Law Reform and National Space Law: A Participatory Approach to Space Law Making in Developing Countries

Abstract

The emergence of a private space industry in an increasing number of States calls for adequate domestic legal frameworks to regulate commercial space endeavors. A small number of space-faring nations have been implementing comprehensive national legislation to govern their national activities in outer space. Many developing countries with emergent space capabilities are currently considering the adoption of national space legislation. The Law and Development movement has produced numerous studies which are useful and transferrable to the space law-making process. The lessons learned from the Law and Development movement show that law reforms which take the form of legal transplants have failed to produce effective reforms, as they ignore the interests of local players.