ANNEX: PRESS NOTICE ISSUED ON 10 FEBRUARY
2000
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee invites written
evidence as part of its inquiry entitled Cultural Property:
Return and Illicit Trade (formerly entitled The Return of
Cultural Property). Among the issues on which the Committee would
welcome written evidence are:
The Illicit Trade
- The impact of the illicit trade in cultural property;
- Methods of counter-acting this illicit trade
and the impact on the legitimate trade;
- The policies and procedures of museums relating
to the acquisition and return of cultural property which has been
illicitly removed;
- The operational effect of European legislation
relating to the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed
and prospects for further European legislation;
- The advantages, disadvantages, requirements and
consequences of United Kingdom ratification of the 1995 UNIDROIT
Convention on the International Return of Stolen or Illegally
Exported Cultural Objects and the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the
Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export
and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property;
Other Return Issues
- Claims for return of items of cultural property
which were historically removed and not necessarily acquired as
a result of the illicit trade;
- The policies and procedures of museums relating
to such claims, including solutions other than return;
- Guidance and advice for museums from central
sources on acquisition and return;
- Current legislation relating to return and other
solutions to claims and arguments for and against legislative
change.
Individual cases
The Committee is willing to receive submissions relating
to individual claims for return, but expects its Report arising
from the inquiry to concentrate on general policies towards return
and the illicit trade rather than making recommendations relating
to individual claims.
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