## 2 The Scope of Space Law in Africa
#### Emergent Patterns in African Domestic Space related Policies and Space Dedicated Legislation
Tunisian law importantly identifies the state's strategic interest and provides mechanisms for registration processes for space objects and provides the functions of state of registry. * Fourth category consist of those states that have shown a high degree of political and infrastructural commitment to space exploration backed up with elaborate dedicated domestic space law regime. The two countries that currently satisfy these characteristic the most are Nigeria and South Africa. African countries, both individually and as a regional bloc have at least in the last decade began seriously expressing with increasing interest the development of space programmes. These programmes aim at harnessing and optimising the general societal benefits derived from space applications. In ideal circumstances, space programmes would be carefully designed through carefully crafted space policies, strategies, technology roadmaps and dedicated space laws. However, the development of dedicated national space policies and legislation in Africa has been rather slow and insufficient given the appetite for space technological products in all parts of the continent. It has been correctly noted that much of African space policies, to the extent, they exist at all, appear to have been drawn up without the benefit of specialist knowledge [21]. There are however, a couple of models of good example principally led by Nigeria and South Africa, which both have National Space Policies, instituted in 2001 [22] and 2008 respectively [23]. It is significant to note that at the continental level, African Heads of States and Government in January 2016 adopted the African Space Policy and Strategy [24]. Overall [PERSON] and [PERSON] aptly described the tenuous state of elaboration of space policies and legislation:  
\"...an underlying challenge is the requisite skills and experience needed for drafting such Space Policies. Much of the space policy developments on the continent have happened through on-the-job learning and a look elsewhere-and-adopt approach. In some cases, a foreign company is contracted for sector analysis. Although this informal learning and experience is valuable for the ongoing developments of national and regional space programmes, it is not the most efficient and effective means of achieving the end product. Reliance on foreign parties may not be the nation's interest\" [21]. The existence of a Space Policy provides an overarching interdisciplinary framework that informs the development of a space sector, based on its connections to the national ecosystem of corporate, industrial, educational and other sectors as well as human needs. It draws from and feeds into national economic policies, social development policies, national security policies and foreign policies, among other policy frameworks [21; 25]. In terms of legislation Africa is already very well subscribed to the main space treaties and other relevant international instruments. From the Table 1 above we can see that 53 out of the existing 57 African states are subscribed to the multilateral space treaties but the question is whether these states have backed up their readiness to accept space law on the international level with adequate domestic regulations. South Africa has perhaps the most comprehensive national space legislation/regulatory environment in Africa. Applicable legislation in force include: Statutes of the Republic of South Africa--Trade and Industry, Space Affairs Act, No. 84 (1993); Space Affairs Amendment Act, No. 64 (1995); South African National Space Act 36 of 2008; No. 21 of 2007: Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, 2007; Spatial Data Infrastructure Act No. 54 of 2003; Electronic Communications Act No.36 of 2005 (ECA). The South African National Space Agency (SANASA) came into being in December 2010 and is guided by the National Space Policy, 2008 and National Space Policy, 2009 [26], SANSA operations fall into four programme areas: Earth Observation, Space Engineering, Space Operations, and Space Science.