EC Proposes EU Space Act

The European Commission has proposed the EU Space Act this week. It is a new set of ambitious measures to make Europe's space sector cleaner, safer, and more competitive.

Europe's space rules are currently fragmented, with many different national approaches. This patchwork holds back innovation, reduces the European market share, and creates extra costs. A clear and harmonized framework at the European level will ensure safety, resilience, and environmental responsibility across the Union while helping companies grow and scale up across borders.

The EU Space Act aims to reduce bureaucracy, safeguard space assets, and establish a fair and predictable business environment. The proposal rests on three key pillars: safety, resilience, and sustainability. To prevent congestion in Earth's orbit, the EU Space Act introduces measures to enhance the tracking of space objects and limit the creation of new debris, including requirements for the safe disposal of satellites at the end of their operational life. It would also require all space operators to conduct thorough risk assessments throughout a satellite's lifecycle, applying cybersecurity rules and incident reporting. The EU Space Act will set common rules to measure sustainability impacts.

The new rules would apply to both EU and national space assets, as well as to non-EU operators offering services in Europe. Regulatory requirements will be adapted to company size and level of maturity, and measured against the risks involved. Support will be offered to mitigate potential costs for the industry. This includes capacity building, access to testing facilities, and helping space operators to prepare their applications for authorization. This will, in particular, support start-ups and SMEs.

Alongside the EU Space Act, the EC also presented a Vision for the European Space Economy to tackle the evolving global space economy and the challenges posed by international competition and geopolitical tensions. Space is a high-growth market sector contributing to the EU's competitiveness. The sector encompasses the European space industry (manufacturing and services), and space services in numerous market sectors, from climate environment, and agriculture to energy, transport, insurance and banking, or security, and defense.