“We just want to make sure that every satellite operator gets a fair shake in Europe,” Carr said in an interview on Tuesday at a major telecom conference in Barcelona. “If Europe wants to go in a different direction, there are European satellite operators that do business in America and we’ll mirror the regulatory approach that Europe wants to take.
“Europe really needs growth, Europe needs security. I think for Europe to achieve its goals on growth and security, it’s important to be a good partner of U.S.-based businesses,” he said.
Carr was targeting the EU’s proposed Space Act, which would force companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Amazon’s Leo and European satellite company Eutelsat to curb space debris and pollution, and tighten safety and cybersecurity protections. The draft law would also require U.S. firms to appoint a legal representative inside the EU.
The U.S. administration has criticized the draft rules before, claiming they would place “unacceptable regulatory burdens” on American champions. Carr’s Federal Communications Commission, which regulates digital and media infrastructure, issued a fresh call on Monday for industry feedback on the issue.
The European Commission’s top tech and security official, Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen, responded to Carr’s criticism on Tuesday, saying the EU proposals sought to make sure satellite companies can compete fairly.
“We see that we have been losing our competitiveness during the last decades when it comes to space, and now we are very much also building our own capacity,” Virkkunen told POLITICO in Barcelona, stressing that “what we want to address is very much the level playing field.”
