美国FSIA侵权例外规则的司法适用与中国应对

The FSIA’s Non-Commercial Torts Exception: Judicial Applications and China’s Response Strategies

美国《外国主权豁免法》第1605节(a)条(5)款的“非商业性侵权例外”作为管辖豁免例外之一,近年来在美国法院得到了广泛的司法适用。该例外的适用涉及对侵权主体、侵权行为地域联系以及侵权行为主权性质这三个要素的认定,被告根据后两个要素提出抗辩易获得优势。对中国而言,侵权例外虽已在涉华国家豁免案件中多次出现,但总体未得到足够的重视。考虑到侵权行为与主权行为往往关系密切,侵权例外一旦适用,将可能导致美国法院对我国的主权行为进行管辖。因此,为避免侵权例外未来在涉华案件中得到适用,我国应基于侵权例外的认定规则和适用场景优化当前策略,根据不同的案件特征和被告主体制定直接抗辩或间接应对的法律预案,实现在美司法救济;同时,还应加紧制定国家豁免国内立法,细化规定侵权行为国家豁免的有关问题,增设“主权行为”相关定义,为我国应对因侵权行为引起的国家豁免诉讼设定宏观法律指引与制度保护。

In recent years, the “Non-Commercial Tort Exception” in Section1605(a)(5) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act(FSIA) has been extensively applied in the U.S. courts, as one of the exceptions to State Immunity under FSIA. In judicial practice, application of the Tort Exception involves the identification of three elements: the proper defendant, the situs of the torts and whether the infringement is a sovereign act. By raising defenses according to the latter two elements, foreign countries as defendants tend to obtain comparative advantages. As for China, although a few China-related cases involve the application of the Tort Exception, so far insufficient attention has been attached to it overall.Considering that the tortious act of a State and sovereign act are closely associated. The Tort Exception, once applied, may lead to the jurisdiction of U.S. court over China’s sovereign act. In order to deal with the state immunity litigation related to the Tort Exception and to achieve judicial relief in the U.S. court, it is suggested that the current response strategy shall be optimized based on the relevant rules and scenarios, and the preparation of legal schemes shall be advanced depending on diverse defendant subjects, such as appearing in court to claim state immunity or make indirect response. It is further suggested that the drafting of domestic legislation on state immunity should be expedited, the issues related to the tortious act of a State shall be refined, and the definition of “sovereign act”shall be provided, so as to set macro legal guidelines and institutional protection for China in deal with FSIA state immunity litigations arising from the tortious act.