TCBMs over the military use of outer space

Abstract

Although no legal instrument resulted from long negotiations in the UN and Conference on Disarmament (CD), the application of confidence-building measures (CBMs) that was once considered in the 1990’s attracted attention again to restrict military use of outer space. Since 2005, the concept of “Transparency and confidence-building measures (TCBMs)” entered into the lexicon of space law to explore the possibility of reinforcing security in outer space activities. While CBMs have been developed and applied to treaty-based verification mechanisms, the introduction of TCBMs in space law needs further examination to fit in the context of space security. Therefore, by evaluating the function of CBMs applied to the existing law on disarmament and arms control, the author examines the application of TCBMs to space law and calls for the need to establish non-treaty-based monitoring mechanisms for transparency and confidence-building in outer space activities.