Legal support and Legal counseling
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The regulation of relations in outer space and on celestial bodies is one of the most important tasks of space activity since the space future of states, private companies, and all mankind depends on this process.Although the international community made the first official attempts in this direction in 1958, the mentioned process remains incomplete. Much debate on this topic has given rise to many theories about further developing space relationships. To date, mankind has not come close to a single position. Moreover, high-tech states and companies continue the long-begun space race, which has every chance of leading to a global space confrontation in the future, provided the process of regulation of space activities does not move to a new, qualitatively higher level. At the same time, even a superficial glance is enough to understand that today the process of regulating space activities on Earth, in outer space, and on celestial bodies resembles frozen volcanic lava. This lava previously flowed in different directions, bypassing uncomfortable areas, and is now frozen in various places, taking after a “patchwork” and “leaky” blanket with numerous patches. |
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The reason for this is that the process of regulation of space activities remains a new one that has not enjoined a solid skeleton for its development. Unlike such types of law as criminal, civil, and commercial law, which have developed over thousands of years based on ancient Roman law and extensive human experience, the regulation of space relationships took place manually and most often ex post facto (after certain events occurred in space). At the same time, the adopted international and national documents were most often based not on specific experience but only on the assumptions of representatives of various states.
In this regard, there are still many scientific and diplomatic disputes on regulating space activities.
That is why the regulation of space activities has many nuances related to the peculiarities of the national legislation of different states, the imperfection of international space law, and the lack of legal mechanisms and a legal framework for regulating private relations.
Our lawyers, who have extensive scientific experience in research in the field of space law and practical experience in legal support for the activities of companies developing space technologies, will provide you with highly qualified advice and highly effective assistance in the field of regulation of space activities and relationships in the space industry (both public and in the private sector).
Public space law
Public space law is a complexly integrated system of generally accepted provisions of international law (UN Resolutions, Declarations, and Conventions), interstate (including intergovernmental) agreements and treaties as well as numerous and varied norms of national legislation of various states participating in space activities.
At the same time, one of the characteristic features of public space law is the reluctance of some actors to comply with international agreements, and as a consequence - the confrontation of national and international interests in the space sphere.
In a sense, public space law resembles Dedalus' intricate Labyrinth, where legal traps and impenetrable legal dead ends await travelers.
In turn, our lawyers possess a large amount of knowledge in public space law, from which Ariadne’s saving thread is woven, which allows us to find a way out of the most confusing legal Labyrinth.
We will provide governments, international, and intergovernmental organizations with highly qualified advice in the field of public space law, allowing them to resolve many problems in the field of regulation of space activities, including:
― drafting Resolutions, Declarations, and UN Conventions as well as interstate and intergovernmental agreements, contracts, and treaties;
― providing analysis of legal conflicts of international and national law in the field of regulation of space activities;
― defending national interests when concluding interstate agreements and treaties as well as when signing international resolutions, declarations, and conventions in the field of regulation of space activities;
― defending international interests in the implementation of national and joint international space activities;
― defending the interests of humanity in matters of space activities;
― performing the execution of international treaties and agreements as well as Conventions, Declarations, and UN Resolutions;
― protection of national interests in joint international and interstate space projects;
― protection of national interests in matters of remote space sensing (exploration) of national mineral deposits by foreign satellites;
― protection of national interests in matters of remote space sensing (reconnaissance) of national territory for military purposes by foreign satellites;
― interaction of space objects of different states in outer space as well as the results and consequences of such interaction;
― research in the field of formation of the boundaries of the air-political space of the state;
― determination of the jurisdiction of states in air and outer space and the law that may apply outside such jurisdictions,
and much more.
Private space activities
Today many tasks in private space activities require qualified legal regulation, for example:
― regulation of space traffic of private transport;
― regulation of the commercial use of outer space and international space stations;
― regulation of the activities of commercial platforms (which are located on Earth, in orbit, in space, on the Moon, and planets) for launching objects into space;
― insurance of space activities, determination of liability for space activities, and resolution of disputes;
― regulation of commercial mining;
― regulation of space tourism;
― determination of the form of commercial contracts in space activities;
― regulation of labor relations in outer space;
― determination of ownership rights (including intellectual property) to objects obtained as a result of private space activities,
― regulation and protection of investments in private space activities,
― regulation of the participation of private companies in the militarization of space,
and many other important issues of commercialization of space activities.
However, in contrast to international and national space activities, when regulating private space activities, it is necessary to take into account the existence of three separate spatial and territorial areas of such regulation: the layer of air-political space of states, the layer of spatial security of humanity, and outer space.
At the same time, within the layer of air-political space of states, the principle of spatial-territorial jurisdiction of states will operate, in the layer of spatial security of humanity international acts and agreements could be applied, and in outer space (outside the jurisdiction of states) there are actually no generally accepted legal norms governing private space activities.
To date, most of the problems in private space activities have remained unresolved, and scientific works on these topics are applied separately and only in individual legal relations.
At the same time, sporadic and discrete attempts to meet individual challenges in the field of legal regulation of outer space private activities, without a systematic approach to the issue, resemble a process of “patching holes” that is virtually doomed to failure, since the general principles and all the elements of regulation are not considered.
In turn, our lawyers have extensive experience in regulating private legal relations on Earth and a large amount of scientific and practical knowledge in private international law and public space law.
We will provide private space companies and participants in private space projects with highly qualified advice in the regulation of private space activities, solving many problems in this area.