Electronic Proceedings - United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

developing countries, briefly called the Benefit Principles, adopted by resolution 51/22 onDecember 13, 1996. 14It must be admitted that the negotiation on the first of these sets of principles, namely the1982 DBS Principles, was negatively influenced by ideological controversies of the cold war.The vote effected on its adoption was a retreat from the rule of consensus that should governthe decision making on space matters. But it should also be recalled that the decision by votewas not made in COPUOS or its Legal Subcommittee, which have been bound by the rule ofconsensus, but in the General Assembly under its own Rules of Procedure.On the other hand, the 1986 Remote Sensing Principles seemed to be a successfulachievement in which a fair compromise was found between the interests of the sensing States,i.e. the States possessing the necessary space capabilities, and the needs of the sensed States,including most of the developing countries.The 1992 set of NPS Principles was but a limited achievement in space legislation. Someinnovatory elements were brought into the regulation of this kind of activities, such as thestoring of NPS objects in sufficiently high orbits after the operational part of their missions,the safety assessment and notification of reentry. The NPS Principles, however, must apply,according to the preamble of this document, only to “nuclear power sources devoted to thegeneration of electric power on board space objects for non-propulsive purposes, which havecharacteristics generally comparable to those of systems used and missions performed at thetime of the adoption of the Principles”. Therefore, the Principles are not applicable to the NPSserving other purposes, including nuclear propulsion for long-distance flights intointerplanetary space and to the celestial bodies of our solar system. The expected reopening ofthese Principles, which was promised to be effected no later than two years after theiradoption, has been delayed several times. 15The final document of this series, the so-called 1996 Benefit Principles, mostly reflectsthe existing practice of international space cooperation and does not include new regulatoryprinciples. While all States, particularly those with relevant space capabilities, shouldcontribute to promoting such cooperation, particular attention should be given to the benefitand the interests of developing countries and countries with incipient space programmes.These UN sets of principles also recall and elaborate some of the provisions of the 1967Outer Space Treaty. However, having been inserted in General Assembly resolutions, they areusually not considered to be legally binding instruments. Nevertheless, they have also had acertain legal significance by establishing a code of conduct recommended by the UN GeneralAssembly and reflecting the legal conviction of the present international community relatingto these issues. Some authors even believe they spell out or elaborate customary rules ofinternational law governing those activities. 1614 See the texts of the Principles adopted by the UN General Assembly in United Nations Treaties andPrinciples on Outer Space, p. 37 et seq.15 For several years, the issue of NPS was discussed by the Scientific and Technical Subcommitteeunder a multi-year work plan. A special Working Group of the Subcommittee produced a reportentitled, “A review of international documents and national processes potentially relevant to thepeaceful uses of nuclear power sources in outer space”, UN doc. A/AC.105/781. The Working Groupshould determine in 2003 whether or not to take any additional steps concerning this report. On its part,the Legal subcommittee still agreed at its 2002 session that “at this time, opening a discussion onrevision of the principles was not warranted”. See the 2002 Report of the Legal Subcommittee, paras.73 and 74 on pp. 11 and 12.16 For a more detailed analysis of the legal nature of the UN General Assembly declarations, see theviews collected in D.J. Harris, Cases and Materials on International Law, Fifth edition, London, 1998,p. 58 et seq. See also Bin Cheng, United Nations Resolutions on Outer Space: ‘Instant’ International18