US Government Debt Different - Finance Department - University of ...

Charles W. Mooney, Jrthe other hand, at least one state does not recognize any immunityfrom execution. 164 Efforts to harmonize the law in this field over theyears have been largely unsuccessful. 165 There is a fair amount of case(Springer 2005) (“And it is quite clear China, Brazil, Chile and Syria also follow theabsolute sovereign immunity rule.”). Other countries require authorization fromthe foreign State or their own government before any enforcement measures can betaken against a State. See Execution Act, art. 18, translated in Official Gazette of theRepublic of Croatia, No. 88/2005, available at http://www.vsrh.hr/CustomPages/Static/HRV/Files/Legislation__Execution-Act.pdf (“Property of a foreign state inthe Republic of Croatia may not be subject to execution or security without a priorapproval by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, unless the foreignstate consents to such execution or security.”); Code of Arbitrazh Procedure of theRussian Federation art. 401 translated in 4 Russia & the Republics Legal Materials(William E. Butler ed., 2012) (“The filing of a suit in a court of the Russian Federationagainst a foreign state, involvement of a foreign State to participate in a case asa defendant or third person, imposition of arrest on property belonging to a foreignState and situated on the territory of the Russian Federation, and the adoption withrespect to this property of other measures to secure a suit or levy execution againstthis property by way of enforcement of decisions of a court shall be permitted onlywith the consent of competent agencies of the respective State unless provided otherwiseby an international treaty of the Russian Federation or a federal law.”); AreiosPagos [A.P.] (Supreme Court, Plenary) 37/2002 (Greece) (reaffirming that article923 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires the prior consent of the Minister ofJustice to initiate enforcement proceedings against a foreign state); Mirza Ali AkbarKashani v. United Arab Republic, 64 I.L.R. 489, 502 (India Supreme Court 1965)(holding that the effect of Section 86 of the Indian Code of Civil Procedure was “tomodify” the doctrine of immunity whereby foreign States could not be sued withoutthe consent of the Central Government).164 Turkish courts generally deny any immunity from execution for foreign States.See Société X v. U.S., (Court of Cassation 1993) cited in August Reinisch, EuropeanCourt Practice Concerning State Immunity from Enforcement Measures, 17 Eur. J. Int’lL. 803, 813 (2006) (holding “that foreign states did not enjoy immunity from executionand that their property in Turkey could be seized because the applicableTurkish legislation exempted only assets of the Turkish state.”). See also Company Xv. Embassy of Turkm. (Tribunal de Grande Instance 2002) cited in Susan C. Breau,Summary of State Practice Regarding State Immunities in the Council of Europe, inState Practice Regarding State Immunities 240 (Gerhard Hafner et al. eds., 2006)(reaffirming that there is no immunity from execution in Turkish law); Société v.La République Azerbaïdjan, (Tribunal d’exécution 2001) cited in August Reinisch,European Court Practice Concerning State Immunity from Enforcement Measures, 17Eur. J. Int’l L. 803, 813 (2006) (holding “that movable and immovable property ofa foreign state could be seized.”).165 As mentioned, the U.N. Convention is not yet in force. The European Conventionon State Immunity is in force, however, with eight states parties. EuropeanConvention on State Immunity, May 16, 1972, T.S. No. 74 (Signed in Basle onMay 16, 1972, and entered into force June 11, 1976). The Convention has anoptional (by a state’s declaration) exception from immunity from execution for com-229