International Organizations before National Courts (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law, Series Number 10)

A radical, empirical investigation of how national courts 'react' to disputes involving international organizations. Through comprehensive analysis of the attitudes and techniques of national courts and underlying political motives, Professor Reinisch first describes various legal approaches that result in adjudication or non-adjudication of disputes concerning international organizations. Secondly he discusses policy issues pro and contra the adjudication of such disputes. His study then scrutinizes the rationale for immunizing international organizations from domestic litigations, especially the 'functional' need for immunity, and substantially debates the implications of a human rights-based right of access to court on immunizing international organizations against national jurisdictions. Finally he identifies contemporary trends, seeking to ascertain whether a more flexible principle exempting certain types of disputes from domestic adjudication might substitute for the traditional immunity concept, which would simultaneously guarantee the functioning and independence of international organizations without impairing private parties' access to a fair dispute settlement procedure. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 Contents 9 Preface 13 Acknowledgements 15 Table of cases 19 Argentine 19 Austria 20 Belgium 20 Canada 21 Chile 21 Colombia 22 Egypt 22 France 23 Germany 25 Greece 27 India 28 Ireland 28 Italy 28 Jordan 33 Lebanon 33 Luxembourg 34 Malaysia 34 Mexico 34 Netherlands 34 New Zealand 35 Nigeria 35 Philippines 35 Spain 36 Switzerland 36 Syria 37 United Kingdom 38 United States 41 Arbitration 48 European Commission of Human Rights 49 European Court of Human Rights 50 European Court of Justice 51 ILO Administrative Tribunal 52 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 53 International Court of Justice 53 OAS Administrative Tribunal 54 OECD Administrative Tribunal 54 Permanent Court of International Justice 54 UN Administrative Tribunal 54 UN Human Rights Committee 55 World Bank Administrative Tribunal 55 Table of legal instruments 57 Constituent instruments 57 Multilateral privileges and immunities treaties 60 Bilateral agreements 61 Other treaties 62 Statutes of international tribunals 63 Other international documents 64 National legislation 64 Australia 64 Austria 65 Canada 65 Denmark 65 France 65 Germany 65 India 65 Italy 65 Japan 66 Spain 66 United Kingdom 66 United States 66 Abbreviations 67 1 Purpose, subject and methodology of this study 71 Introduction 71 Subject of the study 74 International organizations 74 Other international bodies 79 International tribunals 79 International public corporations 80 International non-governmental organizations 81 Transnational corporations 81 Some further terminological clarifications 82 Survey of existing material and literature 87 Court decisions and other relevant practice 87 Literature 89 Methods 91 Overall solutions versus topical jurisprudence 91 Topical method as policy-and interest-based approach 93 Types of cases involving international organizations before domestic courts 94 Personal services rendered to international organizations 95 Provision of movable and immovable property 96 Tortious contacts 98 Secondary disputes 100 Consequences for the methods employed 100 Part I Descriptive analysis 103 2 Avoidance techniques 105 Non-recognition as a legal person under domestic law 107 The problem before the courts 109 The normal approach to domestic legal personality 111 Different approaches between member and non-member states 111 Sources of domestic legal personality 112 Treaties 113 Custom 115 National legal rules 116 The relevance of the international legal personality of international organizations for their domestic personality 122 International legal personality 123 The declarative or constitutive character of the conferment of domestic legal personality 129 Judicial practice of avoiding dispute settlement by de-recognizing the domestic legal personality of international... 135 Non-recognition of a particular act of an international organization – ultra viresacts and non-attributability 140 Scope of domestic legal personality 141 Sources determining the scope of domestic legal personality 141 Treaties 142 Custom 143 Domestic legislation 144 Resulting legal capacities in the domestic sphere 144 Scope of functional international legal personality 145 The legal effects of non-functional acts performed by international organizations as domestic legal persons in theory 147 Content of domestic law ultra vires doctrine 148 International ultra vires doctrine 150 Explicitly addressing domestic legal personality 151 Avoiding dispute settlement by referring to the limited scope of domestic legal personality in practice 152 Prudential judicial abstention through doctrines concerning act of state, political questions, and non-justiciability 154 The act of state doctrine 155 Act of state considerations in abstaining from adjudicating lawsuits involving international organizations 159 Political questions doctrine 162 Court decisions using political questions doctrine 163 Non-justiciability or acte de gouvernement doctrines 166 Acte de gouvernement and non-justiciability considerations in abstaining from adjudicating lawsuits involving international... 