Preamble

In 1999, a European Interparliamentary Space Conference was created as a tool for interparliamentary cooperation in the space field. Bringing together national parliamentary representatives with a particular interest in the space sector, the German, British, French, Italian, Spanish, Belgian and Czech Parliamentary Space Groups agree upon the following charter :

Art. 1. The EISC provides a forum for debating the European space policy and analyses the major issues at stake in the European space sector. It aims at facilitating the information exchange on national and European space activities and the promotion of the mutual understanding of national space policies.

Art. 2. The composition of the EISC is as follows :
 Permanent members are the national parliaments of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, being the founding parliaments of the EISC.
 Permanent members are national parliaments of the member states of the European Union or of the European Space Agency that have created a parliamentary body dealing with space affairs.
 The national parliament of Russia has the status of member.
 Associate members are national parliaments of European Union or European Space Agency member states, that have not created a parliamentary body dealing with space affairs.
 Observers are national parliaments of the countries that have a national space programme. The permanent members of the EISC decide upon permanent membership, membership, associate membership and observer status, based on an official application of the national parliament concerned. This request is made to the Presidency of the EISC.

Art. 3. The EISC adopts resolutions on all matters related to the space field. These resolutions in no way bind national parliaments or prejudge their position. However, the participating members of parliament agree to communicate the adopted resolutions to their respective national parliament and government for consideration.

Art. 4. The resolutions of the EISC are adopted unanimously by the permanent members present. Members, associate members and observers present can adhere to these resolutions, but cannot vote on the final text.

Art. 5. The EISC is chaired alternately by one of the permanent members. A presidency starts at 1 January and ends at 31 December of the same year. The permanent members decide upon which national parliament will assume the presidency for the next year.

Art. 6. The EISC meets once a year during an annual conference. At the discretion of the acting presidency, colloquia can be organised dealing with particular subjects in the space field. A Heads of Delegation meeting, composed of the heads of delegation of the permanent members, meets at least once a year, during the annual conference. At the discretion of the acting presidency, more meetings can be organised.

Art. 7. The secretariat of the EISC Presidency is held by the acting presidency. It is responsible for the organisation of meetings, the distribution of documents and the liaison between the different national secretariats of the parliamentary space groups.

Interim provisions :

Art. A. In 2006, the composition of the EISC is as follows :
 Permanent Members : national parliaments of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic ;
 Members : Russian Duma ;
 Associate Members : none ;
 Observers : none.

Art. B. The Italian delegation will hold the presidency of the 9th EISC in 2007.

Art. C. The acting Belgian presidency will communicate the conclusions of the 8th EISC to :
 The national parliaments of the member states of the European Union or ESA, and the Russian Duma ;
 The European Parliament, COSAC, NATO Parliamentary Assembly and WEU Assembly ;
 The national parliaments of the United States, Brazil, India, China, Japan and Israel ;
 ESA, European Commission, Council of the European Union, UN Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Art. D. The EISC can create an information desk in support of the secretariat of the EISC Presidency. The information desk will have no political role, but may help the secretariat of the EISC Presidency in the practical organisation of the conferences, if so requested. The information desk will gather information from the different actors in the space field and will distribute this information towards the national secretariats of the permanent members, members, associate members and observers. The information desk will give technical support to the secretariats of the permanent members, members, associate members and observers, if so requested. No financial or other obligations towards this information desk exist for the permanent members, members, associate members and observers of the EISC. The information desk will be located temporarily in the offices of the Belgian Senate.

Signed in Brussels on 14 June 2006, For the Belgian delegation – acting president of the EISC, Mr François Roelants du Vivier For the British delegation, Mr Bill Olner, Mr Ian Taylor For the Czech delegation, Mr Pavel Hojda For the French delegation, Mr Christian Cabal For the German delegation, Mr Kurt Rossmanith For the Italian delegation, Mr Massimo Cialente For the Spanish delegation, Mr Antonio Cuevas Delgado 4