Congress grants five international organizations immunity from U.S. lawsuits
H.R. 4490 — PARTNER Act · Filed by Joaquin Castro (D-TX) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 17, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill extends diplomatic immunity and legal privileges to five international organizations: ASEAN, CERN, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Caribbean Community, and the African Union. These organizations will gain the same legal protections currently enjoyed by other international bodies the U.S. participates in, meaning they cannot be sued in U.S. courts and their property and communications are protected from U.S. legal process.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is extending legal immunity from U.S. courts to five international organizations. It is a straightforward diplomatic/foreign-relations measure, not a tax, appropriations, or regulatory bill.
What the text implies
- Citizens and U.S. companies harmed by ASEAN, CERN, Pacific Islands Forum, Caribbean Community, or African Union activities cannot sue in U.S. courts, even if the harm occurs on U.S. soil or involves U.S. persons.
- The bill grants the President unilateral authority to determine the 'terms and conditions' of immunity extension, with no congressional oversight or public notice requirement once granted.
- CERN operates particle accelerators and conducts high-energy physics research; extending immunity shields it from liability for any accident, environmental damage, or injury occurring at U.S. facilities or involving U.S. nationals.
- The African Union amendment specifically adds immunity for its 'permanent observer mission' to the UN in New York, extending protections beyond the organization itself to its diplomatic staff and facilities.
- No sunset clause, review mechanism, or requirement for the President to report to Congress on which organizations have been granted immunity or under what conditions.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens lose legal recourse against five international organizations that may operate or cause harm within U.S. jurisdiction. Diplomatic immunity is a reciprocal privilege designed for sovereign states, not regional development or research bodies; extending it to non-state organizations narrows citizens' access to courts without corresponding public benefit or transparency about what activities these organizations will conduct.
Named in the bill
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Pacific Islands Forum, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), African Union, International Organizations Immunities Act, President of the United States
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- Jul 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 17, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs”
- Jul 22, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 22, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
- Sep 2, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3734)”
- Sep 2, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Baumgartner moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $40,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Joaquin Castro, the sponsor, reported $144,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Fermiforward Discovery Group, LLC — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,553 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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