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2 

ANIMAL SCIENCE PRODUCTS, INC. v. 
HEBEI WELCOME PHARMACEUTICAL CO. 
Opinion of the Court 

engage  in  its  own  research  and  consider  any  relevant 
material thus found,” Advisory Committee’s 1966 Note on 
Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 44.1, 28 U. S. C. App., p. 892 (herein-
after  Advisory  Committee’s  Note).    Because  the  Second 
Circuit  ordered  dismissal  of  this  case  on  the  ground  that 
the foreign government’s statements could not be gainsaid, 
we  vacate  that  court’s  judgment  and  remand  the  case  for 
further consideration. 

I 
  Petitioners,  U. S.-based  purchasers  of  vitamin  C  (here-
inafter  U. S.  purchasers),  filed  a  class-action  suit  against 
four  Chinese  corporations  that  manufacture  and  export 
the  nutrient  (hereinafter  Chinese  sellers).    The  U. S. 
purchasers  alleged  that  the  Chinese  sellers,  two  of  whom 
are  respondents  here,  had  agreed  to  fix  the  price  and 
quantity  of  vitamin  C  exported  to  the  United States from 
China,  in  violation  of  §1  of  the  Sherman  Act,  15  U. S. C. 
§1.  More particularly, the U. S. purchasers stated that the 
Chinese  sellers  had  formed  a  cartel  “facilitated  by  the 
efforts  of  their  trade  association,”  the  Chamber  of  Com-
merce  of  Medicines  and  Health  Products  Importers  and 
Exporters  (Chamber).    Complaint  in  No.  1:05–CV–453, 
Docket  No.  1,  ¶43.    The  Judicial  Panel  on  Multidistrict 
Litigation  consolidated  the  instant  case  and  related  suits 
for  pretrial  proceedings  in  the  United  States  District 
Court for the Eastern District of New York. 
  The  Chinese  sellers  moved  to  dismiss  the  U. S.  pur-
chasers’ complaint on the ground that Chinese law required 
them  to  fix  the  price  and  quantity  of  vitamin  C  exports.  
Therefore,  the  Chinese  sellers  urged,  they  are  shielded 
from liability under U. S. antitrust law by the act of state 
doctrine,  the  foreign  sovereign  compulsion  doctrine,  and 
principles  of  international  comity.    The  Ministry  of  Com-
merce of  the  People’s  Republic  of  China  (Ministry)  filed  a 
brief  as  amicus  curiae  in  support  of  the  Chinese  sellers’