Distribution of German Enemy Property Act 1949
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1949 c. 85 |
| Year | 1949 |
Distribution of German Enemy Property Act , 1949
(12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6) CHAPTER 85
An Act to provide for the collection and realisation of German enemy property and for the distribution of the proceeds thereof; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[16th December 1949]
Be it 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:—
1 Collection, realisation and distribution of German enemy property.
(1) His Majesty may by Order in Council make provision for the collection and realisation of German enemy property and for the distribution of the proceeds thereof, to such extent as may be prescribed by the Order, to persons who establish claims in respect of German enemy debts.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding subsection, an Order in Council under this section may make provision as to the following matters:—
(a ) the appointment by the Board of Trade of an administrator for the purposes of the Order, and the conferring and imposing on that administrator of such powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Order;
(b ) the transfer and vesting of German enemy property to and in the administrator, and the discharge of any person specified in the Order from liability in respect of things done or omitted to be done in relation to property transferred from him to the administrator;
(c ) the manner and time in which claims in respect of German enemy debts are to be put forward, and the furnishing and verification of information in connection with any such claims, including the production of books and documents;
(d ) the determination, as respects any such claim, of the question whether the claim is established for the purposes of the Order and of the amount of the claim;
(e ) the distribution from time to time of the proceeds of the realisation of German enemy property to persons whose claims in respect of German enemy debts have been established for the purposes of the Order;
(f ) the charging of fees to persons making claims in respect of German enemy debts, and the recovery of those fees by deduction from the amounts to be distributed as aforesaid or otherwise;
(g ) the disposal of sums in the administrator's hands which, by reason of a failure to discover the whereabouts of persons to whom the sums ought to be distributed or for any other reason, it is not practicable to distribute.
(3) The administrator appointed under this section shall be a corporation sole under the name of the Administrator of German Enemy Property, and is in this Act referred to as ‘the administrator’.
(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this section, an Order in Council made under this section may—
(a ) exclude from the application of the Order such classes of claims as may be prescribed by the Order;
(b ) differentiate between different classes of claims, as respects the priority in which payments are to be made and the extent of the payments;
(c ) make provision for enabling proceeds of German enemy property which belonged to, or was held or managed on behalf of, a particular person or body of persons to be distributed to persons establishing claims in respect of debts due from that person or body.
(5) The Board of Trade may by order prescribe forms for the purposes of any Order in Council made under this section and in particular for the making of claims and the furnishing of information.
(6) Notwithstanding anything in this section, the Board of Trade may give a direction to the administrator requiring him to transfer to or for the benefit of any person specified in the direction any German enemy property, or the proceeds of any German enemy property, to which that person would have been entitled but for the operation of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1939, or any order made thereunder, and the administrator shall comply with any such direction.
(7) Where any German enemy property, on or at any time after the third day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, belonged to, or was held or managed on behalf of, a German company, and it appears to the Board of Trade that the company was on the said day controlled, directly or indirectly, by a United Kingdom company, the Board may treat that property for the purposes of the last preceding subsection, to such extent as the Board think fit having regard to the extent of the interest of the United Kingdom company in the German company, as property to which the United Kingdom company would have been entitled but for the operation of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1939 or any order made thereunder.
In this subsection, the expression ‘German company’ means a body incorporated in, or under the laws of, Germany, and the expression ‘United Kingdom company’ means a body incorporated in, or under the laws of, the United Kingdom.
2 Offences.
(1) If any person who—
(a ) is prohibited by or under an Order in Council made under the preceding section from dealing with any German enemy property otherwise than with the consent of the administrator, or
(b ) is required by or under such an Order to transfer German enemy property to the administrator or otherwise to deal with that property in accordance with the directions of the administrator,
contravenes or fails to comply with the prohibition or requirement, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
(2) Any person who—
(a ) without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any requirement made by or under any such Order to furnish information or to produce books or documents; or
(b ) in giving information for the purpose of any such Order knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular;
shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
(3) Any person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—
(a ) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such imprisonment and such fine; or
(b ) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such imprisonment and such fine.
(4) Where any offence under this section has been committed by a body corporate, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, general manager, secretary or other...
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