The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States (FCSC) is a quasi-judicial, independent agency within the U.S. Department of Justice which adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments, either under specific jurisdiction conferred by Congress or pursuant to international claims settlement agreements. Funds for payment of the commission's awards are derived from congressional appropriations, international claims settlements, or liquidation of foreign assets in the United States by the Departments of Justice and the U.S. treasury.
The commission is headed by Chairman Timothy J. Feighery. Messrs. Stephen C. King and Rafael E. Martinez serve as a part-time members of the commission. The commission also employs a small staff of professional and administrative personnel.
The FCSC's regulations may be found at Part 500 of Title 45, Code of Federal Regulations.
History
The FCSC was established in 1954 (Reorganization Plan No. 1 (5 U.S.C. App.)), when it assumed the functions of two predecessor agencies: the War Claims Commission and the International Claims Commission. The FCSC and its predecessor agencies have successfully completed 43 claims programs to resolve claims against various countries including the Federal Republic of Germany, Iran, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy, Cuba, China, East Germany, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt, Panama, and Albania. In all, more than 660,000 claims have been adjudicated, with awards totaling in the billions of dollars.
Albania Claims Program
Pursuant to the U.S.-Albanian Claims Settlement Agreement of March 1995, the FCSC retains authority to adjudicate claims of U.S. nationals for expropriation, confiscation and other loss of property suffered at the hands of the Communist regime that seized power in Albania at the end of the Second World War. A fund of $2 million was provided by Albania under the 1995 agreement from which to pay the commission's awards, and over $1 million remains available in this fund.
Holocaust Claims Program
The United States and Germany signed an agreement on September 19, 1995, providing for reparations for certain U.S.-citizen survivors of the Holocaust, with compensation to be paid in two stages. The first stage provided for compensation for Hugo Princz and a small group of other known concentration camp survivors, through a lump-sum payment to the United States of 3 million Deutsche Mark (about $2.1 million). The second stage was to provide for compensation for additional, similarly situated claimants. Legislation passed in early 1996 authorized the commission to receive and adjudicate cases of additional claimants, a process which it completed in March 1998. Following further negotiations, the German Government paid to the United States in June 1999 an additional lump sum of 34.5 million Deutsche Mark (about $18 million) in final settlement of any and all claims of United States citizens against Germany for Nazi persecution in concentration camps, whether or not they were adjudicated by the commission. In the ensuing months, the Department of the Treasury completed the process of distributing the settlement fund to the claimants previously found eligible for awards.
Cuban Claims Programs
The commission has administered two programs for adjudication of claims against the Government of Cuba. In its First Cuban Claims Program, completed on July 6, 1972, the Commission certified 5,911 claims to the U.S. Department of State as valid claims. In August 2006 the Commission completed the administration of a second Cuban claims program, evaluating previously unadjudicated claims of U.S. citizens or corporations against the Government of Cuba for losses of real and personal property taken after May 1, 1967. The first program was conducted under the authority of Title V of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949, as amended ( et seq.), while the second program was conducted pursuant to the commission's authority under (a)(1)(C) to evaluate categories of claims referred to it by the Secretary of State. The second program began on August 10, 2005, and the filing deadline was February 13, 2006.