Ukraine, EU working out proposals on approaches to state administration in satellite navigation and remote sensing areas

Ukraine and the European Union (EU) are working out measures to harmonize their legislation in the area of state administration in the field of satellite navigation and remote sensing, the State Space Agency of Ukraine has reported.

The State Space Agency said that opinions on the present legal base in Ukraine and EU members in the space area were exchanged during a visit of European experts to the country as a part of the launch of the joint realization of the EU Twinning profile project.

The agency said that at a meeting, Ukraine had studied the legal acts of the EU in the field of satellite navigation (EGNOS/Galileo), the creation of the European GNSS Agency (the Global Navigation Satellite System) and decisions of the European Commission on the creation of an expert groups for safety.

European experts analyzed the agreement on cooperation signed by Ukraine and the EU in the EGNOS/Galileо project and the law on its ratification by Ukraine; a concept of the bill on state administration in the field of satellite navigation, and the bill drawn up by the State Space Agency of Ukraine.

After the meeting, European experts announced preliminary proposals for the bill, pointing to the need to study the issue in details.

The discussion will continue during the next mission of European colleagues to Ukraine in December, the agency said.

Ukraine and the European Union in October 2013 officially started implementing the Twinning project "Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the State Space Agency of Ukraine in Implementing the European Space Programs in the Field of Satellite Navigation (EGNOS/Galileo) and Remote Sensing (GMES)." The project duration is 21 months and it has the budget of EUR 1.5 million.

From the European side, Ukraine's partner is to be the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA).

Ukraine and the European Union signed an agreement of cooperation in the EGNOS/Galileо project in December 2005 in Kyiv. Ukraine ratified it in 2007 and the European Union in autumn 2013. The agreement took effect from November 1, 2013.

Currently Ukraine and the European Union are working on the signing of a joint statement of cooperation in the field of expanding the EGNOS system to the territory of the country.

Ukraine plans by 2020 to create a group of two or three Earth remote sensing satellites in orbit.