What is "reprivatization"

n. (context economics English) The process or an instance of returning to private ownership.

Reprivatization refers to the process of restoring to its former owners properties seized by a government, or to the process of compensating previously uncompensated former owners. This is often a component of larger privatization schemes. The term is most often used in the connection with privatization in former Soviet Bloc countries or in reference to settlements concerning the property of murdered or displaced European Jews.

Reprivatization is often sought by members of the old nobility or their descendants who desire the return of the traditional family home for sentimental and/or financial reasons; by Holocaust survivors, their descendants, or survivors of persons who died in Nazi death camps and whose property was confiscated by the Nazis or by later Communist states and disposed of in various ways; and by corporations or other parties whose property was nationalized. It is very difficult to work out a one-size-fits all regime for property restitution, and it is often pursued on an ad hoc basis in the courts with varying degrees of success in different jurisdictions.

A significant barrier to reprivatization is created by larger political questions, which vary by country. In Eastern Europe, there is frequently a desire to avoid the inflammation of ethnic tensions and the ostensible reversal of Potsdam conference policies; see Federation of Expellees.

Outstanding reprivatization issues can sometimes be a barrier to foreign investment, as investors are wary of investing in a property to which the title is disputed or faulty.