Restitution law to be implemented in 2008

The Law on Restitution will begin to be implemented at the beginning of next year. According to Finance Ministry Secretary Slobodan Ilic, the law is a large legal task that has to make up for decades of wrongs and at the same time, look not to create new injustice. Restitution law to be implemented in 2008 “The law is very sensitive and experiences of other countries show that it is not easy to adopt and is even harder to implement,” Ilic said, speaking at a roundtable discussion on privatizing construction property according to a draft of the law. “The total amount, which entail both one-time payments and the issuing of bonds, cannot go over EUR 4bn,” Ilic said, adding that damages incurred by the former owners of the property through the issuing of bonds could occur no sooner than two years after the adoption of the law. “With this law we want to increase the legal security and credibility of the country in order to become more attractive to both domestic and foreign investors,” he said. Officials of the League for the Protection of Private Property said that restitution is not acceptable only for tycoons who buy cheap property or rent out construction and agricultural land. The League stated that it is happy that the necessary parliament majority to adopt the law has finally been found, and that after six decades, they can expect to get their property back or at least the money in bonds. According to earlier data, about 35 percent of registered property that needs to be returned was taken through the post WW2 nationalization, 18.5 percent was confiscated, and 13.9 was taken away through agricultural reforms, while 12.4 percent was expropriated. Citizens have filed over 4,000 demands for the return of mobile assets as well, mostly animals, small inventory, money, weapons and vehicles. Demands for restitution have been coming in from abroad as well, including two from Albania, 15 from Argentina, seven from Australia, 155 from Montenegro and one from Sweden.

Restitution law to be implemented in 2008

“The law is very sensitive and experiences of other countries show that it is not easy to adopt and is even harder to implement,” Ilić said, speaking at a roundtable discussion on privatizing construction property according to a draft of the law.

“The total amount, which entail both one-time payments and the issuing of bonds, cannot go over EUR 4bn,” Ilić said, adding that damages incurred by the former owners of the property through the issuing of bonds could occur no sooner than two years after the adoption of the law.

“With this law we want to increase the legal security and credibility of the country in order to become more attractive to both domestic and foreign investors,” he said.

Officials of the League for the Protection of Private Property said that restitution is not acceptable only for tycoons who buy cheap property or rent out construction and agricultural land.

The League stated that it is happy that the necessary parliament majority to adopt the law has finally been found, and that after six decades, they can expect to get their property back or at least the money in bonds.

According to earlier data, about 35 percent of registered property that needs to be returned was taken through the post WW2 nationalization, 18.5 percent was confiscated, and 13.9 was taken away through agricultural reforms, while 12.4 percent was expropriated.

Citizens have filed over 4,000 demands for the return of mobile assets as well, mostly animals, small inventory, money, weapons and vehicles.

Demands for restitution have been coming in from abroad as well, including two from Albania, 15 from Argentina, seven from Australia, 155 from Montenegro and one from Sweden.