
PART I
1 
This Order may be cited as the Foreign Compensation (Czechoslovakia) Order 1982 and shall come into operation on 1st September 1982.
2 
In this Order:—
 “Bond” means a bond or other document of title in respect of a loan or obligation issued or guaranteed before 1st June 1953 by the Czechoslovak Government or by any other public authority in Czechoslovakia.
 “Czechoslovak measure” means any measure of nationalisation, expropriation, confiscation, dispossession, liquidation, state administration or other restrictive measure affecting property taken by the Czechoslovak Government, or any measure taken by the Czechoslovak Government under which a person was deprived of the legal right to recover a debt; and for this purpose any such measure promulgated in the form of a Slovak Decree or law shall be treated as having been taken by the Czechoslovak Government.
 “Debt” means a sum due or owing, or a claim for unliquidated damages, or a sum deposited in a bank in Czechoslovakia but not transferred, in respect of:— 
(a) a contract for the sale of goods whether executed or not or a bill of exchange given for the discharge of obligations under any such contract,
(b) the servicing, preservation, transport, insuring or advertising of goods, whether or not the goods are the subject of any such contract as aforesaid,
(c) an agency contract, other than one relating to a contract of insurance or to a treaty or contract of reinsurance,
(d) a contract for the payment of royalties or for the manufacture of goods under licence,
(e) training, professional or agency charges or disbursements,
(f) a contract of insurance (including life and endowment assurance but not including a treaty or contract of reinsurance) concluded with an insurance company incorporated or constituted in Czechoslovakia,
(g) shipping or transport services,
(h) an advance, loan, acceptance credit, or other similar facility, or
(i) a judgment debt.
 “Internal Bond” means a bond denominated in Czechoslovak currency.
 “Material time” means any time or date at which it is material for the purposes of this Order to determine whether or not a person is a United Kingdom national.
 “Predecessor in title” means any person from whom, whether directly or indirectly, a person making application under this Order (including a trustee) has succeeded, whether by assignment or otherwise, to the property or claim to which the application relates.
 “Property” includes all rights or interests of any kind in property, and, except where the context otherwise requires, a balance in a bank, a pension (including contributions towards a pension) and (but only as defined in this Article of the Order) a bond, a share and a debt.
 “Relevant date” means the date of publication of the Czechoslovak measure by or under which the property or the debt to which the claim relates was affected, or, if such measure was first applied to the property or the debt on a date other than the date of publication of the measure, the date on which the applicant, or his predecessor in title, was deprived of title to or enjoyment of the property, or of the legal right to recover the debt.
 “Rules of the Commission” means rules made by the Commission with the approval of the Lord Chancellor under section 4(2) of the Foreign Compensation Act 1950 regulating the procedure of the Commission in determining applications made under this Order.
 “Share” includes stock, a debenture, debenture stock and any funded obligation of a corporation.
 “Trustee” includes a personal representative of a deceased person or a nominee; and “beneficiary” shall have a corresponding meaning.
 “United Kingdom national” means:— 
(a) any individual who was at the material time, or who as regards any material time prior to 1st January 1949 would have been had the British Nationality Act 1948 and the British Protectorates, Protected States and Protected Persons Order in Council 1949 been in force at that time, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies, a British subject by virtue of section 2, 13 or 16 of that Act or the British Nationality Act 1965, or a British protected person within the meaning of the said Act of 1948;
provided that:–
(i) as regards any material time prior to 16th May 1948, the expression “British protected person” shall be deemed to include a person who was at that time a Palestinian citizen under the Palestinian Citizenship Orders 1925 to 1942; and
(ii) any individual who was a British subject at any time before the date of the commencement of the said Act of 1948 only by virtue of the provisions of the Act of 1705,  intituled “An
Act for the Naturalization of the Most Excellent Princess Sophia Electress
and Duchess Dowager of Hanover and the Issue of Her Body”, shall be
deemed not to be a United Kingdom national;
(b) any corporation, firm or association
incorporated or constituted under the laws in force in the United Kingdom
or in any territory for whose international relations Her Majesty's Government
in the United Kingdom were, at the material time, responsible;
(c) any individual who as regards
any material time after 31st December 1949 and prior to 18th April 1980 was
a citizen of Southern Rhodesia or a citizen of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and
any individual who as regards any material time after 31st October 1957 and
prior to 17th September 1963 was a citizen of Singapore;
(d) Her Majesty's Government in
the United Kingdom and the Government of any territory for the international
relations of which Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom were, at
the material time, responsible.
PART II
3 
The Commission
shall pay into a fund to be called the Czechoslovakia Compensation Fund (hereinafter
referred to as “the Fund”)
all such sums as may be paid to them by Her Majesty's Government, being sums
received under the Agreement and any income arising therefrom.
4 