168 Lack of adjudicative power of domestic courts 169 Judicial practice of abstention through respect for an exclusively competent forum 173 Respecting choice of forum clauses providing for arbitration or other fora 178 Judicial practice of abstention vis-à-vis foreign public law cases 179 Judicial practice of abstention vis-à-vis subjects of international law and matters of international law 184 Other reasons to deny jurisdiction: refusals to exercise implicit judicial review of decisions of international organizations 193 No case or controversy 194 Judicial discretion to prevent harassing lawsuits and mock trials 196 According immunity to international organizations 197 The dual, international and domestic nature of immunity 197 Immunity as public international law question 197 The potential for controversies 198 Dispute settlement mechanisms 200 Immunity as domestic legal question 204 Domestic legislation 204 Immunity and domestic procedural law 207 International sources of jurisdictional immunity of international organizations 209 Treaty law 210 Constituent instruments 210 General privileges and immunities treaties 211 Bilateral headquarters and host agreements 214 Unwritten immunity rules 215 Custom as a source of immunities 215 Customary immunity from suit of international organizations in non-member countries 222 Immunity as a tool to deny jurisdiction in judicial practice 227 Absolute immunity 227 Applying restrictive immunity concepts widely 233 Assuming customary rule of immunity 237 3 Strategies of judicial involvement 239 Non-qualification as international organization 240 No delegation of immunity 242 Recognition of an international organization as a legal person under domestic law 245 Denying immunity 247 Denying the international applicability of immunity instruments 247 Denying the domestic direct applicability of international law 248 Denying a potential customary rule in the absence of conventional immunity provisions 250 Immunity as a non-issue 252 Restricting the scope of immunity 255 Restrictive immunity 255 Restrictive judicial interpretation of treaty provisions according immunity 256 The Italian ‘reservation’ to absolute immunity provisions 256 Approximating restrictive immunity to functional immunity 262 Applying state immunity standard to international organizations in the absence of any express rules: a ‘customary’ standard... 264 The IOIA: incorporating FSIA standard of restrictive immunity? 267 Implicit exceptions concerning real property and counterclaims 273 Functional immunity 275 Areas covered by functional immunity in court decisions 276 Employment disputes 276 Lease contracts 281 Assertion of jurisdiction by qualifying activities outside the scope of functional immunity 282 Broad waiver interpretation 284 The possibility of an advance waiver in the absence of provision contemplating it in the relevant immunity regime 287 Ad hoc waiver provisions 288 Provisions that are silent on the question of waivers 290 Waiver of immunity from enforcement measures 290 Competent organ 291 Implicit waivers 292 Choice of law and choice of forum clauses 294 Arbitration clauses 296 Part II Policy issues 301 4 Rationales for judicial abstention 303 The protection of the functioning and independence of an international organization 303 Hostile domestic environment: prejudices 305 Lack of familiarity with the issues 306 Harassment aspect: costs of lawsuits 307 A counterbalance to the relative weakness of international organizations 308 The influence of states on an international organization should be channelled through its ‘internal law’ 309 Equality of the member states of an international organization 311 Securing uniformity in dispute settlement 313 Derived or delegated state sovereignty 315 Immunity as an inherent quality of international legal personality 316 Lack of territory 318 Precedent and prestige 320 5 Reasons for asserting jurisdiction 322 Judicial protection as a public good sought by and against international organizations 322 Making sense of immunity qualifications 323 Encroachment on the territorial sovereignty of the forum state 324 Higher degree of integration: the federal state analogy 325 Enhancing the creditworthiness of international organizations as a functional reason to limit immunity 325 No immunity for iure gestionis activities: the same immunity standard as the one used for states 328 Equalization with states 328 International organizations as subjects of international law 329 Commercial activity exception regardless of trading person 329 Enhanced judicial protection of private parties: commercial activities of international organizations 331 Fairness to third parties 332 Immunity as unjustifiable privilege potentially leading to a denial of justice 333 Alternative dispute settlement in the case of immunity 335 An alternative method: arbitration 336 Alternative fora: administrative tribunals 337 An international duty to establish administrative tribunals? 