Efrén Díaz, from the Mas y Calvet Law Firm (Madrid): “Attend to people before matters”

Senior Associate and head of the Technology and Space Law Areas at the Mas y Calvet Law Firm in Madrid, Efrén Díaz is a lawyer, PhD in Law and an International University Master in Data Protection, Transparency and Access to Information.

With a very extensive resume, he is currently Secretary General of the Spanish Association of Aeronautical and Space Law AEDAE, and in the teaching field he is co-director of the Postgraduate Course Specialist in Aeronautical and Space Law of the Faculty of Law of the Pontifical University of Comillas, and professor in Master's Programs at the University of Navarra.

Finally, it should be noted that Díaz is the author of the Geospatial Code, a compendium of the main national and European legal and regulatory standards, which have been published in the Official State Gazette.

The Mas y Calvet Law Firm was founded 65 years ago and in this period it has evolved, adapting to the times. What are the legal needs that your clients request the most?

The legal needs that our clients demand the most are those that affect their companies, foundations, associations or businesses and family offices, since for many of them the Mas y Calvet Law Firm is a reference in the legal world with more than 65 years of experience. Since our foundation in 1954 by Don Roman Mas and Calvet, we have maintained a commitment to excellence, quality and, above all, to the interests of our clients, companies and individuals.

In the context of these legal needs of our clients, we seek to offer a legal service marked by quality legal analysis and innovative and effective legal solutions. We bet on the quality in customer service, addressing more complex legal problems from an analytical point of view and being innovative in the practice of Law. We study different scenarios to propose effective and advantageous legal solutions for the people, companies and organizations we represent.

As specialists for comprehensive and personalized legal advice, a multidisciplinary perspective allows us to offer comprehensive and personalized advice, adapted to the specific needs of each client. This reinforces our commitment to the interests of our clients. The experience, knowledge and high qualification of our lawyers, as well as the confidentiality and care with which we approach each matter, are a guarantee of high quality legal advice, a value that has been part of our identity since our beginnings. The Mas y Calvet Law Firm is an office called to provide a comprehensive service to national and international clients.

One of our values ​​is “serving people before matters”, a guide that inspires our work, with a sense of care and a vocation for excellence, inspired by humanistic values ​​and professional quality.

In short, an office full service dedicated to all types of legal matters, with a pioneering and comprehensive spatial area.

Within the area that you lead in the “Technology and Space Law” firm, what support does your firm provide to companies whose activity is the space industry?

The support that our Firm provides to companies and organizations in the space industry ranges from legal guidance to legal advice, since companies involved in various space activities, from rocket launches to satellite operations, demand specialized legal advice from us.

As private companies have been able to participate in the space sector, in the new paradigm called “ New Space”, have also taken a more active role in the industry and the need arises to address important legal issues, from contracts and licenses to the protection of intellectual and industrial property.

Our clients carry out interesting activities of research, use and exploitation of outer space, a work of high added value focused on applications for urban mobility, connectivity, mobile telephony or deployment of satellite communications such as navigators for vehicles, ships and aircraft, as well as smart agriculture or deployment of the so-called Internet of Things.

Today we are witnessing profound paradigm shifts. The development of the space industry in the last decades of the 20th century depended mainly on the initiative of public administrations. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, a trend change which is observed in the growing participation of private companies, with strong technological evolution, investment of large public-private capital and even the creation of university teams that develop experimental rockets and satellites, with poles of attraction in engineering, finance or universities.

Within this framework and from our “Technology and Space Law” area, we respond to the request for legal advice from organizations, companies and universities to contribute to the expansion and evolution of the space sector in and from Spain.

We see that the technical and technological deployment of space activity has led to greater awareness of the importance of regulatory compliance in the space industry, which is very positive in terms of greater legal certainty. At the same time, our clients also make us value a progressive assumption that legality and legal security are key and very necessary factors for the solvent growth of their space projects, from space vehicles and rockets of different configurations and sizes, to space objects or satellites.

This need for legal advice from our clients for launching and putting objects into orbit in outer space is reflected in their greater demand for legal advice.high specialization, along with the growing qualification that companies expect from their lawyers for their extrajudicial and judicial files. The existing spatial problems also require multidisciplinary work and a strategic approach on the part of the Lawyers who are lucky enough to be able to intervene in advising on such spatial activities.

In Spain there are many initiatives in the aerospace industrial sector, what is its contribution to the national economy, and what measures could favor its growth? What is our situation compared to other countries, whether in the European Union or outside the EU?

In Spain, the aerospace industrial sector is an important part of the national economy. It contributes significantly to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and generates highly qualified employment. In addition, it promotes research and innovation, which drives technological advancement and competitiveness in the international arena.

According to the Spanish Association of Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies(TEDAE), which integrates Spanish technology industries with a presence in these three areas of activity, the data from the last financial year available in 2021 reflect that it is a business network that has a turnover of 11,594 million euros, exports 47% of its products and services, contributes 1.4% to the Gross Domestic Product of Spain, generates 49,625 highly qualified technical jobs and dedicates 10% of its turnover to R&D&i.

In terms of economic contribution, it is significant that the Spanish aerospace sector generates income through the production and export of aeronautical components and systems, as well as through participation in international cooperation and development programs for satellites and other space devices.

To promote its growth, I consider that some measures that could be implemented include some of the following. First of all,investment in Research and Development (R&D), necessary to promote innovation and the creation of new products and technologies. Secondly,support for education and training, since promoting specialized training and training programs for professionals in the sector will ensure in the future that there is a highly qualified workforce adaptable to market demands. Thirdly, the encouragement of public-private collaboration It would encourage collaboration between companies in the sector, universities, research centers and the government to promote joint projects and promote technology transfer. Finally,support internationalization of Spanish companies in the aerospace sector would facilitate their access to new markets and promote strategic alliances with foreign companies.

