Germany: The German government has put into place a two-step regulatory regime for commercial satellite imagery that subjects proposed sales of the most sensitive data to approval on a case-by-case basis, the German Aerospace Center, DLR, said.
In response to inquiries about where German policy stood following the announcement that Germany’s TerraSAR-X radar earth observation system would begin marketing 25-centimeter-resolution imagery, DLR said there is no fixed limit to what may be sold.
The DLR said Germany’s Satellite Data Security Act (SatDSiG) and related law set the general ground rules for commercial satellite data sales to assure that commercial imagery from German satellites does not harm German security and foreign policy interests.
For imagery whose sharpness or whose prospective customers give it special sensitivity, a second organisation, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), must clear each sale.
“These procedures do not include an absolute limit for spatial resolution under which a data set could no longer be sold commercially,” DLR said in its statement, adding that the policy seeks to foster a commercial earth imagery market. “However, it is obvious that datasets with higher information content face tighter restrictions.”
Source: Space News
