Moon Agreement (1979)
The UN treaty that declares the Moon's resources the common heritage of mankind, and which almost no spacefaring power has ratified.
The Moon Agreement extends the 1967 Outer Space Treaty on one decisive point: it declares the Moon and its resources the common heritage of mankind and provides that an international regime will govern their exploitation once it becomes feasible. That regime was never set up, and the treaty has been ratified by only about twenty countries, none of which flies crewed missions. Its failure explains why lunar resource extraction now rests on national laws and on the Artemis Accords rather than on a universal treaty. For an insurer or a lender, that leaves legal uncertainty over title to whatever is extracted, and therefore over the insurable value of a lunar cargo. It also shows that in space law, what the major powers decline to sign weighs as much as what they sign.
Adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 5, 1979, the agreement entered into force on July 11, 1984; France signed it but never ratified it, and Saudi Arabia withdrew effective January 5, 2024.
Follow the research
One letter a week. First, the week's underwriting note, when one is published: a dated, argued decision, signed by Paul Bernardski. Then what the observatory published on cyber risk, political risk and insurance. No account, no tracking.
No spam, one-click unsubscribe, no data ever sold.