BENGALURU: The increasing trend of private sector participation and prevalence of legislation in space faring nations has triggered the Department of Space to come out with a draft legislation on space activities.
ISRO has in its website posted the Draft Space Activities Bill, 2017 inviting comments and suggestions from the public. ISRO stated that there was need for a National Space legislation for supporting the overall growth of the Space activities in India.
This would encourage enhanced participation of non-governmental and private sector agencies in Space activities in the country, in compliance with international treaty obligations, which was becoming very relevant today.
The proposed legislation envisaged any person or firm who intended to take up Space related activities or manufacturing need to register with the government and any violation would attract penal action of imprisonment of upto three years and also fine that might extend upto Rs One Crore and more.
The legislation has been drawn from the Model Law on National Space Legislation on which the Department of Space made a study since it addressed the obligations of a State under UN treaties on Outer Space activities precisely. It had carried out necessary customisation to match with the Indian context of space activities.
With Space technology and applications were used as enabling tools for national development and governance, the need was felt for a space specific legal regime that should enable further growth of space activities in India, rather than merely a regulatory or a restrictive regime. It needed to facilitate private sector participation in Space activities under authorisation and supervision by the government.
ISRO said that the draft legislation has been drafted with due consultations with a few relevant Ministers and it was intended to have a basic framework with very essential provisions for treaty obligations with scope for formulating rules and regulations on specific topics and activities.
With space technologies and activities changing very fast it would be prudent to revise rules and formulate with updates to cope up with the developments and hence the draft bill included a provision for Rules Making Powers by the Government.
The draft legislation also provided for maintenance of a register of Space objects by the Central Government and authorised the Central Government to formulate, establish and notify an appropriate mechanism for licensing and procedures during eligibility criteria and fees for licence and conduct of any commercial space activity in compliance with any international treaty on outer space.
Space faring nations that have enacted such legislations included USA, Russia, Ukraine, Republic of Korea, South Africa, United Kingdom, Indonesia and Austria have already formulated domestic Space legislations.
Japan and China were in the process of formulating such an Act, while France had a space Authrosiation Act for providing commercial space activities through Arianespace. (AGENCIES)
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