UNITED NATIONS TREATIES

1 UNITED NATIONSTREATIESAND PRINCIPLES ONOUTER SPACEU nited NATIONS publicationSales No. 92-1-100900-6ST/SPACE/11 Printed in October 2002 1,405 UNITED NATIONSTREATIESAND PRINCIPLES ONOUTER SPACEText of TREATIES and principlesgoverning the activities of States inthe exploration and use of outer space,adopted bythe UNITED NATIONS General AssemblyUNITED NATIONSNew York, 2002ST/SPACE/11ST/SPACE/11 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS ales No. 92-1-100900-6iiiContentsPageForeword .. vPart one. UNITED NATIONS treatiesA.

2 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in theExploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon andOther Celestial Bodies .. 3B. Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronautsand the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space .. 9C. Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused bySpace Objects .. 13D. Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space .. 22E. Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon andOther Celestial Bodies.

3 27 Part two. Principles adopted by the General AssemblyA. Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of Statesin the Exploration and Use of Outer Space .. 39B. Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial EarthSatellites for International Direct Television Broadcasting .. 41C. Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from OuterSpace .. 44D. Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in OuterSpace .. 48E. Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration andUse of Outer Space for the Benefit and in the Interest of AllStates, Taking into Particular Account the Needs of DevelopingCountries.

4 55vForewordThe progressive development and codification of international law constitutesone of the principal responsibilities of the UNITED NATIONS in the legal field. Animportant area for the exercise of such responsibilities is the new environment ofouter space and, through the efforts of the UNITED NATIONS Committee on the Peace-ful Uses of Outer Space and its Legal Subcommittee, a number of significant con-tributions to the law of outer space have been made. The UNITED NATIONS has, indeed,become a focal point for international cooperation in outer space and for the formu-lation of necessary international space, extraordinary in many respects, is, in addition, unique from thelegal point of view.

5 It is only recently that human activities and international inter-action in outer space have become realities and that beginnings have been made inthe formulation of international rules to facilitate international relations in is appropriate to an environment whose nature is so extraordinary, theextension of international law to outer space has been gradual and evolutionary commencing with the study of questions relating to legal aspects, proceeding to theformulation of principles of a legal nature and, then, incorporating such principlesin general multilateral significant first step was the adoption by the General Assembly in 1963 ofthe Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Explo-ration and Use of Outer years that followed saw the development within the UNITED NATIONS of fivegeneral multilateral TREATIES , which incorporated and developed concepts included inthe Declaration of Legal Principles.

6 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration andUse of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (GeneralAssembly resolution 2222 (XXI), annex) adopted on 19 December 1966,opened for signature on 27 January 1967, entered into force on 10 October 1967;Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and theReturn of Objects Launched into Outer Space (resolution 2345 (XXII), an-nex) adopted on 19 December 1967, opened for signature on 22 April 1968,entered into force on 3 December 1968;Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects(resolution 2777 (XXVI), annex) adopted on 29 November 1971, opened forsignature on 29 March 1972, entered into force on 1 September 1972.

7 Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (resolution3235 (XXIX), annex) adopted on 12 November 1974, opened for signatureon 14 January 1975, entered into force on 15 September 1976;viAgreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other CelestialBodies (resolution 34/68, annex) adopted on 5 December 1979, opened forsignature on 18 December 1979, entered into force on 11 July UNITED NATIONS oversaw the drafting, formulation and adoption of fiveGeneral Assembly resolutions, including the Declaration of Legal Principles.

8 Theseare:Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Explo-ration and Use of Outer Space, adopted on 13 December 1963 (resolution 1962(XVIII));Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for Inter-national Direct Television Broadcasting, adopted on 10 December 1982 (reso-lution 37/92);Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Outer Space, adoptedon 3 December 1986 (resolution 41/65);Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space,adopted on 14 December 1992 (resolution 47/68);Declaration on International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of OuterSpace for the Benefit and in the Interest of All States, Taking into ParticularAccount the Needs of Developing Countries, adopted on 13 December 1996(resolution 51/122).

9 The 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Explo-ration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,could be viewed as furnishing a general legal basis for the peaceful uses of outerspace and providing a framework for the developing law of outer space. The fourother TREATIES may be said to deal specifically with certain concepts included in the1967 Treaty. The space TREATIES have been ratified by many Governments and manyothers abide by their principles.

10 In view of the importance of international coopera-tion in developing the norms of space law and their important role in promotinginternational cooperation in the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, the GeneralAssembly and the Secretary-General of the UNITED NATIONS have called upon allMember States of the UNITED NATIONS not yet parties to the international treatiesgoverning the uses of outer space to ratify or accede to those TREATIES as soon purpose of the present publication is to set out in a single volume the fiveouter space TREATIES adopted by the UNITED NATIONS and the five sets of is hoped that this collection will serve as a valuable reference document forall