NORMATIVE AND LEGAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF THE REMOTE SENSING OF EARTH INSTITUTE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the regulatory framework governing remote sensing of the Earth (ERS) in Ukraine. It identifies two principal groups of legal acts: (1) those that establish the foundational basis for ERS at the national level, including technical standards and conceptual documents, and (2) those that regulate its sectoral applications, such as environmental monitoring, geodesy, digital governance, national security, and post-conflict recovery. The analysis demonstrates that, despite recent legislative developments and Ukraine’s active participation in international space programs such as Copernicus, GEO, and NASA, the domestic legal regulation of ERS remains fragmented, declarative, and lacks systemic coherence and institutional maturity.

The study argues that ERS should be recognized as a cross-sectoral legal institution encompassing environmental, economic, informational, defense, and administrative dimensions. It highlights the strategic importance of ERS for sustainable resource management, national resilience, economic planning, and digital transformation. However, the absence of a dedicated ERS law, limited national satellite capabilities, and the lack of clear legal distinctions between civil and dual-use data create significant risks, including restricted access to critical information, legal uncertainty, and dependence on foreign data providers, which collectively hinder effective governance and strategic autonomy.

The article concludes that Ukraine must urgently adopt a specialized law on ERS, develop a unified and coherent regulatory model, invest in domestic satellite infrastructure and data processing centers, and ensure robust interdepartmental coordination. Institutionalizing ERS as an interdisciplinary legal construct is not only a technical and legislative imperative, but also a vital element of Ukraine’s long-term resilience, innovation capacity, and integration into the global digital analytics ecosystem.