Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property

Article 1

For the purposes of this Convention, the term “cultural property”
means property which, on religious or secular grounds, is
specifically designated by each State as being of importance for
archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science and
which belongs to the following categories:

(a) Rare collections and specimens of fauna, flora, minerals and
anatomy, and objects of palaeontological interest;
(b) property relating to history, including the history of
science and technology and military and social history, to
the life of national leaders, thinkers, scientists and
artists and to events of national importance;
(c) products of archaeological excavations (including regular
and clandestine) or of archaeological discoveries;
(d) elements of artistic or historical monuments or
archaeological sites which have been dismembered;
(e) antiquities more than one hundred years old, such as
inscriptions, coins and engraved seals;
(f) objects of ethnological interest;
(g) property of artistic interest, such as:
(i) pictures, paintings and drawings produced entirely by
hand on any support and in any material (excluding
industrial designs and manufactured articles decorated by
hand);
(ii) original works of statuary art and sculpture in any
material;
(iii) original engravings, prints and lithographs;
(iv) original artistic assemblages and montages in any
material;
(h) rare manuscripts and incunabula, old books, documents and
publications of special interest (historical, artistic,
scientific, literary, etc.) singly or in collections
(i) postage, revenue and similar stamps, singly or in
collections;
(j) archives, including sound, photographic and cinematographic
archives;
(k) articles of furniture more than one hundred years old and
old musical instruments.

Article 2

1. The States Parties to this Convention recognize that the
illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural
property is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of the
cultural heritage of the countries of origin of such property and
that international co-operation constitutes one of the most
efficient means of protecting each country ‘s cultural property
against all the dangers resulting therefrom.

2. To this end, the States Parties undertake to oppose such
practices with the means at their disposal, and particularly by
removing their causes, putting a stop to current practices, and
by helping to make the necessary reparations.

Article 3

The import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property
effected contrary to the provisions adopted under this Convention
by the States Parties thereto, shall be illicit.

Article 4

The States Parties to this Convention recognize that for the
purpose of the Convention property which belongs to the following
categories forms part of the cultural heritage of each State:

(a) Cultural property created by the individual or collective
genius of nationals of the State concerned, and cultural
property of importance to the State concerned created within
the territory of that State by foreign nationals or
stateless persons resident within such territory;
(b) cultural property found within the national territory;
(c) cultural property acquired by archaeological, ethnological
or natural science missions, with the consent of the
competent authorities of the country of origin of such
property;
(d) cultural property which has been the subject of a freely
agreed exchange;
(e) cultural property received as a gift or purchased legally
with the consent of the competent authorities of the country
of origin of such property.

Article 5

To ensure the protection of their cultural property against
illicit import, export and transfer of ownership, the States
Parties to this Convention undertake, as appropriate for each
country, to set up within their territories one or more national
services, where such services do not already exist, for the
protection of the cultural heritage, with a qualified staff
sufficient in number for the effective carrying out of the
following functions:

(a) contributing to the formation of draft laws and regulations
designed to secure the protection of the cultural heritage
and particularly prevention of the illicit import, export
and transfer of ownership of important cultural property;
(b) establishing and keeping up to date, on the basis of a
national inventory of protected property, a list of
important public and private cultural property whose export
would constitute an appreciable impoverishment of the
national cultural heritage;
(c) promoting the development or the establishment of scientific
and technical institutions (museums, libraries, archives,
laboratories, workshops . . .) required to ensure the
preservation and presentation of cultural property;
(d) organizing the supervision of archaeological excavations,
ensuring the preservation “in situ”of certain cultural
property, and protecting certain areas reserved for future
archaeological research;
(e) establishing, for the benefit of those concerned (curators,
collectors, antique dealers, etc.) rules in conformity with
the ethical principles set forth in this Convention; and
taking steps to ensure the observance of those rules;
(f) taking educational measures to stimulate and develop respect
for the cultural heritage of all States, and spreading
knowledge of the provisions of this Convention;
(g) seeing that appropriate publicity is given to the
disappearance of any items of cultural property.

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, country.