In the event of an Inter-Planetary Conflict it is a good that the innocent people of the Empire should not be directly subject to violent attacks from any party involved in a conflict.

Definitions:

"The Parties" shall refer to "Involved Powers" as defined as follows. Any Imperial World which has issued a "statement of intent to engage" to the Imperial Government regarding another world shall be considered "involved" as shall be the world against which the "statement of intent to engage" is issued against, it shall not be required for the purpose of this act that an official declaration of war have been issued (although later legislation may require this), however a declaration of war shall also "involve" powers.

"Civilians" are defined as any Imperial Citizens who have not taken up arms to participate in the ongoing conflict.

1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.

The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited. Civilian property may not be seized unless it constitutes a direct part of the war effort (munitions factories, weapons caches etc).

Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this Section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.

2. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited.

Indiscriminate attacks are:
- those which are not directed at a specific military objective;
- those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
- those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:
- an attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, world or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and
- an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
- Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.
- Opening fire upon freighters indicriminately, without issuing a warning.
- The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favor or impede military operations.
- Orbital Bombardment of any area within 5km of a Civilian Settlement.
- Base Delta Zero

3. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

4. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures in order to assure civilian safety.

5. Civilians may not be starved or otherwise intentionally deprived of goods essential to their survival as a means of prosecuting warfare between worlds.

6. The parties shall make every effort to inform eachother if an area contains civilians. Civilians shall be urged to mark their own buildings or areas with a blue C placed on their roof in order to signify that an area contains civilians. Falsely identifying a structure as civilian shall be considered illegal and will cause any combatants found to do so to be denied the protection of being considered "Prisoners of War"

7. Breaches of this act will be punished by Imperial Courts and all penalties, up to and including death my be inflicted for any crimes committed against civilians.

8. Areas of space may be declared "no fly" or "blockaded" by any involved party, if this is done so and a civilian ship travels into that area then the ship and its cargo may be impounded until the conflict concludes, or confiscated if they are found to be war material.

9. The Parties may conduct searches of civilian facilities and vessels in order to examine for the presence of arms, combatants or war material. These are considered fair targets and may be seized and or destroyer.