Luxembourg, 10/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday in Luxembourg, the Transport Council adopted conclusions approving integration of the Egnos programme (satellite system to complete the signals of the American GPS for Europe) in the Galileo satellite tracking programme, which is to rival the GPS from 2008 on. The Egnos programme will be placed under the control of the joint undertaking Galileo, which is to be officially launched on 10 June after the agreement concluded at the European Space Agency (see EUROPE of 28 May, p.9). Egnos should be certified so that it may be used for aviation and be functional "as soon as possible". It will be used "not only as a precursor of Galileo but also as an instrument allowing Galileo to rapidly gain a foothold on the market for satellite radio-navigation services".
The joint undertaking Galileo should: 1) supervise the management of Egnos "after completion of the "Operational Aptitude Review" programme in April 2004"; 2) conclude a contract with an economic operator responsible for operating Egnos from April 2004 on; 3) formulate recommendations on the adoption of appropriate provisions concerning the ownership of Egnos assets, intellectual property rights and commercial utilisation rights.
"The Community will continue to take part in funding Egnos by allocating it a separate budgetary line in the context of the Community budget for trans-European networks, under the current financial perspectives", the Council states, specifying that the Community "will envisage its participation in this financing after 2006".
Conclusions invite the Commission and the Member States to "resolutely pursue extension of Egnos to other regions of the world in order to share the exploitation with these regions and to promote European technology".