report to the Legal Subcommittee of Copuos (LSC) in April 2005. Many of the members of our Space Law Committee are well known to COPUOS and its Legal Subcommittee today. Their contributions are frequently mentioned in our former reports to Copuos. Among its most actively involved members in recent times, mention should be made of Professors Vladimir Kopal (Czech Republic)), Gilbert Guillaume and Armel Kerrest (France), Frans von der Dunk (Netherlands), Niklas Hedman (Sweden), Carl Q. Christol (USA), Mahulena Hofmann (Germany), Gabriella Venturini (Italy) and José Monserrat Filho (Brazil). This Report addresses remote sensing, national space legislation, registration, space debris and dispute settlement rrelated to space activities.