Srinivasan Ramaswamy talks about the need for us to develop the existing law on International telecommunications and broadcasting.
Abstract
The law on international telecommunications and broadcasting derives its substratum from international space law. However, at the time when the Outer Space Treaty was drafted, the involvement of private corporations in activities related to outer space was not envisaged. Therefore, with the rapid technological as well as commercial advancement, the doctrines envisaged by the five major space treaties and the related principles have become redundant in so far as their application to telecommunications and direct satellite broadcasting is concerned. Hence, there is a need to revisit Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty if the activities of autonomous bodies like INTELSAT are to be governed. In this regard, the provisions of the ITU Constitution appear to be an improvement over the Outer Space Treaty. The World Trade Organization also has a pivotal role in formulating and administering laws on telecommunications. However,
the GATS Annex on Telecommunications and the Reference Paper are not devoid of ambiguities. Furthermore, the role of the UNCOPOUS and the International Telecommunication Union in the allocation of frequencies and orbital positions is questionable at best, since such a practice would tantamount to national appropriation.
Professor Stephen Gorove’s counter misses the point in the sense that he fails to take into account the use of nuclear powered satellites. In this regard, the author states that the International Telecommunication Union must be conferred with extensive powers to deregister or cancel a particular allotment in case a more efficient proposal is made by
another state. This would check continued national appropriation as well as provide opportunities to developing states thereby justifying the statement that outer space is a “province of all mankind”.