EU Space Act: European Parliament Rapporteurs Reach Deal, With Simplified Regime for SMEs and Research

The members of the European Parliament in charge of the file for the various political groups have reached an agreement on the EU Space Act, the European regulation on space. The text provides for a simplified regime for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and for research centres.¹ The agreement emerged on the sidelines of Wednesday’s negotiating meeting. The text will go to a vote in the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on 19 November.¹

What is the EU Space Act?

It is a proposal for a regulation that the European Commission presented in June 2025. It aims to establish common rules on the safety, resilience and sustainability of space activities in the Union.¹ The idea is to give operators providing space services in the EU a single framework. The rules cover authorisations, the registration of missions, surveillance and the management of traffic in orbit. For small and medium-sized enterprises, mid-cap companies and research centres, the proposal envisages a lighter approach to obligations, in order to foster innovation and market access.¹

What the agreement provides

According to rapporteur Elena Donazzan, the agreement includes a significant lightening of the text compared with the Commission’s original proposal. It also provides for an environmental chapter aimed at supporting operators and a simplified regime for SMEs and research centres.¹ Donazzan also mentions an equivalence system, designed to balance the protection of European operators with openness to international collaboration. She claims an agreement backed by a cross-party majority and reached together with the shadow rapporteurs of all the groups.¹

The rapporteurs’ assessments

Christophe Grudler, a Renew Europe MEP and shadow rapporteur, said that for the first time there will be an EU-level framework for authorising satellites and setting common rules for activities in orbit. In his view, the text will offer a single set of rules applicable across the 27 Member States, as well as in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.¹ Grudler did, however, point to a limitation: his group would have wanted a single European procedure. He hopes that in the medium term a simpler system will be achieved, one that avoids the various national procedures.¹

What are the next steps?

The compromise text could become the European Parliament’s official position, from which negotiations with the Council of the EU would then begin. After the ITRE committee vote on 19 November, according to Donazzan, the European space sector would finally have a regulatory framework worthy of its ambitions.¹

This article was written by artificial intelligence from the sources cited, without human review. Automatic newsroom by Redazia.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Space Act. Donazzan (UE): “Trovato accordo per un regime semplificato per PMI e centri di ricerca”. Voto finale il 19 novembre, Key4biz, 2026-11-06 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