Electronic Proceedings - United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

international organizations of the United Nations system, such as ITU, UNESCO, FAO,WMO, IMO, WIPO and IAEA contribute to the development of space law within the scope oftheir particular functions. Valuable is also the active participation of a number oforganizations outside the UN system, in particular that of the European Space Agency,Intelsat, Inmarsat (now the International Mobile Satellite Organization – IMSO), Intersputnik,Eutelsat, Eumetsat and others. The constitutional documents establishing these organizationsand providing for their legal development, too, have contributed to the growth of internationalspace law.The second layer of the legal regulation of space activities has been developingparticularly during the recent period by means of national laws adopted by individual spacefaringStates. They govern the activities of these States and their space agencies, implementthe principles of international space law at the level of domestic legal orders, and also regulatethe activities of their nationals, both physical and juridical persons. To date, only some Stateshave adopted their own space laws, but the significance of national regulations has beenincreasing simultaneously with the growing involvement of non-governmental entities indifferent space projects. 4 Nevertheless, national laws, as well as the activities of privateentities performing them under the control and jurisdiction of individual States, ought toremain in full conformity with international obligations of the authorizing States arising frominternational space law.Our attention will now concentrate on the role and activities of the United Nations in theestablishment of international space law as a special system within the present internationallaw.FOUNDATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE LAW BY UN SPACE TREATIESThe space legislation in the United Nations has been developed by the Committee on thePeaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), which was established, first as an Ad Hoc body, byGeneral Assembly resolution 1348/XIII of 13 December 1958. One year later, by resolution1472/XIV of 12 December 1959, this body was transformed into a permanent organ of theGeneral Assembly. During its existence, the membership of the Committee was expandedseveral times and by its present number (65 States), the COPUOS includes approximatelyone-third of the whole UN membership. 5 Since the early 1960s, COPUOS has become thefocal point for all space-related cooperative programmes furthered by the United Nations.Two subcommittees, one Legal, the other Scientific and Technical, each composed of thesame Member States as the parent body, were created for detailed consideration of specificproposals and suggestions concerning scientific, technical and legal problems submitted byconcerning Cooperation in the Civil International Space Station, done on January 29, 1998, may bementioned. See its text with related documents in Karl-Heinz Böckstiegel, Marietta Benkö and StephanHobe, Space Law, Basic Legal Documents, Vol. 2/1, D.II.4.1 (Installment 8, 2002). As to an analysisof the resolution of the problems involved, see, e.g. A.V. Yakovenko, Sovremennye kosmicheskieproekty. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye problemy. (Contemporary Space projects, International LawProblems), Moskva, 2000, p. 16 et seq.4 As to the existing national space laws and to current plans for national space laws, see Needs andProspects for National Space Legislation, Proceedings of the Project 2001 – Workshop on NationalSpace Legislation, 5-6 December 2000, Munich, Germany, Part III, p. 79 et seq. and Part IV, p. 117 etseq.5 See General Assembly resolution 56/51 of 10 December 2001. The present composition of COPUOSis listed in the Report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, GAOR Official Records,Fifty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 20, A/57/20, C, p.1, Membership.11