The legal regime of outer space in light of the Law of the Sea - Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century - page 399

However, 'affirmer que les Etats coopèrent dans le domaine des activités spatiales
pour satisfaire le prescrit de l'article 1 er , 3 e alinéa, du Traité de 1967 serait faire prévue d'un
optimisme juridique exagéré. Les Etats coopèrent tout simplement parce qu'ils trouvent
leur compte' (saying that states cooperate in the area of space activities to meet the obliga-
tions of Article 1(3) of the 1967 Treaty would reflect a sense of excessive legal optimism.
Quite simply, states cooperate when they find it convenient to do so) (Mayence, 2008 ) .
With the aim of clarifying the rationale of the common benefit clause, the General
Assembly adopted, in 1996, the Declaration on International Cooperation in the Explora-
tion andUseofOuter Space forthe Benefit andinthe Interest ofall States, Taking into Par-
ticular Account the Needs of Developing Countries. According to these recommendations,
states are free to determine all aspects of their participation in international cooperation,
exploration, and use of outer space on an equitable and mutually acceptable basis. Further-
more, international cooperation should be conducted in ways that are considered most ef-
fective and appropriate by the concerned states, taking into special consideration the needs
of countries at all levels of development for technical assistance and rational and efficient
allocation of financial and technical resources. However the Declaration cannot go any fur-
ther towards imposing mandatory conditions.
A meaningful example of the current situation concerns data generated by the remote
sensing activities of states, which follows the dynamics of a profit-oriented sector. The
commercialization and privatization of some international organizations, such as Inmarsat
andIntelsat,pavedthewaytotheunderstandingthattheconceptofcommonbenefitshasto
be interpreted in the light of the commercialization and privatization process, which serves
the market economy. Thus outer space has become a resource available for exploitation
by all who have the capacity to do so, and the advantage of the space-faring countries has
been identified as benefiting all other countries. It follows that the benefits for those states
lacking space capabilities can only arise from international cooperation, 'without any ob-
ligation upon the space-faring countries to enter into agreements' (Hobe, 2009 ) .
The Sub-Commission on the Ethics of Outer Space, set up by the UNESCO World
Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), formu-