Foreign Compensation Act 1950



Foreign Compensation Act , 1950

(14 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 12

An Act to provide for the establishment of a Commission for the purpose of registering and determining claims to participate in compensation under agreements with foreign Governments and of distributing any compensation received under any such agreements, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[12th July 1950]

Whereas agreements (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘Yugoslav Agreements’) entered into between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Yugoslavia on the twenty-third day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-eight, and on the twenty-sixth day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, provided for the payment of compensation by the last-mentioned government in respect of British property, rights and interests affected by certain Yugoslav measures:

And whereas an agreement (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘Czechoslovak Agreement’) entered, into between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Czechoslovakia on the twenty-eighth day of September, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, provided for the payment of compensation by the last-mentioned government in respect of British property, rights and interests affected by certain Czechoslovak measures:

Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

S-1 Constitution of Foreign Compensation Commission.

1 Constitution of Foreign Compensation Commission.

(1) For the purposes of this Act, there shall be constituted a Commission, to be called the Foreign Compensation Commission and in this Act referred to as ‘the Commission’, consisting of a chairman appointed by the Lord Chancellor and such number of other members so appointed as the Secretary of State may with the approval of the Treasury determine.

(2) The Commission shall be a body corporate with power to hold land without licence in mortmain and may act notwithstanding a vacancy among the members thereof.

(3) Every member of the Commission shall hold and vacate his office in accordance with the terms of his appointment, and a member of the Commission who ceases to hold office shall be eligible for re-appointment.

(4) A person shall be disqualified for being appointed or being a member of the Commission so long as he is a member of the Commons House of Parliament.

(5) The Commission shall pay to their members such remuneration (whether by way of salary or fees) and allowances as the Commission may with the approval of the Secretary of State and the Treasury determine.

S-2 Distribution of compensation under Yugoslav and Czechoslovak agreements.

2 Distribution of compensation under Yugoslav and Czechoslovak agreements.

(1) His Majesty may by Order in Council provide for the distribution by the Commission—

(a ) of such sums as may be paid to the Commission by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being sums received under the Yugoslav Agreements, among the persons who establish claims to the satisfaction of the Commission in respect of losses suffered in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the Order;

(b ) of such sums as may be paid to the Commission by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being sums received under the Czechoslovak Agreement, among the persons who establish claims to the satisfaction of the Commission in respect of losses suffered in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the Order.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding subsection, an Order in Council under this section may make provision—

(a ) for defining the persons who are to be qualified, in respect of nationality or status, to make applications to the Commission for the purpose of establishing such claims as aforesaid, and for imposing any other conditions to be fulfilled before such claims can be entertained;

(b ) for prescribing the matters which have to be established to the satisfaction of the Commission by persons making such applications;

(c ) for requiring documents of title relating to property in respect of which claims are established to be surrendered to the Commission, and for securing the abandonment or extinction of rights in respect of which claims are established.

(3) An Order in Council under this section may make provision for enabling a person appointed by the government of any of the following countries, that is to say, Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, India, Pakistan, Ceylon or Southern Rhodesia, to be treated as an additional member of the Commission for the purpose of determining such classes of applications as may be prescribed by the Order.

S-3 Compensation payable by foreign Governments under future agreements.

3 Compensation payable by foreign Governments under future agreements.

3. If His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom enter into or contemplate an agreement with the government of any foreign country providing for the payment of compensation by the latter government, His Majesty may by Order in Council make provision for all or any of the following matters, that is to say:—

a ) for the registration by the Commission of claims to participate in such compensation, and for the making of reports by the Commission with respect to such claims
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