Fourth IAASS Conference: Making Safety Matter – Session 2 – Regulations and Standards for Safety – Part I

May 19, 2010 at 9:36 pm | Posted in Blogcast, Space Law | Leave a comment

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

The first session on Regulations for Standards for Safety was Chaired by Ram Jahku, McGill University and Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Leiden University.

The first presentation of the session was “Harmful Interference: Its Meaning and Prospects of Enhancing Space Security and Safety” given by P.J. Blount, National Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law. My presentation is available to download.

The second presentation was given by Bruno Lazare, CNES and was titled “The French Space Operations Act:Technical Regulations.” He stated that the French Space Operations Act was intended to help France fulfill its Obligations under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty (specifically the duty to authorize and continually supervise space activities). To this end he stated that the act set out an authorization and verification regime that was applicable to a variety of actors under French Jurisdiction. After an overview of the Space Activities Act, he gave an overview of the Technical Regulations which are expected to enter into force in December 2010. He stated that the purpose of these regulations was to protect people, public health, property, and the environment. The regulations, according to Lazare, set out a variety of standards for things such as risk management, collision avoidance, debris mitigation, nuclear safety, and planetary protection, among other things.