New Delhi: A Parliamentary Standing Committee report has highlighted the need for a comprehensive legislative framework for operations in space by entities based in India. Currently, space operations are largely guided by a patchwork of policy documents, vision statements and mission guidelines. With space hardware having increasing strategic and security implications, as well as the growing participation of Non-Governmental Entities together demonstrate the pressing need for a comprehensive legal framework to regulate, authorise and oversee space activities by India.
The Department of Space is drafting a Bill to regulate space activities. The proposed legislation is aimed at providing a robust, transparent and forward-looking framework for the orderly development of the space sector in India. The Parliamentary Committee also noted that entities operating under the DOS are also obtaining approvals from IN-SPACe, the single window clearing agency for all space activities in India, which has been identified as an unnecessary procedural layer. The Committee has recommended that the authorisation requirements be reserved for Non-Governmental Entities operating in space. This is one of the proposed provisions for the Space Activities Bill, to ensure greater administrative efficiency.
Clear regulations can boost burgeoning space sector to greater heights
Partner at Deloitte India had earlier explained to us, “While the India Space Policy 2023 highlights the government’s vision for the sector, the industry believes that the possibility of a policy not being enforceable in a court of law is unfavourable for the sector. This is because challenges around international and national obligations and liabilities, and enforcement of standards can be conclusively answered only in the form of legislation. Hence, the early enactment of the much-anticipated Space Activities Act may be optimal for the Indian space ecosystem.”
In a recent report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and IN-SPACe, there were proposals for a number of regulations designed to encourage commercial operations in the space domain, but the report stopped short for calling for a comprehensive Space Activities Act. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the SatCom Industry Association (SIA)-India has developed a comprehensive framework for space cyber security, introducing ‘security-by-design’ and ‘defence-in-depth’ approaches. All of these recommendations can be included in the Space Activities Act, which are along the lines of the demands of the industry.