Eu Space Act: the first steps of the European Union’s space law

Strict regulations on safety, cybersecurity and space debris that also apply to companies from non-Eu countries wishing to sell services to Eu member states, including SpaceX. However, exceptions are foreseen. The Commission has adopted the text, which is now under review by the Parliament and the Council.

BY EMILIO COZZI

Europe has moved to introduce a space law to govern the continent’s civil sector activities.
Long awaited, the Eu Space Act has been drafted by the European Commission and will now be submitted for examination by the European Parliament and the Council of the Eu.
It consists of 119 articles outlining all the requirements that space companies from those building and managing satellites to those launching them must comply with to be authorized to operate. It mainly addresses orbital sustainability, environmental footprint, space debris, and cybersecurity. And it applies, a not insignificant detail, also to “operators from third countries providing space services or space data within the Union.”
Does this mean that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and anyone else from non-Eu countries will have to align with these regulations? On paper, yes, although in practice it seems more complex. However, an important point emerges: private companies will not be able to use services from non-Eu operators who do not comply with European regulations.

The nerve center will be Euspa, the European Union Agency for the Space Programme, which will coordinate the efforts of the regulatory bodies of individual countries. The Commission writes that 13 countries “have approved space legislation. This reflects international law commitments that require oversight of space activities. The resulting patchwork of regulatory approaches is leading to a fragmented internal market. This fragmentation is set to increase as a greater number of member states plan to establish legal frameworks for space activities.”

Starting in 2030

Article 2 includes a date: “This regulation does not apply to assets launched before 2030,” however, it is specified that during the transition phase “for assets still in a critical design phase, the Regulation provides an additional 24-month transitional period to achieve compliance.” Constellations already active in orbit before 2030 or those still in the critical review phase in development in other words should not be affected by the document within 12 months of the law’s entry into force.

From these dates onward, space operators will be required to provide safety guarantees regarding satellites put into orbit, rockets launched, and activities conducted on space stations and spacecraft, with measures aimed at “improving the tracking of space objects and limiting new debris, by establishing requirements for the safe disposal of satellites at the end of their life cycle,” reads the summary. For this purpose, a Union Registry of Space Objects (Urso) is established.

Safety, Environmental Impact, and Resilience

The law will require thorough risk assessments throughout the entire life of a satellite, applying cybersecurity regulations and reporting any incidents. Due to their (also) strategic value, space infrastructures must provide guarantees against potential cyberattacks and electronic interference. Finally, the directive requires operators to calculate the environmental footprint for the entire lifecycle of the space mission, including the design, production, operation, and decommissioning phases.

Costs and Benefits

There are many requirements to meet, and this will inevitably affect the costs of designing, building, and managing. The document provides some estimates on the economic impact. “Satellite operators could face up to a 10% increase in the production costs of satellite platforms, depending on the mission requirements. Launch service providers will incur additional expenses, with large providers potentially paying up to 1.5 million euros for heavy launchers (Ariane 64 class) and Smes up to 200,000 euros. Risk management costs for companies are estimated at 10% of their IT budget [cybersecurity, ed.] and authorization requirements per product line will cost around 100,000 euros. Implementing product category rules on environmental footprint will cost between 4,000 and 8,000 euros.”

The document also lists the benefits the new rules will bring, especially in terms of market, mission duration guaranteed by safety requirements, and new opportunities.

“The ability to market a single product in 27 Member States streamlines access and reduces administrative barriers, enabling a faster time to market. The shift from authorizing a single satellite to authorizing a constellation alone is expected to save satellite operators 68 million euros over the next decade,” the document reads. “It is also estimated that extending the life of satellites in low Earth orbit from 5 to 6 years will have an annualized economic impact of 1.3 billion euros. Companies will gain a global competitive advantage by benefiting from high cybersecurity standards that reduce cyber risks, with potential savings of 320 million euros per year for manufacturers.”

The European Commission views the new law as “support for the Union’s space industry (accounting for 20% of a projected market of 700 billion euros by 2031), while also promoting the emergence of new commercial segments such as active debris removal, on-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing, and encryption technologies.”

There are so many articles, details, and annexes with specifications that it is difficult to say much at this point. The word will first go to individual States, like Italy, which just recently passed its first Space Economy law, and then to companies, which will express their views on the effectiveness of the measure.

Derogations for Third Countries

While operators from third countries (i.e. outside the Union) will also have to request authorization from Euspa to provide services for Europe, one article addresses the matter at a higher level, essentially a somewhat “political” agreement between external countries and the Union. Article 16 states: “Space operators from third countries established in a third country for which the Commission has adopted an equivalence decision, pursuant to Article 105, are presumed to meet the requirements set out in Article 15.” In other words, if a third country guarantees the Union that it respects the principles expressed in the law, its space operators do not need to obtain authorization from Euspa to operate in Europe.

Again, there is an exception to the principle due to emergencies and launch impossibilities (and Europe has recently faced critical issues in this regard). In cases of necessity, it is allowed to rely on a rocket operator from a country that meets the requirements, provided that “no realistic or readily available alternative or substitute launch services exist within the Union” and provided that “the launch services provided by the operator of the respective third country promote technological capabilities of strategic importance to the Union or its Member States.”

It is difficult to prevent countries or institutions from relying on more competitive operators (think SpaceX: EUMETSAT and Esa have just launched the weather satellite Mtg S1 with a Falcon 9). The long-awaited “buy European act” demanded for years by space operators is still nowhere in sight. It will be equally difficult to discourage private companies unless Europe decides that the United States does not provide guarantees equivalent to continental launch services. A bit like with meat and much of the food sector, only in this case it really seems like science fiction.