Outer Space Treaty

Outer Space Treaty
French: Traité de l'espace
Russian: Договор о космосе
Spanish: Tratado sobre el espacio ultraterrestre
Chinese: 外层空间条约
Arabic: معاهدة الفضاء الخارجي

Long name: Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
Parties   Signatories   Non-parties
Signed	27 January 1967
Location	London, Moscow and Washington, D.C.
Effective	10 October 1967; 56 years ago (1967-10-10)
Condition	5 ratifications, including the depositary Governments
Parties	114[1][2][3][4]
Depositary	Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America
Languages	English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic
Outer Space Treaty of 1967 at Wikisource

The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a multilateral treaty that forms the basis of international space law. Negotiated and drafted under the auspices of the United Nations, it was opened for signature in the United States , the United Kingdom , and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, entering into force on 10 October 1967. (As of August 2023), 114 countries are parties to the treaty—including all major spacefaring nations—and another 22 are signatories.^[1][5][6]

The Outer Space Treaty was spurred by the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the 1950s, which could reach targets through outer space.^[7] The Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, in October 1957, followed by a subsequent arms race with the United States, hastened proposals to prohibit the use of outer space for military purposes. On 17 October 1963, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution prohibiting the introduction of weapons of mass destruction in outer space. Various proposals for an arms control treaty governing outer space were debated during a General Assembly session in December 1966, culminating in the drafting and adoption of the Outer Space Treaty the following January.^[8]

Key provisions of the Outer Space Treaty include prohibiting nuclear weapons in space; limiting the use of the Moon and all other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes; establishing that space shall be freely explored and used by all nations; and precluding any country from claiming sovereignty over outer space or any celestial body. Although it forbids establishing military bases, testing weapons and conducting military maneuvers on celestial bodies, the treaty does not expressly ban all military activities in space, nor the establishment of military space forces or the placement of conventional weapons in space.^[9][10] From 1968 to 1984, the OST birthed four additional agreements: rules for activities on the Moon; liability for damages caused by spacecraft; the safe return of fallen astronauts; and the registration of space vehicles.^[11]

OST provided many practical uses and was the most important link in the chain of international legal arrangements for space from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. OST was at the heart of a 'network' of inter-state treaties and strategic power negotiations to achieve the best available conditions for nuclear weapons world security. The OST also declares that space is an area for free use and exploration by all and "shall be the province of all mankind". Drawing heavily from the Antarctic Treaty of 1961, the Outer Space Treaty likewise focuses on regulating certain activities and preventing unrestricted competition that could lead to conflict.^[12] Consequently, it is largely silent or ambiguous on newly developed space activities such as lunar and asteroid mining.^[13][14][15] Nevertheless, the Outer Space Treaty is the first and most foundational legal instrument of space law,^[16] and its broader principles of promoting the civil and peaceful use of space continue to underpin multilateral initiatives in space, such as the International Space Station and the Artemis Program.^[17][18]

Provisions

The Outer Space Treaty represents the basic legal framework of international space law. According to the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the core principles of the treaty are:^[19]

• the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind;
• outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;
• outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;
• States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner;
• the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes; prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military maneuvers, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications
• astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;
• States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities;
• States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and
• States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.

Among its principles, it bars states party to the treaty from placing weapons of mass destruction in Earth orbit, installing them on the Moon or any other celestial body, or otherwise stationing them in outer space. It specifically limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes, and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military maneuvers, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications (Article IV). However, the treaty does not prohibit the placement of conventional weapons in orbit, and thus some highly destructive attack tactics, such as kinetic bombardment, are still potentially allowable.^[20] In addition, the treaty explicitly allows the use of military personnel and resources to support peaceful uses of space, mirroring a common practice permitted by the Antarctic Treaty regarding that continent. The treaty also states that the exploration of outer space shall be done to benefit all countries and that space shall be free for exploration and use by all the states.

Article II of the treaty explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial body such as the Moon or a planet as its own territory, whether by declaration, occupation, or "any other means".^[21] However, the state that launches a space object, such as a satellite or space station, retains jurisdiction and control over that object;^[22] by extension, a state is also liable for damages caused by its space object.^[23]

Responsibility for activities in space

Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty deals with international responsibility, stating that "the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty" and that States Party shall bear international responsibility for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities.

