Studies On Space Debris Dispute Settlement Mechanism

With the development of exploration and use of outer space, much more space debris is created. So lots of lawyers and experts are intent to focus on the problem of space debris dispute. For both the nature and the type of this dispute are unique, it is necessary to create a special mechanism to deal with them. In this paper, I will analyze the defects of relative treaties and the practices on the dispute settlement of space debris. On this situation, I would like to create a new space debris dispute mechanism from the perspectives of substantive law, institution and procedure by using"document analysis"and"comparative"methods.When refers to the treaties about space debris, it is easily to see that the"Outer Space Treaty"includes some significant principles but no detailed rules. The"Moon Agreement"has paid more attention to the details of dispute settlement but it has only been accepted by a few nations. The other two treaties,"Registration Convention"and"Liability Convention"include useful clauses, however, the enforcement of them is not very good.From the perspective of practice, power states have much more advantages when they use political method to deal with space debris dispute. The function of Permanent Court of Arbitration is not comprehensive enough. The International Court of Air and Space is a proper institution, but the effect of it is doubtable. As a judicial institution, International Court of Justice has more advantages than the others, but the jurisdiction problems weaken its power.In this paper, I hold that, in order to improve the space debris dispute mechanism, we should respect the reality of the current international society. Initially, revise some crucial definitions of the"liability Convention"concisely and make a protocol as supplement. Then, it is necessary to build an institution, for both arbitration and judicial method are not acceptable, I prefer to a"Quasi-Judicial Institution"like WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Lastly, when making the procedure rules of the institution, in addition to use the WTO dispute settlement mechanism rules as a resource for reference, the professors'research results should not be neglected either. In this way, it will make a difference when we establish the space debris dispute mechanism.