At the turn of the 21st century one can observe a vastly growing tendency towards private space activities. Governments withdraw from their usual function as sponsor of national space programmes and encourage private entrepreneurs like Space X of Elon Musk or Virgin Galactic of Sir Richard Branson to become active and fill gaps in their respective space programmes. As a consequence, there is a growing need for national space legislation. This development has resulted in around 25 countries which by now provide for their national space law granting the possibility to become active in the field of commercial space flight form the own territory.
This book portrays that the space industry and space law in Poland is not in an embryonic stage any more.
It is good that the book editor Anna Konert first introduces different themes presented in this compilation, tracing the evolution of the national space law processes in Poland and highlighting recent activities and legislative developments. Chapter 1 by Jakub Ryzenko and Anna Nałęcz-Kobierzycka provides a brief history of Polish space policy and strategy, accompanied in Chapter 2 by a survey of the Polish involvement in space and space activities, by the same authors. Chapter 3 by Julia Anna Hetlof gives a useful introduction to the complicated – and not yet solved – question of the delimitation of air and outer space. Tomasz Balcerzak and Julia Anna Hetlof then undertake in Chapter 4 to describe such international space treaties to which Poland is a party. This is of course the Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and some of the non-binding United Nations General Assembly Resolutions like the one on Remote Sensing as well as the cooperation agreement of the European Space Agency from 1994. As is well-known, in 2012 Poland became the 20th member state of the European Space Agency, which made Poland also a space power. Tomasz Balcerzak describes in Chapter 5 the Polish space activities in the European Union. There is e.g. an important participation in the Global Navigation Satellite System Galileo. In Chapter 6 Dominika Harasimiuk describes the Polish legal system, whereby it is particularly important to see the context to EU law as well as to public international law because so far esa is not an entity under European Union law. Ewa Jasiuk then undertakes to analyse in Chapter 7 what has been established as the draft Polish national space act. This is a very important step of the “space development” in Poland in order to make the country an equal competitor in Europe also for private space activities. In addition, Chapter 7 recounts the development of the new Polish Space Agency, its statutory tasks
The editor Frans von der Dunk in his concluding remarks presents a compelling case for why the adoption of national space laws would benefit Poland by promoting and supporting private sector participation while protecting the interests of the general public at large.
I personally believe that this book, edited by Anna Konert and Frans G. von der Dunk, is a welcome undertaking. It provides a very solid overview on the present involvement in future cooperation of Poland with regard to space activities. One can only hope that the country’s national space law gets ready relatively soon, which will then bring Poland in the first row of the European space fairing nations.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Stephan Hobe
Director of the Institute for Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law
University of Cologne