Monetary Gold Removed from Rome in 1943 (Italy v. France, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America) - The Italian Government files an Application instituting p

The followxii gnformatio rom the Registn of the International Court;
of Justice has been communicate o the Press:

On May I$th, 1953, His Excellency the Italian Minister at The Hague, on
behalf of his Government, handad to the Registrar of the International Court
of Justice a Declaration accepting the jurisdictio nf the Court Fn accordance

with the Resolutioo nf the Security Council of Qctober lTLh,. 1946,
Jurisdiction was accepted in respect of the Zisputes referred to under {b) of
the Statment to accompany publication of the Agreement between the Gwernments
of France, the hited Kingdom and the United States of America for the
submission to ar~arbitrator of certain claims with pespect to goldlooted by
the Germans from Rome, dr-am up by the said Govements inWashington on
April 25th,1951, and, at the sme time, the Italian Gaverment Piled in the
Registry ul Application instituting proceedlngs in the International. Courtof
Justice against the Governments of France,the United Kingdom and the United
States of herica with regard to monetary gold removed from Romein 13U.

liccording .tothe Applicationt, he facts are as follows, In 1943 the
ki-mans seized aome 2,338 kilograrns of rnonetâry gold in Rome,d-dch was the
property of the National Bsnk of filbuiia, and transferred it to Germany.
a Final Ac&of the ParisConf erence on Reparatian, signed in 19.46 by 18
States, including the United States of herica, Frence, the United Kingdom
and Albania, and to which Italy subsequently adhsred, provid-es thatmonetary
goldfound in Cermany should be pooled for distribution ainrongthe corntries
entitled to participate in the pool, in proportion to their respective
losses of gold as the resultof laothg by Gemny. The United States,
Frznce and the United Kingdom were responsï~le for this distribution, h
respect of the goldremovedfron Rome in 1943, they rere conf ronted with
competing claims by Albania and Italy. Theg therefore requested the opinion

of an arbitrator who, in February, 1953, declared that the gald belonged to
I:lb&a.

The three Cavernments had agreed thrit in the event of such a finding
they would dellver the gold to the United Kingdom in partial satisfaction of
the Judgrnent given by the Coiart in 1949 in the Carfu Cliznnel case, In wtiich
Albanka had been condomed to pay some £8&3,000 to the United Kingdom as
compensation due as the result of the explosion qf mires in the Corfu Channel
in 19.46. It was, however, agreed that tlbania could, within 90 dus after
the communicatio of the arbitratorts opinion, applyto the Court for the
deteridnation of the question whether such delivery to the United Kingdom

was proper; or that Italy could apply to the Court for the detemination of
the question whether the gold should not be delivered to Italy rather than
te the United Kingdom.

This is the abject of the Application filed by Italy in the Registry
on Mpy 19th. The Itazian Governent requests the Court to declarethatthe
gold ehould. ba del5vered to Tt, in particular, on the ground that the gold
was .the property of the National Bmk of Albania which had been established
with Italian capital in accordance with the terms of a Convention concludsd
in 1925 between the L~lbanim Gwement and an Italim fhancial Group,
This Convention, whichwss promulgated as a Law of the &banian State, also
prmided for a loan to the Alb,mim Government for the carrying eut of
public works, under wkich some 62,000,000 gold francs were made available
This Convention was abrogated by Glbania in 19b5 and
forthis mmpose.
the rights of the Nationi.3 Bank of lflbuiiathersunder' ,and a11 its asaets,
were confis cated without indernnitg, :ifurbherconsequenceof the AlbaniaI
action was the abrogation of that State'ç obligation to mke repayment of
the loan, under which the liability amounted in 1945 - in respect of capital
and interest - to 117,000,000 gold francs.

The Itzlim Government further asks the Court to declare that, its
right to compensation for the wrongful meesurestaken by hlbania having
been estzblished, this rightmusthavepriority ovsr any rights which the
United Kingdom may have as a result of the incidents in the Gorfu Channel,

these incidents hzhg occurred after the wrongfuL act of whick Itdy
cornplainS.