Of importance is the fact that Article XII is applicable only to stations, installations, equipment, and space vehicles on the Moon and other celestial bodies, and therefore the Article is not applicable to all facilities in space. However, if the resident inspection concept was included in an international SPS agreement, inspections which would be conceptually analogous to those contemplated in Article XII would apply to SPS space facilities. However, the scope of such SPS inspections could be much broader than those contemplated under Article XII in that they would be conducted by resident inspectors rather than by inspectors visiting upon notice. The concept of inspection is widely controversial. In the United States Constitution, for example, prohibition of unreasonable searches is a principal freedom which has been ingrained in American political philosophy. In the context of the current discussion with regard to the proposed Agreement Governing Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (hereinafter cited as the proposed Moon Treaty) which has been approved recently by the United Nations General Assembly and opened for signature and ratification, the issue of inspections has been raised. Article XV(1) of the proposed Moon Treaty states:* Each State Party may assure itself that the activities of other State Parties in the exploration and use of the moon are compatible with the provisions of this Agreement. To this end, all space vehicles, equipment, facilities, stations and installations on the moon shall give reasonable advance notice of a projected visit, in order that appropriate consultations may be held and that maximum precautions may be taken to assure safety and to avoid interference with normal operations in the facility to be visited. In pursuance of this article, any State Party may act on its own behalf or with the full or partial assistance of any other State Party or through appropriate international procedures within the framework of the United Nations in accordance with the Charter. (Note that, unlike the 1967 Treaty on Principles, the proposed Moon Treaty does not make inspection the subject of reciprocity.) Some critics of the proposed Moon Treaty assert that it would expand the right of foreign governments to inspect U.S. space facilities beyond the right already established in Article XII of the 1967 Treaty on Principles: ♦Article I of the proposed Moon Treaty states that any reference to the "moon" "shall also apply to other celestial bodies within the solar system, other than the earth" and "shall include orbits around or other trajectories to or around it."
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==