About the GSA
The European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) was established by Council Regulation (EC) 1321/2004 of 12 July 2004 (and amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1942/2006) due to the strategic nature of the European satellite positioning and navigation programmes and the need to ensure that essential public interests in this field are adequately defended and represented.
On 1 January 2007, GSA, a Community Agency, officially took over the tasks previously assigned to the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU), which was wound up at the end of 2006. GJU was set up in May 2002 by the European Community and the European Space Agency to manage the development phase of the Galileo Programme.
To manage the public interests related to and to be the regulatory authority for the European GNSS programmes.
According to the Council Regulation by which the Authority was created, the Authority has been entrusted with the following tasks:
a) it shall be the licensing authority vis-ŕ-vis the private concession holder responsible for implementing and managing the Galileo deployment and operating phases (hereinafter referred to as the concession holder); in this context, it shall conclude with the latter the concession contract; it shall ensure that the concession holder complies with the concession contract and the specifications annexed thereto and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuity of services in case of default of the concession holder; it shall grant the concession holder the right to use the tangible and intangible assets referred to in Article 3(1) for the duration of the concession.
b) it shall manage the funds specifically allocated to it for the European GNSS programmes and monitor the overall financial management in order to advise on the public sector contributions.
c) it shall be entrusted with the responsibility - inherited from the Galileo Joint Undertaking - of managing the agreement with the economic operator charged with operating EGNOS and of presenting a framework on the future policy options concerning EGNOS, with due regard to the opinion of those parties who contributed to the funding of the development and deployment phases of EGNOS.
d) it shall coordinate Member States' actions in respect of the frequencies necessary to ensure the operation of the system; it shall hold the right to use all these frequencies wherever the system is located; it shall deal directly with the concession holder on matters relating to the use of these frequencies.
e) in order to assist the Commission in preparing proposals for the European GNSS programmes to be presented to the European Parliament and to the Council and in adopting the implementing rules, it shall prepare drafts thereof.
f) it shall be responsible for the modernisation and development of new generations of the system.
g) it may accomplish such budgetary implementation tasks as are entrusted to it by the Commission and that are linked to the European GNSS programmes in accordance with Article 54(2)(b) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities.
h) it shall ensure that the components of the system are duly certified; it shall empower the appropriate authorised certification bodies for issuing the relevant certificates and monitoring the respect of related standards and technical specifications.
i) it shall enforce and verify compliance by the concession holder with instructions issued pursuant to Joint Action 2004/552/CFSP.
j) without prejudice to Article 22, it shall manage all aspects relating to the system's safety and security. In particular, it shall:
i. approve the security annexes of industrial contracts;
ii. define the security specifications of the system and its components, and the standards of security for information techniques;
iii. define the cryptography which requires governmental approval;
iv. ensure that the European GNSS signals/services are controlled in compliance with security criteria, as specified in (i) and (ii);
v. be the European GNSS security accreditation authority, initiate and monitor the implementation of security procedures and perform system security audits;
vi. regarding the Public Regulated Service (PRS):
- define the specifications and instructions for manufacturing PRS receivers, in accordance with the policy of access to PRS defined by the Council,
- provide guidelines for the implementation of PRS management rules in the Member States;
vii. enforce and verify compliance by the concession holder with international rules and agreements;
viii. implement the relevant provisions for the exchange, handling and storage of classified information;
ix. develop coordination and consultation procedures on security-related matters with the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (SG/HR);
x. identify and inform the Council of possible measures that could be taken by the Council in the event of a threat to the security of the European Union or of a Member State arising from the operation or use of the system, or in the event of a threat to the operation of the system, in particular as the result of an international crisis;
xi. give advice to the Council when invited to do so under Joint Action 2004/552/CFSP;
xii. give advice on security policy issues in international agreements related to the European GNSS programmes.
On 12 December 2006, following the winding up of the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) , the Council Regulation (EC) No 1942/2006 amended Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 to assign to the Authority additional tasks formerly entrusted to the GJU, namely:
k) to oversee the optimal integration of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) in the Galileo programme and the implementation of the Galileo development and validation phase.
l) to launch, in cooperation with the ESA and through contractual arrangements with private sector entities, the research and development activities needed to successfully complete the phase of development and coordination of national activities in this area; to launch, through the ESA, a first series of satellites to finalise the technological developments that have occurred and ensure the large-scale demonstration of the capabilities and reliability of the system.
m) in cooperation with the Commission, the ESA and the private sector, to help to mobilise the public and private sector funds needed to make proposals to the Council for the management structures for the various successive phases of the programme, on the basis of the following activities:
- it shall draw up a business plan covering all the phases of the Galileo programme, on the basis of data to be supplied by the Commission, concerning the services that can be offered by Galileo, the revenue that they may generate and the necessary accompanying measures,
- it shall negotiate, by way of a competitive tendering process with the private sector, an overall agreement for the financing of the deployment and operational phases that sets out the responsibilities, roles and risks to be shared between the public and private sectors.
n) to supervise the carrying-out of all programmes, if necessary with the assistance of a consultant, and to make any necessary adjustments in the light of developments occurring during the development phase.
o) the Authority shall conclude an agreement with the ESA by which it charges to it the carrying-out of the activities required during the development phase with regard to the space segment and the earth segment associated with the system, and to that end the Authority shall make available the funds at its disposal for that phase.
p) it shall carry out all research of benefit to the development and promotion of the European GNSS programmes.
Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1942/2006, assigns to the Authority the ownership of all the tangible and intangible assets created or developed during the development and deployment phases of the European GNSS programmes, including those created or developed by the ESA, the concession holder and the respective subcontractors.
- To achieve full operational capability of Galileo no later than 2012.
- To lay the foundations for the sustainable economic viability of the system.
- To make Galileo the leading global satellite navigation system, for civilian applications.
- Satellite radio-navigation applications will profoundly alter the mobility, safety and security of people and goods.
- The foreseeable integration of a reasonably accurate positioning device into every mobile telephone will make possible a fundamental transformation of the ways society deals with the dimensions of time and space.
- Europe’s initiative to build up a new generation of Global Navigation Satellite Systems will lay the foundations for new high-technology industry development, job creation and overall economic growth.
- Galileo has every possibility of becoming a universal system, driven by Europe.