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

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176 EXPANDING GLOBAL NAVIGATION SERVICESalso depend on the particular case. It is, however,imaginable for damage to be caused to navigationreceiving equipment onboard aircraft, even to the extentof blocking all navigation functions to be performed bythe aircraft. Where the GNSS satellite signal is the solesystem on board the aircraft the fatalities areunimaginable. The same error that can cause damage toaircraft can also affect ground receiving equipment.But could the US Air Force at the time of launchingthe GPS satellites on board the Delta II spacecraft haveforeseen that some type of damage, as described, canoccur? The response is clearly an issue of fact to bedecided in each case.The rule o f thumb in this situation is, uponexamining all technical details, to decide whether thedamage that has occurred is one which would occur asa natural result of the technology. It must also beestablished that no other independent cause existed ofwhich it might have been the result. The possible role ofany other mechanism unconnected with the GNSSsignal causing or contributing to cause damage is ofvery particular significance in this complex technology.To that extent, receiver manufacturers would carry aheavy burden. The likelihood of excuses being found infaulty receivers or faulty antennae installations shouldnot be discounted. There are very many less esotericand less politically charged causes one could point tofor relieving the signal provider o f its liability.Beside appealing to science, one must also establishthat this type of damage is in legal contemplation anormal consequence o f the activity and could also havebeen reasonably anticipated to either expressly fallwithin the ambit o f the legal regime concerned or that itcan be accommodated thereunder. In essence would thedrafters o f the Liability Convention, apprised of thefacts about GPS, GLONASS and Inmarsat III satelliteshave contemplated GNSS fa lling within the ambit o f theLiability Convention?The result o f the hit/impact reasoning is to limit thevalue of the Convention to the type of damage possiblein 1972. Subsequent space activities will be left outunless they fell within that category of direct impactdamage. This view strongly offends the dynamism oflaw and the extreme sense o f technological innovationinvolved in space exploration. It is a total disregard ofthe temporal value of law. As was argued earlier, legalobligations and rights need to be reassessed in the lightof the interplay o f new social facts with the evolution ofinternational legal conduct. Law, after all, is dynamic,not static. Consequently, when confronted by theintermingling o f new and old technologies, the scope ofthe duty is better assessed in the light of the new factsand the development of international law.A significant point to note is the story behind theuse of the words “caused by” in Articles II and III ofthe Liability Convention.In response to a proposal which tended to limitliability to physical contact cases, the Canadian, Italian,and French delegates at the Legal Sub-Committeeimpressed upon the meeting that not all damage was asa result o f physical contact. In their opinion, theproximity test best exploited to lay down the scope ofliability o f the launching state. Thus what originallywas framed in the following terms "if the collision ofspace objects causes damage ... " 103 was rephrased as“caused by”.This debate is significant from the feet that thedelegates considered that damage caused by spaceobjects can take on various forms; that damage can becaused irrespective of there being a form o f physicalcontact; and that damage can be caused throughinterference with the radio spectrum.What is the significance o f this discussion to GNSSsatellites? The significance as far as GNSS satelliteliability is concerned, lies in the fact that (1) there is norequirement of physical contact and (2) that damagecan be sustained by proximity to a satellite. Thedetermination o f damage will not be based on thelimited conception o f physical impact or hit but ratheron the proximity test.103 UNCOPUOS, Summary Record of the 94th Meeting, 10June 1968, A/AC.105/C.2/SR.94, 52 (hereinafter,Summary Records)
EXPANDING GLOBAL NAVIGATION SERVICES 177General Legal Principles on SpaceApplicationsThe issues raised in this paper show clearly the need forclear rules to govern the expanding GNSS services.Questions that need to be answered are numerous,some of which are:• What is the legal (and technical) character ofthe GNSS satellite?• Can GNSS damage be subsumed under theLiability Convention?• If so what would be the problems to be faced?• Is there the need for a specific Convention onGNSS?While not in favour of rushing to design specificlegal regimes for each and every field, I am of theopinion that GNSS offers ample opportunity for theUNCOPUOS to engage in a thorough analysis of thelegal regimes existing so far, comparing them to themultitude o f applications and determining whether theexisting corpus o f rules cover all those applications.GNSS clearly show they do not. In my view, it will bebeneficial to providers and users alike for rules to bedesigned that would not only be applicable to all sectorso f GNSS usage but also o f other space applications.Suggestions• Need for precision, cross-correlation of datafor mapping, system augmentation, definitiono f GNSS mission, operational structure andnon-interference.• Elaboration of an action programme including:• regional and global cooperation to achieve aseamless multi-modal system (cf EGNOS andstudies for GNSS-2 in Europe),• international cooperation to ensurecompatibility between present and plannedsystems, and support for ICAO, IMO and ITUas key entities.• The draft UNISPACE III Report shouldalready set out detailed facts and GNSS issues,and its tasks are to be to supplement them byidentifying issues not dealt with in the draftreport.• Need for multifunctional coordination by aforum, that represents interests of all potentialcategories of GNSS users, while also takingfull account o f ICAO's and IMO's specialrequirements.Summary ReportIssuesThis session considered the existing and plannedsystems for provision o f navigation services by satelliteand matters involving universal access, continuity ofservice, implications for international ownership,international cooperation and issues o f systemstandardisation.• Need to identify essential principles to beincorporated in any global legal framework ora number o f regional or national coordinatedframeworks, including continuity o f service,universal access, non-discrimination, servicequality, reliability and precision.• Need to identify non-discriminatory financialprinciples, particularly pricing and the need forrevenue streams in systems established by theprivate sector but taking into account therequirements o f the safety services.
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SESSION ONEExisting United Nations
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SESSION FOURExpanding Global Remote
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