Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
fall in a
vacuum juris
, but within the scope of international law and its developments and
Similarly Article 4, which is formulated as an ethical principle, echoes Article I of the
OSTandestablishesthattheexploitationanduseoftheMoonshallbetheprovinceofman-
kind, and that these activities shall be conducted for the benefit of and in the interests of all
countries and present and future generations, and to promote higher standards of living, in
accordance with the United Nations Charter. These expressions are connected and must be
interpreted in the light of the common heritage principle affirmed in Article 11. The prin-
ciples of non-appropriation and non-occupation, enshrined in Article 11.2, are essential for
implementation of the notion of the common heritage of mankind, along with the destina-
tion only for peaceful purposes and demilitarization of the Moon and other celestial bodies,
provided for by Article 3, taking into consideration preservation of the environment.
Article 6 is devoted to the freedom of scientific investigation. Again this provision
evokes Article 1 with respect to its ethical formulation ('[t]here shall be freedom of sci-
entific investigation on the Moon by all States Parties without discrimination of any kind,
on the basis of equality and in accordance with international law'), but it widens the scope
of the Agreement beside the general freedoms of exploration and use provided for by the
OST. Only in the context of scientific research is it possible to remove minerals from the
lunar soil in the limited quantities needed for this aim (second paragraph). It follows that
states which have removed samples have the duty to make them available to the scientific
community for investigations.
The ban on the use of natural resources
in situ
('in place') (Art. 11.3) is instead con-
nected with the non-appropriation principle provided by Article 11.2, which prohibits the
national appropriation of the Moon by any claim of sovereignty, by means of use or oc-
cupation or any other means. The resources which are
in situ
, that is, located in their nat-
ural status in the surface or subsurface of the Moon, are not susceptible to appropriation
until they are incorporated in the soil or subsoil, so they fall within the scope of Article
11.3. Their removal should instead make them usable and subject to the regime dictated by
Article 11.7 of the Moon Agreement (common heritage of mankind).
