---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 1645a"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "1645a"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/1645a"
units:
  - "Chapter 21 — Settlement of International Claims"
  - "Subchapter VII — Claims Against Vietnam"
---

# §1645a. Definitions


As used in this subchapter—

- (1) the term “[National of the United States](/usc/22/1643a.md?p=1)” means—
  - (A) a natural person who is a citizen of the United States; and
  - (B) a corporation or other legal entity which is organized under the laws of the United States or of any State, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, if natural persons who are citizens of the United States own, directly or indirectly, 50 per centum or more of the outstanding capital stock or other beneficial interest of such corporation or entity;
- (2) the term “[Commission](/usc/22/1643a.md?p=2)” means the Foreign Claims Settlement [Commission](/usc/22/1643a.md?p=2) of the United States;
- (3) the term “[property](/usc/22/1643a.md?p=3)” means—
  - (A) any [property](/usc/22/1643a.md?p=3), right, or interest, including any leasehold interest,
  - (B) any debt owed by [Vietnam](#4) or by any enterprise which has been nationalized, expropriated, or otherwise taken by [Vietnam](#4), and
  - (C) any debt which is a charge on [property](/usc/22/1643a.md?p=3) which has been nationalized, expropriated, or otherwise taken by [Vietnam](#4);
- (4) the term “Vietnam” means—
  - (A) the Government of the Socialist Republic of [Vietnam](#4),
  - (B) any predecessor governing authority operating in South [Vietnam](#4) on or after April 29, 1975, including the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South [Vietnam](#4),
  - (C) the Government of the former Democratic Republic of [Vietnam](#4), and
  - (D) any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of any of the entities referred to in subparagraphs [(A)](#4-A), [(B)](#4-B), and [(C)](#4-C); and
- (5) the term “[Claims Fund](/usc/22/1644a.md?p=5)” means the special fund established in the Treasury of the United States composed of such sums as may be paid to or realized by the United States pursuant to the terms of any agreement settling those claims described in [section 1645b of this title](/usc/22/1645b.md) that may be entered into between the Governments of the United States and [Vietnam](#4).

## Source credit

(Mar. 10, 1950, ch. 54, title VII, § 702, as added Pub. L. 96–606, Dec. 28, 1980, 94 Stat. 3534.)