[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6481 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6481

  To create a civil action to provide judicial remedies to carry out 
   certain treaty obligations of the United States under the Vienna 
   Convention on Consular Relations and the Optional Protocol to the 
                Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 14, 2008

 Mr. Berman (for himself and Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To create a civil action to provide judicial remedies to carry out 
   certain treaty obligations of the United States under the Vienna 
   Convention on Consular Relations and the Optional Protocol to the 
                Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

    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 ``Avena Case Implementation Act of 
2008''.

SEC. 2. JUDICIAL REMEDY.

    (a) Civil Action.--Any person whose rights are infringed by a 
violation by any nonforeign governmental authority of article 36 of the 
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations may in a civil action obtain 
appropriate relief.
    (b) Nature of Relief.--Appropriate relief for the purposes of this 
section means--
            (1) any declaratory or equitable relief necessary to secure 
        the rights; and
            (2) in any case where the plaintiff is convicted of a 
        criminal offense where the violation occurs during and in 
        relation to the investigation or prosecution of that offense, 
        any relief required to remedy the harm done by the violation, 
        including the vitiation of the conviction or sentence where 
        appropriate.
    (c) Application.--This Act applies with respect to violations 
occurring before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>