Developing a legal infrastructure for a Maltese space industry : a legal analysis

Abstract

In acceding to the Outer Space Treaty, Malta incurred significant obligations as a State. Amongst these obligations is the requirement to develop national legislation in order to ‘authorise and supervise’ space activities. Consequently, the Maltese Government has announced its intention to develop policy with regard to the commercial use of outer space. Given that Malta has no prior experience with the space sector and no related laws either, this offers the legislator a blank slate upon which to base the legislation. Therefore, an opportunity presented itself with respect to how the legislator should enact an innovative yet treaty-compliant law. Several States have managed to create an adequate legal infrastructure whereby private entities are not only aptly regulated but are nevertheless allowed to flourish. Within this dissertation, various European space laws were assessed alongside the respective treaty provisions, in order to reach a conclusion as to Malta’s direction on this matter. Ultimately, Malta’s current laws do not hinder the development of a potential space law. Rather, the aims and obligations imposed by the Corpus Juris Spatialis may be readily adapted to the Maltese legal system. This notwithstanding, this dissertation has also identified additional improvements which may be made to the Maltese legal order. The conclusive findings therefore allow for a depiction as to how Malta should aptly legislate and improve its current laws to rise as a new nation in the Global Space Economy whilst remaining accountable to the international community.