As a result of discussions arising from Project West Ford in 1963, a consultation clause was included in Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty: "A State Party to the Treaty which has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, may request consultation concerning the activity or experiment."^[24][25]

Applicability in the 21st century

Being primarily an arms control treaty for the peaceful use of outer space, the Outer Space Treaty offers limited and ambiguous regulations to newer space activities such as lunar and asteroid mining.^[13][15][26] It is therefore debated whether the extraction of resources falls within the prohibitive language of appropriation, or whether the use of such resources encompasses the commercial use and exploitation.^[27]

Seeking clearer guidelines, private U.S. companies lobbied the U.S. government, which in 2015 introduced the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 legalizing space mining.^[28] Similar national legislation to legalize the appropriation of extraterrestrial resources are now being introduced by other countries, including Luxembourg, Japan, China, India, and Russia.^{[13][26][29][30]} This has created some controversy regarding legal claims over the mining of celestial bodies for profit.^[26][27]

1976 Bogota Declaration

The "Declaration of the First Meeting of Equatorial Countries", also known as the "Bogota Declaration", was one of the few attempts to challenge the Outer Space Treaty. It was promulgated in 1976 by eight equatorial countries to assert sovereignty over those portions of the geostationary orbit that continuously lie over the signatory nations' territory.^[31] These claims did not receive wider international support or recognition, and were subsequently abandoned.^[32]

Influence on space law

As the first international legal instrument concerning space, the Outer Space Treaty is considered the "cornerstone" of space law.^[33][34] It was also the first major achievement of the United Nations in this area of law, following the adoption of the first U.N. General Assembly resolution on space in 1958,^[35] and the first meeting of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) the subsequent year.^[36]

Within roughly a decade of the treaty's entry into force, several other treaties were brokered by the U.N. to further develop the legal framework for activities in space:^[37]

• Rescue Agreement (1968)
• Space Liability Convention (1972)
• Registration Convention (1976)
• Moon Treaty (1979)

With the exception of the Moon Treaty, to which only 18 nations are party, all other treaties on space law have been ratified by most major space-faring nations (namely those capable of orbital spaceflight).^[38] COPUOS coordinates these treaties and other questions of space jurisdiction, aided by the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs.

List of parties

The Outer Space Treaty was opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, and entered into force on 10 October 1967. As of August 2023, 114 countries are parties to the treaty, while another 22 have signed the treaty but have not completed ratification.^[1]

Multiple dates indicate the different days in which states submitted their signature or deposition, which varied by location: (L) for London, (M) for Moscow, and (W) for Washington, D.C. Also indicated is whether the state became a party by way of signature and subsequent ratification, by accession to the treaty after it had closed for signature, or by succession of states after separation from some other party to the treaty.

