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EU space law

In “A Europe Fit for the Digital Age”

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On 3 March 2026, the rapporteur Elena Donazzan (ECR, IT) published the draft report. Whilst stressing the relevance of the proposal, that is both 'legitimate and necessary', she outlines a set of proposed amendments to support the positive impact of the proposal to European competitiveness, by improving simplification and removing fragmentation, whilst offering also a set of options to strike a balance between the objective of sustainability of the space activities with the proportionality and measurability of such provisions.                                         As for the objective of establishing a single market for space activities, the draft report includes notably an amendment at Article 6(3) to establish the 'mutual recognition of the authorisations' granted by national authorities.                                                                               In terms of simplification, the draft report includes several cuts to the duration of the examination of the requests authorisations set in Article 7. For instance, it includes a new provision at Article 7(4) that would require to the competent national authority to inform the applicant on the completedness of the request sent in a matter of 15 days following the requests, while an amendment to Article 7(6) cuts the maximum duration of the request authoritisation from 12months to 6 months. The report also provides an extension of the scope of the light regime defined in Article 10(4) to include the middle sized enterprises and the small mid-caps.                                                                                                                                           As for balancing sustainability with proportionality, the draft report provides for an amendment of Article 72 on light and radio pollution that would keep the objective and the technical description required to the applicant, but without the obligation consisting in guaranteeing that 'the visual magnitude for spacecraft during the entire lifetime, including the design requirements on low reflectivity coating or shielding, should be at least 7 magnitude'. 

background

The legal basis identified is Article 114 TFEU on the approximation of laws to ensure the functioning of the internal market. Article 189 TFEU on the European space policy explicitly excludes harmonising Member States space legislation from its scope.

Article 1 on subject matters provides for the regulation to lay down rules on :

a) the authorisation, registration and supervision of space activities and services carried out by space services providers established in the Union, and outside the Union when such services or space-based data are provided in the Union;

b) orbit traffic management rules;

c) a governance and enforcement framework;

d) the establishment of a Union space label. 

Article 2 on the scope specifies that the proposal does not apply to any asset launched before 1 January 2030, or exclusively used for defence or national security purposes. 

Article 3 on free movement guarantees the smooth flowing of space services and space-based data across the single market by services providers registered in the Union. However, Member States retain the capacity to require stricter safety, sustainability or resilience requirements. 

Title II on the authorisation and registration for space activities entails specific schemes for the Union space operators, the Union space operators operating Union owned assets (URSO), and the space services providers from Third Countries and international organisations.

Title III sets out a governance framework, which includes the appointment by each Member State of an authority in charge of authorising and supervising space activities. 

Title IV of the proposal on technical requirements lays down the rules on safety, sustainability and resilience. 

In the Parliament, the file has been referred to the ITRE committee, which has appointed its rapporteur, E. Donazzan (ECR, IT). 

On 9 December 2025, Ministers held a debate on the proposal during the Competitiveness Council. While supporting in general the objectives of the proposal, they stressed the need to strive for simplification. 

References:

Author: Clement Evroux, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu 

As of 20/03/2026.