The Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees (CRPC) is the key decision-making body on property rights for dispossessed people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Established under Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the CRPC determines claims from the hundreds of thousands of people who lost property during the war. The CRPC plays a critical role in the resolution of outstanding property issues, which is a key challenge to the development of BiH, as property rights must be fully restored and legally protected to ensure successful refugee return, reconstruction, economic development, and political and social renewal.

The State of Bosnia and Herzegovina through its local authorities is responsible for implementing CRPC decisions. The BiH October 1999 Law on Enforcement of CRPC Decisions clearly compels the implementation of CRPC decisions and provides procedures for enforcement which are positively impacting refugee return. In addition, the Peace Implementation Council has called on the authorities to implement CRPC decisions in full, and the EU has also identified full implementation of CRPC decisions as a condition for the Stabilization and Association Process in its Road-map.

As of July, 2003 CRPC has collected claim applications for 319.013 properties throughout BiH. With an average of one in four persons owning property in BiH, CRPC has almost fully met the demand for claims collection. A greater emphasis on mobile outreach is ensuring that even those in the most remote areas of BiH are able to file claims with the CRPC.