United Nations A/RES/59/115 General Assembly Distr.: General 25 January 2005 Fifty-ninth session Agenda item 74 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 2004 [on the report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (A/59/469)] 59/115. Application of the concept of the “launching State” The General Assembly, Recalling the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects 1 and the Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space, 2 Bearing in mind that the term “launching State” as used in the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention is important in space law, that a launching State shall register a space object in accordance with the Registration Convention and that the Liability Convention identifies those States which may be liable for damage caused by a space object and which would have to pay compensation in such a case, Taking note of the report of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on its forty-second session 3 and the report of the Legal Subcommittee on its forty-first session, in particular the conclusions of the Working Group on the agenda item entitled “Review of the concept of the ‘launching State’” annexed to the report of the Legal Subcommittee, 4 Noting that nothing in the conclusions of the Working Group or in the present resolution constitutes an authoritative interpretation of or a proposed amendment to the Registration Convention or the Liability Convention, Noting also that changes in space activities since the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention entered into force include the continuous development of new technologies, an increase in the number of States carrying out space activities, an increase in international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space and an increase in space activities carried out by non-governmental entities, including activities carried out jointly by government agencies and non- _______________ 1 General Assembly resolution 2777 (XXVI), annex. General Assembly resolution 3235 (XXIX), annex. 3 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 20 and corrigendum (A/54/20 and Corr.1). 4 A/AC.105/787, annex IV, appendix. 2 04-48316