Working Group hosted by IIASL adopts space resources provisions
On 12 November 2019, the members of The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group adopted the Building Blocks for the Development of an International Framework on Space Resource Activities, during the last meeting of the Working Group that took place in Luxembourg from 11 to 12 November 2019.
The Building Blocks are the result of four-year discussions among the Working Group participants and aim to lay the groundwork for a future potential framework for the governance of space resources.
The Building Blocks consist of twenty provisions that address different aspects of space resource activities, such as key terms, responsibility, jurisdiction and control over space-made products, priority rights, resource rights, due regard, harmful impacts from space resource activities, safety zones, sharing of benefits, registration, assistance in case of distress, visits related to space resource activities, and dispute settlement. The Building Blocks also provide for the objectives, the principles and the scope of the governance framework, as well as for appropriate institutional arrangements and for its monitoring and review. The Working Group identified these issues as essential in the discussion about the governance of space resources and recommends that they are taken into consideration by States, international organizations, and other entities, which may be involved in the negotiations of a governance framework.
Governance framework
The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group was established in January 2016 with the purpose to assess the need for a governance framework for space resource activities and lay the groundwork for such framework. The Working Group is hosted by a consortium of partners from around the word, namely the International Institute of Air and Space Law of Leiden University, the Catholic University of Santos (Brasil), the Secure World Foundation (USA), the University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg), the Nishimura Institute of Advance Legal Studies (Japan), the Indonesian Center of Air and Space Law of Padjajaran University (Indonesia), the SpaceLab of Cape Town University (South Africa) and the Ten to the Ninth Plus Foundation (USA).