340 Administrative tribunals extending their jurisdiction in order to avoid a denial of justice 342 Do administrative tribunals protect fundamental or constitutional rights? 344 Human rights and constitutional limits 348 The right of access to court and jurisdictional immunity 352 Are alternative fora sufficient to guarantee the right of access to courts? 376 Conclusion 383 Part III Future developments 385 6 Do national courts provide an appropriate forum for disputes involving international organizations? 387 Critical appraisal of the quality of the existing case law 387 The broader framework 388 International organizations and the rule of law 388 The quest for forum 392 The rule of law and national courts 393 The parameters 394 Protecting access-to-court expectations of third parties 396 Illegitimate reasons: lack of personality, lack of functional capacity, non-application of international law 397 Possible solutions 398 Maintaining immunity 399 Reinterpreting immunity 400 Finding ‘proportionate’ functional immunity standard below absolute immunity 400 The meaning of functional immunity 401 The origin of the functional immunity standard: Article 105 UN Charter 402 Is ‘functional’ synonymous with ‘absolute’ immunity? 402 Functional immunity as immunity for ‘official activities’ 406 A strict functional necessity concept 408 The crucial test: what happens to non-functional acts? 412 Functional immunity as restrictive immunity 417 Traditional reasons for differentiating from states 418 A sovereign immunity standard for international organizations exercising sovereign powers? 426 Alternative functional restrictions of the scope of immunity: analogies to diplomatic and consular law 431 Functional necessity standard in diplomatic and consular law 432 Transferability of the rationale for diplomatic and consular immunity 433 A result-oriented immunity standard protecting the functioning of international organizations 435 The grant of immunity made dependent upon alternative dispute resolution procedures 436 Immunity or lack of adjudicative power 442 Lessons for international organizations: which issues should be excluded from domestic adjudication? 444 Lack of jurisdiction over foreign public law 444 Internal law of international organizations as a taboo for national courts 447 Personal services rendered to international organizations 453 Provision of movable and immovable property 456 Claims for damages against international organizations 456 The ultimate guarantee of the independent functioning of international organizations: retrospective instead of anticipated... 458 7 Conclusions 461 Bibliography 464 Index 514 Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 5 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Preface......Page 13 Acknowledgements......Page 15 Argentine......Page 19 Belgium......Page 20 Chile......Page 21 Egypt......Page 22 France......Page 23 Germany......Page 25 Greece......Page 27 Italy......Page 28 Lebanon......Page 33 Netherlands......Page 34 Philippines......Page 35 Switzerland......Page 36 Syria......Page 37 United Kingdom......Page 38 United States......Page 41 Arbitration......Page 48 European Commission of Human Rights......Page 49 European Court of Human Rights......Page 50 European Court of Justice......Page 51 ILO Administrative Tribunal......Page 52 International Court of Justice......Page 53 UN Administrative Tribunal......Page 54 World Bank Administrative Tribunal......Page 55 Constituent instruments......Page 57 Multilateral privileges and immunities treaties......Page 60 Bilateral agreements......Page 61 Other treaties......Page 62 Statutes of international tribunals......Page 63 Australia......Page 64 Italy......Page 65 United States......Page 66 Abbreviations......Page 67 Introduction......Page 71 International organizations......Page 74 International tribunals......Page 79 International public corporations......Page 80 Transnational corporations......Page 81 Some further terminological clarifications......Page 82 Court decisions and other relevant practice......Page 87 Literature......Page 89 Overall solutions versus topical jurisprudence......Page 91 Topical method as policy-and interest-based approach......Page 93 Types of cases involving international organizations before domestic courts......Page 94 Personal services rendered to international organizations......Page 95 Provision of movable and immovable property......Page 96 Tortious contacts......Page 98 Consequences for the methods employed......Page 100 Part I Descriptive analysis......Page 103 2 Avoidance techniques......Page 105 Non-recognition as a legal person under domestic law......Page 107 The problem before the courts......Page 109 Different approaches between member and non-member states......Page 111 Sources of domestic legal personality......Page 112 Treaties......Page 113 Custom......Page 115 National legal rules......Page 116 The relevance of the international legal personality of international organizations for their domestic personality......Page 122 International legal personality......Page 123 The declarative or constitutive character of the conferment of domestic legal personality......Page 129 Judicial practice of avoiding dispute settlement by de-recognizing the