On June 14, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held in Animal Science Products v. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. that “[a] federal court should accord respectful consideration to a foreign government’s submission, but is not bound to accord conclusive effect to the foreign government’s statements.”

The court further noted that the determination of applicable foreign law is a question of law, and not a finding of fact, even though at common law such was treated as a question of fact. The court vacated the Second Circuit decision that specifically addressed the question “of what laws and standards control when U.S. antitrust laws are violated by foreign companies that claim to be acting at the express direction or mandate of a foreign government,” and held itself bound by the foreign government’s exposition of its own law.