The World Assembly,
Recognising every nation's right to protect the sovereignty of its territory and convinced airspace is an integral part of this territory;
Aware of the importance of international air transport for trade and desiring to protect the neutrality and security of international airspace;
Noting the lack of legislation regarding sovereignty of airspace;
Fearing that
- A lack of clearly defined sovereign air space can create dangerous diplomatic situations and cause preventable war;
- A lack of clearly defined international airspace will destabilise commerce and security by allowing nations to exert undue influence in neutral territory;
- A lack of clearly defined boundaries between space and atmosphere will create dangerous tensions between space powers;
Hereby,
- Defines for the purpose of this resolution:
- An "aircraft" as an object capable of flight, controlled entirely by sapient beings;
- "Airspace" as the portion of the atmosphere above the land or water surface and below the height where airfoil-based powered flight becomes impossible;
- "Territorial airspace" of a nation as airspace above the recognised land and water territories of a member nation;
- "International airspace" as airspace not above any nation's land or water territory;
- Mandates that:
- Member nations shall have sole sovereignty over their territorial airspace with regards to the movement of aircraft, except in the case of any World Assembly regulations regarding civilian aircraft protections;
- All aircraft registered under International Transport Safety Committee (ITSC) regulations shall have the right to fly in international airspace;
- Prohibits any member nation from exercising territorial control over international airspace, unless required by an existing World Assembly resolution.
