Report from the 2021 ESA/ECSL Executive Course on Space Law and Regulations
The 3rd edition of the ESA/ECSL Executive Course on Space Law and Regulations was organised as a hybrid event at ESA ESTEC (Netherlands) from 10 - 12 November, and had 23 participants from Europe and beyond. Participants were government officials, industry representatives, ESA delegates and more.
Due to the space sector becoming increasingly commercialised, both national governments and private companies have a need for knowledge about the legal and regulatory dimensions related to space activities. The ECSL and ESA recognise these changes and therefore offer a structured introduction, as well as in depth lectures on space law and regulations to government representatives and industry professionals through this three day course.
The first day of the course started off with an introduction into space law by Alexander Soucek (Head of ESA's Public International Law Division), as well as an introduction into legally non-binding instruments by Rosanna Hoffmann (ECSL Executive Secretary) and Hristina Talkova (Legal Trainee). After the lunch break, Niklas Hedman (Chief of Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section at UNOOSA) lectured on international space governance, whilst the rest of the afternoon continued with an in depth view into national space law, its building blocks and applications by Dorota Englender (Legal Officer at ESA). The day ended with an ECSL hosted dinner, which aloud for continued intensive discussions and networking between the participants and speakers.
Day two was just as eventful and contained even more comprehensive lectures, especially in connection with examples on national space law. Irmgard Marboe (Professor of International Law at the University of Vienna) delved into the Austrian example in connection with drafting a national space law, whilst the UK perspective was presented by Joanne Wheeler (Managing Partner at Alden Legal) and the Belgium perspective and lessons learned was discussed by Jean-Francois Mayence (Lawyer at the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy). After hearing and discussing national examples, a private company perspective was given by Scott Schneider (Regulatory Team Lead at Southern Launch). The afternoon continued with more practical issues and began with a high level introduction on export control by Claes Hansen (ESA Legal Officer) and the topic of space debris, including possible mitigation strategies by Stijn Lemmens (ESA Space Debris Analyst). Day two ended with an exciting tour of ESTEC's technical facilities, especially the High Bay in the Erasmus Centre.
Day three started off with the important topic of registering space objects by Alexander Soucek and continued on this more practical block with Cécile Gaubert (Lawyer at Cécile Gaubert Law Firm) lecturing on insuring space missions. Regulatory aspects of outer space activities in connection with ITU Regulations was addressed by Attila Matas (Senior Satellite Regulatory Consultant at OrbitSpectrum), after which Jenni Tapio (Chief Specialist in the Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment) lectured on the practical implications for the regulator in connection with long-term sustainability. Marco Ferrazzani (ESA Legal Counsel and Head of the Legal Services Department) discussed the emerging challenges in the European Space Sector, after which Rosanna Hoffmann moderated a panel on some of these challenges with Marco Ferrazzani, Attila Matas and Jenni Tapio. The panellists were eager to discuss challenges, but also possible solutions for today and the future.
Below you can find a slider with pictures from the handing out of the awards, the ESTEC tour, the different lectures and the overall course. The feedback has been very positive and ESA and the ECSL look forward to a 4th installment in 2022.
