Building on a decade of success in making satellite data available for disaster response, the International Charter is opening its doors even wider. The Charter Members have adopted the principle of Universal Access to further strengthen the Charter's contribution to disaster management worldwide. Any national disaster management authority is able to submit requests to the Charter for emergency response. Proper procedures must be followed, but the affected country does not have to be a Charter member.

Universal Access benefits national disaster management authorities in countries beyond those of the Charter members.

A registration process is in place for national authorities interested in participating in the Charter as an "Authorised User". This process will validate the ability of national authorities to access and use Charter assets for disaster response, in accordance with Charter operational procedures. Steps and applicable conditions are explained in the Charter's Universal Access Information Brochure available together with its Registration form.

Map showing countries (in dark blue) with direct access to the Charter as of February 2022

The following countries are represented above: Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Russia, Soloman Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland,  Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Türkiye, UAE, Uganda, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela and the countries of the European Union.

Today, the Charter has a total of 94 Authorised Users in 83 countries, with 43 coming from the Universal Access initiative, allowing them to submit emergency requests to activate the Charter. In addition, the Charter collaborates with Sentinel Asia, a regional network for Earth observation-based Emergency response in 28 countries (91 national organisations) and 15 International Organizations, and with UNITAR/UNOSAT and UNOOSA, active in many countries and who can submit requests to support in-country relief agencies of the United Nations. All countries of the world can benefit from the Charter by any of the ways described above. Since 2000, there have been 873 activations covered in 135 countries worldwide.