Specific priority criteria

Applications submitted by the following groups of individuals are examined by the Commission as a matter of absolute priority:

• The seriously ill,
• Direct victims,
• Those over the age of 75,
• Those in a position of great financial insecurity.

Processing time frames

These can vary from one case file to another and will depend upon the level of priority, the type of research carried out within the archive departments concerned, and the nature of the spoliation. It is difficult, therefore, to provide an accurate time frame.

• In the case of material spoliations, however, the majority of cases are processed in under two years.

• In the specific case of bank-related claims, the processing time frame is between one and six months. Bank-related claims are processed in accordance with the priority criteria set out in the Washington Agreement, while observing the deadlines for the examination of material claims, from which they are sometimes inseparable.

Payment

The CIVS is not responsible for paying the compensation due.

The Commission is an independent administrative body that makes recommendations. It is for the Prime Minister’s office to accept the recommendation, to approve the ruling and to order that the recommended amount of compensation be paid.

• When the Commission formulates a recommendation for compensation for which the State is responsible, this recommendation is forwarded to the Prime Minister’s office:

Cellule Indemnisation
Direction des services administratifs et financiers
18, rue Vaneau 75007 PARIS
Tel. : +33 (0)1 42 75 88 00

The agents operating within this unit will contact you to obtain any documents that may be required for the purposes of making the payment.

Payment of the compensation is executed by the Office National des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre (‘National Office for Former Soldiers and Victims of War’):

Monsieur l’agent comptable de l’Office National des Anciens Combattants et victimes de guerre
Agence comptable principale (Indemnisations)
Hôtel national des invalides - escalier K, corridor de Metz
75700 PARIS 07 SP
Tel: +33(0)1 44 42 35 27

It takes an average of six to eight months to process payment once the recommendation has been received.

Once the compensation proposal has been submitted for the attention of other bodies (Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), insurance companies, etc.), the latter will determine the corresponding terms of payment in accordance with the relevant conventions.

• The State is likely to be responsible for any bank-related compensation recommended by the Commission in the case of business accounts under provisional administration or safe-deposit boxes opened by the Occupant and/or the ‘banks’ in the case of personal accounts. With regard to this latter point, two separate funds have been created and are provided by the banks to accounts opened at the CDC. The Commission submits its recommendation to the FSJU, which issues the order for the CDC to pay the compensation into the beneficiary’s account within one month.

For more information, please see Questions/Answers