Collapse to view only § 1626. Payments
- § 1621. Definitions
- § 1622. Establishment of International Claims Commission
- § 1622a. Transfer of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States to Department of Justice
- § 1622b. Transfer of functions, powers, and duties of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States
- § 1622c. Membership of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States
- § 1622d. Appointment and compensation of officers and employees of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States; allowances and benefits; utilization of other Federal facilities
- § 1622e. Vesting of all non-adjudicatory functions, powers, and duties in Chairman of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States
- § 1622f. Administrative support and services to Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States by Attorney General
- § 1622g. Independence of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States; finality of Commission decisions
- § 1623. Claims
- § 1624. Certification of awards; certification of claims
- § 1625. Omitted
- § 1626. Payments
- § 1627. Creation of special funds in Treasury
The Commission may prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary to enable it to carry out its functions, and may delegate functions to any member, officer, or employee of the Commission. The President may fix a termination date for the authority of the Commission, and the terms of office of its members under this subchapter. Any member of the Commission may be removed by the Secretary of State, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause. Not later than six months after its organization, and every six months 1
The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States, established under Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954, is hereby transferred to the Department of Justice as a separate agency within that Department.
All functions, powers, and duties of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission established by Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954 are hereby transferred with the Commission, together with personnel, assets, liabilities, unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations, allocations, and other funds held, used, available, or to be made available in connection with the statutory functions of the Commission. The Commission shall continue to perform its functions as provided by the War Claims Act of 1948, as amended [50 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.], the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949, as amended [22 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.], and Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954.
The Commission shall be composed of a Chairman and two members. The Chairman shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to serve on a full-time basis for a term of three years, and compensated at the rate provided for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5.
The other members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and serve on a part-time basis, and be compensated on a per diem basis at a rate of compensation equivalent to the daily rate for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5 for each day that such member is employed in the actual performance of official business of the Commission as may be directed by the Chairman. Each member shall be reimbursed for travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5 for persons in Government service employed intermittently.
The terms of Office of the Chairman and members of the Commission shall be for three years, except the Chairman and members first appointed after the enactment of this subsection shall be appointed to terms ending respectively September 30, 1982, September 30, 1981, and September 30, 1980. The incumbent of any such office may continue to serve until a successor takes office.
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section, members of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission who are serving on March 14, 1980, shall continue to serve in their same capacities until the expiration of the terms to which they were appointed.
The Commission is authorized, in accordance with civil service laws and in accordance with title 5 to appoint and fix the compensation of such officers and employees as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Commission. The Commission is authorized to employ experts and consultants in accordance with section 3109 of title 5 without compensation or at rates of compensation not in excess of the maximum daily rate prescribed for GS–18 under section 5332 of title 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission is further authorized to employ nationals of other countries who may possess special knowledge, languages, or other expertise necessary to assist the Commission. The Commission is authorized to pay expenses of packing, shipping, and storing personal effects of personnel of the Commission assigned abroad, and to pay allowances and benefits similar to those provided by title IX of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended. The Commission is authorized, with the consent of the head of any other department or agency of the Federal Government, to utilize the facilities and services of such department or agency in carrying out the functions of the Commission. Officers and employees of any department and agency of the Federal Government may, with the consent of the head of such department or agency, be assigned to assist the Commission in carrying out its functions. The Commission shall reimburse such department and agency for the pay of such officers or employees.
All functions, powers, and duties not directly related to adjudicating claims are hereby vested in the Chairman, including the functions set forth in section 3 of Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954 and the authority to issue rules and regulations.
The Attorney General shall provide necessary administrative support and services to the Commission. The Chairman shall prepare the budget requests, authorization documents, and legislative proposals for the Commission within the procedures established by the Department of Justice, and the Attorney General shall submit these items to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget as proposed by the Chairman.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to diminish the independence of the Commission in making its determinations on claims in programs that it is authorized to administer pursuant to the powers and responsibilities conferred upon the Commission by the War Claims Act of 1948, as amended [50 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.], the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949, as amended [22 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.], and Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1954. The decisions of the Commission with respect to claims shall be final and conclusive on all questions of law and fact, and shall not be subject to review by the Attorney General or any other official of the United States or by any court by mandamus or otherwise.
The Commission shall give public notice of the time when, and the limit of time within which, claims may be filed, which notice shall be published in the Federal Register. In addition, the Commission is authorized and directed to mail a similar notice to the last known address of each person appearing in the records of the Department of State as having indicated an intention of filing a claim with respect to a matter concerning which the Commission has jurisdiction under this subchapter. All decisions shall be upon such evidence and written legal contentions as may be presented within such period as may be prescribed therefor by the Commission, and upon the results of any independent investigation of cases which the Commission may deem it advisable to make. Each decision by the Commission pursuant to this subchapter shall be by majority vote, and shall state the reason for such decision, and shall constitute a full and final disposition of the case in which the decision is rendered.
Any member of the Commission, or any employee of the Commission, designated in writing by the Chairman of the Commission, may administer oaths and examine witnesses. Any member of the Commission may require by subpena the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and the production of all necessary books, papers, documents, records, correspondence, and other evidence, from any place in the United States at any designated place of inquiry or of hearing. The Commission is authorized to contract for the reporting of inquiries or of hearings. Witnesses summoned before the Commission shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of the United States. In case of disobedience to a subpena, the aid of any district court of the United States, as constituted by chapter 5 of title 28, and the United States court of any Territory or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States may be invoked in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of such books, papers, documents, records, correspondence, and other evidence. Any such court within the jurisdiction of which the inquiry or hearing is carried on may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpena issued to any person, issue an order requiring such person to appear or to give evidence touching the matter in question; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.
