The New PCA' s Rules for Arbitration and their Relevance to Disputes Arising from Erroneous Navigational Signals

This contribution seeks to address the issues of damage and dispute resolution for erroneous navigational signals from a different perspective, particularly under a newly adopted legal mechanism: The Permanent Court of Arbitration’ s (PCA) Optional Rules for Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities. One interesting provision contained within these rules is article 1. Article 1 par. 1 provides that “the Outer Space Rules can be adopted by consent as the rules between any parties whatever their nature...”. Furthermore, the last sentence of article 1 stipulates that “the characterization of the dispute as relating to Outer Space is not necessary for jurisdiction under these rules…”. Hence, one would argue that the scope of application -both personal and material- of the PCA rules is quite broad, depending exclusively on the will and the consent of the parties. In light of this broad scope of application of the new PCA rules, the paper will examine their relevance for disputes in the field of Global Navigational Satellite Systems. Additionally, it will assess the practical chances of success of this new legal instrument for potential GNSS related disputes.