This is an updated and revised version of a paper originally presented to a CNS/ATM Forum of representatives from the States, airlines and air traffic service provider organisations of the Pacific region meeting in Sydney, Australia on 16 April 1998. The Forum was organised under the auspices of the Australian and New Zealand Divisions of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

There are many legal issues involved in the provision and use of new technology based on satellite navigation and communications in Air Traffic Management Systems. These include aspects of international space law, international air law and domestic state law. Spanning these aspects are regional provisions and the role of ICAO. This paper considers these issues with particular reference to the Pacific region, which is in the lead in adopting the new technology, and concludes that much of the existing law applies, but that new law is also required if the legal framework is to keep pace with introduction of the new technology.