The Foreign Compensation Commission (FCC) is a tribunal established under the Foreign Compensation Act 1950 to assess the amount of compensation British claimants are entitled to under international and British law for losses suffered abroad. It is associated with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and helps to support its consular functions by enabling complex or numerous claims to be determined by an independent and impartial judicial process.

The FCC has three principal responsibilities. The first is to take stock of British property losses abroad arising from the actions of foreign Governments. It does this by means of a registration programme carried out on an administrative basis prior to the negotiation of any settlement agreement. Second, once compensation has been secured through diplomatic or other means, sometimes after many years, the FCC may be given the further task of judicially determining the entitlement of claimants to available compensation funds. As a central repository of claims information, the FCC also performs a research and advisory function.

Since its establishment, the FCC has carried out seven registration programmes and thirteen distribution programmes. Claims have been registered in respect of claims arising in Bulgaria (1954-1957), Hungary (1954-1957), Romania (1954-1957), USSR (1959-1965), Czechoslovakia (1960-1965), GDR (1975-1978) and China (1980-1983). Distribution programmes have been carried out pursuant to lump sum settlement agreements with Yugoslavia (1950-1962), Czechoslovakia (1950-1965), Poland (1958-1965), Bulgaria (1958-1965), Hungary (1958-1972), Egypt (1959-1979), Romania (1961-1970), USSR (Baltic States) (1969-1975), Egypt (1971-1984), Romania (1976-1982), Czechoslovakia (1982-1990), USSR (Soviet Union) (1986-1994) and China (1987-1994).

There are no active programmes at present and so the Commission operates on a care and maintenance basis to respond to routine inquiries about past programmes and claims. The FCC is also undergoing a modernisation programme involving the digitisation of its records, as well as a strategic planning process that will determine its future structure and mandate in light of changes that have taken place since it was established.

The FCC is classified as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), and is scheduled under the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992. The FCC currently has two part-time staff: a Chairman, who is responsible for directing the functions of the Commission, and a Secretary who is responsible for the day-to-day administration. The Commission is ultimately responsible to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and to the Lord Chancellor, and is under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice and the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. It is presently located at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the Old Admiralty Building.

To request information from the FCC you can contact them by writing to:

The Secretary
Foreign Compensation Commission
Old Admiralty Building
London SW1A 2PA