Re-invigorating international arbitration of space related disputes in national legislation

Abstract

Since the 1960s treaties have been instrumental in setting the law of outer space. More and more, technical and economic realities live up to the entrepreneurial dreams of the past. There are longstanding ways and means of dispute resolution between states, even if little tested in practice with regard to outer space. The Outer Space Treaty establishes and codifies an unusually high degree of state attribution and responsibility for nongovernmental activities in outer space. The developments of the last decade have demonstrated an ever growing private space industry. In due time, this will lead to an ever growing number of private-to-private, private-to-state and state-to-state disputes. Space related disputes involving private parties, will require other means of resolution. While not undermining the necessarily high degree of state responsibility and the discretionary right of states to engage in diplomatic protection of their subjects, this paper proposes to de-politicize disputes involving private parties where possible. The paper proposes coordinated national legislation by states parties to the UN space treaties to make agreement to compulsory jurisdiction of an arbitral body for resolving certain international disputes regarding space activities part of their national licensing requirement for space activities. To this end, the paper will outline the most salient advantages, disadvantages and obstacles to the creation of such a coordinate transnational system.