Third Party Liability for Space Transportation
- Paper number
IAC-06-E6.1.02
- Author
Mrs. Macha Ejova, France
- Year
2006
- Abstract
Space law and in particular Outer Space Treaty and Liability Convention laid the foundation for the unique legal regime governing the third party liability. However, due to the fact that the liability is unlimited, the private sector was hesitating to develop space activities. Consequently in order to promote commercial space activities, the States with space capabilities established the special risk sharing regime. The purpose of this regime is to indemnify space users against liabilities if the damage incurred exceeds a certain amount. The exact amount depends on the national legislation of the country. We can mention, as an illustration, two examples of launch accidents causing third party damages. The most famous case of the third-party indemnification is the accident involving a soviet military satellite Cosmos 954, which fell in the northern part of Canada in January 24, 1978. The Cosmos 954 satellite had a nuclear reactor on board. Fortunately, there were no human casualties, but Canada had suffered severe environmental consequences. A more recent case was the launch failure of the Chinese launcher Long March 3B which took place in China in February 15, 1996. This failure caused physical and property damages to the third party. In this article, we will analyze first the third party liability regime for space transportation in different countries as USA, Russia, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, China, and Australia. In the second part, we will take a look at the new Human Space Flight Requirements for Crew and Space Flight Participants proposed by FAA on December 29, 2005 and we will focus in particular on the financial responsibility and allocation of risk requirements. In conclusion, we will try to analyze if some changes are needed in current third-party liability regime and if so, what can be done in national space legislation.
- Abstract document