If you advise commercial, technology, defence, or regulatory clients, you are more likely than not to encounter a space sector matter in the next few years. A client's satellite component supply contract, a data licensing arrangement involving Earth observation imagery, a dispute over a launch services agreement: these will increasingly cross your desk dressed as ordinary commercial work, while carrying export control, international trade, or licensing exposure that an ordinary commercial lens will miss.
This course exists to close that gap. By the end of this course, you will be able to spot the moment a matter has crossed into space sector compliance territory, know which regulatory frameworks are actually engaged, and know what questions to ask next, whether that means advising the client directly or knowing when and to whom to refer specialist work.
This course is:
- A practical, applied introduction to the regulatory frameworks governing space activity, built for legal practitioners who already know how to read and apply law, but have not yet encountered this specific regulatory terrain.
- Focused on the fusion point between legal interpretation and operational compliance: the place where a Technical Assistance Agreement's scope, a deemed export determination, or a satellite licensing condition has direct legal consequence, not just an operational one.
- Structured around real practitioner scenarios, not abstract treaty study. Each module opens with a problem a working attorney or compliance officer might face in practice.
- Aligned with the cognitive and analytical demands of postgraduate legal practice, and a genuine foundation for future specialisation in export control advisory, satellite licensing work, or compliance leadership.
| # | Topics | Focus |
| Foundations (pre-reading) |
Orientation to the space sector's legal and regulatory landscape. Completed before Unit 1, with a short learner profile submission. | |
| 1 | The Legal Architecture of Outer Space | UN space treaties, State responsibility, South Africa's Space Affairs Act and its limitations. |
| 2 | Export Controls and Dual-Use Technology | ITAR and EAR jurisdiction, deemed export, Technical Assistance Agreements, South Africa's NCACC framework. |
| 3 | International Trade Law and Space Services | GATS, AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol, data sovereignty and POPIA, cross-border service delivery. |
| 4 | Satellite Licensing, Spectrum, and the ITU | ITU Radio Regulations, ICASA licensing, RICA obligations, foreign operator licensing. |
| 5 | Compliance Convergence: Standards, Quality Governance, and Sustainable Development | ISO 9001, AS9100, and comparative international standards as binding contractual and procurement conditions; quality governance evidence in supply agreements and investor due diligence; SDG-linked reporting obligations and the professional risk of overstated claims. |
| 6 | African Space Governance and Integration | AU Space Policy, AfSA mandate, integrated case study applying all prior units to a live scenario. |
- Attorneys in commercial, technology, defence, or regulatory practice who are encountering, or anticipate encountering, space sector mandates.
- In-house legal advisors and compliance officers at companies operating in or adjacent to the space, satellite, or aerospace manufacturing sectors.
- Legal practitioners seeking to position themselves for emerging compliance and advisory roles within South Africa's growing space industry.
- This course takes place on 6 and 13 October 2026 from 08:00-13:00.
- Blended study options: two online lectures preceded by a self-paced Foundations module.
- The course includes an assessment.
- When opting for recordings, follow the instructions in your registration confirmation email to request access to view recordings online. Recordings can be viewed at any time once you've received login details. Recordings are only available for a limited time. Please refer to your registration confirmation letter for more information. Enquiries: alouise
gawieleroux.co.za - A structured short course certificate is issued on completion of the entire course and the summative assessment, co-branded by the Gawie le Roux Institute of Law and Naka Space Advisory.
- Scope notice: This course provides professional development and regulatory knowledge for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice. Participants remain responsible for obtaining independent legal advice in relation to specific client matters. Naka Space Advisory is a space industry compliance advisory practice, not a registered legal practice.
- Recognise export control, trade law, licensing, or standards exposure in a client matter the moment it appears, rather than discovering it after the fact. Understand where South African law has not yet caught up with the sector's commercial reality, and what that means for advising a client operating in that gap.
- Walk away with a practical compliance framework you can apply directly to advisory work, not abstract treaty theory.
- Position yourself for compliance and advisory roles in the South African space sector, which is actively beginning to create, ahead of the demand curve, not behind it.
The Gawie le Roux Institute of Law has provided practical legal training to the South African legal fraternity since 1994.
Our partnership with Naka Space Advisory is based on a simple, verifiable observation: legal practitioners are already encountering this work but have nowhere to learn it.
There is a growing demand from South African manufacturers of space components, as one example, for compliance practitioners with LLB qualifications. As South African and African space companies engage international supply chains, launch providers, and regulators, the compliance function they need is one that requires legal reading skill, not a generic operations checklist.
At the same time, no dedicated training in this field currently exists in South Africa. Practitioners either engage expensive international specialists or navigate these frameworks without support. This course closes that gap directly and does so before the demand curve outpaces the available expertise.
Naka Space Advisory contributes substantive regulatory expertise: a complete training framework already developed for the African space sector, and direct practitioner experience advising on export controls, standards, and space sector compliance.