domestic legal personality of international.........Page 135 Non-recognition of a particular act of an international organization – ultra viresacts and non-attributability......Page 140 Sources determining the scope of domestic legal personality......Page 141 Treaties......Page 142 Custom......Page 143 Resulting legal capacities in the domestic sphere......Page 144 Scope of functional international legal personality......Page 145 The legal effects of non-functional acts performed by international organizations as domestic legal persons in theory......Page 147 Content of domestic law ultra vires doctrine......Page 148 International ultra vires doctrine......Page 150 Explicitly addressing domestic legal personality......Page 151 Avoiding dispute settlement by referring to the limited scope of domestic legal personality in practice......Page 152 Prudential judicial abstention through doctrines concerning act of state, political questions, and non-justiciability......Page 154 The act of state doctrine......Page 155 Act of state considerations in abstaining from adjudicating lawsuits involving international organizations......Page 159 Political questions doctrine......Page 162 Court decisions using political questions doctrine......Page 163 Non-justiciability or acte de gouvernement doctrines......Page 166 Acte de gouvernement and non-justiciability considerations in abstaining from adjudicating lawsuits involving international.........Page 168 Lack of adjudicative power of domestic courts......Page 169 Judicial practice of abstention through respect for an exclusively competent forum......Page 173 Respecting choice of forum clauses providing for arbitration or other fora......Page 178 Judicial practice of abstention vis-à-vis foreign public law cases......Page 179 Judicial practice of abstention vis-à-vis subjects of international law and matters of international law......Page 184 Other reasons to deny jurisdiction: refusals to exercise implicit judicial review of decisions of international organizations......Page 193 No case or controversy......Page 194 Judicial discretion to prevent harassing lawsuits and mock trials......Page 196 Immunity as public international law question......Page 197 The potential for controversies......Page 198 Dispute settlement mechanisms......Page 200 Domestic legislation......Page 204 Immunity and domestic procedural law......Page 207 International sources of jurisdictional immunity of international organizations......Page 209 Constituent instruments......Page 210 General privileges and immunities treaties......Page 211 Bilateral headquarters and host agreements......Page 214 Custom as a source of immunities......Page 215 Customary immunity from suit of international organizations in non-member countries......Page 222 Absolute immunity......Page 227 Applying restrictive immunity concepts widely......Page 233 Assuming customary rule of immunity......Page 237 3 Strategies of judicial involvement......Page 239 Non-qualification as international organization......Page 240 No delegation of immunity......Page 242 Recognition of an international organization as a legal person under domestic law......Page 245 Denying the international applicability of immunity instruments......Page 247 Denying the domestic direct applicability of international law......Page 248 Denying a potential customary rule in the absence of conventional immunity provisions......Page 250 Immunity as a non-issue......Page 252 Restrictive immunity......Page 255 The Italian ‘reservation’ to absolute immunity provisions......Page 256 Approximating restrictive immunity to functional immunity......Page 262 Applying state immunity standard to international organizations in the absence of any express rules: a ‘customary’ standard.........Page 264 The IOIA: incorporating FSIA standard of restrictive immunity?......Page 267 Implicit exceptions concerning real property and counterclaims......Page 273 Functional immunity......Page 275 Employment disputes......Page 276 Lease contracts......Page 281 Assertion of jurisdiction by qualifying activities outside the scope of functional immunity......Page 282 Broad waiver interpretation......Page 284 The possibility of an advance waiver in the absence of provision contemplating it in the relevant immunity regime......Page 287 Ad hoc waiver provisions......Page 288 Waiver of immunity from enforcement measures......Page 290 Competent organ......Page 291 Implicit waivers......Page 292 Choice of law and choice of forum clauses......Page 294 Arbitration clauses......Page 296 Part II Policy issues......Page 301 The protection of the functioning and independence of an international organization......Page 303 Hostile domestic environment: prejudices......Page 305 Lack of familiarity with the issues......Page 306 Harassment aspect: costs of lawsuits......Page 307 A counterbalance to the relative weakness of international organizations......Page 308 The influence of states on an international organization should be channelled through its ‘internal law’......Page 309 Equality of the member states of an international organization......Page 311 Securing uniformity in dispute settlement......Page 313 Derived or delegated state