ABSTRACT

Remote sensing law is a multifaceted legal regime that draws on a number of regulatory systems. Ÿis chapter will attempt to address the four core regulatory systems, namely, traditional space law, disarmament law, international remote sensing law, and geospatial law. Ÿese regimes should be understood as separate regulatory spaces that interact with each other in a variety of ways. Indeed, depending on the issue being addressed, they can reorient themselves to the others; it would be folly to suggest that they are always oriented in a speci¦ed way. Ÿese regimes shi¬ from discrete and separate to hierarchical to overlapping as the context of their application changes. Ÿe best description would be that their relationship is discursive in nature. It is system of regulatory feedback loops across di§erent governance spaces (see Figure 30.1). For example, international law creates obligations for states, but state implementation of these obligations o¬en leads to in©uencing the content of the obligation (Blount, 2012).