Proceedings of the Workshop - United Nations Office for Outer ...

110 EXPANDING GLOBAL REMOTE SENSING SERVICESWhen Israel persuaded the United StatesGovernment90 to restrict remote sensing companiesfrom acquiring and disseminating remotely sensed dataof Israel, industry argued correctly, thatnondiscriminatory access was being selectively applied.It argued further again, correctly that the United States'concession to Israel was a precedent that eroded thefuture application of the principle for industry.91 Toargue that technical system characteristics and/orbusiness practices makes legally required data"unavailable" for purposes of nondiscriminatory accesswas to turn the tables. The industry put itself in thesame position as the Government in the Israeli case:applying selective application of nondiscriminatoryaccess. Industry advocated the very result it hadattempted to prevent. Should industry selectively applynondiscriminatory access, any future appeal to theprinciple on its own behalf will ring false and bejustifiably ignored. This is of particular importancebecause the statute that prohibits imaging of Israel alsoholds the potential of additional imaging restrictions of"any other country or geographic area designated by the90 Rep. No. 104-278,104th Cong., 2d Session, S. 1745,National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997.Section 1044: PROHIBITION ON COLLECTION ANDRELEASE OF DETAILED SATELLITE IMAGERYRELATING TO ISRAEL AND OTHER COUNTRIES ANDAREAS.(a) COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION- No departmentor agency of the Federal Government may license the collectionor dissemination by any non-Federal entity of satellite imagerywith respect to Israel, or to any other country or geographic areadesignated by the President for this purpose, unless suchimagery is no more detailed or precise than satellite imagery ofthe country or geographic area concerned that is routinelyavailable from commercial sources.(b) DECLASSIFICATION AND RELEASE- No departmentor agency of the Federal Government may declassify orotherwise release satellite imagery with respect to Israel, or toany other country or geographic area designated by thePresident for this purpose, unless such imagery is no moredetailed or precise than satellite imagery of the country orgeographic area concerned that is routinely available fromcommercial sources.91 NOAA Public Meeting, Licensing of Private Remote SensingSpace Systems, Washington, D.C. (June 14,1996).President."92 Establishing nondiscriminatory accessavailability as a standard industrial practice will, on theother hand, restore the strength of nondiscriminatoryaccess as a precedent and can help end the one-by-oneexclusion of nations with the single anomalous situationthat now exists with Israel.A licensee is not obligated to make data availableto the sensed state at uniform prices.93 Nor is makingdata available to be equated with giving data away forfree. The licensee is permitted to seek "reasonable termsand conditions"94 which implies market rates. Regardingthe expansion of global remote sensing services,applying the sensed state provision to industry,increases them. The provision prohibits a companyfrom entering into an exclusive contract that requireswithholding data from a sensed state. It therefore can92 S. 1745, 104th Cong., 2d Session, Authorizing AppropriationsFor Fiscal Year 1997 For Military Activities Of TheDepartment Of Defense, For Military Construction, And ForDefense Activities Of The Department Of Energy, To PrescribePersonnel Strengths For Such Fiscal Year For The AimedForces, And For Other Purposes,Section 1044 PROHIBITION ON COLLECTION ANDRELEASE OF DETAILED SATELLITE IMAGERYRELATING TO ISRAEL AND OTHER COUNTRIES ANDAREAS.(a) COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION- No departmentor agency of the Federal Government may license the collectionor dissemination by any non-Federal entity of satellite imagerywith respect to Israel, or to any other country or geographic areadesignated by the President for this purpose, unless suchimagery is no more detailed or precise than satellite imagery ofthe country or geographic area concerned that is routinelyavailable from commercial sources.(b) DECLASSIFICATION AND RELEASE- No departmentor agency of the Federal Government may declassify orotherwise release satellite imagery with respect to Israel, or toany other country or geographic area designated by thePresident for this purpose, unless such imagery is no moredetailed or precise than satellite imagery of the country orgeographic area concerned that is routinely available fromcommercial sources.93 The Landsat Program Management Plan and H.R. 3614. TheNational Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1991. HearingBefore the Subcommittee on Environment of the Committee onScience, Space, and Technology, U.S. House ofRepresentatives, 102d Cong., 2d Sess., 208. (1992) at 54.94 Policy Act, supra note 9, at § 5622 (b) (2).