The EU's 2025 Space Act proposal would set common satellite rules from 2030, if lawmakers agree

The European Commission published its proposal for an EU Space Act on June 25, 2025, and presented it in Brussels on June 26 alongside a Vision for the European Space Economy. The draft regulation would replace a patchwork of national rules with one set of EU requirements for the safety, resilience and environmental sustainability of space activities, and would reach any operator, European or not, that provides space services in the EU. More than a year later it remains a proposal: the Commission says the European Parliament and the Council are negotiating it, and its rules would apply from January 1, 2030 if adopted in that form.

Why the Commission proposed it

The Commission's case rests on fragmentation and crowding. Its June 26 announcement counted a patchwork of 12 national frameworks; its Space Act page puts the figure at 13 national approaches, which it says raise complexity and costs for businesses. A September 2025 briefing by the Parliament's research service found at least 13 space laws in force in EU countries by the end of 2024. The same announcement said more than 11,000 satellites were already in orbit and up to 50,000 could be launched over the next decade, raising the risk of cascading collisions.

The legal route is the EU's internal market power, Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. The treaty article on space policy, Article 189, rules out harmonizing national space laws, the research service noted, and the EU itself is not a party to the UN outer space treaties on which national laws are based.

What the proposal would require

EU operators would need an authorization from a member state after a technical assessment, and every space operator would be listed in a Union Register of Space Objects run by the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). Providers based outside the EU would be registered through a Commission decision and would have to name a legal representative in the Union. A lighter regime would cover research and education institutions and small enterprises. Each member state would designate an authority to authorize and supervise operators.

The rules would not cover assets launched before January 1, 2030, or space objects used only for defense or national security. Assets launched after that date whose critical design review ends within 12 months of the law's entry into force would get until January 1, 2032. The Commission would supervise operators of EU-owned assets, operators from outside the EU and international organizations, and could fine them up to twice the profit gained or loss avoided through a breach, or 2% of worldwide turnover where that cannot be worked out. Member states could keep stricter requirements where objectively necessary, and requirements would be scaled to a company's size, maturity and risk exposure, the Commission said, with a support package of testing facilities and technical guidance for small firms.

A space revolution is coming. The 21st century will be the century of space. Europe needs to be at the forefront.

Support and concerns

By our reading of the Parliament's September 2025 briefing, industry views were broadly in favor, with conditions. The views below come from papers published before the proposal. In a position paper from late 2023, the European space industry association ASD-Eurospace welcomed a law that would secure an internal space market and a level playing field with non-EU competitors, but asked for enough time for a smooth transition. SME4space, which represents smaller space companies, stressed avoiding unnecessary regulatory burdens in a 2024 paper. In a 2024 article, a US think tank, the Center for Space Policy and Strategy, warned that compliance costs could hurt the competitiveness of US space companies, while arguing that not complying could cost them more if EU standards spread worldwide.

Where it stands now

The Parliament's Legislative Train, updated on October 25, 2026, lists the file, procedure 2025/0335(COD), as “tabled”, the status for a proposal Parliament has received and is considering; files on which Parliament and Council have reached a provisional agreement are marked “close to adoption” instead. The lead committee, Industry, Research and Energy, appointed Elena Donazzan (ECR, Italy) as rapporteur. Her draft report of March 3, 2026, called the proposal “legitimate and necessary” and proposed mutual recognition of national authorizations, cutting the maximum time to decide an authorization request from 12 months to six, widening the light regime to mid-sized enterprises and small mid-caps, and dropping the magnitude-7 brightness guarantee while keeping the light-pollution objective.

Two other committees have adopted opinions: the environment committee proposes a mandatory environmental impact assessment for providing space services in the EU, and the internal market committee a helpdesk at the EU space agency to guide applicants. In the Council, the working party on space has been examining the text, and the train page noted a progress briefing for ministers at the Competitiveness Council of May 29, 2026. The Commission's consultation on the proposal ran from July 15 to November 7, 2025.

None of the proposal's requirements apply today. The Parliament's Legislative Observatory, as fetched on November 13, 2026, still shows the file awaiting a decision in the lead committee. By our reading of the Commission's and the research service's descriptions, until Parliament and Council agree on a final text, space activities in the EU remain governed by national laws where countries have them, and the 2030 start date could change in the negotiations.