Iceland:  Ministry for Foreign Affairs

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Yale University EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale YPFS Documents Browse by Media Type 2013 Iceland Welcomes Acquittal in Icesave Case Iceland: Ministry for Foreign Affairs Follow this and additional works at: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ypfs-documents Recommended Citation Iceland: Ministry for Foreign Affairs, "Iceland Welcomes Acquittal in Icesave Case" (2013). YPFS Documents. 411. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ypfs-documents/411 This Document is brought to you for free and open access by the Browse by Media Type at EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in YPFS Documents by an authorized administrator of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact elischolar@yale.edu. 8/26/2015 Iceland welcomes acquittal in Icesave case  | News | News and Publications | Ministry for Foreign Affairshttp://www.mfa.is/news­and­publications/nr/7515 1/1Iceland welcomes acquittal in Icesave case 28.1.2013The EFTA Court ruling on Icesave rejected all claims by the EFTA Surveillance Authority thatIceland should be declared in breach of the EEA Agreement. The Court rejected the claim thatIceland has breached the Deposit Guarantee Directive or has discriminated against depositorscontrary to EEA law. It is a considerable satisfaction that Iceland´s defence has won the day in theIcesave case; the EFTA Court ruling brings to a close an important stage in a long saga.Iceland has from the start maintained that there is legal uncertainty as to whether a state isresponsible for ensuring payments of minimum guarantees to depositors using its own funds andhas stressed the importance of having this issue clarified in court. There was, however, norealistic possibility of such clarification until the EFTA Surveillance Authority decided to refer thecase to the EFTA Court.This judgement concludes the procedures with the EFTA Surveillance Authority in regard to theIcesave case. The ruling of the EFTA Court is final and cannot be appealed. This case has beenparticularly difficult to handle both nationally and internationally, and has occasioned, amongother things, considerable delays in the implementation of the Government´s economicprogramme. Icesave is now no longer a stumbling block to Iceland economic recovery.It is important to bear in mind that payments from the estate of the failed Landsbanki willcontinue regardless of the ruling of the EFTA Court. The assets of the estate are now estimated tobe 1,517 billion ISK which is approximately 200 billion ISK more than the priority claims whichamount to 1,318 billion ISK. Of these priority claims 1,166 billion ISK result from the Icesavedeposits while just under 150 billion ISK result from wholesale deposits, including those frommunicipalities, charities etc. The sum of 660 billion ISK has already been paid out of the estateagainst priority claims, i.e. around 50% of their total value. Of this 585 billion ISK have gone toclaims resulting from the Icesave accounts. This sum amounts to over 90% of the total which theUK and Dutch authorities advanced to cover the minimum deposit guarantee.It is expected that the Icesave claims will be paid out in full by the actual debtor, the estate of thefailed Landsbanki. This outcome results from the implementation of emergency legislation in2008, according to which deposits were given priority against unsecured claims.Judgment of the EFTA Court 28 January 2013(http://www.eftacourt.int/images/uploads/16_11_Judgment.pdf)

Iceland Welcomes Acquittal in Icesave Case

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Iceland Welcomes Acquittal in Icesave Case

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