Time is of the essence: making space law more effective

Traditionally, international legal rules have been established through the adoption of treaties by states, and the five space treaties adopted in the 1960s and 1970s are no exception. Accordingly, the recent proposals for overcoming problems related to the management of space activities have often envisioned the conclusion of new treaties, even a general convention, on space law. However, the process of setting norms through international treaties has certain severe weaknesses, ones affecting space law as much as, if not more than, other fields. These include the lamentably common time lag between drafting, adoption, and entry into force of international standards. Even if states manage to agree on certain provisions, by the time accords are implemented, the problems in question may have reached entirely new and different proportions and strategies that made sense when first proposed already represent ‘too little, too late’. This paper ponders the chances of making norms of international space law operative faster as well as the possibility of creating instruments whose provisions can readily accommodate changing conditions.