The ITU Regulatory System: a Self-Contained Regime or a Part of International Law?

The article investigates whether the ITU regulatory system for avoiding harmful interference is a self-contained regime or a part of international law. The prevention of harmful interference is one of the statutory objectives of the ITU) and poses a problem of coordination, both at the universal as well as the regional levels. However, there is a lack of efficient international monitoring systems. Overall, in the absence of a global authority endowed with coercive powers, the key role is still played by the responsible administrations. Furthermore, there is a tendency of certain sectors of international law to consider themselves as fragmented self-contained regimes, where primary and secondary norms exclude once for all the application of norms of general nature. However, the article concludes that if we look at the core substantial norms determining the legal status of orbital slots and associated radio frequencies, there are no arguments supporting the view that the ITU legal system is a self-contained regime.