The Centre for Aviation and Space Laws of the WB National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata is organizing an online International Conference on National Space Legislation on 27th February 2021.
Background
The space activities started predominantly as state-oriented activities in the twentieth century. With the proactive initiatives of the United Nations, the legal regime for regulating space activities developed strongly during the 1960s and 1970s. The period between 1967 and 1979 has been the golden era in terms of the development of space law as the five international treaties to govern and regulate space activities were adopted during this period. Unfortunately, the requisite consensus for developing further space treaties obliterated after the Moon Agreement 1979. Hence, international law-making in terms of binding norms stopped despite several efforts at the UNCOPUOS level.
Twenty first century is evidencing dramatic changes in space activities with increased commercialization. Private players are taking lead in carrying on various commercial space activities. This shift from State-oriented scientific space activities to private sector-oriented commercial space activities has brought forward several issues, which require legal regulation.
In the wake of above concerns, the Centre for Aviation and Space Laws of the WB National University of Juridical Sciences finds it timely to organise an international conference to map the current developments in national space legislation. The focus of this conference is to find out how far the national space laws of different States deviate from their international treaty obligations and what corrective steps are required to ensure that international harmony is maintained in space exploration.
Major Sub-Themes of the Conference
- Critical issues in licensing private space activities in different States
- Dealing with the aspects of responsibility and liability under the existing national space laws
- Property rights and national space laws
- Space demilitarization: National regulations
- National legal responses for protecting space environment
- Dealing with IPR issues under the national space laws
- Remote sensing policies and data protection
- National space legislation for India
Call for Papers
- Those who are interested in presenting a paper on any of the above themes must send an abstract of 400 words along with a brief biographical note (not more than 100 words) on or before 20 January 2021.
- The acceptance of the paper for presentation would be informed by 25 January 2021.
- A full-length paper of 5,000-6,000 words must be sent by 20 February 2021.
- If the full length paper is not submitted before the last date, authors will not be allowed to present the paper in the Conference.
- Submission of the full paper would be presumed as unconditional consent of the author/s for a possible publication by the organizers.
Important Dates
- Last date for submission of Abstract: 20 January 2021
- Last date for submission of Full Paper: 20 February 2021
- Conference Date: 27 February 2021
Submissions
All submissions must be sent to [email protected]
Expected Participants
- As this academic exercise is on the current concern faced by the international community, participation from various segments of the society is expected.
- While academicians, students, and researchers would benefit immensely from the discussions, the legal practitioners would also be able to acquaint themselves with this emerging branch of law.
- With the participation of internationally renowned space law experts as resource persons, even the lawmakers and other government representatives would be benefited out of their participation in this international conference.
