GOVSATCOM implementation continues to advance
The implementation of GOVSATCOM, Europe’s Governmental Satellite Communications programme, continues to move forward. Most recently, on 30 May 2023, the European Commission adopted three Implementing Acts. These Acts provide the legal foundation for the services that GOVSATCOM, along with IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite), will offer.
GOVSATCOM, the fourth pillar of the EU Space Programme, will provide secure and cost-efficient communication capabilities to security and safety critical missions and operations managed by the EU and its Member States, including national security actors and EU agencies and institutions. EUSPA has been entrusted with the procurement of GOVSATCOM’s secure operational ground segment (GOVSATCOM Hubs), its operations and the coordination of the user-related aspects of the programme, all in close collaboration with Member States and other involved entities.
Check this: EUSPA is hiring a GOVSATCOM Hub Operations Manager
The IRIS2 satellite constellation will provide secure communication services to the EU and its Member States, as well as broadband connectivity for European citizens, private companies and governmental authorities. The EUSPA Security Accreditation Board (SAB), where Members States take accreditation decisions, will become the IRIS2 security accreditation authority, providing security assurance to users with regards to IRIS2 services and infrastructure.
EUSPA contributes to Implementing Acts
Through the Implementing Acts, the Commission establishes which satellite communications service categories are to be pooled and shared and defines the services IRIS2 will provide. The Acts also outline the GOVSATCOM Hubs’ functionalities and operational aspects, presentation of the pooled capacities to the users through the service portfolio, service selection process and use of GOVSATCOM services by the users.
EUSPA supported the Commission in preparing the Acts, contributing to their drafting and helping assess and integrate comments from the Member States. The Agency also lent their technical expertise and provided input from governmental users, the latter of which came from the EU-funded ENTRUSTED project. The project was established to provide a concrete set of governmental user requirements for GOVSATCOM services.
The full text of the Implementing Acts, as published in the Official Journal of the EU, can be found via the following links:
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1054 of 30 May 2023 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2021/696 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the service portfolio for the Governmental Satellite Communications services offered by the system established under the Union Space Programme OJ L 141, 31.5.2023, p. 49–56.
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1055 of 30 May 2023 setting out the rules on the sharing and prioritisation of satellite communication capacities, services, and user equipment to fulfil the function referred to in Article 66(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/696 of the European Parliament and of the Council OJ L 141, 31.5.2023, p. 57–66.
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1053 of 30 May 2023 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2023/588 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards operational requirements for governmental services provided under Union Secure Connectivity Programme and its service portfolio OJ L 141, 31.5.2023, p. 44–48.
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