[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3848 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3848

 To permit certain claims against foreign states to be heard in United 
      States courts where the foreign state is a state sponsor of 
 international terrorism or where no extradition treaty with the state 
  existed at the time the claim arose and where no other adequate and 
                       available remedies exist.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 1998

  Mr. Yates introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To permit certain claims against foreign states to be heard in United 
      States courts where the foreign state is a state sponsor of 
 international terrorism or where no extradition treaty with the state 
  existed at the time the claim arose and where no other adequate and 
                       available remedies exist.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Sovereign Immunity Technical 
Corrections Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS WITH RESPECT TO A LIMITATION ON FOREIGN 
              SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.

    (a) In General.--Section 1605(a)(7) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(7) in which money damages are sought against a foreign 
        state for personal injury or death caused by an act of torture, 
        extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, or 
        the provision of material support or resources (as defined in 
        section 2339A of title 18) for such an act, if--
                    ``(A) such act or provision of material support for 
                such act is engaged in by an official, employee, or 
                agent of such foreign state while acting within the 
                scope of his or her office, employment, or agency;
                    ``(B) the foreign state against whom the claim was 
                brought--
                            ``(i) was designated as a state sponsor of 
                        terrorism under section 6(j) of the Export 
                        Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 
                        2405(j)) or section 620A of the Foreign 
                        Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371) at the 
                        time the act occurred or later so designated as 
                        a result of such act; or
                            ``(ii) had no treaty of extradition with 
                        the United States at the time the act occurred 
                        and no adequate and available remedies 
                        conforming with fundamental fairness and due 
                        process exist in such state;
                    ``(C) the claimant or victim was a national of the 
                United States (as that term is defined in section 
                101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act) when 
                the act upon which the claim is based occurred except 
                that, in the case brought under subparagraph (B)(ii), 
                the victim shall be a national of the United States (as 
                defined in such section 101(a)(22) when the act upon 
                which the claim is based occurred; and
                    ``(D) in the case of an act that occurred in the 
                foreign state against which the claim has been brought, 
                the claimant has afforded the foreign state a 
                reasonable opportunity to arbitrate the claim in 
                accordance with accepted international rules of 
                arbitration.''.
    (b) Tolling Limitation.--Section 1605(f) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting before the period the following: ``, 
except that no action may be brought under subsection (a)(7)(B)(ii) for 
a cause of action that arose more than 20 years before the date of 
enactment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Technical Corrections Act 
of 1998''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to any cause of action arising before, on, or after the date of 
enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>