§60121 General licensing authority

Summary

The Secretary can give private companies permission to run remote sensing space systems after talking with other U.S. agencies. If a satellite is used for other things too, the Secretary’s power only covers the remote sensing part. No license will be issued unless the Secretary writes that the applicant will follow the law, the rules, and any international or national security requirements. The Secretary must publish a clear list in the Federal Register of everything needed for a complete application. An application is complete if it includes the items on the list that was current when it was first sent. If the Secretary does not tell the applicant within 30 days what is missing, the Secretary may not reject the application for lack of that information. The Secretary must decide on an application within 120 days or tell the applicant what issues remain and how to fix them. The Secretary cannot deny a license just to protect an existing company from competition. The Secretary will also state in the license which raw (unenhanced) data the licensee must provide. The Secretary will do this after consulting other agencies and only if the data come from a system largely paid for by the U.S. Government, or if it’s in the U.S. interest after weighing the impact on the company and the goal of wide access to remote sensing data. Any such requirement must not conflict with an existing contract between the government and the licensee.