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The ISS will be gone in a few years anyway, so this problem should sort itself out.

It's not even clear that the ISS is the issue, that's just the opinion of one dude from the UK. It's a very strange article.

It's quoted in the article in the first paragraph and is mentioned on page 16 of the order that is linked in the article...

Yeah the ISS is actually a big consideration when doing orbital stuff. If you plan on changing orbit across the path of the ISS (remembering that all orbits of a given altitude insect) you have to do significantly more paperwork and be able to show you can make the transit quickly without stopping and getting stuck on a collision course with it.

If you're regulated by the European Union, the US, Russia or Japan sure. Otherwise low earth orbit is close to a free for all.

SpaceX is in the US.

Also, it's where you're located, not just where you're regulated. People have gotten their pp smacked pretty hard for playing the "oh, you won't grant an FCC license? We'll just use a launch provider in India" game.

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