Registration

States are obliged by the OST and the Registration Convention to provide certain information about their own space objects to (i) a domestic registry maintained by the State, and (ii) an international Register maintained by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The duty to establish a national registry is mentioned for the first time in article VIII of the OST which establishes that “A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body”. Space objects or their component parts “found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party”.

Moreover, the Registration Convention establishes in its articles II–IV, (i) the duty of a State to “register the space object by means of an entry in an appropriate registry which it shall maintain. Each launching State shall inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the establishment of such a registry” (article II), and (ii) the duty of the international community to establish an international Register which shall be maintained by the Secretary-General (article III), in which certain information pertaining to the object shall be included. In particular (article IV):

a) Name of the launching State or States; b) An appropriate designator of the space object or its registration number; c) Date and territory or location of launch; d) Basic orbital parameters, including: (i) Nodal period; (ii) Inclination; (iii) Apogee; (iv) Perigee; e) General function of the space object.

To date, over 85 per cent of all satellites, probes, landers, crewed spacecraft and space station flight elements launched into Earth orbit or beyond have been registered with the Secretary-General. States commonly call for better compliance with the international obligation to register objects, particularly at the international level, with some States even calling for the enhancement of the practice of States and international intergovernmental organizations in registering space objects. Registration is widely seen as a measure that could foster trust and confidence among States and which would facilitate the verification and monitoring of States’ compliance with legal and normative frameworks.

In the context of the ITU, the Master International Frequency Register (the Master Register) contains frequency assignments together with their particulars as notified in accordance with the Radio Regulations. The international rights and obligations of national administrations in respect to frequency assignments shall be derived from the recording of those assignments in the Master Register or from their conformity, where appropriate, with a Space Plan. The term ‘frequency assignment’ refers either to a new frequency assignment or to a change in an assignment already recorded in the Master Register. For such an assignment, the right to international recognition means that other national administrations shall take it into account when making their own assignments, in order to avoid harmful interference.