In 2017, the Chair of the IISL Directorate of Studies (DoS) Prof. Dr. Stephan Hobe was tasked by the IISL Board of Directors to look into the question on whether cyber law should become a topic for future IISL Colloquia and something to be studied more intensively by the International Institute of Space Law.
In order to come to an assessment of the need and the possibilities for the Institute to deal with questions on cyberspace and cyber law pertaining to the regulation of space activities, the DoS Chair invited the IISL Members to participate in an IISL Working Group on Cyber Law. A total of 22 Institute members (including the DoS Chair and the Co-Chairs of the five sub-working groups listed below) expressed their interest to do so. The working group was divided into five sub-working groups to define specific questions and separate areas of interest. The work of the working group was then divided into five topics as follows:
1. What is the technical architecture of cyber space?
2. Is there a (self-contained) specific legal regime for cyber space?
3. Who is supposed to regulate cyberspace?
4. Is the law on outer space applicable to cyber activities in outer space?
5. What are the legal aspects of cyber security for space assets?
The IISL Working Group on Cyber Law came to a very clear and unanimous recommendation in 2017: The IISL should deal with questions of cyber law in the future, include them regularly in the IISL colloquia and, if such a need is identified, task a working group with more specific further questions.
As a result of these deliberations, the IISL Board of Directors took a decision to dedicate technical sessions to questions pertaining to cyber aspects in its annual colloquia from 2018 on.
Download the IISL DoS study here.
