Outer Space Ordinance in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

chapter 10 Outer Space Ordinance in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

1 Introduction

After having been a British colony for almost a century, Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 as a highly autonomous region. Since then, Hong Kong becomes the first plot to implement the concept of ‘one country, two systems’. Its legal status is well defined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed on December 19, 1984 in Beijing1 and the Basic Law, a mini-Constitution for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.2 In accordance with the Basic Law, the capital- ist system and the way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years after the sovereign transfer.3 It further provides the continued application of the laws previously in force in Hong Kong.4 As a highly advanced economy in the world, Hong Kong has allowed the development of many applications of, and has consequently benefited consid- erably from space technologies. Two companies operate satellites in Hong Kong. apt Satellite Holdings Limited has its principal office in Hong Kong and operates five in-orbit satellites: apstar 1, apstar 1A, apstar 5, apstar 6 and apstar 7.5 Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Limited, commonly known as ‘AsiaSat’, currently operates six satellites in orbit, namely, AsiaSat 1, 2, 3S, 4, 5 and 7.6 Satellites have been used for various purposes, including cell phones, broadcasting and televisions, and navigation services.

1 Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, http://www.cmab.gov.hk/en/issues/jd2.htm. 2 Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, adopted at the Third Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on April 4, 1990 and effective as of July 1, 1997, http://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/ en/basiclawtext/images/basiclaw_full_text_en.pdf. 3 See Basic Law, Article 5. 4 See Basic Law, Article 8. 5 See apt Satellite Holdings Limited, http://www.apstar.com/apt_company/index.asp. 6 See Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd., http://www.asiasat.com.hk/asiasat/index .php.

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Correspondingly, Hong Kong has developed its own rules for space activities. While several other rules touch on space activities, this Chapter, in view of the main theme of this book, focuses on the study of Outer Space Ordinance in Hong Kong, which is the highest level of law in Hong Kong guiding space activities. Part 2 examines relevant provisions of this law and studies the licensing regime for space activities. Part 3 discusses the relationship of the Outer Space Ordinance and national space legislation in mainland China. It concludes in Part 4 that Hong Kong will maintain its highly autonomous status within the Chinese territory and that the current legal regime for space activities within the region will continue for the unforeseeable future.

2 Outer Space Ordinance and Licensing Regime7

As a colony to the uk, the Outer Space Act 1986 (Hong Kong) Order 19908 applied to Hong Kong before July 1997. This order implemented the four space treaties, namely, the Outer Space Treaty, the Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention. These four treaties were extended to Hong Kong on ratification by the United Kingdom. China, also a member to the above four treaties, agreed to the continued application of these treaties in Hong Kong after 1997. Furthermore, China agreed to localise the Outer Space Act 1986 (Hong Kong) Order 1990, which forms the basis of the current Outer Space Ordinance in Hong Kong. The two documents do not differ much, major differences lying in the change of certain terminolo- gies, for example, by replacing ‘Governor’ and ‘Governor in Council’ with ‘Chief Executive’ and ‘Chief Executive in Council’ respectively. Another major difference is the scope of personal application.9 The Outer Space Act of 1986 applies only to uk nationals, Scottish firms, and bodies incor- porated under uk law.10 Since there is no concept of ‘nationals’ under the Basic Law, the Outer Space Ordinance does not contain such rules as to the scope of personal application; instead it broadly applies to three categories of space

7 This part is based on the author’s earlier article “Satellite Application and Development of Space Law in Hong Kong,” Soochow Law Journal, 1 (2004): 183–203. 8 This Order, Statutory Instruments 1990 No. 591, was made on March 19, 1990 and came into force on March 19, 1990, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1990/591/made. 9 See Suzanne U. Reif, “Space Law in the People’s Republic of China – Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hksar) Government: Outer Space Ordinance (last amended 55 of 1999 s. 3),” German Journal of Air and Space Law 51 (2002): 49–50. 10 See Outer Space Act 1986, Section 2.