Sergio Marchisio Article on
What’s new on 25 June 2025: Law No. 89 on the Space Economy and the European Union’s proposed Space Act
Le novità del 25 giugno 2025: la Legge n. 89 sull’economia dello spazio e la proposta di Space Act dell’Unione europea
published in the July 30, 2025 issue of Federalismi, Rivista di diritto pubblico italiano, comparato, europeo.
June 25, 2025 represents a significant date for jurists, especially for those dealing with the law of outer space activities. That day, in fact, two important regulatory instruments were revealed: on the one hand, Italian Law No. 89/2025 on the Space Economy, approved by the Italian Parliament on 11 June and published in the Official Gazette on 24 June, came into force; and, on the other hand, the European Commission published the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the security, resilience and sustainability of the Union’s space activities (draft EU Space Act).
The author illustrates the path which led to the adoption of the Italian Space Law underlying without reticence the personal contribution that saw him actively engaged, since the Nineties, both internationally and nationally, to promote the adoption of a national law on space activities. In 2004, at the time of his election as president of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna (COPUOS), he strengthened his conviction that the Italian legal system needed a more adequate regulatory framework to ensure the effective implementation of international treaties on space activities and to cope more adequately with the economic evolution of the sector. He acted actively indeed in those years to bring Italy to adhere to Convention on the Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, 1975. Twenty years after the conclusion of the Convention, Law no. 153 of 12 July 2005, in addition to authorizing adherence to the REG, introduced some adaptation rules, alongside the order of execution, aimed at establishing the National Register of objects launched into space and entrusting their maintenance and custody to the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
The interest in the adoption of an Italian law on space activities came back into the news in 2017, when he submitted to the attention of the ASI Board of Directors, as a member for the period 2014-2018, the project for a law on the subject, drawn up at the conclusion of the study of the Working Group set up in the framework of the collaboration between ASI and the Sapienza University of Rome. As part of the Implementation Agreement of the Framework Agreement between ASI and Sapienza University of Rome for a collaboration project in space law issues, a joint working group, composed of G.G. Nucera, N. Bini and M. Gagliardi and directed by Professor Marchisio, drew up a Report in 2017 on the contents of national space legislation.
A new and definitive phase was then developed starting from 2021, as part of the three-year research project launched by the Leonardo-Civiltà delle Macchine Foundation jointly with Sapienza University (OSL Team, composed by Prof. Marchisio, G.G. Nucera e M.V. Prest) and SEE Lab Bocconi. The Research Group organized several meetings at the Chamber of Deputies in the year between December 2022 and December 2023. Finally, in September 2023, the Group presented the Report on the Space Economy, Space Industry, Space Law to the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy and the Delegated Authority for Space and Aerospace Policies, with an attached draft enabling law to implement international obligations and at the same time promote innovation, competitiveness, ensuring the safety and sustainability of space activities. The research group has also published a volume with Il Mulino, presenting the results of its work.
At the institutional level, the preparatory work on the draft law on the subject continued first in the technical field — a phase in which the writer played an advisory role — and then at government level, according to the usual procedures of consultation between the competent Ministries and ASI. On June 20, 2024, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of Minister Urso, approved a bill entitled “Provisions relating to the space economy“. The text was presented to the Chamber of Deputies by the President of the Council of Ministers on 10 September 2024, adopted in first reading by the Chamber of Deputies on 6 March 2025 and, finally, approved in second reading by the Senate on 11 June 2025.
The article scrutinizes the scope of the newly enacted Law, and explores its implications for commercial operators, authorization procedures, Italy’s role as a State of registry, liability regimes, and the promotion of the new space economy. 🇮🇹
🇪🇺 The contribution also reflects on the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on safety, resilience and sustainability of EU’s space activities, presented not only as a technical exercise but as a political act aimed at positioning the EU as a key player in space governance. The author highlights the legal challenges concerning the legal basis (Article 114 v. Article 189 TFEU) underlining that, in his opinion, the key concept to avoid potential clashes in the relationship between EUSA and national space legislation, including Italy’s new law, is complementarity. The authorisations processes should rest within the competence of the member States, while the EU would set out unified technical requirements. In any case, the draft raises a complex web of legal problems that the legislative process just started would try to resolve in the dialectics between the Council, the European Parliament, the member States and other stakeholders.
👉 This timely editorial offers an authoritative analysis of two landmark developments that will shape the future regulation of space activities at both the national and European levels.
🔗 Read the full article here!
