Foreign Claims (Romania) Settlement Regulations (SOR/72-90)

Short Title

1 These Regulations may be cited as the Foreign Claims (Romania) Settlement Regulations.

Interpretation

2 In these Regulations,

Agreement

Agreement means the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Romania concerning the Settlement of Outstanding Financial Problems, signed at Ottawa, July 13, 1971; (Accord)

Canadian citizen

Canadian citizen means a person

• (a) who is a Canadian citizen within the meaning of the Canadian Citizenship Act, or

• (b) who, before the coming into force of the Canadian Citizenship Act, was a canadian national by birth, naturalization or operation of law,

and includes a corporation incorporated under the laws of Canada; (citoyen canadien)

Chief Commissioner

Chief Commissioner means the Chief Commissioner of the Commission; (commissaire en chef)

claim

claim means a claim, other than a claim in respect of bonds forming part of the Romanian external public debt, by a Canadian citizen against the Government of the Socialist Republic of Romania or against Romanian natural and juridical persons in respect of

• (a) property, rights and interests affected by Romanian measures of nationalization, expropriation, taking under administration and any other similar legislative of administrative measures, which were effective before the coming into force of the Agreement, including financial and commercial debts incurred before the conclusion of the Trade Agreement between Canada and the Socialist Republic of Romania signed at Montreal, March 22, 1968 and affected by Romanian measures of the same nature, and

• (b) all claims deriving from the terms of the Treaty of Peace with Romania, signed at Paris, February 10, 1947; (réclamation)

Commission

Commission means the Foreign Claims Commission established by Order in Council P.C. 1970-2077 of December 8, 1970; (Commission)

Fund

Fund means the special account known as the Foreign Claims Fund established in the Consolidated Revenue Fund by the Minister of Finance pursuant to Vote 22a of Appropriation Act No. 9, 1966; (Caisse)

Minister

Minister means the Secretary of State for External Affairs; (Ministre)

United Nations national

United Nations national means a person who was on September 12, 1944 and September 19, 1947 a national of

• (a) a country that was one of the Allied an Associated Powers during World War II,

• (b) France, or

• (c) a country that was a member of the United Nations on September 19, 1947 and had broken off diplomatic relations with Romania during World War II,

and includes

• (d) a corporation or association that on those dates was a corporation or association incorporated or organized under the laws of one of those countries, and

• (e) and individual, corporation or association that under the laws in force in Romania during World War II was treated as enemy. (ressortissant des Nations Unies)

Notice of Claims

• 3 (1) Only claims of which notice was given on or before December 14, 1971 shall be considered by the Commission.

• (2) Every notice of a claim received by the Government of Canada on or before December 14, 1971 shall be referred to the Commission.

• (3) All documentary evidence and written representations on which a claimant intends to rely in establishing his claim shall be submitted to the Commission on or before March 31, 1975.

Eligibility of Claimant to Receive an Award

• 4 (1) In order to be eligible to receive an award in respect of a claim described in paragraph (a) of the definition “claim” in section 2, a claimant or his predecessor in title must have been a Canadian citizen from the time the claim arose until July 13, 1971.

• (2) In order to be eligible to receive an award in respect of a claim deriving from the terms of the Treaty of Peace with Romania, a claimant must have been a Canadian citizen on July 13, 1971 and he or his predecessor in title must have been a United Nations national from September 19, 1947 to July 13, 1971.

• (3) Where a claimant who gave notice of his claim before July 13, 1971 dies after that day, an award may be paid to any person lawfully entitled thereto irrespective of his nationality.

• 5 (1) Where a claimant has been paid or, in the opinion of the Commission, is likely to be paid any compensation in respect of his claim from any source other than the Fund, the Commission shall deduct the amount of that compensation from the amount of the award it recommends be paid to that claimant out of the Fund.

• (2) Where a claimant by reason of his own neglect or default has failed to receive, has forfeited his right to receive or has lost his eligibility to receive any compensation in respect of his claim from a source other than the Fund, he shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be deemed to have been paid that compensation.

• (3) The failure of a claimant who knew or ought to have known that, if he did not apply on or before a fixed date, he would forfeit his right to receive or lose his eligibility to receive any compensation in respect of his claim from a source other than the Fund shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection (2), to be neglect by that claimant.

