UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities

The United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 2 December 2004 and opened for signature in January 2005. It is the product of decades of work by the International Law Commission (ILC), which produced draft articles in 1991, followed by an Ad Hoc Committee that finalised the text.

The Convention codifies the doctrine of restrictive immunity: states enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign courts for sovereign acts (acta jure imperii), but not for commercial transactions and certain other categories of activity (acta jure gestionis). Key carve-outs from immunity include:

• Commercial transactions (Article 10)
• Contracts of employment with some exceptions (Article 11)
• Personal injuries and damage to property occurring in the forum state (Article 12)
• Ownership, possession and use of property (Article 13)
• Intellectual and industrial property (Article 14)
• Participation in companies or other collective bodies (Article 15)

Separate provisions (Articles 18–21) regulate immunity from measures of constraint — that is, attachment and execution against state property — which is treated more protectively than immunity from adjudication.

The Convention requires 30 ratifications to enter into force (Article 30). As of writing it has not yet reached that threshold and is not in force, though it is frequently cited by domestic and international courts as evidence of customary international law. The International Court of Justice relied on it in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy), judgment of 3 February 2012, when holding that Italy had violated Germany's immunity by allowing civil claims for WWII-era violations.

Notably, the Convention does not address criminal proceedings, immunities of heads of state under other rules, or immunities of diplomatic and consular personnel, which remain governed by the Vienna Conventions of 1961 and 1963.