NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL Winter 2004 Vol. 17, No. 1 Articles Non-Compliance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and Its Effect on Reciprocity for United States Citizens Abroad Heather M. Heath ................................................................................................1 Alvarez-Machain v. United States: How Should the Ninth Circuit Determine Which Torts Are Actionable Under the Alien Tort Claims Act? Luciana Reali .....................................................................................................51 Enforcing International Labor Standards Through the Use of the Alien Tort Claims Act and Traditional Corporate Law Jonathan Fielding ..............................................................................................77 Recent Decisions Usinor Industeel v. Leeco Steel Products, Inc.. ...............................................103 The Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not apply to third persons who are not parties to a contract, so a dispute arising between a buyer, a seller and a third party with a security inter- est is governed by the local law of the state that has the most significant contacts to the contested property. CIBC Mellon Trust Co. v. Mora Hotel Corp. N.V............................................111 Enforcement of an English money judgment was upheld, where defendants were Netherlands corporations authorized to do business in New York. Winter Storm Shipping, Ltd. v. TPI ..................................................................119 The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the use of a maritime attachment to inter- cept an electronic funds transfer in the hands of an intermediary bank, holding that electronic funds transfers are “property” to the extent that they may be the subject of a maritime attachment, and that the Uniform Commercial Code § 4-A-503, which forbids such interceptions, is preempted by federal admiralty law. Dattner v. ConAgra Foods, Inc........................................................................127 The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed Israeli plaintiff’s tort claim, stemming from activities which occurred in France, based on the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Flores v. Southern Peru Copper Corp. ............................................................133 Personal injury claims brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act were denied, because plaintiffs failed to estab- lish that intranational pollution is prohibited by customary international law. Brown v. Grand Hotel Eden.............................................................................141 Federal District Court dismissed plaintiff’s personal injury suit against Switzerland hotel holding that the hotel’s Web site was not a sufficient basis for jurisdiction despite the fact that the Web site was interactive. DaPuzzo v. Globalvest Management Co., L.P. ................................................149 While the Federal Arbitration Act prohibits federal courts from compelling parties to arbitrate in a nation that is not a signatory to the New York Convention of 1958, courts can further the strong federal policy in favor of arbitration agreements by granting stays of the proceedings or reinforcing the spirit of the parties’ agreement. NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL LAW & PRACTICE SECTION Published with the assistance of St. John’s University School of Law NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW Winter 2004 Vol. 17, No. 1 NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL LAW & PRACTICE SECTION © 2004 New York State Bar Association ISSN 1050-9453 INTERNATIONAL LAW & PRACTICE SECTION OFFICERS—2004 Chair ..............................................................Paul M. Frank, Alston & Bird LLP 90 Park Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10016-1387 Chair-Elect ....................................................Robert J. Leo, Meeks & Sheppard 330 Madison Avenue, 39th Floor, New York, NY 10017-5002 Vice-Chairs ............................. Jonathan I. Blackman, Cleary Gottlieb et al. Albert L. Jacobs, Jr., Greenberg Traurig, LLP One Liberty Plaza, 42nd Floor, New York, NY 10006 885 Third Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10022 John E. Blyth Allen E. Kaye, Law Offices of Allen E. Kaye, PC 1115 Midtown Tower, Rochester, NY 14604 111 Broadway, New York, NY 10006 Charles Corwin Coward Eduardo Ramos-Gomez, Thacher Proffitt & Wood Jorge Juan 6, Madrid, 28001, Spain Two World Financial Center, New York, NY 10281 David W. Detjen, Alston & Bird, LLP Saul L. Sherman 90 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10016-1302 PO Box 820, 221 Mecox Road, Water Mill, NY 11976 Joyce M. Hansen, Federal Reserve Bank of NY 33 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10045 