US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA505

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000505 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/SAT, IO/UNP, WHA/CAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TSPA, CA, UNGA, COPUOS 
SUBJECT: COPUOS: USG APPROACH FOR CONSIDERATION OF SPACE 
DEBRIS MITIGATION GUIDELINES 
 
REF: A) OTTAWA 435 B) SECSTATE 18202 
 
1. ESTH Counselor spoke on 2/17/05 with the Science and 
Technology Division of International Trade Canada for further 
Canadian reaction (ref A) to the demarche requested in ref B. 
 David Church, Deputy Director of the office provided the 
following points that had been agreed on an interagency basis: 
 
-- Canada favors elaboration of a set of guidelines by the 
STSC, based on, but not limited to, current IADC guideline; 
-- Canada would favor the periodic review of the guidelines, 
in order to take into account scientific developments; and -- 
Canada supports the consideration of legal issues relating to 
space debris by the legal subcommittee (LSC), following the 
conclusion of the work of the STSC, and the adoption of "soft 
law" (such as principles) on space debris mitigation.  But 
like the U.S., Canada would not/not favor the adoption of an 
instrument that would be binding in interational law. 
 
2. Church also said that the GOC would like to have 
clarification on the extent of annual voluntary reporting 
that the U.S. envisages, and on the type of situation in 
which the U.S. would recommend an exemption from the 
guidelines. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
CELLUCCI