sovereignty......Page 315 Immunity as an inherent quality of international legal personality......Page 316 Lack of territory......Page 318 Precedent and prestige......Page 320 Judicial protection as a public good sought by and against international organizations......Page 322 Making sense of immunity qualifications......Page 323 Encroachment on the territorial sovereignty of the forum state......Page 324 Enhancing the creditworthiness of international organizations as a functional reason to limit immunity......Page 325 Equalization with states......Page 328 Commercial activity exception regardless of trading person......Page 329 Enhanced judicial protection of private parties: commercial activities of international organizations......Page 331 Fairness to third parties......Page 332 Immunity as unjustifiable privilege potentially leading to a denial of justice......Page 333 Alternative dispute settlement in the case of immunity......Page 335 An alternative method: arbitration......Page 336 Alternative fora: administrative tribunals......Page 337 An international duty to establish administrative tribunals?......Page 340 Administrative tribunals extending their jurisdiction in order to avoid a denial of justice......Page 342 Do administrative tribunals protect fundamental or constitutional rights?......Page 344 Human rights and constitutional limits......Page 348 The right of access to court and jurisdictional immunity......Page 352 Are alternative fora sufficient to guarantee the right of access to courts?......Page 376 Conclusion......Page 383 Part III Future developments......Page 385 Critical appraisal of the quality of the existing case law......Page 387 International organizations and the rule of law......Page 388 The quest for forum......Page 392 The rule of law and national courts......Page 393 The parameters......Page 394 Protecting access-to-court expectations of third parties......Page 396 Illegitimate reasons: lack of personality, lack of functional capacity, non-application of international law......Page 397 Possible solutions......Page 398 Maintaining immunity......Page 399 Finding ‘proportionate’ functional immunity standard below absolute immunity......Page 400 The meaning of functional immunity......Page 401 Is ‘functional’ synonymous with ‘absolute’ immunity?......Page 402 Functional immunity as immunity for ‘official activities’......Page 406 A strict functional necessity concept......Page 408 The crucial test: what happens to non-functional acts?......Page 412 Functional immunity as restrictive immunity......Page 417 Traditional reasons for differentiating from states......Page 418 A sovereign immunity standard for international organizations exercising sovereign powers?......Page 426 Alternative functional restrictions of the scope of immunity: analogies to diplomatic and consular law......Page 431 Functional necessity standard in diplomatic and consular law......Page 432 Transferability of the rationale for diplomatic and consular immunity......Page 433 A result-oriented immunity standard protecting the functioning of international organizations......Page 435 The grant of immunity made dependent upon alternative dispute resolution procedures......Page 436 Immunity or lack of adjudicative power......Page 442 Lack of jurisdiction over foreign public law......Page 444 Internal law of international organizations as a taboo for national courts......Page 447 Personal services rendered to international organizations......Page 453 Claims for damages against international organizations......Page 456 The ultimate guarantee of the independent functioning of international organizations: retrospective instead of anticipated.........Page 458 7 Conclusions......Page 461 Bibliography......Page 464 Index......Page 514 Analisa O Posicionamento E Limites De Jurisdição Das Cortes E Tribunais Nacionais Diante Dos Conflitos Que Envolvem Organizações Internacionais. Discute Aspectos Ligados à Imunidade Internacional. Compara A Perspectiva Do Direito Internacional Público Com A Prática Interna Das Nações. 1. Purpose, Subject And Methodology Of This Study -- Pt. I. Descriptive Analysis -- 2. Avoidance Techniques -- 3. Strategies Of Judicial Involvement -- Pt. Ii. Policy Issues -- 4. Rationales For Judicial Abstention -- 5. Reasons For Asserting Jurisdiction -- Pt. Iii. Future Developments -- 6. Do National Courts Provide An Appropriate Forum For Disputes Involving International Organizations? -- 7. Conclusions. August Reinisch. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 394-443) And Index. This book presents a radical, empirical investigation of how national courts "react" to disputes involving international organizations, analyzing in particular whether such organizations should be immune to national jurisdictions. Under the headings "domestic legal personality" and "immunity" of international organizations, some of the issues covered have already been treated in international legal scholarship, mostly in the form of short articles or case notes. This study, however, provides a thorough comparative analysis and the largest compilation of relevant decisions on the subject, making it indispensable for practitioners as well as academics in the field.