II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1401

To provide for the adjudication of certain claims against Iraq, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 6 (legislative day, JUNE 30), 1993

Mr. PELL (by request) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To provide for the adjudication of certain claims against

Iraq, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iraq Claims Act of

5 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. ADJUDICATION OF CLAIMS.

7 (a) The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of

8 the United States (‘‘the Commission’’) is authorized to re9 ceive and determine the validity and amounts of any

10 claims referred to it by the Secretary of State with respect
2

S 1401 IS

1 to which the United States has received lump-sum pay2 ments from the United Nations Compensation Commis3 sion (‘‘the UNCC’’).

4 (b) The Commission is further authorized to receive

5 and determine the validity and amounts of any claims by

6 nationals of the United States against Iraq that are deter7 mined by the Secretary of State to be outside the jurisdic8 tion of the UNCC.

9 (c) In deciding such claims, the Commission shall

10 apply, in the following order—

11 (1) relevant decisions of the United Nations Se12 curity Council and the UNCC (in the case of claims

13 under subsection (a));

14 (2) applicable substantive law, including inter15 national law; and

16 (3) applicable principles of justice and equity.

17 (d) The Commission shall, to the extent practical, de18 cide all pending non-commercial claims of members of the

19 armed forces and other individuals arising out of Iraq’s

20 invasion and occupation of Kuwait before deciding any

21 other claim.

22 (e) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the pro23 visions of titles I and VII of the International Claims Set24 tlement Act of 1949 (22 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) shall apply

25 with respect to claims under this Act. Any reference in
3

S 1401 IS

1 such provisions to ‘‘this title’’ shall be deemed to refer to

2 those provisions and to this Act. Any reference in such

3 provisions to ‘‘section 703’’ shall be deemed to refer to

4 section 2(b) of this Act.

5 (f) In determining the amount of any claim adju6 dicated under this Act, the Commission shall deduct all

7 amounts the claimant has received from any source on ac8 count of the same loss or losses.

9 SEC. 3. CLAIMS FUNDS.

10 (a) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to

11 establish in the Treasury of the United States one or more

12 funds (‘‘the UNCC Claims Funds’’) for payment of claims

13 under section 2(a). The Secretary of the Treasury shall

14 cover into the UNCC Claims Funds such amounts as are

15 transferred to him by the Secretary of State pursuant to

16 subsection (e).

17 (b) The Secretary of the Treasury is further author18 ized to establish in the Treasury of the United States a

19 fund (‘‘the Iraq Claims Fund’’) for payment of claims

20 under section 2(b). The Secretary of the Treasury shall

21 cover into the Iraq Claims Fund such amounts as are allo22 cated by the President from assets of the Government of

23 Iraq liquidated pursuant to subsection (d).

24 (c) In accordance with section 8(g) of the Inter25 national Claims Settlement Act of 1949 (22 U.S.C.
4

S 1401 IS

1 1627(g)), the funds established pursuant to sections 3(a)

2 and 3(b) shall be invested in public debt securities and

3 shall bear interest at rates determined by the Secretary

4 of the Treasury taking into consideration the current aver5 age market yield on outstanding marketable obligations of

6 the United States of comparable maturity.

7 (d) The President is authorized to vest and liquidate

8 as much of the assets of the Government of Iraq in the

9 United States that have been blocked pursuant to the

10 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50

11 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) as may be necessary to satisfy claims

12 under section 2(b), as well as claims of the United States

13 Government against Iraq which are determined by the

14 Secretary of State to be outside the jurisdiction of the

15 UNCC. The President shall allocate these funds in the

16 manner he determines appropriate between the Iraq

17 Claims Fund and such other accounts as are appropriate

18 for the payment of claims of the United States Govern19 ment.

20 (e) The Secretary of State shall allocate funds re21 ceived by the United States from the UNCC in the manner

22 he determines appropriate between the UNCC Claims

23 Funds and funds established under the authority of sec24 tion 2668a of title 22 of the United States Code.
5

S 1401 IS

1 SEC. 4. PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

2 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec3 retary of the Treasury shall deduct an amount equal to

11 4 ⁄2 per centum from any amount covered into the claims

5 funds established under section 3, and from any amounts

6 the Secretary of State receives from the UNCC which are

7 not covered into a claims fund established under section

8 3 and not in payment of a claim of the United States Gov9 ernment, to reimburse the agencies of the Government of

10 the United States for their expenses in administering the

11 Iraq claims program and this Act. The Secretary of the

12 Treasury, in consultation with the Chairman of the For13 eign Claims Settlement Commission and the Secretary of

14 State, shall determine the proportional distribution of the

15 reimbursement set-aside, and shall advance for credit or

16 reimburse a department, agency, or instrumentality of the

17 Federal Government for its respective expenses in admin18 istering the Iraq claims program and this Act. Amounts

19 received by such department, agency or instrumentality

20 shall be credited or reimbursed to the appropriation ac21 count then current and shall remain available for expendi22 ture without fiscal year limitation.

