Report from the 2022 ESA/ECSL Practitioners' Forum
This edition of the Practitioners' Forum took place on 19 September 2022 from 17:00 - 19:30, at the ESA Booth during the International Astronautical Congress in Paris, France, and addressed "The role of law and policy in fostering a sustainable space sector". The event consisted of an interactive panel discussion followed by a high-level networking event and cocktail and was opened by Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency and Marco Ferrazzani, Senior Legal Counsel of the European Space Agency.
The panel was moderated by Nicholas Puschman, Associate for Telecommunications, Media and Technology at Linklaters and Rosanna Hoffmann, Executive Officer of the European Centre for Space Law and discussed the notion of how the sustainable uses of space continues to be one of the greatest challenges faced by contemporary international space law and policy makers. The enactment of domestic space laws, regulations and policies is considered essential for an effective management of sustainability, in addition to the acknowledgement of emerging international principles and best practices with the aim of minimizing the risk of regulatory fragmentation.
The panellists were Ruth Pritchard-Kelly, Senior Advisor on Satellite Regulatory Affairs at OneWeb, Andrea Vena, Chief Sustainability Officer at the European Space Agency, Rada Popova, General Legal Counsel at Isar Aerospace and Jenni Tapio, Chief Specialist and Head of Space Office at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. Over 150 participants gathered at the ESA Booth to follow the interactive discussions and stayed for the reception afterwards.
The ECSL Secretariat would like to hugely thank everyone involved in the organisation and looks forward to the next instalment of the Practitioners’ Forum in autumn 2023.
