Decisión nº: 000877

In April 1998 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee decided that it was necessary for the 1971 Fund to take measures to protect its right to take recovery action against the Spanish State unless the disagreement between the Spanish State and the Fund as to the distribution of liability were solved out of court. For this reason the Director was instructed to seek to obtain, well in advance of 18 June 1998 (ie within one year of the date of the judgement by the Court of Appeal), a binding commitment by the Spanish Government to the effect that, if the Fund were to bring an action against the Spanish State, the Spanish State would not invoke the time bar. The Committee emphasised that such an agreement would have to be signed by somebody who, under Spanish constitutional law, would have the capacity of binding the State in this regard. The Committee further instructed the Director that, should such a commitment not be given by the Government, the Fund should take recovery action against the Spanish State by 18 June 1998 in order to preserve the Fund’s rights, pending a solution of the above disagreement between the State and the Fund.