Foreign States Immunities Act 1985

A foreign State is not immune in a proceeding in so far as the proceeding concerns a commercial transaction.

Subsection (1) does not apply:

if all the parties to the proceeding:

are foreign States or are the Commonwealth and one or more foreign States; or

have otherwise agreed in writing; or

in so far as the proceeding concerns a payment in respect of a grant, a scholarship, a pension or a payment of a like kind.

In this section, commercial transaction means a commercial, trading, business, professional or industrial or like transaction into which the foreign State has entered or a like activity in which the State has engaged and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes:

a contract for the supply of goods or services;

an agreement for a loan or some other transaction for or in respect of the provision of finance; and

a guarantee or indemnity in respect of a financial obligation; but does not include a contract of employment or a bill of exchange.