23 SEC. 5. PAYMENTS.

24 (a) The Commission shall certify to the Secretary of

25 the Treasury each award made pursuant to section 2. The

26 Secretary of the Treasury shall make payment in the fol-
6

S 1401 IS

1 lowing order of priority out of the appropriate fund pro2 vided for in section 3—

3 (1) payment in the amount of $10,000 or the

4 principal amount of the award, whichever is less;

5 (2) when the Secretary of the Treasury has de6 termined that funds are available to pay each claim

7 having priority under section 2(d) an additional

8 $90,000, payment of a further $90,000 of the prin9 cipal of the awards that have priority under section

10 2(d);

11 (3) payments from time to time in ratable pro12 portions on account of the unpaid balance of the

13 principal amounts of all awards according to the

14 proportions which the unpaid balance of such

15 awards bear to the total amount in the appropriate

16 claims fund that is available for distribution at the

17 time such payments are made;

18 (4) after payment has been made of the prin19 cipal amounts of all such awards, pro rata payments

20 on account of accrued interest on such awards as

21 bear interest; and

22 (5) after payment has been made in full of all

23 the awards payable out of any of the claims funds

24 established by section 3, any funds remaining in that

25 claims fund shall be transferred to the other claims
7

S 1401 IS

1 fund created by that section, except any funds re2 ceived by the United States from the UNCC shall be

3 so transferred to the extent not inconsistent with

4 UNCC requirements.

5 (b) Payment of any award made pursuant to this Act

6 shall not extinguish any unsatisfied claim, or be construed

7 to have divested any claimant, or the United States on

8 his or her behalf, of any rights against the Government

9 of Iraq with respect to any unsatisfied claim.

10 SEC. 6. RECORDS.

11 (a) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of the

12 Treasury may transfer or otherwise make available to the

13 Commission such records and documents relating to

14 claims authorized by this Act as may be required by the

15 Commission in carrying out its functions under this Act.

16 (b) Notwithstanding section 552 of title 5 of the

17 United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom

18 of Information Act), records pertaining to claims before

19 the Commission and the UNCC may not be disclosed to

20 the general public, except that—

21 (1) decisions of the UNCC and filings of the

22 United States on its own behalf of the UNCC shall

23 be made available to the public, unless the Secretary

24 of State determines that public disclosure would be

25 prejudicial to the interests of the United States or
8

S 1401 IS

1 United States claimants, or that public disclosure

2 would be inconsistent with the procedures of the

3 UNCC;

4 (2) with respect to records of the Department

5 of State, the Secretary of State may determine on

6 a case-by-case basis to make such information avail7 able when in the judgment of the Secretary the in8 terests of justice so require;

9 (3) with respect to records of the Department

10 of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Treasury may

11 determine on a case-by-case basis to make such in12 formation available when in the judgment of the

13 Secretary the interests of justice so require; and

14 (4) with respect to records of the Commission,

15 the Chairman of the Commission may determine on

16 a case-by-case basis to make such information avail17 able when in the judgment of the Chairman the in18 terests of justice so require. Before releasing records

19 that originated with another Executive Branch agen20 cy (as defined in section 105 of title 5 of the United

21 States Code), the Commission shall obtain the con22 currence of the originating agency.

23 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.

24 If any provision of this Act or the application thereof

25 to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the
9

S 1401 IS

1 remainder of the Act or the application of such provision

2 to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected.

3 SEC. 8. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS; DISPOSITION OF UN4 PAID CERTIFIED CLAIMS.

5 (a) Nine years after the Secretary of the Treasury

6 last covers funds into the UNCC Claims Fund(s) or the

7 Iraq Claims Fund established under section 3 of this Act,

8 the Secretary of the Treasury shall publish a notice in the

9 Federal Register detailing this statute of limitations and

10 identifying the claim numbers and awardee names of un11 paid certified claims. Any demand or claim for payment

12 on account of an award certified under the Iraq claims

13 program shall be barred one year after the publication

14 date of the notice required by this subsection.

15 (b) Two years after the publication date of the notice

16 required by subsection (a), any unpaid certified claim

17 amount and any remaining balance in the UNCC Claims

18 Fund(s) or the Iraq Claims Fund established under sec19 tion 3 of this Act shall be deposited to the miscellaneous

20 receipts of the Treasury.

Æ