von der Dunk, Frans --- "International organizations in space law" [2015] ELECD 251; in von der Dunk, Frans (ed), "Handbook of Space Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 269

Book Title: Handbook of Space Law

Editor(s): von der Dunk, Frans

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781000359

Section: Chapter 5

Section Title: International organizations in space law

Author(s): von der Dunk, Frans

Number of pages: 62

Abstract/Description:

Chapter 5 focuses on the special role of international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) in space law, as a special branch of international law where such a role was of special importance in view of the extreme expenses space activities entail and the major risks involved in space activities. This role has essentially been twofold. On the one hand, in a manner essentially similar to general public international law, IGOs have provided international fora for discussion of and cooperation on international political and legal issues pertinent to space activities, on drafting guidelines, rules of the road, recommendations and sometimes binding regulation. Usually, those organizations already existed and at some point extended the scope of their activities to outer space and space activities. Major examples thereof are the United Nations itself, the ITU, the WTO, and UNIDROIT, whereas the European Union nowadays presents a rather special case in this context. On the other hand, rather uniquely for international law, states have bundled their technical and financial capabilities to develop joint space programmes, projects and infrastructures through specifically established intergovernmental organizations. Whilst also playing roles in the area of quasi-regulatory or regulatory developments, their main focus on developing space programmes, projects and infrastructures caused them to address such issues as financing arrangements, liabilities and related governance issues in great detail. Major examples are INTELSAT, INMARSAT and EUTELSAT in their pre-privatized capacities, and other currently IGOs such as INTERSPUTNUK, ARABSAT, the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT. The present chapter addresses these specific roles of IGOs in the context of existing space law, in particular as concerning international responsibilities and liabilities, as well as their specific contributions to the further development and codification of international space law. It then also discusses the specific topic of three of those IGOs meanwhile having been privatized, as that allows considerable further insight into the particular role of such IGOs, and their legal character in the context of (international) space law more broadly speaking. Since the Second World War the global community has seen an enormous rise in international intergovernmental organizations in virtually all areas of international cooperation, trade and other interaction. ‘Intergovernmental organizations’ (IGOs) should be distinguished from other, essentially ‘non-governmental’ organizations (NGOs), even if these in many cases also operate internationally; the former fundamentally concern organizations comprised of sovereign member states and hence are, in and of themselves, of a public legal character. As a consequence of such membership and the essentially public character of their tasks, responsibilities and activities, IGOs have constitutive documents providing inter alia for an institutionalized system for participation of member state representatives, may be granted secondary competences to conclude international agreements of a treaty-like nature, and enjoy certain functional immunities and privileges loosely based on those of sovereign states and their diplomatic representations. In all cases, those constitutive documents provide for the fundamentals of the legal relationship between the organizations, their competences, tasks and responsibilities, and those of the totality of member states. This, of course, is no different for IGOs involved in outer space and space activities, which may raise the issue of whether such general ‘IGO law’ should indeed be included within the broad concept of space law. Nevertheless, in at least one major respect outer space does present a very special case from the perspective of IGOs and international law.