I’m working on a short essay on the status of property rights for outer space. One section of the essay lists the countries that have recognized private rights in extracted resources. These include the United States of America, Luxembourg, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. I have found links going directly to the first three, but not to the UAE. I have googled, bing’d, and duckduckgone, I have not found it.
I did find an English Translation of the UAE’s National Space Policy. It gives me some assurance that the news reports of the UAE’s law may be correct. In it, the UAE government says its space agency shall embark on or contribute to such inspirational programs as: “[e]xploration, mining, extraction and utilization of resources in space.” It doesn’t, however, say whether it’s the government or the private sector doing all that extracting and utilizing, so I remained riddled with doubt. However, the Policy also says it will “abstain from activities that discourage or compete with UAE commercial sector activities, unless required for critical national interests such as national security or public safety.” This suggests that once private UAE citizens start mining, the UAE government won’t compete on that front, and strongly implying that the private sector will get to keep its mining proceeds. Finally, the Policy states it will support, among other activities, “projects that deal with the exploration and exploitation of resources in space, and other projects that may create a global revolution in the field of exploration, the utilization of space and its resources.”
These concepts sound supportive of recognizing private rights in extracted resources. News articles such as this one say the UAE does. But, when writing a paper, we lawyers are supposed to footnote the law we claim to be describing. We’re even supposed to quote from it. But so far I can’t.
Although I read neither French nor Japanese, I did find U.S. Library of Congress links to both Luxembourg’s and Japan’s laws on space resources. The Library of Congress even explains what those laws say. I’m pretty comfortable with citing those. If you can’t trust the Library of Congress, who can you trust?
Lastly, since I’m asking you to share your link to the space resources UAE law (and hopefully an English translation) with me, I will share my Library of Congress links with you:
I’m struggling to find a nice way to say this. Having been there a couple of times for work, I have a perspective.
It’s a monarchy. What the Emir says, goes.
Hmmm. But did he write it down?
How about this? https://www.moj.gov.ae › assetsPDF
Web results
Federal Law No. (12) of 2019
Thank you, Ian. Could be. Alas, I do not read Arabic.
Seems to link differently depending on how it’s accessed. . . but it is available in English. Run a search for Federal Law No. (12) of 2019 in a search engine and the English version should be a result .
Article 4 lists space, as regulated activities:
“(i) Space Resources exploration or extraction activities.
(j) Activities for the exploitation and use of Space Resources for scientific, commercial or other purposes”
And Article 18 says:
“Article 18 – Exploration, Exploitation and Use of Space Resources
1- Subject to the provisions of Article (14) of this Law, the conditions and controls relating to Permits for the
exploration, exploitation and use of Space Resources, including their acquisition, purchase, sale, trade, transportation,
storage and any Space Activities aimed at providing logistical services in this regard shall be determined by a decision
issued by the Council of Ministers or whomever it delegates.
2- The Permits referred to in clause (1) of this Article shall be granted by a decision of the Board of Directors upon
the proposal of the Director General”