On December 2, 2004, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property. Capping more than a quarter of a century of intense international negotiation, the new treaty is the first modern multilateral instrument to articulate a comprehensive approach to issues of state or sovereign immunity from suits in foreign courts. Notably, it embraces the so-called restrictive theory of sovereign immunity, under which governments are subject to essentially the same jurisdictional rules as private entities in respect of their commercial transactions. The treaty was opened for signature on January 17, 2005 (when Austria and Morocco became the first states to sign), and will enter into force when thirty states have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession with the UN secretary-general.