(1) Any sums standing to the credit of the
Fund may be temporarily invested by the Commission in such manner as the Treasury
may authorise.
(2) All interest, dividends and other sums
received by the Commission as a result of any investment made by them of any
sum standing to the credit of the Fund shall be paid into the Fund.
5 
When it appears to the Secretary of
State that all payments to be made into the Fund have been made and that all
payments which it is practicable to make out of the Fund have been made, he
may direct that the Fund shall be wound up and that any sum remaining therein
shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
PART III
6 

(1) An application shall not be entertained by the Commission for the purposes of this Order unless it has reached the Commission on or before 31st August 1983.
(2) An application shall not be entertained by the Commission for the purposes of this Order unless it is made in accordance with the Rules of the Commission.
7 

(1) The Commission shall not entertain an application for the purposes of this Order if that application is in respect of:—
(a) any claim in respect of which a payment was made by the Commission under the Foreign Compensation (Czechoslovakia) Order in Council 1950 as amended; or
(b) except as provided in Article 19 of this Order, any claim in respect of a bond denominated in any currency other than Czechoslovak currency; or
(c) any claim in respect of the six per cent
First Mortgage Debentures of the SKODA WORKS (limited company formerly the
Skoda Works, Plzen).
(2) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby
declared that, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 17 of this Order, the Commission shall
not entertain an application for the purposes of this Order, if that application
is in respect of any claim in respect of any property beneficially owned by
a corporation incorporated or constituted under the laws in force in a country
or territory other than the United Kingdom or any territory for whose international
relations Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom were, at the material
time, responsible, whether or not any of the shareholders in that corporation,
or a majority of them, are United Kingdom nationals, and whether or not that
corporation is controlled, directly or indirectly, by United Kingdom nationals.
8 
Each application made under this Order
shall be determined by not less than two members of the Commission, provided
that:—
(a) if the aggregate of all amounts claimed
by an applicant under this Order does not exceed £10,000, the provisional
determination of the application may be made by one member of the Commission;
(b) notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this Article, no claim shall
be dismissed except upon determination by not less than two members of the
Commission.
9 
Subject to the provisions of this Order,
the Commission shall assess the amount of loss with respect to each claim
established under this Order as may seem just and equitable to them having
regard to all the circumstances, and shall dismiss each claim which is not
so established.
10 
In assessing the amount of loss with
respect to any claim established under this Order the Commission shall have
regard to any compensation, recoupment or payment in respect of that loss
from any source other than the Fund that the person making the application
or his predecessor in title or any trustee for such person or predecessor
in title or, if the person making the application is a trustee, any beneficiary
or any predecessor in title of any beneficiary (i) has received or (ii) may,
if he exercises diligence, be reasonably expected to receive or (iii) might,
if he had exercised diligence, reasonably have been expected to receive.
11 

(1) Where any amount which is material to
the determination of an application under this Order is expressed in a unit
of foreign currency, the value in sterling of that amount shall be determined:—
(a) in the case of a debt or obligation expressed
in a foreign currency where the sum is due or payable under a contract in
which provision is made for a specified rate of exchange, at the rate of exchange
so specified;
(b) subject to subparagraph (a),
(i) in case of loss assessed under subparagraph (a) or (c) of Article
20, at the rate of exchange obtaining on 1st
November 1945;
(ii) in case of loss assessed under subparagraph (f) of Article 20, at the rate
of exchange obtaining on 19th October 1945;
(iii) in case of loss assessed with respect
to a debt or obligation created on or after 1st June 1953, at the rate of
exchange obtaining on the relevant date;
(iv) in case of loss assessed with respect
to any other claim established under this Order (other than under subparagraph (d) of Article 20), at the rate
of exchange obtaining on the relevant date or 31st May 1953, whichever is
the earlier.
(2) For the purposes of this Article the
rate of exchange between foreign currency and sterling on any of the said
dates shall be deemed to be the middle rate for telegraphic transfers ruling
in the London market on that date or, if there was no such rate, such rate
as the Treasury may determine.
12 
If any transfer of property to which
a claim relates was effected in a part of Czechoslovakia under Hungarian occupation
between 6th November 1938 and 9th May 1945, or under German occupation between
1st October 1938 and 9th May 1945, that transfer shall be deemed, for the
purposes of this Order, to have been null and void if it was effected under
fraud or duress or without the consent of the person to whom the property
belonged at the date of such transfer.
PART IV
13 
No application may be made under this Part of the Order in respect
of a pension or contributions towards a pension.
14 

