COLORADO SPRINGS — A revised draft of a proposed European Union space regulation is a step backward, creating uncertainty about how the law would be applied outside the EU, critics argue.
The rotating presidency of the European Union, currently held by Cyprus, released an updated draft of the EU Space Act March 30. The draft is expected to be debated at an April 21 working group meeting featuring Andrius Kubilius, the EU commissioner for defense and space.
The new draft is intended to address comments about the first public draft of the bill, published in June 2025. That draft faced significant criticism, particularly from the U.S. government and companies, which said it represented regulatory overreach and would stifle innovation. The act, if enacted, would apply not just to European companies but also to those seeking to do business in Europe.
The updated draft, however, presents new problems, government and industry officials argued during an April 16 panel at the 41st Space Symposium, where they represented themselves rather than their organizations.
“Unfortunately, this latest version that just came out last month from Cyprus, in our view, moves in a backward direction,” said Michael Overby, deputy director of space affairs at the State Department.
The bill is shorter, which is an improvement, he said. “But the lack of clarity is more concerning than something that is lengthier and provides clear direction moving forward.”
That lack of clarity includes what is required to comply with the regulations. “There are a lot of things where it says you need to do X. What counts as X? Who knows,” said Gabriel Swiney, director of the Office of Space Commerce’s policy, advocacy and international division. “It will probably be determined at some point by some European committee or standards body.”
“Without regulatory clarity with what the regulatory picture should be, it’s really going to have a stifling effect on what industry is striving to do,” said Janna Lewis, senior vice president of policy and general counsel for Astroscale U.S.
While there is a lack of clarity in some elements of the latest draft, the panel said other aspects represent overreach. Overby said the new draft would allow European regulators to seek information from American companies that is restricted by export control regulations such as ITAR. “Thus, they would never be able to comply with the draft act that is currently out there.”
He added that the act has “carveouts” that exempt national security space cooperation from its provisions, but there is not a similar carveout for civil space cooperation. That could affect American companies supporting European civil space programs as well as agency-to-agency cooperation between the U.S. and Europe.
Lesley Jane Smith, president of the International Institute of Space Law, said language in the new draft would appear to give regulators the ability to review contracts for in-orbit services that would normally be confidential to the parties to the contracts.
“For provisions like that, it’s impossible” for companies to comply, said Lewis. “It puts us in a bind.”
If something like the current draft of the EU Space Act became a binding regulation, it could cost both companies and customers of those companies hundreds of millions of euros annually, according to some assessments.
“European customers and consumers and governments maybe couldn’t access, or couldn’t access for a reasonable cost, these U.S. goods and services,” said Swiney. “It could pose a serious threat to some of those U.S. companies who are increasingly global companies relying on global markets.”
So far, discussions between European and American officials about the act have been constructive. “We’ve been able to keep these discussions constructive among technical experts, focused on the actual substance of the rules and what’s best for the space community,” Swiney said.
He warned, though, that it could get wrapped up in broader trade disputes between the United States and European Union, “with a back-and-forth series of punitive measures that aren’t about what’s best for space or the U.S. space industry but become political.”
However, the debate may not get to that point if the EU Space Act does not advance in the European Parliament. “It is not clear that this piece of legislation will pass,” said Smith. “Nobody is content with this draft.”
Member states, she said, could move to quash the bill, deeming the regulation beyond the competence of the EU. “The majority of states do see it as beyond the European Union’s competence.”
