This presentation focuses on the legel environment created by the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and the four related Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for carrying out International Space Station (ISS) operation and utilisation activities, over the useful lifetime of the flight elements provided by the ISS Partners. It addresses the issues to be dealt with in the arrangements which will be concluded for enabling the various categories of users, from whatever field of activity in either the public or private sector, to exercise utilisation rights belonging in the first place to the Partner's Cooperating Agencies, while attracting funding from sources other than States' contributions. The presentation also reviews the efforts being made by the European Space Agency (ESA), on behalf of the European Partner, to prepare for efficient and effective use of the European utilisation allocation of the ISS, despite the difficulty of reconciling competing interests at both national and Agency levels. Finally, the presentation examines different aspects and implications of the new ISS exploitation programme subscribed in May 1999 by the ESA Member States concerned, the most ambitious and complex exploitation programme ever undertaken by the Agency, with the added constraint of avoiding exchange of funds between ISS Partners.
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