Decision ID: 001558

In May 2004 the 1971 Fund Administrative Council noted that the Republic of Venezuela had proposed that any claim by the Republic be dealt with only after the victims had been fully indemnified so that the Republic’s claims would ‘stand last in the queue’ and subject to there being any amount available for compensation from the 1971 Fund. The Council instructed the Director to seek the necessary assurance from the Republic of Venezuela as to whether its understanding of the term ‘standing last in the queue’ coincided with his, namely that the government in question undertook not to pursue or seek payment for its claim for compensation under the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and the 1971 Fund Convention, or under its national legislation implementing these Conventions, until all other admissible claims had been paid in full, either for the amount agreed in out-of-court settlement or decided by a competent court in a final judgement, or it was accepted by the Fund that all such claims had been paid in full. The Council authorised the Director to increase the level of payments to 100% of the established claims when he had received the necessary assurance from the Republic of Venezuela.