CFR > Title 15 - Commerce and Foreign Trade > SUBTITLE B—Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade > CHAPTER IX—NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (parts 902 to 996) > SUBCHAPTER D—GENERAL REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE (parts 950 to 971) > PART 960—LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS > SUBPART B—Licenses (§960.4 to §960.12) > 960.12—Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

960.12—Data policy for remote sensing space systems.

(a) In accordance with the Act, if the U.S. Government has or will directly fund all or a substantial part of the development, fabrication, launch, or operation costs of a licensed system, the license shall require that all of the unenhanced data from the system be made available on a nondiscriminatory basis except on the basis of national security, foreign policy or international obligations.
(b) If the U.S. Government has not funded and will not fund, either directly or indirectly, any of the development, fabrication, launch, or operations costs of a licensed system, the licensee may provide access to its unenhanced data in accordance with reasonable commercial terms and conditions, subject to the requirement of providing data to the government of any sensed state, pursuant to § 960.11(b)(10).
(c) If the U.S. Government has (either directly or indirectly) funded some of the development, fabrication, launch, or operations costs of a licensed system, the Assistant Administrator, in consultation with other appropriate U.S. agencies, shall, subject to national security concerns, determine whether the interest of the United States in promoting widespread availability of remote sensing data on reasonable cost terms and conditions requires that some or all of the unenhanced data from the system be made available on a nondiscriminatory basis in accordance with the Act. The license shall specify any data subject to this requirement. In making this determination, the Assistant Administrator may consider:
(1) The extent and proportion of private and Federal funding of the system;
(2) The extent of the governmental versus the commercial market for the unenhanced data;
(3) The effect of a nondiscriminatory data access designation on the applicant's commercial activity;
(4) The extent to which the applicant's proposed commercial data policies would encourage foreign operators to limit access, particularly for research and public benefit purposes; or
(5) The extent to which the U.S. interest in promoting widespread data availability can be satisfied through license conditions that ensure access to the data for non-commercial scientific, educational, or other public benefit purposes.