S 555 in Congressional Session 109

Bill Number : S 555

Title : A bill to amend the Sherman Act to make oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal.

SUMMARY AS OF:
4/14/2005--Reported to Senate without amendment.    (There is 1 other summary) (This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2005 or NOPEC - Amends the Sherman Act to declare it to be illegal and a violation of the Act for any foreign state or instrumentality thereof to act collectively or in combination with any other foreign state or any other person, whether by cartel or any other association or form of cooperation or joint action, to limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product (petroleum), to set or maintain the price of petroleum, or to otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for petroleum, when such action has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the market, supply, price, or distribution of petroleum in the United States. Denies a foreign state engaged in such conduct sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction or judgments of U.S. courts in any action brought to enforce this Act. States that no U.S. court shall decline, based on the act of state doctrine, to make a determination on the merits in an action brought under this Act. Authorizes the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to bring an action in U.S. district court to enforce this Act. Amends the Federal judicial code to make an exception to the jurisdictional immunity of a foreign state in an action brought under this Act.