Executive Vice-Chair ......................................John F. Zulack, Flemming Zulack & Williamson, LLP One Liberty Plaza, 35th Floor, New York, NY 10006-1404 Secretary ........................................................Marco A. Blanco, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost et al. 101 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10178-0061 Tre a s u re r .........................................................Lawrence E. Shoenthal, Weiser LLP 135 West 50th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10020 Delegate to the NYSBA House of Delegates .......................................James P. Duffy, III, Berg & Duffy, LLP 585 Stewart Ave., Suite 540, Garden City, NY 11530-4783 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW Advisory Board Chair .........................Ronald D. Greenberg, New York, New York David Buxbaum Frank Fine Monica Petraglia McCabe Guangzhou, China Brussels, Belgium New York, New York Nishith M. Desai Prof. Michael W. Gordon Sven Papp Bombay, India Gainesville, Florida Stockholm, Sweden Michael P. Drzal Larry D. Johnson Charles A. Patrizia Richmond, Virginia New York, New York Washington, D.C. Siegfried H. Elsing Prof. Majid Khadduri Saud M.A. Shawwaf Dusseldorf, Germany Washington, D.C. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Christian Emmeluth Clifford Larsen Koji Takeuchi London, England Paris, France Tokyo, Japan Dr. Alfred S. Farha Kenneth Cang Li Samuel Xiangyu Zhang Zurich, Switzerland New York, New York Washington, D.C. NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief..........Lester Nelson New York, NY Executive Editor .............................Alan J. Hartnick Article Editors (continued) ..............Myron J. Laub New York, NY Clifton, NJ Recent Decisions Silvia Madrid Editor ..............................................Peter W. Schroth New York, NY Glastonbury, CT Marisa A. Marinelli Article Editors ................................Alistair F. Bird New York, NY New York, NY George K. Miller Charles Davidson New York, NY New York, NY Michael C. Neus Philip D. Gershuny New York, NY New York, NY Joseph J. Saltarelli Joseph S. Kaplan New York, NY New York, NY David Serko Robert Kestelik New York, NY Houston, TX Shane H. Sutton Prof. Cynthia C. New York, NY Lichtenstein Jacob R. Wyatt Newton Center, MA Washington, D.C. Student Editorial Board St. John’s University School of Law Editor-in-Chief ..........Carol A. Simpao Managing Editor .........Jennifer N. White Associate Managing Editor ........Erin MacAvoy Executive Articles Editor ................Anita Koepcke Executive Notes & Associate Articles Editor..................Richard Bosch Comments Editor .......................... Elizabeth Dineen Associate Articles Editor .................Michael V. Curti Associate Notes & Executive Research Editor ..............Michael Edelman Comments Editor .......................... Nicole Gade Symposium Editor ..........................Suzanne Balsam Associate Notes & Comments Editor .......................... Marisa Silverman Staff Carl Benincasa Jordan O’Brien Cristina Buitron Laura Paris Robert Carroll Anil Prabhu K. C. Cha Teri Ann Puliafico Erica Dziedzic Luciana Reali Arianna Faucetta Fabiana Reyes Natalie Friedenthal Jacqueline Rizk Jessica Giambrone Peggy Shvarts Alicia Givas Joseph Sorrentino Sean Jackson Elliot Steinmetz Edward Kromer Alycia Stevenson Tara Lupoli Christina Tsesmelis Tim Lyster Natasha Turner Kelly McMahon Faculty Advisor: Professor Charles Biblowit INTERNATIONAL LAW & PRACTICE SECTION COMMITTEES Asia Pacific Law ..................... Lawrence A. Darby, III International Matrimonial (212) 836-8235 Law.........................................Rita Wasserstein Warner Henry Tang (212) 593-8000 (212) 408-2586 Central & Eastern European International Privacy Law ......Nava Bat-Avraham and Asian Law........................ Susanne C. Heubel (212) 217-0088 (212) 404-8722 Andre R. Jaglom Serhiy Hoshovsky (212) 508-6740 (212) 370-0447 International Sales & Related Corporate Counsel................. Carole L. Basri Commercial Transactions .......John P. McMahon (212) 982-8243 (704) 372-9148 Michael J. Pisani International Transportation..William H. Hagendorn (212) 858-9548 (914) 337-5861 (fax) Customs and Alfred E. Yudes, Jr. International Trade ................ Stuart M. Rosen (212) 922-2211 (212) 310-8000 Multinational Reorganizations Immigration and & Insolvencies........................Robert W. Dremluk Nationality............................. Jan H. Brown (212) 696-8861 (212) 397-2800 Public International and Inter-American Law Including Comparative Law / Arms Control Free Trade in the Americas..... Carlos E. Alfaro and National Security.............Prof. Charles Biblowit (212) 698-1147 (718) 990-6760 Oliver J. Armas Hon. Edward R. Finch, Jr. (212) 912-7627 (212) 327-0493 International Banking, Publications/ Securities