SWF Staff Participate in the 57th Session of the Legal Subcommittee of UNCOPUOS

Monday, April 23, 2018

SWF Space Law Advisor Christopher Johnson and Ian Christensen, SWF Director of Private Sector Programs, represented SWF at the 57th session of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), held in Vienna, Austria from April 9-20, 2018. The annual Subcommittee meeting brings together delegations from 87 countries and 20 permanent observer organizations to discuss the legal aspects of the peaceful uses of outer space.

Mr. Christensen gave an update on SWF's activities related to the work of the Subcommittee, including the SWF Handbook for New Actors in Space, which was unveiled at the 54th session of the COPUOS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee in 2017. At this year’s session, the Legal Subcommittee discussed aspects of resource use in outer space, including the current feasibility of developing norms for resource use and the suitability of various fora for these discussions. The Subcommittee also discussed various other legal aspects of space included in its agenda, such as space traffic management and legal aspects of small satellites. The finalized report of the Subcommittee will be posted online by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) which acts as the Secretariat to COPUOS. The report of this year’s Legal Subcommittee, along with the report of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee will be reviewed at this summer at the full session of the Committee to be held June 20-29, in conjunction with the historic UNISPACE+50 conference, at the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), in Vienna, Austria.