Paris hosted last 6 March the 21st Advisory Committee (AC) of the European Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat IGO), chaired by Spain. Other participants, besides Portugal, were France, Luxembourg and Switzerland; the sixth AC member, Poland, was absent.
Top on the agenda was debate around the French space law. Three company (Eutelsat SA) representatives took part in the relevant discussion, as well as a representative from the French Ministry of Science and Technology, the director of space affairs. The Eutelsat IGO Executive Secretary (ES) recalled that the French authorities have been working on this new legislation since early 2000 and that the new system should not take force before 2009/10. For the time being there is a draft law - adopted on first reading by the Senate, but still not approved in the National Assembly. It has raised concerns among Eutelsat SA directors, who consider that it will affect finances, operations and competition. The impact on the company's business basically concerns the fact that the new instrument deals similarly, in terms of risk and security, with both the launch and subsequent operation of a space object. Eutelsat SA nevertheless alleges that the launch operation involves much greater risks; the need for additional insurance may involve costs of between 1 and 2 million euros.
The company also considers inacceptable the fact that the new instrument intends to make French government authorisation compulsory for the launch of a satellite, even when the launcher is located on foreign soil. Eutelsat SA wants launch authorisations to be foreseeable and rejects ''case-by-case'' authorisation. The company would thus like to obtain agreement that the intergovernmental organisation and the Parties should jointly take responsibility for Eutelsat's operations, given the new French space law - this is currently the responsibility of France, as the ''launch State'', the organisation's headquarters State and the ITU filing administration. To that end it has proposed that the Executive Secretary should conduct a study that analyses in detail whether Eutelsat IGO can serve to guarantee space operations - and be responsible for eventual damages caused by those same operations -and whether the company can guarantee its competitiveness, given that it would become the only geo-stationary satellite operator subject in Europe to various conditions.
The French delegation to the meeting vigorously defended the new draft law, arguing that its aim was to enhance the security of economic space operations. The French Ministry's representative recalled the basic legislation, which envisages the requirement that such operations obtain authorisation, which already occurs in countries such as the USA or Belgium, adding that the European Commission itself was consulted and came out in favour, as did the European Space Agency (ESA).
Portugal proposed that to go ahead with the study and the company's proposal, the study and respective results should be subject to examination at the next Assembly of Parties, scheduled for May 2009, and that they could in no way be accepted as a prior condition. This was seconded by the other countries in attendance. The study, to be carried out by the ES, should be analysed by the next AC.
Switzerland considered that Eutelsat SA's eventual loss of competitiveness under this new legal system should be considered. Luxembourg asked why a list of authorised launchers had not been prepared beforehand, as occurs in the USA, with a series of previously stipulated operational requirements. It also urged the study to analyse conformity with the Convention and with the French State's obligations as the Eutelsat headquarters country.
The ES also informed the Committee members of issues currently affecting the organisation, namely its participation as censeur in meetings of the Board of Administration of Eutelsat SA and of Eutelsat Communications, which have taken place since the most recent AC held in October 2007. In this regard, the ES stressed the excellent relations between the IGO and Eutelsat SA, the group's good economic performance and the company's compliance with the Basic Principles. The ES also informed the Committee about the first joint meeting with top officials from Eutelsat, the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO) and the International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (ITSO), held in Paris last 31 January. The three organisations aim to meet at least once a year and should sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a view to defining future means of co-operation. The draft MoU should soon be sent to the Parties for comments, for subsequent approval by each organisation in the respective Assembly of Parties (AP). The AC's opinion is nevertheless that the participation of other satellite organisations in the AP should still be subject to later examination.
As for clarification of the dispute with the association of former Eutelsat staff members, the ES said he had not received a reply to the letter he sent it on 19 December 2007, indicating that Eutelsat IGO did not consider itself competent to decide on this matter. The association had 90 days from that date to exercise its right of appeal to the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation (ILOAT).
The accession of Eutelsat as an observer to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) should be considered by that committee at its plenary meeting this June. The ES has meanwhile given two Eutelsat presentations in UNCOPUOS subcommittees.
The next meeting of the Eutelsat Advisory Committee has been scheduled for 23-24 October 2008.
