Summarize

European Union, as well as other international organizations, has adopted a range of documents on prevention of illegal actions with cultural objects. We offer you the list of these documents.

• Regulation EC n°116/2009 introduces uniform controls for the prevention of illegal exports of cultural goods at the external borders of the Union, which allow the competent (Culture and Customs) authorities of the Member States from which the cultural goods are to be exported to a country outside the EU to take the interests of the other Member States into account. This is because, in the absence of such controls, abolishing checks at the physical borders within the EU would have meant that a national treasure unlawfully removed from a Member State could be presented at a customs office of another Member State and exported easily to a third country. Only cultural goods that were subject to complete and uniform controls (documents and expertise) could leave the EU territory and be legally exported outside the EU.

  • Official text: 

Council Regulation (EC) No 116/2009 of 18 December 2008 on the export of cultural goods (Codified version) - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32009R0116

• Directive 2014/60/EU complements this preventive instrument by providing mechanisms and a procedure for restoring national treasures when these have been unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State. While the aim of the Regulation is to avoid national treasures being taken out of the EU territory without controls, the Directive, for its part, deals with the arrangements for restoring/returning such treasures to the Member State of origin when they have been unlawfully removed from it.

  • Official text: 

Directive 2014/60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (Recast) - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32014L0060

• Regulation (EU) 2019/880 on the introduction and the import of cultural goods was adopted to make sure that only cultural goods that were legally exported from third countries where they were created or discovered could be imported in the EU. Import or introduction of illegal cultural goods in the Union is prohibited and procedures for the import of cultural goods in the Union are set out. This new Regulation provides for a system of import licences issued by Member States competent authorities for the most endangered cultural goods, and for the submission of importer statements to customs for other, less endangered categories of cultural goods. The Commission will develop a centralised electronic system for the storage and exchange of information between administrations in the Member States and the accomplishment of formalities by operators. This also implies the possibility of returning cultural goods to third countries when they were illicitly exported from there .

  • Official text: 

Regulation (EU) 2019/880 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the introduction and the import of cultural goods - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32019R0880

• Ad hoc EU trade prohibitions:

  • EU Regulations on Iraq and Syria – Council Regulation (EC) No 1210/2003 of 7 July 2003 concerning certain specific restrictions on economic and financial relations with Iraq and Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria prohibit trade in cultural goods with these countries where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the goods have been removed without the consent of their legitimate owner or have been removed in breach of national or international law. The legislation does not include any further requirements regarding implementation.

  • Official texts:

Council Regulation (EC) No 1210/2003 of 7 July 2003 concerning certain specific restrictions on economic and financial relations with Iraq and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2465/96 – https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32003R1210 

Council Regulation (EU) No 36/2012 of 18 January 2012 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria and repealing Regulation (EU) No 442/2011 – https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex:32012R0036

Currently there are no further steps planned for stronger regulation in this field.

ArtLaw.club expresses deepest appreciation to Mrs. Anna Kostova-Bourgeix (Policy Officer, European Commission, DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Goods in the Single Market and Enforcement, Unit B/1 Free Movement of Goods) for the provided information