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

space activities carried out by private entities. Being internationally responsible, it might belongto the category of the "appropriate State".A last word to the definition of the "appropriate State". In case of transfer of spaceobjects from one State to another, the passage will be accompanied also by the transfer of theinternational responsibility to the acquiring State, which thus becomes the "appropriate State".Once determined which one is the "appropriate State" the question arises how extensiveits responsibilities are to the international community for space activities conducted under itscontrol. The responsibilities of States are undoubtedly those stipulated by international law andfor this reason space activities exercised by private actors are equally governed by publicinternational law. The principle to grant freedom to private actors in space under the control oftheir State can only be understood in this unquestionable manner. However, due to the speedilychanging technological progress in space programs it is no longer possible, at present, to regulatethem exclusively by international treaty law: new legal rules must be added and integration bynational legislation becomes urgently necessary.Space activities are more and more diversified, relying mainly on contributions from theindustrial sector and becoming more profit-orientated. Therefore, a reconsideration of thedimension of "space activities" in Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty might be useful. Thecomplete lack of any terminological limitation offers many possibilities for a wide definitioncomprising any kind of activity taking place either in outer space or being only space-relatedtaking place on Earth as a collateral activity and precondition for the exercise of the latter.Moreover, none of the space law provisions gives a clear meaning of commercial "spaceactivities". Under general aspects, space activities can be public or private in relation to the legalstatus of the entity to which they are attributed. Commercial activities can be undertaken both bypublic and private entities and even in a combined form and can be either of public or privateinterest. In case of conflict between the two in regard to liability, the prevention of damages couldimprove the quality of commercial activities. The strict control of future harmful effects on theenvironment could constitute what is known in the pertinent legal doctrine as "preventiveliability". Damage prevention would be of common concern rather than damage remedy.As a concluding consideration, it should be pointed out that from the wording of ArticleVI of the Outer Space Treaty, one could erroneously deduce that international responsibilityapplies only to space missions exempting from this treaty obligation the related parts taking placeon the Earth surface or in air space. This assumption cannot be accepted.