Report of the 2008 Practitionner's Forum

Practitionner's Forum

On 15 December 2008, the ECSL Practitioners’ Forum took place at ESA Headquarters, drawing some 50 participants – quite satisfactorily, taking into account the closeness to Christmas and the short lead time! The theme this time was “National space legislation in Europe – Issues of authorisation in the light of developments in European space cooperation”.

The meeting, which was chaired by ECSL Chairman Prof. Marchisio, was kicked off by a brief introduction of Prof. von der Dunk, Practitioners’ Forum Coordinator, who inter alia reported on the 3rd Eilene Galloway Symposium as it had just taken place, where a closely related issue was discussed.

The next speaker, Prof. Marboe, incoming Chairperson of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee’s Working Group national space legislation, kicked off the morning session on The Bottom Line: From International Treaties to National Authorisation with a “Brief overview of national authorisation mechanisms in implementation of the UN international space treaties. The second speaker was Mr. Mayence, Head of Legal Unit International Relations at the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy, who addressed the subject of “Harmonisation of authorisation regimes: a key issue for smaller space-faring nations”. After the coffee break, Prof. Kerrest de Rozavel of the University of West-Brittany spoke on “Liability and insurance in the context of national authorisation”. The last speaker before lunch was Dr. Smith, General Counsel on Intellectual Property with Eurospace who addressed “Intellectual property rights protection in the context of national authorisation mechanisms”.

The afternoon session, entitled Towards the Future: International, National and European Developments, was chaired by Dr. Hulsroj, Director Legal Affairs and External Relations with ESA. The first speaker he introduced was Mr. Wouters, CEO Caribbean Spaceport, on the “Authorisation of space tourism: the case of the Netherlands”, followed by Dr. Schmidt-Tedd, Head Legal Support with the German Aerospace Agency DLR, who spoke on “Authorisation of space activities after the entry into force of the EU Reform Treaty”.

Following tea, Mrs. Vandenbroucke, Coordinator Regulatory Affairs with the European Satellite Operators Association ESOA, offered “National versus European authorisation: a satellite communications industry perspective”. The last speaker finally was Prof. Schaefer, Director of the Space and Telecommunications LLM Programme at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who spoke on “The global perspective: market access, national authorisation and GATS-principles (MFN, national treatment)”.

After an animated discussion led by Dr. Hulsroj, Prof. von der Dunk briefly wrapped up the Practitioners’ Forum, thanking amongst others Mr. De Cooker and Mrs. Vincent for their crucial support, wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a successful New Year, and inviting everyone to drinks.

Frans G. von der Dunk