What is the European Union Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM)?
The European Union Governmental Satellite Communications (GOVSATCOM) programme provides secure, resilient and cost-efficient satellite communications capabilities to security and safety critical missions and governmental operations managed by the EU and its Member States, including national security actors and EU Agencies and institutions.
GOVSATCOM is one of the elements of the Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy of June 2016. The Programme contributes to the EU’s response to specific threats and provides support to the EU Maritime Strategy and the EU Arctic Policy.
Three main use cases:
1. Crisis management, which may include civilian and military by common security and defence missions and operations, natural and man-made disasters, humanitarian crises and maritime emergencies.
2. Surveillance, such as border and maritime surveillance or surveillance of illegal trafficking.
3. Key infrastructures, e.g. Institutional Communications, various types of Critical Infrastructure, including Transport as well as EU space infrastructures such as Galileo and EGNOS.
Regulation (EU) 2021/696 of 28 April 2021 establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme.
Article 2, Definitions
‘GOVSATCOM user’ means a public authority, a body entrusted with the exercise of public authority, an international organisation or a natural or legal person, duly authorised and entrusted with tasks relating to the supervision and management of' security-critical missions, operations and infrastructures;
‘GOVSATCOM Hub’ means an operational centre the main function of which is to link, in a secure manner, the GOVSATCOM users to the providers of GOVSATCOM capacity and services and thereby optimise the supply and demand at any given moment;
‘GOVSATCOM use-case’ means an operational scenario in a particular environment in which GOVSATCOM services are required;
Article 4, Objectives
1. The general objectives of the Programme are:
(d) for GOVSATCOM: to ensure the long-term availability of reliable, secure and cost-effective satellite communications services for GOVSATCOM users;
Article 7, Participation of third countries and international organisations in the Programme.
(b) GOVSATCOM shall be open to the participation of members of EFTA which are members of the EEA, as well as of third countries referred to in points (a) and (b) of the second subparagraph of paragraph 1; and
(c) Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, GOVSATCOM, as well as the SWE and NEO sub-components, but excluding the SST sub-component, shall be open to the participation of third countries, other than those third countries covered by paragraph 1, and international organisations.
Article 62, Scope of GOVSATCOM
Under the GOVSATCOM component, satellite communication capacities and services shall be combined into a common Union pool of satellite communication capacities and services, with appropriate security requirements. This component comprises:
(a) the development, construction and the operations of the ground segment infrastructure; referred to in Article 67 and possible space infrastructure referred to in Article 102(2);
(b) the procurement of governmental and commercial satellite communication capacities, services, and user equipment necessary for the provision of GOVSATCOM services;
(c) measures necessary to further interoperability and standardisation of GOVSATCOM user equipment.
Article 63, GOVSATCOM capacities and services
1. The provision of GOVSATCOM capacities and services shall be ensured as laid down in the service portfolio referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article and in accordance with the operational requirements referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, GOVSATCOM specific security requirements referred to in Article 34(2) and within the limits of the sharing and prioritisation rules referred to in Article 66.
Access to GOVSATCOM capacities and services shall be free of charge for institutional and governmental GOVSATCOM users unless the Commission defines a pricing policy in accordance with Article 66(2).
2. The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, the operational requirements for GOVSATCOM services, in the form of technical specifications for GOVSATCOM use-cases related in particular to crisis management, surveillance and key infrastructure management, including diplomatic communication networks. Those operational requirements shall be based on the detailed analysis of the requirements of GOVSATCOM users and shall take into account requirements stemming from existing user equipment and networks. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 107(3).
3. The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, the service portfolio for GOVSATCOM services, in the form of a list of categories of satellite communication capacities and services and their attributes, including geographical coverage, frequency, bandwidth, user equipment, and security features. The service portfolio shall take into consideration existing commercially available services in order not to distort competition in the internal market. Those implementing acts shall be regularly updated and shall be based on the operational and security requirements referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and shall prioritise services provided to users according to their relevance and criticality. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 107(3).
4. GOVSATCOM users shall have access to the GOVSATCOM capacities and services listed in the service portfolio referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article. That access shall be provided through the GOVSATCOM Hubs referred to in Article 67(1).
Article 64, Providers of satellite communication capacities and services
Satellite communication capacities and services under GOVSATCOM may be provided by the following entities:
(a) GOVSATCOM participants as referred to in Article 68; and
(b) legal persons duly accredited to provide satellite communication capacities or services in accordance with the security accreditation procedure referred to in Article 37, which shall be done in compliance with the general security requirements for the GOVSATCOM component, as referred to in Article 34(2).
Article 65, GOVSATCOM users
1. The following entities may be GOVSATCOM users provided that they are entrusted with tasks relating to the supervision and management of emergency and security-critical missions, operations and infrastructures:
(a) a Union or Member State public authority or a body entrusted with the exercise of such public authority;
(b) a natural or legal person acting on behalf of and under the control of an entity referred to under point (a) of this paragraph.
2. GOVSATCOM users referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be duly authorised by a GOVSATCOM participant referred to in Article 68 to use GOVSATCOM capacities and services and shall comply with the general security requirements referred to in Article 34(2), defined for GOVSATCOM.