State[1][2][3][4]	Signed	Deposited	Method
Afghanistan	1967 (W) 1967 (M)	1988 (L, M) 1988 (W)	Ratification
Algeria		1992 (W)	Accession
Antigua and Barbuda		1988 (W) 1988 (M) 1989 (L)	Succession from  United Kingdom
Argentina	1967 (W) 1967 (M)	1969 (M, W)	Ratification
Armenia		2018 (M)	Accession
Australia	1967 (W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Austria	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Azerbaijan		2015 (L)	Accession
Bahamas		1976 (L) 1976 (W) 1976 (M)	Succession from  United Kingdom
Bahrain		2019 (M)	Accession
Bangladesh		1986 (L) 1986 (W) 1986 (M)	Accession
Barbados		1968 (W)	Accession
Belarus	1967 (M)	1967 (M)	Ratification
Belgium	1967 (L, M) 1967 (W)	1973 (W) 1973 (L, M)	Ratification
Benin		1986 (M) 1986 (L) 1986 (W)	Accession
Bosnia and Herzegovina		2020 (L)	Accession
Brazil	1967 (M) 1967 (L, W)	1969 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Bulgaria	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (M) 1967 (W) 1967 (L)	Ratification
Burkina Faso	1967 (W)	1968 (W)	Ratification
Canada	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Chile	1967 (W) 1967 (L) 1967 (M)	1981 (W)	Ratification
China		1983 (W) 1984 (M) 1984 (L)	Accession
Croatia		2023 (W)	Accession
Cuba		1977 (M)	Accession
Cyprus	1967 (W) 1967 (M) 1967 (L)	1972 (L, W) 1972 (M)	Ratification
Czech Republic		1993 (M, W) 1993 (L)	Succession from  Czechoslovakia
Denmark	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Dominican Republic	1967 (W)	1968 (W)	Ratification
Ecuador	1967 (W) 1967 (L) 1967 (M)	1969 (W)	Ratification
Egypt	1967 (M, W)	1967 (W) 1968 (M)	Ratification
El Salvador	1967 (W)	1969 (W)	Ratification
Equatorial Guinea		1989 (M)	Accession
Estonia		2010 (M)	Accession
Fiji		1972 (W) 1972 (L) 1972 (M)	Succession from  United Kingdom
Finland	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
France	1967 (L, M, W)	1970 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Germany	1967 (L, M, W)	1971 (L, W)	Ratification
Greece	1967 (W)	1971 (L)	Ratification
Guinea-Bissau		1976 (M)	Accession
Hungary	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Iceland	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
India	1967 (L, M, W)	1982 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Indonesia	1967 (W) 1967 (M) 1967 (L)	2002 (L)	Ratification
Iraq	1967 (L, W) 1967 (M)	1968 (M) 1969 (L)	Ratification
Ireland	1967 (L, W)	1968 (W) 1968 (L)	Ratification
Israel	1967 (L, M, W)	1977 (W) 1977 (L) 1977 (M)	Ratification
Italy	1967 (L, M, W)	1972 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Jamaica	1967 (L, M, W)	1970 (W) 1970 (L) 1970 (M)	Ratification
Japan	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Kazakhstan		1998 (M)	Accession
Kenya		1984 (L)	Accession
North Korea		2009 (M)	Accession
South Korea	1967 (W)	1967 (W)	Ratification
Kuwait		1972 (W) 1972 (L) 1972 (M)	Accession
Laos	1967 (W) 1967 (L) 1967 (M)	1972 (M) 1972 (W) 1973 (L)	Ratification
Lebanon	1967 (L, M, W)	1969 (L, M) 1969 (W)	Ratification
Libya		1968 (W)	Accession
Lithuania		2013 (W)	Accession
Luxembourg	1967 (M, W) 1967 (L)	2006 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Madagascar		1968 (W)	Accession
Mali		1968 (M)	Accession
Malta		2017 (L)	Accession
Mauritius		1969 (W) 1969 (L) 1969 (M)	Succession from  United Kingdom
Mexico	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Mongolia	1967 (M)	1967 (M)	Ratification
Morocco		1967 (L, M) 1967 (W)	Accession
Myanmar	1967 (L, M, W)	1970 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Nepal	1967 (M, W) 1967 (L)	1967 (L) 1967 (M) 1967 (W)	Ratification
Netherlands	1967 (L, M, W)	1969 (L, M, W)	Ratification
New Zealand	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Nicaragua	1967 (W) 1967 (L)	2017 (W) 2017 (M) 2017 (L)	Ratification
Niger	1967 (W)	1967 (L) 1967 (W)	Ratification
Nigeria		1967 (L)	Accession
Norway	1967 (L, M, W)	1969 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Oman		2022 (L)	Accession
Pakistan	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Panama	1967 (W)	2023 (W)	Ratification
Papua New Guinea		1980 (L) 1980 (M) 1981 (W)	Succession from  Australia
Paraguay		2016 (L)	Accession
Peru	1967 (W)	1979 (M) 1979 (L) 1979 (W)	Ratification
Poland	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Portugal		1996 (L)	Accession
Qatar		2012 (W)	Accession
Romania	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Russia	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification as the  Soviet Union
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		1999 (L)	Succession from  United Kingdom
San Marino	1967 (W) 1967 (L) 1967 (M)	1968 (W) 1968 (M) 1969 (L)	Ratification
Saudi Arabia		1976 (W)	Accession
Seychelles		1978 (L)	Accession
Sierra Leone	1967 (L, M) 1967 (W)	1967 (M) 1967 (W) 1967 (L)	Ratification
Singapore		1976 (L, M, W)	Accession
Slovakia		1993 (M, W) 1993 (L)	Succession from  Czechoslovakia
Slovenia		2019 (L)	Accession
South Africa	1967 (W)	1968 (W) 1968 (L) 1968 (M)	Ratification
Spain		1968 (L) 1968 (W)	Accession
Sri Lanka	1967 (L)	1986 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Sweden	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Switzerland	1967 (L, W) 1967 (M)	1969 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Syria		1968 (M)	Accession
Thailand	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L) 1968 (M) 1968 (W)	Ratification
Togo	1967 (W)	1989 (W)	Ratification
Tonga		1971 (M) 1971 (L, W)	Succession from  United Kingdom
Tunisia	1967 (L, W) 1967 (M)	1968 (L) 1968 (M) 1968 (W)	Ratification
Turkey	1967 (L, M, W)	1968 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Uganda		1968 (W)	Accession
Ukraine	1967 (M)	1967 (M)	Ratification
United Arab Emirates		2000 (W)	Accession
United Kingdom	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
United States	1967 (L, M, W)	1967 (L, M, W)	Ratification
Uruguay	1967 (W) 1967 (M)	1970 (W)	Ratification
Venezuela	1967 (W)	1970 (W)	Ratification
Vietnam		1980 (M)	Accession
Yemen		1979 (M)	Accession
Zambia		1973 (W) 1973 (M) 1973 (L)	Accession

