Space Law in the European Context provides a comprehensive study on space law and policy in France. It will be of assistance for all practitioners, be they in the private or the public sector, for drafting or taking decisions on the matter of norms and agreements relating to space activities, such as contracts, partnerships, licensing, negotiations, as well as the adoption of laws and regulations, and for all of those-scholars or practitioners-who have to interpret or implement these instruments. This book will also be a valuable contribution for all those who are calling for the development of harmonized and enhanced space law in the international context of "new space." In the first part, Philippe Clerc describes the role played by the Law to build up the French Space Policy though the establishment of CNES, the French space agency. He presents, from the early sixties to now, CNES functioning and how its public space projects are authorized, financed, and controlled by the Government and Parliament, and implemented in an international and national framework, especially as regard to relation with the private industry. The interactions with the European governance, legal instruments and space programs of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU) are also discussed. The second part of the book details the legal background, the law-making process among parliament government, industry, experts and CNES, and the current functioning of the French Space Operation Act of 2008 as a legal instrument designed to regulate and promote the private space entrepreneurship under its jurisdiction. The book contains the whole legislation in the original French with an English translation, as well as unpublished working documents, including a comparison list of usual space law definitions and a table of concordance on different technical provisions between different FSOA texts and several international standards on space. (Series: Essential Air and Space Law (EASL), Vol. 20) Subject: Air & Space Law, International Law, French Law, European Law]