Belgium v German Federal Republic
| Date | 29 Abril 1960 |
| Court | Obsolete Court (Germany) |
(Wickstrom, President; Euler, Muls.)
Arbitration Procedure Competence Competence to review decisions of municipal or occupation organs Conditions of Under treaty establishing arbitral tribunal Arbitral Commission on Property, Rights and Interests in Germany.
The Facts (as stated by the Commission).By four decisions of February 20, 1958, the Bundesamt fr ussere Restitutionen [Federal Office for External Restitution] rejected the complainant's claims for compensation in respect of 15 river craft which were allegedly removed by duress from Belgium during the German occupation and brought to Germany.
The decisions having been served upon the complainant on February 22, 1958, the latter, by four pleadings submitted to the Commission on March 21, 1958, applied for the review of these decisions.
After an exchange of pleadings between the parties, the oral hearing took place on April 5, 1960.
At the opening of this hearing, the Commission decided to join the four cases and to decide them by one judgment. The parties were then heard.
The complainant moved that the Commission set aside the four decisions of the Bundesamt and order the defendant to pay to the complainant the value of the claimed craft of 6,738,285 DM.
The defendant moved that the application be rejected.
Held: that the applications for review of the decisions previously rendered in this case must be rejected. These decisions were and remained final. The complainant did not adduce any new evidence which could permit the said decisions to be set aside. Neither did it prove that it had a right to restitution of the craft in question.
The Commission said: In 1953, the complainant submitted to the British and American agencies in charge of restitution applications for compensation for the craft in question. Since these agencies did not refer the applications to the Bundesamt, the complainant filed applications for compensation directly with this agency, within the time-limit provided by Article 4, paragraph 3, second sentence, of Chapter Five of the Convention on the Settlement of Matters Arising out of the War and the Occupation. The applications filed with the Bundesamt were therefore admissible, and, consequently, this agency was authorised to deal with the said claims.
It is not contested that during the occupation of Belgium by the German forces, the craft...
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