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On July 9, 2010, the President of Romania promulgated the Law approving Government Emergency Ordinance no. 81/2007 for the acceleration of the procedures for the award of compensation to the victims of abusive property confiscations by the Romanian communist regime (“GEO 81”).
As described in the May 2010 issue of The Romanian Digest, the amendments to GEO 81 approved by this law are required for the speedy listing of Fondul Proprietatea with the Bucharest Stock Exchange. For further details, please visit our Digest Archive at http://www.hr.ro/digest/201005/digest.htm.
It took three years since the adoption of GEO 81 and nine years since Law 10/2001 was enacted to get us to this point, but the listing of the Property Fund with the Bucharest Stock Exchange finally appears at hand -- along with a measure of real justice for the people whose properties were stolen by the communist regime.
Cash Payment Restitution Option Suspended
On July 1, 2010, the Romanian Government enacted Emergency Ordinance No. 62/2010 (“GEO 62”) which, among other things, suspends the implementation of certain provisions of Law 247/2005 for a period of two years, i.e. until July the 1st, 2012. Consequently, persons who receive restitution titles will no longer have the option to choose between a limited cash payment or the conversion of all of their restitution titles into shares in the Property Fund. The issuance of such payment titles (which leads to the receipt of the money) is consequently suspended for two years pursuant to GEO 62. Persons who already opted for cash, but their payment titles have not yet been issued, can still choose to receive shares in the Property Fund or, if not, they will receive the cash option only after the expiration of this two-year period. This action was taken as an austerity measure by the Government during the current financial crisis.
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