The Government of Romania extends the deadline
for submission of notifications for property restitution

Following the recent visit in the United States of Mr. Adrian Nastase, Prime Minister of Romania and the contacts he had with members of the Romanian-American and Jewish-American organizations, and willing to respond to their concerns in respect with the restitution of properties that were confiscated by the communist regime between 1945-1989, the Government of Romania has approved, on November 9, 2001 the extension of the term for filing the notifications to one full year since enactment of Law no.10/2001. The new term is 14 February 2002.

The registration for restitution can be done as simply as filing a notification with the Romanian competent authority. The notification has to include the following mandatory information:

	identification of claimant (first and last name, date of birth, address and ID number)
	identification of the legal person that currently possess the property (usually, this would be the Office of the Mayor at the place where the property is located)
	identification of the claimed property (for land: address, surface in square meters, neighbors; for constructions: address, characteristics, number of rooms or dependencies)
	the estimated value of the property, specified in Romanian currency (lei)

The Embassy of Romania in Washington, DC has made available a suggested notification form. This form can be downloaded from our web site (www.roembus.org).

According to the Law, the notification has to be registered to the local court executor, at the place where the property is located. The executor will communicate the notification to the Mayor’s Office or the legal person currently possessing the property.

After filing the notification the claimants will submit the original documentation that proves their ownership over the property that is being claimed. Inheritors and legal successors will submit original documents attesting their quality. All additional documentation must be submitted to the Mayor’s Office no longer than February 14, 2003.

The procedure for restitution of properties involves administrative and legal operations. Due to these circumstances we strongly recommend that claimants seek professional assistance from Romanian attorneys, in conformity with the practice of all states where the legal systems are based on the principle of equal protection and free access to justice. This is the more so important as failing to act properly and rigorously or misusing the legal course of action may cause the inconvenience of not being able to recover the property.

The Embassy of Romania, according to its mandate, will make available information pertaining to property restitution, contact information of Romanian attorneys or any other information that may support claimants in pursuing their legal actions.

The point of contact at the Embassy is Mr. Cristian Gaginsky, Consul. He can be reached at phone: 202-332-4851/ext118, fax: 202-232-4748, or email: cgaginsky@roembus.org

The website of the Embassy of Romania in the United States includes an English Handbook on the restitution of property, as well as a suggested form for notification. We will provide shortly a list of law firms in Romania who could be of assistance in pursuing all administrative and legal operations for the restitution.

We extend our thanks to all Romanian-American, Jewish-American and Hungarian-American organizations and newspapers that kindly accepted to disseminate information on the application of Romanian law on property restitution.