Carr Warns of Growing Space Protectionism by Europe
Europe’s history of protectionist activity in areas like Big Tech and its General Data Protection Regulation is potentially now edging into space, such as through the EU Space Act, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday at a Federalist Society event in Washington. The U.S. and EU should instead be working together on space activity in the face of Chinese space ambitions, Carr added.
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Ryan Baasch, White House special assistant to the president for economic policy, criticized the Biden administration for being negligent in advancing U.S. interests before international bodies like the ITU. The Trump administration will be specifically focused on advancing American interests at the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference, he said.
Carr said the U.S. has avoided a protectionist approach in space, opening up spectrum bands without discrimination against European space operators. The FCC is trying to make sure U.S. and EU companies are on an equal regulatory footing, he said, while European space companies have urged the EU to discriminate against U.S. companies and remove spectrum licenses for U.S. operators. The FCC is “keeping an eye on that.”
The U.S.'s hope and expectation is that the EU’s regulatory framework works for both U.S. and EU companies, Carr said, but the U.S. “is prepared to respond” to EU protectionism. He didn't elaborate.
Along with international engagement that advances U.S. interests, Baasch said the Trump administration's space policy is focused on making spectrum available and enabling easier launch. The 800 MHz of spectrum that will be auctioned, as set out by July's budget reconciliation package (see 2507070045), is a significant amount, yet “we’re only getting started on that front.”
The Biden administration did little for launches, potentially because of opposition by professional environmental nongovernmental organizations, Baasch added. The White House's August space launch executive order (see 2508140006) will reset the launch industry by loosening regulations, he said.
FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz talked up the “licensing assembly line” model that the agency is moving toward. It adopted an NPRM in October proposing a major revamp of its satellite and earth station approvals process (see 2510280024).
Schwarz said the commission's “paperwork, processes and precaution” are a huge vulnerability to U.S. dominance in space. Licensing has been a multiyear odyssey of “slowly grind[ing] through the bureaucracy.” The NPRM is an attempt to design a new regulatory system that's scalable while still meeting the FCC's statutory duties, he said.
In addition, Baasch argued that organizations like the ITU used to be consensus-driven, but adversary nations increasingly are advancing interests with the goal of undermining those of the U.S. The ITU is “a strategic battleground” over whether U.S. standards or adversary nations’ standards dominate in technology.
While China has particular sway with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, its influence with regard to space has so far been "more manageable," said Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin's vice president of global regulatory affairs and public policy. Schwarz noted that the U.S. wants to avoid Chinese companies having dominance in space hardware manufacturing the way firms like Huawei do with terrestrial communications network equipment.
Warren also said low earth orbit issues are getting a lot of focus now, but lunar activity is going to grow in prominence. The FCC will see a stepped-up role as there are more commercial, nontraditional space pursuits such as in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing and lunar activity.