Partially recognized state abiding by treaty

The Republic of China (Taiwan), which is currently recognized by [[International recognition of Template:Numrec/ROC Template:Numrec/ROC|Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". UN member states]], ratified the treaty prior to the United Nations General Assembly's vote to transfer China's seat to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1971. When the PRC subsequently ratified the treaty, they described the Republic of China's (ROC) ratification as "illegal". The ROC has committed itself to continue to adhere to the requirements of the treaty, and the United States has declared that it still considers the ROC to be "bound by its obligations".^[5]

State	Signed	Deposited	Method
Republic of China	1967	1970	Ratification

States that have signed but not ratified

22 states have signed but not ratified the treaty.

State	Signed
Bolivia	1967 (W)
Botswana	1967 (W)
Burundi	1967 (W)
Cameroon	1967 (W)
Central African Republic	1967 (W)
Colombia[39]	1967 (W)
Democratic Republic of the Congo	1967 (W) 1967 (M) 1967 (L)
Ethiopia	1967 (L, W) 1967 (M)
Gambia	1967 (L)
Ghana	1967 (W) 1967 (M) 1967 (L)
Guyana	1967 (W)
Haiti	1967 (W)
Holy See	1967 (L)
Honduras	1967 (W)
Iran	1967 (L)
Jordan	1967 (W)
Lesotho	1967 (W)
Malaysia	1967 (W) 1967 (L) 1967 (M)
Philippines	1967 (L, W) 1967 (M)
Rwanda	1967 (W)
Somalia	1967 (W)
Trinidad and Tobago	1967 (L) 1967 (M) 1967 (W)

List of non-parties

The remaining UN member states and United Nations General Assembly observer states which have neither ratified nor signed the Outer Space Treaty are:

•  Albania
•  Andorra
•  Angola
•  Belize
•  Bhutan
•  Brunei
•  Cambodia
•  Cape Verde
•  Chad
•  Comoros
•  Republic of the Congo
•  Costa Rica
•  Djibouti
•  Dominica
•  East Timor
•  Eritrea
•  Eswatini
•  Gabon
•  Georgia
•  Grenada
•  Guatemala
•  Guinea
•  Ivory Coast
•  Kiribati
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  Latvia
•  Liberia
•  Liechtenstein
•  Malawi
•  Maldives
•  Marshall Islands
•  Mauritania
•  Federated States of Micronesia
•  Moldova
•  Monaco
•  Montenegro
•  Mozambique
•  Namibia
•  Nauru
•  North Macedonia
•  Palau
•  Palestine
•  Saint Kitts and Nevis
•  Saint Lucia
•  Samoa
•  São Tomé and Príncipe
•  Senegal
•  Serbia
•  Solomon Islands
•  South Sudan
•  Sudan
•  Suriname
•  Tajikistan
•  Tanzania
•  Turkmenistan
•  Tuvalu
•  Uzbekistan
•  Vanuatu
•  Zimbabwe

See also

• High-altitude nuclear explosion (HANE)
• Kármán line
• Lunar Flag Assembly
• Common heritage of mankind
• Human presence in space
• Militarization of space
• Moon Treaty
• SPACE Act of 2015
• Treaty on Open Skies
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
• International waters
• International zone
• Extraterritorial jurisdiction
• Extraterritorial operation
• Extraterritoriality

References

Further reading

• Annette Froehlich, et al.: A Fresh View on the Outer Space Treaty. Springer, Vienna 2018, ISBN:978-3-319-70433-3.

External links

• International Institute of Space Law
• Full text of the "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies" in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, or Spanish
• Status of International Agreements relating to Activities in Outer Space (list of state parties to treaty), UN Office for Outer Space Affairs
• "The Case for Withdrawing from the 1967 Outer Space Treaty"
• Still Relevant (and Important) After All These Years: The case for supporting the Outer Space Treaty
• Squadron Leader KK Nair's Space: The Frontiers of Modern Defence. Knowledge World Publishers, New Delhi, Chap. 5 "Examining Space Law...", pp. 84–104, available at Google Books.
• Introductory note by Vladimír Kopal, procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• The Progressive Development of International Space Law by the United Nations—Lecture by Vladimír Kopal] in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• The Law of Outer Space in the General Legal Field (Commonalities and Particularities)—Lecture by Vladlen Stepanovich Vereshchetin in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
• Humans on Mars and beyond full-text

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