(1) The following persons shall be qualified
to make application to the Commission for the purpose of establishing claims
under this Part of the Order:—
(a) Her Majesty's Government in the United
Kingdom and the Government of any territory for the international relations
of which Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom were, on 2nd February
1982, responsible;
(b) any person who was a United Kingdom national
on 2nd February 1982;
(c) any person who on or after 2nd February
1982 has succeeded to the claim of any person qualified under sub-paragraph (b) above; and
(d) a trustee for any person qualified under sub-paragraph (b) or (c)
above.
(2) An application under this Part of the
Order may be made by a trustee qualified under paragraph (1) of this Article or by a beneficiary
so qualified.An application by a trustee shall, however, be entertained by the
Commission only in so far as the beneficial interest in the property or in
the claim to which the application relates was, at the material times, owned
by a United Kingdom national.
(3) If application under this Part of the
Order is made by a trustee and by a beneficiary in relation to the same claim,
and both the trustee and the beneficiary are qualified under paragraph (1) of this Article, the Commission
may entertain the application made by the trustee in preference to that made
by the beneficiary, or entertain the application made by the beneficiary in
preference to that made by the trustee. The Commission shall dismiss the application
by the trustee or by the beneficiary, as the case may be, which it has decided
not to entertain.
15 

(1) To establish a claim under this Part
of the Order in respect of any property (other than a debt, a balance in a
bank, a share, an internal bond or a bond of the issue mentioned in Article 19 of this Order), any person making
application to the Commission shall be required to establish to the satisfaction
of the Commission:—
(a) that he is a person qualified under Article 14 of this Order to make such application;
(b) that the property to which his application
relates was British at the relevant date; and
(c) that by or under any Czechoslovak measure
he or his predecessor in title (or, if he is a trustee, the person for whom
he is a trustee or the predecessor in title of such person) has before 2nd
February 1982 been deprived of title to or enjoyment of the property, and
has suffered loss thereby.
(2) Property shall be deemed to be British
property to the extent that it was beneficially owned by a United Kingdom
national.
16 

