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EU Presidency Statement - Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the Stabilization and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

Space technology and the use of space application are playing an increasing role in our society. We make use of space applications - directly or indirectly - almost every day and often without explicitly being aware of that fact. It seems that the advent of space applications in our society has passed off quietly.

The peaceful use of the outer space is of great interest for the benefit of humankind. The great challenges we face today are manifold and include:

• control or even stop climate change and lessen pressure on environment,
• stimulate sustainable development and
• create acceptable living conditions for everyone on earth.

The implementation of the policies in these fields can be increasingly supported by the possibility to deploy space technology and space applications.

In a wider context, space science and space technology contribute to the efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals such as 'protecting our common environment' and 'development and poverty eradication'. They also contribute to achieve the goals of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in particular through Earth observation and remote sensing. Finally it benefits the results of the World Summit on Information Society, for example by the use and promotion of information and communication technology as an instrument for environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Commission will organize an International Conference in February 2005 to explore the possible cooperation scenarios not only with the space powers but also with developing countries. This conference will discuss the science, technology and development of global services such as positioning, earth observation and access to information. The results from this conference will help the European Union to elaborate a space programme that in particular will have to reflect the opportunities for international cooperation.

Mr. Chairman,

Deliberations here and in other fora have repeatedly described outer space as being part of the Common Heritage of Mankind. The European Union remains a strong advocate of this concept and noted with great appreciation and interest the report of the forty-seventh session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) held in Vienna last June. The report shows a good overview of subjects relevant to the peaceful uses of outer space and gives insight into the progress made so far.

An important issue on the agenda of COPUOS is the review of the implementation of the recommendations of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III). At the June meeting the Committee approved the report of the Committee as finalised by its working group [A/59/174]. The report contains a comprehensive and forward-looking assessment of the implementation process, five years after the conference in Vienna in 1999. The recommendations for further action address several important areas for improving human living conditions. Let me recall some of them:

• the development of a comprehensive world-wide environmental monitoring strategy,
• protection of the earth's environment and managing its resources,
• the use and application of global navigation satellite systems to support sustainable development,
• the use of telemedicine to increase health care, and
• the implementation of an integrated world-wide system for disaster management.

The EU appreciates the method of establishing priorities in the thirty-three recommendations of UNISPACE III, and the establishment of twelve action teams to prepare implementation. The work of action teams under the voluntary leadership of Member States has proved to be a unique and effective mechanism for initiating the implementation. It is thus very important, especially after this joint effort, to retain progress in the continued implementation process . The European Union attaches great importance to the work that is done so far and is of the view that the work should be continued with the same effort of all involved.

The EU will make a separate statement regarding the review of UNISPACE III in the plenary session of the General Assembly during the consideration of the relevant agenda item.

Mr. Chairman,

Some subjects regarding the peaceful use of the outer space merit particular attention due to its complexity. In addition to technical complications, these subjects can also have legal implications. Let me mention two instances of this.

• The first is the fact that the number of private entities involved in space faring and the increasing commercialisation of outer space demand an appropriate legal framework and appropriate national space law. To respond to this new development the Office for Outer Space Affairs took the initiative two years ago to organise yearly workshops on capacity building in space law. It turns out that there is great interest in this subject, both in developing and developed countries, and we have to continue working on this.
• Secondly, special attention should be focussed on the increasing pollution of the outer space caused by space debris. It cannot be ignored that space debris will stand in the way of future space activities if no further special measures will be taken in the shortest possible term, both international and national. In this respect, the European Union notes with appreciation that international and national progress has been made in implementing the appropriate measures based on international space debris mitigation guidelines, formulated by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Co-ordination Committee.

Mr. Chairman,

In this context of legal implications it is worth mentioning the draft resolution on the concept of the launching state to be adopted by the General Assembly. This draft resolution is based on the results of a working group on that topic, which conducted its work from 2000 to 2002 in the framework of the Legal Subcommittee. The recommendations arising from this work, which were unanimously approved by the Committee this year, will have positive effects on the application of the legal concept of the "launching state" and bring forward the development of space law in a considerable way. This is particularly true for the focus on national space legislation as a key to cope with the rise of private space activities. The development of the resolution was not only made possible through the constructive and consensual work in the working group but also through flexibly applying the agenda structure of the Subcommittee.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union holds the opinion that continued international co-operation in the field of space science and space technology is essential to make progress. The International Space Station is a case in point. Let me emphasise two other specific examples, which show the European involvement in international co-operation:

• The first one is related to international co-operation in the field of Earth Observation. The European initiative 'Global Monitoring for Environment and Security', GMES, and the initiative taken by the United States of America last year to come to a common approach to harmonise earth observation information, demonstrate the increasing need for international co-operation. These initiatives, among others in the field of earth observation, play a substantive role in achieving the goals of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development such as improving people's lives and conserving our national resources.
• The second example is the fact that the European Union recognises the great importance of space technology for navigation, location and determination of time. In addition to the operational Global Positioning System of the United States of America, GPS, and the Russian GLONASS system, the European Union has it's own system Galileo under development. As a result of intensive negotiations between the US and the EU, GPS and Galileo can co-operate to even strengthen and improve the use of satellite navigation world-wide.

In this context Mr. Chairman, I like to stress the important role that the European Space Agency plays. ESA is involved in close co-operation with the European Union in Galileo and GMES. Moreover ESA is responsible for the development of many European space activities in the light of the common European Strategy for Space that has been developed by the EU in co-operation with ESA. The role of ESA is not restricted to Europe, ESA manifests itself world-wide, for example in connection with UNISPACE III, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the International Space Station.

Mr. Chairman,

It is beyond the scope of this statement to pass all aspects of space science and space technology in review and to discuss its meaning for the world, humankind and society. It may be clear however that it is impossible to imagine life today without space science and space technology and that space affects in an increasing degree our society and the welfare of humanity. The European Union will make every effort to ensure that the peaceful uses of outer space will be for the benefit of life on earth.

Thank you.

* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process

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