I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6524 
To provide justice for victims of State misrepresentation to the World Health 
Organization, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 17, 2020 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. WRIGHT) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide justice for victims of State misrepresentation 
to the World Health Organization, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Compensation for the 
Victims of State Misrepresentations to the World Health 
Organization Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) There is a role for an international organi-
zation to help mitigate infectious diseases that re-
spect no boundaries. 
(2) The United States depends on an effective 
WHO to make good and well informed public health 
decisions to contain infectious diseases. 
(3) The WHO has played a critical role in ad-
dressing and mitigating infectious diseases, such as 
the 1979 eradication of smallpox, which eradication 
the WHO coordinated through a sustained global ef-
fort. 
(4) Without accurate information, the WHO 
cannot advise Member States properly on the risks 
posed by infectious diseases. 
(5) There are credible reports that in 2006, 
2009, and 2011 the Government of Ethiopia mis-
represented the nature and seriousness of cholera 
epidemics in that country to the WHO with a view 
towards minimizing the potential damage to their 
economy. 
(A) Those misrepresentations diminished 
the WHO’s effectiveness and the WHO trans-
mitted inaccurate and misleading information 
regarding the presence of cholera to partici-
pating States. 
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(B) Other Member States relied on the 
misleading and inaccurate information that the 
WHO communicated to them to formulate pub-
lic health policy, resulting in loss of life, injury, 
and damage to property and commercial inter-
ests to citizens outside of Ethiopia as a con-
sequence of that country’s misrepresentations 
to the WHO. 
(6) There are credible reports that WHO Mem-
ber States misrepresented facts concerning the 
Ebola outbreak to that organization with a view to-
wards minimizing the commercial impact that a 
widely disseminated understanding of the risks 
posed by the Ebola epidemic may have caused in 
their individual economies. 
(A) Those misrepresentations diminished 
the WHO’s effectiveness, and the WHO trans-
mitted inaccurate and misleading information 
regarding the communicability of Ebola to par-
ticipating States. 
(B) Other Member States relied on the 
misleading and inaccurate information that the 
WHO communicated to them to formulate pub-
lic health policy, resulting in loss of life, injury, 
and damage to property and commercial inter-
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ests to citizens outside of the misrepresenting 
States as a consequence of those countries’ mis-
representations to the WHO. 
(7) During the onset of the COVID–19 pan-
demic, China misrepresented the seriousness and na-
ture of the novel coronavirus to the WHO, with a 
view towards minimizing the potential damage to 
their economy and international reputation. 
(A) Those misrepresentations diminished 
the WHO’s effectiveness and the WHO trans-
mitted inaccurate and misleading information 
regarding the communicability of the novel 
coronavirus to participating States. 
(B) Other Member States relied on the 
misleading and inaccurate information that the 
WHO communicated to them to formulate pub-
lic health policy, resulting in loss of life, injury, 
and damage to property and commercial inter-
ests to citizens outside of China as a con-
sequence of that country’s misrepresentations 
to the WHO. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to provide civil litigants 
with the broadest possible basis, consistent with the Con-
stitution of the United States, to seek relief against per-
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sons, entities, and foreign countries, wherever acting and 
wherever they may be found, that have sustained wrongful 
death, injury, or damage to property or commercial inter-
ests as a result of the misrepresentations of an agent of 
a sovereign State to the WHO concerning the nature, com-
municability, or seriousness of an infectious disease. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to facilitate the 
ability of victims of State misrepresentations to the World 
Health Organization (WHO) that result in death, injury, 
and damage to property and business interests. 
SEC. 5. RESPONSIBILITY OF FOREIGN STATES FOR LOSS OF 
LIFE, INJURY, OR OTHER DAMAGES RESULT-
ING FROM CERTAIN MISREPRESENTATIONS 
TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1605(a) of title 28, 
United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘in which 
money damages are sought against a foreign state for per-
sonal injury or death, or damage to or loss of property, 
occurring in the United States and caused by the tortious 
act or omission of that foreign state or of any official or 
employee of that foreign state while acting within the 
scope of his office or employment;’’ and inserting ‘‘in 
which money damages are sought against a foreign state, 
for personal injury or death, or damage to or loss of prop-
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erty, occurring in the United States as a result of a willful 
or grossly negligent misrepresentation of information to 
the World Health Organization of the nature, seriousness, 
or communicability of an infections disease or other 
tortious act or omission of that foreign state or of any 
official or employee of that foreign state while acting with-
in the scope of his office or employment’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall take effect 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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