Also known as the UN Convention, the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (the Convention) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 2, 2004 and sets out the circumstances under which a foreign state is not immune from the jurisdiction of another state. The UN Convention was open for signature in 2005 and will become effective once it has been ratified by at least 30 countries. As of November 2012, the Convention has been signed by 28 countries and ratified by 13 signatories, including France, Spain, and Japan. The US has not yet ratified the treaty.

For more information on the Convention, see Practice Note, A Primer on Foreign Sovereign Immunity.