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The Space Warc Concludes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Milton L. Smith
Milton L. Smith*
Affiliation:
U.S. Air Force Space Command University of Denver School of Law
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Extract

The second session of the International Telecommunication Union’s World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) on the planning of the geostationary satellite orbit (GSO) for space telecommunications was held in Geneva from August 29 to October 6, 1988. This conference, known as the “Space WARC,” completed a long process of international negotiations. It established a new regulatory regime for satellite telecommunications, the primary commercial use of outer space, that should be effective for at least 20 years.

Type
Current Developments
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 83 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 596 - 599
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1989

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References

1 The official title of the Space WARC is “World Administrative Radio Conference on the Use of the Geostationary Satellite Orbit and the Planning of the Space Services Using It.” ITU, Admin. Council Res. 895 (1983). The conference is referred to in the ITU documents cited below as WARC-ORB-88.

2 For background information, see generally Smith, Space WARC 1985: The Quest for Equitable Access, 3 B.U. Int’l L.J. 229 (1985); and Rutkowski, Space WARC: The Stake of Developing Countries, Space Pol’y, August 1985, at 244.

3 For a detailed discussion of the first session, see generally Staple, The New World Satellite Order: A Report from Geneva, 80 AJIL 699 (1986); and Dep’t of State, Report of the United States Delegation to the First Session of the ITU World Administrative Radio Conference on the Planning Of The Geostationary Satellite Orbit and The Space Services Using It (1985) [hereinafter U.S. Delegation Report].

4 The Fixed Satellite Service is for communication via satellites between fixed earth stations. ITU, Radio Regulations, Art. 1, No. 22 (1982). This is the space telecommunication service that developing countries are most concerned about.

5 The Allotment Plan applies to 800 MHz of frequencies newly allocated to the Fixed Satellite Service at the 1979 WARC. These bands are referred to as the “expansion bands.” For the specific frequencies, see ITU, World Administrative Radio Conference on the Planning of the Geostationary Satellite Orbit and the Space Services Using It, Report to the Second Session of the Conference [hereinafter 1985 WARC Report].

6 Improved Procedures Planning applies to the “conventional bands” that are intensively used by commercial satellite systems. For specific frequencies, see id.

7 See Smith, The Space WARC: Reflections on 1985, Prospects for 1988, 29 Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space, Proc. 139 (1986).

8 The Broadcasting Satellite Service carries television and radio signals, via satellite, from an earth station to large numbers of small receiving stations. See Radio Regulations, supra note 4, Art. 1, No. 37.

9 For discussion of these decisions, see 1985 WARC Report, supra note 5; and U.S. Delega tion Report, supra note 3.

10 For the full agenda of the second session, see ITU, WARC–ORB–88, Doc. 1.

11 For details of the Allotment Plan, see ITU, Final Acts Adopted by the Second Session of the World Administrative Radio Conference on the Use of the Geostationary Orbit and the Planning of Space Services Utilizing It (ORB-88) (1988) [hereinafter Final Acts].

12 Existing systems are satellite systems in the Allotment Planning bands recorded in the Master International Frequency Register, or for which the coordination procedure has been initiated, or for which advance publication information was received by the ITU before Aug. 8, 1985 (the date the first session began). Id., App. 30B, Art. F.

13 Id., Arts. L–N.

14 Id., Art. I.

15 Id. at 12.

16 Final Acts, supra note 11, Res. COM6/3.

17 The most significant regulatory changes include modification of the Appendix 29 coordination threshold, id. at 26; the relaxation of time constraints for orbit access, id., Arts. 11 and 13; and the adoption of a network basis for coordination and notification, id.

18 Final Acts, supra note 11, Res. GT–PLEN/1.

19 For details, see id., App. 30A.

20 Final Acts, supra note 11, Res. COM5/1.

21 Id., Res. COM5/3.

22 See ITU, WARC–ORB–88, Docs. 484 and 485.