External Relations

When ECSL was established, it was planned that once the Centre would have reached a stage of sufficient maturity, it would branch out and be able to work on a reciprocal basis with other bodies having similar objectives elsewhere in the world. This possibility is foreseen in Article 7 of the ECSL Charter. Over the years, strenuous efforts have been made to make this wish come true and the success achieved in this respect is very rewarding, and encouraging for the future of the Centre.

Relations have been established from the beginning with the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and with the International Bar Association, through Members of the ECSL Board. Institutional relations with the IISL have been strengthened by the joint organisation of the Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition, in which ECSL is taking a very active role. Its relations with the International Bar Association have given ECSL additional access to the practitioners' community.

The research carried out by ECSL, both in the field of legal protection of remote-sensing data and in that of intellectual property rights and space activities, have helped develop relations between the Centre and the European Commission, the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. In this respect, ECSL has started to develop an influence on the law-making process, which will have to be strengthened in the future, in particular by constantly improving the quality of the research carried out and of the output, as well as by closely following action taken as a result of the research.

ECSL has, for the past few years, reported on behalf of ESA to the United Nations on research and educational activities carried out in the field of international law. In 1994, ECSL also consolidated its relations with the United Nations, in particular with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. ECSL participated in the Organisation with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs of a workshop on commercial space activities, held in Vienna in March 1994, on the occasion of the meeting of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee. The Head of the Office, Dr Jasentuliyana, also lectured on the role of the United Nations in space law at the Granada Summer Course. Recently, cooperation has been initiated with the Office with a view to loading into ESALEX a number of UN space-related documents, in particular those of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee. The first part of these documents will be available in ESALEX by mid-1995.

Cooperation has also been initiated with the Canadian space law community, via a Committee set up for the purpose. The first steps of this cooperation were taken on the basis of the participation of a Professor from the McGill Institute of Air and Space Law in the Granada Course. Also, ECSL News included Canadian publications in its special issue on Editing and Publishing in Europe. ESALEX is an area where cooperation is foreseen in the near future. Many other projects have been discussed, as potential areas of cooperation.

Finally, there have been contacts with the Portuguese Association of Air and Space Law, which invited ECSL to give a presentation in a conference on space law. The Portuguese space law community has been included in the ECSL mailing list and receives ECSL News as well as general information.