Paris, 11 April 2016

France-Japan space cooperation

Thursday 7 April, a France-Japan seminar on “Cross-cutting perspectives in space law” was organized at the Office of the United Nations in Vienna by CNES, JAXA, Paris-Sud University and Keio University, with support from the French and Japanese ministries of foreign affairs.

On the sidelines of the 55th session of the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (CUPUOS) on Thursday 7 April, CNES and JAXA, in association with the universities of Keio and Paris-Sud and the French and Japanese ministries of foreign affairs, organized a seminar on new aspects of space law, including the very latest legal issues related to NewSpace.
This seminar addressed a number of topics of common interest to France and Japan that are currently being debated by CUPUOS’s Legal Subcommittee. Presentations were given on international cooperation mechanisms, establishment and implementation of national laws governing space operations and on newlegal issues arising out of the increasing role of private stakeholders in space activities (space access, suborbital flights, utilization of space resources) by Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), representatives from CNES (France), JAXA (Japan), NASA (United States), UKSA (United Kingdom) and UAESA (United Arab Emirates), and French and Japanese academics.
In his opening address at this event, Jacques Raharinaivo, France’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Office and International Organizations in Vienna, said: “The fact that this seminar is being organized not only by France and Japan’s ministries of foreign affairs but also by their respective space agencies and by their most reputed universities in space law shows the strength and scope of the bilateral relationship between our two nations in space. But it is a relationship that obviously remains open to other partners, as illustrated by the presence here of the Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and of representatives from the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom. The diversity of topics discussed, covering some of the most current and innovative aspects of space law, is of special interest to the Legal Subcommittee of CUPUOS.

Source: CNES