Compared to other European Union and non-EU countries, Spain has managed to establish itself as a relevant player in the aerospace sector, especially in areas such as component manufacturing and engineering. However, it still faces challenges in terms of competitiveness compared to countries with a more consolidated aerospace industry, such as France, Germany or the United States.

To improve its competitive position, Spain could continue to strengthen its innovation capacity, increasing investment in R&D, and seeking opportunities for international collaboration that allow it to access new markets and technologies. Furthermore, I believe that it is important to maintain a stable and favorable regulatory framework for the industry, as well as guarantee the availability of adequate financing for long-term projects.

What is the Geospatial Code, what is its added value and why has it been extended to “Outer Space”?

The Geospatial Code that I have had the honor of systematizing is a compendium of the main legal and regulatory standards, national, international and European, of interest to the sectors of Cartography and Geographic Information, Topography, Law, Notaries, Real Estate Cadastre, Property Registry and, recently, “Outer Space”. It is included in the Electronic Code Library Official State Gazette(BOE).

The standards included are those officially published by the BOE, mainly with the rank of Law or Royal Decree. In this way, standards collected in other official bulletins or journals, such as regional ones, the Official Defense Bulletin or the Official Journal of the European Union, are not compiled. However, through the regulatory analysis that is included in each standard compiled in the Geospatial Code, reference is made to the European or international regulations that are related to the standard and provided that it has been published in the BOE.

The added value and objective interest of the Geospatial Code lies in the relevance of the regulatory content that it systematizes from a transversal and multidisciplinary approach, as well as in identifying the practical needs of the technical and legal sectors interested.

In my opinion, this Geospatial Code, through the normative compilation of important technical and legal aspects for geoinformation, offers a contribution of added value to Academia and Industry, particularly by providing a broad and comprehensive regulatory vision, multidisciplinary by including a technical and legal basis at the same time, on the regulations in force or applicable to geoinformation or with a geospatial component that includes everything from terrestrial data and services to outer space and the use of data obtained from outside the Earth and for service on Earth.

I have proposed the extension of the Geospatial Code to “Outer Space” with the purpose of compendium of the regulations on “Outer Space” once the Spanish Space Agency (AEE) was established last March 2023 through the Royal Decree 158/2023, of March 7. Furthermore, its Statute established the competence of the AEE to propose an appropriate regulatory framework for space activity as a whole, and in particular, to prepare a proposed draft Space Law.

Likewise, the need to establish this new regulatory framework for space activity raises, first of all, the importance of knowing the legal regulations in force at the international and national level in space matters. Added to this is the difficulty, due to not being easily accessible, of knowing the current Space Law applicable to the activities and actors of the New Space or better known as “New Space”.

With the aim of helping to understand the existing spatial regulations in Spain and facilitating their access, it seemed relevant to me as the author of the Geospatial Code to propose its extension to a seventh dimension referring to the “ Outer Space"In it, the spatial provisions that have a regulatory nature and that are currently in force in Spain have been analyzed, systematized and consolidated.

Artificial intelligence is a topic that worries both companies and law firms. In your opinion, how is it affecting them, and what changes would you advise them to adapt to the new reality that is presented?

Artificial intelligence (AI) raises, as other technologies such as the implementation of the Internet or the deployment of social networks, legal, social, economic, professional, labor or philosophical aspects of a very diverse nature.

However, by focusing on the issues of greatest interest in the field of companies, certainly the use of pre-trained Artificial Intelligence had not been as accessible as until today and with a contribution of practical results of obvious usefulness for people and companies.

There is no doubt that the responses of generative Artificial Intelligence depend directly on the quality, quantity and reliability of data on which they are trained, so the transparency of the algorithms, respect for human dignity along with public freedoms and fundamental rights, as well as the avoidance of the introduction of biases take on increasing operational importance to which we should pay attention.

In the legal context and of Law firms, I consider that the precision and legal reliability of AI responses in the legal field will be more valid and secure to the extent of the data sets that are used to train the Generative Artificial Intelligence algorithms. And this with the particularity that said automation is developed in an infrastructure and on a secured environment that protects the privacy of personal data, the confidentiality of information and the right of defense, just to mention some critical aspects.

In my opinion, the result provided by generative AI should be for people and professionals a first starting point for the work of the legal professional, which can be more efficient and faster thanks to this technology.

However, I also consider important and prudent a necessary human supervision and adaptation to the case or specific issue. In practice, a legal matter is conditioned, limited or affected by various personal, social, professional, legal, territorial or cultural considerations. There is no same answer to the same legal problem because it depends on various factors, such as the geographical location that conditions the applicability of a territorial regulation or jurisprudence, the time affected by the changing regulations and their application or the role of the party that a lawyer represents, among others.

Generative Artificial Intelligence solutions can be trained with a set of updated data in a specific moment and that directly conditions the legal validity of the result. And in the case of the legal field, even a correct answer is not valid at any time or in any place. Precisely because the specific legal context that affects the case must be taken into account.

Just think, for example, about the legal situation that conditioned the deployment of geospatial technologies for autonomous vehicles. While it might seem reasonable for the vehicle's algorithm to always choose in order to save the lives of people on board or pedestrians, with absolute priority to avoiding damage to other property or even animals, in certain countries where culture or religion worships the “Sacred Cow”, especially in Hinduism (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, parts of Bangladesh), such a choice could result in a crime or desecration. Therefore, human supervision with knowledge of the specific legal area to which it applies is necessary and prudent.