Last update – 04:29 24/10/2007
U.S. House panel endorses Holocaust insurance measure
By The Associated Press
A U.S. House of Representatives’ panel endorsed legislation on Tuesday
that would require insurance companies to disclose information on
Holocaust-era policy holders.
The legislation aims to address concerns among some survivors that
payment by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance
Claims did not address all outstanding claims.
The measure approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday
would allow survivors or their heirs to sue foreign companies in U.S.
courts to recover payments on claims.
The legislation’s prospects are uncertain. It would have to be
approved by the full House as well as the Senate and signed by the
president to become law.
ICHEIC was established in 1998 after negotiations between European
insurance companies and U.S. insurance regulators to settle individual
Holocaust era insurance claims. It resolved more than 90,000 claims
and paid out $306 million to more than 48,000 Holocaust survivors,
heirs and family members.
But critics have charged that it did not force European insurance
companies to disclose their documentation on Holocaust-era claims.
This legislation offers an important opportunity to bring long-awaited
justice and closure to Holocaust survivors and their families, said
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the author of the new legislation.
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