Subject: Re: Is it illegal?
From: Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.toronto.edu> 
Date: Apr 24 1996
Newsgroups: sci.space.science

In article <4l21ep$pmn@hpg30a.csc.cuhk.hk> "Theodore W. Hall" <twhall@cuhk.edu.hk> writes:
>> Most governments claim jurisdiction only over their own territory...
>> ...The US government claims jurisdiction over the activities of US 
>> citizens *anywhere*.
>
>I may be wrong, but I thought that it was a matter of international
>treaty, that each government is accountable for the space activities
>of its nationals...

Yes and no.  If the activities are being conducted by a corporation, it is
the "citizenship" of the corporation -- not its employees -- that matters
to most people.  If a Panamanian corporation staffed mostly by Canadians
does something improper, it's Panama, not Canada, that is responsible. 
Canada may be annoyed, but does not claim the authority to tell the
Canadians to cease and desist, or to lodge criminal charges against them
if they refuse, so long as their activities are outside Canadian
territory. 

But if there's an American on the staff, the US government *does* claim
the authority to tell him what he can and can't do, even outside the US.
In particular, if the corporation is engaged in space launches, he is
required to get US government approval for the launches, just as if they
were being flown by a US organization operating from US territory.

(Caution:  I am not a lawyer.  Consult an expert before doing anything rash!)
-- 
Americans proved to be more bureaucratic           |       Henry Spencer
than I ever thought.  --Valery Ryumin, RKK Energia |   henry@zoo.toronto.edu

From: Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.toronto.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.space.science
Subject: Re: Is it illegal?
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 23:48:45 GMT

In article <4lrbip$t5r@watt.cs.unc.edu> leech@cs.unc.edu (Jon Leech) writes:
>>But if there's an American on the staff, the US government *does* claim
>>the authority to tell him what he can and can't do, even outside the US.
>>In particular, if the corporation is engaged in space launches, he is
>>required to get US government approval for the launches, just as if they
>>were being flown by a US organization operating from US territory.
>
>    So there are no Americans working for Arianespace? ...

Probably not very many... and technically, the US government could make
life difficult for them, if it felt like it.

In practice, the US government is not likely to hassle such people unless
working for a foreign company is clearly intended as a deliberate evasion
of US law.  In which case, large amounts of hassle are quite likely.  You
can work for a French company without much chance of trouble, but if the
senior management of Panamanian Launch Services Inc. is 99% American and
the source of its financing is obscure, that's another story entirely. 
-- 
Americans proved to be more bureaucratic           |       Henry Spencer
than I ever thought.  --Valery Ryumin, RKK Energia |   henry@zoo.toronto.edu