Article 1. The Establishment of the Centre

1. A European Centre for Space Law, hereinafter referred to as 'the Centre', is hereby established. The Centre will function under the aegis of the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), represented by the Legal Adviser.

2. The Centre's main administrative unit will be located at ESA Headquarters, 8-10 rue Mario-Nikis, 75015 Paris, France.

3. Membership of the Centre is open to natural and legal persons from ESA Member States or Associate States who are interested in the development of space law and who accept this Charter. For instance. members may be: European institutes and other academic bodies. individual academics, and members of European national administrations and space organisations; ESA itself, other European international institutions, or persons therefrom; persons from European private-sector organisations and European law firms; and private individuals from ESA Member States or Associate Members. Where an applicant does not fulfil the terms of the present paragraph, membership may nevertheless exceptionally be granted to that person by the Board specified in Article 5, below.

4. The procedure for registration as a member of the Centre will be by application to the Centre, at the invitation of the ECSL secretariat, in conformity with the terms of the present Article. The Board shall review membership every year.

5. Members of the Centre shall contribute to its functioning by paying a yearly membership fee. The amount of such fee shall be determined by the General Meeting, upon proposal of the Board. The modalities under which such payment is made shall be determined by the Board and payments shall be received by the Secretariat. The authority to administer these funds is vested with the Board.

Article 2. Purposes

The main purposes of the Centre are:

1. to exploit and complement the efforts made and the resources available in Europe in the fields of space-law research and further to develop those efforts and resources, including documentation, in a coordinated manner;

2. to promote knowledge of and interest in the law relating to space activities through the promotion of research activities, including the dissemination of information and the organisation of workshops;

3. to provide for exchanges, including through the organisation of colloquia and other meetings, of information and ideas across disciplinary and national lines with the aim of improving both the technical understanding of those concerned with space-law research and the legal understanding of those concerned with the production, use and operation of space technologies;

4. to encourage direct exchanges between the members and their organisations, especially through the establishment of 'National Points of Contact (NPOCS) in the ESA and ESA Associate Member territories;

5. to identify themes related to space law in which university research and training at degree, doctoral and postdoctoral level should be encouraged;

6. to identify areas of space-related activity in which regulation is appropriate, and to discuss and propose principles and draft norms which may then be promoted at national or European level; and

7. to promote the establishment and development of national centres for space law research and to assist them by providing them with access to research resources throughout Europe, and by giving them technical and other advice.

Article 3. Resources and Services

1. The Centre will benefit from:
   1. human resources, which will consist of the availability of ESA staff (in particular in the Department of Legal Affairs in the Directorate of Administration); of fellows placed at the Centre's disposal by the members, and of students and volunteers

   2. office space and equipment, as well as institutional and technological (especially computer network) support, which will be provided by ESA.

2. The Centre, with the aid of ESA, will offer the following services:
   1. an up-to-date on-line database of space law materials available in the ESA Member States and Associate Members, as well as an inventory on space law research in Europe, including a list of theses and research work;

   2. a breakdown of the state of space law teaching in Europe;

   3. access to and use of the ESA Information Retrieval Service (IRS) system, including for electronic mail purposes, under conditions to be determined by ESA;

   4. access to the Library at ESA HQ (and as the case may be the libraries at ESTEC, ESOC and ESRIN), under the conditions for access and use that are ordinarily applied;

   5. organisational support for research meetings and workshops and the provision of inputs for the themes to be discussed by such gatherings;

   6. production and circulation of a bulletin on space law research in Europe and on the Centre's activities, as well as other informational matter related to space law and European space organisations.

Article 4. Assistance to the Centre

1. The members of the Centre undertake to keep the Centre informed of their activities related to space law (for example, courses on space law, theses, conferences, case law) and of their resources (for example, electronic databases), as well as to provide the Centre with information for distribution to other ECSL members.

2. The members of the Centre will use their best efforts to: provide the Centre with fellows supported financially by members and with volunteers, so as to reinforce the Secretariat of the Centre; to participate in workshops concerned with matters affecting their specialismes: and to offer exchange arrangements for receiving students and researchers in their institutions.

Article 5. Organs

1. The organs of the Centre will be the General Meeting of members. the Board and the Secretariat.

2. The Board will assist the ESA Legal Adviser in the conduct of the Centre's work. It will be composed of persons, not more than 10, elected by the General Meeting of members for a period of two years, from the different categories of the Centre's members (academics, practitioners, the Centre's operators, representatives from national administrations and agencies and from industry, as well as students). The Board's functions will be to oversee and assist in the running of the Centre, to propose themes for research and workshops, to select among applicants for the award of grants offered by the members and ESA, and to take other steps necessary to achieve the aims of the Centre as set out in Article 2 above. The ESA Legal Adviser shall chair the Board. The Board will meet at least twice a year.

The Secretariat of the Centre will be provided by the Legal Affairs Department of the European Space Agency, with the assistance of persons provided by members under Article 4.2 above.

1. The running costs of the Centre's main administrative unit will be borne by ESA. Members of the Centre are invited to contribute to these costs through donations.

2. ESA, with contributions also from other bodies, will offer a one-year bursary annually to young lawyers performing space-law-related short periods of research in Europe. The themes for this research will be recommended by the Centre's Board to the ESA Director General for approval. Furthermore, ESA will use its best efforts to receive students from ECSL members for internship training. It is expected that national space agencies will also offer such bursaries and training. These offers will be coordinated by the Centre.

3. The Centre's budget will be administered by the ESA Director General. All monies received from members or other persons shall be held on trust by the ESA Director General for achievement of the purposes of the Centre as determined in the present Charter. Such monies may, inter alia, be used in exercise of this trust to organise workshops, colloquia and other meetings, and to produce publications. The accounts relative to such expenditure shall be verified in accordance with the auditing procedures laid down pursuant to the ESA Financial Regulations.

Article 7. External Relations

The Centre will formally commence its operations on 12 May 1989.

Version as amended on 25 June 1993. (Original in English)