GSA - Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency

The European Union (EU) has set up an agency tasked with maximising the return on European investment in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) in terms of benefits to users and economic growth and competitiveness.

ACT

Regulation (EU) No 912/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 setting up the European GNSS Agency, repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 on the establishment of structures for the management of the European satellite radio navigation programmes and amending Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council

SUMMARY

WHAT DOES THE REGULATION DO?

Regulation (EU) No 912/2010 establishes the European Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Agency, renaming the previous European GNSS Supervisory Authority and modifying its tasks.

It implements the public governance arrangements for the GNSS programmes for the years 2014-2020 established by Regulation (EU) No 1285/2013. The agency is no longer responsible for the management of the public interests relating to the GNSS programmes (which has been taken over by the European Commission).

KEY POINTS

The GSA is an EU-level body responsible for:

• ensuring security accreditation* for its global satellite navigation systems;
• operating the Galileo security monitoring centre;
• contributing to the promotion and marketing of the GNSS services; and
• performing other tasks, delegated by the Commission, relating to the implementation of the Galileo and EGNOS programmes, including programme management.

Structure

The agency consists of 3 bodies.

• 1.

  Administrative board: responsible for ensuring the agency fulfils its tasks, as well as for resources and budgetary issues concerning security accreditation.

• 2.

  Executive director: appointed by the administrative board and responsible for managing and representing the agency.

• 3.
  Security accreditation board: in charge of security accreditation, establishing the compliance of the systems with security requirements prior to all major programming decisions, such as:

  • the approval of the security accreditation strategy;
  • the launch of satellites;
  • the authorisation for operating the systems and ground stations*.

Independence of security systems accreditation activities

Regulation (EU) No 912/2010 was amended by Regulation (EU) No 512/2014 to align it with the new management structure for the European GNSS laid down by Regulation (EU) No 1285/2013. The changes introduced ensure the independence of activities relating to security systems accreditation, as well as the separation between these and the agency’s other activities. They include:

• increased powers for the security accreditation board;
• the security accreditation board, not the administration board, is responsible for the preparation and approval of the agency’s programme operations relating to security accreditation activities of the system;
• the chairperson of the security accreditation board is to manage the security accreditation activities and ensure their implementation.

WHEN DOES THIS REGULATION APPLY?

From 9 November 2010.

For more information, see the European GSA website.

KEY TERMS

* security accreditation: verifying the compliance within the applicable security rules and regulations drawn up by the Council and the Commission. For the general principles for security accreditation, responsibilities and tasks, see Chapter III of Regulation (EU) No 912/2010.

* ground stations: earth-based facility equipped to receive or to receive and transmit signals from or to communications satellites.

last update 06.08.2015