On 25 June 2025, the European Commission (“EC”) announced its long-awaited proposal for a Regulation on the safety, resilience, and sustainability of space activities in the EU (the “Draft EU Space Act” or “Draft EUSA”). The Draft EUSA proposes to impose obligations on providers of “space services,” which are:
- The operation and control of human-made objects sent to space;
- The provision of space launch services;
- Services provided by “primary providers of space-based data,” a term covering providers that carry out the first processing of either communications data or observation data received from outer space (which may include electronic communications service providers);
- In-space services and operations; and
- Collision-avoidance services.
Most of the obligations in the Draft EUSA would apply to providers of space services that are located in the EU, and those located outside the EU but that provide services to space operators in the EU. However, the rules on safety described below would apply to space objects that generate data or enable the provision of space services in the EU. These rules, and certain rules on collision avoidance, would also apply to space objects that at or lower than a geostationary orbit.
The explanatory memorandum notes that 13 EU Member States have passed national legislation related to space, which creates the risk of a fragmented internal market for the space sector. The Draft EUSA therefore establishes rules in four main areas in an attempt to harmonize the law relating to this sector, namely authorization and registration requirements, and obligations to ensure safety, resilience, and sustainability of space services. We describe these in more detail below.
Continue Reading The European Commission announces a proposal for the first EU Space Act