Cynebury Accord/Full text

The Cynebury Accord

A Treaty Establishing Guidelines to Secure the Continued Peaceful Usage of Outer Space

Opened for Signature in Cynebury in November 14, 1975

PREAMBLE.

THE ASSEMBLED NATIONS OF URTH,

UNDERSTANDING the many applications and uses of outer space, including satellites and space exploration,

BELIEVING that the long-term use of outer space is in the common interest of urthkind,

RECALLING previous attempts at international cooperation for space exploration, including space stations operated by multinational crews,

DISMAYED that space can also be used to destroy and kill,

LAMENTING the disastrous sapient toll of the usage of an orbital weapons station in war,

BELIEVING that preventing such tragedies from happening again is imperative,

CONCERNED about the possible impact the militarization of space could have for the ability of space to be used for peaceful purposes,

CONVINCED that a Treaty Establishing Guidelines to Secure the Continued Peaceful Usage of Outer Space will help secure international goodwill and peace in the use of outer space and space exploration,

HAVE AGREED TO THE FOLLOWING:

ARTICLE I.

The exploration and use of outer space, including any and all celestial bodies, are to be done for the common benefit of urthkind, regardless of species, ethnicity, or nationality.

Outer space, including celestial bodies like the Olune, is to be the common domain of all urthkind, on a basis of equality, and there shall be free access to all of outer space.

ARTICLE II.

Outer space, including any and all celestial bodies, is not to be appropriated by any country through a claim of sovereignty, or any other means.

ARTICLE III.

Any activities in the exploration and use of outer space, including celestial bodies and the alone, shall be carried out in accordance with international law, to ensure international peace and security, and to promote international goodwill.

ARTICLE IV.

Outer space, including celestial bodies, shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. The use of military personnel for scientific research or for any other peaceful purposes shall not be prohibited. The use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited.

States shall not place into orbit around Urth any weapons, install any weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner.

Weapons that are intended to damage or destroy satellites, be it launched from Urth or otherwise, are prohibited.

ARTICLE V.

States shall regard astronauts as envoys of urthkind and shall render them all possible assistance in the event of accident, distress, or emergency landing on the territory of another State or on the high seas. When astronauts make such a landing, they shall be safely and promptly returned to the State of registry of their space vehicle.

In carrying on activities in outer space and on celestial bodies, the astronauts of one State shall render all possible assistance to the astronauts of other States.

States to the Treaty shall immediately inform all other States of any phenomena they discover in outer space, including all celestial bodies, which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts.

ARTICLE VI.

States shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the olune and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. When activities are carried on in outer space, including the Olune and other celestial bodies, by an international organization, responsibility for compliance with this Treaty shall be borne both by the international organization and by the States participating in such organization.

ARTICLE VII.

Each State that launches or procures the launching of an object into outer space, including the Olune and other celestial bodies, and each State from whose territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally liable for damage to another State or to its natural or juridical persons by such object or its component parts on the Urth, in air space or in outer space, including celestial bodies.

ARTICLE VIII.

A State on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Urth. Such objects or component parts found beyond the limits of the State on whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State, which shall, upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.

ARTICLE IX

In the exploration and use of outer space, including the Olune and other celestial bodies, States shall be guided by the principle of cooperation and mutual assistance and shall conduct all their activities in outer space, celestial bodies, with due regard to the corresponding interests of all other States. States shall pursue studies of outer space, including celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Urth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose.

If a State has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by it or its nationals in outer space, including the Olune and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities of other States in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including celestial bodies, it shall undertake appropriate international consultations before proceeding with any such activity or experiment.

A State which has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State in outer space, including celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including celestial bodies, may request consultation concerning the activity or experiment.

ARTICLE X.

In order to promote international co-operation in the exploration and use of outer space in conformity with the purposes of this Treaty, States shall consider on a basis of equality any requests by other States to be afforded an opportunity to observe the flight of space objects launched by those States.

The nature of such an opportunity for observation and the conditions under which it could be afforded shall be determined by agreement between the States concerned.

ARTICLE XI.

In order to promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, States Parties to the Treaty conducting activities in outer space, including the olune and other celestial bodies, agree to inform the public and the international scientific community, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations and results of such activities.

ARTICLE XII.

All stations, installations, equipment and space vehicles on the moon and other celestial bodies shall be open to representatives of other States on a basis of reciprocity. Such representatives 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.

ARTICLE XIII.

The provisions of this Treaty shall apply to the activities of States in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by a single State or jointly with other States, including cases where they are carried on within the framework of international intergovernmental organizations.

Any practical questions arising in connexion with activities carried on by international intergovernmental organizations in the exploration and use of outer space, including the olune and other celestial bodies, shall be resolved

by the States either with the appropriate international organization or with one or more States members of that international organization.

ARTICLE XIV.

An International Court of Outer Space shall be established to arbitrate disputes regarding the usage of space and regarding compliance with this Treaty.

ARTICLE XV.

1. This Treaty shall be open to all States for signature. Any State which does not sign this Treaty before its entry into force in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article may accede to it at any time.

2. This Treaty shall be subject to ratification by signatory States. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Government of Tretrid, which is hereby designated the Depositary Government.

3. This Treaty shall enter into force upon the deposit of instruments of ratification by five Governments including the Depositary Government under this Treaty.

4. For States whose instruments of ratification or accession are deposited subsequent to the entry into force of this Treaty, it shall enter into force on the date of the deposit of their instruments of ratification or accession.

5. The Depositary Government shall promptly inform all signatory and acceding States of the date of each signature, the date of deposit of each instrument of ratification of and accession to this Treaty, the date of its entry into force and other notices.

ARTICLE XVI.

Any State may propose amendments to this Treaty. Amendments shall enter into force for each State accepting the amendments upon their acceptance by a majority of the States and thereafter for each remaining on the date of acceptance by it.

ARTICLE XVII.

This Treaty, of which the Tretridian, Staynish, Cukish, and Ethalrian tests are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives in the Depositary Governments. Duly certified copies of this Treaty shall be transmitted by the Depositary Governments to the Governments of the signatory and acceding States.

RATIFICATION.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized, have signed this Treaty.

DONE at the city of Cynebury, the fourteenth day of November, one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five.