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

In the spirit of `international comity,'a federal court should carefully consider a foreign state's views about the meaning of its own laws

As the Supreme Court has noted, "[w] hen a foreign government... offers an account in the context of litigation, there may be cause for caution in evaluating the foreign government's submission."

The Supreme Court has instructed that when a foreign government "submits an official statement on the meaning and interpretation of its domestic law,...[a] federal court should accord respectful consideration" to that submission.

Courts may consider "any relevant material" when weighing a foreign state's views about the meaning of its own laws.

"Relevant considerations include the statement's clarity, thoroughness, and support; its context and purpose; the transparency of the foreign legal system; the role and authority of the entity or official offering the statement; and the statement's consistency with the foreign government's past positions."

The purpose of Rule 44.1 is "to make the process of determining alien law identical with the method of ascertaining domestic law to the extent that it is possible to do so."

It further held that the foreign court's holding on "what that country's criminal law provides should not lightly be second-guessed by an American court." Id. But

United States courts generally and appropriately defer to the foreign courts selected by the parties as the primary jurisdiction to determine relevant issues according to their own law.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1 governs "the mode of determining foreign law in federal courts."