Satellite registration and mitigation of space debris, pp.32-37

MAUREEN WILLIAMS

Viena International Centre

Congreso; Forum on Civil Society and Outer Space (CONGO), Viena; 2007

Forum on Civl Society and Outer Space

FORUM: CIVIL SOCIETY AND OUTER SPACE 8-9 October 2007, UN / VIC, Vienna Satellite registration and mitigation of space debris Professor Dr. Maureen Williams International Law Association  Chair – Space Law Committee Summary of presentation (abstract) (pp.32-37 of Report) A. Introduction. The International Law Association (ILA) and its Space Law Committee A Brief Background A. Introduction. The International Law Association (ILA) and its Space Law Committee A Brief Background A. Introduction. The International Law Association (ILA) and its Space Law Committee A Brief Background The International Law Association (London HQ), which I am honoured to represent, is a private academic institution founded one hundred and thirty four years ago in Brussels, shortly after, and as one of the consequences of, the Alabama arbitration. Its Space Law Committee goes back almost fifty years. It was set up in 1957 following the launching of the first Sputnik. Its work continues, to date, without interruption. The present world president is Dr. Milos Barutciski (Canada) and Lord Slynn of Hadley is chairman of the Executive Council in London. The ILA Space Law Committee is permanent observer to the United Nations Committee on Outer Space (Copuos) and to both its Legal (LSC) and Scientific and Technical Subcommittees (STSC), During the last half century the ILA Committee produced a number of proposals, draft principles and international instruments, the balance of which was reported to the United Nations in previous years. Therefore, for this panel information will be narrowed down to our most recent work in the field of registration and space debris. B. Satellite registration: state of the art.. Satellite registration: state of the art. This question surrounds the 1975 UN Convention on the Registration and the timid support it has received so far. This Convention was reviewed by the ILA Space Law Committee in 1999 and results reported to its 69th Conference (London 2000). In 2002, at the 70th ILA Conference in New Delhi, a number of adjustments were recommended in light of the state of the art. In 2004, in Berlin, registration issues were seen as strongly linked to remote sensing and national space legislation (both were terms of reference for that Conference) and all of them, in turn, closely related to responsibility and liability arising from space debris - a topic on the agenda of the ILA Committee since 1990. On this basis, the Committee paid considerable attention to state practice concerning registration of space objects in the framework of its Report to the last ILA Conference (Toronto 2006).