The Commission may order testimony to be taken by deposition in any inquiry or hearing pending before it at any stage of such proceeding or hearing. Such depositions may be taken, under such regulations as the Commission may prescribe, before any person designated by the Commission and having power to administer oaths. Any person may be compelled to appear and depose, and to produce books, papers, documents, records, correspondence, and other evidence in the same way as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the Commission, as hereinabove provided. If a witness whose testimony may be desired to be taken by deposition be in a foreign country, the deposition may be taken, provided the laws of the foreign country so permit, by a consular officer, or by an officer or employee of the Commission, or other person commissioned by the Commission, or under letters rogatory issued by the Commission. Witnesses whose depositions are taken as authorized in this subsection, and the persons taking the same, shall severally be entitled to the same fees as are paid for like services in the courts of the United States.
In addition to the penalties provided in section 1001 of title 18, any person guilty of any act, as provided therein, with respect to any matter under this subchapter, shall forfeit all rights under this subchapter, and, if payment shall have been made or granted, the Commission shall take such action as may be necessary to recover the same.
No remuneration on account of services rendered on behalf of any claimant in connection with any claim filed with the Commission under this subchapter shall exceed 10 per centum of the total amount paid pursuant to any award certified under the provisions of this subchapter on account of such claim. Any agreement to the contrary shall be unlawful and void. Whoever, in the United States or elsewhere, demands or receives, on account of services so rendered, any remuneration in excess of the maximum permitted by this section, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both.
The Attorney General shall assign such officers and employees of the Department of Justice as may be necessary to represent the United States as to any claims of the Government of the United States with respect to which the Commission has jurisdiction under this subchapter. Any and all payments required to be made by the Secretary of the Treasury under this subchapter pursuant to any award made by the Commission to the Government of the United States shall be covered into the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts.
The Commission shall notify all claimants of the approval or denial of their claims, stating the reasons and grounds therefor, and, if approved, shall notify such claimants of the amount for which such claims are approved. Any claimant whose claim is denied, or is approved for less than the full amount of such claim, shall be entitled, under such regulations as the Commission may prescribe, to a hearing before the Commission, or its duly authorized representatives, with respect to such claim. Upon such hearing, the Commission may affirm, modify, or revise its former action with respect to such claim, including a denial or reduction in the amount theretofore allowed with respect to such claim. The action of the Commission in allowing or denying any claim under this subchapter shall be final and conclusive on all questions of law and fact and not subject to review by the Secretary of State or any other official, department, agency, or establishment of the United States or by any court by mandamus or otherwise.
The Commission may in its discretion enter an award with respect to one or more items deemed to have been clearly established in an individual claim while deferring consideration and action on other items of the same claim.
The Commission shall comply with the provisions of subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5 except as otherwise specifically provided by this subchapter.
In exercising authority granted after October 8, 1986, under this chapter or any other Act, the Commission, in determining the value of claims of the Government of the United States or of nationals of the United States (as defined in this chapter or such other Act) against any foreign government for losses arising from the nationalization or other taking of property, shall comply with the principles set forth in subsection (a)(2) of this section.
The Commission shall, as soon as possible, and in the order of the making of such awards, certify to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the Secretary of State copies of the awards made in favor of the Government of the United States or of nationals of the United States under this subchapter. The Commission shall certify to the Secretary of State, upon his request, copies of the formal submissions of claims filed pursuant to subsection (b) of section 1623 of this title for transmission to the foreign government concerned.
Subject to the limitations hereinafter provided, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pay, as prescribed by section 1627 of this title, an amount not exceeding the principal of each award, plus accrued interest on such awards as bear interest, certified pursuant to section 1624 of this title, in accordance with the award. Such payments, and applications for such payments, shall be made in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.
Whenever the Secretary of the Treasury shall find that any person is entitled to any such payment, after such payment shall have been received by such person, it shall be an absolute bar to recovery by any other person against the United States, its officers, agents, or employees with respect to such payment.
Any person who makes application for any such payment shall be held to have consented to all the provisions of this subchapter.
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as the assumption of any liability by the United States for the payment or satisfaction, in whole or in part, of any claim on behalf of any national of the United States against any foreign government.
There are created in the Treasury of the United States (1) a special fund to be known as the Yugoslav Claims Fund; and (2) such other special funds as may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, be required, each to be a claims fund to be known by the name of the foreign government which has entered into a settlement agreement with the Government of the United States as described in subsection (a) of section 1623 of this title. There shall be covered into the Treasury to the credit of the proper special fund all funds hereinafter specified. All payments authorized under section 1626 of this title shall be disbursed from the proper fund, as the case may be, and all amounts covered into the Treasury to the credit of the aforesaid funds are permanently appropriated for the making of the payments authorized by section 1626 of this title.
The Secretary of the Treasury, upon the concurrence of the Secretary of State, is authorized and directed, out of the sum covered into the Yugoslav Claims Fund pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, after completing the payments of such funds pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, to make payment of the balance of any sum remaining in such fund to the Government of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia to the extent required under article 1(c) of the Yugoslav Claims Agreement of 1948. The Secretary of State shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the total cost of adjudication, not borne by the claimants, attributable to the Yugoslav Claims Agreement of 1948. Such certification shall be final and conclusive and shall not be subject to review by any other official, or department, agency, or establishment of the United States.
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to invest the amounts held respectively in the “special funds” established by this section in public debt securities with maturities suitable for the needs of the separate accounts and bearing interest at rates determined by the Secretary, taking into consideration the average market yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturities. The interest earned on the amounts in each special fund shall be used to make payments, in accordance with subsection (c), on awards payable from that special fund.