As private actors increasingly enter the space sector, longstanding questions about the regulation of outer space take on new urgency.
Is the existing international legal framework sufficient to govern this shift, or will national laws and state-supported commercial initiatives create regulatory fragmentation? What responsibilities do states and private entities share in this evolving domain? Can trade, investment, and tax laws developed for earthbound commerce be extended to space-based activities?
Regulating Space-Based Commerce brings together leading voices from both legal and economic disciplines to explore these pressing questions. Moving beyond traditional space law, the book offers a fresh, external perspective that recognises the growing relevance of non-space-specific frameworks—such as trade, taxation, and investment—in regulating commercial activity beyond Earth.
The book is structured around three central themes: space resource management, the governance of space as a global commons, and the legal and regulatory challenges posed by security and private enterprise. The book provides a multi-angled platform, allowing readers to engage with each issue from several expert viewpoints.
With contributions from both established and emerging scholars, the book provides a timely, thought-provoking entry point into the interdisciplinary challenges shaping the future of space governance. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the legal and economic architecture of space-based commerce.
Table of Contents:
1. Preface: Economics and Law of Space-based Commerce. A Personal Perspective, Jean-Claude Worms (Committee on Space Research, France)
2. Introduction: Regulating Space-based Commerce: Law, Economics, and Interdisciplinary Vantage Points, Ron Davies (University College Dublin, Ireland), Joseph Francois (World Trade Institute, Switzerland), and Rodrigo Polanco (World Trade Institute, Switzerland)
Part 1: Space Resource Management
3. Reappraising Liability in the Age of Autonomous Space Systems: An Economic Analysis of Law Approach, Roser Almenar (University of Valencia, Spain)
4. From the Deep Seabed to Outer Space Resources: Lessons from UNCLOS for Regulating Space Resource Activities, Nathan Eastwood, Haeran Chung and Iuliia Samsonova (Watson, Farley & Williams, Australia)
5. Investment Arbitration for Space-Related Disputes: The Territorial Jurisdiction Critique, Peng Wang (Xi’an Jiaotong University, China), Qianwen Zhang (East China University of Political Science and Law, China) and Maciej Zenkiewicz (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland)
6. National Space Legislations and the Appropriability of Space Resources, Lesley Jane Smith and Lew Toepfer (Leuphana University Luneburg, Germany)
Part 2: Managing the Space Commons: Space Sustainability and Private Actors
7. Economic Growth in Space: Rocket Reusability as an Economic Problem, Alessio Terzi (University of Cambridge, UK) and Francesco Nicoli (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
8. Putting a Price on Space: The Economic Value of Space-Based Communications and the Cost of Terrestrial Redundancy, Joseph Francois (World Trade Institute, Switzerland) and Michael Francois (Google, Switzerland)
9. The Political Economy of Subsidizing Space Commerce, Ron Davies (University College Dublin, Ireland), Joseph Francois (World Trade Institute, Switzerland), and Rodrigo Polanco (World Trade Institute, Switzerland)
10. The Afterlife of Space Junk: Legal Ramifications of Recognizing Space Debris as a Resource for Space Manufacturing and In-Situ Resource Utilisation, Kamil Muzyka (Polish Science Fiction Foundation) and Anna Hurova (Koretsky State and Law Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
11. The Development of Space Debris Mitigation Measures at the National Level, Merve Erdem Burger (University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland)
Part 3: Space Law, National Security and the Regulation of the Private Space Economy
12. The National Security and Investment Law Intersection in Commercial Space Activities, Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer (Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Switzerland) and Riccardo Loschi (Lalive, Switzerland)
13. China-Latin America Cooperation in Outer Space: Implications for the United States? Ana Soliz de Stange (Helmut-Schmidt-Universität, Germany)
14. Introduction to Space Taxation, Erika Isabella Scuderi (Vienna University of Economic and Business, Austria)
15. Allocating Taxing Rights for Off-Planet Mining, Damien Macedo (University of Cambridge, UK)
About the Author :
Ron Davies is Professor of Economics at University College Dublin, Ireland.
Joseph Francois is Managing Director and Professor of Economics at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Rodrigo Polanco is Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland, and Legal Adviser at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law.