Additional Amounts

6 The Chief Commissioner may, in addition to the amount of an award recommended by the Commission, recommend payment of an amount not exceeding

• (a) one-third of such award in lieu of accrued interest on the award; and

• (b) fifty dollars, or ten per cent of such award, whichever is the lesser, as reimbursement for expenses necessarily incurred in establishing the claim.

Report

• 7 (1) The Chief Commissioner shall report to the Minister and the Minister of Finance on each claim considered by the Commission, stating

  • (a) whether the claimant is eligible to receive and award;

  • (b) the amount of the award, if any, that, in the opinion of the Commission, should be made to the claimant; and

  • (c) the particular paragraph of the definition “claim” in section 2 under which the award is recommended.

• (2) The Chief Commissioner may make a report on any claim on the basis of the information then available to the Commission where, in his opinion, postponement of his report in respect of the claim would result in undue delay.

Payment from the Fund

• 8 (1) On receipt of a report from the Chief Commissioner, the Minister and the Minister of Finance shall determine

  • (a) the amount of any award recommended by the Commission that is to be paid out of the Fund in respect of a claim; and

  • (b) if the claimant is dead, the person, if any, to whom payment of the award is to made.

• (2) In computing the amount to be paid out of the Fund in respect of any claim, the Minister and the Minister of Finance shall deduct the amount of any compensation that has been paid, is likely to be paid or is deemed pursuant to section 5 to have been paid in respect of the claim that the Commission has not already deducted in recommending an award.

• (3) No right to an award is conferred by any recommendation made by the Chief Commissioner to the Minister and the Minister of Finance.

9 Awards in respect of claims described in

• (a) paragraph (a) of the definition “claim” in section 2 shall be paid out of that part of the Fund consisting of the first $250,000 received from the Romanian Government under Article I of the Agreement and credited to the Fund pursuant to paragraph (b) of Vote 22a of Appropriation Act No. 9, 1966 and the balance remaining in the Fund after payment of the amount described in section 9.1; and

• (b) paragraph (b) of the definition “claim” in section 2 shall be recommended for payment out of that part of the Treaty of Peace (Romania) Claims Fund described in section 5 of the Romania Claims Fund Regulations.

9.1 An amount equal to $1,150,000, in respect of the bonds held by the Government of Canada, referred to in Article I(b) of the Agreement, shall be paid to Her Majesty in right of Canada out of that part of the Fund referred to in paragraph 9(a) by crediting the said amount to general revenue.

• 10 (1) Where the moneys in that part of the fund described in paragraph 9(a) are insufficient to pay in full all awards that the Minister and the Minister of Finance determine may be paid out of that part,

  • (a) a payment shall be made in respect of each award equal to either the full amount thereof or one thousand dollars, whichever is the lesser; and

  • (b) the balance of awards not paid in full shall be paid on a pro rata basis from any moneys remaining in that part of the Fund.

• (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no payment of an amount recommended by the Chief Commissioner pursuant to section 6 shall be paid out of that part of the Fund described in paragraph 9(a) until the awards that may be paid out of that part of the Fund have been paid in full.

11 Awards may be paid in one or more instalments at such times as in the opinion of the Minister and the Minister of Finance may be warranted having regard to

• (a) the amounts available in the part of the Fund out of which awards of a similar kind may be paid; and

• (b) the possible amounts that may be awarded in respect of unpaid claims including those still before the Commission.

• 12 (1) The Commission shall certify to the Minister of Finance in respect of each claim where an award has been recommended that any documents of title or any other documents on which the recommendation has been based have been transmitted to the Minister for the purposes of Article VII of the Agreement.

• (2) Before making payment of an award, the Minister of Finance shall obtain a release in such form as he considers satisfactory in respect of the claim for which payment is to be made.

• (3) The Commission may recommend or the Minister of Finance may require that any claimant assign to Her Majesty in right of Canada his entitlement to compensation from a source other than the Fund or, if such entitlement cannot be validly assigned, sign an undertaking to do all things necessary to vest the amount of such compensation and his rights thereto in Her Majesty.

General

13 In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Chief Commissioner or if the office of the Chief Commissioner is vacant, the Deputy Chief Commissioner may perform all the duties and functions of the Chief Commissioner under these Regulations.

14 In the event of the absence, incapacity or disqualification of any two Commissioners, the remaining Commissioner may perform all the duties and functions of the Commission under these Regulations.