Insurance and liability

Liabilities and insurance requirements for missions

The nature of the insurance requirements and liabilities arrangements are determined by the Act under which the licence is issued.

For orbital operator licences and procuring a launch, the following requirements apply

Insurance and indemnity requirements for orbital licensees

Licence	Outer Space Act 1986	Space Industry Act 2018
Procuring a launch (outside UK)	€60m	N/A
Procuring a launch (UK)	N/A	Set at the same as for the launch operator using the MIR for the launch phase
Orbital operations (outside UK)	€60m insurance requirement / indemnity limit for standard missions May be higher for higher risk missions Insurance requirement may be waived for low-risk missions (but €60m indemnity obligation remains) ‘Any one occurrence’ approach and ‘aggregate’ amounts to be determined by the regulator as appropriate (see below)	N/A
Orbital operations (UK)	N/A	As per OSA requirements for orbital operations

Insurance and indemnity requirements for launch operator licensees

Licence	Outer Space Act 1986	Space Industry Act 2018
Orbital operations (UK)	N/A	Calculated using the Modelled insurance Requirement for the launch phase

Note: Insurance requirements upper stages remaining in orbit, and for planned re-entry of satellites and upper stages is to be confirmed
For launch operator licences issued under the Space Industry Act 2018, launch operator licence insurance requirements for launch activities will be set using the Modelled Insurance Requirement approach, which will be conducted by the CAA.

All operator licences issued under the Space Industry Act 2018 will contain a limit of operator liability with respect to claims made under both section 34 and section 36 of the Act.

The limit on the liability to indemnify the Government is set out in licence conditions for licences issued under the Outer Space Act 1986.

Insurance requirements for licences issued under both Acts will also be set out as licence conditions.

More guidance on liabilities and insurance is available and more detailed guidance on the methodology for Modelled Insurance Requirement is available.

Q&A on insurance and liability issues