Liability for Damages and Responsibility of States and International Organizations

Abstract

This provision is based on paragraph 8 of the ‘Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space’. Article VII of the Space Treaty has created a general principle of tortious liability for damages on the part of States which launch or from whose territories objects are launched into outer space. Since this is a general principle of liability, the Space Treaty has left unresolved such questions as — the kind of injury for which recovery may be had; should liability be without regard to fault for some or all activities, or should it be based on fault; should a different principle govern, depending on whether the place of injury is on the surface of the earth, in the air space or in outer space; should the liability of the launching State be unlimited in amount; what machinery should be utilized for determining liability and for payment of compensation.

Article VII. Each State Party to the Treaty that launches or procures the launching of an object into outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and each State Party from whose territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally liable for damage to another State Party to the Treaty or to its natural or juridical persons by such object or its component parts on the Earth, in air space or in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.