1 28 U.S.C. § 1603(d) and (e) provide:

(d) A “commercial activity” means either a regular course of commercial conduct or a particular commercial transaction or act. The commercial character of an activity shall be determined by reference to the nature of the course of conduct or particular transaction or act, rather than by reference to its purpose.

(e) A “commercial activity carried on in the United States by a foreign state” means commercial activity carried on by such state and having substantial contact with the United States.

2 In support of its reading of the first clause of § 1605(a)(2), the court referred to the legislative history of the FSIA. See H.R. Rep. No. 1487, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 17 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S. Code Cong. & Ad. News 6604, 6615–16. The court also emphasized that the wheat was carried from a U.S. port on a vessel chartered under bills of lading executed pursuant to U.S. law, i.e., the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (46 U.S.C. §1300 et seq.).

3 Section 1607 of the FSIA provides:

In any action brought by a foreign state, or in which a foreign state intervenes, in a court of the United States or of a State, the foreign state shall not be accorded immunity with respect to any counterclaim—

(a) for which a foreign state would not be entitled to immunity under section 1605 of this chapter had such claim been brought in a separate action against the foreign state; or

(b) arising out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the claim of the foreign state; or

(c) to the extent that the counterclaim does not seek relief exceeding in amount or differing in kind from that sought by the foreign state.

4 708 F.2d 80, 86.

5 Id. (quoting §1602 of the FSIA).

6 H.R. Rep. No. 1487, supra note 2.

7 708 F.2d at 86.

8 678 F.2d 1150 (2d Cir. 1982).

9 Id. at 1160, quoted in 708 F.2d at 87.

10 See Note, Effects Jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Due Process Clause, 55 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 474 (1980).