ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an insight into the management challenges associated with institutional space projects when embedded in an international collaborative environment extending beyond the Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA). It discusses the practical implications of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) interpretations by the United States (US) administration after 11 September 2001 on such matters as the collaboration on the International Space Station (ISS), but suffice it to say that the current practice is not compatible with the original intention of the ISS Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) negotiated in 1998. Usually the political intention of intergovernmental or inter-agency agreements is translated into public procurement contracts of a technical system requiring the exchange of detailed, often very specific and sometimes sensitive, information and goods between European and foreign countries, which may be subject to export regulations. Unlike other regulations, an ITAR approval does not depend upon the end use of the item.
