[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5245 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.5245

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four


                                 An Act


 
To extend the liability indemnification regime for the commercial space 
                        transportation industry.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INDEMNIFICATION EXTENSION.

    Section 70113(f) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``December 31, 2004.'' and inserting ``December 31, 2009.''.

SEC. 2. STUDY.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Transportation shall enter into an arrangement with a 
nonprofit entity for the conduct of an independent comprehensive study 
of the liability risk sharing regime in the United States for 
commercial space transportation under section 70113 of title 49, United 
States Code. To ensure that Congress has a full analysis of the 
liability risk sharing regime, the study shall assess methods by which 
the current system could be eliminated, including an estimate of the 
time required to implement each of the methods assessed. The study 
shall assess whether any alternative steps would be needed to maintain 
a viable and competitive United States space transportation industry if 
the current regime were eliminated. In conducting the assessment under 
this section, input from commercial space transportation insurance 
experts shall be sought. The study also shall examine liability risk 
sharing in other nations with commercial launch capability and evaluate 
the direct and indirect impact that ending this regime would have on 
the competitiveness of the United States commercial space launch 
industry in relation to foreign commercial launch providers and on 
United States assured access to space.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.