Abstract
This chapter describes the proposal for establishing an “International Court of Air and Space Law (ICASL).” The establishment of an ICASL is necessary and should provide the uniformity of decisions currently lacking in the jurisdiction relating to disputes in the field of air and space law and space exploitation. It is desirable that the establishment of an ICASL should lead to the strengthening of international cooperation deemed essential by the global community towards the joint settlement of transnational claims and cases with respect to air and space law. In order to understand easily the global issues and solutions on the outer space law and policy, the author describes legal issues and prospects on outer space law and policy. The establishment of such a court should be designed to promote the speed of work and the fairness of trial in air and space law cases.
Top19.2. Necessity For The Creation Of International Court Of Air And Space Law
Reasons (in detail) why the ICASL should be established are the following.
It is a characteristic features of air aircraft and spacecraft accidents that ① great amounts of damage are involved and in some cases, ② operators suffer a total loss in the sense of “all or nothing”, ③ accidents often involve catastrophes, and ④ there is a relation of subordination between the air or space assets and the ground, namely the relevant air traffic and space control systems in charge such as air traffic controller. In addition, ⑤ all accidents are of an international character.2
Therefore, the characteristics of air and space accidents are significantly different from road, railway and Maritime’s accidents.
These aircraft, satellite and spacecraft's accidents have given cause for many disputes between the victims and the air and space carriers about questions of limited or unlimited liability and the appraisal of damages also due to sudden attacks, or accidents relating to the space shuttle or damage caused by space debris.
The establishment of ICASL could offer the unique opportunity unify the new rules Æiii(Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air) of 1999 which are based on contractual liability, with the provisions of the new Montreal Unlawful Interference Compensation Convention (aircraft terror)3 as well as the General Risk Convention of 20094 and the Space Liability Convention of 1972 which are based on tort liability.
Thereby a just and equitable solution could be found to disputes arising from disasters such as terror attacks of September 11, 20015 at New York and an orbit collision case between an US Iridium satellite and Russian Cosmos satellite of the 10th February, 2009.
As to the substantive and procedural law to be applied by ICASL, it must be uniform and conform to justice.
Key Terms in this Chapter
International Criminal Court: The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals.
COPUOS: The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was established in 1958 (one year after the launch of Sputnik) as an ad hoc committee of the United Nations (UN). In 1959, it was formally established as a permanent body by United Nations resolution 1472 (XIV). All documents related to the Committee and its subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee, are published on the UNOOSA website. The Committee was first established by the General Assembly in its resolution 1348 (XIII) of 13 December 1958 and was originally composed of 18 members. It has grown to include 92 members as of 2019, and is subsequently one of the largest committees of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Court of the European Communities: The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is the judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, this EU institution consists of two separate courts: the Court of Justice and the General Court. From 2005 to 2016 it also consisted of the Civil Service Tribunal. It has a sui generis court system, meaning ’of its own kind’, and is a supranational institution. CJEU is the chief judicial authority of the European Union and oversees the uniform application. and CJEU also resolves legal disputes between national governments and EU institutions.