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

Article 16

The States Parties to this Convention shall in their periodic
reports submitted to the General Conference of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on dates and in
a manner to be determined by it, give information on the
legislative and administrative provisions which they have adopted
and other action which they have taken for the application of
this Convention, together with details of the experience acquired
in this field.

Article 17

1. The States Parties to this Convention may call on the
technical assistance of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, particularly as regards:

(a) Information and Education ;
(b) consultation and expert advice;
(c) co-ordination and good offices.

2. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization may, on its own initiative conduct research and
publish studies on matters relevant to the illicit movement of
cultural property.

3. To this end, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization may also call on the co-operation of any
competent non-governmental organization.

4. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization may, on its own initiative, make proposals to States
Parties to this Convention for its implementation.

5. At the request of at least two States Parties to this
Convention which are engaged in a dispute over its
implementation, Unesco may extend its good offices to reach a
settlement between them.

Article 18

This Convention is drawn up in English, French, Russian and
Spanish, the four texts being equally authoritative.

Article 19

1. This Convention shall be subject to ratification or acceptance
by States members of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization in accordance with their respective
constitutional procedures.

2. The instruments of ratification or acceptance shall be
deposited with the Director-General of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Article 20

1. This Convention shall be open to accession by all States not
members of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization which are invited to accede to it by the
Executive Board of the Organization.

2. Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of
accession with the Director-General of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Article 21

This Convention shall enter into force three months after the
date of the deposit of the third instrument of ratification,
acceptance or accession, but only with respect to those States
which have deposited their respective instruments on or before
that date. It shall enter into force with respect to any other
State three months after the deposit of its instrument of
ratification, acceptance or accession.

Article 22

The States Parties to this Convention recognize that the
Convention is applicable not only to their metropolitan
territories but also to all territories for the international
relations of which they are responsible; they undertake to
consult, if necessary, the governments or other competent
authorities of these territories on or before ratification,
acceptance or accession with a view to securing the application
of the Convention to those territories, and to notify the
Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization of the territories to which it is
applied, the notification to take effect three months after the
date of its receipt.

Article 23

1. Each State Party to this Convention may denounce the
Convention on its own behalf or on behalf of any territory for
whose international relations it is responsible.

2. The denunciation shall be notified by an instrument in
writing, deposited with the Director-General of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

3. The denunciation shall take effect twelve months after the
receipt of the instrument of denunciation.
Article 24

The Director-General of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization shall inform the States
members of the Organization, the States not members of the
Organization which are referred to in Article 20, as well as the
United Nations, of the deposit of all the instruments of
ratification, acceptance and accession provided for in Articles
19 and 20, and of the notifications and denunciations provided
for in Articles 22 and 23 respectively.

Article 25

1. This Convention may be revised by the General Conference of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. Any such revision shall, however, bind only the
States which shall become Parties to the revising convention.

2. If the General Conference should adopt a new convention
revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the
new convention otherwise provides, this Convention shall cease to
be open to ratification, acceptance or accession, as from the
date on which the new revising convention enters into force.

Article 26

In conformity with Article 102 of the Charter of the United
Nations, this Convention shall be registered with the Secretariat
of the United Nations at the request of the Director-General of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.

Done in Paris this seventeenth day of November 1970, in two
authentic copies bearing the signature of the President of the
sixteenth session of the General Conference and of the
Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, which shall be deposited in the
archives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, and certified true copies of which shall
be delivered to all the States referred to in Articles 19 and 20
as well as to the United Nations.

The foregoing is the authentic text of the Convention duly
adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization during its
sixteenth session, which was held in Paris and declared closed
the fourteenth day of November 1970.

IN FAITH WHEREOF we have appended our signatures this seventeenth
day of November 1970.

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, Education.