22 U.S.C. § 288A
Section 288a · Privileges, exemptions, and immunities of international organizations
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 77 court decisions — leading case Margot Rendall-Speranza v. Edward A. Nassim (1997)
Most recently applied in John Does 1-7 v. Taliban (April 2024)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (31 decisions)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
International organizations shall enjoy the status, immunities, exemptions, and privileges set forth in this section, as follows:
(a) International organizations shall, to the extent consistent with the instrument creating them, possess the capacity—
(i) to contract;
(ii) to acquire and dispose of real and personal property;
(iii) to institute legal proceedings.
(b) International organizations, their property and their assets, wherever located, and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy the same immunity from suit and every form of judicial process as is enjoyed by foreign governments, except to the extent that such organizations may expressly waive their immunity for the purpose of any proceedings or by the terms of any contract.
(c) Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.
(d) Insofar as concerns customs duties and internal-revenue taxes imposed upon or by reason of importation, and the procedures in connection therewith; the registration of foreign agents; and the treatment of official communications, the privileges, exemptions, and immunities to which international organizations shall be entitled shall be those accorded under similar circumstances to foreign governments.