The International Law Association

MAUREEN WILLIAMS

Viena

Otro; 46th session of the UN Legal Subcommittee on Outer Space; 2007

Naciones Unidas (Copuod)

                                           The International Law Association and its Space Law Committee                                                                        Professor Maureen Williams                                                                                              Chair At the 72nd Conference of the ILA the Space Law Committee submitted its Second Report entitled Legal Aspects of the Privatisation and Commercialisation of Space Activities. Remote Sensing (RS) and National Space Legislation(NSL), as a follow up to its previous Report on these topics for the ILA Conference held in Berlin (2004). The Committee‘s objective for the 2006 Report was to highlight the most controversial issues raised in Berlin on topics which appear closely interwoven in the international scene. Like all important questions they have an undoubted political dimension. During the preparation of the Toronto Report -which was preceded by a Questionnaire circulated to members in the early part of 2005- the Committee sensed that RS and NSL were becoming increasingly related to registration issues. Hence, the 2006 Report -and the 2005 Questionnaire- consisted of three sections addressing, in turn, state practice on remote sensing, national space legislation and registration. Special efforts were invested during 2005 on registration questions based, inter alia, on the following sources: - he International Symposium marking the end of Project 2001 Plus, June 8-10, Cologne Univ the Working Group on Registration set up by the LSC for a three-year research programme on current state practice; the figures provided by a Note dated 14 April circulated by the Copuos Secretariat entitled Registration Statistics The work carried out by the University of Cologne concerning Project 2001 Plus and its various workshops, conducted by Professor Stephan Hobe Likewise, the research projects on the subject carried out by the University of Buenos Aires and the National Council for Scientific Research of Argentina (Conicet), under the direction of the present writer (ILA Committee chair).