CFP: INNOVATIVE PERSPECTIVES IN SPACE LAW

INNOVATIVE PERSPECTIVES IN SPACE LAW 

Roma Tre University – February 10, 2024 

CONVENOR: DR. SIRIO ZOLEA, PH.D.

[email protected]

After decades of exceptional development of the digital sector, we are witnessing a renewed interest of public and private entities in the outer space, with the simultaneous presence of national defense and geopolitical strategic interests and business interests aiming to profit. Technological evolution and the consequent growing role of space economy require, at all the domestic and international levels, more detailed and certain legal rules. 

Space law is a complex and cross-cutting branch of law, with a backbone of international law. The relationship and the coordination among different legal layers (multilateral treaties negotiated under the auspices of the UN; international agreements of cooperation; domestic regulation of public and private space activities, involving various sectors of national law) may give rise to uncertainties, contradictions and conflicts. 

Today, a pivotal problem of space law is the difficulty to update, by mutual agreement, an international framework conceived in the Cold War era, in the presence of a different level of technological development, within the context of another geopolitical balance, and before the relevant presence of private space players. 

Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity are necessary approaches to investigate space law, whose issues involve public international law, administrative law, fundamental rights, competition law, procurement law, criminal law, private law, private international law, intellectual property, international investment law, dispute resolution, etc. 

In a time when space law is not only a matter of relations between the states, but, with the involvement of private bodies, it is increasingly confronted to traditional issues of private law (liability, property, contracts, insurance, securities, etc.), legal comparison can play a fundamental role in understanding, supporting and assisting the development of domestic and international space law. A challenging cooperation among scholars and professionals of different disciplines is necessary, particularly (but not only) through an open dialogue between comparative and international law.

The conference “Comparative Law in Space”, to be held at the Law Department of Roma Tre University, February 9-10, 2024 aims to discuss and assess, in an evolutionary perspective, the relations between space law and legal models: which legal models have more influenced and are more likely to influence the evolution of space law? How comparative studies already contribute and could furtherly contribute to the development of (domestic and international) space law? How the debate on public and private space governance could benefit from comparative approaches or other innovative and transdisciplinary approaches? The first day, February 9, 2024, international experts of space law, space policy and comparative law will exchange their views on the topics of the conference. The interventions of the second day of the conference, February 10, 2024, will be selected through an open call for papers. Proposals of contributions from all the legal disciplines and from related non-legal disciplines are welcome, focusing on the mentioned interdisciplinary questions involving the relations between space law and legal models. Papers may variously concern the present challenges of space law in its multifaceted aspects, including traditional issues of private law referred to space; law and geopolitics in space; competition of legal models in space; the role of public and private entities in space governance and space law.

Interested scholars and legal professionals shall submit an abstract of about 750 words (in English) by October 31, 2023, via an e-mail to [email protected]

The abstracts, in Word or PDF, shall contain name, surname, e-mail address and affiliation of the author.

The selected speakers will have the opportunity to intervene and openly debate in a law department focusing its research on cutting-edge themes related to law and technology, within an interdisciplinary and challenging environment.

Vincenzo Zeno-Zencovich (Full Professor of Comparative Law, Roma Tre University)

Giorgio Resta (Full Professor of Comparative Law, Roma Tre University)

Sirio Zolea (Senior Researcher of Comparative Law, Roma Tre University)