Immunity of International Organizations from German National Jurisdiction

The article deals with the question under what conditions international organizations may claim immunity from German national jurisdiction in labour disputes with their staff members. On the basis of the Constitutional Court's jurisprudence in the Eurocontrol, European Patent Office and the Maastricht Treaty-cases, the author examines the standard of »essentially similar protection« as different from an identical protection standard, allowing to take into account the particularities of international organizations. A comparison with the standards applied by the European Court of Human Rights in Waite and Kennedy vs. ESA shows that the ECHR has applied a somewhat more flexible standard of »availability of reasonable alternative means of protection«. Therefore, the European Court did not go into the details of the organization of international dispute settlement procedure. In conclusion, a number of open questions remain as to the conditions, with regard to the independence of judge, their qualifications, or the judicial functions of the judicial body and the applicable procedures justifying immunity from national jurisdiction.