(1) To establish a claim under this Part
of the Order in respect of a debt or a balance in a bank, any person making
application to the Commission shall be required to establish to the satisfaction
of the Commission:—
(a) that he is a person qualified under Article 14 of this Order to make such application;
(b) that his application relates, either
(i) to a debt which is unpaid and which on
1st November 1945 was outstanding from the Czechoslovak Government, a public
authority in Czechoslovakia or a person, corporation, firm or association
(other than a United Kingdom national) resident in Czechoslovakia to:—(A) a United Kingdom national, or(B) a person, corporation, firm or association
(other than a United Kingdom national) who or which at any time between 3rd
September 1939 and 1st November 1945 was resident or carrying on business
in the United Kingdom; or
(ii) to a debt which is unpaid, where he
or his predecessor in title (or, if he is a trustee, the person for whom he
is a trustee or the predecessor in title of such person) has been deprived
of the legal right to recover the debt by or under a Czechoslovak measure
and was a United Kingdom national at the relevant date; or
(iii) to a balance in a bank in Czechoslovakia
which is still outstanding and which was held on 1st November 1945 by:—(A) a United Kingdom national, or(B) a person, corporation, firm or association
(other than a United Kingdom national) who or which at any time between 3rd
September 1939 and 1st November 1945 was resident or carrying on business
in the United Kingdom; or
(iv) to a balance at a bank in Czechoslovakia
which is still outstanding and which was held on 1st June 1953 by a United
Kingdom national and was affected by the Czechoslovak Monetary Reform Law,
No. 41, of that date; and
(c) that he or his trustee is the person
to whom the debt or the outstanding balance is owing.
(2) For the purposes of Article 10 of this Order, the Commission shall
assume that debts falling within paragraph (1)(b)(i) above and balances falling within paragraph (1)(b)(iii) above were irrecoverable
on and after 1st November 1945.
(3) Where an application could fall within
more than one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph
(1)(b) above, the person making application
to the Commission shall be required to choose under which sub-paragraph his
application shall be treated as falling.
17 
To establish a claim under this Part of the Order in respect of
a share, any person making application to the Commission shall be required
to establish to the satisfaction of the Commission:—
(a) that he is a person qualified under Article 14 of this Order to make such application;
(b) that he, or if he is a trustee the person
for whom he is a trustee, is, or would have been but for any Czechoslovak
measure, the beneficial owner of the share;
(c) that the share was, or would but for
a Czechoslovak measure have been, beneficially owned on the relevant date
by a United Kingdom national;
(d) that the corporation to which the share
related was incorporated or constituted under the laws in force in Czechoslovakia;
and
(e) that he or his predecessor in title (or,
if he is a trustee, the person for whom he is trustee or the predecessor in
title of such person) has suffered loss in respect of the share as a result
of the application of a Czechoslovak measure to the share or to the corporation
or any of its assets.
18 
To establish a claim under this Part of the Order in respect of
an internal bond, any person making application to the Commission shall be
required to establish to the satisfaction of the Commission:—
(a) that he is a person qualified under Article 14 of the Order to make such application;
(b) that he, or if he is a trustee, the person for whom he is a trustee is, or would but for any Czechoslovak measure have been, the beneficial owner of the bond;
(c) that the bond was, or would but for a Czechoslovak measure have been, beneficially owned by a United Kingdom national on 2nd February 1982;
(d) that the whole or part of the loan or obligation to which the bond relates has not been repaid or discharged.
19 
To establish a claim under this Part of the Order in respect of the unredeemed portion of any bond of the issue known as the “Austrian Government Guaranteed Conversion Loan 1934/59, 4½% Guaranteed Sterling Bonds” (also known as the “Austrian Government 4½% Guaranteed Sterling Bonds 1934/59”), any person making application to the Commission shall be required to establish to the satisfaction of the Commission:— 
(a) that he is a person qualified under Article 14 of the Order to make such application;
(b) that he, or if he is a trustee, the person for whom he is a trustee, is, or would but for a Czechoslovak measure have been, the beneficial owner of the bond;
(c) that the bond was, or would but for a Czechoslovak measure have been, beneficially owned by a United Kingdom national on 2nd February 1982.
20 
The Commission shall assess the amount of loss with respect to each claim established under this Part of the Order and, for this purpose,
(a) the value of a debt of the kind mentioned
in Article 16(1)(b)(i)
shall be taken to be the principal amount outstanding on 1st November 1945;
(b) the value of a debt of the kind mentioned
in Article 16(1)(b)(ii)
shall be taken to be the principal amount outstanding on the relevant date;
(c) the value of a balance in a bank of the
kind mentioned in Article 16(1)(b)(iii)
shall be taken to be the amount outstanding on 1st November 1945, but account
shall be taken of any withdrawals by or on the order of the holder from the
bank account after that date;
(d) the amount of the loss with respect to
a balance in a bank of the kind mentioned in Article 16(1)(b)(iv) shall be taken to be the
amount by which the value in terms of the pound sterling of the balance was
reduced by virtue of the Czechoslovak Monetary Reform Law, No. 41, of 1st
June 1953:provided that the Commission shall take into account as
reducing the loss any amount by which the value in terms of the pound sterling
of any other balance held by the person making application to the Commission,
or if he is a trustee the person for whom he is a trustee, or the predecessor
in title of any such person, was increased by virtue of the said Monetary
Reform Law;
(e) if, in the case of a claim falling within Article 16 or Article 17
of this Order, the contract expressly provided for the payment of interest,
the amount of loss with respect to that claim shall be deemed to be the principal
amount outstanding on the relevant date or on the date specified in one of
the preceding subparagraphs of this Article, as the case may be, multiplied
by such factor as the Secretary of State may, after consultation with the
Treasury, determine;
(f) the value of an internal bond (in respect
of both capital and interest) shall be deemed to be the nominal capital value
of the bond multiplied by the factor of 2;
(g) the amount of loss with respect to a
claim established under Article 19
of this Order shall be the value of that part of the capital of or interest
on the bond, which has not been discharged or repaid, and whose discharge
or repayment was guaranteed by the Czechoslovak Government.
PART V
21 
To establish a claim under this Part
of the Order, any person making application to the Commission shall be required
to establish to the satisfaction of the Commission:—
(a) that he was a United Kingdom national
on 2nd February 1982;
(b) that his application relates to a pension,
or to the contributions made by him towards a pension, which is or would be
payable to him by the Czechoslovak Government or any other public authority
in Czechoslovakia, or by a person, corporation, firm or association (other
than a United Kingdom national) resident in Czechoslovakia;
(c) that, at a time when he was a United
Kingdom national, or as a result of his becoming a United Kingdom national,
the payment to him of the pension was stopped, or his future rights to receive
payment of the pension were taken away, otherwise than in accordance with
the rules governing the payment of the pension (disregarding for this purpose
any change in those rules effected by a Czechoslovak measure or as a consequence,
whether direct or indirect, of the application to any other property of a
Czechoslovak measure); and
(d) that he is the person to whom the pension
is or would be payable.
PART VI
22 

