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Why Western Australia’s policy disaster is a lesson to Brussels
The EU risks the same disaster with its import licensing regulation for cultural property as Western Australia’s Aboriginal CulturalHeritage Act has just suffered – and for the same reasons.
Italy rules in favour of private property rights for cultural heritage
Ministry's legal head reinforces 'innocent until proven guilty' principle in interpreting law The Italian Ministry of Culture has issued a potentially ground-breaking statement, following a court ruling. It challenges current thinking on cultural heritage and...
How will the EU’s new import licensing for art and antiques affect you? Here’s a brief guide
When the new import licensing regulation for cultural goods (2019/880) comes into force in the EU on June 28, 2025, what goods will be affected from the world of art and antiques? According to the law, relevant items – all of which must have originated from outside...
Latest Views
Lost Horizon – what is all this E.U. funding for?
Countless millions are spent investigating cultural property trafficking to little effect Preventing trafficking in cultural goods is a major preoccupation of the European Union. It is one of the key objectives of the constantly updating anti-money laundering...
Who is really digging a hole for themselves with this attack on amateur metal detectorists?
Academic archaeologists scorn metal detectorists and are outraged at one of their own putting a hoard up for auction. But they do not have a monopoly on ethics when it comes to cultural property and overlook the major contribution that amateurs make to our understanding of the past. It’s time they revised their opinions.
Nice idea, but even the European Commission knows database proposal wouldn’t work
A continent-wide system linking up all existing databases (and adding new ones where needed) after they have adapted to a single standard could be a very effective means of combatting cultural property crime. However, as this 320-page paper makes abundantly clear, too many obstacles persist to render this ambition anything but a fantasy.