Supreme Court Holds That U.S. Courts Are Not Bound by a Foreign Government’s Interpretation of Its Own Law
On June 14, 2018, the Supreme Court in Animal Science Products, Inc. v. Hebei Welcome Pharm. Co. Ltd., No. 16-1220, unanimously held that U.S. courts analyzing the meaning of foreign law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1 need not accept as binding a submission from a foreign government characterizing or interpreting its own law. Rather, a court must only accord such submissions “respectful consideration” and is not required to “accord conclusive effect to the foreign government’s statements.” The decision settles a circuit split by roundly rejecting the “bound to defer” standard that had been utilized by the Second and Ninth Circuits and endorsing the holistic approaches used by the other Circuits.