Satellite operators oppose legislation

Over 90 satellite operators, manufacturers and financiers have written to various governments voicing their concerns over a proposed piece of international legislation called the Unidroit Space Assets Protocol, sponsored by the Unidroit organisation, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law.

This Protocol aims to develop a new legal framework for financing satellite and space programmes despite the fact that, according to the group of operators, manufacturers and financiers, no problems have been identified with the existing framework for financing satellites.

“Rather than promoting financing, the Protocol in fact risks complicating and damaging what is currently in place. The industry would be confronted with the prospect of obligations and costs from new legislation that purports to remedy a problem that simply does not exist,” the companies said in a statement.

They said that the legislation is counter-productive when governments are urging industry to create more jobs and spur growth. “Additional bureaucracy will bog down procurement, would reduce investment and result in the creation of fewer jobs in one of the most innovative and successful industries in the world,” they said.