Babina E.A. The issue of international and civil responsibility in the process of the remote Earth probing from space

Abstract: This article reviews the issues of international and civil responsibility of the countries, pertaining to the probing of Earth using the artifi cial satellites in space. It examines the international acts that regulate these situations, as well as the judicial practice in this category of cases. The author points out that the solution to the issues of responsibility with regards to probing is complicated due to the specifi city of the international space law, which places all of the responsibilities for space activities on the countries: the country is responsible for violations of its international legal obligation regardless of the status of the violating subject. At the same time, the civil legal responsibility for any damages resulting from violation of the norms of national law is subject to civil law. Historically the civil court did not fi nd countries guilty, rather the legal actions were often taken against companies or agencies that stored, analyzed, or distributed the information obtained via the artifi cial Earth satellites.

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