The European Commission finally unveiled what it pitches as a landmark space law on Wednesday aimed at positioning the bloc as a global rule-setter in the rapidly growing frontier industry.
“The EU Space Act is the first time ever we regulate space activities in the European Union,” said Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius while unveiling the package on 25 June, adding it applies to “all companies providing services.”
The new law focuses on three areas: safety, setting harmonised authorisation procedures for launching and operating satellites; resilience, by establishing rules to prevent cyber and physical threats to space assets; and sustainability, with plans to develop a methodology to measure the environmental impact of the space sector.
The set of rules will apply extraterritorially, meaning they will also cover non-EU companies such as US, Chinese, Indian and Japanese companies seeking to do business in the EU, teeing up a potential conflict with Washington DC.
The EU executive has proposed a long phase-in period – two years – before the regulation enters into force and is applied by member states. The gradual ramp-up is intended to give the industry time to adapt to the new rules, with full implementation expected by 2030 at the earliest.
However, that means that by the time it enters into force numerous mega constellations including Musk’s Starlink, Amazon’s Kuiper and Chinese alternatives will be up and running.
The Commission was first due to drop the draft rules in April 2024, but postponed the publication due to concerns they would be too onerous for start-up rocket and satellite companies in Europe.
The Commission has said that its EU Space Act is designed to align with the 12 existing national space laws across the bloc.
The draft now faces a challenging legislative route to becoming binding law, with big space countries such as Germany, France, and Italy set to lobby hard. There will also surely be pushback from the United States, and its billionaire space company owners, over market access.
The Commission has proposed a regulation rather than a directive – overriding the preferences of two of the EU’s three largest national space economies (Germany and Italy) which had requested a less restrictive legal approach in a letter to the EU executive in December 2024.
(nl, jp)