(1) The Commission shall make payments out
of the Fund to every person who has established a claim under this Order and
who applies to the Commission for payment.
(2) If any person who has established a claim
under this Order shall have died before the amounts payable to him under Articles 23 and 24
of the Order have been paid to him, such payments or the balance thereof shall
be made to his personal representatives if they apply to the Commission for
payment, provided that, if the Commission are satisfied that no grant of administration
of his estate has been made in the United Kingdom and that the assets of his
estate (including the amount payable under this Order) do not exceed £1,500
in value, the Commission may, at their discretion and subject to such conditions
as the Commission think proper, make such payment either to any person who
has taken out administration in any other part of the Commonwealth, or to
the person who shall appear to the Commission to be the person who, being
a widower, widow, child, father, mother, brother or sister of the deceased
person, would, under the law of England, have the prior right to a grant of
administration of the estate of the deceased person if such deceased person
had died intestate domiciled in England.
(3) If any person whose claim has been established
under this Order is a minor at the date when the amounts payable to him under Articles 23 and 24
of this Order are due to be paid, the Commission may make payment thereof
into the Supreme Court, or, if the amount thereof does not exceed £5,000,
into the County Court for the district in which the minor resides, under the
provisions of the Trustee Act
1925, or, if the amount does not exceed £50,
may place the same on deposit in the name of the Commission in any bank for
such time as the person remains a minor.
(4) The reference in paragraph (1) of this Article to a person who
has established a claim under this Order includes a reference to any person
who has become entitled to the amounts payable, or any part of them, in consequence
of any assignment or transfer of the benefit thereof and who produces such
evidence of his title as may be reasonably required by the Commission.
23 

(1) The payment in respect of each claim
established under this Order shall be a fraction of the distributable amount
of the Fund equal to the proportion which the assessed amount of the claim
bears to the total of the amounts assessed with respect to all claims established
under this Order:provided that no such payment in respect of any claim
shall exceed the amount of the loss with respect to that claim as assessed
by the Commission under this Order.
(2) The distributable amount shall be the
total of all sums paid into the Fund, after the deduction of any payments
made therefrom into the Consolidated Fund in accordance with any Order in
Council made under section 7(2)
of the Foreign Compensation Act 1950
as originally enacted and as applied by section 3(3) of the Foreign Compensation
Act 1962.
24 

(1) Whether or not all claims under this
Order against the Fund have been finally determined, the Commission may, at
such time or times as they may decide, make from the Fund interim payments
to any of the persons who have established claims under the Order.
(2) Interim payments made under the provisions
of this Article shall be made:—
(a) on account of payments to be made in
accordance with Article 23
of this Order, and
(b) at a uniform rate upon the assessed amount
of the claim. The uniform rate of payment shall be determined by the Commission;
for this purpose the Commission shall estimate the total liability likely
to fall upon the Fund.
(3) For the purposes of the present Article:—
(a) a claim shall be deemed to be established
under this Order even though the determination thereof may be provisional
and subject to review under the Rules of the Commission;
(b) the assessed amount of the claim shall
be deemed to be the amount so provisionally determined subject to review unless
before the date of payment the Commission shall have made a final determination
on review.
25 

(1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article, the Commission
shall, as a condition of the making of any payment to any person under this
Order, require him to surrender to the Commission all available documents
of title, if any, relating exclusively to the claim to which the payment relates
and shall require him to sign and deliver to the Commission a document in
such form as the Commission may determine declaring that he renounces all
those claims which he has established under the Order.
(2) If the person for whose benefit a payment is to be made is a minor, the Commission shall, as a condition of the making of any payment into Court or placing the same on deposit under paragraph (3) of Article 22 of this Order, require the person who, in accordance with the Rules of the Commission, has made an application for payment on the minor's behalf to surrender to the Commission the documents of title, if any, under his control relating exclusively to the claim and to sign and deliver to the Commission a document in such form as the Commission may determine declaring that the minor renounces all claims to which the payment relates; and the document so signed shall operate as a valid surrender by the minor of all such claims.
(3) All documents which are delivered to the Commission under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article shall remain in their custody until the Fund is wound up and the Commission shall then deliver them to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
N.E. Leigh
Clerk of the Privy Council
